Free Ominous by Kate Brian Page A

pride. “Make him wait. Make him grovel. By the time we get there, he’s going to be ready to give you
my
trust fund.” She blinked. “Actually, don’t make him wait
too
long.”
    “I really don’t feel comfortable with this plan,” I said tentatively.
    “Do you want Billings back or not?” she asked.
    “Yeah, but—”
    “Then you should be willing to do whatever it takes to get it back,” she said firmly. “That’s the Lange way.”
    I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to remind her right now that I wasn’t a Lange. And Brennans weren’t much for throwing money around. Instead, I decided to let the subject drop for now and reached for my orange juice glass.
    “You
slept
with her?”
    The entire cafeteria fell silent at the sound of Ivy’s inhuman screech. I whirled around and saw her standing near the far wall of the cafeteria, under one of the larger paintings depicting a quaint street in Easton circa the turn of the century. The object of her rant was Gage Coolidge, one of my least favorite people at Easton, and Ivy’s long-term on-again, off-again friend-with-benefits. He looked around nervously, his shoulders a bit hunched as he noticed the entire world was watching.
    “Ivy, chill. It was nothing. And I told you, I was drunk.”
    “Like that’s an excuse!?” Ivy shouted, her face red with rage. “You knew exactly what you were doing! Admit it!”
    Gage reached for her. “Ivy. Baby. Stop it. You know I love you. I would never—”
    “Don’t say that!” Ivy cried, shoving him off of her. He hit the wall, and the painting over his head shimmied on its mount.
    The Easton security team sprang into action. Two of the guards rousted themselves from their posts near the doors and started toward Ivy at a swift, but not panicked, pace.
    “You’re such a liar, Gage,” Ivy seethed, her hands curled into fists at her sides. “You’re a liar and a slut and a cheat! I don’t know why I ever got back together with you!”
    The painting tilted suddenly as one of its strings snapped. I gasped, but Ivy didn’t seem to notice.
    “Ivy,” Gage implored.
    “No! Just leave me alone, Gage! I hope you die.”
    Just then, the second string snapped and the heavy painting plummeted. Half the dining hall gasped; the other half screamed.
    “Gage! Look out!” I shouted.
    Everything happened so quickly it was all a blur. Gage looked up, his eyes widened, and he staggered sideways just in time to keep from getting his face flattened, but the corner of the frame slammed into his shoulder. His head hit a chair as he went down and landed, sprawled on the floor, the frame half covering his face.
    “Oh my God,” Ivy said, crouching next to him with her hands over her mouth. “Oh my God!”
    “Miss, please. Step back.” The security officers had swooped down at the last second. One of them took Ivy’s arm and helped her to her feet. All around me people loud-whispered.
    “Is he okay?”
    “Could have broken his neck …”
    “Why did it fall …?”
    I ran over to Ivy and put my hand on her back, just as Josh arrived from the other direction, looking scared and tired, with dark circles under his eyes. Ivy buried her face in my shoulder as the security guard carefully moved the frame. There was a gash across Gage’s forehead and the blood had seeped onto the floor. I swallowed back a surge of bile.
    “Is he okay?” Ivy whimpered, tears streaming down her face as she looked up at me.
    I didn’t answer. I wasn’t sure. The second guard leaned in toward Gage’s face, cocking his ear toward his lips.
    “He’s breathing,” he said. “Call nine-one-one.” The other guard did as he was told and the first guard stood up. “Nobody touch him. It’s best if he’s not moved.”
    “Oh my God, Reed, what did I do?” Ivy said quietly. “What did I—?”
    “You didn’t do anything. It was an accident,” Josh said as I stroked her hair behind her ear.
    “No, but … right before it happened, I imagined it