Page 81 of Fractured Fates

“I told you. Out for a ride.”

“With the man in black?”

I yank my shirt over my head and nod.

“You were gone ages, where did you go?”

“Nowhere.”

Winnie gives me a skeptical look as I step out of my jean shorts and into my pajamas.

“We just went for a ride,” I say.

“They are going to kill you if they find out.”

I shrug and jump up onto my bunk. “They won’t find out.” I peer down at Pip, out cold in the corner. “How’s Pip been?”

“Fine. He ate his body weight in potato chips–”

“You fed him potato chips?”

“I thought he deserved a treat after his ordeal.”

“He’s growing on you,” I say, peering over my bed to grin at her.

“He is not. But I can sympathize with anyone who suffers at the hands of the psychopaths who attend this college.”

“When I find out which of those psychopaths it was …” I say darkly.

“Anyway,” Winnie says, changing the subject. “He ate my stash of chips and then passed out in some salt-induced haze.”

“He seemed okay?” I say, suddenly feeling guilty for abandoning him so quickly after he was returned to me. And for what? A chance to hang out with the man in black. I am one bad friend.

“He did.” Winnie kicks my mattress from below. “How about you?”

“I’m fine.”

“Want to tell me how the jiggins you know the man in black?”

“He was the one who brought me in. Who found me.”

“Ahhh,” Winnie says, “I thought that would mean you hate him.”

“I do, I guess,” I say, chewing on my thumbnail. “And I don’t.”

I sigh dramatically.

Winnie pokes her head up over the side of my bed and peers at me. “Is something going on between the two of you?” she asks, clearly scandalized. “He didn’t try anything on or force you to–?”

“Too many questions.” I breathe in and out.

“But …” Winnie prompts.

“But perhaps, maybe, I don’t know, I’d like it if there was something going on.” I cover my face with my hands. “Does that make me fucked up? I mean he’s at least ten years older than me.”

“Yes, and dangerous and mysterious, and renowned for being ruthless … huh,” Winnie says.

“What?” I ask, peeking at her through my fingers.