Will Sullivan liked his coffee black. Plain and simple.

"Isn't that too sweet for you?" he asked, a grimace passing his features as he eyed my own mug. "You put way too many sugar..."

"It's how I like it," I defended, tapping my fingernails against the glass. "But I don't think we're here to talk about our preferences in coffee, Will. Please, I'm getting anxious. What exactly happened? What were you talking about yesterday on the phone?"

He leaned back against the sofa and tilted his head. With the ceiling lamp directly above our booth, the scar on his face was very much visible. "I followed Anya weeks before the attack."

I inhaled sharply, losing my grip on my drink. "Why?"

"Funds for my mother," Will answered simply with a shrug, "for my schooling. I was stupid and desperate. He asked me to do it."

"And yet you don't know who he is."

"All I got were texts from a phone whose number is untraceable. The first half of the money promised was sent straight to my account."

I bit my lip. "Okay. So you followed Anya."

"At the night of the party," he said lowly, "when Theo left her inside the room, I convinced her to come with me and drove her to the place where she was assaulted—a place she was familiar with and Theo knew about, because it would've been easier to find her that way."

I blinked and stared at him. "You brought her directly to a monster to be attacked."

Will's eyes were pleading. "I know how it sounds, Thea—"

"Tell me why I shouldn't call the cops right now."

"Because you don't have evidence," he countered tightly, clenching his jaw. "All you have are words. We need to find out who he is before we think about involving the police."

I gritted my teeth and stared at the man who contributed to Anya's suffering. Though I didn't know her, no harm should've been brought upon an innocent girl. "What else did you do? Is that it?"

Will closed his eyes for a moment. "I also called the police in time for Beau to show up using a burner phone."

"You framed him," I hissed, eyebrows drawing together, "that's the word, Will. If you're brave enough to do something as monstrous as you did, use the correct term, you coward."

He visibly flinched. "I tried coming clean. I really did. But he caught me. Took me and blindfolded me, then this happened." To my horror, a finger traced the scar on his face. "He didn't say anything, but the message was clear. I needed someone else's help, or else he'd do something far worse than messing up my face."

I swallowed hard. "You're going to pay for what you did."

Will nodded. "I know."

"You and that...bastard."

"Yes."

"Why Anya? What could he have against an innocent girl?"

He paused. "He never told me why. He never answered my questions, but maybe she wasn't so innocent after all."

"That's not a fucking excuse to make her suffer. She's traumatized—this will scar her for the rest of her life."

Will's lips curved to a sad smile. "That is my burden to shoulder for the rest of my life as well."

I took a sip from my drink. "Why do you have a bad relationship with Nico and Faust? What do they know?"

"They don't know anything specific," he answered carefully, rolling his neck. "They're wary. They just assume I had something to do with the attack, which is why they're keen on protecting you from me."

"How are they sure you're somehow involved?"

"Aside from the fact that some people said they saw me at the party? Well, when your mother is suddenly being funded and you suddenly don't care much about moving forward to the state championships for a scholarship, smart people become suspicious. Especially when you start hanging around their girlfriend."

"I'm nobody's girlfriend," I snapped, slamming my mug down on the table, enough to make the people beside our booth jump in surprise. "How did you know that Faust was with Anya this whole time?"

Will snorted. "Carter doesn't know when he's being followed."

"That's your specialty, isn't it?"

He cleared his throat. "I deserved that."

I sighed. "I'm not sure if I can help. I'm not very observant and I tend to get caught a lot when I lie."

A laugh rumbled in Will's chest. "I chose the wrong partner."

"You don't have a choice. You're stuck with me."

"Ah. Well, we don't have any suspects as of now. I need to dig further into things, maybe you can ask your brother too. All I can give you is that he knows Faust, Theo and probably Nico as well. But honestly, once we have names, all you have to do is get close enough. You just need to look for one thing—I was able to catch a glimpse of it peeking from his shirt sleeve before he knocked me out to put a blindfold over me."

I knew the answer, but still, I asked, "What is it?"

Will's mouth spread to a grin. "A tattoo. On his right shoulder."

*

Paula tore open a pack of M&M's. "Dumb and Dumber are back for training from their spontaneous trip. We should go watch them."

"No," I answered tightly, keeping my eyes on the computer screen as I sorted through the library files Evelyn needed. Spontaneous trip, my ass. "And you're not supposed to eat here, you know. I can kick you out."

"But you won't," the cheerleader said, wagging her eyebrows as she pushed the packet of chocolates towards me. "This is your favorite. Come on."

"Stop tempting me."

Paula pouted and pulled her arm back. "More for me, then. Are you okay? Is something bothering you? Don't you want to see your boyfriend—"

I snapped the laptop shut and grabbed the chocolates. "Give me that."

She tilted her head in question. "Did you guys have a fight?"

Although I would've gladly told her that we'd broken up because of all his lies and secrets, I wasn't sure if it were my place to say. Despite everything that had gone south, I still had some respect for Faust, and my more humane side wouldn't let me say anything without clearing things up with him.

I sighed and took two pieces into my mouth. "I'm just hungry. My shift was over anyway."

"When are you going to resign from this job? We're going to graduate in a few months."

Shrugging, I stuffed my laptop back into its case and shouldered my bag. "Soon. Let's go, we can see the jerk."

"Do you mean Nico?"

"No, I meant Faust."

Paula laughed. "That's unexpected. You really did have a fight, then."

I picked up my stuff and finished the last of the chocolates. "It's nothing to be worried about. Aren't you supposed to be practicing with the squad, too? You're performing for state championships. That's in two days if you've forgotten."

We fell into step together as we exited the library and made our way back to school. Paula looped her arm around mine. "It's rest day today. We've been practicing our asses off. Tomorrow, we're just going to do some runs since we'll need our sleep and energy. I'm so excited for state! I have this really good feeling we're going to win."

My lips curved into a small smile. Though I didn't voice it, I shared the same sentiments.

The bleachers were empty when we arrived at the gym and took the seats along the second row; it was nearing eight in the evening, after all, and as I looked up, even from across the gymnasium, I could feel the intense burn of two pairs of eyes on me.

I ignored the first and focused on the second, squirming against my seat as my fingers reached down to pull the hem of the denim shorts I wore.

Nico sucked in a deep breath at the fleeting glance he directed towards my bare skin and caught the ball JJ passed to him in time, dribbling it across the court.

My pulse was racing. "Paula, how much do you know about Nico?"

She glanced at me with an arched eyebrow. "Why are you curious?"

"Just am."

Paula hummed. "Well, he may seem incredibly closed off, but that doesn't mean he's cold, unfeeling, and heartless. He's just...a little emotionally constipated. You'd have to bear with him."

I pulled in my bottom lip in between my teeth. "Yeah. Yeah, I get it. Most of the time, I'm wondering what's going on inside his head. It would be nice to know."

Paula took out a lollipop from the pocket of her Vince Camuto bag. "It would, yes."

While I tried my best to keep my gaze strayed from the icy blues glancing in my direction, the last few minutes of training went by in a flash. As soon as it was over, Theo jogged over with a tired smile, taking the stairs two steps at a time. "Hey. I didn't know you were coming."

"I wasn't supposed to," I countered slowly, turning my head towards Paula, who cleared her throat and looked away. I resisted the urge to grin—I'd forgotten they were exes. "But I was convinced to come. Right, Paula?"

The cheerleader nodded and continued to suck on her lollipop, keeping her eyes on the court.

I snickered. Theo shifted from one foot to another. "Right. Is Carter taking you home or am I?"

"You are," I said, offering him a tight-lipped smile. "Go shower. I'll wait for you here."

He looked skeptical, but did so anyway. Paula smacked my arm. "That was unnecessary!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're evil," she commented, narrowing her eyes at me. "It's like you changed overnight. I don't know who you are anymore."

It was a joke, but it stung a little.

All the crying really did take a toll on me.

I sighed. "I'm sorry. That was mean. I'm taking my irritation out on everyone."

"I was just teasing, Thea, calm down," Paula assured me with a laugh and a glint in her eyes. "It's fine, it's not like Theo makes an effort to actually talk to me, anyway."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Are you really not going to tell me what happened between you two?"

She shrugged. "It just didn't work out."

"Thea."

Paula and I looked up to find Faust standing in front of us, eyes pleading and locked with mine. Sweat rolled down the sides of his face, and his jersey stuck to him wetly. He looked exhausted. "Can we talk?" he asked softly, a grave expression on his face. "Privately."

"I thought I made it clear I didn't want to talk to you right now."

"Thea," he said again, voice breaking, "please."

I shut my eyes.

Unfair. He was being so fucking unfair.

I stood. "Give me a second."

The cheerleader nodded and gave me a thumbs-up.

Following Faust down the bleachers, I hugged my jacket against myself and inhaled deeply to steady my breathing. The muscles on Faust's back tensed, his posture stiff as he stopped by the end of the hallway and turned around to face me.

Closer, he looked beyond exhausted. Like he'd been wrecked out of his mind. "How are you feeling? Have you eaten anything today? You worried all of us—"

"That's none of your business."

Faust's hands gripped the ends of his jersey in obvious desperation. "I might've hurt you, Thea. I might've screwed up badly, but I still care about you."

"Okay."

Faust searched my face. "I'm sorry."

"I can't accept that right now," I murmured, looking down at my feet. "What else do you want to say? I don't want to give you any more of my time—I'd wasted enough of it with you."

He flinched. "I understand that you're done with me."

"Good."

"But hopefully not as your friend," he said, features lining with frustration to get the proper words out, "I—I shouldn't have lied to you. I shouldn't have done all the things I did wrong. And I know it's wrong and shameless of me to ask you this, but is it possible to keep this breakup on the down low? At least until state championships are over?"

I blinked. "Are you seriously asking me to pretend we're still together?"

"It's just to keep my focus in—"

"The game?" I asked incredulously, crossing my arms over my chest. "Is it because you're scared Theo will find out?"

"No," he bit out, clenching his jaw, "it's because I'm still fucking selfish and there's a part of me that doesn't want to let you go just yet."

For the first time, there was nothing but raw honesty in the words he spoke. It made me weak to my knees and a sharp ache tugged at my chest. "The moment your heart decided it wasn't going to give me a chance," I whispered, shaking my head, "you already did. And that's fine. I'll think about your favor."

And then I left without looking back.

Nico watched me silently as I grabbed my things and exited the gymnasium to wait for Theo at the parking lot.

I wondered what was going on inside his head. It would be nice to know.