Chapter 21
As soon as I flung the rubber snake out of the window, I fished for my knife and stopped dead to cool my anger.
I stormed down to his room to jimmy the lock as I’ve done a few times before, a technique my mother taught me.
Oh yes, my mother was a small-time thief before she met my father, and some habits die hard.
Anyway, I lost my head because the lock wasn’t a keyhole; it was a swipe card lock.
So I stood there staring at his door, and in my pent-up rage, I slammed the blade into the wood and wrote, Die Fucker!!
Two can play this game.
I returned to my room, locked the door, put my knife under my pillow, and, feeling very tired after a meal of beef casserole, I quickly fell asleep.
I had an early class and took a shower, and it was only after I got out that I remembered what I did to Lev’s door. I slept very soundly and deeply, so I didn’t hear his footsteps on the stairs; maybe he didn’t come home at all.
On the first day of classes, I arrived early to secure a good seat.
I packed my bag with my laptop, textbooks, pencil case, and other essentials.
When I checked my phone, I saw the last message from Dad asking me to find old school photos of my stepmother, but I dismissed it since I wasn’t interested in making the effort for her. I’ll handle it another time.
I’ll head down to the dining hall for toast, then buy a coffee from the café because I didn’t like the mass-produced coffee they had in the dining hall. I had already mapped out where my Digital Transformation class was, but it’s a fifteen-minute walk, rather than taking the bus.
I took a deep breath to calm my nerves, checked that I had everything I needed packed in my bag, as I won’t be coming back to Morgana for several hours. I had another class an hour afterwards and wanted to spend some time in the business library to take a look around.
Dodging the hanging fish hooks, I flung open my door and froze in fear when a dark figure leaned against the wall across from me, arms crossed over his chest, with disheveled raven hair, black on black, wearing a sullen expression.
“How long have you been standing there for?” I snarled at him, now that I had decided that I didn’t like him anymore, after last night’s episode.
“Die fucker?” he stressed as his dark eyes flicked toward his door.
“And?” I was unapologetic and unyielding. "You expect me to care after you left that snake in my bed?”
“Got evidence?” he challenged, and it stumped me because I didn’t have evidence, just a mere hunch.
Until…I noticed something on his handsome face. “Oh, jeez, now where did you get that gash on your cheek?”
“A rose thorn,” he answered swiftly, and I had to check myself.
“Not a fish hook, by any chance?” I was compelled to ask as I stormed away from him.
“A fish hook?” he acted dumb. “Wait. You cut Die Fucker on my door, yet you accuse me of being the bad guy? Strange logic, Adina.”
“Nice try, doofus,” I growled stubbornly.
“Stop,” his hand gripped my shoulder firmly, forcing me to halt just before I ran down the stairs. He then grabbed my bag off my shoulder and dumped it on the floor, despite my protests. “Stop.”
“I stopped because you’re forcing me to," I hissed as he quickly pressed me against the wall, reminding me of someone else who liked to throw his weight around. "Oh, you use the same bully tactics as your best friend, Ezrah Warwick. That was something you kept from me, wasn’t it? You and the Warwicks are practically family.”
“You didn’t ask,” he argued, grabbing my wrists and holding them above my head.
“You’re the great-great-grandson of the man who built this crazy place, and you didn’t think to mention that?
” I kept my glare fixed on his eyes to show that I was unafraid, but a chill traveled down my spine when I mentioned his grandfather.
It was as if the light went from his eyes, leaving only demons that thrive in the shadows.
He curled his top lip, suppressing his anger, leaned in so his lips were only an inch away from mine, and whispered, “I didn’t realize I had to divulge every last piece of information about my personal life to you?”
I swallowed only the nerves. “Let me go,” I demanded. “Let me go, Lev. I have a class I have to get to.”
“You’ve got time,” he argued.
“How would…” I paused to compose myself. “Don’t tell me…you got my class schedule off Ezrah the prick?”
“Well…you are the Warwicks’ enemy, so they would naturally do their homework on you,” he clenched his jaw as he spoke, sending a shiver down my spine. “Their father is in prison because of what your father did.”
“Excuse me? What my father did? Their father hired a hitman on him,” I was disturbed by his nonchalant expression. “Did you expect him just to lie back and take the bullet?”
He shrugged as if he didn’t care, while his eyes scanned mine, then my lips, and I could feel his desire's heat trembling against my skin.
I resisted his strength, eager to leave because I was terrified by my increasing desire for him.
As Mila and the others mentioned, Lev was pretty and attractive, but a bit eccentric—barking and hissing at any girl who glanced at him twice.
For some reason, I found his behavior intriguing, but not in this way.
“That gash on your cheek looks bad. You should get someone to look at it,” I added, seeing it closer up.
“It might become infected, you know. I didn’t sterilize the hooks because…
” I lowered my voice to a steely whisper as his penetrating stare watched my lips move, “I wanted it to hurt really bad when you cut yourself on it.”
His nostrils flared in desire as his body heat infiltrated every cell of my body, and I started to feel suffocated by his presence bearing down on me, gripping me tight.
His hands slacken their grip on my wrists, and I thought he was finally going to let me go, but instead, his mouth slammed against mine, and I sucked in my breath as my chest hitched in shock.
At first, I couldn’t move because I couldn’t believe this was happening, but as his soft, warm tongue tangled with mine and his lips felt so good, I melted into him and let his body envelop mine.
I exhaled into his mouth as he pushed his lower abdomen hard into me, and I surrendered to his body, allowing him to take me to fuck my mouth with his.
It was good, too good. Tongues dancing, no, fighting, we fought like lions in the cavities of our mouths as the place between my legs became sodden and my thighs weakened.
I hated what this man was doing to me, yet why didn’t I fight harder against him? Why didn’t I scream? Why did I let him seduce me?
I fell quickly under his spell as his mouth kept working me over, dope and peppermint bled into my mouth, and heat blistered my skin. Then my savior finally arrived. Footsteps upon the wooden floorboards were nearing, echoing down the corridor, trotting down the stairs.
Lev broke the kiss as I gulped in cool air, licking the taste of him off my lips.
My head spun, my cheeks burned, and I quickly tried to compose myself as I looked toward the direction of the footsteps.
“Oh, good, you’re here,” Mila said happily, and I patted my cheeks, hoping she wouldn’t see the signs.
Her pale eyes narrowed, noticing the dark figure slinking away as I composed myself, pretending that nothing happened. Nothing happened. He didn’t look back as he retreated into his cave, shutting the door behind him.
“Oh, my god,” Mila gasped, and at first, I thought she was referring to Lev, but no, she spotted the words on his door. “Die Effer?” refusing to say the swear word aloud. “Should we call the police, I mean, that might be a genuine threat.”
“Oh no, don’t worry about that,” I waved my hand dismissively, while hoping like heck that my lips weren’t swollen and red to give my secret away. “It’s just his stupid friends playing tricks on him.” I quickly covered my own tracks, hoping she’d drop the subject.
Her wide eyes kept staring at the door as if she could see a ghost. “I heard the mystery person last night,” she sighed. “I could hear them talking in the middle of the night again.”
“Oh, so maybe they’re an overseas student with family in a different time zone,” I was pleased for a change in subject and walked toward the stairs as she peeled her eyes away from Lev’s door.
“Maybe,” she said doubtfully.
Then I froze when I remembered something, and she slammed into the back of me. “One day, I saw this guy in a creepy mask go upstairs. I didn’t think much of it and assumed he’d just come to a party or something.”
“What sort of mask?” she asked curiously.
“A creepy old man mask,” I described what I saw the best I could. “He was wearing a hood, and I only saw it briefly, but I did see a warty, bulbous nose.”
She scrunched up her face in disgust. “Yuck.” Several moments passed as she drifted away, then she added, "So weird..." before stopping, as if she was at a loss for words or didn’t want to say what was on her mind aloud. Maybe I shouldn’t have told her, since the image of the creepy old man mask she was imagining might keep her awake at night.
As we passed the kitchen, I was reminded of something Mila had said the night before. “Did you ever find out who the stray bowl of food belonged to?”
She snorted as we approached the front door. “No. I have no idea what he was going on about?” I opened the door, and we stepped out together, but my lips were still prickling from Lev’s kiss. He was a great kisser. That kiss almost knocked me out.
The subject of the mysterious bowl of food faded to the back of my mind as we walked to the dining hall for breakfast, but I could still taste and smell Lev, and I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, but it didn’t seem to help.
Crowds of students were walking in the same direction as the population had increased over the past few days, and with that, the vibe had also changed. Pre-class parties have been going non-stop for days, and everywhere I look, I see people. Yet, Morgana was still empty.
That strange feeling that I was being watched crept up on me, and I glanced behind to see a group of students in their own little world. Then I looked toward the window on the third floor of Morgana, expecting to see someone there—the mystery man—but I was too far away and at the wrong angle.
That unsettling feeling didn’t disappear until I entered the dining hall and smelled the coffee.
The buffet table was lined with large bowls of different cereals, plates of bread to toast, and jars of spreads.
My stomach still felt heavy from the beef casserole I had last night, so I grabbed a piece of wholegrain bread and slipped it into the spare toaster, ready to spread a thick layer of peanut butter.
Mila, meanwhile, spread strawberry jelly on her toast. After eating, we headed toward Ashthorn Castle.
“The razorblade incident is being investigated,” Mila said out of the blue as we stepped inside the shadowy hall of the castle that led to Dingle Street on the other side, where the cafes and restaurants were.
I fell silent because I still felt guilty about it.
“Those cupcakes were made in one of the campus kitchens,” she told me as we walked under the creepy fawn statue peering down at us.
“Oh, gosh, so…was it an accident or…” I swallowed as that cupcake was meant for me, so finding out that it might be deliberate was a disturbing thought, even though I shouldn’t be surprised considering who my father is.
“The police investigating haven’t told us yet, but they have identified the bakers and spoken to them,” she sighed as nausea churned in my stomach, and I quickly lost my appetite for the peanut butter toast, dropping it into a trash can.
“And what did they say?” I asked expectantly as my eyes kept finding those cuts on her lips that her fingers naturally gravitated to as she spoke about it.
“Well,” she exhaled heavily, as if to relieve the stress bearing down on her. “Let’s just say the police have concluded that the razor blade would’ve most likely been inserted after the cupcakes left the kitchen.”
“Oh,” my heart thudded aggressively against my ribcage, “so it was meant for me.”
She shook her head, making a face. “The police have to follow the trail from when the cupcakes left the kitchen, packaged, and then delivered out to the dorms.”
“So, who delivered them to Morgana?” I asked as it was getting dangerously close to solving a very distressing mystery.
Mila shrugged those narrow shoulders, “They haven’t told us, either, because they don’t know yet, or they want to keep the details a secret until they’ve spoken to them.
” She sighed again as it seemed to weigh down on her.
“We’ll get there one day, and then hopefully they’ll be arrested and removed from Castlehill. ”
We exited onto Dingle Street, lively with students like us who preferred a good coffee over the dining hall's options. Seeing the Scholars sign on a sandwich board on the sidewalk, I remembered I had a midday meeting with James York, and I wasn’t eager about it.
I needed to think of an excuse to get out of it, as I wasn’t in the mood; in fact, I didn’t think I’d ever be in the mood to sit across the table with James and make nice.
I mean, I had nothing against him, but my instincts were screaming that something was off about him wanting to go on a date with me.
I suspected I was being used as a mule to piss off the Warwicks after seeing the fight in the dining hall between the Warwick crew and the blond York crew; they’re not exactly friends.
“I’m going to head to class,” Mila said when she groaned at the lines streaming out of the cafes.
“Okay, see you later,” I waved out as I joined the line not at Scholars, but at the café beside it called Bastions.
My head was spinning from the kiss with Lev, the razor blades, and sweet Mila bearing the brunt of it, the potential date with James, the kiss, the kiss, the kiss with Lev.
Oh god, that kiss. My lips still tingled and swelled, and I automatically checked my skin's heat, hoping I wasn’t turning red like a beetroot, which would be a clear sign I had been up to no good.
It’s finally my turn to order a coffee, and I am pleased to see Jess's friendly face serving, so I asked, “Have the police been here today?”
“Earlier,” she replied, “they’ve taken over a spare classroom in the Business School and are running their investigation from there now.”
“So, what’s happened to the body?” I wondered, since it’s been over a week and we’re in the middle of nowhere, and I was sure the family would want their daughter or son back.
“Not sure,” she replied as she rang up the cost, took my money, and I stepped aside for the next person in line.