I'd forgotten. Until Blaze smiles at me again. This one isn't the warm, charming, smile from downstairs. This one he'd learned from his father, the leader of the Bouchard Syndicate. This is a smile that is worn by someone walking through a room full of body parts.
The one worn by someone who knows he's untouchable. That they all are.
It sends a shiver down my back.
I can't forget who they are. I can't forgetwhatthey are.
"You don't have to assume the worst of us," Asch protests, jumping into the silence that lasted a little too long. "Chances were, someone just brought her here to sleep it off. It was probably dumb, not malicious. I'm trying to help, but you keep yelling instead of letting me."
"Tell you what," I say, smiling wildly. "Sure, if you want to help, you can. I won't even hold your poor taste in friends against you."
Asch looks between us. "It'll take like fifteen minutes, okay? Pandora can't get her back to the dorm by herself."
I probably can, but I'm not going to pass up this opportunity.
Blaze glances from Asch to me, then back to Asch. "Fine."
He disappears without another word.
"Carly, do you think you can walk?" I ask, turning back to her and extending my hand.
It takes her a few tries, but she manages to get up off the bed.She's leaning heavily against me, and I realize that she's actually tiny. I always feel like a midget in my family of giants—even my mom at 5'11" is taller than my 5'8"—but Carly is a good few inches shorter than me and at least ten pounds lighter.
It wouldn't have taken much to roofie her, or to get her knockout drunk.
I look at Asch. "Well? Are you helping or not?"
"Yeah," he says, getting on her other side and taking the majority of her slight weight against himself. "Let's get her outside, then we can figure out how to get her to the dorm. The air will probably be good for her."
We get her outside, and once we're clear of the party I realize that Carly is sobbing quietly to herself.
"You guys are a real piece of work," I tell Asch as we start towards the dorms. It should only take ten minutes, but it's still ten minutes with Carly in this state. "You could have held off until at least a month in. How are you going to fly under the radar if every one of your parties ends up with roofied women?"
For the first time, Asch looks irritated. "Ididn't do anything wrong, Pandora. I'm not the one in charge of the parties, I'm not responsible for everyone at the parties. In case you haven't noticed, I've been taking your bullshit while trying to help you — and her — when anyone else would've told you to fuck off already."
My head hazes with rage. It's too much. It's one thing too much, too far.
It's never anyone's fault.
Never anyone's responsibility.
Rachel.
Carly.
Whatever poor woman happens to be next.
I don't even realize my hand is reaching into my skirt for the knife that I always keep on me until I have it flipped open and pressed against Asch's throat. "It's never anyone's fault," I say cheerfully.
Carly yelps and backs away from us. "What… what are youdoing?"
I grin widely, my eyes still on Asch's. I know that they're wide and wild. Manic. "Don't worry, Carly! Nobody's touching you ever again."
Asch grabs my wrist and twists my hand, shoving me away from him in one smooth motion that tells me he knows how to handle himself. "Jesus! You're fucking crazy."
Crazy.
"Yeah," I answer, laughing. "Yeah, I might be."
