Sometimes it’s not the dead who haunt us. Terrify us. Torment us. It’s the living.
Dante
I’ve been watching her for two years.
Two years I’ve dominated this college, on and off the court, and she hasn’t looked my way once. But, tonight, it’s Halloween. And, tonight, she’s the one who’s getting haunted.
Tonight, she’s going to find out that she’s mine.
General Release Date: 2nd June 2020
I was the only one in the entire jock-filled classroom dressed in black. There was a sea of orange and blue—Caven University’s school colors—and a few boys in blue-gray sweats and white, fitted V-necks.
But I was the only one in black.
And, probably, the only one here who wasn’t planning to go on to play a professional sport or fall back on Daddy’s dream of law school.
I didn’t have a daddy.
I had no intention of going to grad school.
And my hand-eye coordination meant the only sport I was okay with was running, and that was just to stay in shape.
Thankfully, the lecturer dismissed sports psychology early, and I threw my notebook into my bag and stood, ready to get the hell out of there. It was Halloween night. How no one here in this bubble of testosterone and sweat could respect that with appropriate colors was beyond me.
“You dropped something.” Fuck.
I looked up, startled, and stopped trying to edge my way out of the stadium-style seats. A boy in a gray hoodie and dark blue shorts blocked my path.
“What?” I asked, confused, hefting my backpack higher on one shoulder.
The room was emptying and I wanted to get back to my dorm to prepare for horror movie night with my best friend, Holland.
The boy smirked.
“A pencil,” he said, jerking his chin to indicate the floor. I glanced down, and saw that I had, in fact, dropped my mechanical pencil on the floor. Black, like my ripped jeans and hoodie.
I bent down to pick it up, but, right before I did, the boy’s dark blue Adidas landed on it with a crack.
I jerked back, my face heating as I met his gaze.
He had hazel eyes, brown hair shaved on the sides and longer on top, and he was nearly a foot taller than me.
“What the fuck?” I spat, angry.
I heard laughter behind me and turned to glance over my shoulder. A small group of Caven’s cheerleaders and—I assumed, based on their shorts and jerseys—basketball players were watching us in amusement.
I turned back to the boy.
He was smiling, but it was anything but friendly.
“Why’re you in this class, Freckles?”
I was positive my face—and freckles—were a shade of tomato red. I didn’t bother to tell him my name was Aria.
He moved his foot. I looked down at the pencil. It was broken in two. Useless.
I turned around to go out the other way through the aisle, even though it meant I’d have to walk past the group of asshole jocks down below.
But just as I took a step, I was yanked backward and almost fell on my ass. It was only Hazel Eyes who stopped me, his hands clutching my forearms to keep me from falling. He spun me around and let go of me, his eyes staring into mine.
“Watch it,” he warned. “I wouldn’t want to break you too.”
There was no more laughter at my back. He’d said those words just for me to hear. Before I could say anything else—not that I had any idea what to say at all—he turned around and went down the steps to meet his friends at the door. He didn’t glance back at me once.
I picked up the two halves of my broken pencil and stuffed them in my hoodie pockets.
K.V. is an author of dark romance living in Toronto. She enjoys iced coffee, writing villains, and everything in black.
Find K.V. at her website, and follow her on Pinterest and Instagram
Reviewed by Crystal Blogs Books
Fun, short new adult romances with a dark twist. Yes, please. The first in the trio is The Darkness at Fall's Creek. Oh boy, the darkness of the short story was amazing. I loved the tone of the story...
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