Chapter 26
Oliver
Idrop Lyra at her dorm and go straight to the showers. The rain was constant throughout our drive home and on campus. Steam fogs the mirror as I step out, the scent of her clinging to me. Since I can’t brand her scent into my skin, using her body wash was the next best thing.
Callan’s on my couch when I come out. I take the spare controller and sit beside him.
I feel his eyes on me immediately. I wait for him to speak.
Most people can’t handle silence. It crawls under their skin until they squirm and fill it with pointless noise.
Unless Lyra’s around, she can talk for hours, and I’d still want more.
She can say nothing, and the constant static in my head still drops into the background.
Callan clears his throat dramatically. “Soo…”
I wait.
“Lyra?”
I unpause the game.
He huffs a laugh like he expected that. “Okay. Rephrase. What the actual fuck is going on?”
“She’s mine,” I say it flatly. Simply. Because it’s the truth.
Callan tips his head, then nods like that’s the part he did know. “Yeah, I know that, dickweasel. But serious?”
I hit pause, turning to look at him. “Why are you asking?”
He sighs. “You don’t do relationships.”
“Until now. I’m evolving.” It’s my new motto.
He laughs like that is the funniest thing in the world.
“When's your next fight?” I ask him. That shuts him up.
“Three days.” His jaw clenches.
“You sure you want to go through with it?”
“No.” His tone turns dark. “But I don’t have a choice.”
The day has dragged. I’ve never felt like this before, the itch under my skin to do something.
I used to be content with staying in my room.
Talking to people or faculty as I needed, yet as I sit in here, I feel restless.
A buzz comes from my pocket. I pull it out, expecting Lyra or the tracking app I put on her phone.
933-445-7437:
I have information you’ll want about Leo’s death.
I stare at the screen. I don’t save any numbers; the only five people I have are Dollface, Callan, Mom, Vee, and Archer. Seeing an unknown number isn’t surprising; however, the message itself raises suspicion.
No one as self-centered as Leo would commit suicide in his peak college career. Amelia’s death was a blip on his radar.
Me:
Why would I want this supposed information?
I wait as the bubbles pop up.
933-445-7437:
Has to do with his suicide note. You might want to see it.
Me:
And you have this suicide note, how exactly?
933-445-7437:
It mentions her.
Me:
Who is this?
933-445-7437:
It’s Serena.
Serena. I warned her, and now that I know who she was, I will happily expose it all.
Me:
I can meet you in twenty. Ashford Hall. Left wing next to the closed-off corridor.
I don’t wait for a response. I yank on a hoodie, slip on my boots, and head out. There’s only one reason I am entertaining this: curiosity and the need to know everything regarding Lyra. If Serena is playing a game, she’ll regret it shortly.
Serena is pacing in the dimly lit corridor as I approach.
Before Lyra, I might have called Serena attractive.
Her dark-brown hair reaches her shoulders, and she’s, by society’s standards, beautiful.
After Lyra, she looks like a nuisance. Lyra is a goddess of impossible beauty.
Everything else is gray compared to her shine.
I approach, my hands shoved inside my jeans. My mother always said I come off cold and aloof. She said it could become a flaw if I didn’t manage how I perceived myself. I turned it into my weapon. I give her my most bored stare that has lesser men shriveling under my gaze.
Serena stops her incessant pacing. I’m thrown back to the moment when my Dollface did the same thing—pacing when she went on that tirade about me becoming a lawyer. The memory almost pulls a smile to my lips, but I won’t do that in front of Serena.
“Hello, Serena.” I keep my tone neutral. A feat considering the last time I saw her.
“Oliver.” Her voice is breathier than pacing should allow.
“You said you had information,” I say, eyes narrowing. She takes a step closer. Every cell in my body fights the instinct to recoil. “You said you had the note, and it pertains to Lyra?” I’m getting impatient. Actually, impatient was twenty minutes ago. Now I’m just annoyed.
“I-I just really needed to see you, to apologize to you.”
After leaving her tied to her bed, publicly dismissing her when I was with Lyra at the bookstore and party, and threatening her, I think I’ve made it pretty clear I’m completely obsessed with another person.
She wasted my time. Time I could have spent doing something infinitely more important. Like making Lyra come or just staring at a blank wall as I counted the minutes.
I step closer. I want her to see the coldness in my eyes and the disdain in every word. “Serena, did you lie to get me here?” She reaches out, and I step just far enough away for her fingers to grasp at nothing. Air. That’s all she gets from me.
I turn, ready to leave. “I didn’t want to do this,” she snaps. “But I do have information you need to hear about Lyra.” She spits the name.
I hear her footsteps, then the door unlocking, a soft creak. I turn to see her opening the dark wooden door. I follow her in, then shut and lock it. “Sit.”
She complies, perching on the edge of the small couch. I lean back against the desk across from her. I don’t bother turning on the lights; this won’t take long, and the natural light from the stained-glass window is enough.
“Speak.”
“Leo and Lyra were fighting a few days ago. Did you know about that?” I don’t respond. Just lift a brow. She doesn't need to know that I had no idea.
“He cornered her. Threatened her.”
My blood simmers. If he were alive, I’d rectify that immediately. Unfortunately for me, by the time Callan and I went to kill Leo for hurting my Dollface, he was already lying face-first on the concrete, blood pooling beneath him. Sad I wasn’t the one to watch his life drain out.
“Why are you telling me this?”
She throws her hands up, now standing. “What does she have that I don’t? I thought we had something! Now you don’t even look at me! We were together for a year…”
She doesn't take a hint very well. I took advantage of the crush she had, and now it’s coming back to bite me. Well, I bite back harder.
“You want an answer?” I say. “She’s everything you aren’t. We had nothing. Never did I have feelings for you besides right now.” She looks at me, hopeful, and I crush it instantly. “Pity, I feel pity.”
“Oliver.” Tears are starting to pool.
“Why are you really telling me about Leo and Lyra?” I repeat.
“I think…I think she had something to do with his death. I saw her leaving the building last night. She came back about forty minutes later.”
Again, I give nothing away. My face is stone, even though my mind is calculating, noting, and processing every detail of what she just said.
“You must be mistaken,” I say smoothly. “I was with her all night. Very occupied.” I smirk.
She sucks in a breath. “But—”
I continue, stepping forward slowly. “Remember my threat.” My voice is cold even to my ears. “A video of you fucking the head of admin will be sent to every student, faculty member, and family contact you have.”
Finding that out was a rather convenient coincidence when I walked in on Jeff and a bent-over Serena over his desk. The question I should have asked myself then was why? Was Serena using him? Is he using her?
Serena, Jade, and Vienna all work in admin.
All on scholarship. Two of them were close enough to Jeff Reynolds to end up on their backs for him.
Vienna suddenly taking an interest in Jade feels less like a coincidence and more like curiosity gone where it shouldn’t.
Questions I will be finding out as soon as I destroy any lingering idea she had of us that never was.
She drops back onto the couch as her legs fail to hold her up.
Her face has gone ghostly pale. Tears stream freely down her cheeks.
“I like your darkness; I accept it. I know what you did at your last school, and I don’t blame you.
But Lyra would. Please, I beg you, don’t tell anyone about Jeff. I just wanted to tell you about Lyra.”
The door clicks open, and my head whips over before I can even understand how Serena knows about Eva. My beautiful Lyra. Standing in the doorway, looking like I just betrayed her.