Page 118 of River of Deceit

Chivalry, sure. But also, that way, we would avoid having anyone know we were still associating with her.

Pandora smiles and goes to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and giving him a kiss to the lips in greeting.

“Yeah, but then you’d have to find parking, and take the elevator up to my place, and potentially meet my stuffy roommate. This was way faster.” Pandora looks past Blaze at me and bites her lower lip. “You’re both really hot right now.”

I know Blaze is fine ignoring Zayden’s order to avoid Pandora, but I’m a little more leery about flaunting my association with her right in front of the frat house. Instead of approaching her, I head to the car, opening up the passenger side of the car so I can open it for her. “You look beautiful,” I tell her.

And she does, even if I know better than to take her less seriously because she’s taken extra effort with her appearance.

Instead of sliding into the car immediately, Pandora kisses my cheek first. “Thank you, Asch.” She takes my hand and places it on her exposed chest. I can feel the bumps of the scabs, a reminder of what I’d done to her barely a week ago.

It’s a reminder, too, of what else we’d seen: the finger bones wired together. I wonder if she’s carrying it right now.

I wonder what River would think if he knew about it.

Pandora gets into the car. I close the door for her, then head to the back seat. It’s a tight fit for my legs, but I don’t complain. I adjust my suit, trying to avoid wrinkling it.

Blaze gets into the driver’s seat and starts it up. “I know you complained about Harmony, but there’s plenty of things to do here.”

Pandora shifts so she can look at me, too. “If there’s so much to do, why does everybody stay on campus? There are rotating parties at the frats and sororities, everybody’s part of a club, and the shuttles into and out of town stop running at 10 p.m.”

She’s not wrong. There really isn’t much to do in town, no matter how Blaze paints it. “It’s mostly fine dining and galleries and things like that,” I say, which is why I never go. “We could always go during the day.”

I realize what I said too late, and I scowl. It isn’t like I want to spendmoretime with Pandora Pavone. The only reason I’m here now is to make sure she doesn’t try to pull something with Blaze like she did with Declan.

Pandora smiles at me, and when she looks like that, it’s easy to forget that she’s a psychopath.

Briefly.

“I’d love to, Asch,” she says. “Maybe we can go with River next time. He likes… things. Well, he used to. I don’t know if losing the finger made him lose interest in stuff, but I assume not.”

“He had an interesting story about how he lost his finger,” Isay, unable to help myself.

At least I didn’t remind her that we know she’s carrying around his bones like a grim token.

Blaze coughs loudly, and I wince at the mild reprimand. River had told us that in secret, as part of the Kappa Alpha initiation. Even if Pandora theoretically knows, it’s not our place to say anything. She definitely doesn’t get to knowhowwe got the information.

Besides, it’s not like we have the full story.

“Maybe you have a version to share. Since you’re carrying his finger around,” Blaze says. It’s harder to hear him now that we’re on the road, with the engine roaring and other cars around us. Having the top down on the convertible doesn’t help.

Pandora rolls her eyes very pointedly. “Whatever version he told you, I’m sure it’s the truth.”

“Do you always carry the bones of your…” What is River to her, anyway? Friend? Enemy? “Anyway, bones are a little morbid, don’t you think?” I ask.

We get to a red light, and Pandora sits back in her seat. “Really? You’ve got over two hundred bones with youright now. So what if I’ve got a few extra?”

It takes me a moment to understand what she means. “Yes, but we keep ours inside our bodies,” I say dryly. I’m not going to get anywhere with this line of questioning, and I know it, but I still want to know the answers.

Blaze chuckles and reaches over to pat Pandora’s thigh. “Everybody likes a souvenir of the good times, right?”

“Exactly!” Pandora exclaims. “You get me, Blaze.”

I wonder how Blaze would feel if it washisbones she was carrying around — or mine. The idea of either situation happening makes rage threaten to rise, obliterating the relatively decent mood I’d been in when we’d set out on this adventure.

I shouldn’t have brought it up.

I sit back, leaving the two of them to their conversation instead of participating.