14. Holden
Chapter 14
Holden
P ax is no longer trying to hide his drinking. It’s become a bit of a game, watching as Eloise tries to take the flask or bottle away from him. I tell myself I don’t care, but this shit looks bad for all of us. The girl who was standing next to him rushes to the other side of the room, whispering and gesturing excitedly to her friend.
I stroll over to where Pax is leaning against the wall. He shifts his arm away to hide the scrapes on his hand, but that does nothing for the one on his face. I know road rash when I see it. Was the idiot riding without a helmet?
I voice my question. “Were you racing your bike without a helmet again?” He rolls his eyes and takes another gulp from the bottle he’s clutching. “Are you trying to kill yourself?”
“Yes.”
He walks off. The conviction of that one word falls like lead at my feet. I watch him stagger through the crowd of bodies in our frat house, and make his way up the stairs with two girls in tow. What the fuck is going on with Pax? Is he truly suicidal?
Eloise is watching me. She quickly looks away when she sees I’ve caught her staring. There are three other prospects in the room who seem to be more focused on me than the girls in their laps. Like I said, Pax’s behavior reflects badly on us all.
It’s amazing the type of shit you see and hear when people think you’re socially awkward. I let the silence drag on too long so they’re happy to walk away, talk too much to fill it, or ignore me altogether. Tonight, I’m being ignored, which allows me to slip out of the frat house undetected.
I trail Eloise across campus and through the doors of Vale Tower, entering the building after she’s already on the elevator. I wait in the lobby, watching as it ascends past her floor, stopping on mine.
Not wanting the main elevator to announce my arrival, I walk to the end of the hall and use the private one. I’m hidden behind the secret panel, watching Eloise through the camera feed on my phone. She jiggles the handle on Thea’s door before pulling out a red key fob.
It must be the one she used last year to get in and destroy Thea’s shit. This floor is a safe zone. Or it should be, but Pax’s new flame is strolling around here like she owns the place. So much for him respecting our space and setting boundaries. What happened to all the rules he was touting when he was trying to keep Thea in line?
Eloise tries the key fob twice more. The light on the panel cycles through green, then flashes red. She finally gives up and goes over to Finn’s door. I watch as she pulls out another key and presses it against his lock. It disengages, and she swings the door open, letting herself inside. When the door closes behind her, I emerge from the hidden passageway and slip into my room, catching sight of her on the patio camera. She climbs onto Thea’s balcony the same way Finn does.
The room is empty, so why the hell does Eloise want to get inside it so badly? My phone buzzes with a message from Finn. I text a quick reply.
Holden
Get to the dorms. We have a problem.
I use the passage between the two rooms, stepping through the closet into Thea’s bedroom. I can hear Eloise muttering about hiding spots. Is she looking for Thea’s challenge items? If so, she won’t find them. Thea took our warning to heart. There’s nothing hidden here.
Eloise’s voice gets louder. “The key didn’t work. Yes, I used the right one. It’s the same one I used last year.” She pauses, then says, “I’m in the room. I had to use the second key and climb over Finn’s balcony to get inside.”
Irritation laces her next reply. “I didn’t exactly plan on having to go through his room.” I inch forward, peeking through the crack in the door. She’s opening and closing cabinets. “There’s nothing here. Not even a scrap of paper. She must’ve packed up everything before she…” She huffs, “No, I can’t do that. I wasn’t friends with her, and there’s no way her parents will believe I was.”
Another beat of silence. “Why would I lie? The only reason I’m the one doing this is because I’m Pax’s companion and I live in this building. No one will question me being here.”
Is that what she thinks? That being his companion gives her the right to be up here, letting herself into our rooms and snooping through our shit? The front door opens then closes and my phone chimes, showing the elevator has arrived on our floor.
Stepping into the living room, I skim my eyes over the space. The school did a walk through and had maintenance come through to close out the dorm assignment, but there wasn’t much here to clean. Layla Jean and the Hugheses packed everything up since Thea wasn’t here on her move out date.
I hurry back to my room and reach the front door in time to hear Eloise’s pitiful screech. I bite back a smile as I step into the hallway. Finn has impeccable timing. He has one arm pressed against her throat; his free hand holds a knife, pressing it into the underside of her chin, as he asks, “Why the fuck were you in Thea’s room?”
Eloise looks at me wide-eyed as I lean against the wall across from them, legs crossed at the ankles, arms folded across my chest. “Don’t look at me. I wasn’t the idiot in a room I’m not authorized to be in.”
“I was-”
“Just about to come up with a lie,” Finn says, cutting her off. “Yes, please do.” He twirls the knife around, slowly pushing it further into her skin. “Do you know how long I’ve dreamed of cutting your tongue out? Until today, I didn’t really believe dreams came true. But call me a Disney Princess, because here we are. Holden, mind giving me a hand?”
I take the open mouth gag from his outstretched hand and strap it onto Eloise’s head. He must’ve had plans to use this on someone else later. That person should thank Eloise for their temporary reprieve.
Once the straps are secure, I return to my spot on the wall. I’ll be studying her body language while Finn questions her.
“Now I know it’s gonna be difficult for you to do anything but scream and drool with this gag in your mouth so we’ll use charades, eye blinks, and hand signals. Kay?”
Her eyes flick to the elevator. Finn notices and chuckles darkly. “After what the two of you did to me, do you really think I give a shit if he shows up? In fact, I think I’ll record this and add it to my highlight reels.” He looks over his shoulder at me. I pull out my phone and give him a nod.
“Is this a challenge? Blink twice for no, three times for yes.”
I watch as her lashes flutter three times.
“Did you complete whatever your challenge was? Blink double the times for no, triple the times for yes.”
She blinks four times.
“How did you get into that room?”
She lifts her arm, pointing towards his door.
“All my shit better be there.” He warns. “Now, final question. Do you know what happened to Thea? Five times for no, ten times for yes.”
Five blinks. Finn steps away, and her body sags. It’s stupid of her to feel relief, because seconds later his hand is around her throat, squeezing the air out of her. “You forget I was your companion for years, Eloise. I was forced to spend time with you. Talk to you. Watch you interact with people and your surroundings, so I know when you’re lying.”
Her eyes bulge in her head. As he continues to choke the air out of her with one hand, his knife slices through her shirt with the other, exposing her chest. She screams around the gag, tears stream down her face, as he carves an L over her heart. Her muffled sobs wash over me, the sight of her blood trailing down her skin mesmerizes me. She finally passes out from the lack of air, but Finn has no problem keeping her upright as he continues to work. The elevator chimes and Pax steps onto our floor.
His steps falter, his gaze bouncing from Finn to me. I don’t know why he’s looking at me. I wouldn’t be able to stop Finn, even if I wanted to, which I don’t. Finally, he moves forward, shoving Finn out of the way. Without him holding her up, Eloise slumps to the floor. We all look at the dead weight at Pax’s feet.
“What did you do?” He asks, glaring at us.
“I kept my promise.” Finn turns, heading to his room, and calls out, “But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
When Finn’s door closes, Pax turns to me. “You just stood there and watched him carve up my companion?”
“I’m under no obligation to protect her. That’s your job.”
He argues, “You protected Thea when I wasn’t around.”
“That wasn’t about you. It was about Thea. Just like this .” I point to the pile of flesh on the ground. “Is about Eloise.” I step over her body, resisting the urge to kick her. “While you’re nursing your companion’s bruises, ask her what the hell she was doing with a key to Finn’s room, and what she was looking for in Thea’s room. Maybe you’ll get the truth since you’re so close. Unless you already know the answer because you’re a part of her schemes, too.”
Pax
I lean over, tapping Eloise on the face. I’ve walked up on Finn doing a lot of crazy shit. Him carving people up, that’s normal. Him doing it in the middle of the hallway on our floor. That’s new. Him slicing into Eloise Charles. That’s a problem. Me standing there watching is a bigger problem. But, I didn’t know what to do. I know something had to have happened that made him feel justified in his actions. But this stupid companionship means I have to take her side no matter what she did wrong.
Make no mistake, coming onto our floor and breaking into Finn’s room is definitely wrong. She’s not his companion or fiancé, so she had no business being in there. I’ve also told her that the fourth dorm room is off limits, but according to Holden, she was in there, too.
I’ll ask her why, but I’m prepared to hear a bunch of lies. Or maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll head right back down to the lobby and walk out the door, pretending not to have seen or heard anything.
What could she be looking for? Her cell buzzes and I free it from her pocket, reading the text from the number labeled dad.
Daddy
Did you find any clues yet?
Clues to what? Thea’s room is empty, so there’s nothing of importance in there. Finn knives are on display in his room. Most of them are rare or custom made blades. No one would be stupid enough to steal one. Not even the menace, that is Thea, tried walking off with one the day she broke in and dipped a pair of daggers in bronze.
You’ll need to find a way into the other two rooms.
We don’t keep our challenge items in the dorm. So if that’s what Eloise is after, why would she be looking in an empty room? Whatever she’s looking for, she and her father, must think the risk of getting caught and endangering our arrangement is worth it.
Eloise pretending to look for something could be a red herring. It’s possible she’s leaving something behind. Her phone buzzes again. She stirs with a pained groan. Staring down at her I ask, “What are you doing up here Eloise?”
Her eyes fly open, a calculating glint in them. When she sees me, her expression morphs into horror. Tears spring to her eyes. “Oh my god, Pax.”
I roll my eyes as she grabs onto me, pulling herself to a sitting position, and sobbing against my thighs. As if the hysterics will change the fact that she disregarded the rules. “Finn, he-” Her voice cracks.
“Finn what?”
“He attacked me!”
“Did he?” I ask, helping her to her feet.
She clutches her shirt, holding it closed with one hand, and massaging her throat with the other. Her lower lip wobbles as she eyes the blood on her shirt and the wound on her chest. The cut is superficial. “Yes!” She nods, looking up at me with innocent eyes. “I came up here to see you and he just snapped.”
“It’s not like Finn to attack you for no reason.” Finn is quick to attack, but he always has a reason. Some might not call them good reasons. But they exist. I consider it a master class in deduction, the way he justifies his actions.
“It was Ho-Holden. He provoked Finn into attacking me and then stood there and watched.”
“Tell me exactly what Holden did.”
“He…”
“Yes?”
“He told Finn I broke into his room.”
See. That’d be a reason Finn would feel justified in carving into her like a turkey. It might seem minor to some, but Finn’s never invited Eloise into his space before. He wouldn’t want her in there now.
“Did you?” I ask, just to see how far she’s going to push this innocent routine.
“Of course not. I came to see you.”
“Came to see me? Here? At the dorms?”
She nods. Her dumb ass didn’t even pause long enough to think about how this sounds. “You came to see me here . At the dorms. While I was still at the party, you left?”
She scrambles for another lie. “I thought you took off. I looked around the party and when I couldn’t find you, I decided to see if you were here.”
She couldn’t find me because I was hiding out upstairs. My efforts to get fucked went sideways. As soon as I walked into the upstairs lounge area, I was assaulted by memories of Thea sitting in the dark as she watched me struggle to get my dick sucked. I remembered how I couldn’t get into the blow job I’d gone in there for. Not with the bane of my existence sitting there judging me. That memory bled into the one of us hate fucking on the floor. I’d give anything to have that night back again.
I walk over to the elevator and stab the call button. “You need to get off of this floor before they come back out.”
“Are you, um, going back to the party?”
Why the fuck would I do that when I just got here? Looking down the hall towards our rooms, I say, “I need to deal with my friends, and remind them of the penalty for harming my companion.”
I turn back towards her and pretend not to have seen the smile on her face. She wants me and the guys at odds, and because of circumstances beyond my control, she’s getting exactly what she wants.