“What have you done to me?”
She shook her head. “You couldn’t stay away from him, could you?”
My knees buckled from the pain.
She walked over to me, yanking me to my feet. “Come on. Let’s get you back where you belong.”
* * *
Carter
“Adelaide told me to call you,” said my friend Fletcher Ryan’s voice on the phone. I’d gone to college with Fletch, and we’d been close when I lived in New York. He was a fellow Scales and Fangs alum, and he knew all about the ritual and my part in it.
“Did she?” I hadn’t bothered to get out of bed even though it was sometime in the afternoon. I’d cancelled everything that I had to work on that day. Ever since Teagan had run out of my room last night, obviously in pain, I hadn’t seen much point in doing anything at all.
“You sound rough, man.”
“Do I?” I didn’t care what he thought.
Fletch laughed. “Wow. That bad, huh?”
“Look, I don’t need this right now.” I closed my eyes, burrowing farther into the pillow I was lying on. “Maybe we can catch up another day, okay?”
“Wait, are you trying to hang up on me?”
“If I was trying to hang up on you, I’d have already done it. I was trying to say goodbye. Politely.” I yanked the covers up over my head. “So, goodbye, Fletch. Thanks for calling.”
“Hold on,” he said. “This is me we’re talking about, Carter. You don’t get out of this that easily.”
I sighed. Fletch and I had been roommates my senior year. We’d shared a little apartment in town, a block down from Shakespeare’s. He’d never given me much crap about my predilection for women old enough to be my mother. He’d brought all his buddies in the art department to my senior play. Overall, he’d been a really good friend.
I guessed I’d lost touch with him since coming back to Thornfield. He had a lot going on, anyway. He had shows at several prominent galleries this year, and when he wasn’t schmoozing, he was sculpting. He worked in metal, which meant he did all of his work with welding tools. He claimed he chose that medium to convince girls that even though he was an artist, he wasn’t gay. He was usually busy getting laid, too, from what I remembered.
“Why are you calling?”
“Why did I have to find out that you’re banging your own student from Adelaide?”
“Was,” I said. “Adelaide put a stop to any... banging. Besides, it wasn’t like that.”
“Right, ‘cause she’s the Moss girl. The one for the ritual. And you got it bad for her.”
“I don’t,” I said. “Listen, this isn’t exactly my proudest moment. I wasn’t about to call you and gloat. I think you should understand why I didn’t tell anyone.”
“You dog,” he laughed. “All that time when we were in school, you were always hunting down the, um, mature chicks. And now, here you are with a freshman.”
“She’s twenty-one,” I said defensively. “It’s not that bad.”
“It’s kind of bad.” He was still laughing. “You’re her professor, dude. That’s so weird. How did we get old, anyway?”
“I’m not old,” I said.
“Yeah, well, neither am I, actually.” His laughter faded. “Hey, you know, I hear it’s a thing that happens pretty regularly with these ritual things. That’s why Armstrong offed himself, right? Because he couldn’t handle the guilt?”
“That’s what Adelaide says,” I said. “How’d you know that? No one told me that.”
“I bet they did,” he said. “I bet you brushed it off, because you didn’t think you’d ever develop a conscience.”
He was probably right. I rolled over in bed. “Well, I feel guilty. But I’m going to do it. If Adelaide is trying to use you to feel me out to see if I’m still loyal to the society—”
“That’s not it at all,” he said. “She thought, and I agreed, that you might want some time away.”
“Away?”
“Yeah, shake it off, right? Come visit me for a few days. I got an extra bedroom. I’ll take you to all the coolest parties. You can find a bunch of women who look just like her and fuck them silly instead. What do you say?”
Go to New York? I’d been gone for so long. And I’d only ever come here in pursuit of the ritual. I wanted the power. Now, here I was, so close to getting it, and I wasn’t even sure if I could go through with it. “I have classes here.”
“Oh, please,” he said. “You can cancel them.”
“I don’t think I want to fuck other women.”
“Let’s have that discussion after I’ve got a couple shots of tequila into you, man.”
I laughed a little, in spite of myself. “Maybe it would be good to get away.”
“Of course it would. You need a break. And besides, I want to know every detail of what happened. I want you to describe this freshman student’s body to me in intricate detail.”
I groaned. “Forget it, man.”
“What? You bang hot, young pussy, and you don’t share details with your best friend? What’s wrong with you?”
“I said to forget it.”
“Wait, you do mean forget telling me all about how you played BDSM games with your nubile, willing sex slave who you forced to call you professor while you spanked her, and not to forget coming to New York, right?” I laughed again, and this time I smiled bigger. “I’ll come to New York.”
“You did spank her, didn’t you?”
“No.”
“No? You used one of those kinky whip things.”
“Drop it, Fletch. A gentleman does not talk about such things.”
“Yeah, this is another conversation we’re going to have after you’ve got tequila in you,” he said. “When can you be here?”
“I’d have to look at flights,” I said.
“Cool, do that and get back to me,” he said. “If you can get something tonight, I’m down.”
“Probably tomorrow,” I said. I wasn’t in the mood to rush through packing.
“What are her boobs like? Does she have nice boobs?”
“Fletch.”
“Her ass?”
“I’m hanging up.”
* * *
Teagan
I hadn’t been out of my room today. I’d skipped my classes. I was afraid to go anywhere. The first thing I’d tried to do when Adelaide dropped me off at my dorm last night was call my aunts.
It was no good. I could pick up the phone fine, but the minute I tried to dial their number, I was seized with pain so bad that I couldn’t even hold the phone.
This was magic. Any time that I did something that Scales and Fangs didn’t want me to do, I was punished with pain.
My aunts believed in magic. They were always doing chants and spells and flinging herbs all over the house. I’d always known they practiced some kind of pagan religion. But I’d always figured it wasn’t real. I didn’t believe in magic. I didn’t believe in snake goddesses.
Now I wished I’d paid more attention. Was there some way to break the spell that Scales and Fangs had put on me?
They only people who could help me were my aunts, and I couldn’t get in touch with them. I couldn’t do anything.
So I curled up on my bed, terrified and unsure of what to do next.
I couldn’t go to Carter. They’d made sure of that. Being close to him now hurt me.
Who else could I trust?
The door opened, and Nell came in. “Hey, Teagan, you okay?”
Nell. Nell was my roommate. She’d always been kind to me.
Too kind? She was part of Scales and Fangs, after all. But she was an initiate, so maybe she didn’t know what they were up to.
Or maybe she’d been in on it from the very beginning. Maybe she’d been assigned to be my roommate to keep her eye on me. Maybe she’d been reporting everything I did to Adelaide and Professor Bancroft this whole time.
No. I couldn’t trust Nell. I couldn’t be sure about her.
&n
bsp; She sat down on her bed. “Oh my God. It’s true, isn’t it?”
I closed my eyes. I wasn’t sure what to say. I didn’t want to give her anything to report back. If she was even doing that. I guessed I should act normal. But I couldn’t. I was terrified and trapped, and I didn’t know how to get out of this place.
“You and Professor Alexander?” she said. “Reba was going on about it all day. She started all these rumors. I said she was crazy. But it’s true, isn’t it? That’s why you’re so sad.”
“Nell...” That was really the least of my current problems.
“That’s why he’s not helping out with Harper’s play anymore.” She shook her head. “Isn’t it?”
“I guess so.” Maybe it was a good enough cover. But if she was working with Scales and Fangs, I didn’t need to cover up why I was upset. And if she wasn’t, I needed to get her to help me. “But I don’t even care about that anymore.”
“You don’t? How far did things go between you guys? Did you... you know, do it?”
All at once, I flashed on Carter inside me, both of us breathing heavily, drawing in air in the same rhythm. Looking up to see him gazing down at me. And everything feeling so perfect and bursting and good and right—
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “Something weird is going on at Thornfield, Nell. I’m in trouble.”
She made a face. “Trouble? Because you slept with Professor Alexander? Did you sleep with him?”
“I don’t know why,” I said. “I think it goes deeper than that. I think they gave me the scholarship to get me here. I think they want to do something to me. Something bad.”
She smiled. “Now you sound like Reba. She was convinced they were going to revoke your scholarship and send you packing. But I guess they want to keep it quiet. I’m sure nothing bad is going to happen to you.”
I didn’t answer. Was she deliberately misunderstanding me, or was she truly that ignorant? Even if she wasn’t working for Scales and Fangs, was she any good to me?
She studied her hands. “Look, Dean Surber came to talk to me today.”
I pushed myself into a sitting position. “What did she say?”
“She said that I should keep my eye on you,” said Nell. “Um, Teagan, are you feeling okay?”
“For now,” I said. “But she’s planning on hurting me. I just don’t know how yet.”
Nell raised her eyebrows. “Dean Surber?”
“Scales and Fangs,” I said.
“You really aren’t feeling well, are you?” She got up off her bed and came over to put a hand on my forehead. “Do you feel like you have a fever? Maybe you’re delirious.”
“I’m not delirious.”
“I don’t know. You’re kind of warm.” She knelt down next to me. “You might be contagious.”
“Contagious?” I said.
She sighed. “Look, Teagan, it’s nothing personal, okay? I like you. We’ve been friends. But I want you to understand that I’m going to get into Scales and Fangs, and I’m going to have a fabulous acting career, and I’m not going to let whatever is going on with you drag me down.”
Oh. I got it. She didn’t want to know if I was in danger or not. She didn’t want to get her hands dirty. Good old Nell, looking out for number one. I glared at her.
“Anyway, you might be contagious,” she said, “so maybe I’ll stay somewhere else for a few days. Just until you’re feeling better.”
* * *
Carter
“So, you’re not an artist? Really?” The woman was really drunk. Her sparkly dress was falling off her shoulder, exposing her breast. When she laughed, I could see the edge of her nipple. She didn’t seem to notice.
“I’m a director.” I was sitting on Fletch’s couch. Fletch and I had hit a bunch of bars that night. We’d dragged some girls back to his apartment. Fletch was busy with his in his bedroom. I was supposed to be fucking this one. Despite the fact she was losing her clothes, I couldn’t manage to be interested. “Well, I used to be a director. Currently, I’m only a professor.”
Her eyes lit up. “Professor? Really? That’s hot.”
I rolled my eyes. “Look, Annie—”
“Amelia,” she said.
“Whatever,” I said. “You’re obviously really drunk right now. If you want I could call you a cab. Or you could stretch out on the couch here and sleep it off. Fletch wouldn’t mind.”
She was taken aback. “Don’t you like me, Professor?”
“Not really, no,” I said.
Her face fell. “Oh.”
Then I felt like a jackass. Which really wasn’t a new feeling for me, or it shouldn’t have been. I spent lots of time taking down students a peg or two. Usually it didn’t bother me a bit. Right now, however, I realized that I did not like making this girl feel horrible. I sighed. “It’s not your fault. I’m... going through something.”
She looked up. “A break up?”
I swallowed. “Sort of.”
“Sort of?” She leaned forward, genuinely interested in a drunken way.
“Your dress.” I gestured.
“Oh!” She giggled, putting the strap back on her shoulder. “Oops. Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “We didn’t want to break up. But... we can’t be together. It won’t work. There are reasons why. Lots of reasons. There’s nothing about her and me that even makes sense.”
“You’re in love with her,” she said, looking wistful.
“No,” I said. “I’m not in love with her. It’s not like that. I barely know her. I hardly got a chance.” I wanted another drink suddenly. I’d been drinking all night, but it wasn’t enough. I got up and went into Fletch’s kitchen. I found some beer in the refrigerator. I asked Amy if she wanted one. She didn’t need one, of course, but I figured it didn’t matter much at this point.
She took a beer.
I took one too. I leaned against the wall.
She sprawled on the couch. “You came here to forget about her, didn’t you?”
I took a long drink of my beer. “To try, I guess. But I can’t forget about her. Everything about her is completely unforgettable. She isn’t like anyone I’ve ever known.”
“She’s pretty?”
“She’s beautiful.”
“And she’s nice?”
“Yeah, she’s one of those girls who’s ridiculously beautiful, but she doesn’t act like she’s beautiful. She’s so talented too, but she doesn’t lord that over people either. She’s kind of humble. And sort of innocent and sweet and just... I...”
“So why can’t you be with her?”
I collapsed on the couch. “Well, you know my profession. Guess.”
Her jaw dropped. “She’s your student?”
I nodded.
“Whoa.” She took a drink of beer. “But you really like her. It’s not like you’re taking advantage of her, right? It’s real between the two of you.”
I laughed bitterly. “I really like her. And I’m taking advantage of her. All at the same time. Can you see how that works, Anita?”
“Amelia.”
“Whatever.”
“You can’t do both at the same time.”
“Sure you can,” I said.
“No.” She set down her beer. “Either you like her, and you want good things for her, or you want to use her for your own pleasure. It can’t be both.”
“It’s not that simple.”
She shrugged. “I think it is. Like, tonight, I came back here with you because I wanted to get laid. Not because I care about you or anything. Right? I mean, I couldn’t even remember your job. And you can’t remember my name. But we came back here with the intention of fucking. It was simple.”
“This is not the same thing as—”
“As what? As your affair with your student?”
I flinched. “You make it sound—”
“Isn’t it?”
I swallowed.
“Do you care about her or do you want to use her?”
It was quiet.
When she spoke again, she was quiet too. “You better decide.”
I didn’t say anything.
“You better decide whether you care about her or not.”
“Is that a decision, really? Do you decide to care about people?”
She shrugged. “You can decide it’s important, I guess. You can decide to act.”
“You don’t understand. I can’t go up against these people. There are too many of them. It’s complicated.”
“I don’t think it is.” She smiled sadly. “I don’t think you do either. Not really. Not deep down.”
I took a swig of beer. I didn’t look at her.
“Maybe I’ll take you up on that cab,” she said. “I don’t think I want to sleep on this couch.”
* * *
Teagan
There was a soft knock on my door. It was late. Maybe if I ignored it, whoever it was would go away. I hadn’t left my room in two days now. Nell was staying somewhere else. I was alone. And at least, if I stayed locked in my room, I was safe.
“Teagan?” said a voice outside.
I recognized it. “Go away, Harper.”
“You didn’t come to rehearsal,” he said. “You didn’t answer your phone. We worked around you, but it was tough. There are only three scenes your character isn’t in.”
Was he trying to make me feel guilty? If so, he’d succeeded.
“Are you okay?”
Damn it. I stalked across the room. I opened the door a crack. It was only Harper out there in the hall. No one else was there. “Hi.”
“Teagan?” He looked concerned. “You don’t look good.”
Maybe I hadn’t showered lately. “Sorry.”
“Let me come in.”
Come in? I considered. Harper wasn’t part of Scales and Fangs. He was just a guy who didn’t know anything about what was going on. He was probably safe. And I was so lonely and frightened. I opened the door a little wider. “Okay. Come in.”
He slid by me into the room.
I checked the hallway. No one else was out there. I shut the door, locking it.
“Teagan, what the hell is going on?”
Otherworldly Bad Boys: Three Complete Novels Page 45