Delphine surprises me the following morning by gently shaking me awake with her hand on my shoulder.

“Tess has asked that you move upstairs to your bedroom for now,” she says, giving me a sad, heavy sort of smile. I’m assuming that since she’s back, she must’ve passed her background check. I sit up suddenly, a little sore, a little guilty, but … I glance over to find Chasm awake in the chair, one elbow propped on the arm, his head in his hand.

He’s just fucking staring at me, and I can barely deal with it.

I look back at Delphine, dressed in her black and white maid uniform, the apron pressed and fresh, the frilly little headband nestled in her mousy brown hair. It falls around her face like a shield, her thick-rimmed glasses sitting on the tip of her nose.

She seriously looks like an anime character or something. Also, her outfit makes me think of JJ. The girl who’s missing, who isn’t accounted for. The girl who, I suppose, wasn’t actually a victim of the Slayer at all, but that pervert, Mr. Fosser.

Tess sweeps into the room, an earpiece in as she talks to someone on the phone. She doesn’t skip a beat, making herself a flat white as she carries on her conversation. It’s hard to hear over the steaming of the milk, but I don’t need to hear what she’s saying to know what it’s about.

Parrish.

“I honestly don’t know what to say to you, Caroline,” Tess snaps as soon as I can hear her again. She slams her mug down on the counter as I sit up the rest of the way and swing my legs over the edge of the couch. “Yes, well, he is your biological son.”

Biological son?

My head snaps over to Chasm, and I find him frowning in Tess’ direction. He lets his gaze slide over to me and raises his brows. I get the idea that he doesn’t know anything about this either.

Caroline? Is that really the name of Parrish’s mom? I’d heard off-handedly from Tess that she ran off when he was a baby. But that’s about it. She clearly has no bearing on his life; he said as much himself.

“Yes, well, when you decide to start caring that your son might be dead, give me a fucking call!” Tess hangs up and then leans over the counter like she’s about to have another breakdown. Eventually, she gets herself together and turns around to find the three of us staring at her. “Delphine, if you could start with this room, I’d appreciate it. We’re having another press conference tomorrow, and it needs to be spotless.”

Hearing her order Delphine around rankles me a bit, but Delphine gives a simple nod of her head and goes about clearing Chasm’s nest of dishes and food wrappers off the coffee table.

“The two of you up and out,” Tess says, waving randomly in Chasm’s and my direction. “We need to get this placed cleaned up. You.” She points at Chasm. “You can sleep in Parrish’s room with Maxx tonight.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Chas grumbles, pushing himself up and out of the chair. He helps me gather the blankets and pillows off the couch, our elbows bumping together. We glance over at each other, and I can’t help it. I smile. A real smile.

It feels like a knife going straight into Parrish’s fucking back.

Chasm smiles back at me, but I can’t handle it, so I look back down at the blankets, bundling some into my arms before taking off for the stairs. As per usual in this house, it’s an ungodly hour—even though it’s Saturday. Not that it matters since we’ve got work to do today.

We head upstairs together, dumping the bedding on the floor of my bedroom. Neither of us is brave enough to wake Maxx up just yet. My heart aches with the thought that I can’t talk to Maxine, can’t ask her how she’s doing, if she’s hurting, if she misses X already.

If she misses me.

God, what my grandparents must think of me right now … I wonder if they hate me, if they’re glad I’m no longer a part of their family, if Maxine has even told them. It’d be like her not to, in order to spare everyone else’s feelings.

“Good morning,” Chasm says finally, glancing my way. I look back at him, and my heart thumps strangely, making me feel lightheaded.

“Good morning.” I glance over at my bed, and my cheeks heat with memories of last night. “Do you, um, know anything about Caroline?”

Hearing Tess speak to Parrish’s bio mom was weird as hell.

It takes me back to all those early feelings, those strange musings on what makes family, family. I’m here because I’m Tess’ biological child; she’s desperate to find Parrish because she loves him more than she loves me. And yet, from the sound of it, his bio mom isn’t concerned with his disappearance?

It’s all so fucked-up.

“Even less than I know about Justin,” Chas admits, scratching absently at his lower belly muscles and wrinkling up his black tee enough that I can see a tantalizing strip of flesh above his pants. “She hasn’t had any contact with him since Tess came into the picture. Like, none at all. Zero.” He makes a circle shape with his fingers, and we both pause as Maxx opens the door to Parrish’s bedroom.

He looks slightly chagrined, his chocolate hair fresh and clean, dressed in tight jeans and a disturbingly tight red t-shirt with a bike on the front. His lush mouth is twisted to one side in thought. He seems almost surprised to see us standing there.

His emerald eyes take us both in before dropping to the pile of bedding on the floor.

“Tess kicked me out of the living room; she wants me to sleep with you tonight.”

Maxx nods, reaching up to rub at his chin for a second. If he knows that Chas and I slept together again last night, he doesn’t let on.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” he admits, sighing and then running the fingers of both hands through his hair. “My emotions are a goddamn mess, and I’m struggling with my classes. I …”

“No explanation needed,” I say, lifting both hands up, palms out. “We’re all struggling with a lot here. And I … I’m sorry about Maxine.” The words come out in a near whisper. I haven’t been thinking about my sister much with everything else that’s going on. My thought is, if I can get Parrish back, if I can figure out how to deal with the Slayer, then I can tell her everything, apologize properly, and then grovel for forgiveness.

As of right now, I’m shit out of luck. I cannot have her involved in this like, at all. I don’t want her anywhere near this mess. She’s better off in Oregon, buried in her studies. In the summer, she always goes back to New York. Soon enough, she’ll be in the Catskills with our grandparents and maybe, if the winds are blowing just right, Saffron as well.

X drops his arms by his sides and gives me a tight nod and an even tighter smile.

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

“What happened?” Chasm asks, and I cringe slightly, giving him a look. The guy has absolutely no shame. X moves into the room with us and closes the door. The atmosphere in my bedroom changes substantially, and I’m not sure, exactly, how to process it.

“She broke up with me,” X explains, sweeping past me and pausing briefly to flip off the phone on the tripod. I almost smile at that, thinking of Parrish, but then, there’s not a lot to be happy about when it comes to our situation. He stares out at the window, craning his neck to try and get a glimpse of the reporters down the street before he scowls. “Fucking vultures. I’d kick all their asses if I could find a get out of jail free card for the assault charges.”

“What’d you do to make her break up with you?” Chasm continues, sitting on my bed and tucking one leg up against his chest. He’s got a bag of chips that he must’ve snatched from the coffee table on his way up here. He starts eating them on my bed, and I give him a look that can only be interpreted as do not get crumbs in my bed, or I will never let you call me naekkeo again.

Maxx turns a look over his shoulder that’s half-threatening, half-bemused. He very clearly, um, ‘daddies’ the other boys. They barely have a two-year age gap, but the dynamic seems to work somehow. He and I are exactly three years apart; I know from Maxine’s ramblings that his birthday is just three days after mine.

“Why do you assume it was something that I did?” he asks, sounding annoyed. He turns the rest of the way around, wetting his lips and then sighing. “She … kept defending Dakota.”

“Defending Dakota?” Chasm asks, offering me the bag of chips. I wave him away, too focused on Maxx’s story, too curious for my own good. I’m far more emotional over this than I thought I would be. Maxx Wright isn’t the first boy that my sister’s broken up with. He’s also the only one I’ve ever been remotely attracted to.

The thing is, whether he’s dating Maxine or not, he’s completely and utterly off-limits, and always will be. Even if I were inclined to investigate the natural chemistry between us, I’m already dealing with some sort of screwed up love triangle between Chasm and Parrish.

I don’t need any further romantic complications.

“She kept telling me that she knew something was wrong,” Maxx says, his voice heavy with melancholy. I keep thinking about my sister and how devastated she must be, but it looks like X is hurting pretty badly, too. My heart aches for them both, and also, selfishly, I get a jealous tummy ache that makes me furious with myself.

I’m jealous that X is upset to be broken up with Maxine?

What is wrong with me?

Actions, not thoughts. Actions, actions, actions.

“She was insistent that Dakota was lying to her, that she was in danger of some kind, that she needed her …” He trails off and my throat closes up. Oh, Maxie, I’m so sorry. You’re right, as always. Once that girl gives trust, it’s permanent and unyielding. She’ll believe in me to the very end. X huffs out a sigh and narrows his eyes, his mind clearly focused on the conflict between them. “What could I do about that? I don’t want Maxine here; you don’t want Maxine here. She needs to stay out of this shit.”

“I’m guessing you pissed her off then?” Chasm continues, eating the chips and watching my face rather than X’s. Does he know that we sort of have a weird thing between us? A thing more taboo than anything going on with him, than anything going on with Parrish. Out of the three of them, Maxx is the most dangerous, the most restricted, a literal impossibility.

Not that it matters. I’ve already let myself get twisted up in two boys. There’s no way in hell I’m adding another to my imaginary harem.

“I told her that Dakota”—here he pauses to glance my way, his green eyes dark with emotion—“sorry, but I told her you meant what you said. That you’d changed since coming here. That maybe she didn’t know you the way she thought she did.”

“Yikes,” Chas says as he grits his teeth and I cringe.

Yep. That would do it.

“One time, Maxine’s boyfriend told her I was an annoyance that he didn’t want around when they were hanging out. She dumped him and blocked him on everything; they never even spoke to each other again after that.”

That makes X smile, and the expression it just … cuts right through me. I blink past the feelings and cross my own arms. We have a ton of work to do this weekend. That, and I’m dreading tomorrow.

Not only did the Slayer make several references to Sunday, but Tess is having another huge press conference right here at the house. Most importantly: it’s day fourteen of Parrish’s disappearance.

“Your sister’s an amazing person, and I just fucked everything up for myself.” He sighs again and moves over to snatch the chips from Chasm. “Maybe she’ll stay single long enough that I can get her back after this is all over?”

“Knowing Maxine, she’ll be single for a while. She doesn’t just date anyone. She’s picky, and she falls hard, but never harder than I saw her fall for you.” I stop talking suddenly as X looks at me with an almost pained expression on his face. He looked at me that same way in the bathroom at the coffee shop when I threw my arms around him.

He feels the same chemistry that I do, and he wants nothing to do with it.

I don’t blame him; this is bad for both of us.

“You did the right thing, man,” Chasm agrees, pulling his other leg up onto the bed and wrapping his arms around his knees. Just looking at him, long and lean, inked and muscular, makes me want to crawl into the circle of his arms.

I lick my lips.

I’m supposed to be giving into my feelings, aren’t I? That’s quite literally the directive we were given. What if the Slayer or Mr. Volli is watching us even now? What if they can tell that I’m holding back?

What if I’m just trying to make excuses for my own selfish wants?

In the end, I give up and approach the bed, climbing on next to Chasm and leaning my head against his shoulder. He shudders and closes his eyes, but he puts an arm around me anyway and squeezes me tight.

X watches us with an agonized and totally confusing expression on his face.

He then grabs my Tess-phone off the dresser, holds out his palm in silent offering for my other one, and then dumps them in Parrish’s room so we can talk more privately. When he returns, he takes up his same position, one shoulder leaning against the post of my bed.

“I didn’t completely waste away last night crying over my fucked-up relationship,” he says with a slight smile, and I get the idea that he didn’t cry at all. Not because he doesn’t care about Maxine, but just because he seems to process his emotions in a different way. “I made a list of all the people who would’ve had access to the house that day, people who knew the code. If that girl you, uh, ‘delivered’, worked here for any period of time, she’d have keys as well as the gate code. Her attacker could’ve gotten those things from her any number of ways. Maybe he gave that information to the others?”

I’m already shaking my head.

“I’m not saying he didn’t do that, or that he didn’t have that information, but you didn’t see the look on his face when I started making connections. When he started making connections and realized that I was the Seattle Slayer’s daughter.” I pick up the book on my nightstand—Fleeing Under a Summer Rain. I need to read or at least skim this today, just to see if there’s anything real contained in its pages.

Tess primarily writes true crime which means that her work is based on real-life events. This is one of her very few exceptions to that rule—supposedly. It could very well be just a revenge fantasy, one where her estranged daughter murders the man that she blames for so many of the wrongs in her life.

But I have no idea.

It’s worth a few hours of my time anyway.

“What about the other maid?” Chas asks, gesturing with his head toward the door. “Delphine or whatever her name is. She skeeves me out, I won’t lie.” He snatches the chip bag back from Maxx, and the two of them glare at each other for a second. “She has access to the whole house, moves around like she’s invisible. How easy would it have been for her to let the Slayer in or fuck with the cameras? Better yet, maybe she’s the one that dragged Parrish out of here? Stabbed a needle in his neck the same way she could’ve done to you the night you ended up in the woods.”

It’s a good theory, one that I’ve entertained myself. At this point, everyone’s a suspect. Even Paul.

“That’s all true. But she did just pass a federal background check.”

Chasm snorts.

“Just because she’s clean on paper but doesn’t mean she’s an angel with a halo. How do we know she isn’t working for the Slayer? It’d make perfect sense. She didn’t start working here until like, two weeks before you moved in.”

I think about that for a minute. Delphine really does look guilty, doesn’t she?

“Let’s keep digging into her then,” I say, wondering if we might be able to follow her when she leaves at the end of the day. “Also, I’m sorry, but Chas, your dad looks guilty as fuck.” I give him a look and he sighs, his body sagging against me. Before I can fully register what he’s doing, he’s handing Maxx the chip bag and then dragging me into his lap.

“Let’s check him out, too. I’ll go home today and video chat you so you can see the wine cellar.” Chasm scrubs a hand over his face, his gaze getting this faraway sort of look to it when he mentions going home, like it’s some poisonous, terrible thing.

“I want to go; I want to see it for myself,” I say, but he looks down at me like I’m a crazy person.

“How do you propose getting out of this house and back without Tess realizing you’ve left?” he asks dryly, giving Maxx a look next. The two of them turn back to me. “I mean, you’ve seen her, right? She can be sort of … insane. Especially now. And with good reason, honestly.”

I nibble on my thumbnail for a second, but I already know that Chasm’s right.

“You deal with your dad,” Maxx says, voice confident and self-assured, like he’s the leader of our little group. “And I’ll track Delphine when she leaves today. I have to work at the barcade tonight anyway.” He looks around briefly, considering the possibility of more cameras, ones that we don’t know about. But we have to have somewhere in this house to talk; it’s worth the risk. “Do you think the Slayer might’ve collected any extra cameras he had around here in preparation for the police search? He had to know they’d go over this house with a fine-tooth comb. They would’ve used a fancy-ass bug detector for sure.”

“Let’s hope so,” I say, happy to have some sort of plan in place—and also wondering if we might be able to get hold of a bug detector. I’ll have to research that and see if it’s feasible. “Shall we start with our classwork? Get that out of the way first. Then you two can take off, and I can keep looking into the key situation. Also.” I pick up Tess’ book again and tap my knuckles against it. “I’m going to go over this. On Tuesday, we can head over to Mr. Volli’s house after school for a quick look. Don’t forget that Monday is Memorial Day.”

It’s highly unlikely that Parrish is there. Or that there are any clues at all, for that matter.

The Slayer seems to want me to find Parrish, but he isn’t making it easy.

“Japanese first,” Chasm instructs, pressing a kiss to the side of my head that has me flushing from head to toe. It’s one thing to do these sorts of things alone, in the dark. It’s a whole other ballgame to do it during the day with X’s sharp gaze on us. “He warned you not to fail your classes, didn’t he? I have a feeling we wouldn’t enjoy the consequences if you did.”

I nod, scooting to the edge of the bed and then heading into the hall before crossing into Parrish’s bedroom. There aren’t any new messages, no missed video chats. My stomach twists into knots imagining what might happen tomorrow.

Whatever it is, I don’t think a single one of us is going to like it.

Focusing on our studies for a bit helps all three of us, I think. It lends a sense of normalcy to the situation, and it also serves to please Tess when she pops into the dining room to observe us. She comes by about every fifteen minutes which is far more frequent than usual. If I’d thought her hourly check-ins were annoying, this is next level.

Of course, Chasm is right.

She has good reason to be afraid.

Her son was literally stolen out from under her in the middle of the night. What she doesn’t know is that her stolen daughter, the one she’s just recently gotten back, was also taken in the middle of the night. I just happened to have been brought back.

Maxx is the first to go, glancing up from the table as he notices Delphine preparing to leave for the day.

“Shit, I’m late for my shift at the barcade,” he grumbles, his acting skills on point. He shoves up quickly from his seat, leaving his laptop where it is, his phone beside it. I’m guessing he’s going to leave it here, just in case. Which means we won’t be able to check in with each other until he gets back.

“What time will you be home?” I ask, as if this is his home anymore than it is mine or Chasm’s. Somehow though, it feels more like home with them in it than it did before. The only missing piece is, of course, Parrish.

“Last call is two-thirty,” he says, pausing beside me. Maxx sat on my left for the majority of the day while Chas sat on my right, at the head of the table. He’s a taskmaster, that’s for damn sure. He didn’t let me slack for even a second.

Not even after making love to me last night.

My cheeks heat—my boobs, too, but luckily, I’m wearing a pullover sweater with a black cat on it and a Hocus Pocus quote—and Maxx cocks a brow.

“Probably around three or so,” he finishes, and then he sweeps past me, pausing briefly to tousle my hair. Not sure how I feel about that for so many reasons. Chasm, too, seems to notice, glancing over his shoulder as Maxx heads for the garage.

Delphine rides a bike to work every morning, so it shouldn’t be hard for him to follow her.

Chas and I both wait until they’re gone before turning back to each other.

“You want to sneak upstairs and fuck real quick?” he whispers as he leans in toward me. I just stare at him.

“Are you insane?” I whisper back, but I know I’m blushing even harder than I was before. “With Tess coming in to stare at us every fifteen minutes?”

“We don’t have to do it in your room,” he suggests, glancing over his shoulder. There’s nobody in the kitchen or living room right now. Just us. Kimber is holed up in her bedroom; Tess is working on details for the press conference; Paul has been tasked with keeping the little ones entertained.

Just after we moved our study session downstairs—at Tess’ insistence, mind you—I heard Amelia wailing, crying for her ‘Pear-Pear’. The sound of her pained cries hit me so hard that I had to slip into the bathroom and cry myself out for a few minutes.

“We could get in the pool,” he starts, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms behind his head as he looks me over. I do the same, returning his stare, studying the beautiful almond shape of his eyes, the rare golden color, the pink fullness of his mouth. The black studs on either side of his lip add just enough edge. With the colored hair, the plugs in his ears, and the tattoos, there’s just enough gritty to balance out all his prettiness. Also, he has like perfect skin. Fucking perfect. I’m jealous. “I’m just trying to give this all I’ve got, Little Sister. It isn’t my fault that we have to operate under a certain someone’s rules.”

“Don’t call me Little Sister anymore,” I whisper back at him, flicking his iPad’s stylus across the table toward him. He catches it with one hand and then brings it up to his mouth, chewing on the end while he watches me. He’s making light of this, but I know what he means.

I’ll give you until Sunday to impress me.

That was a crystal clear message if I’ve ever seen one.

“Mianhae ,” he says with a bit of a laugh. I know for sure that one means I’m sorry. At least, I think it does. I really have no idea what I’ve been saying when I keep meaning to say good night. Chasm keeps saying it back to me, so it must be at least somewhat relevant. “Should I say naekkeo instead? I like it, but there’s not much ring. Little Sister flows off the tongue.” He leans in toward me, putting his palms flat on the table. “Besides, it helps ground me.”

He sits back up, tapping the stylus against one of his lip studs.

My body aches when I look at him, even as I’m swamped with guilt.

“You’re doing it again,” Chas warns me, pointing at me with the stylus. “You’re drowning in your own thoughts. Stop it. Stop thinking about how pissed off he’s going to be with us and think more about how we can get him back here so that he can be pissed off at us.”

“It feels like you’re just trying to get me into bed,” I whisper back, and Chasm offers up a naughty smirk in response.

“What can I say? I’m addicted now. Apparently, I’m as much of a manwhore as I always pretended to be.” He puts a hand to his chest, and even though his expression is cocky, it’s tainted with heavy melancholy. “I’m not trying to pressure you,” he adds, face softening slightly. “If you don’t—”

“But I do,” I breathe, pushing my iPad away from me. When I close my eyes, I can see the shapes of the Japanese alphabet, the hiragana and katakana swirling around with a handful of basic kanji thrown in. I’ll ace this last final, that’s for sure. Then he can teach me Korean, and he won’t be able to have special, secret conversations with Parrish anymore.

My throat gets tight again, but I toss lime-green hair over my shoulder with a nonchalant flick of the wrist.

“I do. If we’d just, like, hooked up on our own, before all of this, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off of you.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I full on cringe, looking askance at Maxx’s laptop. At his phone lying on the table beside it. On my Tess-phone resting next to my elbow. My Maxine-phone hidden in the pocket of my sweats. “Shit.”

“Fuck,” Chasm agrees, and then he’s standing up from his chair and tossing his stylus onto the table. “Now we sort of have to do this.” He gives me a look and another half-smile. “I’ll go get changed. Choose your bathing suit wisely.”

He disappears out of the dining room and up the stairs as I struggle internally and then curse my big, fat mouth, leaving the rest of the devices behind and taking only my phone along for the ride.

As soon as I get into my room, I close the door and lean my back against it. I shut my eyes for a second in an attempt to wrangle my emotions. Having sex with Chasm might fulfill an order, but it doesn’t bring us any closer to Parrish.

I can’t do it.

Not right now.

I open my door and head across the hall, not bothering to knock before I open Parrish’s door and slip inside. Chasm has just dropped his pants and underwear to the floor. I turn around to catch a nice, long glimpse of his naked body.

It’s still light outside, so there’s plenty to see by as I gape at him, my eyes tracing the ink on his chest and arms, his legs, his feet. His cock is … well, it’s very big, and very well-shaped, and very distracting.

“Couldn’t wait that long?” he offers up, like it’s a joke. But then our eyes meet, and there’s nothing at all funny about this. My hand reaches back to push the lock on the doorknob in, and I find myself crossing the room like I’m trapped in a hazy spell, one crafted of lust and need and the aching burn of guilt.

My arms twine around Chasm’s neck while his hands find my waist.

He crushes his libidinious lips against mine, sweeping his tongue into my mouth and gathering me close. His hot fingers knead my hips, digging into my pelvic bone and making me moan in a low, husky voice.

We start to move toward the bed together when it occurs to me that this is Parrish’s room. His bed. The bed where we both lost our virginities to one another. I can’t do that to him. I won’t.

“Chasm,” I start, pulling back slightly. Just in time, actually, for the sound of a clicking lock to slam into my skull like a knife. I whirl around, but it’s too late. The door is swinging inward and there’s Kimber.

Fucking Kimber.

Kimber, who already hates me. Kimber, who’s in love with Chasm. Kimber, who can very easily contribute to the living hell my life at Whitehall has become.

“Oh my god,” she chokes out, her eyes on Chasm’s dick rather than my face. He very quickly snatches his black joggers from the floor, yanking them on as Kimber’s raven-black eyes swing my way. “You.”

Her accusation reminds me once again of Parrish, that first night when I confronted him in the living room.

“How dare you?” she snarls at me, using the doorjamb to rise to her feet. “How fucking dare you?!”

She surprises me by flying into the room, a maelstrom of nails and cursing.

Chasm intercepts her. Actually, he flings her right over his shoulder before moving over to the door and heeling it closed. He sets Kimber down in front of him and then grabs her by the shoulders, bending down to look into her eyes.

“I need you to calm the hell down, Kim,” he says as she sniffles, tears running down her face. Her teeth are gritted, jaw clenched, hands squeezed into tight fists. She flicks her gaze away from Chasm and over to me.

“So you’re just another one of his easy fucks, huh?” Kimber throws out, but her words hit me and bounce right off. I know Chasm better than that now. Better than her, too, apparently. I try to remind myself that she’s only fourteen, that she’s hurting, missing Parrish. Let her say whatever she needs to say.

“Knock that shit off,” Chasm snaps, and Kimber flicks her gaze back to him, pain brimming in her eyes. “You know better than that. You’ve been a bitch to Dakota since moment one.”

“Like you and Parrish haven’t!” she shouts back at him, flinging her arm out to indicate me. “You both bullied her, too. Don’t act like you’ve forgotten.”

“Of course I haven’t forgotten. I was … I didn’t listen to myself, Kimber. I got swept up in Whitehall’s bullshit the way everyone else does. Come on, you’re better than this.”

“Parrish is probably dead, and here you guys are, fucking in his room. It’s disgusting.” She directs her glare at Chasm this time, rage burning in her eyes. I can see the embers from here, ire that’s just waiting to be fanned into monstrous, roaring flame. “You’re both pathetic.”

“Listen to me,” Chasm says, reaching out to grab her arm. Even though she just saw me kissing him while he was butt-ass naked, she blushes a bit at the contact. A tiny spark of jealousy fires in me, but I clamp down on it. There’s no need for it here. “Nobody wants Parrish back more than we do. Nobody.”

“Whatever,” Kimber says, yanking her arm from his. “You two deserve each other.”

“You’re like a baby sister to me,” Chasm explains, trying to get her to look at him again. We both know what’ll happen if she tells Tess what she just saw. “There was never going to be anything between us, whether Dakota was around or not.”

Kimber turns one, last look on me, and I see it in her face: it doesn’t matter what Chasm fucking says, I am dead to her. Dead.

I’ve lost one sister already this week and even though Kimber and I have yet to find any common ground, I hate this. I hate it so damn much.

“Don’t worry,” she says with a saccharine smile, reaching up to push some of that pretty blond hair back. “I won’t tell Tess.” Kimber bats her lashes at me and then shoves Chasm aside before storming out the door. He watches her go and then closes it again, giving me a nervous look in response.

‘This is gonna be bad,” he says, grinding his teeth for a minute. “Mostly for you. Goddamn it.”

“It’s alright,” I promise him, yanking on the ends of my hair until my scalp stings. “What’s one more person trying to kill me?”

The joke is dry, and it’s not particularly funny, but Chasm laughs anyway. It’s not a nice laugh. Actually, it’s a very, very dark laugh.

“Kimber might be a freshman, but she’s a Whitehall student, Little Sister. I’m going to have to watch your ass even more closely than I’m doing now—and not just on campus. Here, too. Be careful with her. She’s a much bigger threat than you’d think. Everyone at Whitehall wants to impress a Vanguard. They’ll go to crazy lengths to accomplish that.”

“I’ll be careful,” I promise him, but I hate to see that one of my greatest fears is coming true. Kimber lives here under this roof with me. That gives her ample opportunity to fuck with my life in a way none of the other students at WHPA can. Damn, damn, damn. Fuck.

I look back at Chasm, but even though he’s shirtless and gorgeous and everything I’ve ever wanted in a lover, I can’t give into him. Even more so now that Kimber’s on the warpath. The Slayer can clearly see that we’re into each other, that we’re not holding back.

I’m sure he’ll just love the idea of Kimber hating on me.

One of his primary objectives seems to be to drive me away from everyone that I care about.

I hate how easily it’s worked thus far. Maxine. Danyella. Lumen. Tess. Kimber. Even Parrish might not want to be around me when he finds out that I screwed his best friend. I won’t be able to blame him either.

“Fuck, I guess I’ll go to my dad’s,” Chasm starts, moving back over to me. He takes a moment to thread his fingers in my hair, kissing me with such deep, mournful longing that my knees go weak, and I end up grabbing onto the waistband of his pants to keep myself standing upright. “I’ll have my phone so … you know, call me if anything goes down before I get there. Otherwise, I’ll be the one calling you.”

I nod and release him reluctantly. Our hands touch, and our fingers stay tangled until the last possible second. I let my hand fall by my side before I step into the hallway and close the door behind me.