Page 40 of Liar
I was silent as I entered his building, heading to the elevator and taking it up. My feet drew me to his door, and I knocked. It wasn’t too late, but if he really was sick, he might be asleep. Deciding I didn’t want to wait, I reached for my keyring. On it, I had the key to my dorm room, along with a spare for Will’s place. He had one spare, and he gave it to me.
Using the key to get in, I was greeted with an empty apartment. The lights were off, which I immediately thought was odd. I went to flick the lights in the kitchen on, illuminating the attached living space and the hall.
“Will?” I asked, my voice echoing in the quiet. Down the hall, I found no one else. The bathroom’s light was out, and his room empty. No one else was here.
Will…wasn’t home, which meant, I realized, he’d lied to me.
As I stood there in the darkness, wondering just where my brother was, I couldn’t help but let my mind wander. Had he lied to me about other things? What if he was keeping more secrets from me? If Will wasn’t here, where would he be?
I didn’t stick around to find out. There would be no brotherly discussion tonight. I simply left his apartment, locked up, and returned to the dorm, alone and pensive.
Deep down, my gut knew.
This wasn’t a good sign.
Chapter Fifteen – Ash
My statistics grade was doing a bit better than it was at the beginning of the semester, but I was pretty sure that mostly had to do with the fact that Corey wasn’t our teacher anymore. We had an older professor, one who decided to take Corey’s classes out of the kindness of his heart—or the bigger paycheck Hillcrest was surely offering him. An older man, probably in his late sixties, he didn’t seem to care too much about the nitty-gritty details, and on our quizzes he let us use cheat sheets, which pretty much made them open-book quizzes. I had no idea if our exams would be like this, but I wasn’t going to complain.
Corey. I still couldn’t believe I was the last one to see him alive, other than the killer. Unless it was some random attack, or maybe Corey was into some illegal shit? Who could say. Someone could look like a nerd but secretly have a stash of drugs in their car or something…though if that was the case, the police probably would’ve found some evidence of that. As it stood now, Corey had died, cut down like an animal, for a reason no one knew.
I couldn’t let my mind think of the picture Officer Melendez had shown me. If I lingered on the blood, on how his eyes were still open…I might actually have another panic attack, and I’d had enough of those things to last me a lifetime already.
No. I couldn’t think about Corey, or what happened to him. I couldn’t think about how his killer was still out there, maybe planning to kill again.
Were any of us safe here? Sure, Hillcrest had upped security on campus, adding extra patrols at all hours of the day, but still. These rich people probably thought nothing bad like that would ever happen on their campus, let alone right after the dean was killed after attacking his son and being suspected of having an illegal relationship with a minor.
Hillcrest’s reputation was on a steady decline this year, it seemed.
Once class was over, I packed up and pulled my hoodie over my head. I didn’t wear a beanie today, my blonde and pink hair flying free. I also used my skateboard, for the first time in what felt like forever. Today’s outside temperatures were still a bit cold, but I missed being able to skate along, weaving between the crowds, a quick dart among snails.
At least, I was a dart until I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I steered my skateboarding self to the side of the sidewalk, kicking up the back as I hopped off and checked my phone. I think, on this entire campus, I was the only skateboarder. There really weren’t many skaters around here.
Or emos. Or goths. Or anyone with a personality that didn’t scream mommy and daddy’s money.
I’d gotten a text message from Sawyer, and I was quick to read it. He…asked if he could take me somewhere this weekend, without my other guys present.
A date.
Sawyer Salvatore actually used the word date. What the hell? I mean, it wouldn’t be the first date Sawyer had taken me on—that time at the zoo was…not among my worst memories of him. Oh, I’d seen that one at his worst, but I hadn’t quite yet seen him at his best. Maybe this was a chance for him to show me just how much of a new leaf he’d turned.
Or maybe it was a ploy to get in my pants anyway, away from my boyfriends. Couldn’t be sure when it came to Sawyer.
I texted him back a sarcastic response. Where to this time? Another trip to the zoo? Might be a little cold for a handjob outside. Wait. Was that too much? Shit. I shouldn’t have said that. I should’ve—
My thoughts stopped when my phone immediately buzzed with his reply: Somewhere dark. Somewhere loud. A place that’s perfect for a handjob…or other things. And then the bastard sent the water emoji and the eggplant emoji.
The prick.
God, I hated how much I didn’t hate him.
He sent another message, Before you go letting your mind think of all of the things I meant…a movie. I meant a movie. Maybe dinner, if you look good enough to show off.
An incredulous chuckle escaped me, and I wanted to roll my eyes at his audacity. How could he text me something like that, probably seriously too? How could he wake up this morning and think bugging the shit out of Ash was a good idea?
I texted him back: I hate you.
To which he responded, No you don’t.
