He sat up, his hands held up in placation. I scrambled to my headboard, pulling my knees to my chest.
“It’s no big deal, baby. Helen and I were just talking.”
“Unless Helen is suddenly great at talking in her sleep, no, you weren’t. Take your pencil dick and leave, Daniel.” She feigned a swing at him, making him cower. “I’ll be glad to introduce your balls to Batty. She gets lonely sometimes.”
Daniel leaped from the bed, covering his dick with both hands. “Crazy fucking bitches. Both of you. Dead lay and a whore, what a combination. Put the two of you together, it might make a good fuck.”
Elena pressed the end of my bat to his chest. “I guess you’ll never know, will you? Get the fuck out, right now, before I show you exactly how crazy I can be.”
Elena followed Daniel out of my room, threatening him all the way to our front door, which she slammed behind him. Then she returned to my room, handed me the bat, and turned off the light.
“Scoot over.” She pushed at my shoulders. When I shifted to the side, she climbed into bed, pulling the covers over both of us. “Lie down.”
I stretched out in my bed, the bat clutched in my arms like a damn teddy bear.
“You okay? Did he hurt you?”
I blinked up at the ceiling. “I...no. He scared the shit out of me, but he didn’t hurt me. I don’t even know if he was going to.”
“He’s a creeper. Ugh.”
“Says the girl having regular bad sex with him.”
“Make that past tense.”
I turned my head, even though I could barely make her out in the dark. “Why were you with him anyway? I mean, I get slumming if the dude had a talented dick, but from the sounds of it…”
Her sigh sounded defeated. “My parents are friendly with his. They thought we would make a lovely match.”
“And…?” I didn’t get it.
“And that’s it. My parents mean the world to me. I don’t ever let them down. So, I dated their friends’ creepy son. Tomorrow morning, I have to break the news over brunch that it’s over. Wee!” She draped her arm over my stomach. “If you try to pity me after I just chased my boyfriend from your room with a bat, I won’t be able to stand it. Everyone has family shit they deal with. Mine is mine. Yours is yours.”
“Okay.” I laid my hand on her arm. “Thanks for—”
“Don’t even try it, bitch. You do not thank me for that.”
“Okay, but I’m thinking it.”
She laughed softly. “That’s fine, as long as I don’t have to face your unearned gratitude. Gross. By the way, I get the bat thing. I’ll be acquiring one of my own ASAP. We should get Zadie one too. She’d look so freaking cute chasing bad boys away, wouldn’t she? Penelope should probably also have one for when Gabe gets too comfortable.”
I snorted, not even close to processing how I was in bed with Elena Sanderson, kind of snuggling. If I tried to wrap my head around it, my head would undoubtedly explode. I focused on the fact that I felt safe and calm and in control. Then, I went to sleep.
“Where is it? Where the fuck is it?” I yanked my entire underwear drawer out of my dresser and dumped the contents on my bed. My lockbox was there, but it was painfully empty. All that work, those late nights, missing sleep, getting my ass groped, filthy old men and entitled young ones—all for nothing.Nothing.
Zadie was hovering inside my door, watching me destroy my room. She’d tried to help at first, but when I became more frantic, she’d stood back, probably afraid I’d tip her over in my search.
“I’ll call Elena. She might have an idea,” Zadie offered, hurrying from the room.
Clothes and papers were strewn on every surface. I’d checked nooks, corners, crannies, trash cans, backpacks, everywhere. The fact was, I distinctly remembered the fat stack of cash being in my lockbox last night, and now, it was gone. I wasn’t a naturally trusting person, but when Zadie promised she hadn’t taken it, I believed her. I didn’t really suspect Elena either.
There was one person who’d been in my room last night. One person creepy enough to go rifling through my underwear drawer. Daniel had had plenty of opportunity to take my money. But what the hell could I do? I had no proof, and since he was probably just as rich as Elena and Theo, he really had no reason to steal from me, other than the fact that he was a complete and total asshole.
Zadie came back, her phone held limply in her hand. “I called.”
“No answer?”
She slumped against the doorjamb. “No. I heard her ringtone coming from her room. She must’ve forgotten her phone when she left for her parents’ this morning.”