Chapter 19

~John~

 

I storm towards the frat house with Mitch jogging behind to keep up with me. We’re a few feet out when I see Chloe bounding through the door and struggling down the steps towards us in her ridiculous high heels.

“I thought I told you to stay with her?” I snap.

“I couldn’t, okay? Two of his friends forced me away.”

“Where’s Blake?” Mitch asks, sensibly, knowing that, as the head of the frat, all the guys inside will listen to him.

“No idea. Probably in his room getting laid,” Chloe answers. She freezes suddenly and stares at me. “Oh my God! What happened to you?”

Okay, so it does still look pretty bad then. “Nothing,” I mutter. I grip her arm gently and tell her, “Stay back. I don’t want you to get hurt in the crossfire. You got me?”

She nods.

“Why is she wasted?” Mitch asks her.

“I dunno. She mentioned something about a call earlier. From her mom, I think. She wouldn’t say anything else about it.”

My stomach clenches. Her mom? Oh fucking hell. No wonder she’s wasted right now.

I break into a run and it hurts like hell. My body hates me for it. But I’ve got enough adrenaline pumping through my veins right now to override any resistance.

“John!” I hear Mitch yell after me. But I ignore it.

I reach the open door to the frat house and push myself through the crowd of people in the hallway. Is this damn house ever empty? Probably not. Guys like these frat boys need crowds of people around them to give themselves an identity. They don’t even know who the hell they are without that. They’re too weak to go it alone; they need an entire brotherhood at their backs. Pussies.

I scan the area frantically, trying to locate Nicki. My eyes dart to the stairs leading up to the bedrooms. And that’s when I see her.

She’s staggering unsteadily up the steps. Axel’s holding her hand and whispering something in her ear. I see him squeeze her ass roughly. And I know right then that he’s taking her up there to fuck her.

“Move!” I yell at the people blocking my way to the stairs. Damn cockroaches! You move a couple out of the way and more take their place, like they’re multiplying or something. Argh!

I lose count of the number of bodies I end up shoving out of the way and the number of them cursing me for being so rough. Well move then!

Finally I reach the stairs and take them two at a time. When I get to the top I can hardly breathe, because my heart’s thundering so hard in my chest. I reach the landing and spin around anxiously. Shit, they’re too many doors. Which one is it?

And then I hear his voice coming from the door right in front of me:

“Just relax, babe. You’re gonna enjoy this.”

Like fuck she is!

I hurry to the door and turn the knob. The stupid thing is locked. Dammit, this is gonna hurt like a bitch. I rear back and kick at the lock with my boot. The force of my kick reverberates right through my injured, worn out body. But I force myself to deal with it. All I can think about is getting the damned door open and stopping the sickening shit that’s going on inside. I‘m not gonna let this happen.

I hear her crying inside. She’s scared.

“Fuck!” I roar, pounding my fist on the door.

I’m an idiot. This is all my fault. I pushed her away, right into the arms of that asshole. All because I couldn’t man up like she needed me to.

I step up my assault on the door. Since the damned attack I’ve been weaker than normal, trying to recover. But right now, in this moment, adrenaline is spurring me on.

The lock finally breaks and I shove open the door with both hands.

My stomach lurches as I see what’s happening inside the room. I feel sick.

Axel turns in surprise at my sudden entrance. The fucker is straddling her. Her skirt is bunched up at her waist, her panties around her ankles. His pants are undone and I can see he’s raring to go as she lies there crying and murmuring something about being scared.

Before he can say a damned thing, I grip his shoulders and rip him off her, hauling him half-way across the room with the force of my rage.

“What the hell?” he screams at me. “Get out!”

“This isn’t fucking happening, Craven!”

I turn away from him and tend to Nicki. I slide her panties back up her legs and pull her skirt back down over her thighs. But before I can do anything else, Axel comes at me from behind and wraps his arms around my shoulders, pulling me back.

“Doesn’t look like you’re in any position to fight me, Johnny boy. Me and my boys fucked you up good.”

He’s such an amateur that he’s giving me way too much leeway with his half-assed grip. I free my right arm easily and thrust my elbow back into his chest. He chokes and releases me. I lunge at him and drive him into the wall, my hands wrapping around his neck, choking him.

“She’s coming with me. Right fucking now. Do you hear me? She’s drunk, you asshole!”

I increase the pressure around his windpipe and I know if I don’t release him right now, I might not be able to. I might take it too far.

And so I let go of him roughly and step back.

“She wants it bad,” he says as I turn back to her.

That’s it! I spin back around and smash my fist into his face. It knocks him to his knees.

“Shut your fucking mouth!”

I shake my jacket off and hurry back to Nicki. She hasn’t moved from where I left her a second ago. She’s beyond wasted. She’s barely fucking lucid.

“Sweetheart, it’s John. Time for bed, okay?”

She nods, uncertainly. “John?”

“Yeah, it’s me. You’re okay. Everything’s gonna be okay. No one’s gonna touch you.”

“I’m scared,” she cries.

“I’ve got you now. Nothing to be scared of. Okay?”

“Okay,” she says quietly.

I glance down at her. Normally seeing her in a skirt that barely covers her ass would be a turn on. But right now it just upsets me. The white top she’s wearing is no better with her tits spilling out of it. Chloe’s clothes, I bet. One of her come-fuck-me-outfits. It might work for her, but it does not work for Nicki.

I cover her up with my jacket and then gather her in my arms. I can feel the strain on my injured body as I lift her off the bed. But I suck it up. She buries her face in my neck as she cries.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. We’re leaving now,” I tell her softly as I carry her out of Axel’s room.

I see him getting to his feet as I walk by, but I don’t give a fuck.

We’re almost at the bottom of the stairs when I hear his heavy footsteps behind me.

“This isn’t over, John! That pussy is mine!”

I freeze. I’m right on the edge. Fuck, I don’t know if I can hold back.

“She wants my cock. Begged for it.”

My blood boils. Even in my current physical state, I know I can take him.

“John!”

It’s Mitch’s voice. I see him standing with Chloe and watching me from the doorway.

“Look at her!” he wills me.

What’s he talking about?

“Do it! Look at her!”

I look down at Nicki in my arms. And that’s when I know.

Axel Craven doesn’t matter. She does.

I continue walking, pushing my way back through the throngs of people to the door. I hear Axel yelling and cursing me, but I ignore it.

 

 

***

 

“Shh. It’s okay,” I tell Nicki as I hold her against me on my lap in the back of my truck.

“I’m gonna kill that fucker,” Chloe says from the passenger seat up front.

Mitch chuckles from the driver’s seat and asks her, “What are you gonna do? Set your sorority girls on him to claw his eyes out with their fake fingernails?”

“Oh, shut up,” she snaps and punches him in the shoulder.

“Ow! Don’t hit the guy driving. John will kill me if I crash his baby.”

Chloe turns around to look at me and Nicki. “Is she okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Did Axel—?”

“No,” I say quickly, cutting her off.

“I’m sorry, John. I should’ve tried harder to keep him away tonight.”

“It’s not your fault. Forget it.”

“Do you think he’s gonna do something? You know, because you interfered with his sick plans tonight?”

“No,” I say, forcing a reassuring smile.

She sighs with relief and turns back around. “Okay. Good.”

I catch Mitch’s eye in the rearview mirror. He knows I’m lying. I have little doubt that Axel will retaliate. I’d known that going in. I’m not stupid enough to think I can do shit like that without some fallout. But I didn’t give a damn and I still don’t. He can do what he likes to me as long as Nicki is safe.

I look down at her in my arms and shake my head, trying to keep my shit together with seeing her like this—so out of it, so fucking terrified. Tonight was such a close call. Way too close.