Page 9 of Pretty Lethal
“Guess that could also explain how she so easily convinced other students to drop off presents at your classroom,” Hawk pipes up. “If she was living here, and others saw her coming and going, then saw her on campus, they wouldn’t have even questioned whether or not she was a student. She might even have gotten to know some of the others living in the building.”
“She’s certainly charismatic enough to have pulled it off,” Kai agrees, unaware of how disgusted I am by Mel’s ease at manipulating others. Both of them are right however, by taking the time to get to know some of the other students, Mel was able to convince them to do what she wanted and pass it off as typical college bullshit, thus ensuring she was free to move around campus unseen. It makes me fucking sick to think about.
“Let’s find out what horrors await us inside, shall we?” Kai asks, looking directly at me. Despite the fact we all want answers, he’s already made it clear that this is my show. If I decide we aren’t going in, then we won’t. However, I need answers just as badly as the rest of them, so I give him a sharp nod to let him know I’m okay, and he threads his fingers through mine before we walk into the building.
I feel safe, ensconced between my three men as we climb the stairs to the fourth floor. Not that I have anything to fear, but I can feel goosebumps erupting along my skin the closer we get to Mel’s apartment, and it’s a comfort having all three of them with me and knowing that they are all on my side; that we’re all in this together regardless of the other issues going on between us.
As we crest the top step, Mel’s door looms before us like a bad omen. There’s nothing out of the ordinary, but I swear I can feel the vileness creeping through the gap at the bottom of the door, as though the stench of her presence was enough to taint the room for generations to come.
Kai’s grip tightens around mine, and Hawk’s shoulder brushes against me as he moves closer, while Wilder’s hand lands reassuringly between my shoulder blades. All four of us stare at the door for a long moment, and I sense the guys are giving me the time I need to build up the courage to face my fears.
Even though Mel may be dead, her catastrophic effect on my life still lingers. I probably need counseling or something in order to come to terms with everything she did to me—what she did to all of us, because I know I’m not the only one still suffering.
The beating she gave Wilder.
Forcing Kai to confront painful memories from his past.
Not to mention the sick show she pulled that night with Hawk and me.
We’re all left with gaping wounds.
Although Kai seems to have twisted what Mel did to him into something therapeutic, and Wilder laments mostly about not having the opportunity to avenge her himself, Hawk appears to be struggling the most.
I hear him pacing his bedroom at night after everyone else has fallen asleep. Only because I’m also still awake, haunted by nightmares and flashbacks every time I close my eyes. I can’t even think about that night without descending into a panic attack. I know everything worked out in the end, but the fear I felt at the time still clings to me.
How helpless I felt sitting in that chair, watching Hawk get sliced up and knowing Kai would arrive at any moment and be confronted with the sick scene in the hallway reminiscent of the night he found Laura’s dead body. And all of that after finding Wilder beaten half to death and fearing for his life.
Mel has messed us up—psychologically, mentally, and emotionally—and we’re struggling to piece ourselves back together in the aftermath.
“There’s no rush, baby girl. Let us know when you’re ready,” Kai says softly, a reminder that they are still here, willing and waiting for my signal.
Pushing all of my fears and lingering trauma into boxes and shoving them into the farthest reaches of my mind, I straighten my spine and let him know I’m good.
“Here, put these on,” Kai says, letting go of my hand and pulling out a bundle of latex gloves. He hands two to each of us, and we pull them on. Kai does the same before stepping closer to the door. I watch as he pulls a small pouch from his back pocket before crouching down until he’s at eye level with the keyhole. Realizing what he’s doing, my eyes widen and I glance anxiously around, except no one else is about.
The click of the lock being undone has my attention snapping back to the door as Kai stands. “Comes in handy more often than you’d think in my line of work,” he explains when I arch an eyebrow at him.
“Why do I doubt you learned that trick in the Marines?” I jest, earning myself a cheeky smirk.
Putting his tools away, he wraps his palm around the doorknob and slowly turns it. The door creaks open, the gloomy interior obscuring the apartment’s secrets.
“We need to be careful,” Kai says quietly, pushing the door open wider. “I don’t think Mel ever expected anyone to find this place, but just in case, she may have booby-trapped it.”
“What, like Home Alone style, rigged the place?” I ask, picturing that scene where one of the guys gets hit in the face with an iron that falls down a laundry chute or when they get shot in the groin with a BB gun.Please don’t let any of that happen to us. Even a girl doesn’t want to get hit in the groin.
Cautiously, Kai steps over the threshold. Hawk follows him inside, and Wilder ushers me to go next before bringing up the rear. All the curtains have been pulled shut, and I have to squint as my eyes adjust to the dark interior.
I scan the room while Kai and Hawk assess the space for any of those booby traps. From what I can tell, it looks like any other sparsely furnished, un-personalized student apartment. There’s a worn couch and a scuffed coffee table in the middle of the room. A small kitchenette is off to one side, and two doors on the opposite end of the room presumably lead to the bedroom and a bathroom.
“Looks like we’re all clear,” Kai says, and I release a breath that no one’s body parts are going to receive a walloping.
Wilder closes the door as Hawk stalks across the room and flings open the curtains, momentarily blinding us all. Dust floats in the air at our disturbance, but just like I suspected, nothing obvious stands out.
“It looks like she barely lived here,” Wilder notes, putting words to my thoughts.
“Based on how much time she spent watching all of us, I bet she didn’t,” I drawl, still pissy at the invasion of our privacy.
“Still, this is the only place that we’re aware of where she would have felt comfortable enough to let down her guard. There’s got to be something hidden here somewhere,” Kai insists. “Let’s split up and search.”
