I recognized him instantly. It would be pretty sad if I didn’t, considering my little stunt at the Daragan State party earlier, even if Operation Run My Irritating Ex Who is Clearly in Denial of the ‘Ex’ Part Away was a total failure. That and the solid eye-fuck from across the arena prior to that.
From what I overheard a group of girls saying, they’re regulars at our school’s parties. I would have known this, had I not been new here. Sometimes I wonder what my uncle is thinking, allowing me to go to college ten hours away, but I never questioned him. It took him a long time to loosen the leash he held on to me. I wasn’t going to start questioning it now, and besides, I don’t miss home. How could I when my best friend is here?
“Lon!” Ugh. Like a bucket of ice water, Trevor’s voice knocks me out of my trance.
“Shut up, Trevor.” My feet stay cemented to the ground. I want to get closer to what’s happening, but maybe—maybe I’m just utterly fucked up. “And don’t call me baby.”
The dark-haired stranger’s tongue slips out, dampening his bottom lip, and I watch in slow motion as a girl’s hands come to his chest from behind. Without breaking eye contact with me, he directs her to the front, bringing his mouth to hers. I recognize her from school. Elizabeth something? I can’t remember her last name.
What the fuck is she doing in there? Oh no, I’m definitely drunk. There’s no way she’s at a party. Always desperate for attention, she could barely garner the interest of our bottom dollar guys.
He doesn’t look like the type who enjoys the attention-seeking kind.
But I guess looks are as deceiving as they say, since he initiated the kiss. His mouth moves against hers, his hands now sliding down her bare back and over the swell of her ass. He squeezes her ass cheeks tightly as he lifts her from the ground as if she weighs nothing, and her legs wrap around his waist like a fucking Venus flytrap. He curls her hair around his fist and slowly lowers her to her knees in front of him.
Acid burns my tongue, a lump forming in my throat as time seems to slow down, and I watch, transfixed, in a greedy sort of torture. The rest of the party falls away and all I see is him and her, as she works on the zipper to his jeans. Her bright red hair bounces off the streetlight and I feel my stomach coil into a hot wire when his cock lands in the palm of her hand. She peers up at him innocently from below before her lips wrap around his girth.
My eyes fly back to his, and when I see them already on mine, a horde of rogue crows take flight in my gut as their talons try to scratch their way out. My toes curl when I feel a familiar kind of warmth pool between my thighs, my palms sweating—
“Lon!”
Everything shuts off and the party is gone. The house is just like every other house on this street. My mouth hangs open and a whirl of confusion sweeps me off my feet. “Get in the car!”
I spin around to see Ben in the passenger side of a Jeep, with Trevor already in the back. “What? How did you know where I was?”
“Huh?” Ben glares at me like I’ve ruined his whole night.
I probably have, but in five seconds he won’t be mad. He’s my ride or die like that. Plus, if I called anyone else, he would chew me out for days. It’s one of his ‘safety’ rules for me. When in need, rely solely on the man I trust. That’s him. Of course, that doesn’t mean he’s immune to getting pissy when my needy ass becomes the biggest cockblock known to man. A guy running to rescue a girl? He must be fucking her!
Ugh. Cue the eye roll.
“What the fuck do you mean, how did I know?” Ben frowns. “You texted me to come get you because…” His eyes fly over his shoulder.
“Right.” I did. That part I remember. I take another step closer to the car and the world tilts to the side. My stomach hurls and my hand flies to my mouth to stop the vomit from reaching up my throat. “I think I am really fucked up. Ben, I hate you and whatever you gave me tonight.” I don’t bother wasting time sliding into the back seat. Letty’s eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. I already know what’s coming and the lecture she’s going to give us all the next morning.
Thankfully, Trevor interrupts when he starts off in the background again. I try to block him out best I can, but when his hand finds my upper thigh, I lean forward and hit the radio, glaring at Ben.
My upstanding best friend is far too good a man to leave a drunk dude, even if it is Trevor, on the side of the road alone at two in the morning. Would he beat his ass and throw him into a pond of piranhas if he hurt me for real? Definitely. Abandon him for simply getting on my nerves when I made the conscious choice to make the walk with the man? Not so much.
I could cry. If I cried, Ben would drag Trevor out by his balls, but that would be a whole thing, so I simply sharpen my glare for good measure and sit back.
And so it begins. Trevor putting his hand on my thigh, me shoving it off, rinse and repeat. I hate myself for dating him for so long and vow to never allow myself to be around him alone again.
I met him at the very beginning of summer, literally four days after I moved here, and I’ve been annoyed by him nearly just as long.
Letty pulls the car up to the entrance to our dorm, which sits on the edge of campus.
“Will you be okay?” I ask Letty, after sliding out of the back seat.
She looks up at me from behind her slightly rolled-down window. “I’ll be fine. I’ll drop him off now and text you guys when I’m home.”
Ben doesn’t move from the passenger seat. “Nah, I’ll go with her and bring some food back.”
I smile at my best friend. He makes it hard hating him when he does cute things like making sure one of our exes doesn’t murder us. “I’ll be asleep.” Making my way to our front door, I throw up deuces. “Night!”
Tossing my house keys into the small fruit bowl near the entrance, I kick off my shoes and bypass the kitchen, heading straight for the stairs and to my bedroom. Ben and I decided to room together the second we knew coed dorms existed. There are not many people I allow into my space, but Ben kind of forced his way into it and told me to go fuck myself. I love him for that.
I kick my bedroom door closed, skipping the shower or even changing, and belly flop onto the bed. I need sleep. I need something to get his face out of my head.
The sky is the villain to every story I’ve ever read. The wind is cold as it whisks over my skin and uncontrollable shivers break out over me.
Where the fuck am I?
I stare down at my feet, seeing them soiled with mud and dirt. I bring my hands up to my face to see grime stuck between the cracks of my nails. Panic grips me around my throat and I stumble backward, falling with a thud on my ass as gravel bites into the soft flesh of my palms.
I wince. Seriously, where the fuck am I? That’s when I feel it.
The heat rises within the coolness of the wind and fire erupts through the sky, burning the stars to a crisp. Fog starts to blanket my legs and I quickly push myself back to my feet, when a large figure materializes in front of me. A bridge with massive metal carvings and a pathway made of gold. The fog thickens and the sky rumbles like a warning, just enough to feel the bite of its rage down my spine.
I take another step, desperate to see the bridge. How could something so light and crisp exist among such darkness and gloom? I want to reach out and touch it. Stabbing pain shoots through the soles of my feet as whatever it is that covers the ground crunches. I don’t care. I want the bridge. I need the bridge. Happiness fills my insides as I get closer, but I fall to the ground with my hands out. So close. So close.