Page 13 of Beautiful Nightmare
Star smiles. “So, it’s like a little festival here on campus to celebrate the beginning of the semester. Like a kickoff, of sorts. They’re already working on it right now. Everything gets set up in that huge field behind the frat houses, but it’s for everyone. There’ll be a big bonfire, they bring in food trucks, and there’s supposedly live music, and even some carnival rides. It actually sounds like a really good time, and I don’t typically like stuff like this.”
Raven claps her hands a bit, her pale eyes sparkling at the prospect. “It starts at dusk and goes untilit goes,from what I was told. The warning they issued—”
“Warning?”
Star sputters with laughter. “Were you not listening at all to Georgia when she was talking about it on the tour?”
“Yeah. Um. Maybe not.” There had definitely been a few times when my mind had wandered from what our orientation advisor was saying. I shrug, embarrassed. “Sorry. Sometimes I get a little distracted thinking about other stuff.”
Raven gives me a conspiratorial wink. “No worries. We’ve got your back. Like I was about to say, they warn everyone that it can get a little wild and crazy, and if you have early classes tomorrow that you should be responsible about how late you stay.”
I smirk. “Do you think anyone ever listens to that advice?”
A loud noise from across the hall has our heads turning in unison. My excitement dissipates. It’s hard to imagine how I’ll be able to have a good time when all I’m worried about is running into Hawk again. I’m fairly certain he’s going to do his damnedest to make my life hell. I bite down on my lip, my gaze sliding to the closed door of our suite, knowing he’s likely not too far away. My heart accelerates. “I’m not sure I should go. I—”
Star makes a disgruntled noise, then squints, pointing her forefinger at herself. “If I have to go”—she flicks her finger in my direction—“you have to go.”
I give myself a shake and draw myself up. Hawk had better fucking bring it. Because what he did to me? He deserves a thousand of Raven’s knees to his junk. “Oh, man. I hope I don’t regret this. But okay. I’m in.”
Raven claps with a smile. “Royal Revelry, here we come.”
EIGHT
HAWK
“Dude. You sure you don’t want to slow the fuck down on the whiskey?” Kellan nods toward the drink in my hand and eyes me with interest from his perch on the arm of the couch. “What the hell happened last night, anyway? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you go on a bender like that. And you’re already started again today?”
Lux. That’s what happened. The things she said continue to fuck with my head. What reason would she have for the hate she feels? I know she’s capable of lying. But I could swear what she’d said to me yesterday was one hundred percent the truth—her version of it, anyway. The conviction with which she’d spoken rang loud and clear in my ears. She believed every word of it. That’s fucking confusing as hell to me.
Maddox lets loose with a snort before he gives a great belly laugh. “Aw, leave him alone. Maybe he wanted—or needed?—to get good and fucked up. It happens to the best of us. Yourself included, I might point out, every time that ex of yours crops up.”
“Shut the fuck up.” That’s immediately followed by Kellan’s fist flying fast to punch our smart-ass friend in the arm.Hard.
Maddox looks down at his bicep and back at Kellan before grunting, “Harder next time.” The two of them shoot good-natured glares at each other, then Kellan throws up his middle finger with a smirk.
When I first met the two of them, I’d wondered what it would be like to live with guys majoring in business and art, respectively, because they are going down paths so different from my own with sports medicine. Turns out, I probably shouldn’t have worried too much that we wouldn’t get along. We have separate interests, but at the core, we’re fundamentally a lot alike. We like things how we like them and don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks. We do what we have to in order to get what we want. We’ve been inseparable for the better part of a year now, which means we know each other—in and out, the good and the bad. I suppose the true test is coming. Will these guys have my back? Will they understand my deep-seated need to exact revenge on Lux? Or will they think I’ve gone stark raving mad? I flinch, realizing I’ve missed part of the conversation.
Maddox crosses his arms over his puffed-out chest. “What? You scared or something?”
I have to admit, Maddox probably intimidates most people, but whether it’s the broad shoulders or the ever-present scowl, I couldn’t say. One look from him sends most people scurrying away with their tail between their legs.
Kellan shakes his head. “Not at all.” With his muscles and tattoos, he also makes most people nervous. He rises from his spot on the couch, posturing like he’s going to make good on Maddox’s demand to hit him harder, but I groan, holding out my hand to stop the two of them from starting an all-out brawl in the middle of our suite.
I give a half-hearted roll of my eyes. “Look. This is simply me having a little something to take the edge off before Royal Revelry. I might be a tiny bit hungover from last night, and you’re well aware that the best cure for a hangover is a little hair of the dog.” I scrub one hand through my hair and tip the glass of whiskey to my lips with the other, letting the amber liquid slide between my lips. It’s smooth and flavorful, settling in my stomach with a comfortable warmth. “Don’t worry. There won’t be a repeat, I can promise you that. I need my wits about me for what I have planned.” I hesitate, unsure what to tell them about my run-in with Lux. After taking a few seconds to think it through, I recognize that these guys are my ride or die, and if I can’t trust them with the truth… “As for why I got my drink on last night, I might have had a little disagreement with Lux.” I lift my shoulders and drop them in an attempt to disguise how much our encounter had actually affected me.
Immediately, their brows lift to their hairlines. Sometimes I forget how well they can read me. Maddox stares at me, incredulous. “Might have? Like what kind of disagreement? I can’t believe she let you anywhere near her after the way she took off into their suite when you interrupted our introductions.”
Kellan grimaces. “He’s right. This girl clearly doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
I shrug. “And I intend to keep it that way. I’ll send her running, show her the blood on her hands, if that’s what it takes. Make her feel my pain.” I sip at my whiskey again, eyeing them over the rim of the glass. “She deserves every last drop of misery, and when she leaves this school, she’ll carry the scars from the wounds I’ll inflict.”
“That’s fucked up.” Kellan grits his teeth and shakes his head.
I narrow my eyes. “So’s what she did. I blame her for everything. And I reminded her of that last night.”
Kellan runs his hand over the roses tattooed on his chest. “You know I get it. I understand wanting to make someone hurt, but—”
“But nothing.” I throw back the remainder of my drink and pour another, all while my buddies look on.Looks like maybe I’ll go to Royal Revelry drunk after all.My jaw twitches as I think back to the fire in Lux’s eyes and the sass she’d thrown my way. I hadn’t thought I’d see that side of her, especially considering how spooked she’d initially been by my presence. Apparently, she’s accepted that I’m really here. And fuck, she’d spit at me the second I accused her of being the liar that she is. Then came the real kicker. She wishes I wereactuallydead. And she hates me. I’d almost started laughing. I might have, if I hadn’t been so distracted by the way her lush ass looked in those little shorts as she’d run up the stairs and away from me.
