The students stop by a cluster of benches hidden in a wooded nook and sit down, pulling out what I’m almost certain is weed. Great.
Now instead of three hundred feet through the woods, Dereck and I have six hundred fifty feet or more.
I curse under my breath, and Dereck glances at me with a sigh. "Sorry, I had no idea those idiots were going to smoke, but honestly it makes sense. No one usually walks through these parts of the groves, so they can do all the… illegal stuff students like to do," he says carelessly, as if none of this concerns him at all. And of course it doesn’t. He wasn’t the one the Hansons were watching.
We walk away from the group.
The grove is dark and quiet, lit only by a few scattered lamps. We’ve covered about seventy percent of the distance, and I’m finally starting to calm down a bit, thinking maybe nothing will happen, maybe I really am being paranoid.
Only one last patch of trees is left ahead of us when it happens.
Two dark shapes emerge from a dense thicket.
One of them lunges at Dereck and punches him square in the face so fast that Dereck drops unconscious to the ground. It takes a second, not even enough time for me to scream. The air gets knocked out of my lungs as I stumble back in shock.
"You think a beta guard is the best choice for you, sweetheart?" one of them says, pulling the cloth away from his face. I recognize Vin.
I don’t respond, because I know perfectly well that anything I say will only make it worse.
I try to throw myself backward, releasing a terrified scream that gets muffled by Rob’s hand over my mouth.
"You know, darling, this all started with you, our little innocent joke with that stupid inhaler, the one your uselessboyfriend took so seriously," Rob murmurs in my ear. "A stupid little joke, and you turned it into something much bigger."
What am I supposed to say? That they’re the ones who did something unforgivable? That they’re the ones who hurt Bay? That they’re the ones who escalated everything? I can’t say any of that.
"Leave me alone, I don’t know what more you want from me after all these years, I’m not even with Bay anymore, this is all in the past…" I choke out, or try to, because Rob’s hand is blocking my mouth and I can barely speak. His body presses hard against mine.
"I’ve always wondered," Rob murmurs into my ear, "how you and Bay even do it. Does he even fit inside you?"
I freeze. For some reason it hits me as strange that Dereck said the exact same thing yesterday. Why?
I glance at the unconscious beta on the ground.
Why did he even come here? Why show up after the lecture? I didn’t ask him to. He chose this route, this group of students. Maybe it’s just paranoia again, but I have to ask.
"Dereck. Did you tell him to do this? To lure me here?"
Did he want to have sex with me before I would be… ruined forever? It’s sick to even think about. But maybe I’m wrong. Paranoia is my everyday companion, after all. I can’t wrap my head around it, and I get no answers from the Hansons, maybe that’s for the best.
Rob presses his lips to my ear and whispers even lower, "We’re about to find out if I fit inside you."
Then he shoves me to the ground.
For a brief second when his hand leaves my mouth, I let out the loudest scream I’ve ever made in my life.
And then I hear the pounding of footsteps.
Unbelievable.
Impossible.
And unbearably wonderful.
He’s here again, my old savior. A whole year has passed, and he’s still watching over me.
But why?
How’s that even possible?
