Chapter 55 Tyrell
TYRELL
I’ve finally made it into the party.
It took about fifteen minutes of sweet-talking the bouncer to get my Football Frat buddies in with me, but he finally relented when Grady offered to get him tickets to the opening game of the season.
They exchanged numbers, and Grady will deliver.
“Nice work.” Nylah grins at him. “I’ll get Dad to hook those up for ya. Now…” She looks around the party. “Let’s go have some more fun.”
Carson’s lips quirk into a smile as he wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her forward.
I spot Jed and Tobin within seconds, and my heart kicks out of place.
Is Dani here?
Did she make it?
I should go say hello to her old roommates—they can probably tell me exactly where she is—but they’re so wrapped up in conversation that I decide to bypass them and head farther into the fray.
And that’s when I see it.
There’s a movement of bodies, a gasping, rushed steps backward as people get out of the way.
I frown, stepping forward to investigate.
And everything turns into slow motion.
I spot the side of Dani’s face and have enough time to register that her hair has changed. It looks amazing! And then I see the fierce expression on her face, the way she lunges forward with her fists and starts attacking the guy with the long, straggly hair.
Why does he look familiar?
A breath catches in my throat, then turns into a thundering growl when the guy shoves her back, then fires his fucking fist into her face!
For a second, I can’t make myself believe it.
But the way her head snaps back sends a red haze splashing across my vision, and I can’t stop the roar busting out of me.
“Get away from her!” I push people aside in my bid to reach her.
I am so fucking enraged right now that I can’t even see straight. This white noise is buzzing in my ears, and the second I’m within reach, I snatch the guy’s fist before he lands a fresh one on her.
“Get the fuck away from her,” I shout, shoving him backward.
I’ve got a good five inches on the guy, not to mention a fair few pounds of muscle—seething, ready-to-break-something muscle. When he goes to stumble away from me, I pull him back, landing my elbow in his face so he knows what it feels like.
His head lolls to the side, this garbled laugh coming out of him as blood coats the edge of his mouth.
I can’t believe he fucking hit her.
What the hell went down between them to cause this?
I’m not even sure I want to know, but I want to finish him for hurting her.
“You little fucker!” I fist his jacket.
“Tyrell!” someone barks behind me.
It’s Grady, forever the voice of reason.
I spin back to glare at him, but my eyes catch Dani, swaying on her feet. Blake’s beside her, trying to get a look at her face, and I immediately release the asshole to make sure she’s okay.
“Hey.” I bend down to try and check her cheek. “You all right?”
“Yeah.” She nods but is obviously really shaken up.
“You’re bleeding.” My chest spasms with a mixture of worry and rage as I lightly brush my thumb below the cut he left on her cheekbone. He must be wearing a ring. That fucker!
Turning back with another snarl, I’m about to go after the guy again, but he’s now in the clutches of Grady and Carson, who are dragging him away for a “chat.” I have no idea how that’s gonna go down, but I trust them to get to the bottom of it.
“Let me go!” he’s shouting as security muscles their way through the crowd.
“Step aside, please!”
“Excuse me,” the other one barks. “Let us through.”
“She attacked me first!” The guy tries to wrestle free of Grady’s and Carson’s hold on him, but they’re not giving an inch.
They are just as pissed as I am.
“I attacked you because you’re an asshole!” Dani moves around me to point at the guy. “He was too wasted to know what he was doing. You should have protected him!”
“You should have been there!” he argues right back, and my insides run cold.
Are they talking about Atlas?
“You gave him the drugs that killed him! That’s not on me.” Her voice breaks. “And it’s something you’ll have to live with for the rest of your life!”
Fuck. They are talking about Atlas.
Who the hell is this guy?
Oh shit. I do recognize him. He was in Atlas’s band. He was the bass player tonight!
He growls at Dani, his eyes glazing with something dark and dangerous. I move to form a barrier between him and her, staring at him with my own dark look.
My fingers curl into fists, and I swear if security wasn’t here, I would be pummeling the living shit out of this guy.
He gave Atlas those pills, and he’s accusing Dani of not being there for him?
I should fucking end this guy right now.
“We’ve got this,” Grady warns me, his look one of calm control as he subtly raises his chin and silently tells me to focus on Dani.
Before I lose the thread of self-control I have left, I spin and wrap my arm around her, bundling her out of the room just as Jed and Tobin run into view.
“Oh my—” Tobin gasps. “What happened?”
“I’m okay.” Dani snuggles into my side, looking anything but.
“She needs to get checked out,” I tell them. “I’m gonna take her to the hospital.”
“The police are on their way,” someone informs me. “An ambulance too. We’ll let the paramedics have a look at her and assess the situation.”
“Okay.” I nod. “Is there someplace we can wait for them?”
“Yeah, of course.” The woman ushers us into a side room, and Tobin, Jed, Nix, and some tall guy who I think is on the Nolan U basketball team follow us in there, quickly gathering around Dani and softly demanding details.
I want them too, but I’m not about to force them out of her.
Helping her into a chair, I take a seat beside her, silently warning the others to back off and give her some space.
The tall guy—Dar-something. Darius? Darian… Darian Gomez, I think—backs off, finding a spot against the wall.
Nix completely ignores me, pulling her chair closer so she can sit opposite Dani. Tobin and Jed do the same.
With a soft sigh, Dani rests her head against my arm like it’s the most natural thing in the world to do.
I go still, not wanting to move an inch in case she suddenly becomes aware of what she’s doing.
With a soft sniff, she shakily shares her story, reminding me all about Reef and the influence he had over Atlas.
He and my boy became tight after I moved to Nolan U, but I had no idea what a terrible influence he was having on Atlas. I thought it was the other way around, and I hate myself for going there.
When she gets to the part about him accusing her of breaking Atlas’s heart, I want to get up and thump him all over again.
“What a fucking assbucket,” Tobin spits.
“I want to maim that guy.” Jed shakes his head, sharing a raging look with me.
Oh, what I wouldn’t give to walk back into that party with him and pummel the shit out of Reef the Stoner. We could take turns, one punch each until he’s out cold and bleeding.
I’m not usually a violent guy, but I will make an exception for any man who punches a woman in the face.
I can’t believe he fucking tried to make her responsible for Atlas’s death when he was the one who gave him the pills that night.
How did the police not follow that up?
It was an obvious OD, and rather than thinking foul play, they just put it down to a reckless rock star not taking care of himself, downing dirty pills that were laced with fentanyl.
Did Reef know they were bad?
Fuck. Either way, Reef never should have given anything to Atlas. Is there any way he could get charged for that?
Surely there has to be some consequences for his actions.
The woman pops her head into the room. “The police are here. I’m sending the paramedics your way in just a second.”
“Thank you.” Tobin raises his hand at her while Dani squirms beside me.
She’s already spent after telling us the stor,y and now she’s gonna have to do it again.
Shit. I wish I could protect her from that.
But all I can do right now is be the guy she’s leaning against. And like hell anyone is gonna stop me from doing that.