15
Brynn
Something’s wrong.
I wake up with a growl in my ear and Colton’s arms tightening around me. My pulse skips, and as I blink awake, I’m aware that he’s already very awake.
“Colt—”
“Shh, baby,” he whispers quietly but fiercely. His muscles tense, and when I look up at him sitting up in bed, I can see his eyes sharp and piercing as they scan the bedroom.
And suddenly, there it is again. At first, I think it’s some knocking at the front door, which is insane considering it’s the middle of the night. I reach for my phone before I remember that it’s downstairs in my bag from when I first came stumbling in last night. The knocking comes again, but suddenly, there’s a wrenching, splintering sound, and my heart jumps into my throat.
“Colton!”
“Let’s move!” he hisses, jumping from the bed and scooping me naked into his arms. I cling to him, panting, my pulse racing as he storms out of the bedroom.
“What’s happening?!”
He doesn’t say anything, but his jaw clenches as he swiftly carries me down the hall towards the guest room—the guest room that happens to have a small balcony off of it overlooking the garden. My blood chills.
“Is—is it Lorenzo?”
His eyes dart to mine, and he doesn’t even have to say anything for me to know.
“Oh God—”
“Nothing is going to happen to you, baby,” he growls lowly, opening the guest room door. “I swear to you.”
He shuts the door behind him, locking it before he strides to the closet. He yanks out the same robe he gave me that first night and helps me put it on to cover my nudity. He’s still naked himself, but when we hear the sound of men’s voices and footsteps rumbling up the stairs, he tenses and whirls. Colton growls, striding to the balcony door and opening it. He carries me out, shutting the French doors and striding to the edge. We both glance over, my heart pounding.
“Can you climb?” he growls.
I swallow, panting, my head swimming as I glance down at the ivy-covered trellis going down the side of the house. It’s not far, maybe twelve feet down, and I nod.
“Yeah.”
“Good girl,” he grunts, setting me down and pulling me to him. He kisses me fiercely, my pulse still ringing in my ears as the moonlight bathes us in white.
“I need you to climb down and run. Don’t look back, just fucking run right to the campus safety office by the main gates. Tell them to call the—”
“Wait, you’re coming with me!”
His face hardens as he shakes his head. “I’m going to stall them he—”
“No!” I gasp, my face turning white. “No, you’re fucking coming with—”
“In here!!”
The yell comes from inside the guest room, and suddenly, the light inside flicks on.
“Brynn, go!” Colton roars, physically yanking me up and swinging me out into empty space. I scream as he swings me down into the ivy, my fingers clawing at the vines and trellis as I start to scramble down. There’s a crashing sound and a roar, and I look up to see Colton yelling as a man in black half shoves him over the edge.
“Colton!”
Colton snarls, wrenching away from the man and shoving an elbow into his nose. The man screams, clutching his bloodied, shattered nose when Colton suddenly bellows, picks him up, and tosses him over the side of the railing. The man shrieks, falling past me and hitting the ground with this horrible crunching sound. My stomach turns, and I quickly scramble the rest of the way to the ground. The guy on the grass isn’t moving—at all, but when there’s another yell, I look up and scream.
“COLTON!”