I blink into the darkness, and it hits me that I’m very alone out here. And possibly lost. I turn a slow circle, trying to get my bearings. My backpack—and in its pocket, my phone—is somewhere closer to where I entered the woods. But I have no clue where that would be after running around and around the way I did. Suppressing the urge to cry, instead, I let my head fill with fury.
Fucking Royal. I’m going to kill him. Deciding to ignore the fact that I have cum for lotion on my ass, I jam my feet back into my shorts and pull them up, then put on my bra and shirt. I look down at myself, disgusted. I’m a sweaty, grime-covered mess. My hands shake as I bring them up to tuck hair behind my ears, then I press my palms to my cheeks where they’re still flaming hot.
I stand there in the woods for an embarrassing amount of time, a tiny sliver of hope that Royal will come back for me with my backpack and maybe point me in the right direction so I can get the hell out of here. But after a while, it’s clear that’s not happening. He left me.
On my own, I make my way through the woods, thankfully stumbling back upon the spot where I’d abandoned my backpack. I frown as I approach, seeing a piece of paper on top of it.
He left me a note. Asshole couldn’t help me, but he had the gall to get into my bag, find paper and pen… and write me a motherfuckingnote.
Good girls get rewards.
But we both know you’ve been anything but good, little liar.
Steaming mad, I shove the paper into my backpack in the same pouch as I’d put the rude Post-it note. Rewards? I don’t want or need his fucking rewards.
With my head full of revenge, I walk back out to the road. There’s no way I’m making the trek back through the woods, even if in theory it’s faster. I’ll go the long way around. It’s fine. But fuck, if there was ever a walk of shame, this is it.
The awful feeling gets even worse twenty minutes later when I pass Sigma Iota Nu to get home. Is that fucker in there? Did he pretend as if he’d just gone for a motherfucking run?
Fuming, I snap, marching up their driveway. I bet he won’t seethiscoming. Treat me like trash and face the consequences, asshole. I climb the porch steps and hammer my fist on the door. The sound of footsteps tells me that someone is coming, but when the door opens, quite possibly the last person I want to see is standing there.
Oh my fuck. What was I thinking? My eyes crash shut for three agonizing beats of my broken heart.
When I open them again, Davis’s have gone wide, taking me in from head to toe. I know I look like I rolled around in the dirt, mostly because I had, but if the horrific porch light wasn’t shining down on me, I don’t think it’d be as bad. Shaking my head, I cover my face and back away, then turn and flee down the steps and into their yard.
“Echo! What the fuck? What happened?”
I turn around, holding a palm out as my brother comes charging down the stairs. “No. Davis, I can’t do this with you right now.” My gaze flicks to the doorway, where a couple of other SIN brothers are watching. No Royal, though. Distress churns around and around in my stomach. I swallow, blinking back angry tears. I don’t even know why I’m crying, except I never wanted anyone to see me like this, especially not my family. They spent way too much time picking me up and caring for me when things fell apart the first time. I don’t want to go back there ever again. I don’t like feeling weak. I suck in a breath. “I’m good. I’m fine.” I start walking toward TZE.
“Wait, at least tell me this. When you came to the door… were you looking for me?”
My skin prickles at his question, and I involuntarily cringe. I’m unwilling to answer, but my brother knows me and that’s all he needs to understand that I wasn’t there for him. “That fucker. I’m gonna kill him.” He’s decided for himself what he thinks is going on here. And he’s probably not too far off base, but I’m too embarrassed to come out and say that Royal had— Fuck, I can’t even wrap my mind around what being with him had done to my head or why I’d let it happen. And I’m definitely not going to let all that out with half a house of fraternity brothers standing on the porch to watch the drama.
“No. You’re not. Just stay away from him.” I spin around to face my brother. It kills me to see the worry on his face. “I appreciate you wanting to look out for me. But I can handle things on my own, Davis. I told you that when you said you wanted to transfer.”
“Obviously fucking not, Echo,” he growls, his brows furrowing hard as he glowers at me.
My eyes flash at him, and I’m barely able to hold back. I can’t deal with him and the way he thinks he knows best. I don’t want to do this right now. Ignoring the talk going on behind the hands of the motley crew of SIN brothers, I pivot toward TZE and walk as gracefully as I can with my head held high. Hopefully, if I have some time to myself to get cleaned up, I’ll feel better. Never mind I’m going back to my room where I’m clearly going to be a freaking mess. Will I even be able to shower? Sleep? I exhale hard. All of this is too much at once. But I’ll figure it out. I have to. Because if I lose it and Davis finds out, he’s going to step in, and then he’ll tell Kara I can’t fucking handle my own shit, and they’ll make sure I’m done here. As if our family hasn’t had to deal with enough in the last six months since we were forced to figure it out on our own.
Trudging up the stairs to TZE, I side-eye all the guys still watching me from next door.Fuck.Well, great. Now I’m going to bethatgirl at the party this weekend—the chick who raised a ruckus outside the SIN fraternity house Wednesday night. The one who’d come looking for one of them with dirt on her face, clothes that’ve seen better days, and an attitude to match. I’m sure they’ll figure out who I was looking for soon enough. It’ll be simple deduction at this point. I clearly wasn’t hunting down anyone who was present, and there were more than a few watching the shit show, so I’m sure gossip is about to spin around the mill with fury. Can’t fucking wait.
I manage to slip in the front door of TZE unseen and am in the process of darting down the hallway to the far end where my room is, but a door opens midway down and Ireland steps out, blocking my path. “Excuse me.” I try to duck past her, but she puts a hand on my shoulder, stopping me, a curious look on her face. She glances to her doorway where Savannah has now joined us.
I can’t catch a break.
A bubble of laughter bursts from Savannah. “Oh god, girl. You look like you were ridden hard and put away wet.”
As she says that, Ireland covers her mouth with one hand, trying not to laugh, and with the other she reaches toward my head.
I rear back, stumbling backward and colliding with the wall behind me. “What are you doing?”
“Calm down.” She reaches for me again, but this time I have nowhere to go. There’s a very definite wicked set to her lips as she plucks something from my hair near my temple. Wetting her lips, she holds her hand out to me. “Were you saving this for something?”
My eyes travel down to her palm where she’s holding a two-inch twig. I swallow, shrugging, and desperate for something to say. “I walked home through the woods. No biggie.” I snatch the piece of wood from her hand, rolling my eyes a bit.
Savannah laughs. “Is that why you have a big ole dirt smudge on your cheek and all over your clothes? Tell us who you were with.”
I glance down, realizing the dirt I’d tried to clean off my hands and forearms is all over my shirt. “Think what you want. You don’t know anything about me.” I try to keep my voice calm and steady, but inside, I’m seething. It’s too much. And I wouldn’t tell her who I was with if she held a knife to my throat.
