Guilty Secrets (Campus Love and Murder Sorority Eyes Romance Book 1)

by Christie, Ciara

  The answer came back to me in a flash: Hide in plain sight. Where no one would want to look.

  I turned back to the statue. I ran my fingers up and down the figure of the woman until I touched the snake's tongue. A soft noise, like a sudden release of a tense and trapped breath escaped the lips of the woman. I peered closer and noticed that between the fangs of the snake a tiny thumb drive had appeared. The drive had a small symbol etched on it. The Knights of Kimberley mask and crossed swords.

  I quickly slid my fingers between the fangs and retrieved the thumb drive. I had forgotten to bring a small clutch bag. Just as I had the idea to slip the tiny thumb drive inside one of the cups of my bra, I heard someone turning the door handle.

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  Davina entered the room. Her gaze was stern and questioning as she closed the door behind her.

  My fingers brushed the front of my dress, then dropped to my side. I shrugged apologetically and explained my absence from the party.

  "Wardrobe malfunction."

  Davina's expression softened. Her hands moved behind her back and I heard the key in the lock turn with a sharp click.

  I felt my breath caught in my chest.

  She raised her hands to her chest and slipped the key into her bra.

  Her expression changed to one of triumph. She stepped forward.

  "Wardrobe malfunction, indeed, Robyn?" she purred.

  Nervously I nodded and stuttered, "Yes, I borrowed the dress. It doesn't quite fit."

  "Looks fine from where I'm standing. Though I can think of one improvement. You out of it."

  I swallowed hard.

  "So I'm glad you found me, Davina, but I guess we should be getting back to the party."

  She stood before me, stroking my face. "You're glad?"

  "Won't your guests be missing out on you?"

  Her fingers caressed down my neck and slithered between my breasts.

  "Yes, Robyn, but I prefer one at a time. It allows one to linger where most needed, don’t you agree, Robyn?"

  My throat ached. I couldn't swallow. No words formed on my lips. I tried to move, but my legs were frozen on the spot.

  "Should I take a look at your wardrobe malfunction?"

  Once again, Davina's mysterious perfume intoxicated my mind. Her words were the air that I breathed. It was all I could do to shake my head slowly from side to side.

  Her fingers glided down my stomach and settled between my legs.

  The breath in my body felt trapped. Ready to explode.

  Her fingers moved to my side and clasped around my hand. She lifted my hand to her shoulder and the zip fastening.

  She forced my forefinger and thumb to pinch the zip fastening tag.

  "Robyn, let me show you my wardrobe malfunction."

  She stepped away and moved my hand down her body. As she did so, the zip on her dress unfastened with a gentle sigh.

  Her dress spiraled down her body to the floor. Revealing her long, slender legs in black silk stockings held up by a suspender belt of a golden snake coiled around her hips.

  With her other hand on my shoulder, she pressed down with a sudden jolt, forcing me to my knees. I stared up between her legs.

  I realized she wore no panties. I stared up at a thin triangle of neatly trimmed red hair. A subtle hint of intoxicating perfume emanated down from between her legs.

  My head began to spin as she explained. Her words hypnotically gripped me.

  "Robyn, breathe in my scent. The perfume uses a rare snake venom, whereby the merest hint of the aroma is enough to seduce the willpower from my prey."

  As I knelt before her, breathing in her musk, I felt my resistance melt away. I knew, if she asked, I would perform any act she directed me to.

  "Robyn, I want you to explore my body."

  I felt my arms rise up and my hands move across her hips. They slithered up her stomach to her breasts. My fingers slipped inside her bra and between my fingers teased her nipples.

  As I felt my willpower slip away, my mind flashed with a burning question: Had Madison once endured this humiliation in order to discover Davina's secrets? A volcanic anger erupted inside of me.

  I felt my fingers grab the door key. I thrust out my hands at Davina, knocking her backwards. She tumbled to the floor as I sprang up onto my feet.

  I ran to the door and shoved the key inside the lock. I turned it with all the strength I could muster.

  I turned the handle and swung the door open. Outside, the sound of music emanated down from the floor above. I frantically sprinted to the elevator door and punched at the button marked lobby.

  The doors slid open and I threw myself into the elevator. As I turned back to the doors, Davina appeared at her study door. Her dress draped over her body like a second skin and as if it had never a moment before been shed from her shoulders.

  As the elevator doors slid slowly shut, the corners of Davina's smile slithered up to her dead eyes. She slowly brought a straight forefinger across her throat.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  The elevator doors opened and I ran out into the lobby.

  The doorman looked up from his desk. "Is everything OK, Ms?"

  I sprinted out of the building, through the courtyard and out into the street. I was running blind, unable to figure out which way back to my apartment. Fighting to see through tears I stepped out into the road.

  Car brakes squealed. I looked up and felt my ankle scream out in pain. I fell onto my knees as the fender of a car nudged me.

  I glanced up at a blue and white campus police car pulled up. The driver wound down his window. He was a man in his fifties and his badge said he was Sheriff Gonzalez.

  "Are you OK, ma'am?"

  I sat on the curb and sobbed.

  He got out of the car and knelt next to me.

  "Ma'am, care to tell me why you're upset?"

  I shook my head.

  "OK, but it's not a good idea to be out alone at this time of night unless you're capable of walking home without getting run over?"

  "I'm OK."

  "No you're not, ma'am. Get in. I'll drive you home."

  He helped me stand and guided me to the passenger side of his car. He opened the door and told me to take a seat.

  I did so and he climbed into the driver's seat.

  He flicked on the cabin light and peered at my face with kind eyes.

  "You're Harry's girl. Robyn, right?"

  I blinked away the tears and stared through the windshield into the night.

  "Harry talked about me, Sheriff?"

  He laughed. "Everyone calls me Charlie, not Sheriff. And did he talk about you? He didn't have to. He was in sixes and sevens, nervous as a kitten the day of your first date. The next day he couldn't shut up about you. The way you wear your hair. Your dimples when you smile."

  I flushed hot.

  "My dimples?"

  Charlie drove slowly down the avenue.

  "Oh yeah, the boy's smitten alright."

  Maybe it was because I was shaken up, but news of how Harry felt about me felt strange. This news of Harry felt like a life ring to a drowning woman. I knew it wasn't what I wanted. But right now it was what I needed.

  "Thank you sheriff."

  He shot me a stern look.

  "I mean, Charlie."

  "Yep, Robyn, it's just like last time, with Madison. We loved her like she was family. Right up until she split on Harry and broke his heart."

  Sooner than I expected we arrived outside Mai's apartment building.

  I motioned to open the door, when Charlie placed a gentle hand on my shoulder.

  "Just a minute, Robyn."

  I turned in my seat towards Charlie.

  "Robyn, you seem like a nice girl. Maybe a little confused, mixed up about things in your life, but none of that's my business. But Harry is a different matter."

  "How do you mean, Charlie?"

  "My wife and I were never able to have kids. Harry’s like a son to me. His la
st girlfriend up and left him. Cut him up inside real bad. I don't want to see Harry get hurt again. You get my drift?"

  My eyes narrowed and my jaw jutted out. "You're telling me to stay away from Harry? Who the Hell are you to tell me what to do?"

  He shrugged. "Oh I know, right now you're young and carefree and don't pay much heed to anything beyond the length of your nose. But mark my words, when you think of settling down, you’ll see Harry from a different angel."

  "I don’t understand."

  "You rich kids are from a different world. Harry is on a cop's low salary. His pension in twenty five years ain’t worth spit in a bucket. Ask my ex-wife. She'll tell you that poverty, Robyn, kills romance. "

  He sighed and touched the edge of his hat in my direction.

  "Robyn, have a good night's sleep and tomorrow you'll know I'm right."

  "Charlie, you have no idea what Harry and I want out of life."

  I opened the car door and stepped out. As I was about to shut the door, I hesitated.

  I leaned in and said, "You're wrong about me."

  "When you reach my age, you don't want to hold a mirror up to yourself and see what others been too afraid to tell you. It hurts now, but in time you'll thank me."

  I shut the door and watched Charlie drive off. I ran to the apartment.

  Once inside the apartment, everything was quiet. No sex noises to contend with, thankfully. I ran to my bedroom.

  I flopped into my bed and opened up my laptop.

  It was time to find out all the secrets Davina had been keeping.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  I reached into my bra and retrieved the tiny thumb drive. I slotted it into my laptop.

  A series of documents popped up across the laptop screen. Financial records. Payments of large sums leaving bank accounts in the name of Kimberley College. These corresponded with exactly the same amounts sent to offshore bank accounts in the name of various companies.

  Company details listed shell corporations owned by one person: Rupert Everhardt, Dean of Kimberley. The respected head of one of the most prestigious universities in the world was defrauding the organization to the tune of millions of dollars.

  I wondered if any of that money had gone into financing Davina's luxurious apartment.

  I slumped back on my bed and stared out through the window at the star-filled night sky. I tried to picture the pattern of possible blackmail.

  Brad had kept Davina's secrets. Davina had kept Dean's secrets. It wasn't a perfect circle. Others must be keeping both Brad's secrets and those of the Dean. But whom?

  I was no closer to discovering how any of these uncovered secrets contributed to Madison's death.

  All I knew was things would become clearer at Dean Everhardt's weekend party when I planned to discover whatever secrets he was hiding.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  The weekend came without further incident. When Saturday arrived I woke up with the familiar feeling of frantic butterflies, dive bombing inside my stomach.

  My first thoughts were of Harry. I checked my cell phone. He hadn't called. Conflicting emotions had made me hesitant. I hadn't called him since the date.

  My fingers hovered over his number in my contact list when I heard a knock at my bedroom door.

  Mai entered. "Need help with your make up for the Dean's party?"

  I nodded. "Quick shower first."

  In the bathroom I studied my face in the mirror. The bruising looked worse than it really was. Some of the swelling had receded. The color was grotesque.

  I jumped in the shower and instantly felt better under the hot pummeling jets. Like everything in the apartment, the shower was total overkill. In this instance, the shower had jets pointing at every angle. The feeling was of one complete sensuous indulgence. Before long my mind wondered how Harry's experienced love making touch on my virgin body would compare to the heady sensations of the shower's jets.

  Jets thundered down on my neck and shoulders. Two jets of water massaged my nipples. A third strategically placed in the wall together with a forth jet in the floor shot bursts of water directly into the sweet spot between my legs.

  I was soon lost in the anticipation of Harry's touch.

  I imagined each jet was Harry's full lips teasing my body. Finding my secret desires and unleashing them. I found a dial in the wall that enabled me to control the level of pulsing, water and simulate Harry's rock hard manhood moving in and out of me.

  Before long my knees began to tremble as I panted softly under the torrent of pulsating jets of water. I moaned, "Harry take my virginity..."

  It was then I noticed a shadow on the other side of the glass wet room door.

  Mai called out, "Lover boy's on the phone for you."

  "Who?"

  "How many have you got?"

  "Oh. Harry?"

  "Yes, Harry. Shall I tell him he's lost out to your power shower?"

  I turned off the shower and stepped out. Mai looked up and down at my naked wetness with amusement and handed me a fresh, warm towel.

  I took my cell phone from her and shooed her away.

  "Um, yes, Harry?"

  "What are you doing tonight?"

  Are you calling for me? Or because of Madison? "Tonight? I've been invited to Dean Everhardt's party."

  "Cancel."

  So he really is interested in me. Don't be a fool. He's only interested because you remind him of Madison.

  "I can't, Harry. Sorry."

  "Everhardt's on Madison's list?"

  I hesitated and whispered, "Yes."

  "Call me when you're done."

  He hung up.

  I replayed the conversation in my head. It felt almost business like. I told myself that it was for the best and sighed.

  I had more important issues than my barely controlled lust for a man who could be involved in Madison's murder.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

  Dean Everhardt's house was on campus grounds. A stately mansion with a long winding drive through mature grounds.

  I parked up Rust Bucket away from the rows of Bentleys, Aston Martins, Mercedes and assortment of other European dream cars, just in case Rust Bucket got any more malicious ideas.

  Greek columns supported the facade of the front exterior as I joined the throngs of the privileged invitees, taking the white stone steps up to the open double doors.

  Dean Everhardt and his wife waited inside the marble lobby and greeted all in turn. She was far prettier than I imagined a wife of his might be. Mai had told me that she was his second wife. The younger trophy wife.

  Quite what had happened to his first wife, Mai didn't know. But there was no divorce that anyone had heard of.

  I was swept up into a ball room. I spotted Kublai Khan and turned away to admire a row of portraits on a wall.

  A moment later I felt an insistent tapping on my shoulders. I took a deep breath and turned on my heels with a readymade smile for Khan. But to my surprise and horror I stood facing Professor Davina Cole.

  She was dressed in a red silk dress that matched her flame hair. She smiled enigmatically. She leaned in and whispered, "I know you have it."

  I felt my eyes widen. I swallowed hard.

  "Excuse me?"

  "Don't play coy, you little minx."

  "I really don't know what you mean, Professor."

  Over her shoulder Kublai Khan cut through the throng of bodies. I caught his eye and he made a bee line toward me.

  "There you are," he exclaimed. "When I heard you had been invited I told myself I wouldn't let you out of my sight."

  I stuck out my hand and he ceremoniously kissed it. Only then did he acknowledge Davina who was by now breathing heavily through her flaring nostrils.

  Her gaze never left me as her eyes narrowed. "We shall speak later. Perhaps then I shall be able to prod your memory."

  She slithered away and was lost in the party.

  I caught Khan's knowing smile.

  "Would you like to know
a secret?"

  I shrugged. "Who’s secret?"

  He took my arm and led me through the party, through a set of French doors to a secluded balcony overlooking the lake.

  The light of a full moon illuminated the vast lake. From shore to shore it must have been at least two miles. On the distant shore stood a mansion house with lights blazing.

  We strolled along the balcony until he stopped outside another set of French Doors. We were alone.

  "Robyn, it is one thing to outsmart the Red Queen in the game of secrets. Another entirely to realize she owns the game."

  I held his gaze like a deer frozen in the headlights.

  "I don't follow your meaning. Who’s the Red Queen?"

  “Davina, of course.”

  “Why do you call her the Red Queen?”

  He smiled a pitying smile. “Pray, you never find out. You scored big. Now she's vulnerable. But not for long."

  I wasn't convinced he knew for certain I had stolen Davina's secrets about Everhardt.

  "Robyn, if you want my advice, you'll start making alliances now. Before the Red Queen comes for you."

  "Why are you telling me this?"

  "You are a breath of fresh air to a stagnant game. For too long a detente has existed. Your presence in the game has electrified my world."

  "Why do you call everything a game?"

  "Isn't that what this is? Think about it. We are all chess pieces on an invisible board. Each of us keeps a secret about one of the other players. None may make the decisive play for victory for fear of what another player holds over their head. Strategically, we all know the end game is coming."

  "Do we?"

  He stifled a laugh. "Robyn, you remind me of the girl who vanished last summer."

  "Madison Loxley."

  "Yes. It took me a while to figure out your motivation. But now it's obvious."

  My stomach spasmed. "Is it?"

  "Your disregard for your own safety betrayed your true identity. Your kind of conviction comes at a price only another Loxley daughter would gladly pay."

  Shit. "Price?"

  "Revenge, Robyn Loxley. Revenge."