Page 26 of River of Deceit

Nobody else in the world is willing to treat Rachel like the person she was.

They’re all happy to leave her rotting in the trash.

Well, I’m still here, and I remember her, and she. Was. Not. Trash.

I get up, grab my wallet and head out. I’m surprised to see Sam still sitting at the kitchen table.

“I thought you were avoiding me?” I ask, my eyebrows raised.

“I’m not talking to you,” she retorts, not looking up from where she’s scrolling on her phone. “That doesn’t mean I’ll hide from you.”

I approach her, but she has a screen cover on her phone that prevents me from seeing what she’s doing.

“Aren’t you afraid you’ll get STIs from breathing in the same air as me?” I ask.

She scoffs. “I know how you get STIs,” she replies. “And there’s not a single chance I’ll get one, least of all from you.”

“You never know!” I say with a wide grin. “I might seduce you to the dark side. Y’know, literally. With tongue and other body parts.”

There’s a part of me, the one that’s riled up now, that wants to be mean, to be nasty.

It isn’t Sam’s fault though, and even if she’s a judgmental bitch, there are people more deserving of my ire.

“You’re disgusting,” Sam tells me, glaring at me. “Why did I have to get stuck with someone likeyouas a suitemate?”

“You’re just lucky. Or unlucky. Did you piss off your higher deity lately?” I glance at the clock hanging on the kitchen wall. “There’s a freshmen meetup event in the LeBlanc building, if you wanted to get out of here for a bit and meet people who aren’t me.”

“I have ministry group at seven,” she says. “Not that it’s any of your business, but some of us have better things to do than hang out with the general unwashed population.”

I purse my lips in disapproval. “Really? I mean, yeah, I’m an unwashed whore or whatever, but you don’t know the other people. Aren’t you religious types supposed to be kind and generous?”

“I only have so much grace to offer, and people like you have used up all my patience for the day,” she replies. She looks back down at her phone. “Are you done harassing me yet?”

Now I burst out laughing. “Oh, Sammy. If you think this is harassment… You’ll be in for a shock when you get to know me.”

“Samantha,” she bites out. “Not Sam, not Sammy, not whateverasinine nicknames you decide to give me. It’s Samantha. I’m not going to call you Panda or whatever, so give me the same respect.”

“It would be better than you calling me a whore,” I answer glibly. “But okay, enjoy your lonely existence.” I wave to her. “Bye, Sammy. I’ll see you around.”

“Unfortunately,” she mutters.

I head back out and shut the door, then stop short.

Was the welcome mat always at that angle?

I thought it had been fairly straight when I’d stepped inside, but now it’s at an angle.

Somebody else walks past the hallway, and I call out, “Hey, got a second?”

The person stops to look at me. He’s well dressed and has his tablet in hand like he’s actually going out to study on the first day of classes. “What?”

“Was anybody lurking around here?” I ask. “Er, anyone suspicious?”

The guy shrugs. “I dunno. I’m new here. What does suspicious mean?”

I shake my head. “Never mind then.” Maybe I kicked the mat askew when I went in the first time.

I shake my suspicions aside and make my way to the freshmen meetup. As I walk past the dorm mailboxes, I idly wonder how Carly is doing. She’d avoided me when I’d tried approaching her on campus earlier.