Page 21 of Snitches and Serpents

Several girls exchange worried glances. The couch creaks faintly as three of them turn to look towards Brandi, as if urging her to say something. Dread washes over me like ice water.

Before any of them can speak, I quickly raise my hands and add, “But it’s not going to affect you. I promise. I will find a way to fix things with Tristan. And until then, I swear that I will keep all of you and our sorority firmly out of this mess.”

Deafening silence falls over the living room.

My heart is pounding in my chest. I feel as if I’m on trial for murder.

Once again, several people look to Brandi for direction. She just watches me in silence for another few seconds. Her eyebrows are drawn down in a scowl, and she presses her lips into a thin line.

At last, she seems to make up her mind.

Drawing in a long breath, she fixes me with an authoritative stare. Then she finally replies.

“You’d better.”

8

TRISTAN

Despite the warm night, Elle sleeps with her windows firmly closed. Unfortunately for her, one of her housemates doesn’t.

After carefully edging the window fully open, I pull myself up the final distance and climb through. Sneaking in through the window isn’t exactly my normal method of operation. Usually when Bracken sends me to beat someone up, I just kick the door in. But I have climbed in through a couple of upstairs windows before as well, which made this particular mission a little easier.

Straightening on the floor, I quickly sweep my gaze over the room. The woman who lives here is sleeping soundly to my left, the thin pale blue cover pulled up over her back where she lies on her stomach. I keep my eyes on her as I quietly move across the floor and towards the door.

A few pieces of clothing and a pair of high heels are scattered across the pale wooden floorboards. I step over them carefully.

When I reach the door, I pause as I slowly inch the handle down. After one last glance at the sleeping woman, I push the door open.

A faint squeak comes from the hinges.

I freeze. Grimacing, I glare at the uncooperative door before casting a quick look at the girl in the bed. She doesn’t even stir.

Breathing a silent sigh of relief, I slip out through the door and then sneak down the hall to Elle’s room.

This time, I’m even more careful as I open the door. Thankfully, this one doesn’t make any noise.

I slink into Elle’s room.

Silvery moonlight falls in through the window, providing the otherwise dark space with faint splashes of light.

For a few seconds, I just stand there on the wooden floor, studying the room around me.

It’s only a simple bedroom with a desk, a set of drawers, a closet with a mirror next to it, and a bed against the wall, but Elle has somehow still managed to make it look like something out of a designer magazine. It’s obsessively perfect. Everything is arranged just so. It’s neat to the point of not even looking like a real room. More like a showroom. It’s weird. Though I suppose it fits Elle perfectly.

I slide my gaze to the bed by the wall on my left.

Moonlight falls across the white frame and the crisp white sheets.

It takes everything I have to suppress the urge to scoff when my gaze lands on Elle.

Even the way she sleeps is unnaturally perfect.

She’s lying on her back with the thin cover pulled up to her chest and her arms resting on either side of her body. Her wavy light brown hair is draped across the pillow like gentle waves. I study her face.

Surprise pulses through me.

Despite the deep, rhythmic way her chest rises and falls, a clear indicator that she is indeed asleep, she doesn’t look relaxed. Usually, people’s features are smoothened by sleep because they don’t have to control their expression anymore. But Elle looks… tense. Troubled.

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