But everyone’s vanished, either out of the house or to the basement.
He opens his door and carries me inside. My hands pummel him, aiming for his spine, and he grunts in pain when I land a good one. But I’m running out of steam, my head swimming from dizziness as black dots dance in front of my eyes. My head churns with how to escape him. There’s a window, maybe a fire escape, I can’t remember. There’s a small bathroom. I can lock myself in it.
Half-formed thoughts whirl in my head as the panic reaches a crescendo.
He tosses me down on the bed and looks at me with wild eyes as he holds my hands above my head.
“You just had to go and date Channing, didn’t you? To rub it in my face, yeah? To let me know that he was fucking you.”
“No!” I shout. “We barely even kissed. I caught him with someone else.”
He laughs bitterly. “Good. I sent the hottest girls after him. See, we’re all the same, Julia, only I cared about you. I really did. You were different. Sweet.” He presses his forehead to mine. “I’d give anything to fuck you again. I beat the shit out of Scott, did you know that? For talking shit about you and saying you sucked his cock. I even told his girlfriend.” He laughs. “Did you blow him?”
“No.” I wiggle underneath him. “Let me go!”
“Stop struggling.” He runs his nose up the middle of my chest to my face. “I smell your fear. I hate that, I really do, ’cause you’re brave and that mouth on you, Jesus, you don’t know when to stop, but no one leaves me . . .” He pauses, his tone hardening. “Especially a piece of trash that strips.”
I swallow thickly. I try to appear calm. “That’s right. I’m not worth the trouble. I’m done with Channing. You got what you wanted. Scott is a loser. I’m glad you beat him up.”
He kisses me hard, his teeth grinding into my lips as I wrestle to get him off me. His hands fumble with something above me, and I have a three second reprieve from the pressure of his grip, and I use it for all it’s worth. I squirm and buck to shove him off me, but he easily overpowers me. He pulls me to the top of the bed, and I feel something cold and hard click around my wrist. Then he stretches out my other arm and does the same. He stares down at me, and everything I ever thought was handsome about him is replaced by something deranged.
“I’ve got you now,” he says.
Forget being calm. I spit at him as I jerk against the hold. “You’re insane!”
He stands up, breathing heavily. Blood drips down his arm to the floor from where I bit him, and he studies it thoughtfully.
He squeezes one of my breasts through my hoodie and I growl, arching my back to shove it away.
He smiles. “I like your fire, Ju-Ju. We’re gonna have fun now.”
He goes over to his phone and cranks up loud music.
14
Eric
After the game, I tag along with Reece and Boone to the Kappa house.
At the moment, we’re in the basement as Boone pounds on the table and chants our fight song. Beer is getting sloshed everywhere, girls are hanging on us, and we’re yelling like Vikings back from a victorious battle.
Boone tips his glass at me and I smile, and yeah, the love and congrats we get from the fans is cool, but it’s still Kappa and my mood is off. There’s not a girl here I look at for longer than a second.
Hooking up with randoms feels empty.
Lonely.
Depressing.
It kept me satisfied for years, but there has to be more than this. In the past, I’ve never wanted more than sex because making myself vulnerable to someone meant the possibility of getting hurt, and no one needs that shit in college.
I’m buzzing from a couple of beers, and part of me wants to go to Julia’s place while the other side of me knows I shouldn’t. I can’t show up like some fool.
The lights come on, the music dies, and Kappa guys motion for people to leave.
Since I left my jacket on the main floor, we head that way instead of exiting through the basement. I’m just grabbing it out of a closet when I hear a scream from upstairs. It’s hard to tell with Boone’s drunken singing.
I look up the stairs and see a couple guys, but they disappear out of view.
I snap my fingers at Boone, who breaks from his group and staggers over to me.
“Hey, did you hear something?”
“Hear what?” he says, weaving on his feet. “Lighten up. We’re super stars here.”
I glance upstairs. “No, it’s not that. You didn’t hear—”
“I’m going to find this girl I was talking to,” he says, then walks to a group of college girls.