Page 38 of Wicked Games

I shake two Ambien and three Ativan into my hand, then pop them into my mouth and swallow them dry as I cap the bottles and put them back into the book. When everything is put away, I climb into bed and pull the covers up over myself.

I just need to hang on for another twenty or so minutes, then the meds will kick in, and I can finally fall into a deep, dreamless sleep and escape the panic and fear still swirling around inside me.

11

KILLIAN

“Excuse me, Killian?”

I turn toward the soft voice, pausing just as I’m about to start up the steps to Hamilton House.

Eden is behind me, and she looks like she can’t decide if she’s about to faint or run away. Her cheeks are flushed pink, and her eyes are wide as she wrings her hands in front of her nervously.

“What?” I ask when she doesn’t say anything. “You stopped me, remember?”

Her blush deepens. “Sorry. I just… Is Felix okay?” she squeaks.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t he be?” I glance at the building in front of us. “Did he tell you he was going to do something stupid?”

She shakes her head so vigorously her long hair whips around her face, and a hank gets stuck to her lip gloss. She hastily pulls it free. “No. I just…”

I roll my hand in a “get on with it” gesture. “You just…”

“I haven’t heard from him today.” She pulls her phone out of her back pocket and holds it out, like she’s trying to decide if she should prove it to me and show their text thread.

“And that’s weird?”

She nods. “We were chatting about something last night, and he told me we’d finish the conversation in the morning. I’ve texted him a bunch of times since I got up.” She wiggles the phone at me. “But he hasn’t even read them.”

“Maybe he’s ignoring you,” I say bluntly.

“Maybe,” she agrees quickly, not at all bothered by my dismissive tone or words. “But he’s been off the last few days, and I’m worried about him.”

I look between her and Hamilton House. “What do you mean?” I ask, my voice way harsher than it needs to be. “How has he been off?”

She doesn’t even flinch and demurely tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. “Distant, quieter than usual, and I’m not sure how to describe it, but he’s been really…disengaged.”

“Disengaged?”

She nods. “Like he’s just going through the motions and nothing interests him. Last night we were talking about…something he usually gets really into, but it was like talking to a different person, and everything just felt off.”

“So you’re worried about him because of vibes?” I ask, not bothering to keep the skepticism out of my voice.

She shrugs and gives me a helpless look. “I know it sounds crazy, but something’s going on. Did you know he’s been missing class?”

That catches my attention. “He has?”

She nods. “He’s skipped at least one morning class every day this week. Does that sound like him?”

That makes me pause. Felix is one of those nerds who actually likes school and learning. He already took all of last week off to hide his head injury, so him missing a bunch of classes this week for no reasonisweird.

“No, it doesn’t.” I nod at the building. “Come on.”

She beams a big smile at me and follows me up the steps.

A few of the guys in the lobby give us some strange looks as we pass, but they’re smart enough to keep their thoughts to themselves.

I have no idea what Jordan’s beef with Eden is, but I know better than to question his orders. And when he told everyone in the house to stay the fuck away from her or they’d have to deal with him, I knew that wasn’t an idle threat.

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