Page 6 of Ghost
Surprise flickered in Bryce’s eyes as his focus shot towards me. “Finn Abernathy? How do you even know him?”
Damen shot me a worried glanced, but I ignored him. Holding my fists to my chest, I responded. “Finn was my best friend until this last weekend. We got into a fight and—”
“Finn has a friend?” Bryce stepped backwards in shock.
“Hehada friend!” I corrected, annoyed. This reaction was getting rather old. “And stop that,” I added, frowning. “Shouldn’t you be more surprised that he hurt me than the fact that he had a friend?”
“No, not really.” Bryce waved his hand in the air, his face pensive. “It all makes so much more sense now.”
Damen turned to face me, running his hands down my arms before gesturing me back to my seat. I silently obeyed, contemplating Bryce’s words.
He wasn’t surprised that Finn was violent. Only that he had a friend.
The more time passed, the more I realized I never actually knew Finn at all. For example, if someone had asked me a week ago if Finn would ever hurt me, I would have said no.
And look at how wrong I would have been.
While I remained lost in my thoughts, Damen took a seat next to me and continued addressing Bryce. “We can talk about that in a minute. I have a few questions foryou. Why is Bianca in trouble?”
Bryce’s head tilted in confusion, and his mouth thinned. “She’s not in trouble. Where in the world would you get that idea?”
His statement broke through my reverie.
“I’m not in trouble?” I interrupted. Why was he lying to Damen? He clearly wanted me alone. “Why did you pull me out of class and send me here then?”
“Would you believe that I planned on asking you out on a date?” Bryce sounded almost hopeful, and Damen stiffened beside me. I, on the other hand, fought against the sudden surge of nausea at the very thought.
Bryce noticed, because he let out a bark of laughter before he continued. “No, that’s not it either.” His voice turned contemplative. “There was something else I wanted to discuss. Something is weighing you down today. It wasn’t nearly there in this manner last week.”
Damen and I exchanged a confused glance, and I shrugged at his unspoken question. I hadn’t noticed anything supernatural hovering about myself, so I had no idea what Bryce could be talking about. Other than being extremely tired, I was fine.
“But Finn,” Bryce continued in a tight tone. His eyes flickered toward Damen. “What did he do this time?”
“What do you imagine that he did?” Damen responded, crossing his arms. “Your group knows him better than most. Aren’t you responsible for watching out for each other? How long has he been on his own? How did you miss the fact that he had an outside friend—for years?”
The thin line of Bryce’s mouth dipped downwards. Meanwhile, I was more lost than before. “Do you actually know Finn? Are you…” I had to ask, even though I was pretty sure of the answer. “Are you close to him?”
Chapter Three
Bianca
Deepens
Bryce shot me a look of barely concealed disgust. “Am I close to Finn Abernathy? Have you lost your mind? The only reason that I even speak to him is because—”
“You both belong to the same fraternity,” Damen interrupted sharply, cutting off whatever Bryce had been about to say.
I frowned between the two of them, who were both looking shifty-eyed suddenly. It didn’t take a genius to figure out they were not telling me the truth—or at least in whole.
Plus, Damen was probably the worst liar I’d ever seen in my life. I would have assumed that a psychologist would know better than to avoid all the tell-tale signs of telling a lie. But Damen was practically oozing agitation and nervousness.
I got the feeling he wasn’t particularly experienced in this, unlike his brother.
“You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want.” I frowned at Damen—the only person in the room from whom I had some expectations. “But don’t lie to me.”
Damen’s mouth snapped shut, and a look of self-reproach crossed his expression.
But I continued, ignoring him. “I’ve had enough of lies with Finn. You can’t be my friend if you start lying to me too. I’d rather be alone.”
