Page 151 of Corrupt Me

“Promise me you’ll be all right and that you will take care of yourselves while I am not at the house.” I don’t know what I’d do if something were to happen to any of them. If the information is correct, that Felix would kill them but keep me alive, then this would be the best opportunity for that.

“Don’t worry. Security is tight, and if he wants to come after us, let him try,” Kaden assures me.

“Only if we were that lucky because, with his next move, he’ll be dead,” Blake counters.

Dane winks at me and says, “Don’t worry about us.”

Hunter is once again silent, and an unyielding fist wraps around my heart, squashing it. I can’t do anything to comfort or reassure him, and that drags me to the pits of misery.

“He’ll be fine,” Mia whispers to me. “What you’re doing is so brave. You’re so selfless.”

“You’d do it in a heartbeat too.”

That’s the thing in our group—we’d march into danger willingly if it meant keeping each other safe.

I should go before he comes over. It’s not only Hunter; my friends would enjoy nothing more than using Eric as a punching bag.

As I dart to move away, I catch the muscle ticking in Hunter’s jaw.

Our eyes lock.

“Go before I change my mind,” he mouths.

Time is a constant—it’s impossible to stop and doesn’t care about you. It bows to no one, making it abundantly clear that nothing remains the same. And because I can’t even spend my time as I’d like, I’m reduced to being a spectator of my life.

While I see my friends daily at school, we never spend much time together. Eric’s always there. He even picks me up from the estate and drives me back from campus.

In the last week, I’ve come up with dozens of scenarios, and all of them end with him dead.

I am at the coffee shop on campus, waiting for my friends to join me. We haven’t had a girls’ night in a while, so this is the alternative we came up with. Dodging Eric on campus has become a damn feat. I don’t know how long it will take for him to find me here and intrude on the small time I spend with my friends.

As I sip from my cup of coffee, I glance at my phone, hoping to find a text from Hunter. The rational part of me reminds me that this is the best course of action, but I don’t know if I’ll survive the distance. Every thought involves him as if he’s my ultimate destination. Every heartbeat echoes with this mix of nostalgia and longing. Being away from him, my dreams have dimmed. My dark prince in his black armor brought so much light and color to my life that now everything is dull—like a fading painting.

The bell over the coffee shop door jingles, and Celine is the first to walk in, followed by Abi and Mia. A pang hits my chest so hard it makes breathing through the emotions lodged in my throat difficult.

“Eric was searching for you. I am so tempted to gouge his eyes out,” Celine mutters as she reaches me.

Abi sighs. “That violent streak is making an appearance more and more lately.”

“Weren’t you asking Blake about the best options to poison someone without doctors knowing what it is?” Celine asks Abi as they slip off their cardigans.

“This is the main topic in the house, each day finding a more creative way to kill Eric,” Mia shrugs as they sit down. It warms my numb core that they want me to return home just as badly.

Emotions overwhelm me. “I love you, girls.”

They all reply, “Love you too.”

“We’re coming over to stay at the estate. Fuck Eric and fuck whoever tries to keep us apart,” Celine says, and then they order their drinks.

“How is Hunter?” I ask, no one in particular, looking into my coffee cup as if it has all the answers.

The corners of Mia’s lips tip down. “It’s better not to know.”

“Please.”

“He locks himself mostly in the gym. He ruined two punching bags already,” she says.

I palm my chest in a failed attempt to soothe my battered heart.

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