Page 85 of The Secret Girl (Adamson All-Boys Academy 1)
“Well, I imagine you were careful not to get caught?” he asks, tossing a look with a raised brow over his shoulder. “So am I.” He turns back around and moves into the bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed with a sigh and rubbing his big hands down his face.
“Where'd you get the key?” I ask, and Ranger looks up, his nostrils flared with anger.
“It was hanging around her neck—along with the noose.” He wrinkles up his face, like he knows he should be telling me this stuff but doesn't want to.
“Did she …” I start, biting my lower lip as the twins take up spots on the window seat, and Church leans against the wall next to me. It smells like mothballs and cedar in here, like this room hasn't been used for a very, very long time.
“Leave a note? Yeah.” Ranger ruffles up his dark hair and glances over at Church. The President of the Student Council turns to me and meets my eyes with his honeyed gaze. He's not smiling or ice cold right now, like maybe this is his true personality. It's the first time I've ever seen it.
“Dear JR, I think they know about us. There's not much left I can do. If you want to meet me, you know where to find me. I'll be waiting with the angels. Love, J.” Church pauses and crosses his arms over his chest. “The way she signed her J, it had to be her that wrote it.”
“Wait, waiting with the angels?” I ask, and Ranger makes this sound of frustration, not necessarily at me, but like he's had to explain this a hundred times to a hundred different people.
“There used to be a pair of angel statues in the woods. That's where she met with her boyfriend. I keep telling people that; I've been telling them that since I was fucking eight years old, and nobody wants to listen.” Ranger reaches over and puts his hand on the metal bedpost, spinning the small decorative metal ball on the end with his fingers.
“How would you know about that?” I ask, and he glances up at me before shrugging.
“Spencer's brother. He used to rule this school. He had maps of everything, like some Harry Potter type shit. No magic footprints, but those things are crazy detailed. Anyway, he used to take Spencer and me around to play hide and seek and shit. The angel statues that were there for years disappeared the same day that Jenica died.”
My mind is spinning with possibilities, and I sit down hard on the edge of the bed as the twins swap M&M’s. Apparently Tobias likes green better, and Micah prefers blue. See, told ya they were easy to tell apart.
“You seem to know so much already,” I start, trying to figure out what, exactly, is different about me that poses a threat. There's only one thing I can think of. “It must be something to do with my gender.” I look up. “The reason these people are after me, that is.”
“But what is it about that, that makes you a threat and not me?” Ranger asks, glancing my way.
But I have no idea how to answer him.
Not one fucking clue.Later that night, when I'm sitting in my room in my pjs, I glance over and notice the decorative metal balls on the ends of my bed posts. When I scoot over next to one and start to twist it the way Ranger did, I notice it comes right off. There's nothing inside this one, but there is an empty space where something could be.
Just for fun, I check both the end posts, the top right … and then the top left. Inside of that one, I strike gold.
There's a key with a heart-shaped bit at one end, thick chunky skeleton teeth on the other, and a small pink ribbon wrapped around the center. It's even hanging on a thin, pink cord.
I let it dangle in front of my face.
It looks just like the key around Ranger's neck, except that it's gold instead of silver. It even has the same ribbon detail, and the same cord.
“Holy. Freaking. Shit.”
I'm off the edge of that bed and out the door, racing down the hall, the steps, and across the landing until I reach Ranger's room. I've seen him come out of it enough times to know I'm at the right spot.
My fist bangs on the wood for just a moment before he opens it … and I find Spencer staring right back at me.
Uh-oh.
His entire face shuts down when he sees me, and I realize we've managed to squeak by an entire week without discussing that hug.
Also, I'm wearing super baggy pjs with long sleeves, but … I feel a tad exposed without my bindings, without my shoes, without underwear. I mean, I know Spencer can't see that I'm not wearing panties, but I know I'm not wearing panties, and that's all that matters.
