Kings of Linwood Academy - The Complete Box Set: A Dark High School Romance Series Callie Rose (i read a book TXT) 📖

“Are you—”

The bell blares loudly, cutting me off, and Savannah shoves away from the sink, tugging on the hem of her shirt. It got twisted and bunched up when I spun her around.

“I told you everything I know. Are you happy now?”

“Not really,” I say honestly.

She laughs hollowly, then steps toward me, lowering her voice a little. “Good. I know you think you’ve got all this fucking power over me now, and that I’ll just be your little bitch for the rest of the semester. But don’t think I’ll come running every time you call. And don’t think I won’t find some way to get you back.”

Before I say anything, she whirls and stalks toward the door, yanking it open and disappearing from sight.

Great.

7

None of the guys have any idea which girl Savannah was talking about. Waverly Prep is a rival school, so they don’t know a lot of kids who go there. But they start putting out feelers, asking around Linwood. Someone here has to have an idea who this mystery girl is, or at least have an in with the Waverly crowd so we could ask someone there.

I hold on to hope for the first few days, but by Thursday, I’m starting to get antsy when we still haven’t turned up any useful information. This is the best lead we have, so I refuse to let it die, but it’s taking too damn long—and we don’t have that kind of time.

There are other things we can try, other avenues we can pursue, but they’re more risky. They involve getting closer to Judge Hollowell, which increases the chances of him finding us snooping around, so the guys are adamantly opposed to trying any of those options until we know we’re out of better ones.

I get what they’re saying, but by Friday, I’m about ready to crawl out of my damn skin.

It’s a struggle to keep up with classwork. I managed to get all my homework done just before the winter break ended, but I’m already falling behind again. I don’t want to flunk out of school, mostly for Mom’s sake, but I can’t focus on homework at all right now.

It doesn’t help that my birthday is on Saturday.

It’s a day I usually spend with my mom, eating too much ice cream and doing something fun and silly just to celebrate being alive.

But this year, we can’t do any of that.

She wanted me to come visit her at the prison, but her visitation hours are getting low, and I told her it’s more important for her to meet with Scott than me, so she can get him on board with her defense strategy. It’s true, but I’m also just not sure I’d be able to keep from breaking down and sobbing if I go see her on my birthday, and I don’t want to make her feel sad.

I wake up early on Saturday morning and stare up at the ceiling, listening to the quiet sound of my breath.

I’m in the guest room down the hall from Dax and Chase in the Lauders’ house. When River and Linc delivered my bags the day after Christmas, the twins set me up in an actual room of my own. I’ve slept in Dax’s room a couple more times, curled up between the two boys, but the rest of the time, I’ve been in the massive guest bedroom.

Part of me is champing at the bit to take things further with them, but just like it did with River, something is holding me back. I’m learning to trust my gut on this, to let things happen at their own pace with these boys and believe that they’ll work out just like they’re supposed to.

I don’t doubt the bond between all of us. It may have been created by Iris’s death, but it’s been solidified by so much more than that since then. Still, there’s something fragile and delicate about this five-way relationship we’re building. It’s all new to me, and I’d rather take things slow than rush into it too fast and wreck it somehow.

It means too much to me.

I do sort of regret sleeping alone last night though. My birthday has put me in a weird funk, and I thought I needed to be by myself to get through the day, but maybe I was wrong about that.

Yesterday, I told the guys I didn’t want to do anything for my birthday, because I worry that no matter what I do, I’ll just spend the whole time thinking about Mom and missing her. And if I do manage to have fun, that’ll only make me feel worse, in a way.

The clock on the nightstand reads 6:47 a.m. It’s gonna be a long fucking twenty-four hours, so even though I’m not really tired, I close my eyes and try to doze for a while longer.

A knock on the door wakes me from a half-sleep at around nine, and I roll over onto my side as I call out, “Come in.”

I’m sure it’s the twins. There’s no one else it could be. I’ve learned to treat Mr. and Mrs. Lauder like the wildlife on a safari. Don’t bother them, and they won’t bother you. They know I’m staying here, and unlike River’s parents, I see them around the house all the time. But they just smile politely and ignore me.

It’s so fucking weird.

“Hey.” Chase’s copper hair appears as he pokes his head inside the room. “You gonna sleep all day?”

I shrug, the motion hampered by the covers that are pulled up around my ears. It hasn’t snowed since Christmas, but it’s still too fucking cold. “Was thinking about it.”

He pulls a face, sympathy overtaking his features. Then he opens the door wider, and both he and Dax step inside. They cross to the bed and sit down, Dax’s hand finding my hip through the covers. The warm weight of his palm is comforting.

“You can’t, Low. Sorry.” Chase grimaces, and I prop myself up onto one