Chapter 9
Alani
I grind my teeth together when she walks up to me. I’m mad enough to spit nails when she positions herself between Donavan and me.
I want to tell her to mind her fucking business, to leave me alone.
I don’t want nor do I deserve her protection.
I’m lower than the worst person in the world for not figuring out what was going on with Ayla.
As her sister, I should’ve been able to read between the lines.
I should’ve questioned her sudden change in out-of-character behavior.
Instead, I internalized it like a spoiled fucking brat, all the while she was…
I blow out an annoyed huff of breath, the only thing I can think to do so I don’t start crying again.
“It’s probably safer if you stay in the dorm,” she says, but her steps match mine as I walk away from my building.
“Listen—”
“Slick,” she answers. “Or Brynn if you prefer.”
“Lady,” I say, rather than one of the two names she’s offered.
Where Ayla is kind and respectful to a fault, I tend to lean more toward not giving a shit.
“I don’t need you to follow me everywhere I go. Ayla warned me about the danger, and I know how to look out for myself.”
I’ve managed to get it in my head that the only reason I ended up tied to a chair is because I let it happen. If I had begged Donavan to let me go, I’m nearly certain that he would’ve. It’s the thrill of that small percentage that he’d refuse that has me feeling alive for the first time in months.
“I have no doubt you think—”
“Tag along,” I interrupt. “If you have nothing better to do, but do it without speaking.”
Instead of growing angry, I see a spark of humor in her eyes, and I stand a little taller with what I’m reading as pride in her eyes.
I’ve seen the men she works with and I know she has to be a badass as much as they are to be part of that Cerberus group. I can respect that about her, but at the same time, I’m not going to just roll over and not live my life because there might be some danger lurking in the dark.
Donavan is in the fucking dark, and I can’t imagine anyone more dangerous than him.
With everything that’s happened, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed in the bonfire size taking up space in the vacant field on the edge of campus. Since returning to campus after the Christmas break, all I’ve heard about was bonfire night, a welcome back to the second semester of sorts.
Students, alumni, and staff mingle together, the students sneaking sips from tumblers I’d wager aren’t filled with hot cocoa while staff pretend that it is.
Orange flickers across Blaine’s face but instead of approaching me after looking in my direction, he turns back around to speak to one of the guys in the small group he’s standing in.
I guess getting abducted and tied to a chair was his limit.
I don’t blame him. The whole situation was kind of fucked up, honestly.
“You look better than you did last night.”
I turn in the direction of the voice, meeting Landon and Rick’s smiling faces.
“Same,” I tell them, my brows drawing closer together.
“Wouldn’t be the first time we were held at gunpoint,” Rick mutters, his cheeks red from the cold air swirling around us.
“Really?”
Landon cuts his eyes to his husband before looking back at me. “We just wanted to see how you were.”
“I’m fine,” I tell him, giving them both my best smile. Rick seems convinced. Landon looks to be harder to convince.
I lift my hand, seeing Blakely standing a few yards away.
“I see my roommate. It was nice meeting you two. Maybe next time it’ll be less dramatic.”
I walk away before they can respond, taking a deep breath as I approach my friend.
“Rumor has it you were abducted right off of campus yesterday,” Blakely says, grabbing my hands as I reach her.
“It was so much less exciting than you’re making it sound.”
Her face jerks back. “Exciting? I’d maybe call it terrifying, Alani, not exciting.”
She’s the girl I went home with for the holidays.
Even though we’re roommates, we aren’t exactly close.
I think her offer to join her family for the holidays was out of guilt rather than actually wanting me with her.
I agreed out of necessity because campus closes for the holidays.
Staying on campus isn’t allowed because they have no staff here in case of an emergency.
“So you’re working tonight?” I say, pointing at the camera around her neck.
It serves as a distraction from the current topic just as I hoped it would.
Her eyes sparkle with the thrill of being a part of helping capture memories for so many, making her damn near giddy.
“I’ll let you get back to work,” I tell her.
She must consider this conversation as awkward as it’s making me feel because she takes the offer and walks away.
I feel unprepared, finding myself wishing I had something in my hands as I walk around. If I hadn’t ruined my friendship with Blaine, I have no doubt the man would offer me a flask or the contents of his own metal tumbler. I avoid that side of the bonfire altogether.
He’d probably expect an apology, and honestly, I don’t have one to give him.
His not minding his own business put him, Rick, and Landon exactly where they ended up last night.
I never asked nor needed him to be my knight in shining armor.
I didn’t need a rescue, and I’m feeling a little irritated at how things did turn out.
I know the evening would’ve looked much differently if those three hadn’t followed us to the house.
Ayla explained last night that Donavan was sent to watch over me while they got out of Mexico.
I wanted to hate him once I knew he was at that party for me, that me approaching him might’ve been bold on my part, but leaving with me that night was always his plan.
I consider him nothing more than a hooker, deciding to get me under him as a means to keep an eye on me rather than just following me around.
Taking me yesterday was easier than doing the same.
I was a solution to his boredom, but it still doesn’t explain why he sat outside of my dorm all damn day.
Him getting cut off by Brynn could mean he’s gone now, but it doesn’t keep me from imagining him lurking in the shadows, watching me as he formulates a plan to snatch me up again.
Maybe he sees last night and the presence of three men in the house with us as their way of foiling his true plans.
Maybe he’s waiting until he can get his hand around my throat once again.
I lift my hand there, my eyes darting over the shadows between the small groups of people rather than trying to find someone to talk to.
Ayla said his job was over. He was only meant to keep me safe until she and Nash got to town.
She also assured me I wasn’t in any danger from Donavan, but the man was able to subdue three men.
I realize as I spin in the middle of the field that he did that because they were heroes.
His threat to me was what gained their compliance.
I get the feeling that the men who took Ayla wouldn’t bow down to a man threatening to hurt me.
If anything, they’d get some sick thrill out of watching someone else hurt me.
Would Donavan actually follow through? Would he have pulled the trigger if Blaine, Rick, and Landon hadn’t acted the way he told them to?
A slow smile spreads across my face because I know the answer without having to think about it very long. He doesn’t want me dead. He didn’t so much as issue a threat when I hit him earlier today. He’s all bark no bite, and unlucky for him, I desperately need to feel his teeth on my skin.
My body reacts to his threat of violence in ways that it shouldn’t. Instead of shaking or cowering, a rush of arousal hits me when I think about the cold metal that was pressed to my skin last night.
The heat of his body—twice my size—and the damage he could cause thrills me in ways I never thought imaginable.
Even as the cheers and shouts of purple-and-black, voices filled with school spirit, echo around me, I find myself still searching the shadows, praying he’s hidden somewhere in the darkness, waiting to hurt me again.