Fierce (23 page)

With
Bad Comes Good

I’m staring at the carpet, oblivious to the
people passing me. My mind is astray, memories of that day repeating over and
over in my head. Scarlet’s contorted face. Her limp body. The puddle of goo
drizzling from her mouth. The syringe. It’s just too much to deal with.

And I feel bad for feeling only half as
much as all the other people who are here. I don’t even know what to feel.

Her friends are consoling each other,
crying on each other’s shoulders. One of them is staring at a photograph
standing on a pretty decorated cabinet, uttering words I can’t hear from so far
away. I don’t even want to hear them.

As if talking to her photograph is going to
make her magically come alive. As if it makes up for what some bastard did to
her.

Misery. That’s all this room is.

I never imagined the dorm lounge could turn
into the perfect room for a funeral reception.

It’s morbid, really. Knowing what went on
here. Parties, drugs, probably some fucking, too. This couch I’m sitting on
disgusts me, but I have nowhere else to go. Evie’s not here. She couldn’t take
it. She really got close to Scarlet, which I didn’t see before. All those times
they were studying must’ve opened her eyes.

And now it’s too late.

Well, at least she liked the girl. I don’t
really know what to do, and every second I wonder what I’m doing here. I feel
guilty for not crying, but I just can’t. I don’t feel anything. Just emptiness,
hollowness.

Terror.

It sucks the life out of me like a light
bulb blowing up, darkening the room. Too many horrific things are happening all
at once, and they’re all connected. It’s terrifying the shit out of me.

Suddenly, I feel the need to run out and
never look back. But it would be silly to do that. I have to be here. Somehow
it feels like an obligation, my duty.

But spending one more minute on this couch
will kill me.

Where else can I go? I don’t want to stand
alone, looking like a goofball. It’s too crowded, and I feel uncomfortable just
looking for an empty spot.

And I certainly don’t want to stand next to
Brody.

He’s been here forever. Attended the
funeral and everything. Most students weren’t allowed on the premises, but he
was her boyfriend, so they made an exception for him. I’m surprised they even
knew.

Still, it irks me to look at him. The
expression on his face has been completely blank the entire day. So bland, so
emotionless. I haven’t seen him cry. Not even once. He’s just standing there in
his corner, staring at the carpet just like me. It’s like he doesn’t feel
anything.

Or he’s just too shocked to register it
all.

When he looks at me, I turn my head, hoping
he won’t come my way. I don’t want to talk to him right now. I’m still
chicken-shit, sometimes. I wouldn’t know what to say to him anyway. I don’t
want to be rude, but nothing I said would make her come back to life, so why
bother? And it’s not like I can help him with his grief. No one can.

I look around, desperate to get out of
here, but knowing I can’t. I could really use Hunter now to back me up and help
me get through this day, but I haven’t seen him since yesterday. Not since it
happened.

He stormed out yesterday, cursing under his
breath, and told me he had to talk to Jaret. I figured it had something to do
with the suspicion of murder, but to me it just sounded so far-fetched. I’m not
sure I can trust his crime-investigation skills. I think we should wait for the
real police investigation to be over before drawing conclusions, but Hunter
just went ahead and started a whole operation himself, I think. I have no idea
what he’s doing, but I know it’s nothing good. The fact alone that he
immediately ran away after finding her bothers me the most.

I mean, where the hell is he? What is he
doing? Why hasn’t he said anything? I’d expect at least a text message, but he
couldn’t even be bothered to let me know everything was all right.

I’m getting pissed just thinking about it.
What the fuck could be so important that he couldn’t wait one freaking day just
to support his girlfriend during a freaking funeral reception?

I snort. Girlfriend. I let the word fly
through my mind so often, and yet I’ve never even heard it come out of his
mouth. Am I even his girlfriend? Everyone calls me that, except him, which is
what matters the most.

God, what a time to think about these
things.

I clear my throat and walk out of the room.
I need to get out of here, fast.

♥♥♥

Stepping into my room, I notice Evie
sitting there on her bed, staring at the wall. She looks up at me before
sighing and flicking her eyes back so she can continue gazing at the spot on
the wall.

I place my purse on the cabinet and walk
over to her. Biting my lip, I sit down next to her and reach for her hand. When
I grab it, she twitches, but doesn’t pull back. She turns her head and looks at
me with tears in her eyes. I smile, trying to console her.

She squeezes my hand. “Thanks.”

“I’m here for you if you need me,” I say.

“I’m okay,” she nods, wiping away the
single tear rolling down her cheek. “I feel horrible.”

“Understandable, considering what
happened.”

“No, not about that. I couldn’t go to the
funeral. I just couldn’t, and it makes me a horrible person.”

“No, it doesn’t.” I put my other hand on
top of hers too now. “Don’t say that about yourself. You guys were friends.
Everyone understands.”

She snorts. “Yeah, well I sure as hell
don’t. I mean, I was finally feeling better, having another friend, feeling
happy about who I am, finding another girl.” She sniffs. “Not that the last
part went anywhere.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ah … you know, not really into each other.
It was fun, but that was it.”

“Oh …” I say. I don’t really know what else
to say.

“Well anyway, don’t think you’re horrible.
If anyone’s horrible around here, it’s me.”

She chuckles. “What did you do now?”

“Nothing! I just couldn’t stay at that damn
funeral reception. All I could think of was what happened, Hunter and what he’s
doing now, and then I saw Brody and I freaked out. Like big time.”

She laughs. “Nothing new to me. You’re
always out of it.”

“Yeah, well, I’m glad I’m out of there. I’m
really not good at those things.”

“Who is?” she says, and then she sighs.

It’s quiet for a few minutes, and we’re
both just sighing, trying to make sense of it all.

“Thank you for helping me,” she says. “I
really appreciate you sticking by me.”

She leans her head on my shoulder and
puffs. “And Hunter, of course.”

I giggle. “Hunter?” I can’t believe she
even mentioned him and a ‘thank you’ in the same sentence.

“Yeah, he’s a good guy.”

“Oh, is he now?” I chuckle a little.

She pokes me in the side. “Don’t laugh. I
mean it. He isn’t half as bad as I thought. Especially when he defended us back
at the party.”

“So are you telling me you actually like
him now?”

“Maybe. I’m not saying ‘like.’ I mean, the
whole drugs debacle is still irking me, but if you can deal with it, then I
should be able to as well.” She looks up at me and smiles.

I smile back. I’m happy she can accept him
for who he is. Or at least accept the fact that I like him and that I want to
be with him. I don’t want to ruin the moment by telling her I haven’t seen him
all day, and that it’s making me angry. I’d rather have this instead.

“I’m just glad he can make you happy,” she
says, and she laces her fingers through mine. “I’m happy for you two.”

“Thank you,” I say, putting my arm around
her and hugging her. “It means a lot that you say that.”

“I can’t breathe,” she whispers, while I
squeeze her tight.

“Sorry,” I say, laughing a bit and
releasing her from my grip.

“It just makes me feel so much better
knowing you’re fine with Hunter and me being in a relationship.”

“Hmm, so you’re in a ‘relationship’ now?”
She makes quotation marks with her fingers. At first my heart drops into my
shoes. Her teasing makes me think she’s still not okay with it.

But then she bumps her shoulder against
mine and says, “Good on you, girl.”

“I don’t know, I don’t even know what to
call what we have. We just … After all those times we got together … it just happened.”

“Oh. My. God.” Her eyes grow big. “You had
sex?”

I blush, feeling scrutinized. That, and I
don’t want her to feel bad. I know how she feels about me.

“This is for real? You? Autumn Blakewood?
You had sex?” she squeals. “How was it?”

Wow. I did not expect her to react the way
she did. Maybe she really is over it.

“It was … nice.”

“Nice my ass. It must’ve been amazing!”

“I don’t know. I never did it before, so I
have nothing to compare it with. But it was … good.” I turn red as a beet
again, just thinking about what I did with Hunter. Or rather, what he did with
me.

“God, I can’t believe it,” Evie says,
slapping her own forehead. “I’m away for like one week, and you’ve already
broken most of your nerd records.”

I gasp. “What? You’re making it sound like
I’m some kind of virginal geeky holy Mary.”

“You are.”

She laughs and starts tickling me, making
me squirm. She hasn’t been this perky in ages, and I’ll gladly let her make me
beg for mercy while she tickles me to death. It takes us a few minutes to stop
laughing and giggling.

“So … what do we do from here?” I say after
a while.

“Well,” she says, stretching her arms. “You
seem to have a spare bed in your room, and I don’t see anyone else’s stuff
lying around, so … mind if I bunk with you again?”

“Yes! Of course you can sleep here.
Actually, no, I demand you bunk here.”

She punches me in the shoulder, and I drop
down onto the bed. She drops down with me, lying next to me, and puts her arm
around me like she used to.

“I don’t want anything to change, though,”
she says, and she lifts her head. “Is that okay? Can I still be the old me?
Even after …”

“Shut up. You’re Evie. You’re always Evie.
And you’re always my best friend, no matter what.”

She smiles, and I grab her hand to show her
that I still care. I do. I don’t care about what happened between us. I want
things to be okay. I want my best friend back.

And now I have her back. On a day that was
supposed to be miserable, gloomy, and sad, I somehow managed to get Evie back
on my side. I should feel bad about being happy on a day like this, but I’m
not. Good things can come on bad days, and I don’t feel sorry for feeling
happy.

I only wish things could stay like this
forever. But I’ve learned from the past that bad things are always bound to
happen, it’s only a matter of time.

Into
the Underground

Someone knocks on our door, and we both
shoot up from the bed. Jaret steps in, his face dark and concerned. “Can I talk
to you for a sec?” He signals me.

I look at Evie, and she nods.

“Uh … Sure,” I say, and I get up from the
bed. I glance at her one last time, feeling a bit anxious because Jaret looks
like he has some bad news. Then I step outside with him.

“Hunter’s having some … problems right now.
I’m not sure if I should be the one to say this, but I don’t want to lead you
on either,” he says.

“What happened to him?”

He comes closer. “Look, I can’t really tell
you, because my life is on the line.”

“Okay …” I swallow. My throat suddenly
feels raw and hot.

“I’ve been helping Hunter, but only because
he asked me to. I didn’t think it’d get this bad.”

“What are you trying to tell me?”

“Look, they forced him to do something,
because they found out we’re looking for the boss.”

My eyes widen. Oh no. Oh God, no.

“What’s going on? Where is he?” I say.

“Shhh!” he says, putting his finger on his
lips. “Don’t shout so much. Look, I really can’t tell you a lot. I’m sorry. I
don’t want to get in trouble. If I’d known it’d get this tough, I would never
have agreed,” he sighs, rubbing his hands over his head like he’s in some deep
shit, just like Hunter.

Oh God. Where are they keeping him? What
did they do to him?

“Is it bad?” I ask.

“No … Yes. No, he’s done this before. It’s
what they always ask us newbies to do. It’s just that it’s never been this …” he
swallows those last words.

“What am I supposed to do with this
information if I don’t know where he is? How can I find him?” I say.

Jaret rummages in his pocket and takes out
two paper tickets. “Here. Take this. I got them from one of the distributors.
Brody.”

“Brody?” I scream. So Brody is a pawn in
this as well?

Jaret puts his hand over my mouth.

“He probably got them from the courier. I
had to give these to you, so my best guess is that he got the same order.”

“You want to give these to me? What do I
have to do with this?”

“I don’t know, I’m just following orders,
trying to get their trust back,” Jaret says with his eyebrows raised.

I frown, while he presses the tickets
firmly into my hand. “Don’t look at them until you’re in your room, and I’m
gone.”

He gazes at me one more time with a stern
look on his face before turning around and walking away as if nothing ever
happened.

Baffled, I go back inside and close the
door behind me. The scrunched-up tickets in my hand are the only thing I’m
aware of right now.

I can’t believe what just happened. Jaret
basically told me Hunter’s been doing what he’s doing right now for a long time
already, and it’s all because of
them
. The frat club. Only this time …
it’s way, way worse. They even want me to see it.

Whatever it is, I need to find out and get
him out of there.

Dammit, if only he hadn’t gone after that
boss, he’d be out of trouble now. Why in hell’s name is he putting so much at
risk?

“What you got?” Evie asks.

I’m startled, pulled out of my thoughts.

Unwrapping the paper, I walk toward her and
sit down on the bed. We both stare at the tickets. They’re entry passes into
some sort of event tonight. Big fat letters exclaim the words ‘Hunter,’ ‘V.S.,’
and ‘Killer.’

Chills run down my spine reading those last
few letters.

It freaks me out to an impossible level.

“What the …”

“He’s in trouble. Big time.”

“Jaret gave these to you?”

“Yeah.” There are two of them. “I guess he
wants me to take you?”

“I guess …”

“Please, don’t make me go alone.” I put up
my puppy-dog eyes.

She caves, laughing. “Oh, all right. How
can I
not
go when you look at me like that?”

Her laugh doesn’t make me feel any better.
This whole thing is making me feel sick to my stomach.

I hope Hunter is all right.

♥♥♥

8
p.m.

We’re walking through the city, our legs
shaking from the cold. It’s dark and scary outside. Lampposts barely light the
streets, and it’s grown increasingly deserted the last couple of streets. Cars
don’t come here. Nobody comes here. This is a place filled with abandoned
warehouses.

And I have no idea what the fuck Evie and I
are doing here.

I wish I’d never accepted those tickets.

Part of me wants to run back to campus and
just wait it out, but my gut is telling me to get over my fear. I need to find
Hunter and help him. I know he’s in danger. I can feel it. If I run now,
there’s no way I can save him.

“I don’t like this one bit …” Evie mutters.

Her teeth chatter, and she clamps onto her
coat for warmth. I’m shivering, but I don’t want to admit I’m scared to death.
I don’t want her to be afraid, and if I am, so will she be. I need to be the
strong one now.

“Me neither, but we have to,” I say.

“Remind me again why?”

“To find Hunter. For me. He’s in danger.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I just have this feeling in my gut
that something is wrong.”

“Oh … well, I hope he’s okay, but I’m more
worried about you.”

“I’ve got you with me. I won’t be in
danger.” I wink, and she smiles, trying to relax a little.

We cross the street, checking the signs for
the way to go. It should be right around where we are now, although I still
have no idea what I’m looking for.

“This is it,” I say, as we walk into an
alley.

“I don’t see anything,” she whispers,
tugging my coat.

“There!” I point at the door, and drag her
with me.

It says ‘NO ENTRY,’ but when I pull the
door, it opens right away.

“You sure this is the place?” she asks, her
voice trembling.

“Yes.”

We both look at each other and gulp away
our fears. Not that it helps one bit.

There’s a staircase leading down into a
basement. One light is dangling from the ceiling. Spider nests cover the walls.
Scary shit.

“Ew … nasty,” Evie says, as we walk
through.

We go to the end where there’s another
door. I can hear loud noises coming from behind it. I wonder what the heck is
going on down there.

“You ready?”

She nods, swallowing again.

When I open the door, I get the urge to
close my eyes in case something comes flying my way, but there is only one
person standing behind it. There’s a man, at least six foot tall, with tattoos
all over his arms and face, and he’s right in front of me. His arms are folded,
and he smells like hasn’t bathed in years. On his shirt are the words ‘Alpha
Psi.’

“Tickets,” he says gruffly.

Loud cheering and yelling comes from behind
him. It sounds like there are at least a couple hundred people in this place. I
peek over his shoulder, wondering what’s up there. He blocks my view.

“Tickets,” he snarls.

“Uh, yeah,” I say, fishing them out of my
pocket.

He snatches them from my hand, his fingernails
scratching my skin. Dang, that hurts. He brings the tickets so close to his
face, I swear I think he’s sniffing them.

Inspecting them, his eyes sometimes flick
to me, then to Evie, and then back to the papers in his hands. He squints,
grumbling.

Shit.

Unexpectedly, he gives them back. “You can
pass.”

For a moment I just stand there, baffled,
while he moves to the side.

“Well?” he says, his voice growing
impatient.

“Thanks!” I grab Evie by the coat and drag
her with me.

We enter what looks like a giant warehouse,
but there are rows and rows of bleachers forming a circle around the center. In
the middle of it all is a cage.

We’re on a lowered part of the warehouse,
so I can only see the top of the bars. It echoes with screams and shouts,
people who are cheering for something. Or someone.

It gives me the chills just listening to
their chants.

Killer, Killer

Make him be the spiller

The floor will flood

With all of his blood

Killer, Killer

I swallow. The horror that fills my heart
unsettles me. Everything about this screams danger.

Still, I press on.

Evie and I hold hands as we walk to one of
the bleachers. Angry men with tattoos and piercings glare us down. Evie
squeezes my hand. We slip past them, up the bleachers. There are a couple of
spots left in the middle, so I set my gaze on those and make my way toward
them, ignoring everything and everyone around me.

Groans and thuds are coming from the center
of the room, the cage, and I recognize the sounds to be human. The audience
cries out in enthusiasm. Shivers run down my spine hearing them roar at the
sound of someone’s bones cracking.

I close my eyes as we sit down. Sweat drops
roll down my shirt. My fingers are tingly, and I’m not sure if it’s because
Evie’s squeezing the life out of them, or if it’s because I’m going to faint.

“Can you look?” I ask.

“Why? You have eyes,” she scoffs.

Neither of us are remotely interested in
watching, but I want to know what’s going on.

“Please? I’m scared.”

She sighs. “Fine.”

It’s quiet for too long, so I ask, “What do
you see?”

“Oh. My. God.”

“What?” I say.

“You have to see this for yourself.” She
lets go of my clammy hand.

I feel left in the dark. I know I have to
open my eyes eventually, but I’m scared of what I’ll see.

Breathing out slowly, I gather the courage
to look.

And what I see shocks me so much, I think
my heart temporarily stops beating.

The guy in the cage getting beaten to a
pulp is none other than Hunter Bane.