Page 42 of Among the Screaming Trees

Aspen squares her shoulders. Is he trying to embarrass her? Oh, fuck, because if he is, I will end him.

“What about the Prof? Anything you need to add? Have you been inside her too?”

When faced with an untenable accusation, aim for deflection.

“Is she riding your cock too, Muir?”

“Don’t, Professor. Fox is still a… virgin,” Luk says.

Holy shit. Fox glowers at me, his coal pupils almost meeting the dark granite irises. Ah, see, this is heading into blurry territory. “Lukaz. If Aspen wants to articulate her sexual history with you, she can. Right now, there are more pressing things to discuss.”

“Such as?” A brow wings up.

“Such as Amber Donnelyn being in her room the night before she left for Anchorage. Another student murdered, and any of those situations having a connection to Arthur’s disappearance. If whoever was behind her dad is coming for her, then the four of us should be able to protect her.”

“Five,” she says, eyes glaring back at me.

“The five of us should be able to keep her safe. Now, tell us who else knows about your dad’s work, and who here have you said something to. Anatalia has a mouth on her bigger than Alaska.”

“I’m not sure what Amber took. I don’t keep much on my laptop. Most of it stays inside my head, or anything else is on a drive in a safe deposit box back in Colorado.” She thumbs her necklace, the pad of her index finger dragging over the tree on the locket that belonged to her mother, Aster.

“And Tali. I don’t know. Before the shit with Amber, we were pretty tight. I thought she’d be on my side, but when I confronted her coming out of my room, Tali got defensive, and that made me uneasy.”

“Is there a possibility Amber and Tali are working together?” Luk asks.

“I doubt it,” Jack says. Well, he’d know. Out of everyone here, he has intimate knowledge of that woman. Fox continues to type, his big fingers stabbing at his phone screen like furious wasp stingers.

“Luk and I can move in with her. That way, she’s never alone, and the two of us can roster her company.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose between fingers and thumb. “Not a great idea.”

“Why?” It’s stabbed with haste and displeasure.

“Because it’s an all-female dorm for one. How is that going to look for other students and their families if I allow a couple of dudes to just move in?”

“Safety,” he types again.

“Okay. And then Tali moves her guy in, and what about Poppi? Is she hosting anyone? This opens the door to some prickly questions right after a student’s death.”

“But—”

“I said, No!”

“Can she move in with Fox and me?”

“No, Lukaz.”

“Why not?”

“Boys, I think what Eli is trying to say is that we can’t upset any of the dorm accommodation right now. It’s a little too fresh. Given time and further investigations⁠—”

“Fuck that. Respectfully, Doctor.”

“Everyone needs to exchange cell information. I want a group chat set up. Don’t call it anything stupid, Vaskari. If you put any dumb shit on that and we get called out, it’s our jobs on the line here, not yours.”

“I wasn’t going to…”

“Do I get a say in any of this? You are all yelling around me, and over me, without talking to me, or asking me what I want.”