Page 524 of Lessons in Cruelty

But it all seemed so⁠—

Ha ha.

Innocent? Now I’m trying to gaslight myself.

No, what I can’t wrap my head around is what Bastian said about Kai. I know he’s just trying to mess with me, but why wouldn’t Kai have reported Bastian if he had actual footage of our professor forcing himself on me?

Good question, Haven.

Follow up—why the hell haven’t you reported Bastian?

“Focus,” I whisper, pointing at myself in the mirror. I hesitate, then dab some of her lipstick onto my mouth, shove another few of her pills into my pocket, and hobble over to the door.

This close, I can hear murmured voices coming from outside. But it’s impossible to figure out what they’re saying.

I’m not sure if it was just my paranoia cranking up to an eleven when Thatcher stepped into the room and nearly caught Professor Rooke trying to get me off, but I swear I felt tension between them.

I wish I could hear whether Bastian is easing the deputy’s suspicions, or making them worse.

The last thing I need is Thatcher looking at me with those sharp eyes, adding more questions to his list.

I don’t dare risk sticking around just so he can give me enough rope to hang myself with. Especially not with all that alpha-male crap going on between him and my professor.

I saw that flicker of surprise on Professor Rooke’s face when Thatcher said he went to some college I’ve never even heard of.

It doesn’t matter who’s got the bigger dick, Bastian.

What matters is that Thatcher doesn’t decide to look closer at any of us.

Bastian doesn’t want him to find out about us. Especially the hotly debated topic of Tuesday’s festivities.

I sure as fuck don’t want him digging through my past.

And I’m pretty sure Kai doesn’t need more heat on him for what happened with his brother.

So why the hell am I standing here, trying to eavesdrop? This is the perfect opportunity for me to escape before Thatcher can interrogate me. With Bastian distracting Thatcher, I can make like a banana and fucking split.

But first…

I limp back to my bed and shove my hand under the corner of the mattress. My heart nose drives straight for the ground floor when I come up empty.

Where the fuck⁠—

No.

Did Kai seriously steal the phone and credit card Bastian gave me?

I rip up the corner of the mattress, blowing out a sigh of relief I’m sure they heard all the way into the hall when I see the bubble-wrapped bundle. Guess it was deeper in than I thought. I shove the phone and credit card into the overalls’ pocket, tossing the bubble wrap into the waste paper basket.

My hand trembles as I grab the door handle, and despite feeling every precious second slipping away, I have to pause and take a few breaths before I can will myself to open the door and step out.

Coward.

Bastian has his back to me, but as soon as Deputy Thatcher glances in my direction, Professor Rooke turns to look at me over his shoulder.

He barely widens his eyes, but the message is clear.

Where the fuck do you think you’re going?