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And I needed to act like a grown adult There was nothing wrong with the dorm, and I seriously doubted the room was haunted Bad vibes were expected, but I could spend the next howeverstuff

Emboldened by my pep talk, I stepped into the elevator and rode it up to my floor As Ithat I had received a text Thinking it was Calla or Ca and nearly tripped

Co w/ Cam to help Need to talk to u

That was all the text fro as if the text had saidturd and Iti to help Caotten my brother’s per thatI’d been a hot

I stopped in front offrom the buzz of elation Don’t read into it, I toldover to help and he wanted to talk didn’tAnd I also shouldn’t be as excited as I was I reeked of desperation Should I even tell him he could help? Part of me wanted to tell hi myself in the face We did need to talkand I wanted to talk to him

My hand shook as I sent back a completely calm and unenthused Ok

His response was al out a breath I wasn’t holding, I slippedWith Cam present, this was sure to bethe jubilation building despite that pesky thing called cohts of the upco visit from Jase out of my head as I opened the door to the suite and stepped inside, letting the door slide shut behindlooked different One pilloas on the couch, the other was on the floor, under the coffee table A ered, a residue of the humid summer The door to the suitemates’ rooh she’d helped ht of Deb’s death, I hadn’t really seen her around, and I didn’t want to think of her, because when I did, I thought about how she used to hook up with Jase

And thatup now

A knot twisted in ht, and I cursed underain and opened the bedroom door I blinked as I sucked in a sharp breath My heart kicked into overdrive At first I thought the lack of sleep and stress was causingI blinked again, but nothing changed

Erik sat on Debbie’s bed

Chapter Twenty-eight

Tingles skipped between my shoulder blades and then raced downin here? In his lap, he was holding soeoned It was one of Debbie’s sweaters

Gone was the stylish coifed hair and clothing Everything about Erik was messy and wrinkled Dark bruises sunk his eyes in Lines appeared around his lips like thin cracks inme he hadn’t seen a razor in days

Our eyesa series of chills down hhere?" he asked, voice flat

I was too du s from my room"

Erik looked around the dorm room slowly All Debbie’s stuff had been removed The bed was made, blankets folded over, but the pilloas flat, as if so on it The closet door was open, revealing as left of my clothes and my books

"You couldn’t stay in here?"

The accusation in his voice snappedback to his sharply "No I couldn’t Could you?"

A muscle tensed in his jaw and a moment passed "I couldn’t" He slowly set her sweater beside hi to his knee "But I’m here So are you"

My mouth and throat were dry as he continued to stare at me Deep down I never believed that Debbie’s death was a simple suicide that no one would ever understand and I always believed that Erik had so to do with it Either he’d pushed her to it or he’d done so to her and made it look like she’d killed herself No one could ever explain the pink scarf and how it got on the door, especially since Erik claimed to not have been there

In his stare, I could tell he knew exactly what I was thinking