44. Lex
44
LEX
D id I just hear Vani’s bike roaring out of here?
It’s a pretty distinctive sound, and I don’t know anyone else who rides a Harley around here.
Why the hell would she have left Verona Falls at this time of night, and on her own, too? At least, I assume she’s on her own. The possibility of her being with someone else adds a fresh thread of worry to my heart.
What if that person is a man?
No one here would be stupid enough to touch what is ours, but it isn’t as though we’ve made it public knowledge that she is ours. To anyone else on campus, she’s just the new girl, and what if someone is thinking of her the same way we did when she first arrived—that she’s fresh meat?
Does she have her phone with her?
I take my cell out of my pocket and try her number, but it goes straight to voicemail. I type out a message instead.
Where did you go? Let me know you’re OK .
I hit send, and then send another one out to Zane and Saint.
Venom just left on her bike .
I almost add something else, but I’m not sure what. Everything else is just conjecture. I have no idea why she’s gone, or who she’s with, or where she’s going.
I also don’t know what the fuck to do about it. Get in my car and try to follow her? I don’t even know what direction she’s gone. I leave my room, though. At least I can go find Saint and talk to him about it.
I bump into Angelica coming down the stairs.
“Your girlfriend’s got my fucking charger,” she says.
I don’t give a shit about a charger and right now don’t have the energy to deal with her assertation that Vani is my girlfriend. “She just left on her bike. Do you know where she’s going?”
Angelica folds her arms across her chest. “Back to Daddy and the club, I expect.”
I’m shocked at her answer. “What? Why?”
“Because she just found out what happened to Reagan Olsen.”
My blood runs cold. Fuck .
Fuck-fuck-fuck .
I knew we should have talked to her the moment we found out she had Reagan’s file. But Nathaniele’s threat to have anyone expelled who even mentioned her name hung over us all, plus we hadn’t wanted to scare Vani away. If we talked to her, we’d have looked as guilty as hell. We lied by omission, and we did it so we could screw her.
Maybe that was the real truth of it.
We just hadn’t wanted her to know. For our own selfish ends.
I throw a question back at Angelica. “Did you tell Vani how close you guys used to be with Reagan before she died?”
Angelica shakes her head. “No, I didn’t get the chance. The moment I mentioned your name, she ran out of here.”
I clench my jaw, and for the first time in my life, I have to stop myself hurting a girl. “What the fuck did you tell her?”
“Only what everyone knows is the truth, Lex.” She gives me a vicious glare and turns on her heel.
I stare at the space where she was, my heart tumbling over itself in a rapid, scared rhythm.