7
“G’morning,” Lev said with a sympathetic twinkle in his eyes when I opened the door. He was leaning against the hallway wall with his arms folded across his chest. I shot him a scowl, then rubbed my tired eyes with the base of my palm.
“What do you want?” I hissed snidely as Ezrah Warwick appeared from out of the room next to mine. I heard noises and voices in that room last night, but I didn’t think it was him. “Ah, great. Assholes surround me.”
“We’re escorting you to breakfast, then Ezrah will be escorting you to business study class,” Lev informed me as I glanced at Ezrah, who winked, and I flicked him the middle finger, which made him laugh.
“I’m too depressed to eat and go to class,” I sighed, “And you’re the last people in the world I want to escort me anywhere. I need some fresh air. Alone. I don’t want you with me.”
“Sorry, we can’t do that,” Ezrah clarified. “We understand that you’re grieving, but it’s too risky to have you be alone.”
“What?” I shirked, offended by what he was implying. “You think I’m going to do what my father did? You think I’m a suicide risk?”
There were a couple of beats of intensity where they seemed uncomfortable, and it was Ezrah who broke the silence, but a dark cloud seemed to engulf him. “We’ll let you go once the investigation is over, as I have already stated.”
“Because…you,” I pointed my finger at Ezrah’s handsome, punchable face. “You had something to do with it.”
“If you don’t want to end up like your father, then I suggest you keep your mouth shut,” he warned, looking down at me like I was dirt, but I caught a flash of fear in his eyes.
It was there for only a second, easy to miss, but he was afraid of something, and I assume it was a fear of being found guilty.
“You’ve basically admitted it, then. Why did you do it? Why did you kill him?” Hot tears burned my eyes as my chest hitched in grief.
“We didn’t,” Lev said softly, noticing me becoming emotional, whereas Ezrah was still glowering at me. “Adina, we didn’t do that. He locked himself in his office, and the first time we saw him, he was lying on the floor, and you were standing over him.”
I took a deep breath to relieve the overwhelming emotions that were like a solid brick in my chest. “Did you mess with the security system?”
“No comment,” Ezrah stated dryly, folding his arms across his chest as the world as I knew it began to disintegrate before me. Liars surrounded me, and it was difficult to know who to trust.
“I’m not hungry. I don’t want to go anywhere,” I said glumly, slamming the door on their sneering faces, and was about to hook the chain only to find that it’s been pulled out of the wall.
JFC! I had no privacy or solace away from them.
They had a key and could walk in at will, but at least they didn’t remove the lock on the bathroom door.
Next option: the window.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Ez knocked solidly on my door, followed by sniggering. “We’ll be waiting all day for you, Adina. Aaaaall day. Don’t even think about hiding, as we will find you.”
Quietly, I grabbed my bag, opened the window, and flung a leg over the side of the ledge, felt for the trellis, and once my footing felt secure, I threw my other foot over the side and began my climb down.
When I was only halfway down, I decided to jump the rest of the way and landed on the grass, pleased that I didn’t twist my ankle, but I was so numb that I wouldn’t care even if I did.
“You’re more athletic than I thought,” I heard a voice, and looked up to find that smirking, overly confident face of Ezrah Warwick looking down at me from my window.
“Fuck you,” I hissed, shooting him the middle finger, then turned to walk toward the dining hall, just out of habit, even though I wasn't sure where I wanted to go, and smacked into Lev.
“Going somewhere?” he asked, furrowing his brow.
“You got down here fast,” I snarled, stepping away from him to lengthen the space between us because I didn’t trust him. He became my friend, a man I started to perhaps see a future in, but he then drugged me and probably killed my father.
“I ran,” he said proudly, and I rolled my eyes. “Let me escort you to the dining hall, or we can grab a coffee from Scholars, if you want. “I’ll pay.”
“I hate you,” I told him straight as I walked ahead, clutching my bag tightly, then remembering that they took my knife as well. The pricks searched my bag, went through my phone, and took my knife.
His hand found his chest, nostrils flaring mischievously, “I’m heartbroken.”
“Seriously, I hate you,” I affirmed strongly, and this time he flinched. “I don’t want you around me anymore.”
“Luckily, I’m anti-social, so you’ll barely notice I’m around,” he argued, which didn’t make much sense.
Mt chest was tight, holding back the tears mixed with rage, then I stopped dead, and this time he smacked into me.
“Please, Lev,” my voice cracked under the weight of emotions.
“Please be honest with me. Did you and Ezrah have anything to do with my father’s death? Please, Lev, be straight with me.”
That gaze locked onto mine, and he held it there, which was unusual for him because he normally avoided eye contact.
“We had nothing to do with your father’s death.
” He looked away to gather his thoughts before adding, “I did lie earlier, though,” and my heart lifted in hope.
“I said the first time we saw him that day was when he was lying on his office floor. That’s a lie.
We were watching him that morning, as well as Leslie and you.
When Leslie left, and you went to your room, that’s when we decided to break in to kidnap you while your father was shut up in his office. ”
“So…” I swallowed over a lump in my throat, “So, you didn’t see anyone else?”
He shook his dark head. “No.”
“Was it you who waved at me?” I asked, hoping he would say no because that would mean someone else was there who could’ve killed my father. “Standing by the pool wearing a mask, was it you?”
“That was Ez,” he told me flatly.
I believed him, but I didn’t want to because my father's suicide landed uncomfortably, as there was no warning that he was depressed, and maybe my mother’s death, combined with the pics of me that were sent to him, affected more than it seemed.
Or maybe it was Leslie who drove him to hang himself.
No wait. That didn’t make sense either; if he found Leslie insufferable, he’d dump and divorce her. Easy.
“And you also didn’t organize someone to take pics of us that night to blackmail my father?” I pressed, then looked at his face to read his expression.
He cringed and made a face, shook his head, then drifted distant as if caught in a thought as we entered the dining hall. I was greeted with the smell of fresh coffee and bacon, but my stomach turned. My body was so twisted into knots over my father’s death that I couldn’t eat anything.
“I’m going to wait outside,” I exclaimed, feeling green on the inside. “I’m going to puke if I hang around too long in here.”
“Do you want me to get something for you? A coffee? Toast? Whatever you like?” he offered, speaking softly as clusters of students eyed us up.
It was an unusual sight for Lev to be seen with a girl, since he preferred to scare them until they squealed, rather than actually be nice to a girl, offering to grab her breakfast. Maybe the boy is growing up.
“No, I’m fine,” I said, patting my stomach, “I’m too upset.”
Lev looked past me at someone walking toward us, then said, “She's waiting outside,” and I turned to find it was Ezrah, with a wrinkled nose in disgust.
“Don’t worry, I’ll watch over her so she doesn’t escape,” he assured Lev, then he caught sight of one of the York brothers surrounded by his jock mates and glared at him as he walked toward us. “The fuck you looking at?”
James York shot him a nasty look, then spat on the pavement at Ezrah’s sneakers. “Filth.”
Ezrah laughed, “How’s ya girlfriend, Yorkie?” Then began yapping like a small dog, but I didn’t think James had a girlfriend since he asked me out for a coffee. But I didn’t care anyway. All of them can get fucked as far as I was concerned.
“The fuck are you on about?” he snarled at him, then looked at me, slightly confused about what he was implying.
“That lovely, sweet girl, Makita. A bit cold and hard, though, ain't she? Given you an extra hole,” Ezrah sniggered as James and his crew disappeared into the dining hall.
“Makita?” I questioned in confusion.
“Electric drill,” he answered flatly, and when it still didn’t make sense to me, he added, “Makita is a brand of electric tools.”
“What?” I waved my hand dismissively. “Forget it. As long as he leaves me alone, then I’m fine. I have enough problems with you assholes harassing me night and day and drugging me. God, I still can’t believe you drugged me.”
Ezrah shrugged casually. “You were hardly going to come politely, though, were you? We had the tranquilizers as an option and decided to use them when we saw that you were armed. So, it was good planning on our behalf.”
“I shouldn’t be shocked, really. I mean, you are Warwicks, the lowest common denominator,” I hit, then realized that the brick on my chest lightened slightly as we bantered. I didn’t like the guy, but at least he was entertaining.
“Exactly, and also, I like your pussy,” he said flatly.
My cheeks burned, unprepared for a dirty comment out of left field. “What does that have to do with anything? Oh my gosh, one track mind.”
“When I look at you, I think of wet pussy,” he shrugged. “And you don’t need that vibrator anymore, because you’ve got my cock.”
“No, thank you,” I growled, stepping away from him, but he only stepped closer, towering over me and smelling great, unfortunately.
Whenever my body betrayed me by his or Lev’s presence, I quickly reminded myself that they are Warwick scum, who drugged and kidnapped me. There was no coming back from that.
Lev reappeared with a slice of toast in one hand and bacon strips in the other, munching away. “Take her to get a coffee as Scholars, bro,” he said to Ezrah. “There’s something I got to do.”
“Are you bailing one, bro?” he joked, “Cos’ she’s too sad and annoying.”
“I’m right here in front of you,” I snarled. “And my father just died, so of course, I’m sad, you piece of shit. I should’ve shot you when I saw you, man. That would've felt damn good.”
“Meh,” he grunted as if my insults were like water sliding off a duck’s back.
Nothing bothered him, even when the York brothers appeared, he saw it as an opportunity to take the piss, rather than be worried by their presence.
The Warwicks had several enemies, yet they feared none of them. “You would’ve missed.”
“Hardly, I’m a very good shot. Besides, look at the size of you,” I said, pointing up and down his body as a mischievous smirk spread across his face.
“Hardly, you’re a giant.” I made my hand into a gun and pointed my fingers at his chest, just three layers of skin and a ribcage away from death. “Easy shot.”
With a twinkle in his eye, he grabbed my hand and lowered it to his groin, then prodded the tip of my fingers against his bulge. He didn’t care that we were on display, crowds of students moving past to get into the dining hall. His gaze was fixed on me, which made me feel uncomfortable.
“Finance class next,” he said, still with his tight grip on my hand, prodding his hard bulge as I tried unsuccessfully to pull my hand away. “Ol’ Deano’s class.”
“And so?” I hissed back at him.
“Gotta make sure he stays away from you too, just like the Yorkies,” he assured me. “Now that your daddy is dead, you’re all ours, sweetheart, all ours.”
“I belong to no one,” I snarled, finally freeing my hand from him.
“Yeah, you do. You belong to us. And James York knows what happens when he gets too close to you,” he stated darkly, sending a shiver down my spine.
“What? What did you do to him?” I pressed, moving away again, only for him to move closer and grab my hand, lacing his fingers into mine. The warmth of his palm pressed against mine was strangely comforting.
“I told you, Adina, he got fucked by his girlfriend, Matika, with the electric drill. Now, c’mon, let’s go to class,” he stepped forward, and once he realized that I wasn't following him, he yanked my arm. “C’mon, Boleyn, don’t piss me off.”
This was not a man displaying his affection. This was a man asserting his dominance, and it left me cold. But when I tried to fight him by trying to pull my hand away, his grip bit down harder.
“Don’t you care?” I asked him as we strode toward the business school. “Don’t you care that students see you holding hands with me, a plain Jane?”
“Hadn't noticed them looking,” he replied dryly, “and I don’t care.” We walked further along to Ashthorn Castle to cut through the cafes, then across the road toward the Business School. “My eyes do not see a plain girl when I look at you, Adina.”
‘Maybe you’ve got something wrong with your eyes,” I argued as he loosened his grip on my hand a little to revive my circulation.
He lowered his head to gaze at my face, scrutinizing my features, “No, my eyesight works perfectly fine.”