Chapter 5 #2
Rogue stood on our worn doormat. With a mocking smile, he lowered the tattooed hand he’d used to cover the peephole.
A cold sense of foreboding trickled down my spine at the action, but it wasn’t uncommon for Cassie to refuse to answer the door for him.
He always turned up a few days after they’d had a fight.
And she always acted like she was going to do anything other than get back with him.
The girl had not worked out the laws of probability.
Still, despite the sight of him standing on my doorstep being normal, explainable, my brain screamed that he knew we’d stolen his drugs.
I also knew my face practically had its own subtitles, so it took everything in me to try to project calm, guilt-free serenity. I inhale peace and exhale worry.
“Is Cassie here?”
“No,” I lied. “She’s out.”
Rogue’s attention shifted over my shoulder. The sappy pop music blaring through the apartment was a dead giveaway of my lie.
He dipped his head on an impatient laugh. When his gaze met mine again, it was glacial. I’d seen Rogue pissed, pleading, even sad, but this was something else entirely. I wanted to step back and slam the door in his face, but that would make me look guilty.
“I don’t appreciate lies, Jade.” Gone was the rich playboy, the wolf shedding his sheep’s clothing and revealing his sharp teeth. The true face behind the Gucci shirts and Ray Bans. One I recognized all too well from years of growing up around hard and desperate men.
“You’re right, Rogue. She is here, but…” I forced my expression into something I hoped was akin to pity. “But she’s really upset this time. She doesn’t want to see you. I’m sorry.”
I went to shut the door, praying he’d let it go. Instead, he rammed his foot into the gap. That one action escalated the situation from manageable to blind panic. I’d been prepared for violence my whole life.
Never walk alone.
Put your keys between your fingers, Jade.
Carry pepper spray.
Remember, eyes, throat, crotch, Jade.
But nothing could have prepared me for the helplessness of simply being female. I wasn’t strong enough to move him or to stop him from forcing his way into my home if he wanted to.
Instead of telling him to fuck off, my mind ran through all the ways I could de-escalate the situation and persuade him not to overpower me. “I’m sorry, Rogue. But you need to leave.” I tried to sound stern, despite feeling anything but.
“Open the fucking door. Now!”
There wasn’t a chance in hell I would voluntarily open that door for him.
Of course, I didn’t need to. He wedged his knee through the crack and shoved the wood hard enough that the shitty excuse for a security chain broke.
The door flew open, sending me stumbling backward so hard I nearly landed on my ass.
As if that wasn’t enough to have me freaking out, when he stepped inside the apartment, I noticed the blood splatter on his white shirt.
Fear paralyzed me for a second before I managed to scramble away from him.
I stumbled through the tiny apartment, searching for something I could defend myself with.
My gaze landed on the knife block beside the toaster.
“I’ll call the police!” I shouted as I rushed to the kitchenette.
“And tell them what?” He laughed. “That the big, bad drug dealer you stole from broke into your apartment?”
There went any hope that he really was just that mad over Cassie not calling him back.
Shouting for Cassie over the music, I reached the knife block.
“Get out!” Butcher knife in hand, I turned.
My heart dropped when Wolf stepped into the small living room.
For one painfully na?ve second, I thought he might be there to save me.
But as I registered the blank expression on his face, that hope quickly died.
He moved around Rogue and stalked forward like a force of nature, a tsunami I couldn’t escape. I should have been just as terrified of him as I was of Rogue—more so, really, since Wolf was twice his size, but my brain couldn’t quite seem to muster the same fear where Wolf was concerned.
“Careful, Wolf. Voorhees might stab you.” Rogue laughed as my ex rounded the kitchen counter.
I held out the knife. “I will hurt you, Wolf.”
Amusement flickered in his blue eyes, his attention drifting from my face to the blade in my hand. “I don’t believe that.” He kept moving forward, not stopping until the tip of the blade pressed against his stomach, pitting the fabric of his shirt. “Not for one fucking second, Jade.”
My hand shook. I couldn’t believe I was holding a knife to his gut. That he, of all people, was doing this to me, pushing me to this. But he was right. I didn’t think I could physically bring myself to stab him. Not even if he was going to hurt me.
“I wish I could say the same,” I whispered.
My grip on the knife tightened as my gaze met his, searching for a hint of recognition, a trace of the boy I once loved. But all I found in his hardened expression was hate. I understood it. It stung, but I understood because I’d tried hard to hate him, too.
Smirking, he wrapped his calloused fingers around mine. I didn’t fight when he forced my hand away from him and carefully plucked the weapon from my grip. It was almost as if he was making sure I didn’t hurt myself.
He stabbed the blade into the drywall, and defeat washed over me. “Never expected you to turn into a knife-wielding, drug thief and dealer,” he said, so close, his breath stirred the strands of my hair.
“And I never expected you to enjoy scaring women.” I struggled to keep my voice steady. “Yet here we are.”
He leaned in even more, bracing one hand on the cabinet beside my head and caging me in. “Come on, Jade…” His nose swept along my jaw.
The sensation of his warm breath on my skin sent an involuntary shiver through me.
“You’re not scared,” he whispered. “Your cheeks are the same fuck-me pink as when you come.”
My face flamed with humiliation. “Screw you…” I gripped the edge of the counter like a lifeline, like it could save me from my body’s traitorous reaction to him.
The music blaring through the apartment cut off before heavy footsteps thudded down the hall. “What the hell?” Cassie shouted, breaking whatever spell Wolf had put me under.
He turned to look at her. When he shifted away from me, I dragged a Wolf-free breath into my lungs.
“What the hell are you two doing here? Jade, why the hell did you let them in?—”
“You know,” Rogue said, his focus on Cassie. “I knew you were stupid, but stealing my drugs and selling them to that fucking asshole?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Go sit down!” Rogue grabbed Cassie by the shoulders and dragged her to the couch.
My stomach knotted when Wolf gripped my shoulders and maneuvered me, surprisingly gently, to sit beside Cassie, who was shooting daggers at Rogue.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?” Rogue pulled his phone from his jeans pocket. “Selling my shit to Tommy-fucking-Mitchell!” There was a slight edge of hysteria in his voice that had my spine stiffening.
Of course, she’d just had to add insult to injury by selling it to the guy everyone knew Rogue hated.
Her more than anyone. I hadn’t realized who her buyer was until she’d directed me to the Kappa Theta house.
At that point, I had already pictured my mother’s relief at not being imminently homeless.
I couldn’t back out, but I knew damn well it was a deliberate move from Cassie.
After all, what better way to get Rogue’s attention?
Well, she had it now, and stupidly, so did I.
“Says who?” Cassie shrugged, doubling down.
“Says who?” He laughed the kind of psychotic I’m-about-to-lose-my-shit laugh a murderer in a movie let loose right before he disemboweled his first victim. “Says who? Wolf?”
Wolf looked way too amused at the current situation.
Rogue tapped his phone, then held it up.
A grainy video of Cassie and me in front of the Kappa Theta house appeared on screen.
Cassie, clear as day, handed Tommy the bag of Rogue’s beloved pills before she took a wad of cash.
Cash, she then split with me, my face aimed directly at the camera. Shit. I looked guilty as hell.
My stomach knotted as the implications of what we’d done—what Rogue had proof of—set in. He could get us sent to jail… I felt sick.
“That’s right.” Rogue pocketed his phone. “Tommy sold you out, Cassie.” He sounded positively gleeful about that.
“If it’s any consolation, he lost a kneecap before he squealed,” Wolf shrugged.
God, this was so bad. I didn’t think anyone would get hurt or that they’d have freaking cameras!
“That could be a bag of vitamins.” Cassie picked a piece of lint off the throw cushion like this situation wasn’t in the least bit stressful.
Or maybe she really overestimated Rogue’s fondness for her because right now, he looked like he wanted to kill her.
“Besides, what are you going to do, Rogue? Tell the police I stole your drugs?”
“The police might just receive an anonymous video from a concerned citizen.”
Panic clawed through my veins. This was so bad.
That video was a loaded gun. Even if it weren’t enough to put us in jail, it would definitely get us expelled.
I’d worked my ass off to get out of Dayton.
To get a degree that would facilitate a decent job.
I’d be screwed. Every plan turned to dust over thirty stupid seconds of my life.
Cassie’s gaze narrowed on Rogue. “And I think it’s very likely an anonymous snitch might tell them you’re drug dealers.”
Rogue laughed. “With what proof?”
She opened her mouth to respond, but snapped it closed. “Everyone knows you guys deal E .” It was a weak argument. No one would say a word against them, but Cassie never could admit when she was beaten.
Wolf snorted. “Or maybe it’s just vitamins?”