Page 63 of Atone

“Then I guess I’ll see you tonight, Alex Lancaster.” Her face brightens with appreciation I don’t deserve. “Unless you show up at my doorstep first. Or maybe my bedroom.”

This girl is asking for things she can’t handle. Begging for the monster I’ve barely chained down. Which is why I keep my mouth shut and watch her walk away in silence.

I wait by my car until Mila disappears into the dorm. There’s no need to follow her there. Kole had the entire building wired the second he laid eyes on Violet, and I happily reap the benefits of his obsession.

Climbing into my car, I take the long drive to Sigma House. There’s still a part of me that resists going to the fraternity house, but I plan to train the discomfort out of me like I do everything else. Being back is the only way to control the situation—to keep Mila safe.

Sigma House is busier by lunchtime because more of my fraternity brothers are awake. I pass two of next year’s initiates in the main hall, and they’re smart enough to avoid eye contact. They don’t know what to do with me now that I’m out of the psychiatric ward.

The same can be said for the women who loiter around these halls, some brave enough to try and get my attention. Desperate to test their boundaries with Bristal’s token psychopath. But there’s only one girl worth thinking about, and I just dropped her off at her dorm room.

Passing by the pool table, I meet Marco’s gaze and hold it a second longer than I need to. We both know I’m thereason he could never quite catch my angel, and in his glare is proof he hates that now she’s mine.

I hope it fucking haunts him.

Knowing I’ve heard her scream. Felt what it’s like to lose myself inside her. I’ve tasted her beautiful, full lips and let them breathe me back to life.

I hope it eats away at the corners of his mind, like his lies did to hers. And when I do finally make him pay for it, I’ll take my time.

Continuing down the hallway, I head to the back office and unlock it. The scent of Mila hangs in the air.

I walk to the desk and trace my fingers over the wood, still remembering the heat of her sitting on the surface. I can still feel the resistance when I tugged her ass toward me and slid her onto my cock.

Fuck, it makes me hard now.

Makes me question why I didn’t follow her up to her dorm room and submit to this sickness she’s weaving inside me. If they think I lost my mind when the House tried to break me, they have no idea what looking into Mila Bianchi’s eyes did that first time they met mine at Montgomery.

I swore I’d seen a ghost.

An angel.

She was exactly like I remembered and entirely different.

And now it’s finally time to end this mess that brought her here. To remind her why she trusts me, even if she clearly doesn’t remember.

I’m the dreams that haunt her.

The monster who keeps her up at night.

She might hate me when she learns the truth, but it’s time to atone for my sins.

20

FLOWERS

ALEX

I haven’t been backto Montgomery since walking out these doors, so when I step through them, my breath catches. My jaw works. And yet, it feels like home.

At least, a home that made more sense than the one I was raised in.

Here, nothing is pretend. Nothing is inherently good or evil. We’re conditions to be explained or chemicals to be balanced. But there is no judgment.

I take the hallway that leads to the left wing, opposite the one my former room sits on.

“Mr. Lancaster.” A nurse acknowledges me brushing past.

There’s a nervous edge to her tone. She doesn’t ask why I’m here because she knows better. Still, her eyes don’t leave me until I turn the corner.