Chapter 24 – Dakota #2
Look I know you’re mad but Val was in the hospital and I left my phone at our house. I’m sorry I missed your calls but I’m back now. Please tell me where you are
Tiger Darling:
Convene8ent excuse
I read and reread Reese’s text over and over again, my heart slamming against my rib cage.
It wasn’t like him to fuck up his spelling like that. Was he drunk? On something? Where the fuck was he?
Me:
WHERE ARE YOU
Tiger Darling:
hell
Me:
Okay, and where is that?
Tiger Darling:
frat. I’m winning
Alarm raced through me; he was clearly drunk or on something, and fuck me, the thought of him surrounded by strangers while out of his mind was terrifying. What in the fuck was he doing at a frat house? And what did I’m winning mean?
Me:
Which frat? Where?
The dots danced then stopped as he typed. I stared at my phone as I laced up my boots. “Come on, tiger, tell me where you are.”
The dots disappeared altogether, and my panic started to soar. I grabbed my room key and raced into the hall. If I had to go to every single fucking frat house to find him, that’s exactly what I was going to do.
Tiger Darling:
kippa pho beta. don’t com, the music is horible
*pho
*pho
*pho
ducking hell
*pho!!!!!
Another time, I might find that funny, but right now I was drenched in pure terror. I ran down the stairs, jumping down three at a time. I hoped to god he meant Kappa Phi Beta. That was just a ten minute walk from here—and hopefully a three minute sprint.
Me:
Stop drinking. Okay? No more drinks. Stay right where you are. I’m coming.
Tiger Darling:
I sad dont come!!
Me:
I’m fucking coming.
He didn’t respond again.
I flew out the back entrance and ran down the path that led to the main road and sprinted as fast as I could to the frats.
It was obvious which house he was at because none of the other frats were throwing a party tonight. When I spotted the house lit up and crawling with people, I ran faster, anxiety growing, and when I got to the front yard, my stomach sank.
It was so fucking crowded, I thought I might never find him.
Why the hell had he come here? How had he even known about this? This wasn’t like him at all. I wasn’t sure what had happened in the few days I’d been gone, but something obviously had, if the state of our room was any indicator.
Fuck, I felt so guilty leaving him, but how was I supposed to know this would happen? Maybe it had nothing to do with me and something else had happened. I wasn’t sure which was worse.
I scanned the porch and front yard for Reese then stalked inside when I didn’t see him.
It was dark, but there were green and blue mood lights flashing through the open layout. I pushed through all the students, hunting for Reese.
The sharp, sour stench of alcohol mingled with the sweet, musky scent of weed, and I wasn’t hopeful that I’d find him in his right mind.
The front room had a few couches that were crammed with people, some sitting on others’ laps, a few looking like they’d passed out. None was Reese. I headed deeper into the house, out of the room with the crazy lights, and into some kind of brightly lit dining room.
When I finally spotted him, my dread slowly faded into an anxious confusion that shifted to a burning anger.
What the fuck?
What the actual fuck?
He was sitting at a table with a bunch of other people, drinks and playing cards scattered everywhere.
He was shirtless.
And his hair was completely butchered.
What in the fuck had he done to his hair?
He was laughing and very, very, drunk.
God-fucking-dammit.
It was a wonder I could even recognize him, that this was my Reese, because he looked like a complete stranger right now.
If it weren’t for that mark on his face—for the other marks on his body in clear view because he was practically naked—I wasn’t sure I would’ve been able to recognize him at all.
My feet felt glued to the floor as I watched him laugh and wave his cards animatedly. It was the strangest thing, seeing him like this.
When he reached for a cup and started to bring it to his lips, I snapped out of my shock and rushed over to him, snatching the drink out of his hands.
He didn’t need a single drop more.
“Hey, what—” His glassy eyes went from half-hooded to blown wide when they landed on me, sparking to life as the widest smile stretched across his face.
And fuck if my heart didn’t skip three beats in a row, even as it felt like I was being burned alive by this immense anger.
“’Kota!” He threw his arms out, as if to welcome me into them.
I stepped closer, sidling around people who were loitering at the fringes of the table, just as drunk as he was. “What are you doing, Reese?”
He looked at the table, then pointed to his cards. “Playing poker. Strip poker. You should play with us, you’d be good at it since you already do it every day in our room.”
The guy sitting to his left snickered and raised his hand for a high five, and to my horror, Reese actually high-fived him.
An ugly, abrasive darkness crept through my veins. Who the fuck was this guy? What was even happening? And why?
“Reese.”
He turned back to me, his eyes rolling a bit as he tried to focus them on mine. “Mm?”
“Come on. Let’s go.”
He pursed his lips. “But I haven’t even gotten to my pants yet.”
And he never fucking would.
“Reese—”
“Oh shit, it’s Dakota Voss.”
I glanced over at the drunk guy who Reese had just high-fived. His cheeks were splotchy, his eyes shining, and he had a not-so-nice smile on his face.
I gave him no response, instead turning back to Reese, who was staring down at his lap, fiddling with the button on his pants—like he was about to take them off.
For fuck’s sake.
I gripped him under his elbow and pulled him to his feet. “Let’s go, we’re leaving.”
He jerked his arm out of my hold, shaking his head. “No, I’m not done, I was gonna win!” He gestured at the table, which was covered in poker chips and red plastic cups.
The guy next to Reese set his elbows on the table and leaned toward me. “Hey, why’d you break Jared’s arm?”
Why the fuck was this guy still trying to talk to me? And about this shit, no less.
I sighed and said, “I didn’t,” then reached for Reese again. He jumped out of his chair to avoid me, bumping into the table and knocking drinks and piles of chips over. Five different people started yelling at him, and he yelled right back.
He was pure fucking chaos right now.
“Then why does everyone say you did? Even Jared. That’s my cousin you fucked up, bro.”
The guy who’d been sitting next to Reese was suddenly up in my face, bumping his chest against mine. He was nearly as tall as I was, and a hell of a lot beefier.
I didn’t fucking need this right now.
I was tired, hungry, and pissed off, and this guy posturing as he regurgitated gossip and Everett’s lies from last spring was the last thing I wanted to fucking deal with.
“I didn’t hurt your cousin,” I told him, trying to keep an eye on Reese.
He smiled and shoved me, and I almost tripped over something behind me.
“You think you’re tough?” He was about to shove me again when a little ball of fury screamed and jumped on his back, putting him in a chokehold.
“Don’t you fucking touch him!” Reese yelled in the asshole’s ear.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. “Damn it, Reese—”
“What the—get the fuck off me!”
And then Reese bit the asshole’s ear, and the guy started screaming. “Agh, fuck! What the fuck, get off me, you little psycho!”
The guy twisted around frantically, clawing behind him, so I jumped in and tried grabbing Reese before he could get hurt.
He clung to the dude’s back, making sounds like an agitated animal as I pried him off his back.
He wriggled in my arms, growling and panting and getting absolutely nowhere.
When he realized he wasn’t getting out of my hold, he stopped moving, holding onto my forearms, his chest heaving.
“Touch him again and I’ll fucking kill you!” Reese yelled. The asshole was holding his ear, and people were starting to gather around us.
Goddammit. If Albert found out about this, he was going to be so pissed. I didn’t care if he was pissed, I just didn’t want to deal with it.
I squeezed Reese hard and brought my lips to his ear. “Calm down. Everything is okay, just calm down. I’m fine.”
He shuddered against me, then slumped in my arms, letting his head fall back against my shoulder.
“Nothing’s okay,” he said, sounding so lost and small. “Fucking nothing.”
Suddenly the asshole pushed past a few people who’d come to help him, and I barely had time to turn away when I saw him pull back his arm to hit Reese.
I grunted when the blow landed on my left shoulder blade, and holy fucking shit, that hurt.
“Daniel, don’t! Stop, man, it’s not worth it! That’s the dean’s son, dude, are you trying to get kicked out?”
I glanced over my shoulder and saw Daniel—the asshole—being held back by two guys as he panted furiously, glaring at Reese and clutching his ear, and then they led him out of the room.
We needed to fucking leave.
“Put me down, Dakota.”
“If I put you down, are you gonna behave?” I asked him, not feeling very optimistic.
“Yes!”
He tried to turn his head to look at me, and the soft fuzz of his buzzed hair brushed against my chin.
I set him on his feet, still holding onto him from behind, and said, “Stop picking fights with people twice your size. And what the fuck did you do to your hair?”
“Oh, yeah. Looks good, right?” he slurred, reaching up to tug at the longer strands on top.
I didn’t comment and dragged him out of the room toward the door. He let me pull him along, and when it registered that he wasn’t wearing a shirt, I stopped.
“Where’s your goddamn shirt?”
He squinted his glassy eyes and looked left, then right, then shrugged. “Dunno.”
“Fucking hell,” I muttered, ripping off my sweatshirt and shoving it over his head, ignoring his frustrated sounds of protest and helping him stick his arms through the sleeves.