soon, a sinister voice calls above me. It’ll all be over.
I jolt awake, gasping for air as if I’m being resurrected.
The dark space disappears and buildings sprint past me. Am I in a…car?
My head snaps to the side, expecting to find whoever trapped me in class. He put his hand on my face. He suffocated me. He…wanted to kill me.
Oh, God.
All I remember is a blurry black silhouette as he walked away, but I would know him if I saw him.
He’s engraved in my subconscious like an enormous crow, a larger-than-life Grim Reaper.
My breathing comes down a notch when I make out the driver’s face.
Asher.
He drives with one hand on the wheel, his attention on the road.
It’s mind-boggling how much his presence calms me down. This shouldn’t be, right? Asher isn’t my safe space.
He can’t be.
I stare down at my jeans and camisole. They look intact. I should be fine…right?
Tingles push to my nose and pressure builds behind my eyes, but I hold in the tears…the humiliation, the pain.
When the hell will I stop my life from getting away from me? It just keeps slipping from between my fingers like water.
Realizing I’m awake, Asher throws a glance my way, or more like a stare. He has this thing about digging into my soul with those forest green eyes. It’s like he’s dissecting my insides and dancing on the remains.
He smoothly focuses back on the road. “What happened?”
“What am I doing here, Ash?”
He grinds his teeth. “It’s Asher. And answer my question.”
“Answer mine first.”
He gives me a fleeting glance. “I picked you up.”
I picked you up.
He makes it sound so easy, as if I wasn’t dying in there.
“What happened, Reina?” he repeats in a less patient tone.
“I went to class and…” My fight with tears turns intense. I can feel myself losing to the pull. “Someone trapped me. I…I…”
“You fainted?” he finished for me.
I shake my head. That’s not what happened. I had a flashback, but none of it makes sense now. It’s like an old, fuzzy, gray movie with white and black dots.
“You found me?” I peek at him through my wet eyelashes. There’s a sick type of gratefulness for this man whirling inside me.
A shiver runs down my spine at the thought of what could’ve happened.
Asher is a jerk, but he’s a jerk who saved me.
“Lucy called me,” he says with ease. “You’re not important enough for me to notice your absence.”
I pause my imaginary thank-you dance, and my fingers twitch for something stabby—preferably a knife straight to his throat.
Why the hell does he have to ruin my image of him? Every time I get close, he becomes an asshole and ruins it.
“Sorry to have ruined your plans.” I stare out the window.
“It was nothing important, just coffee with Brianna.”
My body tightens until I’m sure some muscle or tendon will pop. I didn’t know Asher and Bree were close enough to have coffee without me.
Coffee.
It’s an excuse husbands give their wives when they’re cheating on them.
Breathe, Reina. You don’t care about this asshole.
He and Bree can get married and have demonic babies for all I care. But if they think they can play me for a fool, they have another thing coming.
I open my mouth to roast him alive but immediately close it. What right do I have when I’ve cheated on him first?
This is that karma thing, isn’t it?
For a long minute, silence stretches between us like a third passenger. Asher drives with his usual poker face while I seethe on the inside.
Volcanoes and hurricanes are running rampant in my head. I want payback, but I know if I act rashly, if I blindly give in to my emotions, the whole thing will flip against me.
“Do they know who trapped me in there?” I ask with a cool voice.
“You have too many enemies to count.” He announces it like it’s the weather forecast—a given, a normalcy.
“Starting with you.”
His piercing eyes hold mine hostage. “Starting with me.”
“If you hate me so much, why are you driving me home?”
“Image and all that.” He pauses. “I couldn’t stand there while the entire college saw you at your lowest.”
I gulp and fumble for my bag. I find the phone inside; the screen is fractured like my breathing.
It doesn’t take me long to figure out what Asher means. On the blackwood-black-book IG account, there’s a picture of me sprawled out on the classroom’s floor with my mascara streaked and my hands covering my ears. My hair camouflages half of my face, but it’s