Page 81 of The Library

I swallow hard, biting my lip. She doesn’t know the half of it. Sebastian doesn’t just like control-he thrives on it. Every moment we’re together, he’s in charge, pushing me to places I didn’t even know existed. But how do I explain that without sounding… I don’t even know. Desperate?

Or maybe just… lost?

“It’s… intense,” I admit finally, my voice barely a whisper.

Anna’s eyes light up, leaning closer like I’ve just given her the juiciest piece of gossip. “Oh, I bet it is. Does he, like, push you around? Hold you down?” she asks, her voice loweringconspiratorially. “Ty loves to pull my hair, tie me up, all of it. It’s fucking wild.”

I can’t help but laugh a little, the tension easing just a bit. Anna would understand, maybe more than I’d given her credit for.

“Yeah, something like that,” I say softly. “He’s… rough. But I like it.” Her eyes widen, and she slaps her hand on the couch in excitement. “I knew it! Man, I’m so jealous. You’ve got to give me more than that, though. I want all the details, Lily.”

I shake my head, feeling the heat rise in my cheeks again. “I don’t know if I can-”

“Oh, please,” Anna interrupts, laughing. “If I can tell you about Ty tying me up and fucking me, you can give me a little something.”

I can’t help but laugh, the tension between us breaking as I shake my head in disbelief. This was Anna-always pushing, always prying, but never in a way that made me feel judged. And maybe, just maybe, talking about this would help me make sense of it all. Help me understand why, despite everything, I keep going back to Sebastian, keep craving the way he made me feel. The way he breaks me down just to build me back up again.

* * *

Back at Sebastian’s house, the routine is the same, but it’s as if the air between Anna and me is thicker. We both know our guys are out there doing something dangerous, something they won’t talk about, and we’re both left behind to wonder. It gnaws atus, that sense of being shut out, even though we’ve become an integral part of their lives.

I go to class, but my mind isn’t there. I sit in lectures, the professor’s voice a distant hum as my thoughts spiral. What could be so dangerous that Sebastian doesn’t even want to talk to me about it? What could make him so protective, so insistent that I stay here, in his home? Our home now. It seems… weird. But not bad. Just weird.

I catch glimpses of Anna at school, and she’s just as distracted. Her eyes are constantly flicking to her phone, waiting for any sign of Ty. She’s doing her best to stay focused, but I can see the same worry in her eyes that I feel.

After our quiet conversation, the realization hangs heavy between us, sinking in like a stone. We sit in the courtyard on campus, surrounded by the sounds of other students, their laughter and chatter filling the air, but it all feels distant. Like Anna and I are caught in some other reality—one where our boyfriends are out there doing things we can’t even begin to comprehend. The knowledge gnaws at me, twisting in my stomach as I glance down at my phone again, willing a text from Sebastian to pop up. But nothing.

Anna finally told me, in a hushed voice, that Ty never really shared the details with her. Not really. Sure, he’d mention when he was going on one of his assignments or when he’d killed someone. But the details? The sick, twisted intricacies of it all? He kept those to himself. She said he gets off on the torture, that much she knows, but the rest… the facts, the raw, bloody truth? That was something he didn’t think she needed to know.

Anna sighs beside me, breaking the silence. “It’s like they think we’re too fragile to handle whatever it is they’re doing,” she mutters, pushing her coffee cup away with a frustrated shove.

“They’re probably not wrong,” I admit, my voice quiet. “I don’t know how I’d react if I knew the full extent of it. But at thesame time, I hate being kept in the dark.” I bite my lip, fighting the urge to text Sebastian again. To demand answers. But I know that no matter how much I push, he won’t tell me anything unless he wants to. He’s made that perfectly clear.

Anna fidgets with her phone, her fingers tracing the edge of the screen. “Ty keeps telling me he’s fine, that I don’t need to worry, but that’s the problem. The more he tells me not to worry, the more I worry. I feel like something’s off. Like… I don’t know, like they’re in deeper than they expected.”

Her words send another chill down my spine. It’s exactly what I’ve been feeling but haven’t said out loud. The unease, the sense that something bigger is looming over us, threatening to swallow us whole.

“I’ve been seeing this motorcycle around,” I confess, my voice barely above a whisper. “It’s been everywhere. Outside my apartment, on campus… it’s probably nothing, but it’s just… weird.”

Anna raises an eyebrow. “You think someone’s following you?”

I shrug, trying to shake off the paranoia. “I don’t know. But after everything that’s happened, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Anna frowns, leaning back in her seat as she processes what I’ve said. “Do you think Sebastian knows?”

“If he does, he hasn’t told me,” I mutter, feeling the familiar frustration bubbling up again. “He keeps everything so close to his chest. It’s like… I don’t know if he’s protecting me or just controlling the situation.”

“Probably both,” Anna says with a sigh. “Ty’s the same. But whatever they’re doing, it’s clearly dangerous. And I’m starting to wonder if they didn’t just want us to move in because they care, but because they’re genuinely afraid for us.”

The weight of her words settles heavily in my chest. She’s right. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense.Sebastian’s insistence that I move in with him wasn’t just about him wanting to be close to me. It was about keeping me safe. From what, though? That’s the question neither of us can answer.

“Do you think we’re in danger?” I ask quietly, the question hanging in the air between us.

Anna glances around the courtyard, her eyes narrowing slightly. “I don’t know. But whatever they’re involved in… it’s big enough that they’re both on edge. And that scares me.”

We sit in silence for a while after that, both of us lost in our own thoughts, the tension between us growing thicker by the minute. I try to focus on my classes, on the mundane parts of life that used to feel normal, but it’s impossible. Everything feels tainted by the uncertainty of what’s going on behind the scenes.

By the time we finish our coffee and head back to Sebastian’s house, the unease has settled into my bones, a constant reminder that something is coming. Something I can’t control or stop, no matter how much I want to.

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