Page 42 of Corrupt Me

“Of someone seeing the real me.” The car falls silent. It got too serious too quickly. “Fun, huh? Maybe you’re right, and we don’t know how to have fun.”

With that, I start the engine and drive back to campus.

When we arrive at the house, I wait for her to get out so I can get a grip on my emotions. She doesn’t. She remains seated and watching me, boring into my soul, unraveling me. Since the beginning, she has been there in my face, but since we’ve gotten closer, she’s peeled back one layer after another, prying me open bit by bit. She’ll learn what’s behind it all and stop looking at me with those bright eyes that promise me safety—promising me things my starved being wants to feast on. I would tarnish her, and I refuse to.

“I’m sorry for whatever happened to you to think like that,” she says and leaves. Alone, the demons mock me.

My sister thinks I got fucked up when I had to watch our mother die. Not that it didn’t, but to overcome that traumatic event, I preferred to remember her smiling at me, telling me she loved me and that I should live—that it was not my fault. I held her hand until the paramedics arrived, and she was taken from me. But it was not my mother’s death that fucked me up. It was her best friend.

Bailey scratches at my walls with a gentleness that my insides don’t perceive as dangerous. Instead of being wary of the intruder, they’re allowing her in, inch by inch, until there’s no way of removing her. That’s both curious and disturbing.

When I finally get my ass through the front door, Celine is waiting for me in the hallway.

I jerk my chin in her direction. “Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“Why did you need that time in the car?”

“Not now.”

“Haven’t I been patient? You know everything about me. I showed you all my vulnerabilities, trusting that I am safe with you. Why don’t you feel safe with me?” she asks, voice shaky.

My silence spurs her on.

“I was wrong… I thought you were a playboy, but you’re not. You haven’t been with anyone since London, and that was months ago. So, I realized it was your coping mechanism. But for what?”

My heart slams against my chest, each beat pounding in my ears.

“You’re not a shrink, and I’m not in the mood.”

“I thought we were best friends. You can tell me. Please.”

No one will ever find out.

There’s so much more at play here. Alice is the fucking principal of my family’s school—my mom’s best friend. If I come forward about what happened, the fallout would be even worse. That’s my burden to carry, my shame to live with.

“Where were you?” she asks, changing the topic, aware she won’t get the answers she wants.

“At an entertainment center in the city.”

“Did you have fun?”

“Why are you so worried about me?”

“Hunter, you and I have always shared a deep connection. I think my penchant for aggression was partly because I felt your hidden anger too.”

I move to pass her, and she grips my hand. “I love you. It’s okay to love. It’s okay to be loved. Don’t let the demons win.”

“They already have.”

There is more to Hunter’s broodiness. Having spent months analyzing his every gesture, every inhale and exhale whenever we were in a room, I know Hunter’s pain goes deeper than losing his mother. Something else happened to him, so I am getting information from the source while trying to be as discreet as possible about it.

We’re in the Lady Boss Lair, all seated on the comfy, big sofa. Abi is creating a cardboard building on the coffee table, Celine is working on her essay, Mia is editing a new children’s storytelling episode, and I am on my laptop, going through every picture of Preston boarding school with Hunter in it.

“What was your childhood like?” I ask Mia.

“It changed once Mom died. Dad took it on himself to get us back where we belong, but we had Alice too.”

My attention piques at the new information. “Who is Alice?”

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