Vile Boys (Spine Ridge University)

Later that week

In class, I can barely focus on what the teacher’s trying to say. I hear his words, but they go in one ear and out the other, and the words on the board in front of me are a jumbled mess in my mind.

I close my eyes to take a breath, but all I see are those piercing gray eyes staring back at me.

I swallow away the lump in my throat and look at my mobile phone to check the time. I feel like I’m a sitting duck, waiting to be hunted and killed.

I can’t stop thinking about what I saw.

Ares saw me. I know he did.

So why didn’t he confront me?

He didn’t even say a word. Even though I know he must’ve seen my guilt-ridden expression when he brushed that droplet of blood off my face.

It’s almost as if he was … taunting me.

They killed those two men like it meant nothing.

And now I can’t help but wonder … what will those boys do to their only witness?

I scroll down on my laptop, taking in all the information I can find on those boys. Blaine Navarro’s whole existence revolves around some kind of dojo. Apparently, he’s a black belt and teaches people next to his college studies, but I don’t know what kind of martial arts or what it even means.

Then there’s Caleb Preston, whose father is a successful businessman, but in every photo, Caleb looks miserable. And his mother is nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, what’s up?”

The sudden intrusion makes me slam my laptop closed real quick.

Brooke, my friend from a different sorority, sits down beside me. “Wait, were you looking at someone’s profile?” Her eyes glitter with interest.

“No one in particular. Just some old friends,” I lie.

Her eyes narrow. “Sure.” She places her hand on my shoulder. “You don’t have to lie to me. I recognized Caleb Preston.”

My eyes widen. “Shhh. Don’t say it out loud.”

“Wait, don’t tell me you have a crush on him?” She makes a concerned face.

Blood drains from my face. “No.”

She giggles. “I won’t tell a soul, promise.”

“I don’t!”

Her smirk only grows bigger. “Want me to introduce you to him?”

“Ladies. Keep it quiet, please,” the librarian calls to us.

Brooke hides her face behind her hand and whispers, “Oops. My fault.”

“Hey guys, care if I study with you?” Kayla asks as she smacks her books down on the table right beside me.

“Sure, no problem,” I reply, hoping it’ll keep Brooke from asking more questions.

“Don’t think we’ve met before,” Brooke says, and they shake hands. “Brooke.”

“Kayla, I’m her friend.”

“Same.” Brooke smiles. “We met at a party during summer break.”

Kayla pulls out a chair. “Oh, so you’re the girl who taught her how to drink.”

“Oh God.” I bury my face in my hands.

“What? That’s a good thing.” Kayla bumps into me with her hips. “You need to relax more.”

“Exactly what I said,” Brooke says, getting up and packing her things. “But anyway, I have a class soon. See you later, okay?”

I wave as she walks off. “See ya!”

Kayla sits down and opens her books. “You know, I heard the Phantom Society is having a party soon.”

I put my laptop away. “So?”

“Wanna go together?”

I sigh. I really don’t want to put myself in more danger.

She smiles and jerks my arm. “C’mon. It’ll be fun.”

When she puts it like that, it’s hard to say no.

“Fine, fine, I’ll come,” I whisper.

“Yay,” she says with a grin. But when she glances over her shoulder and spots an angry librarian ready to kick us out, she says, “Sorry! We’ll be quiet now.”

Caleb

I chuck my bag on the table in the hallway and make my way to the common room. “Man, I’m beat.”

“I don’t know, Father, figure it out,” Ares barks into his phone before he ends the convo.

I throw myself onto the couch and lean back, snatching some peanuts out of a bowl on the side table.

“What was that all about?”

He places his phone in front of him on the table and stares at it for a moment, and I can tell shit’s not going good at all.

“Doesn’t matter,” Ares says.

“Well, obviously it does, since you’re already brooding over just one phone call,” I retort, throwing more peanuts into my mouth.

“I ask for help. Once. Just one time. And he gives me shit.” His nostrils flare. “And he wonders why I don’t wanna come to the family dinners.” He leans back and slams his hands into the armrests of his seat. “Fuck.”

“Help … as in …?”

He stares me down with that chilling glare of his. “Bodies.”

I swallow my peanuts. “Right. Those.”

“I thought those were already taken care of?” Blaine asks, striding in with flair. “Ares?”

“I’m working on it,” he says.

My eyes widen. “Wait, don’t tell me they’re still in the freezer outside.”

“Where I keep my ice cream?” Blaine scowls. “Ew.”

“Stop complaining,” Ares growls. “Unless you have a better idea.”

“I’ll have to throw out that whole tub of perfect chocolate goodness,” Blaine whines, rubbing his forehead.

Ares tilts his head at him. “Shall I put the bodies in your bedroom instead?”

I almost choke on my handful of peanuts. “Oh my God.”

“On second thought, you can have the ice cream,” Blaine murmurs, throwing his hair to the side. “My stomach can’t handle all that dairy anyway.”

“Fragile,” I joke.

“Darling, I prefer it when my ass doesn’t squirt, unlike yours.”

“Fuck you,” I retort.

Blaine tilts his head. “You asked for it.” He winks at me, and we both laugh.

“Is something funny about this whole situation?” Ares asks, all serious, clutching the armrests like he’s going to rip them off. “Because I don’t get it.”

“Oh, lighten up,” Blaine murmurs, approaching him from behind. “You’ve been far too tense ever since that party.” Blaine massages Ares’s shoulders. “Relax. Throw it out. Kiss a girl. Fuck it out of your system. And then let’s do what we do best.”

“Fuck shit up? Kill people?” I say.

Blaine looks up at me. “Well, I was going to say party, but I guess that could work.”

I throw some peanuts at him, and he catches them with his mouth. “Good one.”

“I know I’m a catch, darling, thank you,” Blaine muses.

“Jesus, you’re so annoying,” I say, laughing.

Ares shoves Blaine’s hands off his shoulders and gets up. “Enough.”

“What is going on in that mind of yours?” Blaine asks.

Ares approaches the window, staring out at the front gate. “We weren’t alone that night.”

I stop eating immediately. “What?”

“When I killed those dudes at the front gate … There was a girl. Just for a moment. But I know she saw me kill.”

I swallow, but my throat feels raw.

Fuck.

If he’s right, this could get ugly real fast.

“A girl from this university?”

He nods, still staring outside like he’s waiting for her to reappear.

“We actually crossed paths when we went back to the party again,” he adds.

“Wait …” Blaine narrows his eyes. “That girl with the beige dress who made you stop?”

Ares turns. “So you saw her too.”

“I wasn’t sure,” he says, folding his arms. “I figured you just got enamored by her beauty. I mean, she did look like an angelic deity in that dress.”

“She watched us murder two men, and you let her go?!” I shout at Ares.

“What was he supposed to do?” Blaine raises his brow at me. “Kill her too?”

I wasn’t going to suggest it, but now we have an additional liability.

“She was bleeding,” Ares mutters, rubbing his fingers together like he’s savoring the memory of her blood on his skin. “And for some reason, she smiled at me. It threw me off guard.”

My lips part. “Smiled? She smiled? At you?” I snort, biting my piercing. “Why do I find that hard to believe?”

“Do you think I’d lie?” he grits at me, making me shut up immediately.

“No, of course not.”

Usually, girls pretty much run away from him the second he even so much as looks at them. He’s definitely got this killer aura that rarely anyone dares to come close to. Except maybe a handful of fearless girls who crave it because he has two of the most valued things in this world. Money and a big dick.

But never just because they enjoy his company. So I get why it would bother him that the girl who actually saw him kill two people would smile at him.

“Did you catch her name?”

Ares shakes his head. “But we’ll find out soon enough.”

“Do you think she’ll tell?” Blaine asks.

It takes him a while to answer, but when he does, a chill runs through my veins. “Most definitely.”

“We gotta stop her,” I reply.

“Hold up, if we go after someone from this university, this will not end well,” Blaine says, approaching Ares. “We cannot risk our already precarious position after those killings here on Tartarus ground. If there’s another body …”

“I know,” Ares replies. “Which is why I’ll need you two to help me.”

I bite my lip piercing and drag it into my mouth. “You’re scheming.”

Blaine’s smile stretches from ear to ear. “Tell me more.”

Ares throws us a glance over his shoulder. “We can’t kill her. It’s too risky.”

“But …?” I lean forward, eagerly anticipating his next words.

His eyes flash with excitement. “We can make her regret she ever looked.”

“Oh … make her fear us,” I say, rubbing my hands together. “I like that.”

“But how do we find her if we don’t know her name?” Blaine asks.

“There’s a party at the Phantom house in a couple of days,” I say.

They both look at me like they’re wondering why I’m even mentioning it.

“I saw the girl talk with Nathan the other day,” I add. “They might be friends. Maybe he dropped her name, and I just can’t remember?”

Ares suddenly rushes at me, jabbing his finger into my chest. “Pry it out of him.”

“Wow. Calm down, darling,” Blaine says, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’re all friends here. No one’s your enemy in this house.”

Ares’s nose twitches, but he does pull away, and I finally feel like I can breathe again.

“If Nathan invites her, she’ll definitely be there,” I tell him.

“Good.” He grabs his jacket off the chair and throws it over his shoulder. “Then we’ll be there too, waiting until she’s all alone …” His fist clenches. “And drowning in fear at the thought of crossing us.”