Page 24 of Tainted Deception

“Fuck,” Jace muttered. “Chris is going to fucking flip.”

“You know we’ll need to actually leave her alone if the Riot Crew is involved,” I pointed out. “We can’t afford to go against them.”

“I know.” He ran a hand through his hair, staring into the darkness. “Chris won’t leave her alone. He’ll just try to be more discreet about it. He’s obsessed with her.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“No fucking idea.” He sighed, glancing at me. “You realize that with the crew watching us, we need to keep working together, right? Neither of our gangs can go up against them separately if shit goes down.”

“I know.”

We made our way out of the auditorium, neither of us saying a word. Rynn wasn’t with the Riot Crew, but now we knew she had them on her side, and that was a fucking problem. My dad was going to be pissed, and I couldn’t even guess how Chris would react. Rynn might think this was over, but I had a feeling it was only beginning.

10

My steps wereslow as I trudged into the dorm, heading to my room. I wasn’t in a hurry at all. I’d just gotten out of the class I shared with Gage and Rynn, which only pissed me off more. Other than a few glares from Gage, they acted like I wasn’t there. It was only yesterday when the Riot Crew was here, proving they were backing Rynn. And now I had to go home and talk to Chris about it.

I stopped in my tracks at the sight of two bags sitting in front of my door. The bags I’d had when I was staying in Gage’s room, then Rynn’s. My guard rose as I slowly moved forward, my eyes staying on the bags. I doubted they’d given me my stuff back out of the kindness of their hearts. Taking a deep breath, I crouched down, slowly unzipping the duffel bag, fully expecting to see all my clothes ruined in some way.

Instead, everything was folded neatly, with a piece of paper sitting on top. Grabbing it with two fingers, I stood back up and opened it, my suspicion rising as I read the note.

Thanks for being such an amazing roommate. Here’s a gift to show my appreciation.

-Rynn

I chuckled, knowing she’d done something that I just hadn’t found yet. Shoving the paper in my pocket, I slung the bags over my shoulder, unlocking my door and going inside. Pratt was lounging on his bed, and he looked up as I kicked the door shut behind me. His eyes dropped to the bags as I set them on the floor, and he straightened up.

“No one knocked?” I questioned as I opened the other bag.

“No,” he answered slowly. “I’ve been here all morning.”

Not responding, I pushed some of my clothes to the side, digging into the bag.

“When are you leaving?” Pratt asked.

“A half hour,” I muttered, my heart dipping at the thought of seeing Chris. He was pissed about what happened, and I was not looking forward to talking face to face with him about it.

I lifted a pair of jeans up, and there was a sudden muffled banging noise before something exploded out of the bag. I lurched backward, falling on my ass and squeezing my eyes shut when something hit my face. Pratt yelled out curses, and I heard him jumping off his bed.

“What the hell was that?” I wiped a hand down my face, blinking my eyes open and looking at my room in horror. “She fucking did not.”

The carpet and half of my bed were covered in glitter. Fucking blue glitter. I shook my head, my rage building when blue speckles fell from my hair. Pratt stared at me, his mouth open in shock as he stayed standing near the edge of his bed.

“A glitter bomb?” I mumbled in disbelief. “I’d rather she try to stab me.”

Pratt hesitantly walked forward, swiping his hand over my blanket, making glitter fall everywhere. “I think we just need to burn the whole room.”

I climbed to my feet, peeling my shirt off, ignoring how I layered the floor with more fucking glitter. I grabbed some clean clothes from the dresser before heading to the bathroom, not caring that I was tracking the blue shit even farther into the room. Slamming the door shut behind me, I stripped the rest of my clothes off after turning the shower on. My palms rested on the counter as I stared at myself in the small mirror, my jaw clenching when I saw my black hair speckled with blue.

“Fuck,” I mumbled gruffly, spinning around and stepping into the tiny stand-up shower.

I let the hot water run down my body as I scrubbed my hair, knowing getting all the glitter out was going to be fucking impossible. I figured Rynn would pull something after I’d kept her in the dorm, but I didn’t expect her to stoop this fucking low. If she thought she could play pranks without any kind of payback, she was in for a surprise. Kian and I weren’t just going to sit back. We just had to be more careful.

I’ll admit, I’d felt guilty before she handed me to the Phantoms. I’d been on her ass because Chris was getting fed everything that happened on campus. But she’d clearly gotten even when she screwed me over. If Chris and Hayes hadn’t come to an agreement, Kian and I would still be fucking locked up in a damn barn because of what she did.

And now we’d found out she was connected with the Riot Crew, which only made this entire situation worse. For Kian and me, anyway. Because we had to walk a careful line to keep from pissing them off while still attempting to do what Chris and Hayes wanted.

With a sigh, I shut off the water and stepped out, grabbing the towel. The mirror was fogged up, which was fine with me since I didn’t want to see how much glitter was still stuck in my hair. I quickly got dressed and opened the door, my jaw clenching at the state of my room. Pratt had a handheld vacuum, and he was trying to clean the carpet, but there was so much blue sparkling in the sun that it was apparent the little vacuum wasn’t going to cut it.

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