Harlow
Friday Afternoon
Dark Haven Cafeteria
“Alright, Drake,” I said with a smirk. He narrowed his eyes and Hiro, Layne, and Crew focused in on us. “So tell me how you landed here. From group therapy it sounds like a hell of a story. I want details.”
“No.” His answer was so abrupt and blunt that I burst into laughter. He glared at me before picking up his tray and stalking off.
“He’s never going to eat with us again,” Layne declared. “It’s only because of you that he’s bothered lately.”
“Really?” I asked, a bit shocked that this was the first time I’d heard this. I assumed he had been eating with them from the start.
“There’s a lot that’s changed,” Hiro agreed. “He’s not as harsh as he was.”
“To you,” Crew offered with a shrug. His voice was sharp, and I knew something was wrong. I just couldn’t figure out why his anger was aimed at me.
“What’s going on?” I murmured. Crew looked up and shrugged again. He seemed to be fighting with himself to find the right words.
“Why am I not good enough for you but Hiro and Drake are? Drake’s a dick,” he said, almost shouting it. I dropped my fork, the metal clattering against the table startling me as much as his tone.
“She can’t date the whole damn floor,” Layne deadpanned. “Technically none of us are supposed to date but you’ve fucked me in the boiler room.”
His eyes snapped up to meet hers at the sharp ending to her statement. “Layne...”
“You told me you didn’t want anything serious,” she said, voice breaking. “Yet you do with her?”
“No, that’s not it,” he argued weakly.
“So, what, she’s better than me?” Layne got up and walked away, tears brimming in her eyes. She was a bit quiet today, so I had a feeling this hurt more than it would have on other days.
“Layne,” I said, leaving my own tray and going after her. She was quick, already depositing her tray and racing for the door. I shoved my way through the crowd, but she was long gone by the time I got to the front of the cafeteria.
“Looks like you’re the whore of the third floor,” a girl snarked as I rushed after my friend. Apparently, they’d all heard the scene from the way everyone’s eyes were on me.
“Fuck you,” I bit out, but someone stepped between us, back to me.
Drake.
“Don’t fucking talk to her like that,” he warned. His voice was low and deep, and the girl stuttered out a string of words that didn’t make sense before rushing off.
“I didn’t need you to defend me,” I told him. It was embarrassment that had the words falling from my mouth. He just turned around and bent down so our faces almost touched.
“Let me make one thing very clear, Harlow. You chose to come to my room, offered yourself up like a fine wine, and now you want to back away? That’s not how this works. You’re mine now, simple as that. So pack up whatever attitude you intend to throw my way, I’ll fuck it out of you later, regardless,” he said in a slow, purposeful tone before turning and walking away.
The lunchroom was silent as I stood there, stunned. Every set of eyes in the room was watching me, seeing what drama would come from me next.
As if on fucking cue, Nurse Drew walked back in. She scanned the room with a purpose before landing on me. She gestured me over, adding yet more fuel to the dumpster fire that was my existence here.
“Do you need us?” It wasn’t Hiro that approached then, but Roman. His voice was hard, concerned, subtle differences I was able to use to tell them apart. I wondered briefly if it was me who triggered the change in him.
“Harlow, Doctor Vane would like to speak with you. It seems you didn’t read that sneaking out at night was prohibited, as well as visiting the sixth floor,” she seethed. I’d never heard her so mad, and I felt the blood drain from my face. Not only wasIin trouble, possibly got her in trouble, but now I was going back tothatoffice.
How the hell did she even find out I ‘snuck’ out. Not that I could remember anything except waking up on the roof. Panic rose with each thought, and I didn’t know how I would get out of this, just that I had to.
“No, I can’t go in there,” I protested, panic filling me at the prospect of seeing my rapist again. “I just woke up on the roof, tried to find my way back, I didn’t sneak out.”
“The roof?” she gasped, looking even more startled than before. “You don’t get to dictate where you go. After this stunt, you’ll be lucky to have privileges like eating in here or doing anything without supervision. I won’t lose my job over some careless girl.”