Bam lets go of me. The mark of his thumb is bright on my arm.
“You good?” he mutters.
I don’t answer.
Because I am not good.
I am nothing but the urge to destroy.
I watch Eve push through the crowd, her hair a shroud around her face. Every head she passes turns, every mouth whispers. They will remember her, but not for her mind. Not for her will.
For her suffering.
I shove past Bam and follow.
I reach her just outside the doors. She’s breathing fast, hands shaking so hard I have to pin her wrists to her sides just to keep them from flying off her arms.
“Look at me,” I say.
She doesn’t. She looks through me.
“Eve.” I grip her chin, force her eyes to mine. “They don’t get to do this. Stay with me, baby girl, please.”
She blinks, slow, lashes clumped with tears.
“It’s over,” I say. “They had their show. Now we bury them.”
She lets out a breath, shaky. “I can’t go back in.”
“We aren’t,” I say. “We will never step foot here again, until it comes time to burn it to the ground. You can light the match.”
A beat passes. Then another. Her pulse slows. I count each tick.
Behind us, the MC’s laughter echoes, loud and obnoxious.
I think about all the ways I could end him.
But not tonight.
Tonight is about repairing the damage they did to my girl.
I walk her down the steps, into the black stillness of the Harrington grounds. I hold her hand tight, not letting go, even as I pull out my phone and call a cab.
.
The air is cold. The path is empty.
But she’s still here.
And that is enough, for now.
I look at the sky, at the jagged silhouette of the main hall. I promise myself that next time, I won’t let anyone stand in my way.
I look back, only once. Harrison Ellis stands in the doorframe. His mouth is twisted in a smile that doesn’t touch his eyes. He thinks he’s won.
But he doesn’t realize what he’s done.
He hasn’t humiliated a scholarship girl.
