Page 22 of Study Games

Fat noodles swam in their chicken stock flavored spa bath. Sending myself a real promise I’d eat when I got back, after I got the assignments done and handed them to my jailers, I grabbed my key, pushed Celia into the hallway and pulled the door closed behind me.

I lied flat out to Celia, and to myself. The noodles were never going to be eaten, and the walk across campus wasn’t well lit. Well, in comparison to the pitch black area by the bee hives, the rest of campus was a veritable city. Naturally, the area where I stood? An utter void.

By the time I stumbled over my own beehives for a third time, I had to admit that an inebriated horde of hockey jocks armed with their own phone torches might have stood a better chance of locating my wayward phone after all.

I planted my ass on the wet grass so it matched my damp knees and fought back tears. It seemed like such a small thing, until it wasn’t. Those assignments wouldn't be done and I didn’t have the income to replace it, even with tutoring Jax. And I’d made the sort of deal with the devil no one but the desperate ever made, but then wasn’t that how these things always came about?

The Twins, always capitalized for the pure terror they instilled, lone mode of contact was that phone. I didn’t even have their email–smart on their behalf to control the flow and direction of information, but certainly not on mine. Until this moment it hadn’t seemed important and right now my bee covered phone case was the most critical treasure in the world.

I swallowed my fear. Right. I’ve got this. I clutched my key, the sharp edges biting into my fingers. Pain grounded me, letting me push the tears back. No. I would not crumble over losing a phone that had all my contacts, pictures of my nieces when they were brand new and crinkled before their faces unfurled, pictures and videos of my bees for reference late at night…oh hell.

The first tear threatened.

My hands skated about the grass in a last bid of desperation, but all I came up with was cold palms and a handful of dirt from the garden bed. One of the hives wobbled as I bumped into it, halting my progress altogether.

Releasing the key to the safe haven of my pocket, I pressed the heels of my hands into my eye sockets, rubbing the fragile skin though I knew Celia would berate me for it. I forced my legs to take me in the direction of home, ranting in my head the entire trip. Not watching where I was going at all, I left the dark confines of campus and headed along my street.

My building came into sight, and the thought of actually getting some work done, knocking over my to-do list, lifted me despite my missing phone. I pushed that loss aside and refocussed. Planning my night out and knowing Celia wouldn’t be back until the small hours, if she came back at all tonight, gave me the freedom to spread my jobs all over my floor.

Lost in thought, I tripped over a pebble the relative size of my ego and swore creatively about the reproductive process bees utilized within their queen’s harem.

Which was how I managed to run face first into my pair of nemeses without being aware of their presence at all.

The Twins.

Two pairs of pink-gray eyes, so light as to appear pigmentless like dirty snow, stared down at me from a good foot and a bit of height above my duck butt were set in haughty faces that would have put Posh Spice to shame at the top of her game.

Key and Kash Laurent were identical twins born into incredible wealth and blessed with psychotic brains that allowed them the type of social freedom others pretended to crave but never actually wanted. A thin stripe of scarlet rimmed their eyes, leaving each tall, skinny man with a slightly demonic look, though that could have been from drug abuse or simply their brand of evil physically manifesting.

And I was their little toy this evening, a placement I most certainly did not crave.

“Oh, sorry. Good,” I stared, though my heart beat wildly in my chest. Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck. “Well, not good, because I didn’t mean to run into you. I’ve lost my phone and couldn't contact you. I can get everything for you tonight. Where do you want me to send it?” I rambled on while my stomach sank lower than should have been possible and aimed for an escape route.

“Them.”

“Yes.” I cleared my throat. “Them.” Two assignments. My language skills failed me in the face of ultimate death. Doom.

“Or you know what happens.”

Definitely doom. Why the hell hadn’t I gone with Celia and gotten myself shitfaced? That seemed like a logical decision right now. My heart picked up speed until my face heated like I’d run a marathon, but I hadn’t even started yet.

“Yes.” A dry, cracked whisper left my lips, and I had no idea what I just agreed to.

Anything, to walk away unscathed.

But with Key and Kash, no one left their presence unchanged.

Twin smiles, the creepiest sort possible, stretched their unique, pale lips. They, the predators and me, the small, pathetic thing whimpering at their feet. I might as well roll over right now and let them feast on the sweetmeats of my belly. They already broke me long ago.

“Good.” Key reached out, the tips of his ice-cold fingers grazing my cheek in a disturbingly intimate caress. “We’d hate to have to remind you what you owe us.”

What you took from me, you creepy fucker.

I swallowed, rooted to the spot, though my stomach heaved.

Key’s lips crooked at the corner as he watched me suffer. Enjoyed it.

“Yes.”

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