Page 50 of River of Deceit

My heart gets stuck in my throat.

“Dahlias?” I smile at him. “Didn’t figure you for the flowery type. More the rip-flowers-apart type.”

“I do love to deflower,” Blaze jokes, and I’d laugh if I wasn’t hyper aware of the fact that he might know more about Rachel’s disappearance.

I don’t know why the thought disappoints me.

His hand on my shoulder tightens. “But my mom loves dahlias, and I’ve been tending the ones here. Now why don’t you tell me how the fuck you got in here?”

“The door was open,” I lie. “Where’s your shadow?”

“My shadow?” Blaze drags me out of the greenhouse. I struggle tepidly, but I don’t particularly need to stay inside.

“You know, Asch?” I grin at him. “I named him Blaze’s Bitch in my phone.” I did go in and fix where I’d gotten their numbers mixed up, because I would have confused myself otherwise.

Blaze grits his teeth. “Don’t talk about Asch that way.”

I spot several students walking through the greenhouse, but none of them look our way. I let Blaze lead me outside, until he shoves me toward a secluded section of greenery around the side of the greenhouse.

“You done roughing me up?” I ask. I brush imaginary dirt from my arms.

Blaze gives me a considering look, then grins and shakes his head. “Nah. I need to make sure you didn’t steal anything.”

“Steal? Like what?” I glance through the greenhouse windows, but all I see are the trees in their large planter boxes. “There’s nothing but plants in there.”

“Yes, exactly.” Blaze huffs at me when I don’t catch on. “Are you seriously that clueless? The university does research there. Those plants are not for sale. There’ve been several instances of rival universities attempting to steal from us.”

If the plants are so coveted, why would Blaze, or anyone, show them to Rachel?

Another mystery to add to my pile.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t touch anything. I’m not part of the flower mafia,” I joke. I need to find out more about this botany department. “So, what areyoudoing in there, Mr. Business Major? Do you woo girls with those flowers?”

“Flower mafia? Woo?” Blaze repeats. “Why would Iwooanyone? And I told you, the flowers are for my mother.”

Useless. I hoped he’d reveal something, but I guess he does know how to keep secrets. I wave to him and take a step to the side. “All right. Well, thanks for enlightening me. I’ve got class now, so I’ll be on my way.”

“No, you aren’t,” Blaze says. “I know that room was locked. It’s never unlocked. So let’s make sure there’s no contraband anywhere on you.”

He reaches for my pants and tries to get his hands into my pockets.

I can’t let him find my charm.

I shove him away, and I know I’ve caught him off guard when he goes stumbling back a few steps. “Fuck off, Blaze. Don’t touch me.”

His lips curl into a nasty smirk. “You don’t get to talk to me like that.”

Those eyes of his go darker, and I can already see the desire in them, the same desire from when he’d had me cornered in his bedroom, before Asch and River interrupted.

But I do have other things to do, and there’s no fucking way I’ll let him touch my charm.

“I’ll talk to you however I want, you dick.” I turn to run.

Blaze tries to grab me, and I dodge out of the way exactly as Uncle Slayer taught me. It gets me a few feet further, but Blaze is larger and faster. He grabs me and throws me onto the soft dirt. I struggle against him, and he manages to get my backpack off of me. He tosses it nearby while I struggle.

I open my mouth to scream, except Blaze has his hand over my mouth, squeezing my cheeks hard.

He sneers at me. “If you make noise, you’re going to regret it. You, and your little friend River. Got it?”