Page 99 of Kings & Corruption

But it wasn’t pig guts. It wasn’t even anything gross, just something terrifying.

I reached inside and removed the earring. My earring. The one I’d dropped at the welcome ball when I’d snuck into Dean Giordana’s office.

“That belong to you?” Neo asked.

I nodded. “I dropped it in the dean’s office during the ball.”

I avoided his eyes, both because I knew he was going to be pissed that I hadn’t said something sooner and because I didn’t want to think about the first time we’d kissed, about the fact that I couldn’t stay away from him when we were alone even though I hated him with the fire of a thousand suns.

Emphasis on the wordfire.

“And when, exactly, were you going to tell us?” Neo’s voice was so hard I thought it might crack.

I shrugged. “I wasn’t even sure where I’d dropped it. It could have been by the bar or in the ballroom or on the dance floor or — ”

“In the dean’s office,” Rock said.

Oscar scrubbed his face. “You should have told us, tiger.”

The criticism from him stung, even combined with the nickname. Probably because he’d had his face buried between my thighs fifteen minutes earlier.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t,” I said, picking up the photos. “How was I supposed to know some psycho was going to find it?”

The pictures were recent, taken on and around campus. There was one of me walking to class outside and another in the cafeteria, sitting at Claire’s table. In one of them, I was standing somewhere unfamiliar, and when I looked closer I realized it was the deli where Oscar had taken me to get lunch when we’d gone into town for makeup.

There was even one of me leaning against the wall at the Orpheum, my surroundings dark, making me appear like I was floating.

They might have been decent pictures if not for the scratched-out faces, clearly done with something sharp that had punctured the photo paper in places.

These were definitely not love letters.

The thought reminded me about the page that had been on top when I’d dropped everything onto the island. I picked it up and a shiver ran up my spine as I saw the disjointed words crafted out of magazine letters.

SNITCHES GET STITCHES. STOP DIGGING.

I felt the threat in my chest, like a physical blow.

“Whoever it is, they’ve been following me since before I dropped the earring,” I said, thinking of the picture from the deli.

“Yep,” Neo said. “Which means you’re not going anywhere without one of us from now on. And you’re definitely not playing the game.”

My head snapped up. “That’s not your decision.”

“The fuck it isn’t,” Neo growled. “Especially after what happened with the Saints.”

I started to protest, then realized what he’d said about the Saints. “What happened with the Saints?”

“They got caught trying to break into the case,” Rock said. “They’re out.”

“Of Aventine?” I asked.

“Of the game,” Oscar said. “And they’re on probation.”

Of course. Dean Giordana — and probably everyone else — knew about the game. They put up with it for the same reason they put up with all the other bullshit pulled by the students at Aventine: because they were scared of our parents and wanted to keep the money flowing.

“Which is why you’re out too,” Neo said. ”Dean Giordana knows the case is our target. They’ll be watching it more closely now.”

I glared at him. “You don’t get to tell me what to do. It’s not like you care what happens to me anyway.”

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