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While he does that, I wear a hole into what is probably a ridiculously expensive carpet. When he puts his phone away, I ask, “What is this place, anyway?”
He peers around as if evaluating it. “I rented it for us. I figured you’d get sick of living in the residence hall and would want something else. Then, Leo and Alaric got thrown into the mix.”
“But on the upside, it’s a great place to bring kidnap victims,” I chime.
“I suppose this room should have a little less light,” he answers, gazing around. “Way too cheery for this kind of work.”
I shake my head at him. “You’re unbelievable, you know that?”
“I’ve known that forever. I’ve just been waiting for you to see it.”
I press my lips together. “I didn’t say it like it’s a good thing.”
“Really? Because that’s the tone I got.”
“You need to check your hearing. You’ve probably only heard muted mumbling for…how many hours?”
“A few,” he says, smiling. “I wanted him to be good and worried by the time you got here.”
I sigh, then drop back onto the settee where Oliver joins me. “So, she had a stalker?”
“Something like that,” he confirms. “The barista?”
“Or a Knight. We’ve seen how they treat women.” Instead of Anne-Marie’s face, I place Dee’s in the scene with Jarvis again, and the contents of my stomach threaten to expel. How far was she in this? “There’s no telling what she got herself mixed up in while doing this.”
“Maybe you should listen to Keegan,” Oliver offers. He holds his hand up when I move to glare at him. “I know that’s the last thing you want, but it would be safer. Now there are two things to be worried about. First, we were sure it was the Knights, now she may have had a stalker. What if the stalker—”
I gasp. “Remember the girl from the store said Dee argued with someone on the dock that night. Maybe that was him? The stalker?”
“So, basically what we did was make more questions for ourselves,” Oliver deadpans. He peers down at his lap, frowning as if he’s saddened by the fact that his first kidnapping and interrogation didn’t yield better results.
“It doesn’t matter as long as we find out what happened.”
A minute goes by, and Oliver turns toward me. “We need to be wary of Leo and Alaric. What if one of them is a plant, paired with you becausehe’sher stalker? I mean, hell, Alaric’s already announced that he wants to fuck you in the middle of his classroom. That’s kind of bold.”
My face turns pale as the realization of what Oliver says strikes me. He thinks Alaric may be Dee’s stalker. A man I just blew in front of his whole class.
Or Leo. I can’t even count the encounters I’ve had with him.
“You two do look alike…” When I don’t say anything, he nudges me. “You agree?”
I gulp, the acid in my stomach threatening to come out. “Things sort of escalated between me and Alaric this morning.”
Oliver turns away, jaw tightening.
“I didn’t do it to hurt you,” I say immediately. “That’s the last thing I want.”
“I know you’re attracted to them too. Just…” he hesitates. “Forget about all that right now. I’m thinking about your safety here.”
“I don’t know,” I gush out. “I kind of trust him. He told us that secret.”
“A half secret, which is really nothing at all.”
“Don’t you think your decision-making abilities might be skewed when it comes to them?”
“Don’t you think yours are?” he counters.
Shit. I don’t ever want to be one of those girls thinking with her pussy. But he may be right. “Fine,” I relent. “We don’t trust them until they deserve it.”