He struggles in the water, his heavy clothes making it difficult to stay afloat as he swims toward us.
The girl folds her arms over her chest and glares at him, her expression lethal. “I told you to back off. You’re the one who didn’t listen.” She turns her attention to me. “I don’t like having to repeat myself, and men can be so fucking stupid sometimes.”
My mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water. I have no idea what to say to that. Panic has stolen my words. What was she thinking? Parker is going to retaliate. Guys like him always do.
“You alright, there?” she asks, stepping closer to me. She waves a hand in front of my face.
My eyes flick between her and Parker. He’s already hoisting himself out of the pool. His clothes are plastered to his body, wet hair dripping down his face. Shit, shit, shit. His jaw is tight. Nostrils flared. I’ve never been confronted by him before. It’s always been Austin going out of his way to fuck with me. Parker Benson and Gregory Chambers—the other guys involved that night—they’ve always given me a wide berth. I sort of assumed they were just happy to get away with what they did to me and weren’t going to chance it.
Austin doesn’t work that way. He gets off on putting me in my place. On making me relive the fear and humiliation. I didn’t think Parker was like that.
I guess I was wrong. I don’t know why I ever could have thought that way. Parker was always sort of out of sight, outof mind. But that was stupid of me. He’s always been a threat. Always been dangerous. They all are.
Something must have happened.
Think, Cecilia. Think.
He said I was ruining soccer for him, but what does that even mean? I stopped going to Gabriel’s practices. I’ve never been to any of their games.
I’m not bothering anyone.
Fuck. The expression on his face is murderous as he climbs to his feet and makes a beeline right for me. Again.
We need to get out of here.
I grab the girl’s arm, unwilling to leave her here to face Parker’s wrath alone. Not when she defended me. She doesn’t even know who I am. Why would she put herself at risk like that? Parker is pledged to the Zeta Pi fraternity. If one of those guys has it out for you, they all do.
This is bad. Really bad.
“Come on,” I say, all but dragging her from the room by her forearm.
“What? Where are we?—”
“Hurry!” I hiss and increase my steps.
Parker gets held up when some of the other swim team girls rush over, fawning over him and asking if they can help get him out of his wet clothes. One goes so far as to push the sopping wet material of his sweater up to his neck, exposing the hard lines of his abdomen.
Gag. But I don’t stop to warm them away. Not when they’re making it possible for the two of us to get out of here. I don’t understand why women fall all over themselves for guys like him.
There is no amount of good genetics that will ever make Parker look like anything less than what he is.
A monster.
Quickening her steps, the girl follows me toward the exit. We’re close. The door that will lead us outside is right there. I chance a quick look over my shoulder and our gazes collide.
“Cecilia!” Parker roars. “We’re not done!”
The hell we aren’t. If I never have to see Parker Benson again, it’ll be too soon.
Ignoring his demand to stop, I break into a run.
“Come on!” My wet feet slap against the pavement. Quickly grabbing my things from the chair I’d dropped them on, I shove open the door and exhale a breath of relief as soon as I taste the crisp fall air. But we’re not out of the woods yet.
“We need to put some distance between us and Benson,” I tell the girl. “You can come back to grab your things from the locker room later.”
Her brows furrow, but she nods, so I drop my hold on her arm, praying she’ll continue following me.
We run between buildings, turning left when a small walkway between the commons and the library appears. Pressing myself to the rough stone wall, I strain my ears for any sign of Parker’s pursuit.
