Page 14 of Veil of Lies

My phone pinged with a notification. I opened the message, quickly scanning through the details until I reached the list of names at the bottom. When I saw who I was partnered with, I almost groaned out loud. Not that Brax seemed upset. I glanced sideways at him, because of course he was sitting in the adjacent seat. He grinned at me.

“Looks like we’ll have to spend some quality time together,” he remarked gleefully.

“Marvelous. I can’t wait,” I snapped back. “You better pull your weight on this presentation. I’m not doing all the heavy lifting.”

“How rude! I’ll do my fair share.”

I scoffed. I’d seen how much effort he put into our shared classes. Like zero. I was well aware he got some of the girls to take notes for him and for all I knew, he used ChatGPT to do his assignments. The guy was a lazy fucker. How he had even got accepted on this course was beyond me. I suspected his family had probably donated an obscene amount of money to the college. That seemed to be how it worked in a lot of the more exclusive schools. Rich parents equaled guaranteed place.

“Hmm. Yeah, well, let me know when you want to get together to work on it.”

“Sure, give me your number and I’ll message you.” He smiled innocently but I wasn’t falling for that crap.

“My school email address is on the list. You can reach me via that.” If he annoyed me, I could send him to the SPAM folder. It was a lot easier to ignore emails than phone calls and messages.

He frowned a little but obviously decided it wasn’t worth arguing, which was fine by me.

#

Another day, another study session in the library. One day seemed to bleed into the next, with very little to differentiate between them. I’d settled into my classes and was on top of my work, so really, I should be feeling…happy?

If my life was normal, then I guess happiness was a state of mind within reach, but my life was so far from normal that it was a fucking joke. Michael had been in touch to say his motion for a pretrial release for Dad had been rejected. Apparently, the court was concerned he was a flight risk. Which was unlikely given all of our accounts had been frozen.

I had no money to my name whatsoever, and no way of earning any unless I wanted to risk being recognized. The only thing keeping me afloat right now was a small stipend from my trust. Luckily, most of the course materials were delivered online and the library had everything else. There wasn’t anything I needed to buy since the college provided meals every day.

It didn’t stop me craving pizza though, which was why the scent of cheesy goodness wafting through the aisles made my stomach rumble loudly.

“Someone’s hungry,” Quinn remarked as he strolled past with a pizza box. He dropped down at my table and pulled out a slice. My stomach growled like an angry bear and I flushed with embarrassment.

“Help yourself,” he grinned. “There’s plenty. I ordered the largest extra spicy pepperoni they had.”

Pepperoni was not my favorite, but I was so desperate for a slice of delicious pizza, I didn’t much care.

“Why are you offering to share your pizza?” I frowned at him, trying not to ogle the tattoos snaking up his neck or the gold flecks in his brown eyes. We weren’t friends. Why was he being nice to me?

He shrugged. “I have plenty, I thought you might like some. But if you don’t, it’s cool.” He went to close the box, but my hand shot out before I could think it through.

“Thanks,” I said, somewhat begrudgingly, and grabbed a slice of pie before I could change my mind.

“Good?” he asked with a smirk, handing me a napkin for my greasy fingers.

I nodded. “Much better than the shit they serve downstairs.”

“Yeah, the pizza here isn’t the best, which is why we order in usually. Silvano’s makes the best pizza in the area. Their meatballs are also to die for.”

I nodded before taking a second slice. It wasn’t as if I could afford takeout, so I figured I might as well make the most of this opportunity. It might be a while before I tasted such divine deliciousness again.

Twenty minutes later, the box was empty, and I realized to my shame I’d eaten more than my fair share. Damn, that boy. He had to be some kind of feeder. It was the only explanation.

“You must have been hungry,” Quinn laughed, shoving the empty box in a nearby trash can.

“I skipped dinner,” I replied. “I was researching something and lost track of time.” No need to mention it involved Dad’s case. I doubted that would endear me to anyone.

He passed a wet wipe sachet so I could clean my hands.

“The food isn’t great in the cafeteria, so no loss there. We usually cook our own, or rather I cook for us. Brax and Harley can’t cook for shit.”

He shares with those two douches? The way the three of them had circled me like sharks the other day now made sense. Of course they were friends.

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