The Arrangement Anthology 2(87)

Hot waiter guy asks, “Are you all right?”

“Yes, this is Mr. Ferro and Mr. Ferro is sort of grumpy, one hundred percent of the time.” I smile at the waiter and wave with my fingertips. “Please excuse me. I need to go find my box.”

Sean huffs and waits to scold me until we’re outside, but I’m already tipsy, so I don’t care. There’s a serene smile plastered to my face. “Avery, we’re very late. This plan doesn’t work if people don’t see you.”

“Yes, I’m aware.” Sean is pissed but he doesn’t say anything else. I climb into his little black sports car that’s parked at the curb, and we drive back to the dorm. “Where’s your bike?”

“I don’t ride it anymore.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s only fun when you’re with me. Otherwise it’s an oversized, bulky piece of shit.”

I giggle. I can’t help it. “That’s not nice, Sean. You said you liked it. It’s so pretty and shiny.”

“And heavy and slow…”

Sean drives us back to the dorm and parks toward the back of the lot before he cuts the engine, and comes around to open my door. I can walk but my head feels tingly, which is good. I need to punch Amber in the face and climb in a box. One and two. Sean will get rid of the lunatic that’s hunting me and then it’ll be fine.

Everything will be fine.





CHAPTER 14



No one says a word to me when Sean’s at my side. He’s got that scary vibe radiating from him in ginormous waves. We walk up the stairs slowly. Sean is so irritated with me that he’s ready to burst. We’re very, very late. I didn’t bother to tell him which bar I was in exactly, just that it was on Sunrise Highway. So by the time he’s found me and gotten me back to the dorm, nearly an hour has passed.

We walk down the hallway together and I wave at people who want to hire me out, but they look afraid of the strong scary man on my arm. I pass Asia’s room and see her sitting with her boyfriend. She calls out, “Hey! Avery, wait a sec!” Asia rushes out and gives Sean a look. She’s still mad at me, but she doesn’t say anything about how I treated her the other day. “I think you’re a bitch, but I just found out that Mel ditched all of her finals, which isn’t like her at all. If she doesn’t come home soon, I’m going to report her missing.”

Sean speaks for me. “Your friend hooked up with a rock star and was last sighted about twenty miles from here.”

Asia looks shocked. “You saw her?”

“She’ll be back shortly. If you’ll excuse us, we need to get this girl to bed. She’s had a little too much to drink.”

“Yeah, sure.” Asia disappears into her room.

When we’re in front of my door, I can hear Amber is blaring music inside. “Oh gross. That’s Amber’s doing it song.”

“She has a guy in there?” Sean looks down at me, while still holding my arm.

“Yeah, either that or she’s doing herself. Amber!” I unlock the door and go inside ready to fight, but all the air is sucked from my lungs. The first thing I see is my roommate sitting on the floor, opposite the door, with a bullet hole in her head. Blood flows from the wound and trails between her eyes. My feet won’t move. I can’t make them. Sean pushes me inside and utters a slew of swear words, but all I can think is that I wanted her dead and now she is.

My hands fly to my mouth as I try to swallow a sob. That’s when I turn slowly and glance at Sean. He’s looking around the room, and taking in the pile of crap on Amber’s bed. My bedding is half on the floor and half covering my mattress. It’s lumpy, like someone is under the sheets. A pink splotch is spreading across my white linens. Sean reaches for the blanket and pulls it back.

Naked Guy is lying in my bed. He was shot several times, but the places that stand out are his shoulders and between his legs. It’s like someone wanted to torture him before he died.

That’s when I start stuttering, “But that was supposed to be me. That’s my bed. Someone wanted to… to do that to me. That was supposed to be me.” My body is frigid and I feel like I’m going to hurl.

Sean doesn’t wait. He rushes me out of the room and down the stairs and into a car that’s waiting. Gabe sounds annoyed, “No box again? Black is going to be—”

“Get her the fuck out of here and don’t let her come back. He was already here and mistook her roommate for Avery.”





THE ARRANGEMENT VOL 15

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