Chapter 55 Kieren
KIEREN
Present Day
“Where the fuck are all these sirens going?” I ask Jace, not expecting an answer. He shrugs as we pull to the side of the road to let another police car pass.
“Follow it,” I say curiously.
“I thought we wanted to get to the hospital?”
“Humor me,” I grunt. Instinctively I take out my phone to scroll through social media to see if any students have posted about the commotion, but everyone seems to be in the dark and speculating.
Multiple flashing emergency vehicle lights barricade a parking lot on the east side of campus. “Something must have happened in there,” Jace notes. “I can’t get past.”
“Park the car here, let’s go on foot,” I order.
“Here?” Jace asks skeptically. “This isn’t a parking spot.”
“Park on the side of the road and put your hazards on. Who cares?” I shout as I slam the car door shut.
Jogging across the street toward the parking lot, I snake past first responders unrolling caution tape until I reach what appears to be the natural border of the scene.
Students stand shoulder to shoulder, and even though I’m a head taller than most of them, I shove my way through.
“Holy fuck,” I stammer, coming to a halt.
An SUV I recognize as Harrison’s is fifty feet in front of me, surrounded by police officers and firemen.
An ambulance has pulled as close as it can get given there are still other cars in the parking lot.
Four men work together to pull an unresponsive body from the driver’s seat and onto a gurney.
Blood coats Harrison’s mouth and chin. His shirt and top of his pants are stained red.
“Is that Harrison?” Jace gasps behind me, finally catching up. I nod, barely able to process what my eyes see. The windshield of his car is smashed inward. Splinters jut out like spiderwebs from the point of contact, and if I had to guess, I’d say the person who did this used a baseball bat.
“Say their names,” Jace reads aloud, and then whispers a stunned, “Jesus Christ.”
Gawking, I look over at him. In minutes, I know images of Harrison’s spray-painted SUV will be plastered across social media.
“Come on,” I say, turning around. “We need to get out of here.”
Jace and I waste no time getting back to his car, and when I climb inside to the passenger’s seat, I feel my phone start to buzz relentlessly.
I make the mistake of taking it out of my pocket, only to see notifications of texts, calls and direct messages on social media flash across the screen in rapid succession.
“This is fucking bad,” Jace shouts as he changes gears and merges onto the road.
“Don’t go to the hospital,” I instruct.
“Yeah, no shit. That place will be teeming with police.”
“I’m not worried about the police,” I say.
“Maybe you should be,” Jace growls as he makes an illegal U-turn.
“Fuck,” I spit as an image of the other side of Harrison’s car hits my social media feed.
“What?” Jace demands. I show him the image of the words “Sigma = Murderers” spray painted on the passenger side of Harrison’s car.
“Goddammit, Kieren,” Jace yells. “This is your fucking fault. You’re the reason we’re knee-deep in this shitstorm. Goddammit!” Jace curses again, banging his fist against the steering wheel.
“You fucking know I had no choice, Jace,” I yell back. “But it doesn’t matter now, does it? We’re all fucking guilty. Me, you, and the entire goddamn frat. If one of us goes down, we all go down.”
The temperature of my blood skyrockets under my skin, and I fist my hair in frustration. “This is fucking Monroe!” I shriek, bending over until my head is between my legs. “She did this! You know she did this!”
“Fuck, this can’t be happening. How is this possible?
And now we’re all fucked because you couldn’t get your shit together and figure out how to control yourself around her!
” Jace shouts. “Why did you have to treat her like a fucking dog, Kieren? And then your dumb ass let her get away? You’re a fucking moron! ”
For once, I’m stunned. Jace has never spoken to me with such loathing. I’m sure he’s thought it plenty of times, probably all the time, but to say it out loud and to my face, no less? He’s getting bold, and I don’t appreciate bold.
“A moron?” I argue back. “Smooth, Jace. Is that the best your Ivy League brain could come up with?”
The tingling in my fingers starts to subside as an idea formulates in my mind.
“Listen, we don’t need to stress. This was just some scorned ex-girlfriend or unstable student who has an axe to grind with Sigma because we didn’t let his loser ass in.
Besides, ‘Sigma = Murderers’?” I huff a laugh.
“Murders of whom? Where are the fucking bodies? That body that floated up a few weeks ago was ruled a suicide, remember? They’ve got no fucking proof. They don’t have shit!”
I lick my lips, barely able to contain the giddy excitement I feel for my own brilliance.
Jace is so fucking dumb sometimes. “Further, I doubt we get so much as a second glance from the cops, but if we do, as I see it, this is a Harrison and Barrett problem. They were the ones targeted, not us, and not anyone else. We’ll say we have no idea why anyone would accuse Sigma of something so vile and deflect any scrutiny back onto Harrison and Barrett.
Maybe they are murderous heathens after all, but we had no idea. ”
“You are a sick fucking monster, you know that?” Jace says with disgust.
I clench my jaw, triggered by his judgment. “Jace Carver with the observation of the century, ladies and gentlemen. How about you take a look in the goddamn mirror because I’m not the only monster around here with blood on my hands.”
“I need to go for a ride and clear my head,” Jace says as we pull into the parking lot behind Sigma.
“By all means,” I wave dismissively.
“I don’t need your fucking permission, Kieren.”
I throw Jace one final glare as he speeds out of the Sigma parking lot on his death trap.
Although I’m not sure she’s the type to partake in criminal behavior, I hope to God that Monroe is the one behind these attacks, because that would mean she’s back.
And if she’s back, she’s coming for me, and if she’s coming for me, I’m going to fucking catch her.