Page 15 of Watch Your Back (Devil’s Backbone #2)

Heath told us we all need to keep a journal so there’s a written account of…

stuff. It’s a stupid idea, though. If we are sleepwalking or hypnotized or whatever, then we won’t remember.

And if we don’t remember, then we can’t fucking write about it, can we?

He’s being stubborn, though, so I’m writing this to get him off my damn back.

Maybe I’ll just keep a running record of all the filthy things I want to do to Ashley instead…

Yeah, that’s a better idea. Especially now that she’s keeping me at arm’s length.

That won’t last long. She likes me way too much, I’m sure of it. Then again, she likes Heath a whole lot as well. Will she pick him over me? Has she already? Fuck. I need to sort my crap out ASAP.

M y bodyguard had been fired, apparently.

He was nowhere to be seen when I returned to my dorm with Carly after class, and I nearly had a damn heart attack when my door opened well after I’d turned my lights out.

It was just Royce, though. He shushed me, ordering me to go back to sleep as he slipped under the covers and erected our pillow wall as though the last month of weirdness and ice had never happened.

I wanted to call him on it and not let him brush it under the blankets so easily, but at the same time I was glad to have him back. So I shut my mouth and went back to sleep secure in the knowledge that my roomie was back.

The next morning, I woke up with the familiar warmth of Royce’s chest under my cheek, and for an insane moment, I wondered what would happen if I didn’t sneak away.

What would he do if he woke up to find us all tangled up like lovers rather than friends?

Probably give me no end of hell and tease me about having a crush on him, to which I’d blush as red as a damn fire truck because it wasn’t untrue.

Not that I’d admit it to anyone…not even Carly.

I was already greedy enough with Heath and Carter.

So, biting back my baser instincts, I slithered out of his sleep-heavy embrace and silently fixed the pillow wall once more. Stupid unconscious need for snuggles was messing with my head.

By the time I got back from showering and getting dressed, Royce was gone. He’d texted me, though, letting me know he had an early lecture and that I’d snored.

Grinning, I sent back a middle finger emoji and told him he was a liar.

Carly and I headed out for coffee and found Heath already waiting, with coffees ordered, and the rest of the day went smoothly. Or smoothly in comparison to the car crash and student fatalities from the day prior.

The next morning Carly came barging into the shower while I was halfway through shampooing my hair.

“Um, good morning,” I spluttered as she shoved her hand through the shower curtain to show me her phone. “What am I looking at here? Also, is your phone waterproof?”

“Of course it is, dummy, but read the message!”

Steam was fogging up the screen, though, so I sighed and leaned back to rinse my shampoo out. “Read it to me—it’s too foggy.”

Carly made a frustrated sound, then withdrew her phone to read aloud.

“Zara regained consciousness last night and was questioned briefly by police. She told them that Daniel seemed totally normal. They were listening to the radio and talking about their plans for the afternoon, then all of a sudden he went blank like a zombie, then locked his eyes on some girl walking across the green and drove straight at her.”

Shock rippled through me, and I rinsed my hair faster. “Wait, who was that from?” Because that was a whole lot of information that probably should be kept classified by the cops, wasn’t it?

“Emerson, one of the basketball girls. She was at the hospital to visit Jess and overheard this all going on so just lingered to hear the rest. Ash, it sounds like Daniel was hypnotized, doesn’t it?”

I’d filled her in on our discussion around Dr. Fox’s possible involvement, and she was totally on board with the plans to investigate.

“Royce is in my room,” I told her. “Go show him while I finish up in here.” Because I still needed to apply conditioner and shave my legs. A girl had priorities.

Carly gave a startled laugh. “He is? Well, isn’t that interesting?” She took off out of the shower before I could explain that we were just sleeping together…not sleeping together. Ugh . Better make it a speedy shower after all.

Back in my dorm room, I found Carly pacing the small space with her hands flapping around as she clearly talked through a conspiracy theory.

Royce reclined against my pillows as though it was his bed, hair messy and shirtless.

Fucking hell, he was a sexy man. Even more so when he turned those pretty green eyes my way and looked me over with an odd expression on his face. Annoyed? Aroused? What was that?

“Good morning, Squirrel,” he murmured, his voice still husky from sleep. “Did you really tell Hurricane Carly to wake me up?”

I wet my lips, my pulse racing uncomfortably for some reason.

Maybe it was the news Carly had just broken, making me anxious?

“I didn’t say to wake you up, but I definitely wanted to finish my shower without an audience.

” Carefully avoiding eye contact—for some fucking reason—I tossed my dirty clothes into the laundry hamper, then towel dried my wet hair a little more.

“I assume she gave you the update about the crash?”

Royce yawned loudly, stretching his arms above his head and pulling my attention before he replied. “Yeah, it sounds suspicious as fuck. Reckon he does sessions with Dr. Fox too?”

That hadn’t even occurred to me, but it was a valid question. Then I frowned. “You don’t still have sessions with him booked, right?” Because he’d said he and Heath both did therapy with the professor in question.

A lopsided smile hit Royce’s lips, and I found it hard to look away. “Of course not. I haven’t done a session in ages, and Heath now has a new doctor from the rehab clinic.”

“Uh…is something going on between you two?” Carly interrupted and I nearly flinched when I remembered she was there with us. “Because if I’m about to become third wheel in this relationship, I will need formal written notice.”

I rolled my eyes and threw a pair of rolled-up socks her way. “Don’t be ridiculous. Anyway, we are hitting Dr. Fox’s office today, aren’t we, Royce? While he’s teaching?” Why the fuck was I blushing? Stop blushing, Ash!

Royce stretched again, then tossed back the blankets to swing his legs out of my bed. He’d taken to just sleeping in boxer shorts because apparently the dorm thermostat was cranked up too high, and Carly’s pointed stare in my direction said she had things to say.

“Yup, after lunch,” Royce confirmed, pulling on his jeans and tugging his black top over his head, hiding all those abs. “I’ve got to get to class, but I’ll text you later, Squirrel.”

“What about me?” Carly pouted, giving him a narrow-eyed glare as he pulled his shoes on. “Gonna text me too, Roycey?”

His answer was a sarcastic middle finger as he headed out the door. I busied myself with brushing my wet hair in the wake of his departure, until Carly loudly and very pointedly cleared her throat.

“What?” I asked, innocent as anything.

Her brows hiked so hard they were basically in her hairline. “Ashley Layne…were you not just telling me two days ago about how you’d made up and made out with both Carter and Heath again?”

“Yeah…your point?” I had a pretty solid feeling I knew what her point was, but I’d feign innocence as long as I possibly could nonetheless.

Carly’s eyes bugged out and she gestured wildly to the rumpled bed that Royce had just vacated. “Do you want to explain that?”

I wet my lips, then realized…no one knew Royce had literally been sleeping in my bed all this time. Carly had thought he was sleeping on the floor, like how our little roommate situation had started.

“Oh. That.” I turned back to my mirror to work out some stubborn tangles with my brush. “Don’t read too much into it, Carly. He is very diligent about putting a pillow wall in place to maintain personal space. It’s just not fair to make him sleep on the floor all the time.”

She scoffed. “He doesn’t have to sleep in here at all. That’s his choice. What does Heath say about this? Or Carter, for that matter? I can’t imagine he’s thrilled about Royce trying to cut his grass.”

I spluttered a laugh. “Excuse me? That’s not—” I shook my head, not needing my reflection to tell me how red I just went.

“That’s not what’s happening here. Royce is being a good friend, and none of us are comfortable with Heath sleeping here until we can be sure he’s not sleepwalking anymore. So, it’s Royce or Mr. Lionel Hughes…”

Carly cracked up, shaking her head. “Oh my god, you’re so delusional. Okay, I’ve got to get to my Early Written Languages class. You gonna be okay on your own this morning?”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t you start too. That car could have been aimed at you just as much as me. Or Jess or fucking any of the other dozens of students on the lawn that morning.”

“Mm-hmm, sure,” she muttered unconvinced, “and Royce is just a good friend. Okay, bye. Text me later.”

She left before I could insist again that Royce was just a good friend, and I groaned to myself once I was alone.

She’d hit a little close to the bone on her question too.

Heath had been really unimpressed to hear that our arrangement was back in place, and Carter had looked like he was going to punch a wall.

Not that I was ever going to invite him to sleep over, considering our chat the other day.

“Messy, messy situationships,” I muttered to myself as I hunted out my hair dryer. I didn’t have any classes on a Wednesday so intended to spend my morning studying at the library before meeting the guys at lunch to plan our breaking-and-entering mission.

As much as I was frustrated by this constant shadowing that the guys were doing—not leaving me alone fucking anywhere, it seemed—a weird spike of fear hit me as I laced up my boots to leave the dorms alone.

“You’re being paranoid, Ashley,” I whispered to myself, trying to shake off the feeling. But…what if I wasn’t? That glimmer of uncertainty was enough to have me text Heath to ask if he wanted to study with me in the library.

He replied almost immediately and invited me to the apartment instead. I chewed my lip, debating if it was a good idea or not, and he followed up with another message to say he was home alone. That was all I needed.

Ashley:Perfect. I’ll be there in 10!

His reply was just a heart emoji, and my stomach flip-flopped.

In a good way, though. Butterflies were fun, and maybe I didn’t need to study this morning after all.

It wasn’t until I started thinking about all the other things Heath and I could do that I realized how worked up I already was.

Maybe I was ovulating? Seemed plausible.