Page 77 of Her Devil

After what felt like a million years of attempting to get to sleep when I got back, all that flies straight out of the window. I’ve never in my life felt so awake so quickly as I throw on a pair of trainers and drag my ass out of the door, heading round the house for the cars.

Except, mine is blocked in. Penelope’s stupid sports car in my way.

Legging it back through the house, I grab the key off the hook, apologising as I take it, slamming the door and flying back to the car.

In less than two minutes, I’m up the driveway and back outside the building I left her in, praying to whatever God is out there that she’s okay, calling her as I wait for the elevator. What if they’re not here? What if something happened and she ended up somewhere else?

The music blares as I get out on the right floor and part of my panic subsides. The party is still going on, she should be fine, right?

The door is unlocked as I get there. The music is still loud but the rooms are practically empty as I go from one to the next, still waiting for her to answer.

“Hey, girl. What are you doing here?” she calls drunkenly from a sofa where she’s curled up with a much more sober-looking Taylor, and Leo.

“I got your message…”

“What message?” she asks, looking from her phone to me and back again, like the fucking thing sent it itself. And yet, she’s not in any state to send anything like a coherent text message, one word or not.

My gaze flicks to Taylor’s, a smirk on his face as Leo’s gaze sears over my exposed skin, suddenly more than aware of what I left the house in; my trainers and less-than-covering silk pyjamas. The shorts barely cover my ass and the chamise top is half lace.Fuck.

Shit. This was a mistake.

They’ve been drinking and I look like brunch.

“Well, if you’re okay, I’ll just…” I say, gesturing to the door and hoping to make a swift exit before anyone else notices me and the amount of skin I’m currently sporting. Sexy pyjamas or not, this was not made for public consumption.

Leo attempts to get up, probably to walk me out safely again, but I wave him off. Whether he was in this with Taylor to wind me up and piss me off, I don’t know, but I’ve had more than enough of his irritating cryptic bullshit right now.

I just want to go to sleep.

The elevator takes half a lifetime to get to me, my irritation tapping out on the floor beneath me as I wait impatiently for it to haul ass down the stairs.

Gravel crunches under the tyres as I spin Penelope’s pride and joy around, chips flying every-fucking-where, but who cares? Doesn’t matter to me who’s in the firing line. Maybe I’ll care tomorrow, but not right now.Why the hell did I bother dragging my ass out of bed for this shit?

Because that’s what you do for friends, isn’t it? You haul ass when they call you in need. Fuck. She’s not safe here, even I can see that, but if she thinks she is, whatever. It ain’t my call.

A bush scrapes down the side of the car as I head back down the driveway, imagining the bright red paint being left behind. Part of me acknowledges that’s probably going to be expensive to repair, but I guess I’ll just have to pay her back. It’s three in the morning and I’ve had barely two hours of sleep. Either way, I slow slightly.

The headlights flick as I fly over a bump, a silhouette outlined as I slam my foot on the brakes, hard. The car skids as I turn the wheel, attempting to avoid the encroaching forest surrounding me, fuck knows what waits for me in there, and not hit the person standing in the middle of the road.

“Shit,” I yell into the night, holding on to the steering wheel as I manage to stop, barely three feet from whoever is still there.

My chest burns as I attempt to drag air into my lungs, but it’s not enough, it doesn’t matter how fast the blood pumps in my ears, my heart rate thunders as he stands there. Waiting.

I don’t know how I know it’s a man. It could be a woman, I suppose. But there’s something about the way his head tilts, the side of my headlights illuminating the gold scar that runs left to right across the dark mask, the highlighted flecks reflecting in the darkness.

I slam my hand down on the emergency lock, but knowing there’s no way he can get in and I just have to wait him out doesn’t stop the rising panic, or the adrenaline still coursing through my veins, especially not when two others step into the light, one waiting either side of him.

The scars run in different places and are different colours, and my panicked gaze goes from one to the other as they stand there silently.They didn’t look this frightening before. My head runs through a million and one scenarios, none of them good. But I’m safe in here, they can’t get in.

The dirt road is too narrow for me to turn the car and head back to the rest of the campus, and I stopped too short, too sharp, to be able to manoeuvre it safely.Fuck.

Glass rains down on both sides of me as I scream, covering my head with my arms for whatever help that will be. I don’t have time to process whatever the hell is happening before the safety of the door disappears from my side, something making light work of the seatbelt holding me in place and dragging me up by a fistful of my hair.

Pain rips through me, glass embedded in my skin as whoever holds me drags me from the car, throwing me to the dirt in front of the car, in front of the three of them. But, no, there’s the one who pulled me out, and another one; two of them, as they crowd around behind me, one from each side.

Tears pour down my face, streaking through the dirt.

What the fuck is going on?

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