Chapter 13
"I'm sorry," I mumble, startled with myself—the revelation of the hooded stranger racing through me.
It can't be.
It literally makes no sense, but as I stare up at Alex, an eerie sense of deja vu washes over me.
Alex seems equally as flustered. He takes a step back, recollecting himself as he looks everywhere but at me. "Nothing to be sorry about."
My eyes trace the outline of his jaw, more pronounced than ever as he clenches his teeth. My insides churn with want. I want to touch him, feel his lips on mine again and the way he dragged his teeth across my bottom lip as he nipped my flesh softly.
Fuck. I can't think straight anymore. What has this guy done to me?
"You should head home. You're clearly not in the right state of mind," Alex dismisses me with the flick of his wrist, his watch glinting under the porch light. He doesn't bother looking at me, and suddenly I'm struck with embarrassment. After all, I'm the one who kissed him first.
"Daphne?"
My head whips to the side and I see Aaron approaching the front lawn. His lip is busted and bruised, right eye ringed with black. What the hell happened to him?
"Aaron!" I exclaim, running towards him. My guilt multiplies when I take in his disheveled appearance. God only knows what he went through, and instead of waiting for him, I made out with someone else.
"Hey." He shoots me a weak smile, looking worse for wear. The bruise on his lip is fresh and he blinks at me, his eyes darting towards Alex who stands behind us, face half obscured by shadows.
"Are you here with someone else?" Aaron asks while I study his face and body for more wounds. He seems to be standing fine, the only apparent damage has been done to his face.
"No," I say too quickly, too defensively. I sneak another glance behind us and Alex is gone, like he was never there in the first place. That's weird, how does one move so fast? I look around the porch, head turning in all directions.
There are a few students standing nearby, but no gorgeous man in sight. My heart sinks involuntarily but I force myself to focus on Aaron, who is clearly hurt.
"Come with me," I say, taking his hand in mine and dragging him towards the back of the house where the bathroom is.
"I'm sorry, I was late," he explains once I have him seated on the toilet seat. He gestures to his face. "Something came up."
I shut the door behind us, and the noise from the kitchen and dance floor becomes a dull hum, beating against the door. Ignoring out proximity, I focus on wetting a kitchen towel and then I dab at his wounds.
Aaron winces when I clean the cut on his lower lip.
"What happened?" I whisper, voice hoarse. Somehow, I have the niggling feeling that it ties back to me and the bag of drugs I lost. He didn't admit it was drugs, but his reaction was telling and now he's all beaten up.
Aaron flinches when I clean his face, grazing the tender skin around his eye. "I had to deal with the aftermath of some poor decisions. That's all."
He glances up at me and I realise we are too close. I step back, swallowing hard as I rinse the washcloth. There's a cabinet above the sink and I open it slowly. I'm not surprised to see it bare, considering this is a sorority house and it's a guest bathroom.
"I wanted to tell you something," Aaron says and I pretend to busy myself with searching the cabinet under the sink. I was waiting the whole evening for him to confess his feelings but now I'd rather he didn't.
I'm raked with guilt because I can't stop thinking about Alex. How can one person derail these feelings that I've harboured for years?
There's a bottle of Tylenol lying in the back. I snatch it and check the expiry. Thankfully, it's still usable. There's also some iodine. I dab some of it on the cloth and proceed to disinfect his wounds.
"I'm so sorry, Aaron. I know this is because of the bag I lost." Aaron's dark eyes sweep across my flushed cheeks, the weight of his gaze sobering me up quickly. "How much was it worth?" I whisper.
"Ten thousand dollars."
My breath hitches and thankfully I'm done cleaning him up, because I can practically feel the resentment radiating off of him. There's no way I can pay him back that amount even if I wanted to help.
Which I don't. Since I never knew he was dealing to begin with and if I'd known what was in that bag, I never would have touched it.
I wish I never agreed to go to T bar for him that night. That one bloody night has changed everything between us and now I don't think it will ever go back to being what it was before.
I don't even know if I want it to.
"Don't worry. I don't blame you for losing it," He says, but his tone of voice sounds like he does. A lot.
"Here, take some painkillers. It will help." I grab the bottle and tip it's contents, taking out two pills and handing it to him.
"Daphne, I'm not here because I needed you to take care of me." Aaron accepts the pills anyway, tipping his head back as he swallows them.
I cross my arms over my chest, unsure of what to do with myself since I have nothing else to focus on besides the fact that the two of us are huddled together in this tiny bathroom.
Someone knocks on the door, startling me and I reach out to open it. Only, Aaron stops me by pushing it closed and locking the door.
"We're not done here."
I gulp softly, taking a step back when he stands up. I never noticed how tall he was, not nearly as tall and well built as Alex, but still, he towers over me.
I glance at the bottle of iodine next to me, wondering why I was dumb enough to put myself in this situation with him.
"What is it you wanted to say?" I ask in a shaky voice.
Aaron scratches his head and points between us. "This. Us. I like you, Daphne. If you couldn't already tell."
My mouth nearly drops open, but I don't feel the rush of happiness I expected to feel. Instead, his admission stretches between us, stifling the air around me.
"I invited you out that night because I wanted to take the next step between us." Aaron scratches his forehead again, looking hesitant. "But there was a gun blast, I don't know if you heard it. That's why I rushed out back. You see I know people who work there, so naturally I was worried."
"Are they drug dealers like you too?" The words spill out of me and I immediately backtrack. "Sorry, forget I said that."
His expression turns grim. "Someone I know was killed that night. In the back alley."
Why is he telling me this now? Is it just me or is the air in this bathroom disappearing. It's becoming harder and harder to breathe.
"What? Who?" I gasp pathetically, trying my best to act surprised.
His eyes turn glassy, it looks like he's about to cry. "Someone I cared about deeply, like family. The culprit is still on the loose and the police are useless, as predicted they have no leads. This is why I've been missing, Daphne. I've been involved in the investigations."
He knew the victim? My body starts to tremble and I suddenly feel sick with overriding nausea.
"There was a witness apparently." Aaron wipes his hands over his pants and I watch his every movement, frozen in place as he speaks.
"But nobody has seen this witness since the night of the murder. They're the only one who can catch the culprit and bring my friend justice, but instead they've remained silent, like a fucking coward."
I flinch when he raises his voice, my hand going to my throat because the bathroom is too small, too suffocating. I can't breathe. I need to get out of here. I need to say something, because I'm the fucking coward he's talking about.
And yet, I can't seem to say a bloody word. My vocal cords are frozen and Aaron is staring at me like he can read my thoughts.
It suddenly becomes too much, too overwhelming. I rush towards the toilet bowl, flip open the lid and throw up till my chest is heaving.
Aaron moves out of the way as I bend down, pushing my hair out of the way. When I'm done, I sink to the floor, weak as a noodle.
Aaron fills up a cup with tap water and hands it to me. I rinse my mouth and spit it all out, before drinking some water. I'm so tired, I feel like telling him everything and getting it over with.
He sits down next to me and I open my mouth to speak, but something doesn't add up. The guy in the back used a silencer, there was no sound. How did Aaron know the blast belonged to a gun blast?
I eye the door, which is right in front of me. "This person whom you say was ki-killed...you were close to him?"
A slow smile spreads across Aaron's face. "Daphne... I never said it was a he."
"What?" I stutter, blinking at him.
"I never said the person who was shot was a he."
The bout of silence wafts between us, and I know right there and then that I just screwed up.
"Oh, I just assumed." Blood is pounding in my ears, my head is starting to throb and my breaths are short and panicked. Someone knocks again at the door and I jump at it, twisting the knob.
Fresh air whooshes in, fanning my face and I step to the side, allowing whoever it is to go in. I rush outside into the kitchen, trying my best to calm down but I can't.
Aaron wanted me to slip up, I don't know why. I still don't know what he has to do with this or why I have a gut feeling not to trust him. All I know is that I screwed up, and now there's one more person who knows about that night.
I rush past the thinning crowd in the living room, looking around for Stacey briefly. I don't see her and I don't dare stay around waiting either. I head outside, ignoring the buzzing from my jeans pocket.
I brisk walk back to the dorms, looking behind me ever so often.
Aaron is no where in sight and I purposely avoid any dark, desolate places, which is hard because there's hardly anyone around at this time of night.
The buzzing doesn't stop, I take out my phone and see Aaron calling me.
He's already called me ten times since I left.
I reject the call and dial Elizabeth's number. She answers almost immediately.
"How's the party?"
I'm so glad she's awake. I don't feel safe staying alone tonight. Maybe I'll stay over with her and Danielle.
"Liz, can I stay with you tonight?" I should call Stacey after this and tell her to come here too. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I need to know my friends are safe.
I walk along the footpath, sighing in relief at the sight of our dorm rooms, but then a black van stops by the side of the road. It's head lights turned off.
"Everything ok, Daph?"
I stop dead, my body locking with fear as the doors slide open and masked men spill out of the car.
I'm only a few feet away when they charge at me.
A scream rises in my throat, but a hand clamps over my mouth before it can escape.
A thick arm snakes around my waist and yanks me back.
I thrash against the iron grip, panic clawing at my chest as tears blur my vision.
A dizziness starts to override everything else, my vision diminishing the more I struggle.
Help! I think, my voice trapped in my head, hoping—praying—that someone will see us and save me.
My vision darkens at the edges, spots growing larger and larger... until there is nothing.