Page 41 of Killing Me Softly

“No. I just need to…”

“Compartmentalise?”

Kenny sighed. “Yes. Exactly.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m here then. To help. Take some of that stress off. Now, I’m rather interested in meeting your third years. You have quite the cohort this year.” She looked at her dainty watch. “Ten a.m. lecture theatre two, isn’t it? This way?” She pointed ahead.

Kenny didn’t answer immediately, his thoughts spinning too fast to settle. This wasn’t just about his work or his professorship anymore. Laura Pryce wasn’t just another colleague. She was a link to Aaron’s past. Another complication he hadn’t seen coming. And she was just about to walk into Aaron’s class.

Kenny didn’t believe in coincidences.

How the fuck was he meant to handle this?

CHapter ten

Suspicious Minds

“Happy Birthday!”

Aaron opened his door on Monday morning to Mel, tiny cupcake in hand, a single candle flickering in the breeze caused by students bustling by to claim their time in the bathroom.

He forced a smile and leaned forward, blowing out the flame.

“Hope you made a wish.” She handed him the cupcake.

“Always.” He plucked out the candle and threw it behind him into his bin, then peeled back the wrapper and bit into the cake, a sweet, slightly stale taste settling awkwardly on his tongue. He then locked the door behind him, falling into the rhythmic shuffle of the morning.

Their residence block was alive with muted chaos. Doors creaked open, snippets of laughter and conversations echoing down the corridors as the first years began settling into the rooms. Aaron’s floor of ten had filled up, and it was the usual excitement and nerves with the first years starting later, so it wasjust him and Mel mooching about as they headed for their first lecture.

The vast expanse of the university stretched out as they bundled out of the block, a mix of old stone buildings from yesteryear dotted between modern glass-and-steel structures. Paths snaked through wide green lawns and under towering oaks where the leaves were turning shades of amber and red to mark the start of autumn and the end of summer.

The end to Aaron’s summer bubble.

Their destination loomed ahead. The lecture hall where Dr Kenneth Lyons would lead a session on final-year research projects. Aaron’s stomach fluttered at the thought of seeing him again, their secrets woven into the very walls of that room. At the end of last year, sitting in Kenny’s lectures while they were sleeping together had felt daring.Thrilling. But now, it was different. It felt as though they’d crossed a line. They weren’t just fucking anymore. They were…something more.

Weren’t they?

Even if all they didwasfuck. And catch the occasional campus serial killer together…He hoped there weren’t going to be any more of those.

“Did you hear about Archie?” Mel pulled him from his tangling thoughts as they walked along a grassy mound sloping toward the winding path leading to the heart of the campus.

“Archie? The bloke from my flat in first year?”

“Yeah. He was going out with Scarlett. Y’know, from my Anime society?”

Aaron didn’t know. Nor did he really care. Archie was a prick. And a bully.

“Gone missing.”

“Missing?”

“Yeah…Fucked up his second year. Scarlett reckons he decided not to come back. But hiding it from his folks. Probablyjumped on a plane to avoid having to face them. You know they’re proper rich, don’t you?”

“No. Nor do I give a fuck. How do you know everything about everyone?”

“Ear to the ground.” She shoved his shoulder. “And I talk to people. I’m nice.”

“Can’t say a better man deserves failure.”

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