Chapter 37 AFTERMATH
MERRIELYNN.
I walked through the school hallways, the weight of the weekend’s events pressing down on me.
Whispers followed me, each one sharper than the last, and I could feel everyone’s eyes on my back.
“Did you see what happened at the beach?” I thought I heard someone murmur, and I cringed, the memory flooding back.
Once again, I was the subject of attention, but this time for something so down right embarrassing.
I had never felt so exposed, so utterly humiliated. I could still hear the voices ringing in my ears, the way my heart had raced as I struggled to breathe, panic washing over me like a storm sweeping through.
I had never experienced a panic attack before, and of all places, it had to happen in front of a crowd.
My cheeks burned at the thought of it, and I wished I had just disappeared.
As I rounded the corner, I overheard a pair of girls giggling, their voices low with gossip. “I can’t believe she freaked out like that! Who doesn’t know how to swim in this day and age?”
I fought the urge to turn and confront them. Instead, I pressed my lips together, trying to focus on the floor beneath my feet, willing the ground to swallow me whole. It was the first real school day since then, but it felt like an eternity had passed.
I couldn’t understand why everyone hadn’t just gotten it out of their systems already.
It felt like a cruel joke, the way they acted like I was invisible yet their gazes burned into me. They might not all have been whispering loudly as I walked by, but I could feel the judgment wafting off them.
I hated it so much.
Being the center of attention really fucking sucked. No matter how hard I tried to blend in, to stay under the radar, it was like I had a neon sign above my head flashing “Look at me!”
Part of it was all Cormac’s fault—then my stupidity had thrown me into this spotlight a few times, no doubt. And honestly, it didn’t help that no one at my damn school knew how to mind their own business.
Part of me seriously considered ditching school today. It was so unlike me, but the drama had pushed me to the edge more times than I could count. Still, I wanted to graduate, and if I was going to achieve that, I had to take my responsibilities seriously. That included being on the planning committee and making sure Cormac didn’t screw up the auction—because he honestly had no fucks to give, while I had plenty.
I needed to ensure nothing would go wrong, so I was willingly seeking him out.
It was funny how I knew he always lingered in one particular area near the academic building. Ironically, he seemed to love the refurbished science lab more than anything, which felt like a crime scene to me. He was the victimizer in my eyes, but then I paused—was he really?
I remembered what Emorie had told me about the type of person Mr. Ravenwood was before he died, before Cormac... blew him up.
A tremor ran through me as I approached the science department.
It baffled me how easily the explosion had slipped into the past, how everyone had collectively decided to ignore the truth behind it. I interacted with Cormac often—too often, for someone who was capable of murder.
As I rounded the corner, I spotted him alone in the lab, working around with the chemicals. He was so focused, so concentrated. It struck me then that I had heard somewhere he was a chemistry major.
Did he even care about his academics? Or maybe... he was concocting another bomb?
I wouldn’t be surprised, I thought.
I pushed the door open, my heart racing as I took in the fact that nothing about his demeanor changed.
He didn’t even look up at me. A sour feeling settled in my stomach at the obvious dismissal before I’d even begun. It was infuriating how he could affect my emotions so completely that he didn’t even have to acknowledge my presence to do it.
“Listen, I have to follow you to the palace when you get the moonstone,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
Suddenly, his head snapped up, and he fixed me with a deep glare that caught me off guard. I frowned, surprised by the intensity of his gaze.
“No.” He suddenly said.
“What?” I blurted out, but then I took a deep breath and stepped closer. “Look, I just need to make sure you don’t come back with the wrong item–”
“I said no,” he cut me off before I could explain further.
The finality in his tone sent a wave of frustration through me. How could anyone be so dismissive? I clenched my fists, struggling to keep my composure as I glared at him, but he just ignored me.
I raised my hands in confusion. “I don’t want to pry into your home life if that’s what you’re thinking,” I told him point blankly. “I can wait outside the palace gates if that’s what you want, but I’m not going to let you waste the fact that I agreed to your deal by bringing back the wrong thing.”
I watched Cormac drop the tube in his hand before leveling me with his gaze. “My answer is final. Don’t ask again.”
My frustration boiled over and I said, "Call of the deal then!" Throwing my hands into the air.
Cormac rounded the table, his eyes not leaving mine. “Or I could easily just force you to do as I requested. No deal, but you’ll follow through on your end regardless.”
I swallowed hard, feeling trapped. All I wanted was to make sure he wouldn’t make a mistake—what was the big deal? “Are you really going to back out now? You'd be breaking your promise." I asked, hoping to appeal to whatever sense of honor he had.
Cormac smiled thinly, and then said, “I never promised you a thing.”
Well, I had to remind him. “We had a deal.”
But he just shrugged. “Deal’s off,” he said, dipping his hands into his pocket. “This conversation made me change my mind.”
I bit my lip, trying to focus on what was more important.
“If the moonstone isn’t at the auction, it’ll be bad for both of us,” I insisted, feeling like I was repeating myself for the thousandth time.
He responded coolly, “I’ll see you at my table next week.”
“Without you giving me the moonstone?” I asked in disbelief.
And with a clenched jaw, he said “Exactly.”
We stared at each other in tense silence.
I could feel the bitterness inside me bubbling up, and it was hard to just walk away without saying something.
I needed to let it out. I knew I had to say at least a little something to relieve the pressure because I was losing my shit.
But all that came out of me was a bitter, "I hate you."
As I held eye contact with him, trying my best not to let him see me cry before turning around and leaving the same way I came.