Page 76 of Pretty Threats

Outside, I listen and look around for any sign of her.

Yeah, no.

She’s gone.

30

RAINE

As soon as I arrive on campus, I go to one of the Student Crisis counselors with a lie that one of the guys from Moses, who I refuse to name, has been making me feel unsafe. Within an hour of her making a few calls, they find a single in Central Hall that’ll be unoccupied for the rest of the semester. I’m reassigned to it, and a member of building services helps me box and relocate my belongings to the new dorm.

The security in Central Hall is tighter. Male visitors aren’t allowed in the building. My new dorm room is a very small fourth-floor, middle unit, but I don’t even care about the lost space.

When I’m settled in and doing internship work from Owen, I manage to lose myself for a few hours. When my phone’s battery runs down, I keep it turned off as it charges, so I’m not tempted to respond to a text from Killian.

It’s only after I’ve submitted everything and am in my single bed propped up on pillows and ready to stream movies that I power my phone back on. And with it, all the emotions I’ve been trying very hard to repress.

There are a series of beeps, and I open the Killian thread.

There’s a text from right after I left the house. If he’d known to come to the bus station, he might have caught me. The next one is in the afternoon when he must have come to campus to look for me. The final one was an hour after the second one. Then silence.

Killian: where are you?

Killian: what’s going on?

Killian: WTF?

I close the thread without answering. I don’t owe him an explanation. I don’t owe him anything.

I decide if I really want to guard against Killian grabbing and forcing me to come back to his place, I’ll need serious help. Killian won’t listen to me or my dad or Marianne. And if I went to the school, he’d see that as a betrayal and would retaliate, maybe by killing my dad. So, no. The only person he might listen to is one of his brothers. And if Liam, who’s some kind of crime lord, is involved, maybe Killian’s bosses would leave me alone, too.

After a few minutes with my heart pounding, I call Marianne.

“Hi, sweetheart!” Mari’s booming voice immediately makes me feel a little better. “How’s college?”

“Everything’s okay,” I lie, hoping I sound convincing. Telling Marianne would just upset her and maybe put her in danger, too. I’m not doing that. “Do you know whether Liam’s going to be in town this weekend?”

“Haven’t heard anything different,” she says.

“I was wondering if I could talk to him about something. If you and Dad could pick me up from school, maybe I could go to see him?”

“You need to talk to Liam?”

There are a few beats of silence before I take a breath and then say, “Yes. I’d like to. If he has time. Could you check?”

“Of course he’s going to have time for you, Raine. That’s a given. I’m just trying to figure out why you need to talk to him and not us?” She pauses for a moment. “Something going on with Killian?”

“No,” I lie instantly. “If Liam’s not too busy, will you let me know?”

Of course, she suspects the truth. She knows she and my dad have no influence over Killian now that he doesn’t live with them. They couldn’t even control him while he did live there. When he got in the drag-racing trouble and continued to sneak out at night, Marianne finally sent Killian to live with his brother Luke for a while. Killian didn’t like it there, so he moved in with his brother Aiden, who didn’t seem to care what he did.

“I just texted Liam, and he texted back that he has time for you, honey. You want us to pick you up tomorrow? What time?”

Exhaling a breath I didn’t realize I was holding, I slump back against my pillows in relief. “I’ll text tomorrow after I check with the director I’m working for. I’m not sure if he expects me to be on campus this weekend.”

“No problem. You text and let us know. Friday’s your dad’s short day. We can come anytime after one.”

“Okay, I’ll text.” I smile. “Marianne…?”

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