Page 33 of The Invite (The Massacre Ball #1)

Nessa

I wake up woozy like I had one too many glasses of wine. Yet there’s no pounding in my head indicating I drank a drop. I know it’s true because I stay away from alcohol, let alone drink it. The bottle of wine that Ace gifted me is sitting untouched in my cupboard.

So why does my head feel so heavy? My throat parched?

Rubbing my eyes, I slowly open them and blink away the blurriness. My brain is sluggish and the memories are foggy. I shift under the sheets and a sharp soreness between my legs takes me by surprise. In fact, every inch of me is deliciously tender and aching.

The blanket rubs against my bare skin and I frown. How is that possible? I slept with my clothes on. A memory surfaces of having an erotic dream that felt too real at one point. It was exquisite with a man in a skull mask looming over me.

Rough fingers exploring my breasts.

A hand around my throat.

Then a deep voice calling me his little—

Oh god!

I shoot upright in bed as I realize it wasn’t a dream at all. Augustus was here. In my bed. Touching me while I was blissfully sleeping and then waking me up with his fingers fucking my pussy.

One deviant deed after another flashes behind my eyes of everything that occurred last night and finishes at the part when I could no longer stay awake after an acute sting in my neck.

I tentatively touch the spot as my brain puts two and two together.

Augustus drugged me.

Even in my darkest nightmares, I couldn’t have imagined that he would cross such barbaric lines. It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. He came intending to sedate me and to do what? Make me terrified of him more than I already was? Show how sick he is?

Fear paralyzes me from head to toe at what he did while I was utterly defenseless. I’m too afraid to let my mind think he fucked me, let alone check for signs. I don’t want to accept he could be this evil or go this far.

I scold myself, thinking, What more proof do I need?

Isn’t it enough for him that I come every time he touches me? That I submit to his domineering ways?

I feel betrayed.

Gathering courage, I shove aside the blanket. Cold air blasts over my nakedness. With my heart beating a rapid rhythm, I look down and gasp out loud. Dried cum is caked all over my chest and lower belly. My entire pussy is covered in his essence.

Did he come in me?

Whether it’s after he had sex with me or not, I can’t tell.

The soreness is similar to all the previous times when I would come multiple times. I’m so freaking confused. Trailing my hand down, I brush my fingers over my entrance and feel for a tear. It doesn’t hurt.

I wish there was a way I could know.

How am I supposed to sleep at night now? What if the next time he doesn’t bother waking me and straight-up drugs me?

I have to get out of here. At the moment, the school is the only place I feel safe. Since my alarm didn’t go off, I turn to the nightstand to check the time. My gaze lands on the extra item placed there.

A twisted reminder from Augustus.

He’s left the empty syringe he used. Looks like he’s upgraded from sketches to this. Still better than him recording me. But is not knowing what he did after I was unconscious good or bad?

I truly despise his guts.

Fighting tears, I jump off the bed and run into the bathroom. I’m not staying a minute longer in this cursed house. I’m done being the victim whilst hoping Augustus will get bored and leave me alone.

He’s punishing me for something that isn’t my fault.

I would rather take my chances living on the street than here. But first, I’m telling Ace and the police about being stalked. I have no other option. Screw the NDA. His sister. His dictator mother.

Under the spray of the shower, I scrub myself clean. My skin turns raw and pink from how hard I do it. But I don’t care. I just need him off me.

Wrapping a towel around my damp body afterward, I rush to the closet and quickly get dressed. It’s way too early to be going to school but the walls are suffocating me. Every corner is tainted by my sinister monster.

My eyes have finally opened.

The only way to win against evil is to fight back. Otherwise, there’s no getting out of the rabbit hole.

Within minutes, I’m dashing downstairs with my purse and sliding into my car.

I’m spooked all the way to the school, not a vehicle in sight beside mine.

My run-down car stutters slightly while going up the hill to the school but I push through.

In the rearview mirror, I keep checking if someone is following me.

This business with Augustus has me so rattled that paranoia is clawing its way back.

It’s when I reach the school and park in my spot that I calm downa little.

Hefting my purse over my shoulder, I exit after unlocking the door. Fresh morning air fills my lungs and I close my eyes for a second to enjoy it. Nobody is around and it gives me a moment to just be.

Smoothening my skirt, I march toward the sliding door and go straight for my classroom. I’m in no mood to make small talk in case there’s staff in the teachers’ lounge. As for confessing my problem to Ace, I can’t risk talking where everyone is looking for gossip to spread like wildfire.

The corridor is devoid of the usual chatter and hustle andbustle of students. It’s still an hour before they’ll begin to arrive.

My heels click on the floor and I slow my gait when I’m in front of the closed classroom. This is weird. None of the other rooms are locked.

I pay it no mind and unhook the latch.

Nudging it open, I step through and approach the desk. Dumping my purse, I glance up—

A gut-wrenching scream rips from my throat.

Staggering back, my hands fly to my mouth as I gape at Capri’s mangled and naked corpse hanging from the ceiling.

I cringe at the macabre sight.

“Oh… God… No!” I half stammer, half sob. “No! No!”

A gruesome image that’ll haunt me for the rest of my life, along with the others I’ve tried to bury and lock in a box.

A noose is roped around Capri’s neck, but it’s evident she was brutally murdered. I stare in horror at the spillage of her intestines stretching to the top of the desk.

Her arms are hanging limply at her sides. Even they are slashed and twisted with the bones popping out of her elbows as though the killer didn’t want to leave any part of her unharmed.

Bile rises in my throat and I turn to the side and dry heave multiple times. If I didn’t have an empty stomach, I’d be vomiting my guts out.

It’s like I’ve traveled into a Charles Manson’s crime scene. There’s just so much blood. A river of it. Trickling out of her. On the desks around her.

On the back wall, a message is written, but I’m unable to make it out. I realize I’m crying as salty wetness stings my tongue.

My gaze keeps drawing back to Capri.

Completely unrecognizable.

This poor girl, so bright and brilliant, cannot be killed so tragically.

Who would do this?

What if the killer is still here and watching me? Despite my loud scream, nobody comes running. I frantically grab my stuff with numb fingers and sprint outside the room, almost tripping in my heels.

As I turn in the direction of the principal’s office, I pull out my phone to call 911. I’m dialing the number when I collide with a wall of muscle. The force knocks me flying backward.

“Ahh!!” I yelp.

A pair of hands grab my waist and yank me into a hard chest. Tilting my head, I meet concerned sky-blue eyes and mild relief pours over me.

“Ace,” I sob, slumping against him.

“Nessa, what happened?” he demands, holding me up against his solid body. Looking over my shoulder for a second, he asks with a tight jaw, “Did someone hurt you?”

Capri’s mutilated body flashes behind my eyes and I shudder uncontrollably. Pointing behind my back, I stammer, “Ca-apri… she’s… Some-one kill… killed her.”

He goes rigid and curses. “Fuck!”

The last of my strength drains out as I whisper it out loud. Burying my face against the middle of his chest, I hiccup and cry. “She’s g-gone. Oh god! I can’t… believe.”

I feel like I’m in the middle of the ocean while a storm destroys everything around me. Everywhere I go, something horrendous is waiting. A shitstorm of epic proportions.

Why am I always surrounded by death?

“Shh, Nessa. I’m here. It’s okay,” consolingly murmurs Ace against the top of my head. He’s calm and collected while I fall apart. Wrapping me in a hug, he rubs my back. “You have to stay strong for me. I’m going to go see and call 911.”

I clutch his shirt near his waist, unable to let go.

“Just for a sec, Nessa. Stay strong for me.”

I manage to drop my hands. He jogs to the room and goes inside. I don’t get how he doesn’t scream at the scene. The phone is pressed against his ear as he emerges a second later and returns to my side.

They ask him questions for a good long minute before hanging up.

“They’re on the way,” he informs me. “We need to call security as well as inform Mr. Crane. Can you walk?”

I nod and he kisses my forehead. “Come on.”

We briskly walk to the administrative building. As soon as we enter the lobby, several eyes snap at us. One look at my ashen skin and curiosity burns in their gazes. At Ace’s grim face, Greta rises from her chair.

“What happened?” she demands, rounding the desk. Regarding me, she asks, “Is she okay?”

“You need to cancel all classes and tell security not to allow kids in the seniors’ wing, Greta,” tells Ace. “I need to see Mr. Crane, right now.”

She senses the urgency in his tone and ushers us to the principal’s office. “He’s in there.”

Ace takes my sweaty hand and enters the room while I trail behind him.

Mr. Crane glances up with a furrow in his brow and stands up. “What’s wrong?”

“Nessa found a student’s dead body in the classroom,” answers Ace, making Mr. Crane’s face pale and jaw drop. “I’ve already called the cops and told Greta to order security around the building. Although I think you should cancel the entire day.”

“Jesus Christ! A goddamn murder,” grits out Mr. Crane. “Who’s the kid, Miss Davenport?”

I swallow back the tears, and reply, “Capri McVey.”

“Is she one of the scholarship kids?”

“Yes.”

Placing his hands on the desk, he shakes his head. “This isn’t good. Everyone will think she was bullied and assaulted. This cannot get out.”

That’s what he’s concerned about? Whether or not the school’s reputation is clean when a teenage girl just died?

Whoever killed her so inhumanly isn’t the result of petty bullying.

It’s far more sinister.

Mr. Crane goes on to make a phone call and Ace helps me to the couch in the corner. “I’ll be back.”

I sit with my head between my hands. If I close my eyes, the scene I walked into pops up. My heart breaks for Capri as I recall all the times I chatted with her. She was the sweetest and mostambitious of her classmates. Because of some stranger, her future is torn.

My head snaps up when a weight sinks the cushion on my right.

Mr. Crane is observing me with sympathy. “I’m sorry you had to see that, Nessa. I can’t imagine.”

“She was an amazing kid, Mr. Crane,” I whisper, brushing the wetness from my cheeks. “How could she be hurt here? It means no one’s safe in school.”

“We’re going to do everything in our power to catch the person responsible. We take thesecurity of our students as well as staff very seriously. This news is shocking for us too,” he promises. His phone suddenly rings, and he says, “One sec.”

Answering the call, he talks and finishes, “Yes, of course.”

Hanging up, he gently says, “The detectives need to talk to you, Miss Davenport, since you were the one who found the body.”

“Okay.”

When I walk out, Ace is instantly by my side and passes me a bottled water. “Here, have some. I’ll wait here while you talk to them.”

“Thank you.”

Neither of us jokes about me saying that and I’m sad we’re in this situation. I manage to take a small sip before I’m taken to the conference room where two men are waiting.

They’re dressed in sharp suits. Both wearing intimidating expressions. One is holding a notepad and a pen in his hand. They stop conversing upon noticing me and motion toward the chair closest to them. I take a seat.

“I’m Detective Samuel,” introduces the one next to me. “And this is my partner, Detective Arjun. We have a couple of questions to ask.”

Arjun’s Indian roots show in his rich brown skin, black eyes, and even darker hair while his partner is the opposite of him with blond hair and grey eyes. They look to be in their mid-thirties.

I’m nervous as hell at their presence. A side effect of my turbulent past. “Sure.”

“Can you state your full name for us?” questions Samuel.

“Nessa Davenport.”

“How long have you worked here?”

“I started my position two weeks ago.”

He pauses for a beat before continuing, “And it was you who found the body?”

“Yes.”

“Please tell us everything you noticed. Even the smallest things.”

Crossing my ankles, I take a deep breath before relaying the scene from start to finish. They listen, glance at each other, and write notes. I cry all over again, unable to keep my emotions in check. After last night and this morning, I’m exhausted and have never felt so low.

“What about the message on the wall? Can you tell us about it?”

“I’m sorry but I didn’t read it.”

“Why?” Arjun, who was quiet this whole time, asks.

I glance briefly at his tapping fingers before replying, “It’s hard to focus on a message while my student is hanging dead a few feet from me. My priority was getting help.”

“Yet it wasn’t you who called 911.”

“I ran into Ace. So, he did. I was with him.”

A look passes between them before he leans back.

His partner switches to interrogating. “The message said that the victim was impersonating her older sister to attend this school,” he reveals the shocking truth. “Ever heard it as a rumor?”

I’m gobsmacked as I digest this, and croak out, “No.”

“How was her behavior? Was she involved in any fights? Do you think a fellow student could’ve done it?”

“Capri mostly kept to herself. She actively participated in the class. I never saw her arguing or fighting. She was very sweet and shy.”

“All right, I think we have all the information for now. We’ll be in touch if we need anything else.”

Without a look back, I walk out.

However, one detail keeps nagging at me. Why would the killer leave that strange message or murder her over it?

Something nefarious is going on but I can’t put my finger on it.

I pray Capri gets the justice she deserves.