Page 89 of Tag

I stepped into my room and tossed my phone onto the bed after putting it on speaker mode so I could move around, going to my closet and grabbing my cheer uniform to change into.

“Are you okay?” I asked, sensing something was off.

“A bit weirded out, but yes. I was Marked today.”

“You were?”

“Yeah. I thought it was a joke at first because I didn’t know the girl who handed me the note. The text that followed it up confirmed this is actually happening.” There was a crinkle of paper, and then he read aloud:“Some sins take time to catch up. Consider this as your countdown.”

“What do you think that means?”

He huffed. “Hell if I know. I’ve never committed any sins.”

“We’ve all sinned, some more than others.”

“Well,” he amended, “I might be a little gluttonous, and I’ve fucked before marriage, but you knew that.”

I ignored his last comment. I hadn’t even considered him a possibility to be Marked. Guilt seeped into my consciousness. “You’re okay, though?”

He laughed. “It’s a silly tradition, sweetheart. I’m kinda looking forward to it.”

His answer surprised me. I wouldn’t have expected him to want to do this.

Then again, he did have a bit of an adrenaline junkie in him. “That makes one of us at least,” I murmured, then winced. “Shit.”

There was a beat of silence before he chuckled. “I heard that going around.”

“From who?”

“Kellan mentioned it. Wouldn’t say how. Actually, he slipped up like you just did.”

I silently cursed Kellan—and myself. “Well, it happened. I’m Marked.”

“How’d they tell you? Was it just you, or your roommates too?”

Roommates? That was certainly one way to reduce what the girls were to me. No way was I answering thehow.Everyone else was getting ominous notes and vague threats. I got a justifiable reason for trauma and a stalker who thought we could have a connection.

“Can you keep it between us for now? I know it’s floating around, but I’d like it to stay that way for a little longer.”

“I take it Voss isn’t aware of this, then?”

I didn’t answer fast enough, and he laughed. “No shit he doesn’t.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I heard he sent you flowers during class, and was wondering if you two were at odds about something. That explains why he doesn’t know.”

How loud and wrong he was, proudly too. I wondered if it was widespread that he sent me flowers as some sort of an apology, or if this was solely Ashton’s theory. Ryder wouldn’t use floral arrangements to apologize.

“I’m not sure what you heard, but we’re not having any issues.”

“That’s good, I guess. For a minute, I was glad you didn’t tell him first, but I wasn’t the first person you told either.”

I double-checked that I had everything I needed, then zipped my duffel shut, staring down at my phone. The ever-present guilt threaded itself through everything lately—my relationships, my choices, my silence.

“Are we okay, Sanj? I feel like you’ve been a little off lately.”

I wasn’t sure how he picked up on it. It had only been a day or two since we last saw each other. Maybe he just sensed it, the unraveling, the quiet drift he didn’t want to acknowledge. I pressed my hand to my temple, dragging my fingers throughmy hair, trying to piece together the right words. The truth was simple and cruel. Ashton had always been good to me. Not perfect— no one ever was—but he tried. And even with Sarah aside, he never gave me a reason to doubt his intentions.

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