“I don’t know, man, I found her on the stairs, crying, looking like she’d just seen a ghost. She looked fucking terrified.” Dante scrubs the back of his neck, as if he wished he knew more.
“Okay. Well, thank you. For getting her out here and for calling.” Asher joins us as he finishes speaking, looking more than a little frazzled.
“Hey, Beautiful. Let's take you home, shall we?”
Fear roots through me again. I don’t know who was in that room, but it sounded like they were looking for me. Maybe I shouldn’t go home.
Oh, God.
Penn.
“My phone,” I mutter, trying to find the stupid block of technology. “Call Penn.”
“On it,” Dante says, hitting the screen of his own phone and handing it to me.
It rings twice before Penn answers with a huff. “What do you want, Dante?”
“It’s me,” I say, my voice sounding smaller than usual. “Stay with Connor tonight. Don’t go to our room.”
The minute the words are out of my mouth, the three of them stare at me with a mix of anger and confusion.
“B, stop fooling around.” Penn laughs, but her voice is sharp, like she’s rattled.
“Not messing, Penn. Please, just… don’t go to the dorm.”
I hear Connor’s voice in the background and let out a sigh of relief that she’s not alone. She tells him what I said to her and then his voice fills the line. “Briar, what happened?”
“It’s not safe. Just please keep Penn at your place,” I stress, and whatever he hears in my voice seems to make him relent.
“Fine, but tomorrow you explain what the hell is going on.”
“Okay,” I say quietly before saying goodbye and hanging up. Dante takes his phone back and pockets it.
“Dante, get in the car. We’ll take this conversation somewhere a little more private,” Asher suggests.
Sawyer stands and loads me into the back of Asher's truck, letting Dante take shotgun as he climbs in beside me. The drive to their house is made in silence, and it doesn’t take long.
The house is dark when we arrive, and I’m both relieved and disappointed that Travis and Cole aren’t here.
They wouldn’t have done this to me as some sick joke, right?
The puppies come bounding toward us as Sawyer walks me toward the sofa. Asher heads to the kitchen with Dante, before rejoining us with a bag of ice. He puts it on my ankle and I wince at the chill of it, but I know I need it so I don’t complain.
The cold plus the pain actually helps to clear my mind a bit, and I suddenly feel a little… foolish.
I freaking cried.
“Let's get you comfortable, shall we?” Asher says, taking off his hoodie and handing it to me before helping me unpin the makeshift toga. I slide into his hoodie. His scent and warmth flood me and I snigger internally that he’s obviously never getting this back.
The puppies sit around us on the floor at Asher’s command, but he scoops up my little friend and places him in my lap.
Yay, puppy.
The now-not-so-little ball of squish snuggles up to me, putting his head on my shoulder, and I melt.
Once I’m snug in his hoodie with Shadow, Asher hands me a cup of coffee that Dante brings in before they both settle onto the couch opposite the one Sawyer put me on. Sawyer’s sitting on the coffee table, watching me, looking as serious as I’ve ever seen him. “You ready to tell us what happened?”
I bury my face in the puppy before telling them everything I remember, from leaving the party, finding the bathroom, and everything I can think of, up to Dante finding me.