“No.” I shake my head. “You told me to run, as if you knew how it would all end for me.”
“I told you not to worry about me. I knew his stalker ass,” she points to Vance, “would never let anything happen to me. I didn’t want to slow you down. Brixley, I would never purposely lead you to danger. I thought it was a game. I thought…” Her voice breaks off as her eyes well with tears. “Brix, you have to believe me.”
I throw my head back, helpless to the emotions. “I don’t know what to believe, I just want to go home.”
“I told you I’d take you home,” Beckett says from behind me.
“I don’t want to go to the dorms, I want to gohome.” The desperation in my voice is unrecognizable to me as I fight the salty assault of tears threatening to break free.
“If you let me clean you up, I’ll take you,” Beckett says calmly.
Devlin comes out, pausing as he takes us all in. I point to him. “He can help me clean up.”
Devlin’s eyes widen in shock. “Me?”
“Yeah, I don’t know you, but I know I could take you. Let’s go.”
“Thank you?” he says, puzzled, face twisted in confusion.
“Fuck no,” Beckett and Vance say in unison.
“It’s my fucking choice,” I respond, walking to Devlin who holds open his door for me.
“I’ll get you some clothes,” Amiyah whispers.
“Thanks.” I step into the room.
Devlin’s room is a mess. Clothes and shoes strewn around everywhere, his dark blue bedding flung across the bed. This is what a normal college student’s room looks like.
Devlin never looks at me as I shower. Keeping his eyes cast to the ground and asking if I need help every few minutes. I always tell him no. No one is fucking touching me again tonight. I watch the water change from bright red to clear as I replay the night over again. I swear the knife was Beckett’s, but he showed up after Vance kicked the attacker off of me. So, who the fuck could it have been? Maybe they all did it, took it too far and had to stop to save face. Or maybe, they’re saving me for later. Maybe the way I was dying wasn’t brutal enough.
My mind spins as the sound of water rushes around me. I turn the water off and the shower door immediately swings open. Devlin is gone with Beckett in his place, holding a towel open for me. “Come on, Rabbit.”
I sigh, stepping into the towel that is somehow warm. “You can go.” My body is lifted into the air, and my arms automatically go around his neck.
“Not until I know you’re okay, Brixley,” he mumbles. He carries me past a scowling Devlin, to a crowded hallway where I hide my face in his warm neck. He opens his door, kicking it shut with his foot.
“Why do you even care?” I whisper.
“Because I fucking do,” he grumbles, sitting me softly on his bed. “Here.” He hands me a pair of my sweatpants and one of the only big shirts I own.
“You went in my room?” I accuse.
“Problem?” He raises an eyebrow at me, face a fierce mask of irritation.
“I fucking hate you.”
He crowds me so fast, our faces are only inches apart as his body leans over mine. “Fucking mutual, beautiful.” My mouth parts at his choice of endearment and he looks at my lips, pupils dilating. “Fuck it,” he whispers.
His hands tangle in the back of my hair, pulling on it softly to angle my head for better access. His hot mouth latches onto mine, one hand dropping to my ass to scoot me closer to him, his body molding to mine. I feel something warm trickling down my cheek, slipping between our mouths. A metallic taste explodes on our tongues and Beckett groans, sucking on my tongue, sweeping his along every inch of my mouth.
“I knew you’d be sweet,” he says, tongue trailing up my cheek to my open wound. He laps up the blood, and I gasp as wetness pools between my thighs.
What the fuck is going on with me?
Using my hands, I push on his chest, knocking him back. “Stop doing that,” I hiss.
He leans back on the bed a smile trying to break through. “Doing what?”