Page 60 of Royal
“Yeah. Apparently, Beckham really took it to heart, and I think she’s under his skin now, too. We got into it over something he did. Honestly, Wilder is no fucking better. He’s actually got a class with her, and they’ve gotten close—close enough that he offered to stay with her one night after a scare she had.” My teeth grind and grind. “Oh. Wait. And I forgot about the best part of fight night. Guess who my cage girl was?”
“You’re shitting me.”
“Nope. So, there I was, trying to take on Bear, and my girl has herself on full fucking display.” I shake my head, anger filling me all over again. “She worked it, too. And I swear to fuck, she was trying to rile me.” To my dismay, my dick twitches at the thought right here on the running trail. Motherfucker. I shift, trying to ignore the excitement down south. Now that I’ve had her again, it’s going to be a real fucking problem.
Theo removes his water bottle from the pouch strapped to his side and takes a long swallow. “Um. So, tell me to fuck off if you want, but you heard what you just said, right?”
I frown. “What? That she was trying to rile me?”
“No.” He shakes his head with a grimace. “That she’syourgirl.”
I clamp my lips together, then take a deep breath as I reach for my water. I gulp deeply, trying to erase what he just said from my head, but I know I can’t. “Fuck.”
“So.”
“Yeah. Um.” I swipe at my forehead with the back of my hand as the sweat continues to roll off me. “I’ve shared a lot of shit with you, and I’m not going too far into detail, but we used to have this thing we’d do…”
“Thing?”
“Uh, yeah. I don’t know if it’s normal or if we’re freaks or what. But it all started with our runs in the woods when we were in high school on the cross-country team.”
“Do you mean the year Coach Craig and Coach Evans decided it would be a fun training exercise to pair up each boy with a girl and have them run the trails as if one was chasing the other?”
I nod. “That’s how it started. If you recall, I was partnered with Echo because she was fucking fast for a freshman. But eventually, it turned into this thing we did. I’d chase her down, catch her. She’d fight me off.” I shrug. “Sometimes not. And then… it turned into this sexy game. I’d fuck her out there in the woods. We got off on the chase.”
Theo doesn’t say anything for so many seconds, I almost want to shove the words right back into my mouth. But then he nods. “Okay. Is there a reason you’re bringing this up now?”
My chest burns at the memory. “Last night I saw her walking back to the sorority house. She was taking the shortcut through the woods. I, um. I did it again. I chased her through the woods.” My gaze cuts to his. “Like I said, it used to be our thing. But this time, I did it to punish her.”
“Punish her or punish yourself?” He pauses, waiting for my answer, but I don’t honestly have one to give him. “She was into it?”
“Yeah. It seemed like it. It was like old times. Hotter, actually. And then I left her there.” I suck in a breath, hanging my head. “Maybe I was punishing us both.”
Theo gets up, ready to run again. “I’d encourage you to talk to her about it. You have so many fucking unresolved issues between you. And if you’re going to be sticking your dick anywhere near her again, you’d better have your head right before you create an explosive situation.”
With that, we begin running again, and as my feet pound the trail in a steady rhythm, I hear words in my head. Each step taunts me.Too late too late too late.
TWENTY-NINE
ECHO
I’ve spentthe better part of twenty minutes stalling on joining the party going on outside my door. Or maybe I should call it a pre-party? The entire sorority is alive with movement and sound as the sisters of TZE prep for the huge rush week blowout at Kappa Delta Kappa tonight. They’re primping but also drinking and generally having a good time. From what Cassie said at our impromptu meeting after dinner last night, we all need to be there, as it’s rush week.
To be perfectly honest, rush isn’t on my radar because I’m not going through it. TZE is pretty selective, so I guess it’s clear who will be getting bids this weekend and who isn’t, and once they pledge, the freshmen will be around at all the different events and parties. I guess I’m grateful that I already have a bid because I have too much going on to worry about it. I’ll have to do more once the pledge process begins, but until then, I’ll take that one thing at a time.
There’s a whole part of me that wishes I had forgotten about coming to KU altogether. Moving here and attending my mother’s alma mater was supposed to be a fresh start. Instead, it’s been an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions. I’ve barely been here a week and I’m ready to crawl into a hole and wait for the world to stop so I can have some time to myself to get my head on straight and figure how the fuck to deal with it all. Mean girl sorority sisters. Royal. A nighttime intruder. Horrible notes. And now, the photo of my dead parents. My throat goes painfully dry. Who is responsible for what? I’m getting hit from all sides and struggling to understand what’s happening.
There’s nowhere to run. Can’t go back to Connecticut—never want to be in that house again. I rub my hands over my face, letting a small moan escape from my lips. Ugh, I don’t know what to do.
I’d tried to trick myself into believing everything was okay—and while I was with Emory and Benneti, it’d worked for a little bit, but then as I sat eating my burger, my stomach turned queasy. All I could think about was that damn photo I’d left behind at the sorority house. I know for a fact my dad gave that ring to my mother on their anniversary. So, it was either taken the night he presented it to her or the following night—the night they died. My gut says it was the latter. It feels like some fucking sick joke.
Cold, shuddering fear makes my entire body shake. Why would this photo show up six months later? And who takes photos at a house invasion gone wrong? Shit’s not adding up.
I should ask Cassie if the envelope was delivered to the house. If not, I’ll have to accept that some psycho was in my room to plant it there. Until I know what I’m dealing with, I don’t want to say anything to throw our family into upheaval again. They followed me here so we could be together. How the hell am I supposed to tell them it was a mistake?
The only thing that is clear is there seems to be more than one person who has set out to hurt me. My head swims and swims until I can’t think about it anymore.
Someone raps their knuckles against my door. “Echo, girl? You in there?”
