Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 79781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
The muscles of his back and torso tense up as he rounds each corner carefully, and I watch the ink on his skin shift as he moves.
Or maybe it’s that I can’t fucking handle what I’m feeling right now.
Would Roman truly kill someone for me?
I know he’s done it before.
Know he’s capable of it.
But I don’t want him to have to do it. I don’t know how to merge that version of Roman with the incredible, tender man who just kissed the tears from my cheeks, right in front of his friends.
I stay close to him as he and the other guys do a final search around the outside of the house, scouring the backyard, the sides, and the front gardens.
There’s no trace of anything suspicious.
Back inside, Roman grabs a laptop from the front room and brings it onto one of the long, dark red couches beside the fireplace.
When I sit down, I feel like I’m watching all of this from somewhere outside my body.
I stare blankly at the laptop as it comes to life, the black screen turning blue, then starting the system. Roman’s hand lands at the small of my back, and he keeps it there.
Rayne and Hunter are on the other nearby sofa, talking to each other quietly. Roman’s hand slides over my lower back until he’s wrapping his arm around my waist, pulling me closer toward him on the cushion.
“You’re shaking again,” he says in a low tone.
“Yeah. Sorry. I’m not even that scared, I just I can’t stop—”
I exhale, finally looking away from the laptop screen to meet his eyes. I lean over, resting my head on his shoulder when the room starts to feel like it’s spinning.
What does he feel, when he looks at me now? Is he aware that I’m falling in fucking deep?
We look at the camera footage over and over for the next half an hour.
Rayne and Hunter come over and huddle by us, watching the replay. In the video, the guy comes to the front door. He’s wearing glasses. He smiles at Rayne, then just waves, walking off down the street.
He looks completely innocent.
Roman searches through footage from the rest of the day, trying and failing to see any other instance of this guy on camera.
Eventually, Weston and Sev saunter over too and ask what we’re looking at. Hunter gives them a short version of the story.
“I think I’ve seen that guy,” Weston says, leaning over and squinting at the laptop. “Yeah. Definitely. He’s in my biology lab class this semester. Really fucking nice guy.”
Roman’s eyes narrow. “What is his name?”
“Fuck. I don’t remember. He said he was from Mexico City. Ramirez, I think, is his last name.”
Weston navigates to a website I’ve never seen before, typing in a login and password quickly. Suddenly, an official-looking Crimson College database comes up, showing a long, unadorned list of names and birthdates.
“What is this?” I ask.
“My friend works at the admissions office, and she showed me this once. It’s a private database, but all you need is a login, and… well, she gave it to me.”
He uses the search function to look for the last name “Ramirez” and finds two entries.
“That’s him,” Weston says. “Leandro. He goes by Leo.”
Roman zeroes in on his phone number and immediately takes out his phone to dial it. He turns it on speakerphone and it rings, once, then twice, before Leo picks up.
“Hello?”
“Leo. I’m calling from Onyx House. Did you stop by today to drop off a letter?” Roman asks.
“Yeah! Um, who’s this?”
“Did you write the letter?”
“No. Some guy paid me fifty bucks to drop it off at Onyx House. I didn’t even know Onyx Society was a real thing. Do guys have to, like, participate in rituals to be part of a secret society?”
“Who paid you the fifty dollars?”
“Random guy in town. Had dark hair. Um… he was wearing a black shirt? Long-sleeve? I saw him at the diner when I went and got a bag of bagels for my dorm—”
“You saw him at Capp’s?”
“Yeah.”
“Any other details you can remember?”
“Not really. I didn’t really look at him closely.”
Roman nods. “Thank you, Leo.”
“Um, who is this?”
Roman hangs up and a moment later, there’s a knock at the front door. I jump at the sound, but Roman puts a palm on my back.
“It’s just Maks. See?”
He points to the live feed at the corner of the laptop, where we can see Maks, alone, at the Onyx House front door.
I relax a little.
“Are you sure it’s just Maks at the door?” I ask. “What if someone has a gun pointed at him from far away, and they’re going to have him kill us? Did you even know he was coming?”
“I told him to come,” Roman tells me. “But I’m very glad you’re finally thinking about your own safety.”
Roman greets his cousin at the door and then brings him back into the front room where the rest of us are sitting.