10. Sam #3
“Nope,” I answer easily. His name doesn’t appear in any student records, past or present. The ones who were similar didn’t match the picture we found on social media of a local missing man. He’s been missing for two weeks, so the search is still ongoing.
I ask the question that’s been on my mind all morning. “Why don’t we go to the police?”
Mercy’s expression flattens. “In this city? You know how everything’s handled behind closed doors. Your father has enough money to hide anything he deems scandalous. I think his precious son inserting himself into a murder investigation would count.”
The mere mention of my father is enough to ruin my post-nut bliss. I click the mouse harder than necessary. “He doesn’t have to know. We could put in an anonymous tip.”
She sighs. “About a body in a cemetery? They’ll think we’re stupid.”
I relinquish the computer to her and drum my fingertips across the top of the desk.
“You really want to play their game?” It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, toying with someone’s life like you’re playing a hand of poker.
I know that my father trades in important things, too—weapons, contracts, information—but not lives.
Not that I know of.
“They’re going to cheat. They won’t give you an entire year. Us, ” I amend, frowning. “They won’t give us that kind of luxury of time, no matter what they say.”
Mercy peers up at me, a frown on her face. “You don’t know that.”
Scoffing, I kick her boot with the toe of my shoe. “You can’t possibly believe that they’ll play fair. They’re murderers.”
“They’re still people.”
“If you tell me that ‘they’re just like us’—”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
I wave my hand to give her the floor. “Okay, then explain.”
She leans back in her chair and scooches it away from the desk.
“All I’m saying is that if they wanted to kill us, they would have done it by now.
” Scraping a dried white splotch on the side of her thumb, she hums softly to herself.
“I don’t think that’s what they’re after. It’s not their end goal.”
“Then why kill Alejandro? Why kill anyone, at all?”
Tilting her head to the side, she considers my question for a few silent seconds. “I don’t know.” She meets my gaze as she pushes herself out of her chair and picks up my shirt off the floor. After inspecting it for a moment, she hands it to me. “But maybe we should ask.”
I roll my eyes, and she pinches my side. “I’m serious! Maybe they’ll tell us!”
“Maybe they’ll lie to us.” Shaking my head, I crumble my shirt into a tight ball.
“Whatever, Mercy, if you want to ask, go ahead. But I don’t think they’ll be honest with you.
We’ll have to figure them out on our own.
” I hate the idea that pops into my head, but I say it out loud anyway, hoping that Mercy will say no.
“We could invite them out, or something. Observe them up close.”
The last thing I want to do is hang out with Reaper and his brother, but if it helps Mercy make them fall in love with her… I clench my jaw and quickly rewrite that sentence in my head.
If it helps us convince them not to kill us… then fine. I’ll try anything.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Mercy admits, actually fucking agreeing with me. Great.
At least let me turn this into something for me, too. “Does it count as a date if they’re third and fourth wheeling?”
“Who says it’s a date?”
I bend at the waist to reach Mercy’s height. “I do. I want to take you on a date.”
Mercy quickly averts her eyes. “You don’t have to do that.”
Puzzled, I gently cup her chin and turn her face back towards mine. “Do what?”
“Pretend that you like me.” Sighing, she takes a step backwards, putting distance between us. “The hand job was nice—thank you for that—and you can still come over to hang out after practice, but we don’t have to play the game with each other. You don’t need to fall in love with me.”
I tap the hollow of her cheek with my fingertips. “Mercy. That wasn’t part of the deal.” I brush my thumb across the seam of her lips. “I’m supposed to make you fall in love with me , remember? And I’d like to try. Won’t you let me?”
Her eyes shimmer like crystals in the sunlight. “Why would you want to?”
Sighing, I try to hide my smile. “Because I actually like you, Mercy. I didn’t kiss you last year by accident.
I wanted to date you then, and I still want to date you now.
” I link our hands together and press a gentle kiss to the edge of her lips, tempted to take more, but knowing that I shouldn’t.
I don’t want our second first-kiss to be in an empty office in some stuffy campus building.
I want to kiss her on a real date.
“Go out with me,” I insist, “and let me prove it to you.”
She looks like a deer caught in headlights, and it’s so fucking cute. “Okay. We can… date.”
If I’m being honest, I don’t know if she’s ever had a boyfriend before, but I hope that if I make the cut.
I’d love to brighten her life the same way that she’s brightened mine.
As long as those other two men keep their dicks in their pants and their hearts to themselves, I’ll go as slow as Mercy needs me to.
But the minute either of them tries to take her from me, I can’t risk going slow and steady. I’ll have to dive in and drag Mercy under with me. It’s the only way I know how to survive.