Page 125 of Bad for Me

The door finally unlocks, and I shoulder it open, slide off my messenger bag, and slump into my chair. My father slams and locks the door behind him. The noise shocks me back into focus and I straighten, not letting him see how much this news affects me.

Getting caught was bound to happen. I had naïve hope we could keep it quiet, but if I’m honest with myself, Iknewthis would happen. Secrets fill this place like the fog. But unlike the ever-present vapor, the elite powers that be behind Graveston University ensure secrets—and whoever is involved—disappear. I was seventeen when I agreed to their terms, and in twelve years I’ve rarely regretted that decision. Until Everly.

So what do I do now?

“End it,” my father growls, somehow reading my mind again. His pointer finger stabs my desk right where I bent his stepdaughter over and nearly fucked her just days ago.

I swipe my face. Even now, when I’m literally meeting my maker, I can’t get her out of my mind.

Goddammit I’m in trouble.

“End it now, Woodrow, or this… thisaffairwill be the end of you, and you know it!”

As his words sink in, my hands steady and I fold them on my desk. He paces the floor, glaring at me, while I’m the picture of calm.

“I’ve never backed down from anyone, and I certainly won’t now.”

“Why?” He scoffs, and my muscles tense with irritation at his reaction. “Tell me why you’re doing this. You’ve ignored her for five years, and now you’re suddenly interested? She’smystepdaughter. Step… daughter, Woodrow. I told you to protect her not, not?—”

He rips his hand through his perfectly coiffed salt-and-pepper hair, an emotional habit I learned from him and I’m resisting right now.

“Goddammit Woodrow. How could you be so fucking stupid? She’s not some floozy you’ve picked up from Union?—"

I lunge to my feet with reflexes I didn’t realize I still had, going toe-to-toe with my father.

“Don’t you think I know that?” He’s shorter and stouter than me, but he’s the one who taught me to box, and he still works out daily, so the fight would be fairer than most.

“Thenwhy?”His nostrils flare as his eyes scan my face, searching for answers. “Why would you risk?—”

“Because Everly issunshine.” The scowl on his face slackens and he retreats a step, but I’m not finished. “I’ve been buried in this fog ever since I came to Graveston. What I had to do to survive here made me cold, Dad. But then I saw Everly and…”

The unfinished thought floats between us until he nods once.

“That’s how I felt with your mother.” He stares at me for a moment longer before plopping into one of my guest chairs. After a heavy sigh, he gives me a sympathetic, pointed look. “And it’s how I feel with Everly’s mother too.”

His words are a knife to my chest, and I rub away the pain to make sure the wound isn’t real. I don’t take my eyes off of him as I round my desk and collapse into my own chair. He props his elbow on the wooden surface and rubs his forehead back and forth. When he meets my eyes again, the anger is gone, but the defeat slackening his face is almost worse.

“I told you to protect your stepsister, but you’ve put her in danger, son. The Missive mailed this to me, for some reason, but if he sends a command to one of the current Crows on campus?—”

“I know,” I snap. My jaw clenches as I swallow the truth. “I know.”

“And you also know what happens with scandals at Graveston.”

His words click something in my mind, and I straighten in my chair. “You’re right. Idoknow what happens with scandals at Graveston. So does the Missive.”

My father’s eyes narrow. “What are you saying?”

“The Missive commands the Crows. He knows everything.” I lower my voice. “But he’s bound by secrecy just like the rest of us. I’ll leave him a message at Trinity Chapel that says his secrets are safe with me, so long as mine are safe with him.”

“Woodrow…” My father shakes his head. “I don’t like this. Threatening the Missive? Heisthe Order, and you want to take him on? What if he just kills the threat to the university’s reputation—you—instead?”

“That won’t happen because what I’m proposing isn’t a threat. More a… bargain.”

“I doubt he’ll see it that way.” My father huffs a sardonic laugh, but his doubt only fuels my determination.

“Everyone has a master, Dad. You know as well as I do that no matter who the Missive is,someoneis pulling his strings too. That someone is powerful, but no one is more powerful than all of the Crows at once. Which means that no matter how powerful they are, no one is interested in killing off former Crows.”

“None of us want to feel like our every move is still under scrutiny,” my father murmurs, stroking his mustache in thought. “Betraying the men who have dutifully served the Order could backfire on him. But if he bargains with you, son, it’ll only be because he allows it. And if this deal does work, what happens if you’re caught by someone other than the Missive? He’ll be forced to issue a command if the rest of campus finds out.”

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