Page 58 of Don't Look Away

I really wish Roman hadn’t gotten me kicked out of my dorm room, because this going back and forth from Rush House is maddening. Every time something happens, I find myself couch surfing with no pajamas or makeup or anything. This time, it’s only for a couple of days, but still. It’s clear I need a space of my own.

Slamming the car door shut, I turn and head up to greet Wyn. “Hey, thanks for letting me crash with you.”

“What in God’s name were youthinking?” she asks, tapping her foot.

I release a sigh, and move past her, into the house. “I did what I needed to do. I don’t expect you to understand.”

Wyn closes the door and follows me inside. She blows out a breath of her own. “You’re right, I don’t,” she says harshly, but then she reaches out and pulls me into a hug. “But I’m glad you’re okay.”

Sinking against her, I wrap my arms around her and the tears start to gather behind my eyes. I pull back and sniff, blinking rapidly so the tears don’t fall. “I’m fine.”

Well, okay,fineis subjective. I’m alive and breathing, though, so there’s that.

Wyn’s gaze flicks over me like she’s skeptical of my nonchalance. The girl has great instincts. “Let’s go upstairs,” she says. “You can tell me all about it.”

As we make our way up to her room, I’m stopped by several of the sorority sisters who live in the house. “Oh, my God. Lux. Weren’t you just initiated into the society?”

Wow, word travelsfast.

Another girl comes up behind the first. “Oh, shit. Yeah, Alex just said you were initiated. Congrats!”

Several other girls gather around, too, and I’m inundated with questions. Was the ceremony as bad as they say it is? Did I have to murder anyone? Is it true we have to drink blood? Tons of questions are flung my way.

“Hold up,” Wyn says, tugging me up the main staircase. “She’ll hold a press conference later. She needs to get some rest.”

Once upstairs, we dip into her room. Thankfully, her roommate isn’t here, so we get the small bedroom to ourselves. She clears the clothes off her bed to make room for me to sit.

She sits on the bed next to me. “Are you feeling okay?”

I know she’s referring to the maybe-pregnancy. “I feel exactly the same,” I say, inwardly hoping that means I’m not actually pregnant.

Wyn leans back on her palms. “So tell me, what happened?”

I groan and lean back on her mountain of pillows. “It was the most humiliating thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Yeah, I mean, what did you expect? I tried to warn you.”

“What was your initiation like?”

She can tell me now because I’m a fully-fledged member. At least, I assume she can. Despite what Jackson, Christian, and Lucas think, I didn’tactuallyread the entire book of bylaws.

Wyn lets her head fall back, her long wavy hair dangling as she stares up at the ceiling. “It was brutal,” she says. “I walked away with welts that didn’t fade for weeks.”

I nod, absorbing that. “Did you have to….?” The words are caught in my throat, but when Wyn looks up and fixes me with a questioning stare, I clear my throat and continue, “Did you have to have sex with anyone? Or I don’t know, give anyone a blowjob?”

“Yup,” she says easily. “All the girls do.”

My heart comes to a screeching halt behind my ribs. “Who was the guy? Was it one of the Sons?”

Please don’t say, Roman. I don’t think I could cope with the idea that he’d fucked one of my friends. Even if it was before I met him.

“No idea who it was. And I did hear his voice, but it was muffled behind the mask.” She shrugs. “I’m glad I don’t know, though. I think that would be too weird.”

This whole thing is weird, but I don’t say that.

“I’m just wondering how they’ve gotten away with this for…how many generations?” I ask, wondering out loud.

Wyn looks confused. “Gotten away with what?”

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