25. Hailey
25
HAILEY
The next day, I practically had whiplash from all the ups and downs of the day before. It had been so amazing finally learning the truth about Ian. Seeing him in a new light. And even surprising was how he’d been able to make me see myself in a new light.
Maybe he was right, maybe there were some legitimate reasons why I struggled so much. Maybe it wasn’t just because I wasn’t as smart as my classmates.
I’d been riding the highest high—and then I got those disgusting message from Night Owl and plunged to the lowest low.
What a day.
I sighed. Ian had almost convinced me that I wasn’t dumb, but now I knew I had another glaring personality flaw—I was a terrible judge of character. Because I’d really thought that Night Owl was a good guy.
Even after he’d talked me through my first orgasm, a very pleasurable experience, he hadn’t made me feel awkward about it. At least until yesterday. I’d never heard the expression of flicking one’s bean, but it wasn’t all that hard to figure out what it meant.
And it made me feel dirty that he’d said those things. It was probably ironic because I’d done naughtier things in person with Theo and Ian. But it was this text exchange that made me feel cheap.
He’d likely meant for me to feel that way.
And he’d done something else, too. He’d made me feel unsafe here. I hadn’t felt scared in this house since the first week or two. Then later, I laughed at what a scared little virgin I’d been when I arrived here. Well, I was still a virgin. And little. But not scared.
Not until yesterday.
He’d made me question everything I thought I knew about this place. Maybe I’d just gotten complacent. What kind of girl feels safe in a frat house?
But I had. For a while.
After dinner, I retreated to my room, carefully locking the door behind me. But then I couldn’t focus. I read the same chapter over and over in my textbook, the information not sinking in. Yet I was a little more gentle with my self-talk. That didn’t mean I was stupid—it just meant I was stressed out and had a lot to worry about. Like where the hell I was going to live two weeks from now. And why Night Owl had talked to me that way. I couldn’t stop my mind from returning to that.
Eventually, I gave up on studying. It just wasn’t going to happen tonight. But it was far too early to go to bed, it wasn’t even midnight yet.
Midnight. He’d said we were the midnight club. And it had felt like a club. Like a secret just the two of us shared. That meant a lot to me even if I didn’t know who he was. And now I never would, because I was never speaking to him again.
This was pointless. If I couldn’t sleep and I couldn’t study, then I could at least do something productive. I gathered my stuff and headed upstairs to take a shower.’
The bathroom was cold—that was its only bad point, but I still liked the luxury of having it all to myself. I slid the frosted glass door open and started the water, grinning when the steam rose almost immediately. This place was a study in contrast. The air was far too cold, but the water became hot in an instant.
Really, really far too cold… I danced from foot to foot when the cold air hit my bare skin. I hurried to the shower stall but somehow managed to knock my phone off the side of the sink. It hit the tile below, bounced, and slid under the edge of the vanity.
Crap. I hoped I hadn’t broken the screen. But if I had, it would still be broken after my shower, and I was too damn cold to check right now.
I stayed under the hot water for a long time. My hair was pinned up, but I turned and let the water cascade down my neck and back. It felt so good. I was definitely a shower person. If I’d stayed in a bathtub this long, I would’ve turned into a prune. But not here.
And yeah, I was wasting water, but after this summer was over, who knew how many roommates I’d have to share a bathroom with—if I even had a place to stay at all.
Finally, reluctantly, I turned off the shower. The little stall became a sauna, steam all over the place, caressing my skin. Then I slid open the door and the steam escaped, fogging up the mirror. I reached for my towel as I stepped out of the shower onto that weird stone bath mat they had.
It wasn’t there.
Had it fallen on the floor? If so, I was good. I kept all the bathrooms clean, but I had to admit that I always worked extra hard in this one.
And then my heart skipped a beat without me truly understanding why. Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
My robe wasn’t on the hook behind the door. My clothes weren’t folded neatly on the little shelf over the sink. There were no towels. No clothes. Nothing.
I blinked, as if the problem was my vision, but it wasn’t. I sprinted over to the door, my wet feet skidding on the tile and I checked the doorknob. It was still locked—yet someone had been in here. Someone had had a key.
Someone had stolen my clothes while I showered. I wrapped my arms around myself as my wet skin grew colder. That thought alone had terrified me. Sure, the glass was frosted, but had he tried to watch me? Had he listened to me? I shivered, and only part of that was because of the cold.
What was I going to do? There wasn’t a single thing in here I could use to cover myself with, unless I ripped the vanity off the wall.
The vanity! Please, god, let there be some extra towels in there. Or an old t-shirt. Hell, even a dust cloth would be an improvement over what I had now, which was nothing.
Tears slid down my cheeks, joining the water droplets from the shower.
What on earth was I going to do? I was all but certain Bennett had done this. Who else? As president he would’ve had a key. It creeped me out to think that he’d been in here, so close. And then he’d taken my personal items, my towels, my clothes, and my phone.
My phone!
I dropped to the floor, landing painfully on my knees as I peered under the vanity. It was still there. I almost cried with relief as I reached for it. The screen wasn’t even scratched.
Leaning against the vanity, I stared at the lifeline I now held in my hands. But who should I call?
Theo or Ian would come in an instant. Of course they would. They’d be shocked and sympathetic and wonderful… but they’d also know. Know that someone had treated me this way. Someone had purposefully humiliated me.
That bothered me more than I could say. It was a little like when I didn’t want them to know I was a student. Despite the fact that I’d spent years looking down on myself, I didn’t want to take the chance that others would. Or that they’d pity me.
So who did that leave? Tori? I couldn’t really imagine her storming the gates of this big house to rescue me.
The fire department? But I wasn’t a kitten stuck in a tree.
The air grew colder minute by minute as the steam evaporated. I had to contact someone before I froze to death.
A strange thought rising to the front of my mind, and though I pushed it back, it kept coming. If we hadn’t had such a disastrous last conversation, I might have contacted Night Owl. Not that it seemed like a good idea for our first in-person meeting to be when I was naked, but I’d trusted him.
I’d really thought I’d read him correctly.
Some hopelessly naive part of me still kind of felt like that. Maybe he’d just been having a bad day. Maybe he was drunk. Maybe it was a test to see if I’d stick with him even when he was being an incredible asshole. If so, I’d failed the test.
But so had he.
This was stupid. It was a bad idea. But I still opened my texts. Unblocked him. And sent out a plea for help.
My body shook, my arms wrapped around my knees as I waited. Had I just made a huge mistake? After all, he’d been the one to demand nude pictures of me. For all I knew, he’d set this whole thing up and was waiting out in the hallway to see if I’d try to make a dash for it.
But… that stubborn voice in the back of my head didn’t think so. It insisted that I did actually know him. Which was a weird thing to think about someone whose name you didn’t even know but it had still felt that way.
When I heard footsteps in the hallway, I shrank back against the wall behind the door. I wish I had something—anything—to cover myself with.
Then there was a soft knock. “Hailey? I’ve brought you my robe and a towel. I’m going to hand them in without looking, okay?”
My jaw dropped open, and if I’d had a towel, I would’ve fallen to the floor as I stared at the closed door in shock.
It was Grant.