Page 11 of Pet Project

“Don’t worry, Shiloh. They won’t call the cops unless the other guy wants to press charges. I think we stopped it quickly enough to avoid that.”

“How do you know my name?” I ask as we step onto the elevator to go down to the security office in the basement. Why this school decided that a literal dungeon would be a good place to put the security office is beyond me.

“Oh, shit,” he startles at my question. “We were never really introduced, were we?”

I shake my head at him and feel the corners of my mouth tilt up in a smirk. Holding out my hand to him, I say, “Officially, I’m Shiloh Abrams. I live in a house with eight other guys, including my best friend, Toby. Wait no, it’s seven guys now. Eric moved in with his Mattie.”

The guy throws back his head in laughter as the elevator doors open and we step out into the dark hallway. The sound echoes off the walls and makes it a little less slasher movie vibes. I’m always jumpy coming down here by myself. After all, the black guy is almost always the first to die in a horror movie.

“My name is Don,” he says as we wait at the desk for the security guards to come out of wherever they are hiding. They’re never at the desk. “Don Hastings. I know Eric through some unfortunate circumstances, but Lew… I mean Matt and I became friends shortly after he started working here. He was one of my first regulars after I took over the shop from Walt. Too many people had me guilty by association or labeled me as not trustworthy because of what I did.”

Aside from Spencer, there’s only one other guy that Eric calls his friend outside of those of us who live on Manor Drive. This must be the guy who turned on his teammates for the sake of a stranger because it was the right thing to do. Hero worship or something like it must show on my face because he looks a bit uncomfortable and eager to avoid my gaze as the judgey guard comes out of a room behind the desk.

“Hastings,” the guy nods with a sneer. “For the last time, we can’t do anything about the vandalism since your shop isn’t officially campus property. Unless you can prove the vandal is a student attending here, the administration won’t do a damn thing but waste all of our time.”

13

DONNIE

Ralph is just as pleasant as always, meaning not at all. I feel Shiloh tense beside me at the tone the guard takes with me, but it’s nothing personal. He is just a grump for everyone. The event he is referencing is something that I brought up three years ago when I first took over for Walt, and it hasn’t been an issue since. Ralph just likes to harp on the past because being security here at Wrenshaw is boring as fuck compared to some of the bigger schools in the city.

“Not why I’m here today, Ralph,” I tell him blandly and grab Shiloh’s hand to give it a squeeze. His tension is starting to make me nervous, and I’ve been around way worse guys than this big marshmallow. “Where’s the kid you guys grabbed from Jupiter Hall? His roommate here needs to know what’s going on for their ride home.”

Shiloh’s hand jerks in my grip, but he doesn’t show any outward sign of his distress. In fact, he seems to have completely shut down in front of Ralph. When I glanceup at the guard in question, I see a softness to his expression that I have never seen before.

“You shouldn’t be living with someone with anger issues like that, Shy,” he says gently while the guy next to me flinches. “The offer is still valid, you know.”

I feel the tension in the muscles under my hand, but Shiloh shows only a soft smile on his face. There’s a new chill to his voice when he says, “I’m happy with my living arrangements. Thanks though. Can we see Toby now?”

Ralph snorts and shuffles some papers around on the desk. Pointing us to the room they use as a drunk tank during games, he heads back to the room he had just come out of.

“Why the hell a kid that sweet wants to live with such degenerates is beyond me. He needs Christ in his life, not those damn heathens. God can straighten him out, I’m sure.”

Ralph’s mutterings barely register to me until Shiloh pulls himself away from me to curl up on a bench in the corner of the room we were directed to. Once my brain makes sense of what I just heard, I’m flabbergasted.

Did I seriously just hear the head of campus security say that he thinks he can pray the gay away?

IsShiloh gay?

Wait.

That’s not the important part right now.

“So how do you know Ralph?” I ask him to break the silence while we wait for Ralph to come back with Toby. “Spend a lot of time down here?”

He shrugs but doesn’t look up at me. I watch as hisfingers start tapping out a rhythm against his shins. It seems almost involuntary, like a nervous twitch or stim response. Something about this situation is making him more anxious. Is it being stuck in a room with just me?

“I had to come down here at the beginning of the semester to file paperwork,” he finally says, barely above a whisper. “They needed a copy of the restraining order I have against someone and said an electronic copy wasn’t good enough. That guy was the one who took my paperwork.”

Restraining order? I am going to need more information on that once we get his friend out, but I need more information.

“How does he know who you live with or that they aren’t good Christians?”

Shiloh chuckles darkly before looking at me.

“You haven’t heard about Kink Manor?”

14

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