Page 46 of Deadly Secrets

“What does the note say?” I asked, intrigued.

He handed me the note, which he had clearly read.

You think you’re better than everyone else, but you are not special. You bleed like everybody.

I felt sick.

“I’m calling the police. Someone is clearly obsessed with you, and I don’t like leaving you alone in your apartment. Whoever wrote these notes knows where you live.”

“I already did, Noah. I told them everything, but they kept telling me that it was possibly part of the hazing,” I blurted, my voice filled with despair.

“This weekend is Thanksgiving. What are your plans? Are you going back to New York?”

“I was planning on catching up on some homework. It’s my first Thanksgiving without my parents, so I’d rather stay here at Stanford and order a turkey sandwich.” I usually spent Thanksgiving at boarding school, but I would video-call with my parents every year. Well, my mom. Half of the time, my father only showed his face for about ten seconds and then disappeared.

“Since my parents will be attending a private event, Ander has kindly invited me to his house in Rye. Let me talk to him. I won’t leave you alone here with this creep skulking around. I’ll see if you can come with us. If not, I’m staying right here with you.”

I snorted.

“Yes, sure. As if spending the weekend at the Scotts’ didn’t sound like a nightmare. I think I’ll pass; I would rather face a creep than the Scott family. I doubt Ander’s dad would be thrilled to have me there anyway.”

“Leave it to me.”

Noah was on the phone for about five minutes while I dried my hair. I wasn’t particularly thrilled about spending the whole weekend with Ander and his family, but the thought of being alone in my apartment did concern me a little. Maybe I could just go to my house in Port Chester or buy a ticket to Hawaii. That sounded like a better plan, anyway.

“Ander says he’s cool with you coming. He’ll let Claudia know.”

“Who’s Claudia?” I asked.

“Zayn’s mom.”

That was right. I remember the night we met. He was escaping his mom’s engagement party. It was weird to think about Zayn and Ander becoming stepbrothers.

“When’s the wedding? Zayn told me his mom was getting married when I met him,” I explained.

“Yeah. I still remember you already knew him before we met…They’ll be getting married in March.” I didn’t miss the sharp comment. Was Noah jealous? “Do you talk to Zayn a lot?”

Yes. He was jealous.

“We talked on Halloween, but that’s all.”

“What did you talk about?” Noah clenched his jaw.

“Well…nothing happened if that’s what you’re asking.” The lie tasted like rotten meat in my mouth. “He just wanted to know where we stood with each other.”

“And where is that?”

“Umm, Mr. Nakamura, are you jealous?” I said in a mocking tone as I approached him. I stood between his legs, stroking his beautiful and soft hair with one hand.

“Jealous of Zayn? Never. We’ve shared girls before, but I’m not sure I want to have that kind of arrangement with you. I like you too much to share.”

Sharing girls? Did he imply dating them sequentially, or did he mean being with a girl at the same time? A chill ran through my body as I imagined that second scenario. Zayn and Noah together with a girl. The funny thing was that, in my head, that girl had my face, and that image turned me on more than I was willing to admit.

Chapter 17. DON’T HOLD BACK

(Sienna)

I was on the phone with Maggie all morning while preparing my luggage. She would be helping the local homeless shelter during Thanksgiving, so her plan was to stay at Stanford and watch as many horror movies as she could. I told her to get some ideas on how to avoid being an easy prey to my stalker, to which she replied that my sense of humor was fucked up. I knew it was not funny, but I tended to make jokes during stressful times.

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