Page 50 of Redeemed

I click my tongue. “Stop that. Tonight is for fun, not worrying.”

“I’m trying,” she mumbles.

Athelia is staring at the sidewalk, so when we turn the corner, I’m the first one to see the dark, Gothic-style house that looks like it’s straight off a Pinterest board.

“It looks…wow,”I breathe out. “Holy fuck.”

We’re both frozen on the sidewalk, staring at the dark house. Halloween decorations are scattered across the front lawn, and the candles in the window add a soft, welcoming touch.

I’ve walked past it a few times before, but it looked nothing like this. It was falling apart. Completely abandoned. Whoever bought it poured a lot of money into renovating it.

In a way, it reminds me of home. Beckham pushed aesthetics hard, and he was obsessed with this particular style. My mom said a lot of Christians think focusing on aesthetics is sinful and a distraction from God, but Beckham thought the opposite. He saw it as a form of worship.

God created beauty,he used to say.So we’ll build beautiful things for him.

“Whoever is hosting this put a lot of effort in,” Athelia mutters.

A chill runs through me as her voice brings me back to the present. Fuck Beckham, and fuck Cornerstone. They don’t deserve my attention tonight.

“You ready?” I ask.

With a smile, Athelia takes my hand. “Yeah.”

We cross the street together and step through the wrought iron gate in front of the house. Music pours from inside the house, and I immediately spot our friend Angie on the front porch. When she sees us, she hops down from the railing she was sitting on, her bright pink hair blowing in the wind. As we make our way up the path that’s lined with jack-o-lanterns, she sprints toward us, an empty Solo cup in her hand.

“Hey!” She throws her arms around me.

“Hey, Ange.”

“I didn’t think you guys were coming,” Angie says, “but I’m so pumped you made it. Wanna get some drinks? They’ve got everything inside.”

Athelia shoots me a wary look, but then she gives Angie a once-over. She’s obviously multiple drinks in, and she looks fine.

“Let’s go,” Athelia says.

It’s warm inside the house, and we have to squeeze past people to get to the kitchen. As we make our way through a tight hallway, my phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out to give it a quick glance.

Colton:I’d be more careful if I were you. Wouldn’t want to lose your precious scholarship.

My confusion is quickly replaced with dread as a photo appears on my screen. It’s a still from one of the security cameras in the library, and it shows me sneaking out of the maintenance room. If Colton has this, then he has the rest of the footage. There aren’t any cameras inside the maintenance room—that’s why it’s one of my go-to spots—but being alone in there with that guard is suspicious enough to get me into some serious trouble.

That motherfucker.Colton has done a lot to hurt me over the past couple years—so have Lucas and Xander. But this? Potentially ruining my chance at finishing out my degree? That’s far more extreme than anything they’ve done so far. I’d lose the job I have lined up for after graduation.

I’d loseeverything.

I swallow hard.He can’t mean it. Hecan’t.But…

What if he does?

With shaking hands, I text back a reply.

Haven:What do you want?

He doesn’t respond immediately, so I shove my phone back into my skirt’s pocket. Pemberton University is the only reason I’ve been able to keep myself afloat after leaving Cornerstone. Getting kicked out would mean having no place to live, no access to the food at the cafeteria…

I clench my fists.No.I won’t let him take this from me. If he actually means what he’s implying, I’ll kill him before he lets my secret out.

“Oh, this one is cool,” Angie says, pointing to a framed print on the hallway’s wall. It’s of ravens perched on a barren tree branch. “Love the details.”

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