Malice

26

We drive to the beach. I don’t know why he takes me there because we could just as easily talk in his dorm or mine, but I don’t question or fight it. I don’t have any fight left in me right now. Silence stretches between us as we get out of his car and wander through the sand toward the water. At this time of day, it’s quieting down and there aren’t many people left playing along the shoreline.

When we reach a spot where we’re completely alone, we stop. I don’t say anything, leaving it to him to start whatever conversation he’s been so intent on having with me.

“You need to leave Angelview,” he says, confusing the hell out of me.

“Are you kidding me?” I hiss, turning to face him fully. “I thought we were past this.”

He turns to me as well, and we stare each other down for long moments, his gaze drilling into mine. “Please, Mallory. You need to listen to me.”

For a moment, I have a strange sense of déjà vu. The last time he begged me to go, he’d betrayed me immediately afterward. It nearly broke me, and he almost won the last time.

But he didn’t. I came back and defied him.

He won’t win this time either because he doesn’t have the same advantage he had before.

I’m not half-way in love with him anymore.

Sure, you’re not, the voice in the back of my head laughs at me.

“Why should I listen to anything you have to say to me?” I snap, shaking off all thoughts of love and Saint Angelle. “You’ve targeted me before I ever had a chance to do anything to piss you off!”

His eyes narrow. “What are you talking about?”

I jab a finger against his chest. “Liam told me you were pla

He stares at me for a heartbeat of time, and I doubt he’s going to tell me anything.

I’m surprised, then, when he mutters, “It’s because I never forget a face.”

I blink at him. “What does that even mean?”

His expression goes cold, and I can see him throwing up his defenses.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Like hell it doesn’t!” Letting out a strangled cry, I drag my hands through my hair and squeeze my eyes shut. “You’ve screwed up any chance I had of having a decent year here or having a fucking relationship that’s actually healthy. I could be with someone like Liam if you hadn’t screwed me up in the head so badly!”

When I open my eyes, his face is swarming over mine, rage darkening his expression just like I thought it would when I dropped Liam’s name. “Is that who you want to be with?” he roars, taking a menacing step toward me. “You want to be with that fuckhead?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time one of your girlfriends decided to change teams,” I scream. I want to hurt him. I want to hurt him so, so badly. Physically, I don’t stand a chance against him, but mentally, I’m determined to hold my own. “Maybe Rosalind had the right idea a couple of years ago. Maybe I should—”

“Stop it, Mallory. Stop it right fucking now.”

“Why do you want me gone so bad anyway?” I demand to know. “Huh? I’m not the only scholarship student here, so it’s not like I’m dragging down the prestige of Angelview, not that you give two fucks about that with the way you behave. So why is it you just want to get rid of me?”

His jaw is granite as he peers down at me, but he doesn’t answer. Of course he doesn’t. That would require him to give up insight into his twisted, fucked-up mind.

After several moments of his stubborn silence, I rasp out, “Do you want me gone?”

I don’t really know where that question came from. He’s made it pretty clear he wants me to leave, right? But … does he really want it or is there something else at play here he’s not telling me about?

His stony silence infuriates me more, however. I don’t know why I continue to try with him. He’s never going to tell me a damn thing since he doesn’t really give a shit about me. I need to remind myself of that again and again because for some fucking reason, I keep letting myself forget.

“You know what, Liam was right,” I hiss. “Just stay away from me, alright? I’m done with whatever this toxic bullshit is.”

I turn, intent on leaving him and walking back to campus.

“The swim meet.”

I stop at his growl and slowly turn around. “What?” I ask, beyond confused.

He takes a step closer to me. “The reason that gangbang fucker bothers me is because I saw him in your hallway last semester after the assembly. I went looking for you, and he was lurking around your room.”

He can’t know the fear his words send pulsing through me, and I fight to keep my face from giving anything away. If he knows how freaked out I really am over Ghost, he’ll hold it over me and try to use it against me.

When I speak, I’m surprised my voice is so steady. “What does Ghost have to do with any of this? I asked about you. I never brought him up.”

“Do you know why he was there?” he demands to know, ignoring my own question.

I can only guess it had something to do with Je

Before he can reply, I turn and stumble away, break into a run when he calls my name. He doesn’t chase after me, though, which is a small blessing.

I fumble for my phone once I hit the pavement of the parking lot and desperately try to dial the number that Ghost had texted me from last. It’s yet another burner, though, which I’d suspected, so I can’t get through. By the time I reach campus half an hour later, my mind is ru

What was Ghost doing here last semester? Had Je

Why didn’t they approach me before break?

“Well, well, if it isn’t the campus’s favorite little slut,” an a

My whole body goes rigid, and I let out a groan as I spin around to face Laurel. She’s got her arms crossed and her slim hip cocked, dressed head-to-toe in the usual designer labels she drapes herself in the moment she can change out of our lowly uniforms. She’s wearing a smirk that puts me on edge, like she knows something I don’t and is excited to tell me.

That can’t be good.

“I don’t have time to waste with you today.” Especially not when I’ve got my mom’s apparent goon keeping tabs on me, and Saint harping at me to leave again.

My dismissal doesn’t seem to faze her in the least.

“I was hoping I’d run into you,” she says, dramatically examining her super long fingernails. “I’d hate to miss round two of your downfall.”

I don’t know what the hell she’s talking about, and I don’t really care.

“You know what Laurel, why don’t you go make that mouth useful and suck a dick?”

“Whoa, ladies, what’s the drama?”

I glance over my shoulder and roll my eyes to the sky asking why, God, why?

Liam and Gabe are walking down the sidewalk toward us. Gabe’s green eyes are alight with interest as they bounce between me and Laurel, but Liam’s stare is firmly locked on me.

Laurel scowls. “Get lost, Gabe. This doesn’t concern you two.”

“It sure looks entertaining, though,” he says, gri