I slip away, ignoring him. I can feel his gaze on me as I go, and it seems like that’s all I’ve been doing lately—walking away while Roman watches.
It hurts more than I’d like to admit.
Clearly, I’ve got to go cold turkey and end this. I’m an adult. I can be a good girl and keep my hands to myself.
As long as I’m never, ever, ever in a room alone with Roman again.
That’s do-able, right?
I sprint across the dark campus grounds toward the men’s dormitory and slip inside. When I get back to the dorm room, I think I’m home free—until the light clicks on.
All three of my roommates are awake, and they’re all looking at me.
Cam’s sitting on his bed, Asher’s leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, and Dmitri’s sitting at his desk.
Dmitri and Cam both speak at the same time. “What the hell?” Dmitri says, just as Cam says, “Thank fuck you’re okay, we were worried.”
The two men glare at each other.
“Of course she’s all right. Look at her.” Dmitri scowls, gesturing at me. I run a hand over my head as subtly as I can, hoping I don’t have a major case of sex-hair.
Cam rolls his eyes. “Oh, come on, Dima. Don’t act like you weren’t worried too.”
“Guys…” Asher sounds exhausted. “It’s one in the morning; could we maybe do this later?” He walks over to me and asks gently, “Are you okay? Dmitri woke up and realized you weren’t here. We were afraid something had happened.”
I nod. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Then what were you—” Dmitri starts, but he never gets a chance to finish.
Because at that moment, someone screams.
My heart seizes in my chest, and all four of us bolt out of the room so fast you’d think it was on fire. That wasn’t the kind of surprised scream someone might let out because they saw a damn spider. That was terror.
Dmitri grabs me by the elbow as we run toward the sound, yanking me behind him. We reach the main hall of the dorm and pause to get our bearings. Other men are out of bed too, wondering what’s going on, asking questions in sleep-roughened voices.
I spot Raul coming from the opposite wing. His hair is a little disheveled, sticking up on one side, and his eyes are so wide I can see white all around the irises.
“Raul!” I lift a hand and gesture him over.
He does a double take when he sees me then shuffles toward us, rubbing one hand over the back of his neck. “Hey… Elliot. What’s going on?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
Nobody else seems to care or really even register at the moment that there’s a girl amongst them. Probably a good thing.
“It came from over there!” someone else calls, gesturing down a hall.
“But that’s Roman’s bedroom,” another person says.
“Roman?” I whisper.
“A lot of the professors serve as housing assistants,” Asher whispers back. “You know, making sure nobody breaks the rules, advising students, keeping an eye on things.”
Oh shit. I’ve been living in the same building as Roman this whole time and didn’t know it?
Dmitri keeps me behind him as we move in a pack down the hall to Roman’s room. My heart’s hammering in my throat. I just left Roman. He wanted me to come back to his place with him—what if someone attacked him? What if it was because he was alone? What if he would’ve been fine if I’d gone with him? Or would I just be another victim?
I hope he’s okay. Please let him be okay. I’ll be angry at myself later for caring so much, but right now I don’t give a shit. I just want to make sure…
The door to his room is open a crack, and someone pushes on it until it swings wide. I can see inside, but just barely. Craning my neck a little more, I peer over Dmitri’s shoulder, and my jaw drops.
There’s a dead body in the room, but it’s not Roman.
No.
Roman’s the one standing over the body.
Chapter 17
Everyone gasps and mutters in low whispers, pressing closer to the doorway despite Cam’s best efforts to make them back up.
Roman hasn’t even acknowledged our presence. He’s just staring down at the body, not saying anything. His shirt, the one I ripped off his body less than an hour ago, is a deep plum color—something I didn’t even realize in the dark. Looking at him now, you’d never suspect the garment had been tossed