Chapter 20
20
C arter dropped me back at my dorm with the information that we wouldn’t know who’d won until the morning. Everyone’s duck pics needed to be submitted to…someone…and then a winner chosen after review.
Carly was already fast asleep by the time I’d showered and washed my makeup off, so I couldn’t even debrief with her. My phone was full of messages from Heath asking whether I was back yet, and asking to talk in person but I didn’t have the energy. So I turned my phone off and went to bed instead.
When I woke up late the next morning, I nearly had a heart attack.
“Get the fuck out of my room,” I snarled, dragging a pillow over my head even as my heart raced. It was that, or throw it, and I didn’t have faith in my aim while half asleep.
“Trust me,” Nate replied, surly as ever, “there are plenty of other places I’d rather be right now. It’s a shame you’re awake because I was about to throw some cold water in your face.”
I risked a peek by lifting the pillow. Liar. He was slouched in my desk chair with no water in sight. “You must really love getting kicked in the balls. Is it a kink thing?”
Nate’s answering smile was cold and full of judgment. “You’d know all about kinks, being a professional. Carter is walking a thin line messing around with you like he did last night…his mother would cut him off if she found out.”
That thought actually worried me. Carter and I had fun doing the challenge together, and his snap temper hadn’t come out even once. The idea that he could be in shit for choosing me as his date…
Except that wasn’t what Nate meant, was it? He assumed we were fucking, and for once I didn’t totally blame him for the assumption considering I’d been in underwear and a robe, and Carter was just in his suit pants.
“Shouldn’t you be worrying about your own miserable relationship right now, not obsessing over my sex life? I know you heard what I said last night. Paige is cheating on you right under your nose.”
His expression hardened. “That is why I’m here in your rather unpleasant company, Layne. Carter is acting like he doesn’t know what I’m talking about.”
I sighed and sat up with a yawn. Nate scowled as I gave an exaggerated stretch, thinking about what I wanted to say on the whole subject. Thankfully I’d changed into an oversized T-shirt before bed, and my blankets covered me from the waist down, so I wasn’t giving him a free show or anything.
“Whose T-shirt is that?” Nate asked, startling me with confusion.
I blinked, peering down at what I was wearing. It was nothing special, just a faded sports tee that I liked because it was so soft and well worn. “Uh, mine?” Or it was now . It’d originally belonged to an ex-boyfriend. “Weird question. Anyway, get out of my room. In case I didn’t make myself clear the last time you visited, you aren’t welcome .”
“Tell me what you know about my girlfriend, and I’ll go,” he shot back, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “I don’t see what the problem is.”
I coughed a laugh of disbelief, my eyes wide. “You don’t? You broke into my room—the door was locked—and sat there like a creep while I slept because you’re too scared to ask your girlfriend if she’s cheating on you…but you don’t see the problem? Uh huh. I guess you didn’t get into your master’s program based on academics.”
His lip curled with anger. “I’m studying for my doctorate, thanks.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t care. Get out.”
“Not until you tell me what you know. Why are you playing coy now? You had plenty to say last night.”
“I’m not playing anything , you dick. I also don’t owe you shit. Even if I wanted to tell you what I know, you wouldn’t believe me and you fucking know it. You just want me to say the bad thing so you can discredit it and move on. Go ask your so-called friends, because trust me…they know.”
His eyes narrowed in a hard glare. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
I groaned, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “It’s like talking to a block of cheese. Get it through your head, Nate. We aren’t friends, you and me. I owe you nothing, and don’t particularly fucking care that your girlfriend is fucking around on you considering what you did to Carly last year. But even if I did care, you won’t believe me . So why even waste my breath?”
“Try me,” he snapped, folding his arms across his chest. Stubborn fuck.
“Fine,” I replied with a tight smile. “Paige is fucking Royce.”
Okay. That was a little bit satisfying. I never claimed to be a good person, and hurting Nate gave me a spark of joy.
But then he had to ruin it by shaking his head. “Point proven, Layne. I should have known you’d hold your secrets just to spite me.”
I threw my hands up in frustration and flopped back into my pillows. “Okay, whatever, close the door behind you.”
“I would say, blow me , but I’m not interested in paying your going rate,” Nate sneered, shoving out of my office chair and grabbing the door handle aggressively. “If you have any humanity, I’d stay away from Carter though. His mother has big plans and none of them involve a whore from Panner City, so don’t ruin his future.”
Anger and outrage flooded through me. “Which is it, Nate? Heath or Carter? Who am I corrupting today? Or wasn’t I supposedly fucking Royce last night too? Oh wait, that was Paige.”
The slam of my door was the only response I got, and I flipped over to scream into my pillow. Nate made me so fucking mad but I was even more irate that I’d literally told him the truth and as predicted, he didn’t believe me.
Furious and totally awake, I got up and dressed. It was Saturday, and I had a shitload of studying to do if I wanted to keep up with classes. I also wanted to find the campus gym to work off some of the shit food and sugary coffee I’d been consuming lately.
As I waited for my coffee a little while later, I was almost disappointed that Heath didn’t mysteriously appear like he had so often in the past two weeks. When I ordered and paid, I went as far as texting him back, agreeing that we should talk.
My message showed as delivered, then immediately read . But by the time my coffee was ready, he hadn’t replied. I bit my lip, staring at the message thread. There was no rule that he had to reply straight away but considering how many messages he’d sent during the night, it just seemed odd.
With a sigh, I tucked my phone into my bag and made my way back to my room to study.
I’d picked up coffee for Carly, so knocked lightly on her door when I got back. There was every chance she was still asleep, but she jerked the door open a moment later with a frazzled look on her face.
“Thank fuck, you’re here,” she exclaimed, gesturing for me to come in. “I checked your room and you weren’t there, I thought—” She cut herself off with a deep inhale, like she was trying to calm herself down. “Is that for me?”
“Of course,” I replied, handing her coffee over. “What’s going on? Did something happen?”
Her head bobbed in a silent yes as she took a big swallow of coffee. “Mm-hmm, yes. Martin is in hospital.”
My mouth fell open. “What? Why? What happened?”
Carly sighed heavily, climbing back into her messy bed. “Okay so the duck challenge, right? We had a plan to plant our ducks in Lintan’s garage like inside his classic cars on the dashboards.”
I nodded thoughtfully. “That’s a good idea.” Not as good as mine and Carter’s placements, but still decent. “So how’d Martin get hurt?”
She shrugged. “I have no clue. Turns out the cars are alarmed and we split up in our panic. I took off one way, he went the other. I thought he’d gotten out but then I woke up like half an hour ago and saw a message from Krystal that he’s in Prosper Private, in a coma!”
I blinked a couple of times, trying to put the pieces together. “Did he fall or something?”
Carly bit the edge of her lip, nervous. “I don’t know. Krystal said someone told her he was beaten up. But who would do that? The challenge is not super legal and all but Lintan’s security are professional. If you’re caught, you’re just escorted off the property and your name recorded. That’s it. They wouldn’t…” She trailed off, running a shaking hand through her hair. “I don’t get it, Ash. Why would someone beat Martin up?”
I wet my lips, thinking back to Abigail’s dairy. She’d detailed something similar happening to herself…that at some fancy party she’d failed a task and had the shit kicked out of her. She hadn’t been put in hospital, as far as she’d recorded, but the similarity was chilling.
“Would the society have done it?” I asked quietly, hating that my doubts were all back in force after such a fun night.
Carly seemed taken back by that question. “What? No way. Girl, I feel like you have totally the wrong idea about Devil’s Backbone. It’s not like…a cult or anything. It’s just a bunch of rich kids doing dumb shit because we’re entitled, arrogant, and bored. Yes, I put myself into the same category, unfortunately. But no one is getting hurt in the DB, and there’s no freaking way anyone gets beaten up for failing a duck challenge. It’s supposed to be fun .”
I swallowed back my concerns because her phrasing rang oddly familiar. I seriously wished I still had Abigail’s diary to refer back to because the finer details were way too hazy in my mind and getting distorted by my own lived experiences.
“Okay. Sure, I just wondered if maybe that was a thing…”
Carly shook her head firmly. “Definitely not. This had to have been something that happened after he escaped the mansion. Maybe he was walking home and got mugged for his Rolex or something?”
“Maybe,” I murmured. “It’s possible. Are you going to visit him in the hospital?”
“No, he’s not permitted visitors apparently. Ugh, I feel so bad because I took his car when I got out. I should have waited…we were partners, after all. I just figured he’d call an Uber.” She screwed up her face, guilt etched all over her features.
Just as I was about to reassure her that it was not her fault, a heavy knock on her door interrupted me.
“Who is it?” she called out, not getting up off her bed.
“Carter,” the response came through the door. “Have you seen Ashley this morning?”
Carly gave me a long, accusing look and I could feel my face heating with a blush that implied something had actually happened last night. When in reality, it’d only happened in my filthy dreams.
Shooting her a shut up glare, I opened the door and tried not to blush any harder as I met Carter’s eyes. “Hey, what’s up.”
His brows hitched, then he gave me a sly smirk. “Pack a bag, Spark. Our flight leaves in two hours.”
Confusion had me wrinkling my nose. “Um, what? Flight to where?”
His grin spread wider. “Paris, babe…we won the duck challenge!”