She didn’t respond but nodded, jerking her head up and down. “I’m so sor—”
I waved her off. “I got it. You said it, but the damage is done. I don’t trust you. First, Garrett, and now, your brother. How am I supposed to live with you after this?”
“I—” She tipped her head back, and a muffled scream came out. Her hands grabbed the sides of her head, and her fingers sank in, taking hold of her hair.
“My god, I want to murder my brother. He put me in this spot. He changed my roommate assignment, but I like you. I’d met the other girl, and I would’ve hated her. I thought he was helping me, and I was grateful to him. He manipulated me. I’m going to rip his balls off.” Another guttural scream burst out, and she followed it with a litany of swear words that Logan would’ve written down. “Trust me, Sam. I get it. I do, and I’m raking my mind, trying to think of ways to make it up to you. I can’t think of one thing—”
“Tell me his secrets.”
“What?” She eyed me, one corner of her mouth sinking down.
“Tell me his secrets. Tell me everything.”
“But isn’t that the same thing? Instead of getting information through me about you, I’m passing information about him to you?”
My eyes closed until they were slits. “You said you wanted to make it up to me. Tell me everything about him, all the gory details.”
She remained quiet but didn’t look away and didn’t walk away. Then, her head slowly lowered back down.
I had her.
Sebastian wanted to use me to his advantage. Maybe I could use his sister to my advantage instead.
I never told Mason and Logan about Summer.
I should have, but my friendship with her would’ve been done immediately. They would’ve labeled her a traitor, and would never trust her again. She’d lied to me, but she hadn’t betrayed me, at least I hoped she hadn’t. So a part of me didn’t want to move out, not yet anyway. The other part of me was trying to be Mason-like, all cold and ruthless. I wasn’t on his mastermind level, but I felt I wasn’t hurting too much.
Summer wasn’t sure what would be helpful, so the next couple of weeks were filled with random information. If she thought of something, she would tell me. If I thought of something, I would ask. She’d answer everything with no hesitation, and she never broke eye contact.
“What are you going to do when Mason and Logan find out about me?” she asked me one night.
“Tell them the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” It would be game over. I was in a stall-and-evade battlefront right now. I asked her, “What did you tell Sebastian?”
Her jaw hardened. “Nothing. He doesn’t deserve to know a damn thing.”
That sounded good to me, and there’d been no sightings or even a phone call from him since I left their parents’ house, but I knew my luck would run out at some point.
When I got home from my class one day, that day came.
I opened the door, and there he was. Park Sebastian was standing inside our dorm room, looking at something on my desk. His hand reached out, and he turned a piece of paper over.
“Get out.” The door was about to slam shut behind me. I stuck a foot out, stopping it, and folded my arms over my chest. “Now.”
A slow grin was his response. “Long time no see, Samantha.”
“Step away from the desk.”
He laughed but did as I’d asked. I pulled a shoe out to keep the door propped open, and I went to see whatever he’d been spying on. It was a note Summer left.
Sam,
Went to eat with my mom. Be back tonight.
Summer
P.S. I called campus security. They’re going to change the locks.
I looked up at Sebastian, whose smile turned smug.
I read the rest of the note.
My brother won’t have a key anymore.
XOXO
“Give me the key.” I held my hand out.
Crumpling the note up, I tossed it in the garbage as Sebastian made a show of leaning forward and inspecting my hand.
Another irritating chuckle came from him. “My sister forgot that I have the same connections she does. She should remember to use a different key guy the next time she wants to pull a fast one on me.”
“You shouldn’t have a key anyway. I could report you.”
He studied me, pursing his lips together, and shook his head. “No, I don’t think you will. Kinda like I don’t think you want anyone to know I’m in here.”
As he said that, he kicked the shoe out from the door. It went into the hallway, and the door shut. He turned around now, blocking the door, and I was a captive in my own room.
My nostrils flared. “Get. Out.”
“No.”
I grabbed my phone and unlocked the screen. “I’m not bullshitting. Leave, or I’ll call 911.”
“Mason will find out.”
My shoulder lifted. “Game’s over. Get ready for a new kind of fight.”
Suddenly, whatever teasing attitude he’d had was dropped. A dangerous glint showed in his eyes, and the air in the room seemed to drop five degrees. I felt a chill graze over my skin.
“I’m not the bad guy here.”
“Yet, you’re in my dorm room, blocking my door, telling me you’re not the bad guy?” My chin lifted. “Like I already said, get out.” I waved the phone at him. The threat was still there.
“Fine, I’ll go, but just remember that your boyfriend was the one who burned my house down. He got away with that.”