Page 33 of The Monster I Am
Arch scowls at his back. “Maybe I should have let Parker deal with him after all.”
“Play nice,” I reply warmly. “To be fair, he’s not wrong. I did actually take off and leave him behind. Not my fault he’s slow.”
“I heard that,” Lannister calls out from the doorway.
“Good,” I say, twisting around to find him. “Run faster next time.”
Body warmth creeps up behind me, Rylan placing his hands on my hips. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he murmurs into my ear. “And if youdorun, we both know you wouldn’t get very far.”
I gaze at him over my shoulder with a sly smile. “You’d be surprised how fast I can be with the right motivation.”
He cocks an eyebrow. “Duly noted.”
“Come on,” Archie interjects, interrupting our…whatever this is.“Let’s get this started so we can meet back at the library. Keep your phones on loud.”
“God, the smell is horrible,” Rylan complains. “Sure brings back unwanted memories.”
Even steering clear of the auditorium section, the smell of smoke and burned wood is overwhelming. It’s worse than last time, and perhaps if I had planned this little excursion more thoroughly, I would have taken that into consideration.
I’m sure there’d be nothing suspicious at all about a bunch of people walking around an abandoned fire-damaged academy with gas masks. It’d give someone a good scare if they busted us.
Sophia would probably have an opinion about it. Aren’t masks a thing in romance books?
I wonder if I wore aScreammask into her bedroom in the middle of the night if she’d laugh or murder me. Probably homicide—yeah, most definitely.
Scrunching up my nose, I nod. “We don’t have to hang around here for long. Just a quick look for anything out of place.”
“I doubt anyone’s here,” Rylan murmurs. “If the smell doesn’t scare anyone off, then our presence would.”
“You’re thinking awfully mighty of yourself again,” I joke. “You forget I had a Willowbrook wolf with me last time, and they still tried to turn us into charcoal chicken.”
He stops walking, turning to face me with a deadpan expression. “I meant because of how many of us there are. At this point, I doubtwehave immunity from whoever’s responsible. They clearly don’t care about Cedar Heights beingat Willowbrook, otherwise they wouldn’t have bothered with a second attempt.”
“Good to see we’re on the same page, finally,” I mumble playfully. “I’m fairly confident everyone is sick of the merger now. Thank fuck for the cage.”
Rylan hums in agreement as the pair of us continue walking. I’m scanning classrooms and staff offices, but this close to where the latest fire took place, it’s clear too much has been damaged.
The thought does nothing to comfort me. While you can’t burn what’s already ash, I’m starting to worry our academy is beyond salvage.
Even if we had Willowbrook’s money, the only option is to pull these entire sections down and start again.
I swallow the growing lump in my throat, unaware I’m tensed up and digging a balled-up fist into my rib cage until Rylan stops again.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, concerned.
“Nothing,” I answer.
His eyebrows pull together. “Bullshit, Bex. I know this is ajobtonight, but let go of that thought for two seconds and just be you. We don’t have to pretend with each other—you know that.”
My shoulders slump forward slightly as I drop my arms by my side. “It’s just hitting me all at once. It’s really gone, isn’t it?” I ask defeatedly. “They actually did it. They destroyed Cedar Heights.”
Rylan steps toward me, brushing his hands down my arms. “It’s not over until it’s over, Bex. We’ve still got time. Maybe not for you and the other seniors, but there’s still time. We’ll find the people who did this.”
To my surprise, and his, I lunge forward and close the distance, throwing my arms around Rylan’s torso in a hug. Dropping my forehead against his chest, Rylan snakes his arms around my body and gently rests his chin on the top of my head.
“We have to find them, Ry,” I mumble angrily into his chest. “And make them pay.”
He stiffens against me. “You just called me Ry.”
