I tipped the entire glass back before slamming it onto the table. The guys cheered and whooped with their fists in the air as I wiped at the dribbles of beer wafting down my chin. Never in a million years did I think I’d ever find a group of friends as reliable and as wonderful as them. They didn’t judge me for being abandoned by my family. They didn’t judge me for my hand-me-down clothes. They didn’t tease me for wearing the same outfit twice in a row because my foster mother got drunk and forgot to do the laundry…again.
At least, until my legs started feeling funny.
“Brad, what was in that—that drink?” I asked.
I stumbled and he caught me before Reva lifted me up by my arm. “Let’s get her upstairs. I think she’s had too much to drink.”
I heard Brad’s voice, but it sounded far away. “My bed is bigger. She’ll have more room there.”
I shook my head softly. “My—oom.”
“What did she say?” DeShawn asked.
And the next thing I knew, someone slid my fucking pants off.
“No, stop it,” I hissed.
I ripped myself away from the memory and found myself shivering in the hot tub. Even as steam wafted through the crowds of bubbles, that chill rushed through my bones. Every time I walked by a group of men that stared me down, I wondered when it would happen again. I wondered if they’d pounce and pump me full of drug-laced beer before tossing me onto one of their beds.
I blinked back tears as I bit through the pain and forced myself out of the bath.
“Time to get dried off,” I grunted.
I kept reminding myself that I wasn’t in high school any longer. That I wasn’t in that situation. That these men weren’t here to harm me, but to help me. To take me in and keep me safe while they sorted out whatever the fuck was going on. If anything, they offered me protection, not drugging me up and attempting to take something that wasn’t theirs.
Thank fuck for Veronica that night.
Because without her help fighting off those so-called “friends” of mine, I would’ve been a fucking goner.
And as I steadied myself on my soaking wet feet, I reached for the towel hanging on a hook on the wall.
“Knock, knock.”
West’s voice filtered through the bathroom door and I hurt myself trying to cover up as quickly as I could. I winced and hissed with pain, which caused him to jiggle the doorknob.
“Would you cut it out? I’m fine,” I said flatly.
“I heard you hiss. Are you sure you're okay?” he asked.
I rolled my eyes. “I hiss all the time. Yes, I’m fine. What do you want?”
He paused, and it made me feel bad. He had been so kind to me ever since we had arrived at this place. He kept a watchful eye over me and seemed to never be more than a few steps away in case I needed something. Sure, Lexi and Frost checked on me all the time. But so did he, even though he didn’t know me.
I appreciated it.
Just…not when he tried to come into my personal space without permission.
“So, uh, how are you doing?” West asked.
I held the towel tightly around my sore body. “I’m fine.”
He snickered. “You’re really not.”
“What do you mean, I’m not?”
“I can hear it in your voice. It’s clouded, like you’re about to cry.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m a bit claustrophobic being cooped up in this place all the damned time. Living with several men. Washing the same sets of clothes over and over again because they never quite feel clean.”
