Chapter 61 – Kola
Chapter Sixty-One
Kola
“That’s it, I’m taking you back to your dorms and I’m going to have Clover and Thomas talk some sense into you. They’re calling Sylvia,” Kit snaps. “Now come.”
I’m not going with him and I’m not going to let Kit Barclay tell me what to do. Jamal’s nursing his nose against the wall and groaning. I don’t want to stand here arguing with Kit Barclay and he’s in my way.
“I’m not reporting him. He didn’t hurt me, I’m fine.”
“I know what I saw,” Kit roars.
“You fucking hit me!” Jamal screams at him. Kit ignores Jamal. He has terrifying demon blue eyes, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to listen to Kit. He’d better watch himself.
“I’m not doing anything. Let me go. It was just a misunderstanding.”
“Why the fuck are you protecting him?” Kit yells. He’s red in the face and I don’t know why the hell he’s getting so angry. Nothing happened. Jamal tried to hurt me, but it didn’t work and I don’t want to get in any more trouble this semester. Why can’t Kit accept that.
“I’m not!”
Jamal whimpers again, this time earning him Kit’s ire.
“Get the fuck out of here!” Kit yells at him. “You’ve done enough.”
Jamal curses Kit out under his breath and leaves the room. I can’t deny that my shoulders visibly relax once Jamal’s gone. What the hell just happened? Did I lead Jamal on or something? I’m shaken and I definitely think what just happened is my fault.
Once he’s alone with me, Kit grabs my shoulders and looks at me with rage, as if he has any real right to get so angry.
“What did he bloody do to you? What happened?” Kit snarls. His face turns beet red. White boys and their shapeshifting skin… not my thing.
“It’s none of your white business.”
Kit rolls his eyes. “Don’t you dare,” he snarls. “Don’t you dare. He was assaulting you.”
“I’m fine.”
“We’ll see about that.”
His grasp tightens around my forearm. “Kit, let go of me!” I shriek. He completely ignores my request and drags me out of the gym as I try to fight him off. He drags me to a green sports car sitting in the parking lot.
“I’m taking you back to the dorms, so get in the fucking car.”
“Are you really going to kidnap me?!”
“Jamal hurt you, Kola. I tell you we should call the deans, we should do something and you refuse. Why? Seriously, why!?”
“I told you it was a misunderstanding and he probably didn’t mean—
“He would have raped you!” Kit yells.
“You are way too angry about this,” I snap back. “I’m only getting in your car because I don’t want to walk back alone.”
“I don’t care why, as long as you fucking do it. I’m calling Clover the second I’m sure you won’t bolt.”
“Don’t talk to me like that!”
“What?” Kit snaps. “I thought you let men do whatever the bloody hell they wanted to you.”
He gets into the driver’s seat and I am not done telling this boy off. He can’t just tell me what to do about an attack that happened to me and he can’t just drag me off to the dorms giving me a lecture on how to behave. I don’t take orders from any white man.
Once I slide into the car, I have to take a moment to appreciate the strong sense of leather.
“Damn… is this new? Wait, don’t answer that. How dare you talk to me with that attitude?”
Kit scoffs and turns the car on. “Seriously, Kola. I won’t argue with you.”
“Oh yeah? Good luck with that, ‘cause I’m going to argue with you.”
“Very good, argue away. I don’t care if you squawk as long as you get your arse to the dean’s office tomorrow morning and report him.”
“I ain’t doing shit, white boy.”
“Call me white boy again and I’ll swerve off the road.”
“You wouldn’t dare, white boy.”
Kit’s crazy ass swerves hard. I shriek and he keeps going.
“KIT STOP IT!”
“I’m far fucking crazier than you are, darling!”
He swerves again and does a figure eight and then a donut as I scream at him to stop. He’s crazy as hell. He’s lost his fucking mind. Oh hell no!
“STOP, you’re going to kill us both!” I shriek.
Kit slams on the brakes as I shriek as the car comes to a sharp halt. I throw a punch at his side.
“Are you fucking crazy?”
Kit grins. “You’re going to tell on him.”
“I’m not doing shit.”
“Want another go?”
Kit revs the engines and I shriek bloody murder.
“TAKE ME TO THE DORMS!” I scream at him.
Kit chuckles. “Perfect. I love bratty girls.”
“I don’t care what type of girls you love. Stupid ass.”
Kit slowly eases his car in the correct direction down the path. Doesn’t he know he can get into trouble for having that stupid car out here? Ugh. I fold my arms and sit stewing in silence until he pulls up outside the dorms. Kit parks his car and sighs.
“If you don’t want to do what I say, trust your friends.”
Kit glances over at me, his eyes oddly warm. He’s a pain in the ass and he’s been such a dick to people that I know that seeing any warmth in the party boy’s eyes surprises me.
“I do trust my friends and they’re going to understand my completely sane perspective on this.”
“How are you sure Jamal didn’t attack you the first time?” he asks.
Heat rushes to my cheeks. I didn’t exactly need a reminder that everyone at the schools knows the details of my attack. They all found out how many days my attacker kept me locked up. They know all the ways I was raped and tortured.
I feel humiliated. I can’t look at Kit anymore and I feel tears forming in my eyes. I don’t know who attacked me and he doesn’t know how fucking bad that makes me feel. I went days without knowing my attacker’s identity. I didn’t have a single clue to give the cops. I felt like a failure.
“Kola…” Kit says more softly. “Can you be sure it wasn’t him?”
“How could someone balance kidnapping me and going to school? Whoever did this couldn’t have been a student.”
I say that, but the truth is, I don’t know. I can’t face the reality that I might be walking around campus with the person who did this to me. I just can’t…
“I dunno,” Kit says. “Can you just talk to your friends, please?”
“Okay. Whatever.”
Kit calls Clover and explains what happened.
He tries to make it quick but he’s way too dramatic about it.
He calls the whole thing a sexual assault.
It was a misunderstanding. When he hangs up, Kit’s face softens a bit.
He has a nice face for a white boy. It has that heart-shape like Timothee Chalamet, but Kit has an even sharper jawline and a distinctly aquiline nose.
“I’m sorry,” he says with a sigh once he’s off the phone. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like shit.”
“Why the hell are you being so nice to me?”
Kit laughs. “I’m not being nice, cupcake. I’m being myself. I don’t like labels.”
“You are dumb as hell.”
“Whatever you say, cupcake.”
“If you keep calling me that, I’ll smack you.”
“Careful, that might get me horny.”
He still can’t stop with the damn dirty jokes.
“Shut up, Kit,” I grumble at him, but he just smiles.
He climbs out of the car and rushes around to the other side to let me out. He’s a gentleman in some ways and an annoying foul-mouthed rich boy in others. Kit stuffs his hands in his pockets.
“If you want, I could kick his arse for you.”
Kit’s more slender than Jamal for sure, but he’s also taller and he’s not exactly weak either. He has broad shoulders, nice lean muscles, but he’s not a fighter. I don’t believe that.
“No thanks. That won’t be necessary.”
I punch in the passcode to our dorm and Kit follows me in. Why is he still here? I don’t need his rescuing.
“You know you’re not allowed in here, right?” I grumble.
“I’m not letting you get away with keeping this from your friends.”
Shit. He’s onto me…
“Why do you even care? I can handle this, you know.”
“I was rowing when I heard you scream,” Kit says earnestly. “I’ve never heard anything like it. Whatever he was doing to you, it hurt you, Kola. I’ve never heard such an awful sound.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
“Don’t mention it.”
He winks and then stops right in front of Clover’s room. I don’t bother asking how he knows which one it is. Before waiting for a response, Kit announces obnoxiously. “I’ve brought Kola! She’s been attacked again and she’s extremely stubborn about it. I find it quite irritating.”
I elbow him hard in the side but Kit doesn’t respond.
“Can you hurry and open the bloody door?” he calls out again.
* * *