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Maybe Nick Bruin had a point before.

Maybe there is no such thing asgood.

She gives me a long, pitying look, like she wants to take away the pain—erase the past—but these are the men we are, the men we were raised to be.

Creation doesn’t just happen in the womb.

“Things are going to be different.” Curling her fingers at the nape of my neck, she draws my forehead to hers. “Our son will have the one thing none of you did—a mother. And mothers aren’t just here to love and care for you. They're also here to kick asses, teach manners, and show you how to treat women. Mothers,” she concludes, “show you something a father can’t always teach.”

Skeptically, I wonder, “And what’s that?”

Rosi smirks. “How to be a real man.”

I thinkabout the dungeon cell a lot once I get to campus.

Voices seem louder, stares seem more pointed, and even with the mildness of an impending autumn, the warmth of the sun feels searing. I have no one walking at my side. Wicker and Verity are taking the semester off, and Lex is on a completely different campus almost an hour away. I start to regret coming back at all.

Until lunch.

“Hey, you dropped this.” Hearing Ballsack’s voice, I turn just in time to see a blonde snatch the charging cord out of his hand. Her lip curls in disgust and I’m pretty sure I hear her mutter “asshole” before she rushes off without so much as a ‘thanks’.

“Ouch,” I say when he walks by my table in the student union. “Smash and dash?”

He looks up, surprised to see me. “Huh?”

“That girl.” I take a bite of my sandwich. “Old hookup?”

“Oh,” Ballsy glances over the shoulder of his leather DKS jacket at her retreating form. “Nah. I don’t even know her.”

I pause. “You bang her sister? Break into her car?” I keep probing, but he just shrugs. “Dude, you didsomethingfor her to react like that.”

“Nope.” He drops into the seat next to mine, and I notice everyone at the table next to ours not-so-discreetly peek over. “The Royal Gazette just released an article identifying me as a ‘person of interest’ in the missing girls’ case.”

My eyebrows hike up. “But Agent Knight released you.”

“On a technicality.” He slumps back in his chair. This summer’s been hard on him, the strain visible in the corners of his eyes. “And there are no other suspects yet, so I’m pretty fucked. Once you’ve been tagged as a criminal, it’s impossible to shake.”

Behind him, two girls whisper to one another. Our eyes lock and I realize that sitting next to me, an actual felon, isn’t helping. Wryly, I respond, “Oh, I wouldn't know anything about that.” I take a sip of my drink. “I’m sure they’ll forget about it when Knight drags someone else in.”

“Maybe.” We’re both aware of the number of eyes watching us, but although I’m used to hiding how it affects me, Ballsy shifts uncomfortably, hardening under the scrutiny. To be fair, cybercrimes are a far cry from kidnapping girls. “Honestly, I can’t tell if they’re staring at us because of the criminal thing, or if it’s because we’re from opposing frats.” Sighing, he grabs his backpack off the floor. “Either way, I need to move.”

“Fuck that. Stay.” I push over my bag of chips, and he takes a few while I chew my mouthful of sub. “Did you do it?”

“Do what?” he snags another chip.

“Kidnap those girls?”

His head snaps up, face pinching. “Jesus, Ashby!” Leaning forward, he gives his response with absolute conviction. “Hell no. Why are you even asking me that?”

“Because I just wanted to hear it for myself.” I shove the last bits of my lunch into my mouth and stand. “Come on.”

He squirms stiffly, eyeing a passing group of sophomore girls who give him an obnoxiously wide berth. “I’ve got class.”

“Fine,” I sigh. “I guess I’ll go alone.”

Despite the refusal, he stands pretty much instantly, because I know something about Ballsack that none of these sheep surrounding us have even considered.

He’s innocent.