“No need to be jealous. I’ll fuck you too.”
“No way, man.”
My heart shot into my throat when an arm banded around my waist and hauled me back against a hard body. The stench of pungent beer burned my nostrils and churned my stomach.
“Would that make you feel better, baby,” he spoke softly against my neck, and I tried to curl away from him. “We can always share, too.”
He stretched his arm in front of me and held up his hand. The goliath that held Olivia high-fived my captor. Olivia’s glazed eyes met mine and filled with tears.
No. No, no, no. Adrenaline shot through my body. I used all my strength and slammed my heel down on his toe.6He cursed in pain and pulled back, but still held tight to my arm.
“You fucking bitch!” He tossed me behind him, and with no one there to catch me, I fell, landing against a table pushed off to the side. Pain shot up my arm as it scraped against the corner. My head thudded hard against the edge, and I blinked to clear the black dots from my vision. Why wasn’t anyone doing anything? Tears burned my eyes in fear, embarrassment, and rage.
Well, if no one would help, then I’d do it myself. I wasn’t going down without fighting for my friend. I moved to stand, preparing an epic warrior cry, when three other guys stepped into the circle.
“Let her the fuck go, dickhole,” Connor said, his two friends at his side. One reached back to help me up. “Or we’ll report you to Coach and get you kicked off the team.”
I stood next to one of our heroes, still burning with rage, when the asshole tossed Olivia at Connor, where she stumbled into his arms.
“She’s not fucking worth it. Too fat.”
I stepped forward, aiming for his balls, but the guy who helped me up held me back, shaking his head. “Let’s just get out of here.”
They walked us out to our car, helping a sniffling Olivia into the front seat.
“You okay to drive?” Connor asked.
“Yeah. I’ll be fine. Thanks for your help in there.”
“Evan and James are cunts and deserve to be kicked off the football team. I’ll be telling the coach anyway.”
“Thank you,” I said one last time before I got in and drove off.
I parked in the teacher lot outside of the science building because it was the closest to Olivia’s dorm. When I walked past, I looked up at Dr. Pierce’s office and saw the light on. What was he doing here so late? Looking at my phone I noticed it was only ten-thirty. Still late, but I almost laughed at how short a time we lasted at the frat party. It took us less than three hours to check off that experience as one we’d never want to repeat again.
I got Olivia settled and tucked in with no protest and very little help on her part. The alcohol was hitting her. I left a bottle of water and some aspirin on her desk for the morning.
“Guys are jerks,” she mumbled. “Thanks for being my friend, Oak.”
“Any time.” I kissed her forehead. She was out before I even reached the door.
When I walked past the science building again, Dr. Pierce’s light was off. I must have just missed him.
Walking back to my car I remained vigilant. Looking around, partly scared that someone might have followed us for revenge or something equally dramatic. The adrenaline was wearing off, and the stinging in my arm increased. I needed to get home and take care of whatever damage was caused. The pain stretched down my arm and up into my shoulder. My head ached and each throb was a reminder to how vulnerable I was. Only ten more feet to my car.
I almost swallowed my tongue when a dark figure emerged from around the corner.
“Oaklyn?” a familiar voice asked.
I choked back the scream fighting its way up my throat. My body trembled coming down from my fight or flight response.
“Dr. Pierce? Hey.” Despite trying to hide it, I knew he heard my voice shake.
He stepped into the light and his eyebrows furrowed. “You okay?”
“Yeah, yeah.” I took deep breaths to get my heart rate back to a normal pace. Tonight was turning out to be hellacious on my nervous system. “You just scared me.”
“Sorry about that,” he said looking unconvinced. “What are you doing on campus so late. You don’t live in the dorms, do you?”
