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“What happened next?” He didn’t let her go. Just kept standing with her in the bathroom, right near her sink.

“I kicked him.” She could remember this part. Could still feel the blood pouring from her ear, from her shoulder, from her arm. “He was above me. I was on the floor. I kicked him as hard as I could in both of his knees with my feet, and he stumbled back. I ran. I ran, but he caught me and he slammed me into a wall and—” Shelby stopped. She hated the memories.

“Shelby?”

“I can see bits and pieces after that. Me, running through the house. Seeing Tonya and Aisha. Both dead in their rooms when I turned on the lights and screamed for help.”

“Where was the man with the knife? Was he chasing you?”

“Tonya’s throat was cut. Aisha had blood all over her chest.” So much blood. Everywhere. “I had to get out. I had to get out.”

“What did he look like?”

Her eyes squeezed closed. She’d been over this a million times. Everyone knew…“I never saw the man’s face in the house.” Or, if she had, she didn’t remember. “He wore a mask. One of those cheap masks you can buy anywhere at Halloween.” Because the brutal attack had occurred two weeks before Halloween.

Two weeks.

The university had been on its fall break. Most of the sorority sisters had gone home or taken fun trips. But seven girls had stayed behind.

Margot had wanted to study.

Aisha had been working on a research project.

Tonya hadn’t wanted to leave her boyfriend.

Kim had caught the flu.

And I didn’t have anywhere else to go.

Margot, Tonya, Aisha, and Kim had all been killed in their bedrooms. The cops thought that Tonya, Aisha, and Kim had never even woken up before they’d been attacked. They’d all been found in their blood-soaked beds. Margot, though, she’d fought back. Run for her door…

Died right there.

As for the others in the house that night…

Kali had been killed on the couch. She’d been found in the den, on the couch, with the TV still on. And her throat sliced open.

Jenna had been discovered in the kitchen. With spilled popcorn on the floor. During the trial, Shelby had learned that Jenna’s arms were covered in defensive wounds. She’d been stabbed in the heart. In the lungs. In the kidneys.

A tear leaked down Shelby’s cheek. “Stupid mask. Black. Plastic.” Her eyes opened. He still held her arm. “Eye holes. Slits under the nostrils. A rectangular space over the mouth.”

“Sounds like you remember a lot about the mask.” A pause. His head tilted. “Did it look plastic, or do you know it’s plastic because you touched it?”

“They found the mask.” Everyone knew this. “It was found outside, near Nate.” Her heart seemed to squeeze in her chest.

“I know.” Grim. She almost missed the words because they were growled, and she found herself pushing her head a bit closer to him. “But before that moment, before they found it, you saw him, didn’t you? You were running in the house⁠—”

“I only recall bits and pieces.” She’d never remembered everything. “Fast flashes. Like parts of a movie that come and go.”

But lately…

“You told me that you turned on the lights in the hallway. That’s how you saw Margot. You turned on the lights. But then he attacked you.”

I see you.

Her breath came faster.

“You were on the floor. You put up your arms because he was slicing down at you.” Again, Hunter leaned forward. Brushed a kiss over her scar.