Something tells me he will, though. I can sense him like he’s nearby, and I know I need to get out of here. I look around for Miranda because even though we’re not close I don’t really want to walk back to my dorm without a witness. I realize now thatI fucked up coming here and I’m trying to keep my nerves to a minimum. That’s one thing I’ve learned over the years. If I stay calm, I have a much better chance of a safe outcome. Panicking never helps in situations like this. I’m glad I brought my pepper spray with me. Juniper was staunchly in support of leaving my bag at home. I tucked the small canister in the left cup of this tiny black dress she let me borrow and my key in the right. Juniper’s boobs are at least a cup bigger than mine, so it worked out for the best I suppose.
I cut across the lawn and through the gate that leads to a walkway that I know will lead down to the water. It’ll loop me back to my dorm without taking the main walk that everyone is using right now to meander between parties.
I pull the key from the dress when I get out on the quiet walk. I wish Sparkles was with me right now. She’d love the privacy of this walk with no one walking up to tell her how cute she is. I appreciate when everyone wants to see her because sheisadorable, but I almost lose it every time someone approaches her and she looks at them like, ‘no pictures please.’
I’m just about to pass the pavilion where students sit sometimes to eat lunch and watch the rowing team do whatever it is the rowing team does.
“Livy!” I turn when I hear Ronan’s voice and see him making his way toward me. His hair looks like Miranda has been trying to pull it out. I wouldn’t be surprised, but it is kind of odd how it’s sticking up in random directions. I notice right away that there’s a faint smear of dirt on one sleeve of his light blue hoodie and his shoes are wet.
“Didn’t expect to see you here,” he says when he finally reaches me, looking genuinely surprised.
“I’m just meeting my friend Soph right up here,” I lie without really thinking about it. I don’t have enough time to really think about why I chose her, other than the fact that he seemedgenuinely afraid of her when she yelled at him earlier. He’s just an odd guy, but the offer to sit in the bathroom while I showered was too far even for him.
“Oh, right, right,” Ronan says, glances around nervously and I want to just walk away from him, but I don’t want to expose my back to him. He’s never given me a reason to think he would physically hurt me, but I’m not taking any more chances tonight than I already have to. “Miranda and I got into a fight, so I’m just walking around cooling off.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I say sincerely, because she can be really mean sometimes. Before he can respond, someone steps directly into my line of sight.
Nathan.
Of course it’s freaking Nathan.
I am never leaving my room again if I make it home tonight because this is ridiculous.
He has his hair slicked back like he’s trying too hard to look polished, and that confident smirk he’s wearing makes him look slimy instead of charming. I want to reach for the pepper spray in my dress, but I also don’t want to alarm either of them enough to make them lunge at me before I can get it positioned correctly.
“I’ve been looking for you, Livingston, for a very long time. I don’t like when people make me chase them,” Nathan says, and he no longer has a forced accent. He sounds fully American, and his gaze is sliding slowly over me in a way that makes my skin crawl. I’m in trouble and I know it. He’s not the same as he was in the library when he approached me. He’s not speaking nicely, trying to put on a nice guy act. I can sense how evil he is in this moment, and I’m just praying I have one more stroke of luck that will let me make it out of this situation unharmed, or at least alive.
The mental gymnastics I’m doing right now is exhausting, but it’s Sebastian who crosses my mind. He may not have lovedme, and it may have been too soon for anything that was going on between us, but if this is my last night alive, I’m glad I was able to fall for him the way I did. “I thought I’d take after Dad. I thought I’d like stalking you, following you, but it turns out I’m more of a hands on kind of guy. I didn’t think it’d be this easy with Vale on your ass all day every day, but it looks like luck is in my favor tonight.”
Ronan shifts beside me, his posture tightening immediately, and I never thought I’d feel better having him move closer to me.
“That’s enough,” Ronan says calmly. “What do you want? Because I’m not going to let you hurt her.”
Nathan glances at him like he just realized Ronan exists.
“Shut the fuck up and run away before I end your life,” Nathan scoffs. “I’m just talking to my sister here. She’s been running for far too long, and I’m here to bring her home.”
“Your what?” I blurt the words out because that was the last thing I expected to hear.
Nathan actually laughs at my sincere surprise and then out of nowhere he shoves Ronan hard in the chest. Ronan stumbles backward and hits the ground before he can catch himself.
My stomach twists because Nathan kicks Ronan multiple times in the ribs, and he screams. Nathan’s eyes don’t leave me though, and he’s way too close for me to pull the pepper spray out. I can’t risk him grabbing it and using it on me.
“Leave him alone,” I snap rather helplessly. I hate this feeling more than I could ever explain. Nathan cocks his head to the side, clearly amused by the entire situation.
“I didn’t think you’d move on from your rugby star boyfriend this quickly. You yelled at the wrong Vale twin, by the way.” He steps closer and I back up, squeezing my key into my palm.
Vale twin? Oh my God. That would explain a lot, actually.
“I was watching the whole thing, and there he was on the field probably wondering why the love of his pitiful life didn’tshow up to watch him play.” Nathan makes a mock sad face and I feel like I’m going to burst into tears. Sebastian rarely talks about himself or his past, he was always so focused on me that I didn’t realize how little he’d actually told me until now.
I’m going to be sick, but I don’t get the chance because Nathan grabs me by the throat, spinning me around so my back is flush against his chest. This isn’t the way Sebastian grabs me, Nathan is trying to inflict pain, and it’s working.
He’s dragging me toward the pavilion, and I try to go deadweight on him to slow everything down, but he’s too big, too strong, and I’m in these stupid heels.
“Tell me why you were looking for me. If you’re going to kill me, at least tell me why,” I gasp out, and he just laughs.
“All that pitiful research you were doing and you never even came close, did you?” He scoffs like he actually hates me. “My father, or I guess I should say our father, was obsessed with your mother just like that fool over there is with you.” I don’t interrupt Nathan to tell him that Ronan is obsessed with any girl who won’t sleep with him, because he might just snap my neck.
