He's been taking care of this place, Ranger has.

“Do you hang out here a lot?” I ask, thinking about the noises I've heard coming from upstairs. He nods, and I grin. “I've been chilling in the common area. I'm surprised we've never crossed paths.”

“Well, I imagine you were careful not to get caught?” he asks, tossing a look with a raised brow over his shoulder. “So am I.” He turns back around and moves into the bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed with a sigh and rubbing his big hands down his face.

“Where'd you get the key?” I ask, and Ranger looks up, his nostrils flared with anger.

“It was hanging around her neck—along with the noose.” He wrinkles up his face, like he knows he should be telling me this stuff but doesn't want to.

“Did she …” I start, biting my lower lip as the twins take up spots on the window seat, and Church leans against the wall next to me. It smells like mothballs and cedar in here, like this room hasn't been used for a very, very long time.

“Leave a note? Yeah.” Ranger ruffles up his dark hair and glances over at Church. The President of the Student Council turns to me and meets my eyes with his honeyed gaze. He's not smiling or ice cold right now, like maybe this is his true personality. It's the first time I've ever seen it.

“Dear JR, I think they know about us. There's not much left I can do. If you want to meet me, you know where to find me. I'll be waiting with the angels. Love, J.” Church pauses and crosses his arms over his chest. “The way she signed her J, it had to be her that wrote it.”

“Wait, waiting with the angels?” I ask, and Ranger makes this sound of frustration, not necessarily at me, but like he's had to explain this a hundred times to a hundred different people.

“There used to be a pair of angel statues in the woods. That's where she met with her boyfriend. I keep telling people that; I've been telling them that since I was fucking eight years old, and nobody wants to listen.” Ranger reaches over and puts his hand on the metal bedpost, spinning the small decorative metal ball on the end with his fingers.

“How would you know about that?” I ask, and he glances up at me before shrugging.

“Spencer's brother. He used to rule this school. He had maps of everything, like some Harry Potter type shit. No magic footprints, but those things are crazy detailed. Anyway, he used to take Spencer and me around to play hide and seek and shit. The angel statues that were there for years disappeared the same day that Jenica died.”

My mind is spinning with possibilities, and I sit down hard on the edge of the bed as the twins swap M&M’s. Apparently Tobias likes green better, and Micah prefers blue. See, told ya they were easy to tell apart.

“You seem to know so much already,” I start, trying to figure out what, exactly, is different about me that poses a threat. There's only one thing I can think of. “It must be something to do with my gender.” I look up. “The reason these people are after me, that is.”

“But what is it about that, that makes you a threat and not me?” Ranger asks, glancing my way.

But I have no idea how to answer him.

Not one fucking clue.

Later that night, when I'm sitting in my room in my pjs, I glance over and notice the decorative metal balls on the ends of my bed posts. When I scoot over next to one and start to twist it the way Ranger did, I notice it comes right off. There's nothing inside this one, but there is an empty space where something could be.

Just for fun, I check both the end posts, the top right … and then the top left. Inside of that one, I strike gold.

There's a key with a heart-shaped bit at one end, thick chunky skeleton teeth on the other, and a small pink ribbon wrapped around the center. It's even hanging on a thin, pink cord.

I let it dangle in front of my face.

It looks just like the key around Ranger's neck, except that it's gold instead of silver. It even has the same ribbon detail, and the same cord.

“Holy. Freaking. Shit.”

I'm off the edge of that bed and out the door, racing down the hall, the steps, and across the landing until I reach Ranger's room. I've seen him come out of it enough times to know I'm at the right spot.

My fist bangs on the wood for just a moment before he opens it … and I find Spencer staring right back at me.

Uh-oh.

His entire face shuts down when he sees me, and I realize we've managed to squeak by an entire week without discussing that hug.

Also, I'm wearing super baggy pjs with long sleeves, but … I feel a tad exposed without my bindings, without my shoes, without underwear. I mean, I know Spencer can't see that I'm not wearing panties, but I know I'm not wearing panties, and that's all that matters.

“Making a midnight booty call to your lover, huh?” he spits out, sneering at me.

“Man, I told you: I'm fucking straight. Now go get those snacks I asked for. It's your turn to hit up the kitchen.” Ranger shoves Spencer into the hallway and gives me a look. He must see something on my face though because he steps back to let me in. “We're not fucking. We're just … I don't know, making friends or some crap.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Spencer growls, storming off and giving us the finger over his shoulder. “If you're gonna do it, make it quick because I won't be gone long.” I watch him go until Ranger closes the door completely, blocking off my view.

Glancing over my shoulder, I see the pair of beds on opposite sides of the room. If they weren't king-sized and graced with enormous leather headboards, it might look like any other dorm room. There are desks at the foot of each bed, wardrobes on the walls opposite the beds, and a huge, plush faux fur rug in the middle.

“You guys get a freaking fireplace?” I ask dryly, pointing at the wall between the two beds where the fireplace insert hangs. There's a crackling flame, making the room look all cozy. There are windows above each bed, the curtains parted to reveal the twinkling stars outside.

When I first got to this school, all the other students looked at me like a total asshole for getting the top floor room. Now I see that the top floor room is the shittiest one.

“Yeah, so?” Ranger puts his palm on the wall above my head, and leans in, so close that I can smell his leather and sugar scent, this dichotomous mixture of hard and soft that makes my toes curl against the stone floors. “What are you doing here … Charlotte?” he drags my name off the tip of his tongue in just such a way that it feels like both a promise … and a warning. “Spencer's got the wrong idea already, and all that. By the way, when are you going to tell him? He keeps accusing me of trying to get you to suck my dick.”

“Whoa, whoa, why does he assume that I'm the one sucking dick? Maybe you're the one sucking my dick?”

Ranger smirks at me and leans in so close that our mouths almost touch.

“Oh, Chuck, don't kid yourself: nobody thinks that.” He chuckles, and the sound makes me shiver so violently that I almost slide down the wall in a puddle. Ranger reaches out and fingers the lapel on the edge of my pajama shirt. “You're a bottom, hands-down. I knew it the first second I saw you. Me, I'm a top.” He pushes away from the wall, and leans back against the opposite side, his huge body filling the narrow hallway space.