Lady Killer (Dead Girls Club #2)

28. Luz

Chapter twenty-eight

Luz

“ W hat do you mean you’re not coming back to the dorm right away?” Autumn looked like I had asked her to shoot a puppy.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I didn’t know when I would be returning either.

Alister wanted me to stay at the townhouse indefinitely. Ever wanted to move me into the estate.

Nixon didn’t want me there at all.

“It’s a safety thing, Autumn. Someone broke into my room. The Blackwells offered to let me stay with them until things calm down.”

She snorted. “The Blackwells, Luz. Of all the people you could have chosen to play sleepover with, you picked the Blackwells.”

“I didn’t exactly have a lot of say in the matter,” I said, taking a sip of my smoothie.

In the aftermath of Valentine’s Day, I had been forced to come clean with Autumn. Well, cleaner.

Something was still weighing her down, and I hadn’t had time to look into her parents.

As far as she knew, I was casually involved with Alister, who had graciously taken me into his home so I wouldn’t have to waste money on a hotel after my room was destroyed.

I never would have believed me, but Autumn wasn’t the duplicitous type.

“I don’t have, like, a ton of relationship experience, Luz, but even I know that controlling where you sleep is a red flag.”

Controlling where I slept was probably the greenest of the flags these men were waving, but I wasn’t about to tell her that.

Not when I had so many red flags of my own.

“It’s not like that. Someone broke into my room and destroyed it,” I defended myself again. “They left a pig’s heart nailed to my door last semester. It’s not crazy that I don’t feel safe there.”

Autumn tossed her head from side to side as she chewed.

When Alister spoke to the guy he’d had watching Autumn, he said he’d been stationed outside the dorm all night and had seen nothing out of the ordinary.

I was furious. I had agreed to stay with them based on their promise to keep Autumn safe. That the killer or one of their sheep got close enough to trash my room didn’t instill confidence in me.

Which led to me threatening to return to campus and the renegotiation of the terms of our deal. I now had regular visits with Autumn. Supervised from a distance.

“Okay, okay, maybe shacking up with professional killers like, isn’t the worst idea—?”

“They’re not killers, Autumn.” I didn’t know why I was lying to her. I had no idea whether Alister and the others even cared that everyone whispered about their family’s true nature. Still, it didn’t seem wise for Autumn to flaunt the knowledge.

She rolled her eyes. “Sure, sure. Okay, your boyfriend isn’t a murderer.”

“He isn’t my boyfriend.” I had been sure to emphasize the casual nature of our relationship.

Mostly because I still had no idea what our relationship was. What did “mine” mean?

“Okay, your lover then,” she said with a salacious grin.

I shuddered. “Don’t say that either. How is Simone doing, by the way?”

Autumn laughed and tossed a crinkled-up straw wrapper at me. “Nice try, Torres. Simone is a goddess, as always, but we aren’t changing the subject just yet. Give me the dirty details about your new boy toy.”

I looked at her skeptically.

“I’m a pansexual ace woman, Luz, I’m not dead. Just because I don’t want to do it, doesn’t mean I don’t want to gossip about it.” She waved her hand, indicating I should proceed, before adding, “I mean, I don’t want like, graphic details. But like, highlights. And if it’s TMI, I will be the first to cut you off.”

Swallowing nervously, I considered where to begin. Definitely not the primal chase through the woods.

“We’ve been having fun . . . exploring.”

“I bet Alister knows exactly what he’s doing. Something tells me Mr. Stoic and Silent is a freak in the sheets.”

If only she knew.

“He’s definitely . . . talented, in that regard. ”

Why is this so hard?

“So, have you, like, done it yet?”

My smoothie caught in my throat.

“Oh my God, you have! You did it with Alister Bla—?”

I had to reach across the table to slap a hand across her mouth. “Shhh!!!”

Autumn’s voice was loud enough that the entire dining hall was apt to have heard her.

She used her best puppy dog eyes on me until I relinquished my grip on her. “Sue me for being excited that my bestie is boning one of the most eligible bachelors on campus.”

It was my turn to roll my eyes. “Two minutes ago, you were calling him a murderer, and for the record, there is no boning, as you called it, going on.” I took a steeling breath before adding, “Yet.”

Autumn leaned forward with a devilish expression, her breakfast sandwich now entirely forgotten. “Very interesting. You must have like, a hell of a mouth on you if he has you shacking up with him and you aren’t even putting out . . . yet .”

Covering my face with my hands, I groaned. I didn't embarrass easily, but Autumn had a knack for it.

“It’s all still very new to me.” That wasn’t a lie .

“And he isn’t pushing you to do, like, more? Because if that’s what this whole sleepover thing is about, then he will have to answer to me. Professional hitman or not, no one does that to my friends.”

I laughed. The idea of Autumn and Alister going head-to-head was . . . something.

“No, it’s not like that. I promise. He’s oddly respectful. I haven’t felt pressured to do anything I didn’t want to do, and I’ve . . . enjoyed everything we have done.”

Including being chased by him and Ever wearing sheep masks and letting them face fuck me in the woods . . .

“Do you think you’re going to?” Her question pulled me back to reality.

“Have sex?” I asked, buying myself a minute.

“Duh.”

I mean, I assumed I would, at some point. I definitely wasn’t asexual like Autumn. I felt sexual desire and arousal. I wanted to experience sexual intimacy—I just never had anyone I actually wanted to be intimate with.

Until I met a family of killers.

“Eventually, I mean, I’m not, we’re not in a rush.”

Thank God I’d demanded privacy during my visits with Autumn. This would be absolutely painful with Alister—or worse, Everest—lurking in the background.

“Do I need to give you the safe sex talk? ”

“Oh, yes. Please do.”

“Birth control is only, like, 90 percent effective, so wrap it before you tap it no matter what he says. I’m too young to be an auntie.”

“I take it back. Sarcasm is clearly lost on you. No, I don’t need to hear about safe sex, Autumn. Thank you very much.”

“Whatever you say.” She smirked, picking her sandwich up again before taking a bite and offering me an exaggerated wink.

I had missed this.

Autumn and I wrapped up our brunch date and headed our respective ways.

She and Simone were meeting up to study in the library, and I had to head to class, where Alister was most likely waiting for me already.

I hadn’t been lying when I told Autumn that I didn’t feel pressured to have sex with Alister (or Ever, whom I didn’t know if I’d ever be brave enough to tell Autumn about) .

For all that the two of them seemed to delight in testing my limits, they also were surprisingly tuned in to my needs.

All that torture had made them excellent at reading people. Well, Alister at least.

Everest was utterly indifferent to 99.99 percent of the world, but for whatever reason, he made the effort with me.

The idea of losing my virginity hung heavy on my shoulders because it had come to represent something bigger than me. Like anyone with a bit of common sense, I understood that virginity was a construct, one entrenched in a heteronormative purity framework that punished women and rewarded men for sexual activities outside of the institution of marriage. However, Aaron's words before I killed him rang in my head.

Are you a virgin? Or are you mine?

I hadn’t been sure what to make of that. Still wasn’t.

Assuming the killer was related to my father’s guest and his experiments, what did that mean for me? How did it all connect?

If I lost my virginity, would that take me off the killer’s radar? It seemed unlikely. How would they even know?

Never in a million years did I think I would be someone who agonized over losing her virginity. But in a twisted turn of events, there was so much more for me to worry about than my reputation or whether I liked my partner enough to take the next step.

There was my life.