Chapter 16
Violet
I woke to sunlight streaming through my window and the vague sense that something was wrong.
Every muscle in my body ached as I pushed myself upright, and when I tried to roll my left shoulder, a sharp twinge of pain reminded me exactly why.
Kane. The parking lot. The brick wall.
Julian.
My stomach dropped, and suddenly I was very awake.
Oh god. Last night.
Heat flooded my face as memories crashed over me in vivid, mortifying detail. Julian's hands on my bare skin. The way I'd barely been able to breathe when he touched me. How I'd locked the door after he left and—
No. I wasn't going to think about that. I couldn't think about that.
Except I already was, and my body was already responding to the memory, a telltale warmth pooling low in my belly despite the shame twisting in my chest.
"Stop it," I muttered, swinging my legs out of bed and standing too quickly. The room tilted slightly, and I had to brace myself against the nightstand.
I caught sight of myself in the mirror above my dresser and froze.
I looked wrecked. Hair tangled, eyes shadowed with exhaustion, lips slightly swollen from how hard I'd bitten them last night.
And when I turned slightly, pulling down the collar of my oversized t-shirt, I could see the bruise blooming across my upper back.
Purple and angry, exactly where Kane had shoved me into the wall.
Where Julian had touched me afterward.
I dropped my hand and looked away, unable to stand my own reflection.
The worst part wasn't even what I'd done. It was that I wanted to do it again. That even now, exhausted and ashamed and disgusted with myself, some traitorous part of me was wondering when I'd see Julian again.
My phone buzzed on my bed, and I reached down to grab it. Cherry was calling.
“Hey, are you busy right now?” she asked.
“Not at all,” I murmured, sinking back down on the blanket as another wave of exhaustion washed over me.
“Are you okay? You sound kinda sick.”
“I’m just really tired. I overslept, and I feel like a total zombie.”
“Sounds like you need one of those triple shot cappuccinos from The Grind,” she said, voice tinged with sympathy. “I know they work, because I just had one, and I feel like I could run a marathon.”
“Good idea,” I said before smothering another yawn. “Actually, I might still have an iced coffee in my fridge.”
“Oh, one of those high protein ones you showed me?”
“Yeah,” I said, trudging over to my minifridge. I stooped to open it. “I’m pretty sure I finished the last one yesterday, but there might still be one hiding in the—”
I stopped abruptly as I opened the fridge door to see it stacked to the max with rows of my favorite bottled iced coffee, the Candy Snap grapes I loved, strawberry Greek yogurt cups, pre-made chicken Caesar wraps, and the dark chocolate almond bars I was obsessed with.
There was even a new bag of Mochi Moons in the little freezer compartment.
All my favorites.
“What the fuck?” I muttered.
“Vee?” Cherry's voice faintly carried from my phone. “Is everything okay?”
I lifted the phone back to my ear and filled her in on the situation.
“What the fuck?” she said, echoing my earlier words.
“I swear it was almost empty yesterday,” I said. “Like, if I’m remembering right, there was a bottle of water, a half-eaten box of grapes, and a bag of mochi. That’s it. I even remember thinking: Wow, I need to get to a grocery store soon.”
“Well, I guess you must’ve gone at some point yesterday afternoon and totally forgotten,” she said. “Or maybe you sleepwalked all the way to the nearest convenience store last night? That would explain why you’re so tired now.”
I blinked, rubbing my temple with my free hand. “Maybe. But how weird would that be? My memory isn’t usually that bad. And I don’t think I’ve ever sleepwalked before.”
“Well, you’re under a ton of stress, so maybe that triggered some sort of episode,” Cherry replied. “I guess you should count yourself lucky that all you did was go shopping. I read about some girl who sleepwalked right off a cliff a while back.”
“Wow, thanks for that. Now I’m worried someone might have to tie me down to the bed every night to keep me safe,” I replied, reaching for one of the iced coffees.
For a few fleeting seconds, I wondered if Julian had somehow broken in while I was asleep and restocked my fridge after seeing how empty it was last night.
I dismissed that thought pretty quickly, though.
Why on earth would he do that? And how would he even know all my favorite drinks and snacks unless he spoke to me every day or lived with me?
No, I must’ve bought the stuff yesterday and totally blanked on it, like Cherry said.
She laughed softly. “I’m sure you’ll be fine,” she said. “But anyway… speaking of your bed, I’ve got some questions for you.”
“Okay,” I said, brows rising with curiosity as I twisted the lid off my bottle. “Shoot.”
“Firstly, how did your dinner with Kane Sutherland go?” she asked, voice dripping with barely-contained curiosity. “And secondly, if it went well, is he lying in your bed right now? Is that why you’re so exhausted?”
I snorted. “Hell no. Last night couldn’t have gone any worse,” I said. “He lied about knowing Calista. He was just trying to get in my pants.”
“Oh my god, are you serious?”
“Yup,” I said grimly.
“What a fucking prick,” she said. “But I guess that explains why I’d never heard of him before. I mean, I knew Calista had some friends from classes that I’d never met before, but still… I usually heard their names, at least.”
“Yeah, total dead end there,” I muttered.
“I’m guessing you left pretty fast once you found out?”
“Sure did.”
“Sorry for the third degree. It’s just… I heard something kinda weird a few minutes ago.”
I straightened my shoulders, heart suddenly racing. “What was it?”
“I was at The Grind for my coffee, and while I was standing in line, I overheard this table of Sigma Chi guys talking,” she said. “I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but most of those guys are pretty loud.”
“Yeah, tell me about it,” I said, rolling my eyes as I recalled the group I met in Revs last night.
“I heard one of them say something like, ‘I can’t believe Sutherland didn’t show up.
He’s never missed a single run.’. That made my ears prick up because I knew you were going out with a guy called Kane Sutherland last night.
So I moved a little closer to listen in, because… well, you know how nosy I can be.”
“Uh-huh,” I murmured, waiting for her to continue.
“They were telling a pledge about some running club that Kane started as a group fitness thing for the Sigma Chis. Apparently they meet at eight every Thursday morning,” she said.
“Anyway, they said Kane never showed up this morning, and apparently, he never came home last night either. Then I heard another one of them say, ‘I saw him on a date with a hot brunette at Revs last night. Maybe he went home with her’. At that point, I knew they were definitely talking about you. So I assumed you guys really hit it off, and you took him back to your dorm for some action.”
“Nope, definitely not,” I said stiffly.
“Huh. I wonder where he went, then. It’s pretty weird that he never made it home.”
Never made it home.
I could only assume Julian had driven Kane to the nearest emergency room and left him there last night. That had to be what he meant when he said he’d ‘take care of him’.
But even as I thought that, a sliver of doubt crept in, sharp and cold. I’d heard the stories about Dionysus men from my friends. Heard about their ruthlessness and brutality. It was enough to give anyone pause, but still… surely Julian wouldn’t kill a guy over what happened last night.
Right?
I should’ve been beyond horrified at the thought, but instead, a dark, traitorous thrill began to curl low in my stomach. The idea of a man killing to protect me was weirdly intoxicating.
Oh my god. What the hell was wrong with me?
“Do you have any idea where he might’ve gone?” Cherry went on, breaking me out of my twisted trance.
I bit my bottom lip as I mulled over my response.
For some strange reason, I felt the need to keep what Julian had done from everyone else.
Maybe I just felt compelled to help him because he'd helped me, or maybe it was something deeper; something that I didn't want to examine too closely.
Either way, I knew I had to keep my mouth shut.
“Maybe he met another girl at the bar after I stormed out,” I finally said, affecting a nonchalant tone. “He seemed pretty eager to get laid.”
Cherry snorted. “That’d make sense. Those Sigma guys are such man-whores.”
“So I’ve heard,” I said before taking a swig of my coffee.
“Anyway, the other thing I wanted to ask you: are you still up for this road trip to see Jennifer Albright this afternoon?”
“Definitely. You said our appointment is at four o’clock, right?”
“Yup. It’ll take around forty-five minutes to get there, so we’ll leave at a quarter past three,” she said. “But can you come to my dorm around two so we can get ready?”
“My last lecture today ends at half past two, so I can come then. Is that okay?” I replied.
“Yeah, that should be fine. I just figured we should try to make ourselves look as closely related as possible,” she said. “You know, to sell the whole cousin story.”
“Good idea.”
We ended the call on that note, and I gulped down my iced coffee before grabbing my laptop. I wanted to message Julian to ask what he'd done with Kane, but without his number, my only option was to check the BHU student directory and hope it listed an email address for him.
A few seconds after I put his name in the directory search bar, my phone buzzed with a message from a number I’d never seen before.
Thinking about me?
Frowning, I shot off a quick reply. Who is this?
It’s Julian. Now you have my number.
I sat bolt upright, head whipping toward the window to see if anyone was spying on my laptop screen through the curtains. But there were no shadows there. No one was watching me.