Page 39 of The Hunt

Ev’s eyes flashed with defiance, but then her shoulders slumped, and she slowly nodded.

I pulled my blood-smeared hand away. “Do you have any idea who it was?”

She looked down, head shaking slightly. “It was too dark to see, even when you opened the door. Plus he was wearing that balaclava,” she said. “He didn’t say anything, either. But…”

She trailed off again, and I frowned. “But what?”

“I could smell his breath through the balaclava when he leaned in close.”

“Bad?”

“No. Not bad.Familiar.” She swallowed thickly. “It was someone I’ve spent a lot of time with in the past. Someone I’ve breathed the same air as a thou—”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Not this shit again.” I jumped up, cutting her off. “It wasn’t Jake, so don’t even try to blame him.”

“It had to be him,” she said, voice rising an octave. “Who else would it be?”

“Jake isn’t at Hollingsworth right now,” I said, eyes narrowing. “In fact, he’s not even in the fuckingstate.”

“Yes, he is. I saw you with him earlier!”

“That was hours ago,” I replied, crossing my arms over my chest. “He caught a plane down to New York at ten, and he’s still there.”

Ev blinked. “That’s not possible.”

“Itis, because it’s the fucking truth,” I snapped. “He got a last-minute interview for tomorrow morning at a law firm he wants to intern at later in the year, so I called my father and got him to arrange a flight on our private plane. I dropped him off at the airfield myself at nine-thirty.”

Ev’s head was slowly shaking now. “That’s not possible,” she said, voice dropping to a low murmur. “He must’ve just pretended to go. But really, he stayed right here.”

I gritted my teeth and unlocked my phone. “So you think he faked these skyline pics from his hotel window?” I asked, brieflyturning my screen to show her the Instagram story that Jake had posted a couple of hours ago, showing the glittering lights of Manhattan at midnight. “Or somehow faked his SnapMaps location, which clearly shows him at that exact hotel right now? Just so he could sneak in here, attack you, and make you look crazy?”

“I don’t know how he did it,” she murmured, head still shaking. “But it was him. It had to be.”

I lifted a hand. “Listen, Ev,” I said in a low voice. “I’ll wait with you until the cops get here, because I know you can’t be alone right now. But we’re done talking. Got it?”

She nodded listlessly. “Okay,” she murmured, picking up one of the towels. “And for what it’s worth… I really am grateful.”

“For what?” I snapped.

“For you helping me, even though you don’t believe a word I say,” she said shakily, lifting the towel to her face. With that, she finally broke, sobs spilling out over the terrycloth in ragged gasps.

My chest tightened at the sound of her cries. As much as I hated the girl, I couldn’t stand the pain in her voice or the mix of sadness and fear in her eyes.

“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered.

I moved closer and sat down again, my hand hovering for a moment before I slid a tentative arm around Ev. She collapsed against me, burying her face in my shoulder as the sobs wracked her body.

“It’s okay,” I muttered, rubbing her back in slow circles. “The cops will find the guy.”

She didn’t say anything. Just cried harder.Fuck.

“I’ll deal with him myself as soon as I know who he is,” I added. “He’s not going to get away with this shit. I promise.”

Ev finally lifted her head. “Why would you—”

She was cut off by a flurry of motion as a mix of Havenport PD officers and campus security guards arrived, their boots thudding against the floor as they filed into the room.

One of the cops, a tall man with graying hair, immediately moved toward Ev, eyes narrowing on her swollen mouth. He asked for her permission to inspect the cut, and when she acquiesced, he leaned in and gently tilted her chin.

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