Love Set Me Free

Prologue

Vomit on her hands was not how Paisley expected her night to unfold. She groaned as she held her best friend’s hair back, waiting patiently for her to finish emptying her guts into the random toilet in the frat house they were in.

Paisley’s eyes traveled around the small bathroom as her nose turned up while she tried to ignore Janelle retching into the toilet. The space was small and pretty much bare. There wasn’t even a shower curtain, just a thin plastic covering over the shower to stop water from getting all over the white tiled floor. It was cleaner than Paisley would have imagined a frat house bathroom would be, but not by much. Dust settled around the toilet, and she didn’t even want to think about the congealed yellow substance toward the wall behind the toilet.

“It’s okay, Nelle. Let it all out, and then we can go, okay?”

“No.” The word came out in a low groan as she rested her cheek against the seat of the toilet.

Paisley wanted to gag as she quickly pulled Janelle’s arm, causing her to sit up straight.

“Come on. Get up, girl. We need to get you back to your dorm.”

Janelle swatted at Paisley as they struggled into a standing position.

“Oh, little Paisley Pooh,” she crooned, trying to bop Paisley on the nose and missing her face completely. “You’re such a party pooper.”

“Okay, Nelle. I’ll be that,” Paisley said, trying to hide the irritation in her voice as she leaned her up against the wall and turned to scrub her hands.

She breathed slowly through her nose as she tried not to throw up too. Once her hands were clean, she realized she hadn’t flushed the toilet, and she sighed.

“Janelle, flush the toilet, and then come wash your hands.”

The sigh that came out of Janelle could have been Oscar-worthy. Being dramatic had always been her specialty. After three attempts, Janelle finally found success in flushing the toilet before she stumbled over to the sink and turned on the faucet.

While she washed her hands, their eyes connected in the mirror. Janelle offered Paisley a goofy grin, and Paisley couldn’t help but giggle as she shook her head.

“Love you, Paisley Pooh.” Janelle stuck her tongue out.

“You are a mess,” Paisley grumbled, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. “And since when did you start calling me Paisley Pooh? Only Kydrick calls me that.”

Janelle blew out a raspberry before turning off the faucet and looking around for a towel to dry her hands. When she noticed there wasn’t one, she tried using her black leather skirt, leaving wet streaks along the sides before giving up.

When Janelle finally faced Paisley, her hazel eyes looked sad. It wasn’t an expression Paisley saw on her best friend’s face often. Janelle was always the happy and outgoing one of their little trio. Not only that, but she was the type of woman to get everything she wanted. Janelle worked hard to have her heart’s desires, and she was the type of person that good things happened to. People gravitated toward her bubbly personality and her beauty. Her long black hair, hazel eyes, and her toffee-colored skin lent a hand to her outer beauty, but her softness and kindness showed how good of a person she was on the inside. Janelle had it all, so the small frown on her face alarmed Paisley.

“Kydrick…” Janelle sighed the name, slumping against the sink.

Alarmed, Paisley grabbed Janelle’s hand and asked, “What’s wrong with Kydrick?”

They had all gone their separate ways as soon as they entered the party. Paisley assumed Janelle and Kydrick had run off together since they were a couple, but when she found Janelle playing beer pong with a bunch of frat boys, she knew she had been wrong. It wasn’t long after she found Janelle that she was dragged into the bathroom to hold her best friend’s hair back. She hadn’t thought to ask about Kydrick until that moment, suddenly wondering if they had gotten into an argument or something. That had been happening more often, putting Paisley right in the middle to play referee.

Janelle waved her hand haphazardly.

“Nothing’s wrong with him, but… do you think he loves me? Like, really loves me?”

The question hit Paisley right in the chest, but she put her supportive friend hat on and pushed her feelings to the side.

“Nelle, you see the way he looks at you. Kyd would literally do anything to make you happy. He loves the ground you walk on.”

Janelle’s face scrunched up as she swayed. “You and him with your nicknames.”

Paisley’s brows pulled together.

“Does… does that bother you, Nelle? You know we don’t mean anything by it?—”

Waving her hand once again, Janelle cut her off. “No, no. It’s fine. I just… I don’t know. I sometimes wonder if…” Her words trailed off before her shoulders squared. “Never mind. I’m ready to go back to the party.”

Janelle brushed past Paisley and yanked the door open, causing Paisley to follow her, but the crowd of people was entirely too thick, and Janelle broke away from her easily.

“Shit.” Paisley looked around the room, the bass from the music vibrating through her body while weed smoke stroked her nostrils. With a heavy sigh, she pushed through the crowd, completely uncomfortable with the amount of white people surrounding her. Paisley’s bronzed skin looked as though it had been dipped in gold, and her golden-brown hair made her look like a melanated burst of sunlight. She looked like a goddess, and people stared at her wherever she went, but the way these white boys eyed her like she was fresh meat made her skin crawl. It was exactly why she found a hidden corner to chill in earlier, doing her best to blend into the damn wall.

Barrington University was not Paisley’s comfort zone. She had specifically chosen the most popular HBCU in Ellwood for this reason. She loved her melanin skin and loved people that looked just like her. When Paisley and Janelle had been applying for colleges, they had a bit of an argument about where to go since their dream had always been to go to the same school. Paisley shut that down when she got into Everette Clark University and Janelle didn’t.

As she pushed through this sea of white people she didn’t even want to be around in the first place, she was glad she stood her ground and went to the college of her dreams. Back on her own campus, she felt right at home. Since they had spent time on Paisley’s campus already, Janelle insisted she and Kydrick come to this party tonight. Neither Paisley nor Kydrick wanted to go, not being into the party scene, but Janelle had a way about her that got them to do what she wanted, so there they were.

Now, she was on a mission to find Kydrick. If anyone could get Janelle to leave this party, it was him. It took her a solid ten minutes to spot him upstairs in a room full of guys playing Just Dance.

“Kyd,” she called out to him. “Kyd!”

It took him a moment to register her voice with all the shouts from the guys in the room and the music turned up to full blast. He turned, his short locs falling over his eyes, and when he smiled at her, Paisley’s heart stuttered.

She, Kydrick, and Paisley met when they were only four years old. Their parents’ decision to get them each into swimming lessons at the local YMCA changed their lives forever in the best way. They met and immediately became a trio. Their parents set up play dates and became fast friends, too. They went to elementary school, middle school, and high school together. Their freshman year in high school was when their dynamic changed. Janelle and Kydrick announced that they liked each other, leaving Paisley to get comfortable as their third wheel. Secretly, that revelation also broke Paisley’s heart for many reasons.

She felt betrayed that neither of them thought to talk to her about their feelings, but she also couldn’t blame them. She never talked to them about hers. Her crush on Kydrick had been fierce, and she couldn’t remember a time it wasn’t there. For the sake of their trio, she kept her feelings at bay, thinking that was the right thing to do. How stupidly wrong and selfless she had been.

“Is that Paisley Pooh?” His voice roared through the crowd, causing some of the guys to glance at her while a deep blush tinted her skin. He walked up to her, dropping his arm around her shoulder and looking down at her.

“Looks like someone is having fun,” she noted.

“You’re not?” His thick brows pulled in, and Paisley knew what he was going to ask before he opened his mouth. That was how well she knew him.

She shook her head. “Your girl is drunk off her ass, and I think it’s time to go.”

Kydrick sighed. “Just when I started having fun.”

He put the red cup he held in his large hand on a nearby foldable table before grabbing her around her shoulders once again.

“Let’s go.”

Relief flooded her. They walked out of the crowded game room and down a short hall when a loud thud and a pained cry rattled the door they were just walking past. They paused and glanced at each other before they heard another thud and a scream.

The hallway was deserted, causing chills to run up Paisley’s spine. Something about this situation felt very unsafe to her, and warning bells sounded off in her head, but before she could say anything to Kydrick, he yanked the door open.

Paisley couldn’t fully see inside the dark room, but she noted two people, a man and a woman, in a struggle. The girl had silvery blonde hair, and when Paisley took a step closer, she noticed she had a busted lip. Her skirt was up around her waist, and she didn’t have any panties on. The guy’s pants were down, and Paisley grimaced at the sight of his pink penis streaked with blood.

Paisley’s heart dropped as she realized what was going on, and Kydrick must have been just as shocked as her because they stood there frozen, giving the guy enough time to pull his pants up.

“What the hell, man?” the guy asked, taking a step toward them.

Paisley ignored him and looked at the girl, taking a tentative step into the room. “Are you okay?”

The girl cowered on the floor, scooting against the bed and crying.

Kydrick grabbed Paisley by the arm, but before he could say anything, the white man swung on him. Paisley yelped, stumbling back out into the hallway as Kydrick and the guy went blow for blow. It was clear to Paisley that the white guy was drunk and maybe on some kind of drugs, but he was holding his own against Kydrick. People came out of the rooms in the hallway, hearing all the noise, and dread filled Paisley as she screamed for them to stop.

“This guy raped my girlfriend!” the white guy shouted as soon as a couple of other guys pried them apart.

“What?” Paisley whispered, her voice completely lost in the uproar. “No… no!”

“What the fuck? Are you insane?” Kydrick yelled, straining against the two guys who held him back.

Everyone took in the scene, and Paisley felt the moment they all realized what was going on. Though they had it very, very wrong. She pushed through the crowd and into the room in time to see the white guy who caused all this get loose and charge at Kydrick again. This time, the white boy had the upper hand because his buddies held down his opponent.

“Kydrick!” Paisley shouted, trying to stop the man from attacking him. “Stop! Let him go!”

“Shut up, bitch!” The white guy stopped his assault on Kydrick and knocked Paisley to the ground.

“Yo, Thomas. Chill, man,” one of the guys holding Kydrick down said.

“The cops are on the way!” someone called from the hallway as Paisley crawled over to Kydrick with tears in her eyes.

He had blood running down his face, and they let him go as Thomas went to check on the girl still trembling by the bed. Kydrick lifted Paisley off the floor and gathered her into his arms, hugging her to his chest.

“It’s okay. The police will sort this out,” he murmured, but Paisley barely paid attention to him. She kept her eyes on the girl on the floor as Thomas whispered in her ear, smoothing her blonde hair away from her face.

Tears dripped down her pale face, and when she made eye contact with Paisley, her heart dropped. Paisley knew at that moment nothing good was going to come of this situation. The girl looked terrified, but not only that—she looked like a really good liar.

It didn’t take long for the police to come, and as the only two black people in the room, Paisley and Kydrick were the only ones handcuffed. With all the white people glaring at them as they were walked out of the house and marched to the station for questioning, Paisley knew all odds were stacked against them. She also knew nothing would be the same from that day forward, but she was ready to fight for the truth. If not for herself, then definitely for Kydrick.