I gulped as tears filled my eyes. “And the boyfriend?”
“Me,” Knox said in a low voice.
“And all of you… You all—” I couldn’t get the words out.
Leo and Finn eyed each other then Knox.
And then Knox turned around and slammed his hand against my dorm-room door.
Slater answered three slams later with a fist to Knox’s jaw.
They stumbled backward against the couch.
I let out a shriek as Finn pulled me out of the way.
“You son of a bitch!” Knox roared. “You had no right!”
“She was my sister!”
“We BROKE UP!”
“Then maybe she wouldn’t have killed herself!” Slater bellowed. “She loved you, all three of you! And you led her on, you fed her demons! And it was too much, too much when you guys got your heads on straight, too fucking much—” He punched the wall with his fist, chest heaving. “Never leave a man behind, right? You left her to pick up the pieces, and she was too far gone to even recognize what they fucking looked like.”
“I didn’t know.” Knox’s voice cracked. “She pushed me away, pushed all of us away. Lex and Finn thought—” He closed his eyes. “—they thought that if they could just—”
“Replace Knox—” Finn gulped. “—that she’d be okay. She said she just wanted to have fun. We never thought it was that serious until it was too late.”
“She overdosed because she couldn’t live without you. You guys were like fucking poison to her,” Slater said in a quiet voice.
“No, man.” Knox grabbed him by the shoulders. “She was poison to herself. Don’t you see it? She used us just like she used drugs. Don’t you think I asked her to stop? Asked her to get help? How many times do you think I drove her home from parties covered in other guys spit? Seeing her clothes ripped, her face gaunt. She was gone before we even knew it.” Then Knox hung his head. “I take full responsibility. I always will. She was calling me for help, and I…” He closed his eyes. “…I ignored it. I couldn’t take it anymore.”
“She died listening to your voicemail, you fucker!” Slater thundered.
I gasped, covering my mouth with my hands.
Every set of eyes met mine.
Knox’s looked pained while the other two just looked guilty. And Slater? He looked like he was visiting hell, and I felt like I was right there with them.
This wasn’t about me.
It never had been.
I’d never done drugs.
But I understood what it was like to get addicted to the type of friends these guys were, and knowing I was losing that? It would kill me. And I barely knew them the way she probably had.
I backed up slowly then turned and ran.
Grabbing only my cell phone in the process.
Tears clouded my vision as I took the stairs down to the first floor, and I ran right into Alexa. My cell fell to the ground and shattered.
“Shawn?” Alexa grabbed my hand. “What’s wrong? You’re shaking!”
“Nothing.” I picked up my phone and pressed my free hand to my head. “Sorry, just not the best night I’ve ever had.” I sucked in the tears then lost it as she wrapped her arms around me.
“Shit, what did that guy do to you?”
“Guys, plural. Long story.” I sniffed. “I just want to forget about it.”
She wrapped an arm around me. “I know just the thing, but we need to get you changed. You can’t go to a party dressed like an athlete. Let’s get you in a short skirt and party the bad thoughts away. Plus, I heard they have Jell-O shots.”
I shrugged. “Count me in.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Knox
“Her cell keeps going to voicemail.” I slammed my hand against the couch cushion while Slater tried on his phone.
The minute she’d walked out of the room, I’d punched him, earning a punch back and a black eye.
Leo and Finn had pulled us apart.
And that was when it had hit me.
She hadn’t stayed.
I’d scared her away.
I’d done what I knew I would always do.
My past would always be there to haunt the present, and from the look in her eyes, it wasn’t something easily forgivable.
I wasn’t dumb.
I knew that.
I had just hoped.
That was the fucking problem.
She had me hoping.
And now my chest hurt.
And my brain was overanalyzing every single place she could be and aggressively causing my thoughts to spin out of control. Was she injured? Was she alone? Was she crying?
“Same here,” Slater sighed and punched the stupid unicorn.
“Can’t believe you still have that thing,” I muttered, holding a bag of frozen peas to my face.
Slater shrugged then winced like it hurt to move. “Unicorns were her favorite, and keeping a picture of her just seems… too morbid.”
“But keeping a possessed unicorn is what? Better?”
“It’s not possessed.”
“On multiple occasions, I found it watching me sleep, but sure…”
“Practical joke. She used to—” He smiled then stopped.
“I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say, and the longer I didn’t hear from Shawn the more worried I got. Something didn’t feel right.
“Me, too.” He stared down at his phone and froze while his entire body went stiff.
“What? She calling?”
My Twitter notification popped up with a picture of Alexa and Shawn with Jessica in the background watching them.
Trouble in paradise, @KnoxT. Your girl seems to be partying solo.
@UWGossip had also been tagged, meaning it had gone to the entire school who followed the stupid feed.
“She’s at a party.” I stood and tossed the peas on the counter.
Slater kept staring at his phone like he’d seen a ghost.
“I’ll find out where and— Are you even listening to me?”
Slater shook his head and, with shaking hands, pulled up the text he’d just received right along with another picture. It was eerily similar, actually taken from the same spot, in that same house, with Jessica in the background, a soft smile on her face.
And Slater’s sister with a friend, smiling at the camera.
“What. The. Fuck.” Slater was shaking so hard I had to grab his hand to stare at the picture again.
They were identical except for the people front and center.
“It’s a sick joke.” I gave my head a shake.
“Right.” Slater’s voice shook. “And if it’s not?”
Fear trickled down my spine. “Leo! Finn! Get your asses in here. We’re going to a party.”
“Do you really think now’s the time? I’ve hacked all the cameras.” Finn rubbed his eyes.
I tossed him both our phones.
He looked back and forth between the two of them then ran back into his room. Within seconds, he was back. “It’s the sorority Jessica’s in.”
“It’s the same fucking house!” I roared.
Leo was already making his way toward the door.
“We need to call the authorities,” I said in a numb voice. “We need to call the police right now.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Shawn
I knew something was wrong the minute I had the first sip of my drink, and it wasn’t because it tasted funny; it was because Jessica was the one who’d handed it to me. But she was friends with Alexa, not super close, but I figured if Alexa at least trusted her not to poison her, I should too, even though I wanted to rip her black hair from her head.
“Sorry about today.” Jessica tapped her cup to mine. “I just— He makes me crazy. It’s not you. It’s me. Trust me. I used to crush on him really hard, and it kind of sucks being led on for three straight years.”
Three. Years.
There it was again.
I tucked my
hair behind my ear then took another sip while Alexa left me to dance with some guy in a baseball cap. “Three years?”
She smiled. “Yeah, three long years. He broke up with his girlfriend then she died in this tragic overdose that kind of shook the school. I mean, you don’t expect a girl like that to fall prey to drugs, but I guess it could just happen to anyone.”
“You mean she wasn’t a druggie?”
“Recreational user.” Jessica shrugged. “Like most college kids, her biggest drug was the fact that she had three of the hottest guys on campus panting after her, Knox especially. When that guy falls, he falls so hard he ignores everything around him. Important things.”
“Like you?” My eyes narrowed as the room started spinning.
“No, silly.” She rolled her eyes. “Like class. I think he almost failed his freshman year because of her.”
“Oh.” I grabbed her for support when a pretty brunette bumped into me from the side, causing the rest of my drink to fall to the ground.
“Sorry.” The girl winked.
“Bitch!” Jessica yelled and steadied me on my feet.
I had beer dripping down the blouse I’d borrowed from Alexa.
“Hey, you all right?”
I briefly saw two of her and slowly shook my head no. “I need… I think I need air or something. I don’t feel right. I don’t have my… phone…” Wait, what had happened to my phone? It wasn’t funny, but I wanted to laugh and cry all at once. And now my clothes were ruined and smelled like beer.
Jessica grabbed my hand. “I’ll take you upstairs. You can borrow a shirt before you search for Alexa to take you home.”
“Yeah…” I went with her and was suddenly thankful she was stronger than she looked as I leaned on her. The stairs felt taller than normal stairs, my body heavier. Was it the alcohol? I hadn’t eaten much that day, and I’d been practicing a lot. I frowned as my brain worked ten times slower than normal.
We walked down the long hall and into Jessica’s room. The lights were off and the moment she flicked them on and shut the door behind her, I felt like I was going to puke.
“Oh no, you don’t.” She shoved me toward the bed. “You puke, and the drugs go out of your system.”
“Drugs?” I slurred. “Why are you drugging me? Where’s Alexa? Knox!” I started screaming as tears ran down my face.
“Shut up, or I’ll make this painful rather than peaceful, bitch.” She grabbed something in a bottle then a needle.
My words weren’t coming out.
But my mind was moving, calculating.
The overdose.
Knox’s name on her phone.
Three. Years.
“You.” I stumbled back onto the bed, my body barely moving. Each limb felt too heavy as I tried to get away from her choking presence. “You drugged… her.”
Jessica’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow, even the police didn’t catch that one. Then again, that’s the danger in drugs, isn’t it? It makes all good girls go bad, and it’s so common, you know. Overdoses on college campuses…”
I gagged.
Then tried to put my finger in my mouth. I retched a bit before she could reach me then kicked her in the ribs as hard as I could while I tried to puke more.
“Nice try,” she laughed. “It’s already in your system. It takes a good solid seven minutes. That’s what our story time was about downstairs, you know, though I was a bit worried that you didn’t get enough since your drink spilled.”
“No.” I was so scared I started shaking. This was not how things were supposed to end. I was supposed to have a fresh start. Find someone that saw me, not my skin; find someone who loved me for me. I was supposed to have a life. To graduate.
I saw Knox in that future.
His smile.
I saw my friends Leo, Finn, and Slater.
I saw that stupid bright unicorn.
“You k-killed her.” My voice was laced with so much fear that the words came out shaky.
“Hey, she was depressed. All I did was hand her the packed needle. She’s the one who shot herself up. I just gave her a little bit too much. How was I supposed to know she’d stop breathing?”
“You’ll go to prison.” I tried kicking at her again, but my feet were basically lead at that point, my legs weighted with sand as she filled the needle with a substance I didn’t want to acknowledge.
As a metallic taste filled my mouth.
As the sound of death rang in my ears, and people all around the house partied like I wasn’t fighting for my life.
“Help!” I screeched with the last of my energy. “Help!”
“They didn’t hear her. What makes you think they’re going to hear you?” Jessica sneered before grabbing a tourniquet and wrapping it around my left arm.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Knox
I prayed we wouldn’t be too late.
I had such a bad feeling, even though I’d called the cops and told them to rush as fast as humanly possible.
Because Jessica had been there in the beginning.
Jessica had been pursuing me before Sophie, during Sophie, after Sophie.
They had been best friends.
I’d held Jessica’s hand while she bawled her eyes out at the funeral. I’d held her hand while she spoke in front of the student body about the danger of drug use.
I’d held her body when she decided she needed to use our services to feel better. I’d held her close and hugged her tight when she told me she missed Sophie because she was the only one who’d ever understood her.
I’d held her while she lied.
I had held her.
And even if she hadn’t done anything herself, she’d still sat there and watched while her friend had taken a lethal dose of something.
It was too damning.
“Can you drive faster?” I screamed at Leo, who finally pulled up to a nonexistent parking spot.
Slater and I jumped out and started running towards the house.
“Where would she take her?” I asked, searching the crowd for mocha skin as tears pricked the back of my eyes.
Slater searched the room and started asking people where she was, holding a picture of her up on his phone.
I found Alexa dancing with some guy. “Where’s Shawn?”
“She went home, bro.” The guy dancing with Alexa looked vaguely familiar. Then again, I knew everyone on campus.
Alexa just shrugged, her eyes glassy.
Shit.
I turned and started making my way toward the stairs when my neck prickled with awareness.
I turned to see Slater give me a wide-eyed look like he felt it, too.
It intensified the moment I hit the first stair.
And when I took another, I could smell it.
Smell her.
Sophie.
I ran like hell with Slater behind me.
I kicked open the first two doors with no luck then the third… just in time to see Jessica leaning over Shawn with a needle.
Sirens sounded outside.
Jessica jerked away from Shawn and gave me a saucy smile. “Almost late to the party. Did you want to do the honors first?”
“I don’t do drugs.”
“Weird, since your girlfriend clearly does. You think this is my shit? She just wanted to feel better.”
“Liar!” Shawn’s voice sounded different. “Drugged, she drugged… me… killed… She killed…”
I ran to Shawn’s side and pulled her into my arms while she sobbed against my chest.
“You bitch!” Slater roared, charging Jessica. Leo and Finn held him back before he could hit her. “You killed her!”
“Whoa.” Jessica dropped the needle on the nightstand and wiped it. “That’s a hefty accusation considering her drug use. Don’t you think?”
“Drop the act, Jessica,” Slater spat. “I know who gave my sister her first hit. I know it was you. Twins, remember? She told me everything. I also knew she was getting clean. We all
did! That’s why it made no sense!”
Jessica’s eyes darted between all of us. “Have fun proving it.”
Slater held up his phone. “Oh, I plan on it.”
The pictures were side by side, so familiar that a court was going to have a fun time with all the evidence we had, including a testimony from whatever she’d said to Shawn.
The police officers chose that time to make their way down the hall.
“Is this her?” the first one in asked, pointing at Jessica.
“Yes.” Slater crossed his arms. “That’s the girl who killed my sister three years ago and almost killed my roommate just now.”
“You can’t prove shit!” she yelled as they cuffed her, read Jessica her rights, and drug her out of the room.
“How’d you… find me?” Shawn sniffed against my chest.
I gave her the only answer that made sense as I locked eyes with Slater. “Sophie showed us.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Shawn
I couldn’t stop shaking.
The drugs had worn off enough for me to talk to the police officers about what had happened. I gave them my statement after the paramedics checked me out to make sure I wasn’t dying.
And all the while, Knox held one of my hands while Slater held the other.
Leo and Finn looked as if they were wishing I had more hands to hold, and at one point, I could have sworn each of them looked at a foot and contemplated it. I wasn’t sure who needed comforting more.
Me.
Or them.
Because I knew what was going through their heads; it was the same thing going through mine. History repeating itself. Their faults.
Their business.
The death of Slater’s sister.
And all the things in between because of one girl’s hate.
But sadly, that was the world we lived in. Hate for someone’s religion, someone’s skin color, someone’s sexual orientation. Everywhere I looked, I saw hate.
And it was damn time for it to stop.
Co-Ed Page 16
