“You’re fine,” I mumble to myself as my anxiety starts to get the best of me. “You’ll be okay?—”
A hand comes down over my mouth, and an arm slips around my waist. Then I’m being dragged backward toward the end of the hallway that’s smothered with darkness. Panic sets in, but I work to stay in control as I lift my leg and bash my foot into the shin of the person holding me. They grunt, and it’s definitely a male grunt. As their hold on me loosens, I take off, glancing over my shoulder as I do.
All I can make out is their silhouette, and that they’re tall. I’m not about to go check to see who it is, though, and continue barreling forward until I reach the bottom of the stairs. The room is packed as I enter it, and my gasping for air and frantic demeanor draws a lot of attention. I cringe at how many people are staring at me and suddenly want nothing more than to get the hell out of here. I’ll walk through the woods myself. I don’t care.
“Maddy?” River steps out of the crowd, takes one look at me, and worry flashes across his face. He’s dressed in a black shirt, dark jeans, and sneakers, and his hair is styled messily, wisps hanging in his eyes. “Are you okay?”
I start to nod then pause. “I’m …” I cast a glance at the stairway, my brain frantically searching for an explanation as to what just occurred. “I’m not sure.” I direct my attention back to him.
He wets his lips with his tongue then nods toward the foyer. “Let’s go outside where it’s quieter, and then you can tell me what happened.”
Nodding, I remain close to him as we weave through people until we reach the front door. There, we exit out onto the frontporch and into the cool night air. Then we start down the path and onto the sidewalk.
“Let’s walk for a second,” River mumbles with a frown as he notes that everyone nearby is staring at us.
Wrapping my arms around myself, I follow him down the sidewalk until the noises of the party are simply an afterthought. The light from the lampposts cast a soft glow across us along with the silvery moonlight.
He stops as we arrive at the corner of the street where no one is around. Then he faces me. “So, what happened?”
I recline against a lamppost. “Someone tried to grab me in the hallway upstairs right after I came out of the bathroom.”
The soft glow of the lamppost reflects in his wide eyes. “What?”
“Surprised the shit out of me, too,” I say. “And I’m unsure what they were planning on doing to me, but I kicked the hell out of their shin hard enough that they released me.”
He rakes his fingers through his hair, his eyes roving all over me. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
“Nah. They just scared me a bit. But honestly, I’m used to that kind of thing.”
“Getting grabbed against your will?” he questions slowly, as if I’m crazy.
I lift a shoulder. “I worked nights at this café on the weekend, and I had to walk home since I have no car. The area was sketchy, even for northside … so, yeah, I’m used to that sort of thing.”
He silently absorbs my words. “Well, you shouldn’t have to be.”
“I know. But it is what it is.”
He traces his finger along his bottom lip. “I’m going to try to find out who did it. I’m not positive if I can, since that isn’t reallymy scene, but it’s Finn’s. So, if you’re okay with it, I might get him involved.”
“Sure, but it’s not a huge deal if you don’t find out who did it. It’s not like you can really do anything to the person for simply grabbing me for a second.”
He raises his brows as if to suggest otherwise.
“Or maybe not,” I add at the sight of his expression.
“We’ll see,” is all he says before he takes a drink from his cup.
I admire his confidence, but I’m not counting on him being successful with this. I know the drill with these types of issues.
“You didn’t text me,” he says abruptly as he lowers his cup from his mouth.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, I got sidetracked by convincing your sister that I couldn’t go to dinner with her and Wren, and then she convinced me to come to this party with her.” Still leaning against the lamppost, I stretch my legs out in front of me, highly aware that the stars are a tad bit blurrier than they should be.
I shouldn’t have drank tonight.
“How come you couldn’t go to dinner with her?”
“I had homework to do.”
