15. ~Brianna~
15
~Brianna~
I groaned at the sound of my phone alarm cutting through my peaceful reverie of numbness.
Lethargically, I reached over and shut it off.
It was one of those mornings where the hangover from the sleeping pills I’d had to take last night was making it harder to get going and start my day. They—and maybe a sedative too—were the only reason for the peaceful sleep I’d had. Most often when I took them, I didn’t have my nightmares and I just experienced a dreamless sleep. A desperately coveted numbness.
When I’d arrived home last night after that… experience… with Levi, I’d had a bad reaction, some fallout to it all. Flashes of the past had inundated me.
Of him.
Of me.
Of us in that hellscape.
I hadn’t been able to shut it off, even with trying to refocus my mind through doing some of my origami—fashioning a bunch of butterflies. The symbolism I took from those beautiful creatures was the sense of freedom and of personal change and growth. That brutal time had changed me and my life forevermore and making the butterflies had been me trying to focus on that part, what had happened after that awful experience, not what I’d been subjected to during it.
But it hadn’t worked, so I’d had to use alternate methods just to be able to relax and manage to sleep.
I guess being with Levi like that had awakened it. The act itself, maybe. But more so that it was with him, and that he’d brought up the demons in the dark .
My phone kept buzzing even though I’d shut off the alarm, so I snatched it up.
Squinting for a few moments, I was able to see that a text message had come in an hour ago and it kept vibrating like it always did until I acknowledged the notification.
I swiped it open and found a message from the man who was now equally a part of my fantasies and nightmares alike.
Hell Spawn: You were the star of my dreams last night. You were riding my cock like a feral thing while I sucked on your breasts making your nipples red-raw as you shrieked out my name loud enough to wake the fucking dead.
Crap. So much for him losing interest.
I didn’t respond and put my phone back down on my nightstand instead, trying to ignore the tingle his words had caused between my thighs. Damn him.
I scrubbed my hand over my face, then went to sit up, only to knock something off onto the floor in the process.
I peered down the side of the bed to see that my big book of fairytales had dropped.
That was weird. I kept it on the opposite nightstand after I was done reading a story to help me sleep. And with the medicine I’d needed last night, I hadn’t even read it.
I picked it up and that was when I noticed that my bookmark wasn’t in there. Something else was.
I stilled for a moment as I took in the lavender and dandelions being used as a marker instead.
“What the hell?”
I hefted the book back onto the bed, then opened it at the place the flowers were thrust between. I started as I found a folded piece of paper there marked in elegant handwriting, For Brianna.
Opening it, my breath caught in my throat as I read the contents.
Prince Charmings are highly overrated. A possessive villain is much more arousing. He'll give you the dark thrill you crave.
Sweet dreams, Wildflower.
“Oh my God,” I choked, slamming the book closed with the flowers and the note still inside.
Levi Knight had been here in my apartment.
In my freaking bedroom!
Last night!
He’d been right up close to me as I’d slept heavily under the influence of the meds.
My phone buzzed again.
I found another text from that clearly unhinged—more than I’d even realized—maniac.
Hell Spawn: Can’t get the sensation of your needy cunt strangling my fingers off my mind.
Before I could even process that , he sent another.
Hell Spawn: You’re reading but not responding. I’m hurt. I was actually hoping for a good morning text from you after last night.
Hell Spawn: Colt’s here with me. We just got to campus. You’re running late, want me to cover for you with our professor?
Our professor?
Brianna: You’re in my Operating Systems class?
Hell Spawn: Sure am. You coming?
How was he—he was coming back as a fourth year. That class was for sophomores.
Brianna: You were in my apartment last night. My bedroom.
Hell Spawn: The fact you know that means you got my gifts. You like?
Brianna: You crossed a line.
Hell Spawn: How? You’re mine. Last night cemented it.
Brianna: It didn’t.
Hell Spawn: This push and pull of yours is becoming grating. And it’s coming close to upsetting me.
Brianna: Upsetting you? You broke into my home!
Hell Spawn: For your own good.
Brianna: WHAT?
Hell Spawn: Wanted to make sure there wasn’t any fallout for you after what we did outside the bar. And I left you the note and flowers as a comfort in case there was.
That would’ve been almost sweet if he’d gone about it another way.
As it was, he hadn’t.
Brianna: You did it to mark your territory.
Hell Spawn: I already marked it. Don’t tell me you don’t still feel me deep inside? Delectably sore this morning, aren’t you?
Brianna: Go to hell.
Hell Spawn: Been there, clawed my way back.
I stilled as I read those words.
Hell Spawn: You’re mine. Stop this denial bull now. It’s settled. You gave yourself over to me last night. I felt it. I know you did too.
Brianna: It was a mistake. Don’t come near me again.
Hell Spawn: You do this and you won’t like how I respond.
Brianna: Like I said, go to hell, you fucking maniac.
Hell Spawn: Bad move, Wildflower.
I gritted my teeth, then blocked his number.
And then I forced myself out of bed and fired up my laptop to finalize what I’d set in motion last night with the program I’d written to access his phone via a backdoor method so I could track his movements from here on out.
No more surprises.
Once again, thanks to that asshole, I was going to be late to yet another class.
Well, more like miss it entirely.
For once, I was partially glad, though, considering it meant I wouldn’t have to see him there.
I’d finally made it to Stonewell U for my second class of the day, Algorithm Analysis.
I hadn’t had a chance to make my lunch like I usually did, so I’d picked up a Greek salad from the college cafeteria and brought it out to my usual spot on the bench at the far edge of the quad, out of the way of everyone and everything. I didn’t think I could eat a sandwich right now or anything heavy with the nausea that had been plaguing me ever since I’d woken up to discover Levi had broken into my apartment and been there while I’d been asleep. And since I’d actually registered the fallout of my bad decision to give into his seductions last night.
This salad had a lot of feta cheese all over it, one of my favorite cheeses. Well, at least that was what I’d asked for. I hadn’t actually seen the cafeteria server scoop it because I’d had my back turned as I’d answered a text from Colton about confirming a time to finish that duet. I’d also ordered a strawberry chocolate milkshake to take some of the edge off. Chocolate was good for a lot of things, including trying to bury very recent salacious memories of a certain maniacal stalker.
I checked my phone and my spirits rose when I saw a message from Chloe that must have come in while I’d been in the busy cafeteria.
Chloe: Coming back next week! Can’t wait to see you!
Oh my God!
Brianna: That’s amazing news! I can’t wait either!
Chloe: Thanks, sweetie. Your IG campaign really helped me out. Get ready to get your celebration on when I return.
Brianna: I absolutely will.
I smiled to myself and tucked my phone into my pink and silver jacket with lots of studs, buckles and embellishments. It was the only part of my outfit that was bubbly and colorful today. With the way I was feeling—on edge and stressed by what had been happening lately, and feeling the haunting of that nightmare six years ago, thanks to Levi fucking Knight—I was wearing just a pair of black jeans, block heels, and a lacy black tank to complete my look. I’d only bothered to put my hair up in a loose ponytail. I even had heavily tinted sunglasses on because I wanted to stay inside my own bubble as much as possible and block out the world when in between classes, like now.
I sighed heavily, then opened my salad container.
A scream ripped from my throat and I shot to my feet away from the salad as I stared at the worms, maggots, and whatever else crawling through it and slithering all over the place.
It took me several moments to reach out to the milkshake and open the top.
I gasped as saw it was very far from a milkshake—and smelled it too now the lid was off. It was a cup full of urine.
Urgh.
I jerked back, breathing heavily, adrenaline making my pulse thrum like crazy.
It really didn’t help when I looked out across the quad to see several students looking my way, my scream obviously having drawn their unwanted attention.
Dammit.
I forced myself to sit back down, but on the other side of the bench which was preferable both because it was away from the bugs and urine and because it had me sitting with my back turned to the rest of the quad.
As the shock of it wore off and I was able to think, I analyzed the situation.
My first suspect was obviously Levi.
Our last conversation, in particular came to mind.
Don’t come near me again.
You do this and you won’t like how I respond.
It should be a slam dunk deduction pointing to him being responsible.
But how could he have done it?
Although I had been distracted as the food had been made, it would’ve had to happen really quickly and within my immediate vicinity. It wasn’t like it was my usual order, so it would’ve needed to happen on the fly. And now I’d put my program in place and I was tracking his phone, an alert went off when he was within a few feet of me. That hadn’t happened earlier.
Sure, he could’ve had somebody do it for him.
But he’d definitely proven himself as the kind of person who preferred to do their own dirty work and not delegate tasks.
Also, it really didn’t seem to be his style.
On some level it was a comfort that it hadn’t been him. And that was something I was trying not to think about… that I actually cared about him not being responsible for this, that I didn’t want him to be. The bastard was definitely in my head and crawling under my skin too.
What had happened outside the bar had been a dangerous and really fucking foolish move on my part. I’d given in. Hell, I’d succumbed. And instead of dousing the fire on either of our parts, it had made it a whole lot worse. Now it was raging flames.
Fortunately—as fucked up as it was—finding out he’d broken into my apartment while I’d been sleeping was managing to keep them at bay and to keep me from doing anything even more stupid, like falling for him all the way, or letting him draw closer to me.
But this… this act of bullying… it meant he wasn’t the only one targeting me now.
It meant, it was becoming dangerous in a whole other way.
And now, I couldn’t just retaliate in a one-shot way when an attack came, as much like an afterthought, while I kept my primary focus on college and the life I’d been building here.
I had to pull much more of my focus into dealing with this.
Shit.
My phone sounded and I pulled it out of my bag to see a text.
Blocked ID: You’ve been marked by Hex.
I’d heard rumors that Hex had been restarted and even that their tentacles were spreading all over the campus and the surrounding area of the town already. While it was known that Levi, Mason, and Colton had been the driving force before, the actual members were more on the down low, so unless you were one of them—one of their soldiers—it was difficult to discern who they were.
That meant anyone could have done this to my food.
It could’ve been one of the onlookers in the quad moments ago.
What I knew for sure, however, was that once you were marked by Hex, you were done for, your life cursed and ruined beyond repair.
Brianna: What was my offense to warrant this?
Blocked ID: Leave Stonewell or this will just be the beginning.
I glared at the message, my initial freakout replaced by seething rage.
The hell I was going to be forced from the life I’d managed to create for myself, this fresh start that I’d fought tooth and nail to obtain in the first place.
By a bunch of college bullies who were basically some low-down new adult mafia.
Before I could contain it, I was texting back rapidly and definitively.
Brianna: The hell I will.
Blocked ID: So be it.
I glared at the ominous words.
I’d made a promise to myself last night when I’d left the bar that I wouldn’t allow fear to rule me anymore, that I wouldn’t freeze in the face of it, or duck and hide until a threat passed on by. It was stifling me.
And, more than that, it was causing me to be unprepared to respond to threats, as things lately had served to highlight in one hell of a brutal way.
No more.
These assholes were about to discover how much of a mistake they’d actually made with targeting me.