Page 161

“Cute?” The corner of his mouth ticked up in a teasing smile when her eyes went big and her cheeks flushed pink, making her freckles stand out. Did all redheads blush so easily?

“Not cute like a baby! I mean. Um. You were handsome. Hot.” She spun on her heel and started walking toward the dorm. “You’re mean.”

He rushed to catch up to her and slid his arm around her shoulder. “I’m not mean. I was only teasing.”

The cute hmph sound she made in response settled his nerves about how she felt about her time at Blackthorn Academy. If she weren’t happy, she wouldn’t be able to joke with him this way. Blaire and Riley were right. She would be okay.

Approaching the door to their dorm, Charlotte stopped short, and the shot of fear hit him with all the subtlety of a bucket of ice water to the face.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded, stepping around her and drawing up when he saw what lay in front of their door.

A pink rose lay on a piece of paper in front of their dorm door on the floor.

“I thought you killed him,” she whispered, her voice breaking.

I thought I did too.

He marched forward and snatched up the rose and paper, unlocking their dorm and letting Charlotte in ahead of him.

He skimmed the note.

Sweetest Cherry,

I see you have found your way into our world. I hoped to keep you away. To protect you from all this as the only gift I could give you. The only way I could show you I love you, even though I can’t have you by my side. Unfortunately, it isn’t possible now. Now that you know everything, you will face the consequences of your association with your blonde friend.

A pity when childhood friendships turn into nightmares.

Sweet dreams for now,

J

J? Who the fuck is J?

He folded the note and put it in his pocket. Charlotte didn’t need something more to upset her right then. He’d show her, but after he settled her fear.

Stepping inside their dorm, he found Charlotte pacing in front of her bed. The trembling fear radiating from her set his teeth on edge. He wanted to throttle the threat, but the threat wasn’t here for him to unleash on.

Throwing the rose into the wastebasket next to the door, he approached her, hands coming up to rest on her upper arms from behind. She stopped and sank into his embrace when he slid his arms around her front and held her close, face buried on the top of her head, breathing in her scent.

“He’s not dead,” she whispered.

“He is.”

“No.” Her curls brushed his lips as she shook her head negatively. “He must’ve healed.”

“I tore his throat out. There’s no coming back from that.”

She spun in his arms and looked up at him, taking a step back from his hold. “Then how?” She motioned to the door. “How did they know to deliver a rose? A pink rose. Not many know about the stalker, and I know y’all didn’t do it.” She sniffed and swallowed hard. After a moment of silence, she looked up at him with widened eyes. “Maybe you didn’t kill the stalker.”

“What do you mean?”

“The guy in the alley outside the club called me Cherry, so I assumed he was the stalker, but so did idiots at the diner. I’ve always hated the name. Maybe it was a coincidence.”

With the note also referring to Charlotte as Cherry, it didn’t sound illogical. He didn’t think the use of the name was so common, but if two different people used it, and people at the diner… What did this mean for them? Who was the man he killed other than a rogue who bit his Korrena? Whoever the man in the alley was, he still deserved his fate. He seemed so determined to capture Charlotte with the way he demanded Noah get her.

Aiden cursed under his breath. Noah. Noah stayed close to Charlotte in Athens, and now he showed up in Rosebrook Valley when she did? Something about that rankled him and had his instincts on high alert. Noah knew more than he let on. Was he her stalker? Then who was J? Did he use the letter to throw them off his trail?

“Aiden, how did he get on campus? I thought the security here was tighter than Fort Knox.”