Chapter Twenty-Two
Raven .
My shadow is back.
I don’t know how to explain it. But I can feel it.
Except this time, there’s no sense of dread.
When I told Damon about it yesterday, he said seeing it as a child could have been my own way of trying to still have a connection with my dead father.
As a protector because why didn’t it come for me when I was dying, cooped up in that fucking locker for days?
When I told him I saw it at the pond, while I was drowning Chase, he asked why didn’t I see it while slicing Tyler’s veins open?
When I finally told him about my dream, the one that lead me to sleepwalk, that I was being chased by shadows, he said I could be associating my guilt with my kills and that I was manifesting them in my dreams.
But I don’t feel guilty and I definitely don’t feel remorse.
He said I probably do subconsciously.
I don’t .
But I can feel eyes on me even when I’m back at Rayne-Moore.
Jonas’ practice runs over in the morning while I’m at the gym on campus.
I take shower in the locker room, get dressed and then use the app for the Koffee Kart to order myself and Jonas light roast Americanos.
I want to try everything on the menu. I have my head down when I feel a pair of hands wrap around my waist and lips on my temple.
My eyes immediately close shut and I let myself relax against him, let his scent invade my senses like he did all weekend.
“Fuck I missed you baby.”
I want to ask why? We slept together in my dorm last night when we got back to campus. We were a tangle of limbs until he had to leave for practice. But I get it. I missed him, too. I turn and get on the tips of my toes to kiss him. It feels so good to kiss him again. I want to kiss him always.
I never thought I’d be the type to swoon for a man, but Jonas Anderson is absolutely swoon-worthy.
“You look beautiful.”
Swoon.
“Meet me in the library later, encyclopedia section so I can eat your pussy. I’m dying to taste you.”
My heart stops.
“Keep looking at me like that and I’ll do it right now. Re-claim you in front of everyone so they all know you’re mine again.”
“Well, don’t you two look cozy.”
My back stiffens and I feel Jonas tense up. We both turn to face him slowly. His hair is unkempt, eyes rimmed red, he looks haggard, as if he hasn’t slept in days, deep circles under his eyes.
“Thought you were done with her. Unclaimed her.”
“We were never over, Ri.”
“That’s not what my brother said… and you know what’s weird?” His eyes go wild. “Tyler,” we keep our composure, “Two men were seen dropping him off at De Novo.”
Jonas nods. “He got shitfaced at Inferno and I drove him and left as soon as I dropped him off in his room. I’m sure the cameras show me entering and leaving his room within three minutes.”
“Who was with you?”
“A friend.” Jonas replies in a low voice. “You know what was weird to me, Ri? How Tyler started talking about Raven… why would he do that? Hmm? He seemed so interested in her.”
“You… fucker.” Riordan’s voice cracks. “I know she had something to do with it.”
“She didn’t.”
“Don’t fucking gaslight me, Jonas.” He steps closer to us and Jonas puts me behind him, blocking me with his body. “I can feel it.” Tears roll down his cheeks and his eyes are so blue they send chills down my spine.
“Riordan,”
“Don’t say my name. Don’t you ever say my fucking name ever again.”
“What Tyler chose to do was sad. What happened to Ch- your brother was a tragedy. We all told him to quit mixing his shit.”
“He wouldn’t… leave me behind.” He croaks, unshed tears shimmering.
“No, he wouldn’t.” Jonas agrees. “Not on purpose. It was an accident.”
“He can’t… he just can’t be gone.” He seems to finally be coming to terms with Chase’s death being an accident until his eyes find mine.
They narrow and his face turns spiteful.
“Tyler may have been gay, but he wasn’t a fucking coward.
He would’ve never taken the easy way out.
No matter if a ghost came back to haunt him.
” He steps closer to me again and Jonas raises his hands.
“That’s what you are… Spooks . A living, breathing ghost.”
Chills erupt everywhere but I don’t move a muscle. A crowd has gathered and I watch students in uniform, blurs of yellow and plaid and black watching. Waiting with bated breath.
“C’mon, Riordan. That’s enough.”
“Raven!” Mindlessly, I spin to grab our order but I feel hands yank my ponytail and tug me down.
My ass hits the ground as Riordan drags me.
The pain is sharp and my scalp burns, but I claw at him, his eyes, his cheeks.
He straddles me and when I gather the strength to flip us over, his fight is stronger, Jonas’ arms go around his chest but Riordan grabs my wrists and twists, yanking me to him.
“I’ll fucking kill you. I’ll finish what they started.” He whispers harshly in my ear and then licks me. And still, no music. There’s no melody playing. No beginnings of a beautiful symphony for me to compose.
“Christ! Riordan! Let go!” Jonas tugs him off and throws a punch, landing on Riordan’s nose with a resounding crunch and blood gushes out, flooding over his lips, chin and down to his shirt. Multiple hands grab from all different directions, pulling them apart.
“Mister Prescott, Mister Anderson, Miss Monroe,” Dean Whitmore states our names in a low growl. Behind him, Maverick has Jonas by the waist and campus police have Riordan in the same hold. “In my office, now .”
______
“Raven…” The campus police are here to take my statement. I don’t give one. We’re in the Dean’s office. Me, Officer Truitt and Maverick because the other officers are getting Jonas and Riordan’s statements separately. “Do you want to press charges?”
I shake my head. In a way, I deserved it. I killed his brother to get to Tyler. I didn’t want Riordan in the crossfire. I really didn’t. He’s brokenhearted, rightly so, and I’ve been there before. I didn’t kill the love of his life, but I did take away his brother.
“Raven-“ Maverick’s voice rings out loud and clear in the office. “May I have a word with her, please? Alone?”
Officer Truitt, a woman in her early forties with sandy blonde hair and too-red lipstick leaves.
Maverick sits on the edge of Whitmore’s desk, wearing sage button-down and charcoal trousers. I love sage on him. It brings out his eyes. “Siren, look at me.”
I do.
“You were just assaulted. You should press charges. He told the Officer in the other room he thinks you killed Chase.”
I look at him, horrified. My hands fly up, and I’m about to sign but then I remember he doesn’t know ASL and so this is futile. Pointless to try to rest my case, I put my hands back on my thighs.
“I know you didn’t. Chase had cocaine, fentanyl and a highly illegal limit of alcohol in his system. It’s incredible how he was even able to walk from the frat house to the pond.”
I arch an eyebrow.
“I have a friend that works at the station.” He offers. “Raven… think about this. If he really believes you did this, he could be seeking retribution.”
I shake my head again.
“You could be in danger.”
I throw my head back and laugh silently. I laugh until my side hurts and tears come out. He looks at me like I’m unhinged. But he seems to understand what I’m saying. They already tried to kill me once… and they failed.
“You’re really not going to press charges?”
There’s a commotion outside of the office and then-
“Where is she?” Damon barges through the door, it slams shut behind him, giving us privacy. He kneels beside me and checks me once over and then my tender scalp.
“Christ, Little bird, I let you out of my sight for one morning and a wolf attacks.”
I shoo him off me.
He stands up and glares at Maverick. “What happened?”
Maverick recounts everything from watching Jonas arrive at the Koffee Kart, to the confrontation to the altercation and how I won’t press charges.
“Give us privacy.”
“No.”
“She won’t talk if you’re here. She doesn’t trust you. I’m her doctor. Get the fuck out, Harrington this isn’t up for discussion.”
“She talks to you?”
“I know all of her mannerisms. I’ve been with her throughout this entire time.”
“Mannerisms aren’t the same.”
“Fuck off you beast , you know just as well as I do body language speaks louder than actual words. You’re just too high up on your horse to actually look at her and learn her. Now get the fuck out.”
Maverick leaves with a huff.
I make a slight nod at the camera in the corner of the room.
Damon moves, blocking me from it, casually leaning against Whitmore’s desk. I keep my hands low and out of sight.
I don’t want to press charges because I don’t want to leave a paper trail or be questioned. If he gets suspended that’s fine. I don’t want to ruin his life more than I already have. Pressing charges and getting him expelled? That will give him more time to follow me.
“You think he’s following you?”
Someone is!
“Raven- “
I cross my arms over my chest. He knows not to call me that. He moves his hands forward, hiding them. His ASL is a little rocky but I get the gist of what he’s trying to tell me.
That the shadow is a manifestation of my mind.
My jaw drops.
Motherfucker.
I stand up abruptly and swing the door open, throwing him a middle finger, leaving them as they call out after me. “She won’t be pressing charges.” Damon sighs.
“Who are you?” Officer Truitt asks.
“Her doctor.”
Oh fuck that.
I turn back around, stomping right up to him and shove my middle finger straight to his disgustingly handsome face, then leave the office.
“Jesus, what did you say to her?” Maverick asks.
“I was her doctor. I’m now the student counselor here, but I was one of the doctors on her treatment regime.” He corrects himself.
Yeah, prick. You were my doctor. Now you’re just a doctor. A gorgeous doctor that eats my pussy and melts when my lips are wrapped around your cock.