Page 86 of Hide and Seek
Not that it matters. It’s not like I’ll ever see or talk to him again, and I never would have in the first place if I hadn’t almost gotten shot for answering a text in the wrong place.
My mind wanders back to how easily Jax disarmed the guard. How fearless he was, and how he and his brother worked together and were so unbothered by everything going on.
How did he learn how to do that? Clearing rifles and disarming guards aren’t the sort of skills most college students have. Did he learn it because of what his family does?
I didn’t look too closely into the Hawthorne empire or the family businesses when I was doing my research on Felix since he’s the stepkid and not the heir, but from what I saw, the family portfolio contains more than a few businesses that are less thanlegal, and it’s rumored they have ties to organized crime in multiple countries.
That might explain why they were so unafraid to step in and help, and it definitely explains why the twins could do what they did.
A vision of Jax giving me that smirky smile flashes in my mind, but the image slowly shifts and changes until it’s not Jax, it’s my stalker wearing Jax’s clothes but with his oversized hood up and obscuring his face.
I shake that thought right out of my head and take a sip of my coffee, not really tasting the lukewarm liquid as I do.
Today was a chance encounter with a hot guy. That’s it, that’s all. I already have enough going on that I don’t need to add lusting after a guy who’s out of my league and has probably already forgotten me to the rest of the insanity going on in my life.
“Worst. Birthday. Ever,” I mutter and exit out of the directory.
I still have two more classes today, but fuck it. I’m not going.
One is a Calc 2 class that I need for my degree, and the other is just an intro to philosophy course that’s a school requirement. I’m doing well in both classes, and both professors spend the entire class reading the notes to us in a boring monotone that makes me drowsy. I’ll just grab the notes from the class websites later.
Letting out a deep sigh, I dump the rest of my coffee onto the grass and gather up my books. I just need to hide in my room for the rest of the day, and everything will be better tomorrow.
Hopefully.
Usually I hate showering at my dorm, but tonight, the crowds in the changing area and the noise from a half dozen guys going about their business in the shower stalls are a welcome reprieve after spending the last eight hours cooped up in my room.
I could have talked with my friends or played one of my games to reset and try to relax after the craziness of earlier, but instead I spent the time running checks for the deepfakes I still can’t believe are gone and desperately trying to figure out who’s been fucking around in my system after using the backdoor I put in my code.
I already know it’s one of the Rebels since there’s no reason anyone else would have access to the code, but I can’t pinpoint who it is.
Unlike the Kings, their security is some of the best I’ve ever seen. I spent weeks digging around in their system after the blackmailers told me what they wanted me to do for them and barely scratched the surface of all the different layers of it. The only reason I was able to hack into their cameras and swipe logs at all was because I could hardwire into their system.
Even now that months have passed, I still can’t make heads or tails of their system, so I have no idea who their resident hacker is.
It doesn’t help that the frats keep a tight lid on the various roles of their members. The only thing I’ve been able to suss out about the intruder after all this time is his handle, but I can’t find any jobs or hacks connected to the alias, and every lead or opening I’ve found in the past few months has led me to a dead end.
This guy is good, one of the best I’ve seen, and it’s driving me crazy that I can’t nail him.
A loud burst of laughter shakes me out of my stupor, and I duck my head under the flow of water so I can wash my hair.
The shared bathrooms in Boone House are nice, with gleaming fixtures, expensive marble counters, and way more mirrors than necessary. There are also heated floors, a towel service, and individual shower stalls with a little space between two curtains where you can change without having to show the whole dorm your ass. Compared to the rest of the building, the bathrooms are downright luxurious, but they’re still communal. And because I live on the third floor with only a handful of other students, a fuck ton of guys from other floors use our bathrooms when theirs are busy, so the only time you can hope to get the place to yourself is between midnight and six in the morning, but even then it’s not a guarantee that you’ll get any privacy.
At least we have single rooms, and from what I’ve heard, we’re one of the only dorms that do. That’s a huge plus, and if it came down to it, I’d rather share a bathroom with a few dozen guys than share a room with anyone.
More laughter rings out from the main part of the bathroom, and I tilt my head back to rinse the shampoo out of my hair as I block out the shouts of my dormmates. They’re rowdy tonight, and I’m guessing that has everything to do with it being the first Friday since the start of the semester. I can only imagine how many parties and events are going on tonight.
At least the building should be quiet, so I can try not to obsess over the other craziness from today that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. Not just getting a gun pulled on me, but also what happened after.
The whole thing is ten levels of fucked up, but the part that’s really messing with me is how Felix, of all people, put himself inharm’s way to help me. He stepped in front of a loaded gun to protect me, but why?
Why would he help a virtual stranger when there were crowds of people around who just kept walking and pretending like nothing unusual was going on? I know all about the bystander effect and have seen it happen multiple times in my life, but it still amazes me how so many students just went about their days like it was totally normal to see a guard facing off with a group of students.
But that also could have everything to do with who those students are and not just them being apathetic.
The Rebels are notorious for pissing off the wrong people and causing issues on campus. Most of what I’ve heard about them are small things like mischief and vandalism and petty theft. But they also get messed up in other stuff, and if the rumors are true, they really have no issues getting their hands dirty, but they’re smart enough to keep that stuff on the DL.
Why would any of them bother to step in and help me? There’s no way in hell they know who I am or what I did to not just Felix, but the Rebels as a whole when I fucked with their system and messed up their security. That’s the same as a digital declaration of war, so why would any of them give a shit about what happens to me?
