Page 48 of Bottoms
“I’m going to check on you in twenty minutes. I don’t want you to fall asleep and drown, and there aren’t any cameras in here for me to check on you without coming in,” he said, bringing his hand up to cup my cheek.
“You don’t like it when you can’t see what’s happening, do you?” I said softly, understanding now that Fynn had his own fears and worries that plagued his mind. Watching from the shadows and hacking into video feeds was just Fynn’s way of coping with his demons.
“Scream if you need anything,” Fynn said darkly, but it didn’t matter. I had learned a truth, regardless.
He shut the door to the room, leaving me alone to slip beneath the hot, fragrant water. Letting the last of my aches melt away. At the same time, my brain thought about all the orgasms it had today.
15
Finding Answers in the Past
Iwassoexcitedabout class on Thursday that I didn’t even care that it meant going into the city for several hours. Nik had emailed the class that tonight’s lecture would involve a trip to the lab in Queens and expected the class to run late. I laughed when I read it, showing the message to Fynn so he would know that class would run longer than an hour.
“Now that is a move I can appreciate,” Fynn had said.
It made me hopeful that we really could pull this off.
I arrived early to class but wasn’t the first one there. Nik sat back in his chair behind the desk inside the lecture hall, a boyish grin plastered across his face.
“Decide class time needs to be longer?” I teased, tossing my bag on my new desk before striding to Nik.
He turned toward me, splaying his legs as an invitation, but there wasn’t enough time for that. The other students could start filtering in at any time. While I didn’t oppose sneaking off for sex, doing it in the middle of the room when others were about to walk in wasn’t smart.
“Did you come up with any other fun ideas for class?” I said, nudging his foot with mine rather than crawling up on his lap.
“Guess you will just have to wait and see,” Nik teased, making my heart race.
I stood and smiled at Nik, playing with his foot with mine. He wasn’t the only one with surprises for the night, but I was excited to see what he could have planned for me.
The door to the lecture hall opened, and I returned to my seat as if I had been simply conversing with our professor. I took my phone out of my bag and snapped a quick shot of Nik sitting at his desk, knowing I needed to have a printed copy of this in my room. I really needed a picture of all of them. Maybe even a group shot, too.
“Tonight, we are packing up in the van and going to Queens. We will examine all the evidence stored in my sister's cold case. You will have the opportunity to look through real police evidence, which means proper protocols.” Nik said, narrowing his gaze at the students. “That means gloves, Trevor.”
“Yeah, yeah, Professor. Wrap it before I,” Trevor started before he realized that he was not helping himself by making a sex joke about Nik’s dead sister. “Sorry, sir.”
At least it made me feel better when he called Nik, sir. Apparently, that had become more common since I had been gone.
The ride in the van, packed in with my classmates, flew by. I texted Hannah the picture of Nik behind his desk and spent most of the ride chatting with her. Yesterday, I spent several hours reaching out to her and doing my best to explain my situation. It took her a while before she stopped asking me where I was. She said she didn’t give a fuck about how scary Fynn was. She would walk over here to kick his ass herself.
I didn’t tell her that she had sex with him in college.
I put my phone on silent, slipping it back into my bag as Nik pulled the van into the parking space at Queens. We all filed out and made our way into the building. Nik opened the door, allowing all the other students to go through before joining me at the back of the pack.
“We are going straight until the dead end and then left. The evidence lab is directly at the end of the hall. If you can’t find your way there, I will seriously question how you got into college in the first place,” Nik said when he noticed the rest of the class waiting just beyond the doorway.
Arizona took the lead, and the other students followed. Nik and I hung back enough to give us a small bubble of privacy. We walked forward with the rest of the group, so it wasn’t too obvious. I noticed a few passing glances back in our direction. My sudden reappearance was still too exciting for them not to be curious. Nik and I simply enjoyed the walk near each other.
As soon as we entered the room, Nik left my side to grab three boxes from the table. They were marked in sharpie, the word “Cage” staring back at me. It was a sobering moment as each box was taken to its own table.
“Gloves,” Nik snipped, and we all rushed over to grab a pair.
We gathered around Nik as he stood at one of the tables. He lifted the lid of the box, and we all leaned in to get a better look inside. Each piece was individually bagged and labeled. He pulled five bags from the box, setting out his sister's last outfit on the table.
She had been submerged in the river wearing a tight black dress. Even through the bag, I could see the distressed state of the dress. It was dirty and had several rips and tears. Damage that would have been caused to the material before her watery grave.
The flutters of excitement left me as I moved around the table, inspecting the other items. There were a pair of strappy heels, the kind that were worn for their statement and certainly not comfort. A few pieces of jewelry, each nestled in their own individual bags labeled with what part of her body they were found on. No underwear.
Nik moved on to one of the other tables, repeating his actions as he put all the evidence on display. I remained at the table of items found on her body, holding a bag containing a bracelet she wore in my hand. The thin chain was made of silver, and there was a charm in the shape of a heart.
