Page 139 of Endless Anger
He doesn’t respond, moving down the embankment.
Willa frowns, turning her back to us as she silently ponders. In truth, I don’twantto go to the stupid party, but we have a holiday break coming up soon, and in-person classes were canceled for the week due to a last-minute faculty retreat drawing a good portion of the professors away. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get Beckett alone before we leave.
And I can’t travel home with the weight of the unknown on my shoulders. It’s too unsettling.
Asher doesn’t want me to get involved, but since Beckett and I have a history—albeit, one I fully regret—I figure maybe he’ll give mesomething. As long as I don’t go anywhere alone with him, I’ll be fine.
Hence the invitation to these two.
Willa groans. “Ugh,fine. I’ll go. Professor Dupont canceled rehearsal for the weekend, so?—”
“So slacking off should be okay?”
The three of us jump at the sound of the professor’s voice. My head whips to the side as he approaches in a dark green sweater, his brown hair askew, a strange flush to his cheeks. Almost as if he ran here, though he doesn’t seem winded in the slightest.
His green eyes find mine, and he nods. “Ms. Wolfe. Glad to see your commitment to wildlife cleanup prevails.”
I bow my head back. “Thanks for not telling the dean I enjoy it.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of spilling secrets.” He maintains eye contact for a fraction too long, and I swallow, my mind flickering back to the papers that fell out of his briefcase that day in the quad. The Death’s Teeth emblem hidden within. “I prefer it when my students trust me. Makes teaching them much easier.”
Willa waves a hand. “If I say I trust you, can I be moved up from understudy inHamlet?”
He glances at her, and she blinks, as if taken aback by having the very attractive man’s undivided attention. Before this semester, I wasn’t really accustomed to it either. It’s unnerving, and that’s without whatever he’s hiding.
“Did I hear you say you were glad that we didn’t have rehearsal this weekend?”
Willa’s face pales. Eli shuffles farther down the embankment, distancing himself from the secondhand embarrassment.
“Uh, well…not exactly,” she stammers. “I just pointed out that going to a party was possible since we?—”
“A party?” Professor Dupont folds his arms over his chest. “Not the Curator one, I hope?”
“Um…” She looks at me for assistance.
I sigh, adjusting my vest. “Yes, that one. Your brother loves his soirees.”
Professor Dupont’s jaw clenches, highlighting his supreme bone structure. “Indeed he does.” He stares off into space for a few seconds, then seems to shake whatever internal struggle he’s having and refocuses on us. “Well, ladies, I trust you’ll keep out of trouble in the event that you do attend.”
“That’s always the plan,” I mutter, still studying him like a scan under a microscope. “How come you’re not at the retreat?”
“Oh, I’m much too busy here. Campus unrest has caused me to stay late in my office many evenings over the last few weeks, allowing students reprieve from the terrible things happening.” His gaze simmers as it clashes with mine. “You’re always welcome too, Lucy.”
I nod, though there’s no way in hell I’m taking him up on the offer.
There’s no doubt that Sutton Dupont is hiding something. Maybe alotof things.
And I bet his brother knows about them.
The first nightI get my dorm room key back, I return and seeallCeleste’s stuff is gone. Her parents had come at some point after the crime scene cleaning crew and removed everything, leaving behind a couple of sweaters for Yuri and a pair of gold earrings for me.
Two steps into the room, and my throat closes up. It feelswrongbeing here when she isn’t, so I turn around and go down the hall, opening Asher’s door.
He’s lying in bed with his back against the headboard, clad in a pair of green-and-black plaid pajama pants. His knuckles are dirty, dried ink smudged in the ridges, as he fans his hand across his sketchbook, glancing up when I enter.
“I was wondering when you’d make a booty call,” he says, grinning. It wipes off his face in seconds though when he peers closer at me. “Shit. What happened?”
Shaking my head, I open my mouth to explain, but no words come out. Only a fat sob escapes, rendering me a blubbering mess again as I press my fists into my eyes.
