Page 30 of Say It Slowly

There’s a pause on the other end of the line like she doesn’t really believe that. But I don’t need her to believe it. I just need her to do her damn job.

“What do you want me to tell her?”

I tilt my head back and sigh. “Do I really have to coach you on this? Just tell her you’ll pass her complaint to the higher-ups, and someone will get back to her. Then bury it.”

Then I hang up because I’m done telling Janet the obvious. She’s been the housing admin for over twenty years. One would think she’d know how to handle shit like this.

When I shove my phone back into my pocket, I look up to Christian and Jackson. They’re both staring at me.

It’s Christian who speaks up. “What if Lux ends up going to the police?”

“She’s not going to go to the police,” I say. It’s a guess, but an educated one.

“What makes you say that?” Jackson asks.

I shrug one shoulder. “Because you jumped down her throat the other day about involving the police in campus business.”

“Yeah, you know what though? She doesn’t seem like the listening type,” Jackson offers. “She just does whatever the fuck she wants.”

“She’s a liability is what she is,” Christian says, picking his weight up again. “Shit’s getting messy.”

I lean against the pool table, arms crossed over my chest. “So what do you recommend I do, huh?”

Jackson picks up a pool stick, and levels it at a ball in the center of the table. “I know this is a foreign concept to you, Roman, but you’re going to have to play nice and smooth things over with her.”

I work my jaw. “Playing nice isn’t my style.”

“Yeah, we know,” Jackson says. “But you don’t have much of a choice this time, do you?”

I pause and reflect on that for a second. It’s true, the more I push Lux, the more she just seems to retreat. My commanding presence isn’t working as brilliantly as it usually does. I’m used to people just falling in line, no questions, no protests. Lux obviously needs a different approach.

Christ, I really hate it when Jackson is right.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Lux

The Housing Officeis absolutely no help at all. The woman, Janet, looks like she’s been in the job for a decade or more, and after calling someone, she just shrugged and said she’d make a report about my missing stuff, then get back to me.

“So where am I supposed to sleep?” I ask after herthirdattempt to brush me off. “I’m on a scholarship here. The lock has been changed on my room, and I have no money. Now I have no stuff. I have nothing.”

She blinks at me. “Have you tried discussing this with the person you said has your belongings? Roman, is it?”

The way she says his name tells me everything I need to know. She’s in his pocket. Of course she is. Everyone at ExU is in Roman’s pocket. Isn’t that exactly what Wyn told me that night he chose me to be his consort?

“Fuck you,” I say in an uncharacteristic burst of emotion. I’m just so sick of this. “You knowexactlywho he is. I’m sure you and everyone else in this officebend the kneeand pay homage to the all-powerful Rush family, just like everyone else.”

“Miss, I can’t help you, I’m sorry.” And with that, she turns back toward her computer and checks out of the conversation entirely.

I storm out of the office and head toward the bus stop with every intention of going to the police. But on the walk there, I remember how angry the guys were when I told them I’d gone to the police about Bree. This would infuriate them even more, and do I really need that kind of heat?

I should just call Skye, and ask if I can crash with her for a few days while I get this all figured out. We’re not even really friends, but besides Wyn, she’s the only one I know. I’d ask Wyn, but she’s a part of the dark elite. She’s one of them, and I don’t want to put her in an awkward position.

But even if I call Skye…I have no clothes, no toothbrush,nothing.And I have like, ten dollars to my name. Maybe even less than that.

I’m waiting at the crosswalk, still considering whether or not I should file a police report when a car pulls up in front of me. It’s a shiny black sports car, exactly like…I sigh…Roman’s car.

My heart sinks.

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