Page 63 of Endless Anger
I stare at her across the hood, running a finger over the car’s shiny coat of paint. It would probably be in our best interest if I gave her a heads-up that Foxe is, in fact, on campus with Asher, but there’s a difference in her eyes when she talks about him versus the one I know I get when I think about Asher.
If there’s unfinished business with them, she doesn’t care. It can stay in the past as far as she’s concerned.
Maybe she already had her closure.
Should I have sex with Asher?
Horror—and something else, something sort of magical—pulses through me with that thought, and I shake my head, trying to clear my foggy brain of all its chaos.
Why in the world would I have sex with someone who made it clear years ago that he wasn’t interested in me?
The shame from how he acted after I kissed him still burns bright in the back of my mind—as bright as that fucking fire he set at Lethe’s because he was mad at me. He doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself, and I don’t want to get tangled up in that sort of mess anymore.
I flop into the passenger seat, squeezing the cardigan in my lap. Aurora slides in beside me, checking her lip gloss in the rearview mirror.
“So,” she says, drawing out theo. “Are you going to tell me what else happened, or do I have to wait for the next holiday back home to get the deets from my parents? We both know our dads are going to be talking about this forever.”
“He just showed up, all right? I don’t know why or how or…anything, really. One second, I was lost, and the next, Asher Anderson was manhandling me back to my dorm.”
“Classic Ash-tree. Did he even try to cop a feel at least?”
I shoot her a look. “Why is everything about sex with you?”
“Noteverythingis about sex. Just the important things, if Shakespeare and Victorian lit have taught me anything.” Grinning, she jabs me with her elbow. “Besides, you two are just a long time coming?—”
“Please stop.”
“All right, but I demand to know the second it happens so I can tell you I told you so.”
Gritting my teeth, I clench the cardigan in my fists, ignoring how his scent clings to the fabric. Almost like he sprayed his fucking cologne on it.
Sex is off the table. I don’t evenknowhim anymore.
Last night, he was covered in blood and showed up out of nowhere, somehow justhappeningupon the exact place where Celeste was being gangbanged and dumped into the lake.
If I believed in coincidence, maybe that wouldn’t bug me so much. But at Avernia, I’ve learned that everything is calculated or purposeful, and coincidences only seem that way when someone wants them to.
Nothing is left up to chance or accident. Our fates are written in the stars, the mountains, and the bathroom stalls.
Often in blood.
I spent my whole childhood thinking Asher Anderson would always be at my side. Something in me died a bit when I realized he hadn’t been planning the same. There’s no way I’ll believe now that he just decided to change his mind.
Aurora shifts gears, backing up. “We’ll stop at Lethe’s and then head to the diner. Please don’t make me try their vegan bacon again though. I almost threw up last time.”
I roll my eyes. “Why Lethe’s?”
She smirks. “After the night you probably had? Getting drunk is the only solution. We need hard liquor.”
She has no idea.“It’s morning. Isn’t day drinking kind of…pathetic?”
Aurora considers this. “It’s only been a few hours since we left the party. We’ll just pretend we never stopped drinking in the first place.”
20
ASHER
Avernia doesn’t changeat all the next day, despite one of their very own—a presidential scholar—being MIA.
