Page 20 of Deck of Scarlets

He held up his finger to signal the person yelling at him to give us a minute. “Sorry about that. Anyway, what were you trying to say?”

Fuck this. “The Order of the Scarlet Quill?”

Josh froze; his eyes darting around before he stepped toward me, leaning in so nobody else could hear.

Jackpot.

“Remi, whatever you think you know—”

“I don’t know anything, so I’m asking you.” My tone came out a little harsher than expected, but I wasn’t going to get anywhere by beating around the bush.

His baby blues flashed an emotion I couldn’t pinpoint. “I don’t have the answer you’re looking for.”

“Never said you did.” Judging by the hostile tone he carried, he knew exactly what I was talking about. But did he know about my invitation? Heather’s? Was he even a part of it to begin with? Was he trying to warn me because there was a danger in knowing?

Josh clenched his jaw, his eyes scanning my face as if he were trying to decide whether to tell me the truth. “Remi, you need to forget we ever had this conversation. It’s not safe—”

“Josh!” she called again, only this time she got the attention of others.

I could see the frustrated look in his eyes when the girl who screamed his name came right over but not by herself. She was followed by a small group, and within that small group was Kal. His blond hair hung over his eyes, and his posture stiffened when he took notice of my appearance. My heart stopped, then picked back up as if a defibrillator restarted it.

This could not be happening right now.

If Kal was involved too…

“Josh, we have to go,” she said sternly. She looked over at me like a piece of trash on the side of the road. Her long dark hair came down in waves over her shoulders, and just by her stance and strong presence, I knew she had to be the leader of their little pack. Kal hung in the back, but his eyes never left my face.

“Yeah, Anna, I’m coming,” Josh responded coolly.

He gave me an apologetic look before joining them. “I’ll see you around, Remi.” There was a warning in his tone to forget what we just discussed.

But I couldn’t hear him, not over the loudness of Kal’s stare. He hesitated, his mouth opened slightly as if he were about to say something to me, but no sound came out, and just like that, he was gone with the rest of them.

I didn’t know what pissed me off more, Josh blowing me off because of that chick Anna, or me giving a shit about this whole stupid thing.

Kal, on the other hand, didn’t owe me an explanation. No numbers were exchanged, no strings were attached, yet his stunned expression was not something I thought would happen. He didn’t take the “see you around” literally.

Heather appeared beside me like an obedient dog. “Hey, you look pissed. Are you okay?

“Yeah…” I trailed off, watching them leave out the door.

“Who was that?” she asked, watching me glare at the front entrance.

“A fucking headache.”

I think she could sense my anger because the following words out of her mouth surprised me. “You want to get out of here?”

We left the mixer, goody bags in one hand and a crappy mood in the other.

Wanting a break from social interaction, I left Heather alone in our dorm as I made the trip to the showers. Finding solitude under scalding water, I avoided thinking about the last several events, but eventually, I needed to revisit them. Why did I care so much when I made it pretty fucking clear I wanted nothing to do with social clubs, let alone college.

Was I losing my goddamn mind?

I turned off the water and wrapped myself securely in a soft, expensive, white towel, courtesy of my mother.

Maybe finding out would give me something to do to pass the time. Then again, I berated myself once more, why the fuck did I care?

Gripping one of the many porcelain sinks, I leaned forward, seeing my tired hazel eyes in the mirror, surprised to find a woman with long blonde hair and a frown staring back.

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