The Order: Hit and Run by Emma Cole Page 0,25

picture the sneer on Ash's face from the amount of scorn in his tone, and I'm floored at the difference in him when I'm not present. He's been pretty decent to me, but now I’m starting to think it's a ruse. To what end, I'm not sure, but I'll be finding out tonight.

When it's clear the guys have switched the subject onto mundane topics, I pull the earbuds out, letting them dangle around my neck as my head reels with all the information. I make sure to ignore Blaise when I go out and ask about which one will be escorting me to my physical therapy tomorrow. Ash volunteers, giving a sharp look to Drake when he tries to protest that he can take me. The silent rebuke, for no apparent reason in my opinion, only solidifies that it might be a bad idea to trust him— or any of them, if they can't even speak freely on a subject as simple as an escort. Not to mention the conversation I just eavesdropped on.

Debating if I should ask for one of the others after all, I weigh my options. Frankly, I'm way more comfortable with Ash doing it than having to make small talk with Drake on the drive. Before I make my way back to my room, I go to the kitchen to get a glass of juice and purposely drop my earbuds in front of the couch. Surreptitiously, I slip my phone out from under it and into my hoodie pocket, quickly telling the guys goodnight as I shut myself away from their too-focused gazes.

Chapter Nine

Biding my time, I wait to dress in dark clothing until the muffled sounds of the guys getting ready to leave give me my cue. It's nine-thirty before I hear the soft thump of the main door closing, and I slip my chenille robe over my clothes. Leaving my tennis shoes in my room, I open the door and yell for the guys, but none of them answer. To be sure, I knock on each door, using the lack of answer to confirm they’re gone.

Now to figure out how to get out of here without triggering any contingency they may have in place to know if I leave. I try their doors, but the only ones I find open are Drake and Ash's. Not wanting to go into Drake's unless it's necessary, I enter Ash's instead. I quickly search his desk and then hit pay dirt on top of his dresser where he's left his extra key card on a lanyard. I'm guessing his other one is in his wallet. As I grab it, I notice one of those tri-fold picture frames folded up and facedown, and out of curiosity, I open it. In two of the pictures it's Ash and the others, but the third one is of me and him during the short time we'd dated. The fact that he has it out brings up all sorts of questions that I don't have time to contemplate, nor is he around to ask— not that I could let on that I've been snooping in his room, so I reluctantly shelve them for later.

Sneaking out of the building is fairly easy, and I creep around the campus, trying to stay to the shadows. Checking the map of the school grounds one last time with the glow from my phone while I'm still hidden in an alcove, I make sure I'm headed for the old gatehouse. I'm going to have to get across a stretch without much cover and hope I can go well around the area and come back at the building from the side. It's going to add quite a bit of time to my trip, but it's probably the safest route.

I send up a quick prayer that the ticks don't attack and my leg holds up to the task. As I continue to creep through the fringes of the wooded area, I do my best to avoid stepping on any fallen sticks whose telltale snaps would give me away. After what feels like forever, I finally come up on the gatehouse, a smallish building with an enclosed courtyard constructed from old brick and wrought iron bars.

Through the gate facing the woods I can see there are already men gathered on the weathered flagstones, dressed in black hooded robes. I sneak up behind a shrub and find a chink large enough in the masonry to hunker down in while still being able