Page 190 of The Silent Note

“Zane gave me his key card and told me you’d need someone right now.” She pushes my hair back and sets her hand on my forehead. “You’re burning up. Grey, are you okay?”

“Yeah, Grey.”Sloane appears behind Cadence’s shoulder, dripping blood on the carpet.“Are you okay?”

I swat Cadence’s hand away.

She holds her wrist, stunned.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” My mouth opens wide and I struggle to inhale. “I need to fix things. Just give me a second and I’ll fix it.”

Cadence clamps my arms when I try to move.

I look up at her, frantic.

“You’re okay. Everything’s okay. We’ll figure this out.” She loops her arms around my head and pulls me into her shoulder to hug me.

Why is she comforting me?

I’m her teacher. I’m the adult.

I’ll fix it.

I’ll fix it.

“Everything will be okay, Grey. I promise,” she whispers again.

But I know she’s lying.

Because when I look down, I see Sloane’s blood on my hands.

ZANE

The lights of the bar shift to neon green then pink and yellow. The deafening music rattles the glass cups on the shelf. The very clear ‘must be twenty-one or older’ sign hangs proudly behind the bartender.

But what the hell are rules to me?

I never cared for them before.

And I sure as hell don’t give a damn now.

The music imbues my body and makes my heart quake. The bass line is fire. Finn would go nuts over the melody.

I bob my head to the beat. My neck isn’t moving in time to the rhythm. There’s too much liquid in my skull. My brain is sloshing around the way rubber duckies dance and dip in bath water.

The beat drops and the drums pack in the melody, filling the song with power.

“Yeah!” I slip out of the chair, my eyes on the dance floor.

Who the hell wrote this song? We need to buy the rights to it immediately.

My elbow slides against the glossy-smooth surface of the bar and I almost faceplant. Someone wraps their hands around my biceps.

It’s dark in the club. All I can see through my smeary gaze is a dress full of sequins. It’s a woman though. That much I’m sure of. The tits spilling out of her disco-ball wraparound is an eyeful.

Not bad.

Damn, but you know who has the best tits?

Grey.

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