“So, I’ve been thinking that we should make a plan about what sorority you’ll be joining.”

I hug my books closer to my chest. “I’m not joining one.”

“Yes, you are. We’re going to go right back to the plan we had before you ran off.”

I bite down on my tongue until I taste blood.

“Did you by chance try out for cheerleading?” he asks as he retrieves car keys from his pocket.

“I went to it a couple of days ago.”

“And what sorority do the girls on the team belong to?”

“I don’t know.” My eyelashes flutter against the light rain as I stare up through the cracks in the tree branches canopying above us. I feel like a caged animal. “I haven’t really talked to any of them yet. I’m not even sure if I’m going to officially join the team, either. I just went to the tryout because I was bored.”

Evan pauses, gripping my shoulder and forcing me to halt so abruptly I trip over my own feet.

“Em, look. I get it. You’re on your own now, living in your own place away from your parents, but don’t fuck up our life, okay? We had plans back in Ralingford, and as long as you’ll cooperate, we can make those plans happen here.” He flashes me a dimpled grin. “Together, we’re going to be fantastic, just like we were in high school. Everyone will envy us. But it needs to be a mutual thing. You’ve got to be on the same page as me. You’ve got to put in as much effort as me to keep on the right path.”

“What if I want to change that plan?” I clutch my books, seeking something to grasp onto because I feel like the ground is about to open up and swallow me whole. “What if I don’t want that anymore?”

“You do want it,” he states simply, leaving no room for discussion. “Now come on. I’ll drive you home before I go to practice. Then I’ll pick you up for the party afterwards.”

He ushers us to start walking again and snatches hold of my hand, forcing me to move with him.

“I can’t go to a party tonight.” The lie falls from my lips.

He cocks a brow at me, his features hardening. “Why not?”

I shrug. “I have homework.”

“On the first day?”

“Yep.” I stare ahead at the sea of bodies parting a path for us. “And I want to stay on track because soon my job will be starting, and things are going to get a lot more difficult to stay on top.”

He studies me from the side, my profile, my chest. None will give him the answers he’s searching for, though. “You don’t have to work, Emery. My father’s going to pay for us to get an apartment.”

My muscles wind into tight knots. “I have my own place already.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen that shithole and the trash that lives in it. We’re not living there. We’re going to get a nice place. We’ll be perfect together. We’ll have sex all the time, and I can keep an eye on you.” He flashes me his infamous grin, the one that can stop hearts, but it nearly kills mine right now, and not in a good way.

I think about running, sprinting across the grass and disappearing, but as we stroll up to his car, I realize I have another problem to deal with.

“You brought Larel and Taggar?” I shake my head, annoyed at the sight of the two large men standing beside Evan’s car. “What? Are they moving in with us, too?”

“You know I’m not allowed to leave the house without my bodyguards,” he says smoothly.

“I’m not getting into the car with them. At not with Taggar.” I dig my heels into the muddy grass, refusing to budge.

Taggar was the man who dragged me into the bushes that night I snuck out of the house. He roughed me up then ratted me out to my father because I’d been near the Shadows and had seen Tagger doing stuff to a girl against her will.

“Come on, Emery.” He shoves me forward, and I stumble over my feet again. “Quit being overdramatic and get in the fucking car. Don’t cause a scene.”

I open my mouth to throw a tantrum, but Evan cuts me off, snapping his fingers.

Tagger strolls forward with a shit-eating smirk on his face, grabs my arm, and yanks me toward the passenger side of the car.

“Do anything at all besides get into the car,” he warns in a low tone as he opens the car door, “and I’ll make you relive that night.”

The scars on my back pulsates as I wrench my arm from his hold and then climb into the black Cadillac. Evan slides into the driver’s side while Taggar and Larel scoot into the backseat.

“You got a new car?” I ask calmly, though I’m hyperaware that this car matches the car I’ve seen around the neighborhood, the one that was there the night the brick was thrown through my window.

“I borrowed it from one of my father’s friends,” he replies, revving up the engine. “Mine is too nice to be driving in town.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t live here then, if you don’t like it.” I draw the strap of my seat belt over my shoulder.

“My mind’s made up.” He backs the car out. “I’m not going anywhere.”

I stab my nails into my palms and keep them there during the drive to my apartment.

“I’ll pick you up at eight for the party. Don’t worry, we’ll only go for little bit. Then I’ll bring you home, and you can work on your assignments.” Evan grins his charming smile, the one I’ve seen him use to get his way for almost every day in the last three years. “You should be more excited, Emery. Your very first party. And they’re serving drinks.”