Chapter 6 Lily
CHAPTER SIX
LILY
Present Day
Ishould have listened to my sister.
As I walked into the old student accommodation the next Saturday, my sister January texted me.
Please tell me you’re not going to that psych experiment after all.
I’d chuckled and replied:
Arriving now.
My phone beeped immediately.
Well, unarrive! It’s a trap! IT’S A TRAP!!!
Snort-laughing, I texted back.
So dramatic.
A stream of texts followed.
My drama will keep you alive.
This is the opening to a horror movie.
Old disused building.
Attractive but dim student lured there under false pretenses.
What part of this doesn’t scream Wes Craven to you?
I was impressed she knew who Wes Craven was. Still, rolling my eyes, I’d replied.
Dim? You just talked yourself out of the cupcakes I baked last night.
You’re not returning to claim them.
I’ll comfort-hoover them down while I wait for the police to arrive to tell me my sister was unalived by a psycho psych grad.
Still smiling at her nonsense, I’d followed the signs directing me to where I needed to be, only to walk into the room and lock eyes with the last person I wanted to see.
For the five minutes we waited for everyone to arrive, I tensed against his approach.
But he just stood there, staring at me.
This wasn’t happening.
No.
I was going to kill him.
Seething, I hoped Sebastian Thorne could feel the laser beam of my anger shooting from my eyes to where he stood across the room, smirking unremorsefully.
“It looks like we’re all here,” Arthur said, glancing around what had once been the kitchen of a student flat.
The accommodation was much like what I’d lived in my first year.
Five bedrooms off a narrow hallway, a shower room, and a kitchen/common room with uncomfortable chairs and no soft lounging area.
I always suspected they didn’t include a comfortable lounging area in the accommodation to deter students from socially gathering too often when they were supposed to be studying.
“Thanks again, everyone, for volunteering for our experiment. We’ve been running it for two weeks.
You’re group three, week three. We’re running a six-week experiment over six groups to provide plenty of data to extrapolate from.
What is our experiment, you ask? We seek to discover whether our reliance on technology is affecting the way we connect socially with one another. ”
That distracted me momentarily from the fact that Sebastian had signed up to the same psych experiment.
This experiment had some crossover with my dissertation. However, it was highly unoriginal. Disappointingly so. Perhaps it was part of some grander research Arthur was partaking in. Though, he did seem generally obsessed with our reliance on technology and his personal loathing for it.
Ultimately, however, I didn’t care about originality. I was more interested in the structure, organization, and process of the experiment so I had some practical experience going into my grad degree. I’d already compiled data from the psych experiments I’d signed up to in second and third year.
“We’re going to pair you up in twos and put you in different environments.
Note, you will be under visual and audio surveillance while inside your rooms. We have a disclaimer for you to read and a waiver to sign.
” Arthur stared down at his list and started calling attendance to make sure we were in fact all here.
In the meantime, uncaring he was being rude by talking over Arthur, a stocky guy with short black hair stepped into my personal space.
He had striking, pale blue eyes and a cocky swagger.
“I’m more than happy to pair up with you,” he said in a European accent I couldn’t quite place.
“Maybe they’ll put us in a room with only a bed.
A man can hope.” Stocky cocky guy dragged his gaze over me lasciviously, before gluing his eyes to my breasts as if imagining all manner of dirty things.
It took everything not to throw up in my mouth.
I hadn’t even been aware of Sebastian’s approach until he drawled with quiet menace, “Look at her like that again, and I’ll rip your fucking balls off.”
My eyebrows rose. I’d never seen Sebastian look or sound so dangerous.
The creep blanched, holding up his palms as he backed away. “Sorry, I did not know she was taken.”
“I’m not—” I stopped myself from continuing. The creep wasn’t worth it.
Sebastian glared at the dark-haired guy as he called over his shoulder in Arthur’s direction, “There is an odd number in the group.”
Arthur frowned, midway through his attendance call. He quickly counted the people in the room. “You’re right. Someone on the sign-up hasn’t shown.”
Sebastian gestured to the creep. “I wouldn’t put this cretin alone in a room with anyone if I were you.”
“What did I miss?”
“He was sexually suggestive to my friend.” He placed a protective hand on my shoulder, and I glowered at said appendage.
Arthur scowled. “Well, we’re having none of that. You may leave.”
“But—”
“Leave,” Sebastian commanded.
Stocky cocky shot Sebastian a foul look but left swiftly, his cheeks a ruddy red with embarrassment.
I was both relieved and irritated.
“Who are you?” Arthur asked the gorgeous liar before me.
“Sebastian Thorne.”
“Okay.” He eyed me. “Lily Sawyer, right? I remember you from a tutorial last year.”
“That’s me.”
“You and Thorne are a pair.” He turned away before I could naysay his plan.
Sebastian’s lips twitched, his eyes gleaming. “Well, this worked out way better than I could have planned.”
My urge to demand a new partner stuck in my throat because I didn’t want to give Sebastian the satisfaction.
After much thought about our previous interactions, I realized I was allowing him to believe he had some kind of power over me by giving him a reaction.
Now I wanted him to believe me indifferent.
Which was difficult when every part of me was tense with quiet anger at Sebastian’s side as Arthur paired people and his team started leading them out to their respective rooms.
Arthur sauntered over to me and Sebastian. “Last but not least. Each pairing will be placed in a different room under different circumstances. You two are the no-technology room. I’m going to need you to hand over any devices you have with you, including your beloved smartphones.”
Wonderful.
My lips thinned as I nodded and proceeded to remove my phone from the back pocket of my jeans. Checking it was locked, I passed it over to Arthur who gave us a gloating, smug grin as he took both of our phones and placed them in a locked box. “Now follow me.”
I could feel Sebastian’s eyes on me as Arthur led us out of the flat and across the cool, dreary hallway to the flat next door. The sound of a TV blared from behind the door of bedroom one.
“They have a smart TV. But don’t worry, you won’t hear it because you’re all the way down here in bedroom five.” Arthur guided us to the opposite side of the flat and pushed open the heavy door. “Welcome to the no-technology room.”
My stomach dropped.
The room was set up as it would be for a student. Single bed by the window. Desk opposite. One wardrobe.
The window was completely taped up, and they’d lit extra lamps to make up for it.
“Cameras.” Arthur pointed to the upper corner above the door and the one near the window that had a straight shot of the bed.
“We’ve also placed mics around the room so we can clearly hear your conversations.
You’re in here for three hours. If at any time you need to leave, press this.
” He pointed to a red button that had been attached to the wall near the door. “Someone will come to let you out.”
He offered us the clipboards he’d carried under his arm, along with a pen.
“We need you to read this disclaimer and sign the waiver. It pretty much states that you’re happy for us to use our recordings for the experiment.
It also states that none of the footage or sound recordings will be uploaded online for public consumption, but we may include excerpts of conversations or actions in our research paper, which will be available online. ”
Great.
Now I had to watch what I said unless I wanted everyone to know what Sebastian had done.
That compromised the integrity of the experiment because Arthur and his team were looking for authentic interactions.
As if he read my mind, Arthur continued, “Please try to be as honest and genuine with each other as possible. Guarding your words, your interactions, will compromise the experiment. Thank you.”
Once we’d signed, he nodded, thanked us, and left.
The door locked behind him.
Reluctantly, I turned to Sebastian.
“I read that book. The one with the dragons. It was quite good.”
Was he serious?
“Any more romance recommendations?” He gave me a coaxing smile I wanted to smack off his face.
He thought he could woo me with his “sexy man reading romance books” schtick?
I cursed the day my copy of a romantasy book fell out of my bag during our session.
Intrigued by the cover, Sebastian flipped through it and happened to land on a sex scene.
His teasing led to me defending the romance genre and effusively explaining the benefits of reading it.
I’d argued so passionately on behalf of my love of romance books—all subgenres! —that he’d promised to read it.
I hadn’t actually thought he would, and I still wasn’t sure he had. He was a known liar, after all.
I wanted to interrogate him about the plot details to catch him in his lie, but that would mean validating his decision to once again act cavalier about our estrangement.
Instead, I glared sullenly at him.
Sebastian’s countenance turned serious. “I’m going to apologize now and if you still hate me when I’m done, I’ll leave you alone.”
Last Semester
“This is a mistake. We shouldn’t be doing this,” I whispered, feeling panic rise in my chest as I crouched behind a hedge with Sierra.