Page 7 of Veil of Lies

“I was wondering if you’d help me out with some study notes.”

My head snapped up in surprise. Was he fucking kidding me? I’d literally written nothing useful down at all this morning.

“No.”

He seemed taken aback by my hostility. I guess he wasn’t accustomed to girls saying no to anything he asked of them.

“Why?” He stood in my way, blocking the aisle, and I could feel the tension in my body rising rapidly. I didn’t want to have this conversation - any conversation - with him. Why could he not get the fucking hint?

“Because I have enough on my plate without offering free tuition services to your lazy ass. Make your own notes. You might learn something useful.”

He didn’t look happy and was about to throw some shit back at me when the girl from the other night appeared behind him. She grabbed his bicep possessively. “Brax, baby, are you ready? You said we could hook up for an hour.” Her voice was all syrupy sweet, dripping with needy desperation, but Brax seemed unmoved.

“Fuck off, Rowena, I’m busy.”

“You’re always busy! Why are you even talking to her anyway?”

She cast a scathing look in my direction, letting me know I did not pass muster whatsoever. Well, I gave no fucks what she thought of me.

“Looks like Rowena is waiting for her two minutes of mediocrity, better hop to it,” I threw at him with a smirk.

His eyes flared with rage at my suggestion his sexual performance was below par, but Rowena distracted him with yet more pathetic whining. I used the opportunity to push past him and leg it out of the lecture theater.

Instead of heading to the cafeteria for some lunch, I went straight back to my room. I had no desire to run into Brax again. Sure, he might be busy with Rowena, but I got the impression her company wasn’t doing much for him. I could hardly blame him if she was that needy.

If I were him, I’d avoid her too.

I had some cereal bars in my bag, so I tucked into two of them to keep my hunger pangs at bay. I’d go hunting for food in a bit, once the lunchtime rush had ended. There were no more classes on my timetable today. I had an assignment to do so I planned to head over to the library, but that could wait. I needed a break from my stalker and here was the only place I was guaranteed not to run into him.

Chapter 8

Quinn

Unlike Brax, I couldn’t afford to slack off 24/7. My father was constantly riding my ass over what he perceived as ‘laziness’. If I didn’t get the highest marks in an exam, he soon let me know he was unhappy, which was why I was in the library on a Friday night while Brax and Harley played video games and smoked my stash of weed.

I had an assignment due on Monday morning. Ordinarily, I would have finished it by now, but this week had been a shit show. Brax’s nightmares had kept all of us awake. Harley had taken to catching up on sleep during the day, but my timetable was fuller than his, so I didn’t have that luxury.

I was struggling. The lack of sleep was killing my brain cells, and the only thing keeping me going was strong coffee. Lots of it.

My books were spread out over the table while I researched my paper. I was the only person in here, which suited me perfectly. The last thing my addled brain needed was a distraction. The less procrastination, the faster I could finish my work and get the fuck out of here. With a bit of luck, we’d all get some decent sleep tonight if Brax smoked enough weed to push the nightmares away.

I was deep into some code when the sound of someone cursing softly caught my attention. I looked up to see a girl wearing baggy gray sweats picking up some books from the floor. I couldn’t see much of her face as it was hidden by a baseball cap and thick-framed glasses, but I didn’t recognize her.

She took a seat at a table by the window and pulled a laptop out. I returned to my notes, working my way through them. I forgot about the girl for a while, until she started cursing again.

“Fucking stupid fucking computer,” she muttered.

I couldn’t help smiling. “What’s the poor thing done?” I asked loudly enough to reach her.

She spun around in surprise. For a moment, she said nothing, and I didn’t think she was going to reply, so I returned my attention to my work. Then she spoke.

“It’s crashed and I didn’t save my document.” She sighed heavily.

“You can probably recover it?”

I could tell from the expression on her face that she had no clue how to do that.

“I can take a look if you like?” I offered.

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