47. Bohemian Rhapsody

47

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

DAISY

It's been over a week since I started staying with Lester, and despite me missing my classes, I'm not behind on anything because I've been working in Lester's studio. Quite frankly, I couldn't give two shits about school at the moment. Private lessons from Lester Gilbert himself are so much better. He no longer has to divide his time between students and I have never felt so fulfilled.

All week we've had a nice mix of the most salacious sex sessions, painting and sculpture lessons, and even English lit and math.

This man is good at literally everything. I'm more in awe of him every single day, and I didn't even know that was possible. Of course, the occasional reality check hits us. But overall, it's been heaven.

I know the school has probably been calling my dorm because they want to meet with me, but I've obviously not been able to pick up since I've been here.

I'm alone in bed now, and Lester is at the university for his meeting with the school board. We fucked all night and morning, so when it was time for him to go, he told me to go back to sleep. It's 8 PM according to the clock, which is odd. Surely the meeting doesn't run this late, right?

I get up out of bed and make my way downstairs, where I spot a note on the kitchen counter. Frowning, I pick it up and read a message in Lester's handwriting.

Didn't want to wake you. I'm at the university. I got my job back and I'm going to prepare classes for tomorrow.

What? They took him back this quickly, so easily?

Uneasiness floods my gut. Why wouldn't he wake me to share this news? It doesn't make sense. He actually wakes me quite often. Either with his tongue between my thighs or grinding his dick against my ass.

I decide to call his office phone, but he doesn't pick up. If he's really preparing his classes, he's probably in his classroom.

He gave me clear instructions at the start of my stay here that he needs to know where I am at all times and that I shouldn't leave the house unless he's with me. That's the only reason I'm not out to look for him yet.

Walking through his large home with Luna at my feet, I get more uncomfortable by the second. He's afraid the copycat is going to get me , but what about him? If anything, the staged body in the woods was a message and threat to the Sculptor of Death himself.

Fuck me sideways. What if Lester is in danger?

I don't hesitate any longer. Fuck that. I've wasted an hour contemplating what to do already.

My car is still parked at the university, so I put on my roller-skates and drop a pair of shoes in my backpack to switch them when I'm there.

I make it to Aurelia about an hour later, despite skating like my life depends on it. Going by car, the distance is doable in twenty-five minutes, but with skates, unfortunately not.

After I've changed into my shoes and hide my skates behind a bush, I go to the front entrance. The university is always locked after 8 PM, but if Lester is still here, it's worth to see if it's still open. I find out that it's not and quietly stomp my way through the grass at the front of the school, all the way to the little incline where Lester's office is located.

Peeking through the window, I find the place dark and deserted, and more worry floods my stomach. Without thinking it through, I hoist myself up the small incline underneath his high window and unlock it with a pin. Once it's open, I jump into the room, landing painfully on my feet.

"Fucking hell," I curse as I get up. Walking out of Lester's office, I find my way into the large hallway with the checkboard floor. I look all around me, but there's no one in sight.

I'm almost positive that Lester is not here.

When I get to the main hall, I stop dead in my tracks when I see an odd shape in the distance. Frowning, I take slow steps forward.

I scream before my mind has time to process what I'm seeing, my voice echoing through the empty university. My hand moves over my mouth to suppress my panic and I feel my heart pounding in my throat.

"Oh, Jesus Christ!" I cry out, nausea hitting me like a freight train. "No, no, no!" I run toward the body, reaching up for the legs of the familiar guy.

Dangling from the banisters of the first floor… is Jace.

His neck is tied with rope and his guts are on the ground beneath him. His torso is slit open from his collarbone to his pelvis, a puddle of blood growing by the second, staining the white marble checks with bright red.

"What the fuck…" I choke out, but I barely hear my own voice. It feels as if my ears are covered with a pair of those fluffy earmuffs I always wear in the winter.

I'm not stupid enough to think there's anything I can do for him at this point, so I take a large step back as I look up at him. His eyes are dead, his mouth slightly parted, and his skin pale, as if all the color is draining from his flesh along with each drop of blood that leaves him.

I know that he really fucked me and Lester over and I kind of wished him dead, but I obviously didn't want this for him.

What the hell even happened? I don't understand a thing, but I do know that I need to get the fuck out of this place.

Gathering myself together, I'm about to turn around and look for a way out when something fast moves past my head, slicing the tip of my ear before it stabs into Jace's open chest.

A knife.

"Ah!" I yelp, my hand clutching the point of pain. "What the hell?! Fuck!"

Running away instantly, I go in the opposite direction of where the knife came from. Quick on my feet, I decide I best go to Lester's office to climb back through the window, because I know the school is locked.

There's a small security building outside, and the night personnel does rounds every hour. So if I'm lucky, one of them will come looking soon. It could also go another way―they could get murdered or they might be dead already. Or they might think that I had anything to do with Jace's dead body.

A loud scream leaves my throat when another knife flies right past my head, getting some of my hair this time. The blade clatters on the ground, the sound of it a sinister reminder of the mess I find myself in.

"Crap. Shit. Goddamn it. Fuck !" I curse as I force my legs to run even harder.

This must have been a trap. The note from Lester… I knew something was off with that. It didn't make sense that he wouldn't want to wake me up and that he would prepare classes in the evening.

Fuck me. I'm so fucking dumb.

It was his handwriting, though. I'm sure of it―I know his handwriting like no other. But there might be another person who knows. Someone who can recreate it.

Fuck . The copycat.

The one who is currently chasing me through a closed school.

And he's trying to kill me.

Once I'm in front of Lester's office door, I yank the handle, but find it locked. This fucking asshole locked me in.

There's nothing for me to do but keep running, and I slip through another hallway until I find the stairs. I need to find a good place to hide.

My feet move on the steps with rapid speed, and I use the railing as extra leverage to pull me up. Another yelp leaves me when I feel a shadow behind me. The copycat has amped up his speed and I'm seriously going to get my ass killed if I don't fight.

So when I reach the second floor and run through the library doorway, I hide behind one of the bookstalls as I get ready. It's a good thing I'm wearing jeans and comfortable shoes, along with a jacket. Extra protection or some crap.

I grab both my knife and gun, holding them before me as I decide what to do.

I'm in so much fucking trouble. I should've never gone here alone.

The best thing in this situation is to try and shoot the bastard from a distance. If that doesn't work and he manages to come close to me, I'll use my knife to stab the motherfucker in the eye. Or the stomach. Penis is also a good option.

Whatever . As long as it keeps me alive.

The ground is covered in carpet, so I can't hear the copycat's footsteps well. But I'll see his shadow when he comes close.

I wait for him to go further into the library, and when he does, I move closer to the entrance we both came through. He disappears out of my sight behind a tall bookcase and more anxiety fills me because I can no longer see his shadow. Feeling watched, my head shoots from side to side to find him.

It takes a while before I see him standing behind a bookcase in the distance. I take the safety off my gun as I peek over a row of books, through the small empty space between shelves. I lean my wrists on them for good aim as I watch him.

He's clad in black, with a hood over his head hiding his face. His posture seems frail and small, not at all what I imagined when I found out about him. The way the corpse in the woods was staged must have taken a lot of strength.

Closing one eye, I get ready to pull the trigger and shoot the motherfucker in the head. But right when I do, he turns around and faces me.

And that's when I find out that the copycat isn't a he at all.

It's a woman.

The shock of it makes me miss my target and she manages to duck and scramble away. The bullet penetrates a wooden shelf instead, causing the plank to break. All the books fall off and crash onto the ground, and I silently curse myself because that was the classic lit section and they were probably expensive.

"Double fuck me in both holes," I snap as I go for the exit before the copycat can get there first. A loud shot rings through the room and grazes my thigh, and I let out a loud scream. "You fucking bitch!"

I don't let it faze me, the pain barely even registering as I take cover behind a thick, white pillar in the hall. Panting, I clutch my gun tightly as I get ready to shoot.

The copycat is apparently on her fucking period because she's not in the mood to wait. She empties her gun, firing it at anything in her sight. Glass shatters when she hits a sculpture covered by a glass-sheathed box for preservation, the sound of it so loud it nearly makes me let go of my bladder.

She hits a window next, then a lamp on the ceiling. Bullet holes quickly cover the place around me, and though I can see it all, I'm still hidden from her view.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

I audibly swallow as I hear her speak for the first time. Yep , she's definitely a woman. Her voice is soft, despite the roughness she tries to put behind it, as if she's forcing it.

"What do you want from me?" I yell back.

The number of bullets she just wasted gives me confidence to believe that she's out. She might have an extra gun with her, but that's a risk I'm gonna have to take.

"I want you dead. Isn't that obvious?" she retorts, and I try to focus on her footsteps.

"But why? What the hell did I do to you?"

She steps closer. "You took something from me."

"And what's that?" I shoot back.

She takes a long pause, mumbling things underneath her breath before she answers. "After I spent years trying to find him, you just swooped in before I got the chance to make him mine."

I frown. Wait. This can't be happening, right? Is Lester's copycat just some fucking crazy ex-girlfriend?

"The Sculptor?" I ask. "Are you telling me that you want him… romantically?"

"Lester Gilbert," she answers. "I know exactly who he is and what he did for me."

"Did for you?" My hands are shaking as I focus on the gun and more confusion hits me. I can't fucking think.

"I'm not here to chitchat with you. I'll make it quick for you if you do what I say. Unlike what I did to your classmate. I'll just shoot a bullet through your pretty face."

"Did you kill Jace?" I'm kind of asking the obvious, but I don't care. "Why?"

I wait for her answer, but it doesn't come. What comes instead is a bullet that flies right past my head as she finally finds my hiding spot.

"Fuck!" I scream as I pull my own trigger and start firing as I hang around the corner of the pillar. I'm a better shot than this bitch, because whereas she is on her second gun, I instantly hit her arm. It grazes past her, but it does rip her jacket.

Her hood flies off her head from all the commotion and I get a good look at her face, along with her long, blonde hair. I'd say she's somewhere in her thirties, but she looks haunted despite being incredibly beautiful.

A slight peek is all that I get before she runs down the stairs, firing her gun from over her shoulder as she goes.

"Suck my dick, you dirty blonde fuck-hole!" I shout as I shoot back, hitting the steps close to her feet. "Fucking bitch!"

The further she goes down, the more I retract from my hiding place, getting closer to get a good aim. I'm about to shoot her through the head when I suddenly hear voices coming from downstairs.

"Stop right there!" a low male voice calls out.

Oh, shit. That must be the cops. I'm surprised it took them this long to come with all the loud shots firing. The university security team must have called them and decided not to try to get in the middle of something above their paygrade.

I disappear back behind the pillar, and I watch the copycat run back upstairs, away from the commotion. I hear multiple voices, and I'm sure all of them are police officers.

"She's getting away!" one of them shouts.

Peeking around the corner, I watch three uniformed officers go after the copycat who just tried to kill me, all with their guns in hand. I take that as my cue to slip out the other direction.

To my luck, I find a fire escape at the back of the building and I run to the parking lot at the dorms as fast as I can. I don't allow myself to take a breather before I start the car and step on the gas, getting the hell away from this place.