Page 153 of They Break Beauty

“Got it,” the two of them said in unison.

And then they were darting off.

Hell.

30

~Mason~

My pulse was spiking like crazy.

She wouldn’t just leave for this long.

Not on her own.

Not of her own free will.

She couldn’t get enough of being close to the three of us right now, just like we couldn’t with her.

All four of us were caught up in some sort of honeymoon phase at the moment.

Even though she’d managed to go home, because she hadn’t wanted to lose focus on her studies, her program meaning so much to her, it had still been hard for her to be away from us, and we all connected all the time via text and call and video.

Even if her call tonight—whoever it was to—had taken longer than she’d anticipated, she would have at least texted us.

Fuck me. Where was she?

I’d already checked the bathrooms and the east, south, and west side of the building—even down the alley Colt and I had just fooled around in.

I still couldn’t wrap my head around me instigating that. I was glad that I had, it was just surprising for me. Bree being with us… it was loosening me up more than I’d ever thought possible. She was inspiring hope in all of us in different ways.

For me, it was the notion of being who I really wanted to be. Bit by bit.

The addition of her to our group had managed to restore the camaraderie we’d lost for a while, to bring us closer together, and for there to be many more lighthearted and jovial moments that we’d been without for too long.

So where the fuck was she?

I neared the north side of the building when I picked up on a commotion.

“Get the fuck off me, you skank!”

I frowned at the familiarity of the voice.

Rosemary?

A thud sounded and her pained cry rang out.

Then a very familiar voice eclipsed hers.

“It’s bad form to slut shame someone in this day and age. Even more reprehensible is doing it as a sorority head with young women under your charge who look up to you. Don’t be sore that someone has beaten you at your own game. Did you really think you could double cross Mason that easily?”

“I would have if you hadn’t interfered.”

“The moment Colt told me about you, it raised suspicion. So I kept an eye on you. Or, my girls kept an eye on you. You actually thought you could weasel your way into being a member of Hex just so you could report on what Mason was doing to use it as blackmail to be with him, or threaten to report your findings to his father should he refuse? That would destroy him. As it is, now it will only destroy you.”

What the fuck?

I peered around the corner and found Brianna there pinning a flailing and really pissed Rosemary up against the wall as she spoke in that calm and reasonable manner of hers—all class—while Rosemary hissed and struggled in a completely undignified manner.

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