My mouth tightens into a thin line as Ranger gives Spencer a dude, STFU look.

“Kesha.” Just that one word, tinged with a bit of apologetic regret as he looks over at me. I don’t need him or any of the others to regret the people they’ve slept with in the past though; I just want them to only sleep with me in the future. Then again, I’m enjoying his attention too much to say anything, catching that sapphire gaze and holding it. “You saw them leave together and didn’t think to mention it until now?”

“Well, I was high as fuck, and a little bit drunk, and all I can really remember are Chuck’s blue eyes. I’ll admit, that night threw me for a serious loop. I’d been considering sucking dick and even swallowing”—he was going to swallow … for me? cue squealing—“and then I met this gorgeous girl that I felt overwhelmingly attracted to …”

“You were going to cheat on Chuck with Charlotte?” I gasp, and Spencer gives me a saucy look.

“You do it with the twins, don’t you? Maybe I could’ve wrangled a pair of cousins?”

“Okay, enough,” Ranger says as Tobias and Micah chuckle, using the silicone scraper in his hand to gesture in Spencer’s direction. “You saw Kesha leaving with Selena?”

“Pretty sure. And Aster was still inside dancing with Ross. Just saying, we could have two female attackers, and maybe they’re not always both present at the same time?” Spencer puts the casserole in the oven as Church rises from his favorite chair, tapping a stylus against his mouth.

“That could explain a lot. Put Mark, Gareth, Selena, and Aster together … Think about that. The lineages match, there’s the mention of Libby in Jenica’s journal, and every single one of them has given us at least some reason to suspect them.” He pauses and puts his palms on the countertop. “The only things that don’t make sense are your father”—Church holds up a single finger—“and the business owners in Nutmeg. How do they fit in?”

“You’re forgetting the biggest issue with this four-attacker theory,” Tobias says, and the twins exchange a look. “We’re missing another body,” they add together, and Church’s eyes narrow in thought.

“Maybe there’s someone else they’ve been stalking here or at Everly?” I suggest, and then we all pause as the door opens and Aster Hayes walks in, smiling her frustratingly perfect smile.

“Have I missed anything?” she asks, taking one of her new aprons off the hook near the door and slipping it on. She wears plain white ones and never bleaches them; I can tell it infuriates both Church and Ranger both.

“We were just about to make a four-cheese casserole,” I say, trying to force my lips into a smile and then pushing the cookbook across the counter.

Now that Spencer’s brought it up, I can’t stop wondering: is there another victim on this campus that we don’t know about?

Worse.

One that we won’t know about until it’s too late …

Nutmeg’s Main Street isn’t exactly the boardwalk back home, but I like coming here on the weekends. All the shop owners—even the ones who don’t like Church’s family—are nice. It probably helps that the guys are all loaded, and whenever I say I like something, they buy it for me.

“You don’t have to buy my affection, you know?” I say, sitting with the boys in their favorite booth near the front window. I play with the metal straw in my chocolate shake and pretend like I’m not purposely avoiding looking at the email in my inbox that says An Important Message from Bornstead University. I’m not the only one who has one, by the way. We all do.

“We don’t have to, but we like to,” Micah says, shrugging his shoulders. “And you are really poor, so I figure every little bit helps.”

“Oh, stuff your face,” I grumble as I glance over and watch Merinda sprinting from table to table. Is this place as far in the red as the antique shop? I wonder, looking back at Church. He said he’d tell me the story at some point, but I have yet to hear it.

“And stop stressing so much about this stupid university,” Spencer says, putting his elbows on the table and resting his chin in his hands. “You know we’re not going anywhere without you, Chuck.”

“I don’t want to hold you guys back because I slacked for the first two years of high school. That’s not fair.”

“Do you fully appreciate how rich we are?” Tobias asks, but not like he’s bragging, just like he’s stating a simple fact. “If there’s one, meaningful thing our privilege can buy, it’s going to be an education for you.”

“We’ve always planned on staying together after high school anyway,” Ranger says with a sigh and a roll of his eyes, like he can’t believe he ever subscribed to something so stupid. It’s all a front, of course. He loves these guys as much as I do. Just … I don’t think he wants to suck their dicks. Only difference between us. “We were sort of tossing around the idea of traveling first, but school is important, too. So open the damn email and stop stressing yourself out.”

“Maybe I need an apron, a good breeze across my backside, and a tray of colorful cupcakes?”

“When we get back to Adamson, I’ll naked bake the crap out of some lavender-vanilla cupcakes. I’m also more than happy to bend you over that counter again and fuck the shit out of you.” Ranger taps the screen of my phone with a blue-painted fingernail as Church sips his coffee and the other boys groan. “But only if you open this damn email and put us all out of our misery.”

“Actually, I was more interested in the story of Nutmeg and the Montagues—”

“We all got in,” the twins say, interrupting me and pausing with their forks paused halfway to their lips, a glistening bite of cherry pie perched on the tines of each. “We already checked with our Mom.”

“We got in?!” I scream, standing up so suddenly that I dump my entire chocolate milkshake into Church’s lap. My hands clamp over my mouth, but he barely reacts, taking another sip of his coffee before setting the mug carefully down on the table. “Church, I’m so, so, so, so sorry …”

“Don’t be, my sweet little bride,” he says, flicking his eyes up to mine before he smirks. Ranger and Micah slide out of the bench seat and Church follows, dripping milkshake everywhere. “Our apologies, Merinda.”

“Not a problem,” she says, as I struggle between wanting to freak out, and wanting to help clean up.

“I’ve got it,” Ranger says, taking the rag from Merinda and shaking his head at me. “Just do it. Go freak out or scream or whatever it is you need to do.”

“Really?” I ask, my eyes filling with tears. I’m about to get all blubbery and start snotting everywhere. Is that a word? Snotting? Because it really sounds like one that’d get used a lot … “We got into Bornstead U? All of us?”

“We’re in,” Tobias says with a laugh as I hold my arms up above my head and squinch my face up, screaming internally since it’s not considered polite to shout in the middle of a crowded diner. I fist-pump hard and then turn to slap a strong high five with Spencer. “And guess what? Your tuition is covered.”