Page 104 of The Monster I Am
Mayor Astor pauses, finding me over his shoulder. “Goodbye, Ms. Spencer. Best of luck to you and Mr. Roberts.”
And then he’s gone, disappearing out of sight. In the distance I hear the entrance doors of Willowbrook swing shut, and my eyes go wide as I try to process what the fuck just happened.
“Bex—”
“What the hell was the deal last night?” I ask, swinging around to face Arch. “Why did you come over?”
Arch halts, confusion forming on his features. “What? You asked me to come over.”
I gape at him. “I most certainly did not. You turned up at my house.”
“You texted me.”
I feel like I’m in that damn Sims stimulator because what is he even talking about? We’re not even in the same book, let alone the same page.
When I don’t reply, only offering wild, perplexed anger, Arch pulls out his phone. He opens our text chain, rotating the screen toward me. “See.”
The words are familiar… except the last line. A clear message from me apparently, telling Arch my plans had changed and to come study—followed by a request of my favorite snacks.
“I didn’t send that,” I mutter darkly. “I swear, Archie, if this is some plan with them, I’m going to lose my shit. It was cute at first but I’m getting sick of this whole overriding me thing.”
Arch’s arm drops, his fingers clutching the phone. “You’re not making sense, Bex,” he snaps back, offended. “I’m not plotting against you. Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?”
I hate that we’ve come to this—that Mayor Astor has caused us to turn on each other. We haven’t had a fight in years, but I’m too heated to care and back down, desperately clinging to the only control I have right now.
Our raised voices echo around the empty hallway as I grab my own phone. “Look. Nothing!” I shout, showing him. “Why do I have a security detail all of a sudden? What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing!” Arch yells back. “You’re being paranoid. I only did exactly what I was told. Which wasyoutelling me to come over to study.”
“I didn’t send that!” I repeat exasperated. “Fuck this,” my voice drops to a mutter as I find that app Tai installed. We have to figure this out before we do or say something that can’t be taken back.
Opening the stalker app, I zoom out of the map, searching for their bobble heads. Rylan is near his house, not moving. But Tai and Hunter are nowhere to be seen.
“What?” I murmur, confused as I frantically click on the settings trying to find them.
They aren’t anywhere and, short of wasting time, I smash the back button and go straight to the keypad, dialing Tai’s number. When it rings out to voicemail, I try Hunter.
Nothing.
Rylan’s phone doesn’t even bother to ring at all.
And the last bit of control I had vanishes completely.
“What the fuck is going on?” I whisper, clutching my head anxiously as I start to pace the hallway.
Arch takes a step toward me, concerned. “Let’s call our people and regroup,” he offers. “But for now, we need to stay calm.”
No sooner have the words left his mouth, the sound of approaching footsteps zap my nerves back into focus.
I spin around, at the ready to face Mayor Astor when instead, there’s another unwanted person taking his place.
“Ms. Spencer,” Dean Lannister greets in a cold tone.
“You have to be kidding me,” I murmur under my breath, glancing back at Arch.
But his focus isn’t on me. My panic has transferred to his expression, eyes blown wide on something behind me.
I turn slowly, realizing more footsteps are heading our way.
