Page 64 of Twisted Legacy

The scent of metal hits my nose. I look over to see Finn standing next to me. “Hey, Pet.”

“Fuck off, Finn.”

“I would, but this is a mandatory function, and my disappearance would be noticed.”

“Mine, won’t.”

I go to move away from him and someone else walks up to us. “Young Finn, good to see you.”

“And you, Mr. Devereaux.”

“I noticed you’re not with your companion tonight.”

“She’s here, making her rounds, and I just came over to check on Thea. Since this is her first Merrill Anderson Scholarship event.”

The man looks down at me. His eyes and tone less than friendly when he says, “Ah yes, the newest legacy. How are you adjusting? I’m sure you’ve found your peers to be quite helpful after your accident.”

“What I’ve found is-”

Finn cuts in. “You’ll have to excuse us. Right before you walked up, Thea agreed to a dance.”

He grips my hand and drags me behind him. I hiss, “Let go.”

“Nope, because you still haven’t learned when to bite your tongue. Do you have any idea who that man is? What am I asking? Of course you don’t, because you refuse to accept that things are different now and learn the players around here.”

I let him pull me onto the floor to dance. It’s easier than throat punching him and making a scene. It’s all I can do to stand here and let him even touch me. I’m more touch averse than I was before, and it’s not just about what happened to me. I’d let my guard down around Finn and he tried to use our familiarity to hurt me.

“Keep your hands to yourself.”

Finn is Finn. He lives to break the rules, so he does the exact opposite of what I said, pulling me flush against his body. One hand grips me by the nape of my neck, the other holds me by my hip. He exhales loudly. I can see the muscle in his jaw jumping as he struggles.

“If it’s this damn annoying to be close to me, just let me go back over there and finish telling that guy how helpful you all are.”

“Annoying?” He grits out. “Pet, I’m not close enough.” His words sound the opposite of gentle. They’re hard, full of malice and ill intent. “I don’t know how many times, how many different ways, I can apologize for what I said and did. I’m confused about where things stand with us, and how to fix it. I’m angry that you won’t accept my help, or anyone else’s help.”

His grip tightens, biting into my skin. He’s definitely leaving bruises. “I’m struggling, because all I can think about is you and you don’t feel the same way about me. If I could, I’d flay you alive and wear your skin. Transplant your organs with mine.”

Finn’s intense. I always thought he was just the left side of too much, but he’s crossed right over. He wants to wear me as a skin suit? That’s next level horror movie shit and yet, in an unhinged kind of way, why is that the sweetest shit I’ve ever heard?

Before I can do something stupid like dissolve into a pool of goo over his psychotic confession, I remind myself what brought us to this moment. He’s trying to play me. His buddy has admitted to chasing me in the woods. Who’s to say he didn’t have some “fun” with me on Mayhem Night too?

“It’ll never be like it was Finn. I started to like you and you fucked it all up.”

“I know. I know.” His lips drop to my ear. “I’m going to unfuck it and make you want me again. I don’t care what it takes.”

He ends our dance, and I don’t even have to look around to know why. Pax and Holden come into view. Pax scowls at me, while Holden steps closer than he usually does. I can feel the heat radiating off of him as he walks by and feel the faintest brush of his hand over my lower back.

He’s texting something on his phone as he walks away. Seconds later, my phone chimes. I wait until they’re out of my line of sight before pulling my phone out. There’s a message from Holden. How the hell is his name and number programed into my phone?

I read the quick text and stare at the latitude and longitude numbers on the screen.

Holden

This is where our chase ended. You were heading northeast towards campus.

I jab at the hyperlink and grip my phone with both hands, waiting for my maps app to load. It’s just a location. A dot in the forest, but it’s a clue. Holden just gave me a clue. I may have been heading northeast, but Icouldhave changed direction and gone back to the cemetery where Wolfe found me.

Somehow, that logic doesn’t feel right. That’s not something I’d do. If I were evading capture, I wouldn’t necessarily double back, unless I was sure I’d have an advantage. If I didn’t stand and fight, if I really was running -if I was doing what he suggested and heading towards the dorms- it was because there was something else happening in those woods that I didn’t want to deal with.

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