Page 55 of Feel Free to Scream

Call me paranoid, but I think I feel eyes following my progress.

I take forever to get to the tower at the end of the road.

Making myself cross the drive takes all of my strength. I keep my eyes downcast, because I can't bear to watch his stupidly beautiful face or that infuriating smirk, like he hasn't already destroyed my former life and spat out the pieces.

Keller opens the door before I get anywhere close, a grin curving his lips as he leans in the frame.

"The maiden returns. How unexpected," he deadpans, everything in his demeanor saying that he absolutely expected to see me again.

Of course he did.

He walks inside as I reach the threshold, and I follow him without a word, past the now-empty lounge, study, library, and into a vast, deep blue kitchen I haven’t seen yet.

"Coffee?"

Angry, afraid, stressed to no end, I want to snap that I want nothing from him. But that's not exactly true, is it?

I bite my tongue hard enough to bleed. "Please."

I watch him make it just how I like it; more milk than coffee, and he adds two pumps of caramel, then a pump of vanilla, pointedly displaying a fact that would have made my blood run cold if I didn't already know it. He's been watching me. Or had me watched, as the case may be.

Since when? For how long? Did he plan all this the moment I came to Thorn Falls?

But no, that's not possible. How could he have known I'd open my big mouth Saturday and make it oh so easy for him to manipulate me?

That bit, if only that, is on me.

"So," I begin, refusing to make small talk, "I'm allowed in the school, but I don't have anywhere to live?"

Part of me wonders if he's going to play it like he doesn't know what I'm talking about.

"If I take a job to pay for an apartment in this town, I won't have time to study, so I won’t be able to maintain the grades I need to keep my scholarship," I say.

I checked every job posting online. There seem to be plenty of bartending gigs available, but there's no denying that I wouldn't be able to pay for an apartment unless I take a minimum of thirty hours. How am I supposed to do that and do well in each of my classes?

Keller takes a sip of the dark sludge he's drinking without even a hint of sugar. "Yeah. It truly sucks to be you."

My jaw tightens. "Ineedback in the dorms."

We made one deal so I'd have my scholarship back. We can make another.

Fuck, I hate him for reducing me to this...but if that's what's necessary, what other choice do I have?

The dick who ruined me laughs, like all of this is just a big joke to him.

Thirty-six hours ago, I thought I'd lost my scholarship, everything I worked my ass off to earn, and had to go back to Michigan with my tail between my legs and nothing to my name. This afternoon, I learned I still have it, but I no longer have a roof over my head. And he's laughing.

I want toscream.

"Darling, it's sweet you think I control everything around here, but actually, the order to expel you from the dorms came from above."

My heart starts to race.

Fuck. "There must be…"

To my surprise, I see something not unlike pity in those cold, pale eyes of his. "You proved yourself untrustworthy and the board doesn't want you around their children until you've shown them you've changed. That takes time and consistency."

He's reminding me it's my fault. My consequences. Because telling the police what is going on is a crime in this part of the world.It’s not like I incriminated him or anyone else. In fact, I did my very best so the wyverns would be left out of it.

---