Page 90 of River of Deceit

Of course, Asch had insisted the guy had been dealt with already. That would imply it wasn’t Blaze, but it also means I’d have to trust Asch.

“Who’s Declan?” Carly asks, pointing at the name.

“Some sophomore with an inferiority complex,” I say. “I wouldn’t even have remembered him if he hadn’t gone out of his way to insult Asch.”

River had gotten me the names of most of the frat guys, and I’d found pictures of them online via their socials or school articles. Unfortunately, I hadn’t exactly been paying attention that first night. Carly’s memories aren’t particularly clear either.

“Zayden, Blaze, Declan, Brock, Tate, Holden, Keegan...” I frown at the list. “Maybe I should just castrate all of them?”

Castrating Blaze would be a shame, though. I really like his cock, and he needs his balls to make that part function.

And okay, maybe Blaze is kind of fun. The way he and River had gone for me the other night… I still get goosebumps remembering it.

“You mean, get them expelled?” Carly corrects. “You don’t want to go to jail because of them.” Her voice gets lower when she continues, “Because of me.”

I turn to face her directly. “Carly. If I go to jail, it’ll be because of something I did of my own volition, and it was so explosively violent and public that even the best lawyers can’t get me out of it. It’ll have absolutely nothing to do with you.”

She laughs, like I said something hilarious, when of course I was being dead serious.

I wonder if she remembers how much I scared her that night.

“Thanks for the sentiment,” Carly says. She brushes a strand of her black hair back. “Anyway, don’t you have actual studying to do? You said something about a test?”

I groan. “Yeah, intro to organic chemistry. Which I don’t really care about, because I’m never going to actually see all the small molecules.” I put my investigation notebook back into my backpack andtap on my tablet to bring the study notes up again. “I think I’ve got it though. You want to quiz me?”

I spread out onto my back and close my eyes, enjoying the warmth of the sun on my skin.

Carly shrugs. “Sure, if you read through my essay draft later. I figure if I can convinceyouof my interpretation, the professor has to agree.” She takes my tablet and scrolls to the sample questions, reading them out loud.

We’ve gone through about half of them when I tense, sensing somebody approaching. I sit up and get between the intruder and Carly, glaring in their direction.

It’s a large guy, well over six feet—maybe even six-six, Jesus he’s tall—with enough muscles to easily fling both me and Carly over his shoulders. His face sports a scar down his lip, and his eyebrow is pierced. His black hair is pulled back into a half ponytail. His tight leather pants are apparently designed to highlight the size of his bulge. I bet he’s got abs for days under the loose tank top.

“Carly,” he says in a soft voice. “You didn’t answer your phone.”

Carly squeaks uncharacteristically. “Oh. Um. Sorry. I was studying.” She pulls her phone out and winces. “Yeah. Sorry. Pandora and I were here the entire time.”

I look between the two of them, even more curious now. “Introduce me, Carly.”

Carly looks apologetic. “Oh. This is Re?—”

“Reaper,” the guy interrupts. “Call me Reaper.”

Well, well. That is not the name a totally harmless guy picks for himself. I smile at him. “Hey, Reaper. I’m Pandora. You a friend of Carly’s? Her boyfriend?”

Reaper’s nostrils flare. “No. Her brother.”

Carly groans. “I wish you’d stop using that name. You’ll scare everyone if you call yourself Reaper.”

I get up and extend my hand to Reaper. “Nah, I think it’s cool. Reaper, huh.” I give Reaper a flirtatious smile. “You look like you’ve got the muscle to back it up. Are you on the boxing team?”

“No.” Reaper doesn’t take my hand. “Are you the one giving Carly weird ideas?”

My smile drops. “What do you mean, weird ideas?”

He folds his arms across his massive chest, and I have to crane my neck to meet his gaze. “Investigating Chaos. Don’t do it. It’s not worth it. I’ll handle everything.”

Handle everything? So far, he’s handled nothing.