Page 275 of Depraved Boys

Cormac rested his head on my shoulder and held me around the middle. Quiet sobs shook his body, and a tight fist squeezed at my heart. This was so shitty. What was the point of hiring a fancy vintage sports car only to lead Cormac through a wild goose chase? It was just so petty.

“They’ll be waiting for us,” he muttered into the juncture of my shoulder and neck.

“Huh?”

“The pigging. By the time we get back, a whole group of them will be at the entrance, waiting to humiliate me.”

My stomach churned with disgust. He was right. This scenario almost mirrored what happened to Ashley. Bruce had asked her to sleep with a bunch of boys to prove her love to him. Here, Geraldine got Cormac to give her ten-thousand pounds and drive all the way to Scotland for a bogus wedding. Two grand gestures followed by a brutal pigging.

One of the workers bustled past and slapped two menus on the table, muttering something about needing to order inside if we wanted anything to drink.

I drew back from Cormac and kissed him on the cheek. “Do you want a cup of tea?”

He opened up the menu. The Garraway Tea logo filled nearly half a page. Slamming it shut, he pulled his face into a grimace. “No, thanks.”

We both stood and walked back to the Aston Martin. Cormac got into the sports car and drove us out through the village and toward the highway. His face turned stony, which I supposed was him trying to lock up his emotions before we returned to the academy.

We drove in silence back to the highway with the late morning sun shining overhead. I rubbed my temples, wondering if there was something I could have said or done to have avoided Cormac getting jilted. Since their relationship was already well established before I became aware of its existence, I wasn’t quite sure.

I was about to ask what we should do about the inevitable ambush when my phone buzzed in my purse. My breath quickened as I thought about Sebastian sitting by his grandfather’s bedside. I pulled out my phone and read the message.

This is Miss Claymore. Geraldine Hill was found sexually assaulted and beaten half to death in her room. If you are with Cormac Gibbons, please be careful. He is considered extremely dangerous.

CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

I stared at the message for several moments reading it over and over until the words blurred. Then my eyes darted to Cormac, who maintained his stony expression. This had to be a trick. A way for Geraldine to separate us so that I would leave Cormac before we reached the academy. So he would be alone and without support for his pigging.

But was it?

I turned the smartphone face-down on my lap and placed my hands on top of its cover, trying to work through events. Miss Claymore’s number was programmed on my phone from the time she’d given me private lessons. I couldn’t see someone trying to fake a message from her. But Miss Claymore was the least trustworthy person I knew. Behind the dedicated, stern facade was a woman who couldn’t keep her hands off Sebastian.

“What was that message?” asked Cormac as he turned into a highway.

“It was from Leopold.” The lie slipped from my lips. “They’re still waiting to hear from the surgeon about Sebastian’s grandfather.”

“They’re down in Brighton, aren’t they?”

“Yes.” I clicked my contacts and selected the option that said SHARE MY LOCATION.

Forcing deep breaths in and out of my lungs, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to think. Leopold had suspected Miss Claymore, and the story of her affair with Sebastian had colored my view of her.

What if Sebastian had been right about her when he had said she wasn’t the type to take her anger out on an innocent party? I hadn’t actually seen Miss Claymore do any of the things I had suspected she had done, but I automatically blamed her because her motive seemed the greatest.

“Cormac?” I asked.

“Yes, Willow?” he replied in a voice full of warmth. Warmth that seemed inappropriate for someone who had supposedly just been jilted.

“Where are we going?”

“Not back to the academy.” He snorted. “If that lot are planning on ambushing me, they can think again!”

The wind roared in my ears, and blood drained from my face, leaving me light-headed. Perhaps the ambush Cormac feared wasn’t really anything related to being pigged. Perhaps what he really feared was a truckload of arresting police.

“Where are we going, then?”

“I’ve got to pick a few things up, then we’re driving down to Southampton and taking a ship to New York,” he said.

Despair washed through me like warm acid, burning through my nerve endings and everything I believed about Cormac. My shoulders sagged, and all the strength drained out of me with the realization that there was something deeply wrong with my best friend.