Chapter 30 – Dakota #2
Getting Val out was more difficult than I anticipated because he was begging me to take him to Albert and Evelyn.
He was terrified something bad would happen, that Everett would do something to them.
I was able to convince him they would be fine, and we moved with the exiting crowd out of the manor and back to Reese.
He was still there, sitting against the tree with his head tipped back, eyes closed. Like there wasn’t chaos unfolding around him.
I knelt at his side, and he opened his eyes. “Hey, baby. Ready to go?”
His eyes looked a bit glassy, and concern speared through my chest. “I really wanted to leave just so you would chase me,” he said, his voice hoarse.
“I really want you to get looked at, Reese.” His tiny smile fell away, fear sweeping across his face.
“No, please, Dakota, please, I’m fine.” He grabbed onto my arm; he was trembling, and fuck me I couldn’t add to his hurt.
“What about the school infirmary?” Val asked quietly. He was staring at the manor, where people were leaving in droves, eyes filled with disbelief.
I looked back at Reese. “Would you go to the campus infirmary? It’s not a hospital. We’d be in and out really quickly. We just need to make sure you’re really okay.”
“I don’t want to,” he whispered. His voice broke on the last two words, so I wrapped my arms around him and picked him up. He locked his legs around my waist and buried his face in my neck.
“Let’s go,” I said to Val, who was staring at the manor with a dazed look of shock. “I just wanted to…have a party…” he whispered.
Fuck.
I tugged on his arm. “I know. It’s not your fault, Val.”
“But I—”
“Val,” Reese said, reaching out to grab his hand. Val’s gaze swiveled to Reese. “It’ll be okay. You have Dakota right here, but we need to leave, okay?”
Val didn’t say anything, just let Reese hold his hand. And then his eyes darted all around Reese’s face, panic setting in. “Oh my god,” he cried. “Reese, I’m so, so sorry.”
“It’s okay, it’s not your fault,” he said, squeezing Val’s hand.
“Yeah, but—”
“Val,” I said. He would spiral if I didn’t stop him. “Come on. I wanna take Reese to the infirmary.”
“Y-yeah, of course, yeah.” He shook his hands out, glanced toward the manor one last time, then nodded at me.
We turned away from all the chaos and walked toward the darkness in silence.
The next few days were madness.
The truth came out and spread like a virus. People were coming up to me and apologizing, giving me their condolences, expressing sorrow for my circumstances—and it was all so disgustingly performative.
Reese, Val and I were called into the police station and questioned about what happened that night.
There was a ton of press from all over the state, from out of state, from some of the biggest news outlets in the country.
Classes were canceled for the next week while the university tried to figure out what the fuck was going on and what the fuck they should do and how to keep the press off their property.
Dean’s son assaults another student at their affluent estate, the online articles said. The stories were multiplying rapidly, changing and growing and eviscerating the Voss family.
The dean of Ashbrook Academy of the Arts is facing some tough questions about his son’s behavior
Is the dean of Ashbrook having an affair?
Dean’s son tries to kill another student at luxury party
Dean’s son acts like a total psychopath
Dean’s son shows his true colors
Dean’s son ruins the Voss family legacy
Everything was a goddamn mess.
The emcee from Val’s party had left the microphone on, apparently, and every single thing that happened in that room before Albert got there had been broadcast to everyone in the ballroom.
It was Evelyn who called the police. I wondered what they thought of their son now, this vile creature they’d pampered for twenty-two years.
Everett had been arrested—probably for hurting Evelyn—and although bail was set, Albert refused any contact with him. He was stuck in jail for the time being.
What did they think now that they knew the truth? Everett had betrayed them, irrevocably destroyed their reputation.
And in the middle of it all was Val.
Sweet, innocent Val who’d just wanted a family to love and to love him in return.
He was in shock. Had been for days now. His entire world had just been turned upside down, inside out.
It was all so very fucked.
I never should’ve brought Reese to that party. Why the fuck did I think it would be okay? I knew what Everett was capable of. I’d convinced myself I could protect him from my family, and what a fucking joke that was.
The night we got back, he finally capitulated and allowed me to take him to the school infirmary, clinging to me the whole time.
The doctor who looked at him said he’d gotten a concussion.
His left eye was swollen shut, there was a nasty scrape above it, his neck was riddled with dark, ugly bruises but was otherwise fine, and…
It was all my fucking fault.
If I had tried harder over the years to defend myself, to get someone to believe me about Everett, this never would’ve happened. If I hadn’t been so indifferent to my own reputation, if I hadn’t been so pessimistic about any kind of justice being done, this never would’ve happened.
If I’d cared about anything, this wouldn’t have happened.
The only things I cared about were right here in this room with me.
Val was staying with us in our room, oscillating between crying and sleeping and getting angry, then crying and sleeping some more. He’d finally gotten out of bed—Reese’s bed—to go get some food. I’d wanted to go with him but he told me no very firmly. Told me to stay with Reese.
None of us really wanted to leave the room because of the sheer amount of publicity this had gotten. People wanted to talk to us, hear our story, and never had I ever wanted to tell the world to fuck off more than I did now.
Where were they when these things happened? Kneeling at Everett’s feet and kissing his ass. Fuck them.
I got up from my desk and moved to my bed, unable to stop myself from sliding onto it and curling myself around Reese.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered into his hair. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
I wanted him to wake up, to tell me it was okay, to run his fingers through my hair and kiss my cheek and bite my neck and tell me to shut up and just kiss him. To tell me he forgave me.
I wanted to go back and tell him not to come to the manor.
Everett might have been the one to physically hurt him, but I was the one who’d brought him there in the first place.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered again, as if those words could fix everything.
“It’s okay,” he whispered back.
“How long have you been awake?” I smoothed my hand down his side, all the way to his thigh, then dragged it back up to his shoulder.
“For like ten seconds,” he murmured, snuggling back into me.
“Reese—” His name came out in a croak. He shifted, looked over his shoulder at me, then turned around, pushed me down onto my back, and straddled me, lowering himself until he was plastered against me.
I wasn’t sure when I’d started crying, or when Reese’s hands had found their way under my shirt, warm fingers stroking my stomach and chest as he kissed my neck. When he realized I was crying, he drew back and frowned at me.
“Well, I can safely say that your tears don’t turn me on,” he told me.
I laughed and wiped them away, but Reese grabbed my hands and moved them to his waist, then brushed my tears away for me. The feel of him beneath my hands, having him on my lap, every part of him touching me, was all I needed.
“I’m really glad you’re so vicious,” I whispered.
He nodded, lips twitching in a smile.
His hands gently cupped my face, but the vehemence in his voice was a stark contrast to his gentle touch.
“I need you to know that I would fight the fucking world for you. I would destroy every last person who ever hurt you, if I could. I’d do that and I wouldn’t blink a fucking eye.
Because you are worth everything to me. I would do anything for you.
I fucking love you, Dakota. You are my darling. You are my entire universe.”
Oh, fuck, all these words he was giving me were so fucking precious. I wanted to capture them all in a bottle, keep them forever. But they’d made their way inside my heart instead, and I was never letting them go.
“I’m so sorry for bringing you there. You could’ve—” I choked on the words that I didn’t want to think let alone say.
“But I didn’t. I’m okay, baby.” He leaned down and rubbed his cheek against mine.
Ah, fuck.
“I love you,” I whispered, squeezing his waist. “I think since the moment you told me that your birthmark was a contagious disease back at the cemetery, I’ve loved you. You are so fucking strong.”
I curved my hands over his ass and tilted my head as I leaned in, biting into his throat gently, then pressing a kiss into his tender skin. I rubbed my cheek against his and said softly, “I love every part of you, even if you can’t. They’re all beautiful to me.”
And they were all mine. He was mine.
My protector.
My scrappy fighter.
My vicious tiger.
My beautiful darling.
He was everything.
And to know that I was everything to him, too, was all I needed.