“Sunny!” I mutter. “Please, help me get off.”
“Holy fucking shit, Aspen,” she says as she approaches the lectern. “How the hell did you get yourself into this mess?”
“Are you gonna help me or not?” I growl.
“Jesus, of course,” she replies, ripping the knife out of the wood. “Don’t worry.” She slices through the rope with ease, and I yank my ankles and wrists free from each other with a groan, then slowly slide off the microphone.
I swiftly grab my jeans off the floor and attempt to put them on while she’s glaring at me with her hands against her waist as if she’s got a ton of questions. But I don’t even have the answers. Nor pants apparently because they’re completely torn to shreds.
“Oh, here.” She takes off her tight black leggings and throws them at me. “Put those on.”
“But then you’re in your underwear,” I say.
Sunny shrugs. “I don’t care.”
Wow. I’m impressed.
“It’s night. Who’s gonna see anyway?” she adds.
“True.” I swiftly put them on and pull my torn shirt back down, patting everything down to make myself as normal-looking as possible even though I just got rammed through.
“So … you gonna tell me who tied you up there or nah?” She blows out a bubble of her gum. “Because I know for a fact you didn’t do this to yourself.”
“Maybe I did,” I reply, wiping down the microphone so that hopefully it erases all evidence of my ever being tied up here.
“Impossible.” She narrows her eyes. “I know how to tie a knot. You didn’t do these.”
“How could you tell?”
“Professional eye.” She winks, and for some reason, it makes me blush. “Also, the reason I’d love to know who was behind this is because I need to know if I have some competition on campus.” She throws her arm around my shoulders, casually playing with the knife that was just between my legs. “Besides, I won’t be able to punish them for you if you don’t give me a name.”
“I don’t know,” I reply.
“Oh, c’mon, don’t be coy,” she retorts.
“I’m serious. I don’t know his name.” I swallow. “He calls himself Ghost.”
“Ghost?” she repeats, before bursting out into laughter. “I’m sorry, but that’s corny as hell.”
I throw her arm off my shoulders. “Not my idea.”
“Sorry, I just figured you were into BDSM or something. Though, I admit, I never thought you were the kind of girl to do it in public. I didn’t know you were freaky like that, Aspy.”
“Please keep this between us,” I ask. “And it’s Aspen.”
“Sure, sure,” she replies.
“Don’t tell anyone. Especially not Levi,” I say.
“I won’t tell a soul.” She raises her hands.
I don’t know if I can trust her. After all, she is Levi’s half sister and part of that family. They might be trying to find dirt on us too after our families made it clear we’re all rivals now.
I hold out my hand. “Can I have my knife back?”
She narrows her eyes. “Yours?”
I snatch it away before she can tuck it away.
