He smirked, then laughed.
“You’re kidding, right?” He pushed his way past me, a bit harder than I should’ve let him. “We were all over each other downstairs, man. You don’t know what you’re talking about, she wanted it as much as I did.”
My fists clenched, in and out, itching to take this guy down for good. I couldn’t believe he had the nerve to defend his actions. He started walking away from me. That was when I heard tons of footsteps on the stairs.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked. “She wanted it? What part of the word ‘no’ did you not understand? Because I clearly heard her say it to you twice in the time I witnessed what you did.”
There were several other guys from the team who had joined us in the hallway by now, bearing witness to his response. They stood behind him, all staring blankly at me, waiting.
“Well?” I asked. “Why didn’t you stop when she said no?”
He pushed past everyone surrounding him.
“Fuck you, dude, I don’t answer to you.”
One of the guys followed him downstairs while the other two stayed with me. The adrenaline brought on by it all was still surging through me as they came close.
“Guys, I’m in no mood to be told I shouldn’t have laid him out.” I started pushing past them, not happy the guy was now downstairs near Ava without me.
“Hey, man,” the one guy said. That was when I realized it was Sutton. The other guy who stayed with me was Ashton. “Relax. We just don’t want you getting in trouble, no need to do anything further. Best to steer clear of him. We have some other guys taking care of him down there, no worries.”
My breathing slowed a bit, though I was still frantic on the inside. I felt the edges of a panic attack trying to make their wayto the forefront. But I fought it, I needed to get the girls safely out of here.
“I need to find my roommates, get Ava home. She’s probably a mess right now.”
I ran down the stairs to find the first floor empty other than my three girls. Becca and Macie surrounded Ava on the couch. Ava attempted to push them away, the stoic brat that she was. But it was going to hit her, and I needed to get her out of here before it did.
“I’m getting the truck, meet me outside in five.”
I grabbed my keys from the kitchen. Parking was tricky at this house, and I had to park a block away. As I pulled up to the house, tons of the guys were milling around outside, the party looking officially over.
This had been my first exposure to the team, and it hadn’t gone the way I’d expected. Punching a teammate probably didn’t bode well for me getting a position. My rapid heart rate and sweaty palms indicated I was not doing as good a job as I’d like at quelling my impending anxiety attack. It didn’t help that as I jumped from my truck, a group of the guys walked my way.
Ashton must be the team captain, because he reached me first, the rest standing behind.
“Hey, Logan, I want to let you know we support you in what went down here tonight. We don’t tolerate his type of behavior.”
All the guys came to me, murmuring words of support.
The heart palpitations slowed. As I looked around, I unclenched my still fisted hands. My ragged breaths became even as my head swiveled between the guys.
“Thank you,” I said. I chose to look at the ground, focusing on a tiny pebble, as I felt the moisture build up in my eyes.
Ashton walked with me as I started for the house. “No worries, man.” We fell in step together as we walked toward the front door. “How the hell did you get so lucky with thoseroommates?” He laughed. “But seriously, go take care of the tiny one. She’s going to need all of you.”
And that’s exactly what I planned on doing.
Becca and Maciewere still upstairs with her; she didn’t want me in the room with them. Which was fine, because if I were, I’d have blown our cover for sure.
I felt the panic rising.
Sitting alone in the dark, knowing she was just upstairs, drove me crazy. I wanted to see her. To make sure she was alright. Make sure that douchebag didn’t hurt her. My hands rubbed along my jeans repeatedly, digging into the material, gripping at my knees. As I wiped my brow, the sweat soaked the back of my hand.
I checked my watch: almost midnight.
Definitely too late to put a call in to Dr. Jean.
The energy built inside me as I jumped from the couch and paced the room. Tearing open the refrigerator door, I stared inside but registered nothing as I looked. I wasn’t hungry. After I slammed it shut, the bottles rattling in the door, I walked to the back window. The moon was hazy behind some clouds, making it much darker than normal. I checked the back slider, making sure it was locked. My mind raced.
