Zorro (Reapers MC #16) - Elizabeth Knox Page 0,4

It’s a nervous tick I’ve had since I was a little girl.

“Stonewall University isn’t the marvelous place you think it is, Grim. Things go on there, things you think are only figments of your imagination. The type of fictional shit in books. You think it can’t possibly be real, but it is. It’s very real and depending who you associate with and if . . . if they want you . . . your life could belong to them.”

“They? Who is they?!” he hisses, obviously frustrated I’m speaking in riddles.

“The Scorpio Society,” I speak plainly, and he cracks out a laugh. “See, this is why I didn’t want to tell you. Because you’d think it’s some big freaking joke!” I throw my hands up in the air and realize quickly my shirt has shifted. His eyes expand and I know he’s seen my bruises, the ones on my back. But hopefully Grim doesn’t think those were done by Zorro, because they weren’t. They weren’t at all.

“Tell me more.” His eyes are pleading with me, and I think maybe the sight of my bruises caused him to realize there’s something more going on. Whether it’s a blessing or a curse, I don’t know.

“Look, my point is the school is different. Sure, you have some people who are innocent in it all. They just want to go off and be a corporate broker, or maybe get into the MLB or NFL. Then there are the others. The ones that’ll do whatever they have to do to feel powerful, to feel important. Those are the people who want to join the Society. Grim . . . I’m part of the Society. I didn’t have a choice. It was either accept what they were making me do, or I’d lose my scholarship there. I didn’t have the money to pay for college myself . . . so I didn’t put up a fight. I’m fine. I’m one of the lucky ones . . . but, the Society is so large. There is someone everywhere that has ties to them. I think they want to slowly take over the world and turn it into whatever suits their needs, turn it into a better place. I don’t have a problem being part of it, but I don’t want to lie to you and make you think I’m here for no reason. I’m supposed to be here in Montana. It’s what they want me to do when I graduate, run an online business and become one of those social media influencers. I just . . . there’s something I haven’t said and I want to—”

“Where the fuck did those marks come from?” Grim completely cuts me off, raising his voice and it visibly shakes me. My lip trembles uncontrollably and I find it hard to breathe.

I was just about to tell him. I was easing myself into it and he took it from me. “I was walking back to my dorm after the Halloween party and went through the park. This guy, at the party, he . . . he groped me and it set me off, so I thought it would be a good idea to cut through the park. To get fresh air and all. But it wasn’t. It all happened so quickly. I was surrounded and managed to get away and then . . . and then I was on the ground. My . . .” Tears slide down my cheeks in an effortless flow, but I’m certain this doesn’t look good.

I clear my throat and continue on. “My face was shoved into the dirt so my cries were muffled, but I think they were worried I couldn’t breathe, so then they yanked me up by the back of the hair and wrapped their hands around my mouth. I was beaten and . . . other things happened but I don’t want to go into that. So, please, don’t make me.”

“What the fuck?! You . . .” He stands up from where he’d sat down across from me and runs a hand over his head. “Didn’t you just fuck Zorro? Now you’re telling me you were attacked on campus a couple weeks ago?! What the fuck is this? Some sort of joke?”

“Why would I joke about something like this?!” I scream out at him. “Do you think I want to tell you this? That I want to tell my brother what happened to me? Do you think it brings me joy, or makes me