Page 44 of All Bets Are Off

I walk until I reach a quiet corner of campus and then I throw myself down under a tree and force myself to take a deep breath as my fingers curl, itching to wrap around another neck. I wish I could blame all of this anger on Brielle, but it isn’t just her. I was born this way. Hell, my first act on this fucking earth was killing my mom while she gave birth to me, it doesn’t get more fucked up than that. It’s why I’ve always hated my birthdays, well I did until Brielle. Now I’m not just missing my mom, but her as well. How do I mourn them both when one of them is still alive and well?

Brielle became my only light in the dark and I guess I never expected a day that her light would be taken away from me. Fuck her for being the only one who could cut through my demons and fuck her even more for leaving me when I thought I could rely on her forever.

Those rumors might hurt to hear, but I’ve been through enough shit in life to know I will eventually get over it. I just need to keep calm and remain in control of my emotions and my fists.

Brielle Montgomery is not the girl for me and apparently she never was, even her sun can’t brighten up the darkest days anymore.

When I walk back towards the gym I find Hudson standing outside waiting for me, when he looks at me he frowns but still offers me his fist to bump as he asks, “You good, man?”

No, not in the slightest, not since I lost her, but still I smile. “Yeah, I’m good.” It’s a lie but who cares, at least I know a way to cheer me up. “Let’s go and fuck up Crawford’s shit.” I add, and Hudson grins back. I’m sure putting glitter dicks all over that prick's car will make me feel a whole lot better.

ChapterSeventeen

“Where areyou off to so early in the morning?” Shelby yawns as she sits up in her bed, stretching her arms over her head.

I point to the muffins she helped me make in the dorm kitchen last night. “I wanted to drop those off before class,” I explain to her. It may seem stupid, but I really wanted to do at least something small for Professor Schaubeck after he readily believed me last week. It would have been just as easy to report me to the dean, and never even attempt to hear my side of it. Muffins seemed like a nice thing to do.

“Why not just give them to him in class? Don't you have English today?”

Her question is a fair one, but I just shrug in response. “I don’t want to stir up any new rumors.” The ones about my cheating have just finally started to fade away thanks to nothing coming of them. Even being seen near any staff member’s office could fuel a new round of them.

I stop in front of the mirror and look over my outfit carefully. The turtle neck sweater completely covers the light smattering of bruises around my throat from Carson’s heavy grip. Covering my arms the last few weeks hasn’t been so hard. But the ones on my neck have posed much more of a challenge, even if they aren’t as dark.

At least they are beginning to fade to yellow and should be gone soon. I don’t know how many scarves and turtlenecks I could wear before it gets suspicious.

I catch Shelby watching me in the mirror. “I liked the flannel yesterday. It somehow suited you more than the sweaters.”

I smile. Funny how much she’s been able to pick up on without even realizing it. “I liked it too.” She chews on her bottom lip and I know what’s coming next. It’s a look I’ve grown accustomed to over the last week.

I can’t really blame the girl for caring enough to have questions about the epic melt down she got first row seats to. I’ve tried to talk around them, avoid them, and just plain give excuses.

“How are you and Carson doing?” she asks hesitantly.

I reach up to feel my necklace where it lays against my chest under my sweater. “We’re doing good now,” I whisper. “It was just a normal fight. We both said things we regret now.”

Her wide green eyes narrow at me as she cocks her head back and forth. She’s debating on how far she wants to push me on the topic. I know she has concerns. More valid ones than she could ever realize. Even if Carson and I were a perfect couple, it would be hard for any friend to forgive the guy that left their roommate sobbing on the floor after a fight.

“Well,” she starts and I tense, waiting for her to push it. “I didn’t want to bring it up because you had so much going on, but I have something for you.” I perk up at the change on topics, thankful she’s just leaving it.

“Oh, really?”

She beams at me and climbs out of bed, turning her back to me to pull something from under her desk. “The information you asked for.”

Hell yes. I could kiss this girl. I haven’t gotten the chance to snoop around Carson’s room again, but I haven’t been able to get those files out of my mind either. If there is anything in them that could help give me an edge over Carson. Anything I can use to fuck with him.

What Shelby has found should be able to at least give me a place to start.

She grins as she starts to hand me binders.

Binders.

My mouth parts open in shock. “These are not files,” I say stupidly, dropping most of them to the bed and opening the one left in my hands. Holy shit. I laugh. It’s even color coded. I flip through the different sections and can’t believe the amount of information she’s been able to put together in such a short amount of time.

“Are they all like this?” I ask, shocked.

She tilts her head in confusion. “Of course.”

I huff another laugh. She doesn’t even realize how insane this is. She has tax records, personal, family, and business ones. Schedules, high school transcripts, known habits and associates. Dating histories. She even has their personal statements. I don’t even want to know how she got her hands on all this information.

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