Page 10 of Watch Your Back (Devil’s Backbone #2)

I’m uneasy about returning to campus. The guys have been in contact every day and Heath swears he’s ready to return, but…

I’m worried. Something caused the sleepwalking or hypnosis or whatever had happened last semester.

What if it happens again? What if Heath hurts himself again and this time we’re not there to cut him down?

What if next time he hurts someone else? Or I do? None of us are immune…except maybe Ashley…

“ Y ou’re back!” Carly squealed, tackling me in a hug as I tried to unlock my dorm room door. “I was worried the gloomy guys were going to make you stay with them or worse.”

“What could possibly be worse?” I joked, laughing slightly as I hugged her back.

“How was your New Year, anyway? You’re tan as shit, girl.

” She and Heath had spent the last week on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean for a family get-together.

Carly had kept me up-to-date with photos daily, but Heath had been uncomfortably silent.

“It was…a lot quieter than yours. Have you spoken to Carter since then?” She followed me into my room and flopped down on my bed. I’d called her the morning after the party and told her all the juicy details.

I shook my head, unzipping my suitcase on the floor to unpack. “Nope. Nothing.”

Carly scowled, her chin propped up on her hands. “Well, that’s a bit shit. Have you tried contacting him?”

“No. I’m leaving the ball firmly in his court for this mess.

I honestly thought with how strong he’d been coming on, he must have sorted things out with his mom.

Apparently I was wrong.” I sighed, trying really hard not to admit just how hurt I was by Carter’s silence.

“To be blunt, I’m sick of his hot-and-cold shit. ”

“I don’t blame you,” Carly said, agreeing. “How were things with Nate? You guys spent a lot of time together over the holidays.”

That was a loaded question. How were things with Nate? It was hard to say. In some ways he’d been blowing hot and cold worse than Carter, but at the same time, he’d been inexplicably supportive and stable over the last few weeks. It was confusing, to say the least.

“We’re tolerating one another,” I finally said, “but I still don’t trust him as far as I could throw him, if that’s what you’re worried about. I haven’t forgotten what a slimy fuck he is.”

With how civil Carly had been toward Nate lately, it was easy to forget he’d broken her heart in the past. That he’d cheated on his girlfriend with her, then let the mean girls drag Carly through the mud for his indiscretion.

Last I checked, Carly hadn’t been the one in the wrong since she wasn’t dating Paige.

My friend puffed out her cheeks, then gave a long exhale. “So. About that.”

I raised a brow, giving her my full focus as her face pinked. “Yes…?”

“Heath let me in on a few top-secret facts while we were on vacation. He sort of mentioned about how like, you and me are besties and how he and Nate are basically brothers and it wasn’t fair to keep the negative energy running…

” She was rambling, which made me all the more curious about what point she was dancing around.

Turning to face her fully, I abandoned my clothes sorting. “Spit it out, Carly.”

Her brow pinched. “So, he swore me to secrecy so you can’t tell anyone.”

I grinned, shaking my head. “Okay, sure. Tell me.”

“So that thing with me and Nate last year… Apparently he didn’t cheat on Paige. They had broken up like a month before, but Paige was refusing to admit they were done. Then she found out he was with me at that party and faked a pregnancy to reel him back in.”

My jaw dropped. “And he just…let you get treated like a cheap whore for a year and never spoke up to clear the air? After Paige faked a pregnancy? Ew. You know what, though? That doesn’t even shock me. It took Heath how fucking long to finally admit nothing happened between us when we first met.”

Carly groaned, scrubbing her hands over her face.

“I know. It’s not exactly a redemption, is it?

But on the other hand, I do feel a bit better knowing I was not actually facilitating his cheating and Paige is probably certifiably crazy.

Also, and I cannot stress this enough, I am glad Paige did what she did because Nate and I never would have lasted.

In hindsight, I really wasn’t into him.”

I snickered a laugh. “Just using him for the dick, hey? You hussy. But I get it, and it’s good that Heath told you…eventually. Douche move for Nate to never tell you, though.”

Carly shrugged. “I thought the same, but when I went back to really think about all the bullshit from Paige and Jade, part of me wonders whether Nate was really aware of what was going on. They’re sneaky little bitches.”

Frowning, I turned back to my unpacking and kept my mean-spirited comments about Nathaniel Essex to myself. Carly was being too generous in thinking he didn’t know what hell his girlfriend was putting her through for the last year. Wasn’t she?

“So…what’s the situation this semester? Will Roycey be moving back in here?” Her tone was teasing, and I shook my head.

I hadn’t heard from Royce since he’d left Max’s place with everyone else after Christmas, so I seriously doubted it.

“Unlikely,” I murmured. “I think their main focus is on Heath and the whole…you know…hypnosis-sleepwalking-brainwashing thing. I am getting the distinct impression that they’d quite like it if I disappeared. ”

My friend scoffed. “As if. They basically worship the ground you walk on, Ash. Have they tried to make you pick between them, yet?”

Surprised, I gave a nervous laugh. “Heath and Carter, you mean?”

Her nose wrinkled. “Sure. Heath and Carter.”

“No…I mean, not really. But also there’s no choice because Carter is being a shady fuck about this stuff with his mom, and I don’t need any miscommunication plot lines in my life, thank you very much.

And Heath, as much as it pains me to say…

might be better off focusing on his recovery rather than jumping into a thing with me. ” Also, he seemed to be ignoring me.

“I don’t love that,” Carly muttered, pouting, “but that does sort of line up with what his doctors have said.”

Well, that was news to me. I’d been letting Nate get into my head and guilt me about my part in Heath’s mental-health decline, but if his doctors also thought we should be seeking a little more distance? Then maybe it wasn’t the worst idea.

“Right,” I mumbled. “So…where does that even leave me?”

Carly shrugged. “With Royce, obviously. Or me! I’ve never eaten pussy before but I reckon I’d be excellent at it.”

I snort-laughed and threw a pair of rolled-up socks her way. “What tempting options. In case you forgot, friend, you’re straight.”

She rolled her eyes. “What’s the saying? So’s spaghetti until it gets wet?”

“Oh my god, stop it,” I groaned, laughing.

“But anyway, Royce is basically still not talking to me, so even if we weren’t firmly in the friend zone—which we are—he won’t even give me the time of day.

” I was rambling and kind of blushing because somehow she’d just put the idea of me and Royce into my head and I was remembering how nice it was waking up in his arms.

Damn it. No. We were friends. Or we used to be… Now I wasn’t so sure we were anything.

A knock on the door interrupted the weird twist my thoughts had taken, and I hopped up to see who it was.

“Oh,” I said, blinking up at the tall black man in a suit. “Hello?”

“Ashley Layne?” he asked, his expression totally neutral.

I nodded. “Yes, that’s me. You are…?”

“Lionel Hughes, your personal security.” He extended a hand for me to shake, and I stared at it stupidly.

The man had to be in his forties at least, and the suit screamed Secret Service, which was utterly ridiculous at a university. But more to the point…he was my what ?

“Um…sorry, what? I didn’t hire personal security.”

Carly, understandably curious, scrambled off my bed and came to stand behind me as she took the man in. Lionel Hughes was, for lack of a better word, huge.

“I’m aware you didn’t hire me, Miss Layne, but that’s my job. I just thought I’d introduce myself, but otherwise you won’t even know I’m here. Feel free to pretend I don’t exist.” His lips curled slightly, as though he was trying to force a reassuring smile and failing miserably.

I raised one brow, giving him a long look up and down. “Uh, I don’t see how that would really work, Mr. Hughes. But let’s circle back to my original point: I didn’t hire you.”

His brow dipped ever so slightly. “I’m aware.”

“Okay…so who did?” I prompted.

Carly snort-laughed. “Ten bucks on Sir Carter Bassington Junior. This is his level of controlling.”

The security guard gave no reaction, and I narrowed my eyes while waiting for his answer. When he said nothing, I folded my arms and tapped my fingers against my elbow. “I’m waiting, Mr. Hughes.”

He cleared his throat, looking a little irritated. “Clients are confidential, Miss Layne.”

Yeah, now my money was on Carter too. This felt like his sort of move. Well, I was done with his games. He wanted to play hot and cold, hiding me from his mother like a dirty little habit. Frankly, I was worth more than that.

“Thank you, Mr. Hughes, but no thank you.” I started to close the door in his face, and he shot a hand out to stop me.

Now his brow really was furrowed. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I understand. My job is?—”

“Oh, I’m well aware,” I said, cutting him off, irritation prickling my skin, “but I am declining your services. Please advise your client that I am not interested.”

He shook his head, clearly frustrated now. “Listen, Miss Layne, I really don’t think?—”

“Mr. Hughes,” I snapped, cutting him off again.

“I do not need, nor want your protection. I am twenty-one and to the best of my knowledge, I am not medically unfit to take care of myself. If you persist in lingering outside my dorm room or following me around campus, I will have to report you for stalking and harassment. You’re a grown man, Mr. Hughes.

I don’t give a flying fuck what your client wants. I am saying no thank you.”

With that, I shut the door in his shocked face and spun to face Carly.

She stared back at me with eyes wide and mouth agape, then a moment later we both burst into laughter. There was really nothing funny about the situation, but the confrontation had me all hopped up on adrenaline and that shit did weird things sometimes.

“I can’t believe you just did that,” she chortled, flopping back onto my bed once more. “But also super-valid point about him looking like a stalker. As if a legit Secret Service agent is going to just blend into the background at a university.”

I giggled, picturing Lionel Hughes in a varsity jersey and ripped jeans. “Yeah, no. Talk about drawing attention to myself. Also, better point, it’s completely unnecessary.”

That made Carly sober up a little and she screwed up her face. “I dunno, girl. What about the whole situation with being kidnapped and dumped in the woods to get hypothermia and potentially starve or freeze or be eaten by a bear? Maybe a bodyguard isn’t so silly after all.”

I shook my head firmly. “Nope. If I need one, then so does everyone here. No one tried decapitating me on a society retreat or burning me alive in a building fire.”

She winced. “Okay, but did you forget the part where the decapitated guy was in your bed? It was clearly a threat of some kind, don’t you think?”

Yes, I did think that. But none of it made sense…and I didn’t truly believe I was meant to die in those woods. I just had a gut feeling someone knew that Abigail’s diary entries would lead me out eventually.

“I just don’t need a fucking bodyguard,” I murmured, turning back to the task of unpacking. “If Carter is so worried, he’s welcome to shadow me himself.”

“Is he?” Carly asked, giving me a curious look.

I groaned, scrubbing my hands over my face. “No. Yes. I don’t know. He’s a dick, you know that?”

She grinned. “I’m well aware. And he’s legitimately scary with his anger-management crap. But you don’t ever seem intimidated, and by the sound of things, you’re quite fond of his dick.”

Now that she mentioned it, I hadn’t seen that scary side of Carter in a while. It did make me worry that I’d forget, let my guard down, and get hurt all over again. I sighed and shrugged. “What was that offer about eating pussy again? Maybe you and I are the answer to everything.”

Carly scoffed, grinning like a maniac. “You wish. My offer is already off the table! You should call Carter.”

With that sage advice, she left me to sort out my room and blew a kiss on her way out. I should call Carter…and ask if he was the one responsible for Mr. Lionel Hughes.