Page 47 of Reign of Psychos

“Ugh. You guys have to stop spoiling me.”

“Nope, never. You’re ours to spoil for as long as we all shall live.”

And once my accounts were active again, I planned to do just that. My girl deserved the very best money could buy, including the biggest, flashiest diamond engagement ring I could find.

23

Thea

My phone buzzed.

Eden: College is shit without you. *crying emoji*

Eden knew exactly how to make me feel bad. She’d been sending me sad GIFs for two days. Ever since she arrived back at Abernethy.

Me: Still talking to James?

This James guy seemed to have cheered her up, at least. I just hoped he wasn’t a dick like Michael.

My phone rang with a call from Eden. Only Milo was in the suite, busy doing nerdy things as per usual. The others had gone off on various errands, so I had been sitting around bored having given up trying to figure out how the TV worked.

“Ciao, bella, what’s up?”

“Ohmigod, James wants to take me out this evening!” she yelled down the phone. “He’s just messaged me saying he’ll pick me up at 7!”

“Is that a good idea? I mean, you’ve not met the guy before, so maybe wait until it’s daytime and there are lots of people around?”

Eden had no sense of danger whatsoever. Declan had supposedly assigned two security guys at the campus to keep a watchful eye on her, but two men weren’t enough to monitor Eden 24/7. He probably assumed she’d be more careful after the nightclub incident, but apparently not.

“I’ll be fine,” she scoffed. “James seems lovely. We’ve been messaging every night.” I could picture her rolling her eyes at my concerns.

“I’d feel better if you were more careful, Eden. Don’t make me call Declan.”

She gasped. “You wouldn’t dare!”

“I would if I thought you weren’t taking your safety seriously!”

Milo walked in and frowned as he caught the tail-end of my conversation. “What’s going on?”

I pressed the mute button as Eden ranted about me not acting like a true friend because I’d threatened to call Declan.

“Eden wants to meet a guy she’s connected with online and I’m trying to make her see sense. She doesn’t know this dude from Adam. Dammit, he could be some stalker or serial killer!”

“You’re right. The number of women sexually assaulted after meeting online dates has increased in the last few years. 83% of assault cases are female.”

“I really wish you weren’t a walking, talking database,” I muttered. Knowing and hearing how dangerous online dating was were two different things.

“I can’t help it,” he shrugged. “I have a photographic memory.”

Eden was still ranting about her right to autonomy as a strong, independent woman when I unpressed the mute button.

“I want you to be happy, Eden, but I also don’t want you to end up chained to a wall in some psycho’s cellar. Trust me when I say that isn’t at all fun.” Milo threw me a concerned look, but I ignored it. Now wasn’t the time to dig deep into my past trauma.

Eden huffed loudly and sighed. “Thank you for caring. I do appreciate it…it’s just…” She went silent for a moment and I pictured her chewing her nails, as she often did when thinking hard. “I’m so sick of people trying to cosset me, you know? Honestly, it feels like my cousins want to wrap me in cotton wool and marry me off to some guy who never lets me leave the house! I just want to live my life and have some fun!”

“Eden, I get it, but they love you, like I love you, and we all want you to be safe. James won’t mind if you suggest a coffee date in the college cafeteria tomorrow, and if he does mind, well, fuck him.”

I was right about this, and she knew it. Men were still a mystery to me, but any guy who didn’t understand why a girl might feel uncomfortable going off with him in a car for the first date was either criminally stupid or some kind of dangerous predator. I hoped James wasn’t the latter, but it was better not to take any chances.

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