Page 20 of Cruel Prep (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 1)

“We didn’t even do anything. Not really, anyway.” Finn snorts. “She is even more innocent than I thought. I didn’t want to break her.”

Cora holds up her hands to silence him. “I don’t care what you did, okay? I got her here, and now my part in this is done. You can stop threatening me. It’s over.”

Threatening her?Her part in what?

Nothing makes sense. I close my eyes, trying to clear out the noise in my head.

I need to focus. Focus on Dallas.

Dallas is dead … or dying. He needs help.

“I saw someone when I went to—”

“You’re done when I say you’re done,” Finn says to Cora, cutting me off. “Now, get the fuck out of my room.”

“Fuck you, Finn Foster.” Cora shoots daggers at him, and then, completely ignoring me, leaves.

Finn’s shoulders relax when she leaves, and he lets go of my arm. “What did you tell her?”

“What?”

“Who else did you see?” he asks, walking around me slowly, blocking my path to the door. “I took it easy on you, and you still tried to run away? For fuck’s sake.”

Nothing makes sense anymore. I sit down on the edge of the bed and shake my head, desperately wishing I had a glass of water. My mouth feels dry and sandpapery. “I wasn’t running away. I tried to find the bathroom, but instead, I walked into a room and—”

“Which room?” Finn asks, a spike of panic in his voice.

“I don’t know, but I saw someone—”

“Who?” Finn’s face is pale now, all signs of anger gone, replaced with panic.

My heart beats harder, making it difficult to catch my breath. “Dallas Martin.”

Finn frowns. “He was upstairs?”

“I think he was—” A sob works its way out of my chest. I don’t have control over anything anymore. Not my body or my emotions. I feel raw and split open. “Dead. Or maybe just unconscious? I don’t know. I tried to feel for a pulse, but I’m feeling a little weird and I dunno, overwhelmed, so I don’t know if I did it right, and—”

“Shut up.” Finn’s entire body goes rigid. A vein in his neck pops out. “Did Cora see?”

“I tried to tell her, but she wouldn’t listen and—”

Finn is gone before I can even finish my thought. It takes me a moment to realize he left the room. He moved so fast my hazy mind couldn’t keep up with him.

Rather than growing more sober, I’m becoming less lucid by the second. I’ve never been so hammered in my entire life, and I want to rest. I want to close my eyes.

I should be calling the police. Running. Screaming. Raising the alarm.

But I’m so tired.

I lie back on the bed and close my eyes, trying to keep the world stationary. Finn will take care of it. Now that he knows what is going on, he’ll solve everything. I did my part.

Some time passes. I’m not sure how long.

Distantly, I hear the door open and close.

Then, I feel a weight next to me on the bed. When I open my eyes, Finn is looking at me, his blue eyes cold and assessing.

He doesn’t smile. The chill in his eyes sends a shiver down my spine. I feel like a mouse looking into the mouth of a lion.

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