Chapter 15 #2
Even if they were monsters.
Yet at what point does the cost stop being worth it?
Every time I tried to piece everything together, it made me dizzy.
“Did you open your new phone yet?” Daphne asked.
I held up the latest iPhone model. Enzo had transferred the few contacts I’d had, but everything else was gone. My apps. My playlists. My notes. Even the stupid trivia game I played when I couldn’t sleep.
His name now sat at the top of my Contacts list.
And by name, it was The Man Who Owns Me.
He’d also saved himself as my emergency contact.
The new MacBook sat on my desk untouched.
It was a newer version of the one he’d stolen from me. I had to admit, the upgrade was nice. My old laptop was scratched and had started running slow. I’d put off asking my stepfather for a new one. I tried to keep my requests to him at a minimum.
I dropped my phone onto my bed. “Where do you think Enzo is taking me?”
She tipped a vodka bottle to her lips, took a long swallow, then chased it with Coke Zero. “Could be the library.” She pointed the can at me. “Could be hell. Let’s just pray it’s not for another dip in the fountain.”
I playfully narrowed my eyes at her.
She grinned and held out the vodka, but I shook my head.
“Doubt it’s for a romantic date,” she added. “Enzo doesn’t seem like the dinner-and-a-movie type. Maybe a sacrifice or a murder. That feels more on brand for him.”
I snagged a sock from the laundry and tossed it at her.
She laughed and leaned to the side to dodge it.
The door swung open, and Enzo walked in without bothering to knock. Of course.
His gaze swept the room and landed on Daphne. He glared at her before turning to me. The air seemed to crackle when our eyes met. My stomach twisted uneasily, but my heart almost … welcomed him.
He’d traded his school uniform for a black hoodie and dark jeans tucked into boots.
Behind his back, Daphne flipped him off.
I bit back a snort. “Where are you taking me?” I asked as he strolled toward my alcove and settled himself on my bed.
Instead of answering, he grabbed my copy of 1984 from the headboard and casually flipped through the pages. His eyes moved over the text without truly reading it.
He was watching me.
I slid my phone into the back pocket of my jeans and pulled on a sweater. His glare burned into the sweater as if it personally pissed him off.
“Not that one,” he said. “It’s fucking hideous.”
I frowned and tugged at the hem.
It wasn’t exactly fashionable, expensive, or designer. But it was one of the few belongings I still had from my old life.
Ignoring him, I started fastening the buttons.
He tossed the book over his shoulder, and my fingers slowed when he pushed off the bed and moved toward me.
I backed away to create distance, but he kept advancing until I was pinned against the wall. As my body stiffened, I drew in a slow breath, the smell of his cologne wrapping around me. Somehow, it steadied my heart.
He clamped his hands around my waist, and with a frustrated grunt, I swatted at them when one lowered to my ass. I squirmed when he lowered his hand to my pocket and pulled out my phone before stepping back.
“Put on something black,” he ordered, tossing my phone onto my bed. “I’m not a fan of you in white.”
Not wanting to argue over clothes, I quickly grabbed a black Ralph Lauren sweater from a drawer and pulled it snug over my body.
Enzo gave an approving nod. I answered with a glare.
“Where are we going?” I asked again.
“You’ll find out when we get there.”
Before reaching the door, I looked at Daphne.
Stun gun? she mouthed, her lips curving into a smile.
Shaking my head, I mouthed back, He’d kill me.
She dragged her thumb across her throat in a slicing motion.
“Daphne, would you like me to send someone to slit your throat?” Enzo asked, as if having eyes in the back of his head. He spoke without looking back at her.
She lowered her hand and crossed her arms.
“Don’t make me call Brooks,” he threatened.
“Do it,” Daphne challenged. “I’ll push him out the window.”
That seemed to be the preferred method of murder at Saint Vale.
Defenestration.
I couldn’t see the look he gave her, but whatever it was made her glare at him before looking away.
Knowing Daphne, I could tell she was fighting the urge to mock his voice. Every day, I liked her more.
She had guts. No wonder no one chose her as their Fawn. She’d give them hell the entire time.
As I passed her, she offered me the vodka bottle, and I almost stopped for a drink. Liquid courage might’ve helped calm me, but it also could’ve dulled my instincts.
I needed my mind sharp around the devil.
I followed him out of the room and down Poenas Dare Hall. Just like last time, people stared.
Instead of heading for the staircase, Enzo veered right and led me down an unfamiliar corridor. He stopped in front of a door I would’ve mistaken for a janitor’s closet if I’d passed it alone, then slid a card through the reader above the handle.
A second later, it clicked open.
I followed him through it, glancing around, and saw a faint light over a set of concrete stairs that disappeared downward. I flinched when the door slammed shut behind us.
Enzo charged down the stairs, and I struggled to keep up. After two flights, he shoved open another door.
Cold air rushed across my cheeks the moment we stepped outside in the pitch-black night. Only a thin crescent moon cut through the darkness, casting faint outlines across the grounds. The university loomed behind us, and he seized my wrist, pulling me farther away from it.
We passed the greenhouse and two more buildings. Buildings that I’d planned to explore but avoided since being kidnapped by him and his masked buddy the last time I was out here.
The closer we got to the woods, the harder my pulse pounded.
I stopped dead before we passed the tree line.
No way in hell was I following the devil into the woods.
Count me the hell out.
Before I could turn around and flee, Enzo yanked me back, holding me tight against his hard chest. He wrapped his elbow around my throat, a viselike grip holding me in place.
It did nothing to ease my mind. All it did was remind me of the first night in the woods, how he’d held me just like this.
“Don’t try to run, Blair,” he warned.
My brain swam with all the thoughts of his plans for me in that forest.
The rattle of our breathing felt almost in sync as he held me.
Something gentle brushed my cheek right before darkness covered my eyes.
Not just the night’s darkness.
Straight black, even blocking the sway of tree shadows.
“Not again,” I grumbled under my breath.
What else should I have expected though?
The men of a dangerous secret society kept everything secret.
Not a shocker.
I sighed and pleaded a simple, “Please.”
“Trust me,” was all he said in my ear.
It felt more like a demon saying it than someone I could trust.
“You’re the last person I trust,” I said with full honesty as shivers traveled down my spine.
“Walk, and I promise, I won’t drag you.”
How sweet of him for that.
He clasped my hand, and I winced at the scrape of his worn leather glove against my hand. I must’ve missed him slipping it on during our walk. That new small detail only tightened the pressure around my heart.
People only wore gloves if it was snowing or they didn’t want to leave fingerprints. There wasn’t one snowflake in the air.
My balance faltered as he tugged me along like he was a kid dragging his favorite blankie.
Coyote cries wailed through the air, and branches crunched under our feet as we walked. The wind’s whistle harmonized with the sound of an owl hooting in the distance.
Are there deer in these woods?
Fawns?
“Can you explain what being your Fawn means?” I asked Enzo when he guided me toward the right.
Because he was a man of many words, he replied with, “You’ll find out.”
“Can you let me find out now?”
“Why do you ask so many questions?”
“I believe anyone wearing a blindfold and being led aimlessly through the woods would do the same. It’s human nature. Wouldn’t you?”
“I’d never allow someone to blindfold me.”
“What if they did?”
“They wouldn’t.”
“Yes, but hypothetically—”
“I don’t do hypotheticals.”
“What if someone tried? What would you do?”
“Worse than what I did to Jett when he was tied to that chair.”
“But not worse than killing him? Pushing him out of a window?”
“I didn’t push Jett out of a window.”
I scoffed.
“Cross my heart and hope to die.”
“If you didn’t, then someone did it for you. Your pal in the mask, probably.”
He chuckled but didn’t dispute my statement.
“Are you always this unhinged?”
“I’m not unhinged.”
I scoffed again.
As we walked, I was grateful for the few times he caught me before I tripped and fell. He showed even more care guiding me down the stairs. The smell of damp earth and cold air told me we were underground.
Please not the torture room again.
A girl could only see so many rogue fingers before she barfed.
I heard two beeps before heavy music blasted through my eardrums.
I didn’t recognize the music, though that was normal. Growing up, I hadn’t been allowed to listen to it. Even humming had severe consequences.
Enzo held me in place while removing the blindfold. I blinked, adjusting my eyes to the dim light, and glanced around.
The first thing I saw was a bar with liquor bottles neatly arranged on the shelves. My lungs drew in the smell of the room. It smelled like furniture polish and deep leather.
Wherever we were, I was certain it wasn’t open to most Saint Vale students and that I didn’t belong here.
In the distance, I heard voices, but couldn’t see anyone.
Enzo gripped my shoulders, turning me, and slid the blindfold back into place.
“What the actual fuck, Enzo?” a guy shouted.
“Shut up,” Enzo growled in response.
“This won’t look good, man,” another deep voice added. “You know the rules.”
Enzo tugged me away. “I’ll keep her in the back.” He checked the tightness on the blindfold and led me away.