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Her eyes widened in alarm.
“What the hell are you doing?” Maybe she would’ve seemed a little more intimidating if her voice hadn’t shaken in fear.
“You never came back to me, baby,” he slurred.
“There was a reason for that. Move out of the way.”
He was so large that he was effectively blocking her only exit, and with the door shut, she couldn’t find someone to save her. She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t seem to find the strength to get it out as he backed her up against the counter. The gleam in his eyes told her that he wanted to do a lot more than just dance with her.
She needed to get out of there.
“You can’t just tease me like that. Wearing this slutty dress with those heels, you can’t blame a guy for getting inappropriate thoughts.” He bent down so he could speak directly into her ear. One of his hands rose to brush her hair back from her neck; combined with the stench of his breath, she felt like she was going to pass out or vomit. The latter wouldn’t be so bad, maybe it would make him back up and give her enough room to run. “I think I deserve some kind of reward.”
“Move out of my way,” she told him. Instead of her normal volume, the words came out whispered, almost begging. She was trying to tell her body to fight, but it seemed that whatever connected her brain to her limbs wasn’t working.
He just laughed before he ran his hand down her body and to the sliver of skin that was showing between her dress and her boots. When he started to move higher, she found the strength and courage she needed.
She pushed him away from her with all of her energy. Since he was so drunk, he didn’t have great balance and proceeded to fall back a few steps. It was just enough room for her to move towards the door in hopes that she would be able to forget this ever happened.
She didn’t get more than a few steps before he grabbed her around the waist and threw her against the counter. This time, she was facing away from him, but she could still see him in the mirror as he sniffed her hair and ran his hands all over her. Although a few tears broke free and fell down her face, she took a deep breath as she remembered something John had taught her before she came to the university.
She moved her foot down and stomped on his toes. As her foot hit his, he released her with a groan. She turned around and brought her knee up to his balls and struck him with all the force she could muster. When he bent over in pain, she finished by pushing him over so he was lying on the bathroom floor in the fetal position.
She ran back towards the stairs, looking back once and not seeing him follow. That didn’t slow her down, though. She flew down the stairs and looked for Lex or Asher, but to no avail. She didn’t want to stand in one place for too long in case he got his breath back and wanted to resume the chase, so she left the house. Since she’d been there more than a few times, she knew the little places she could hide in that most people wouldn’t think to check.
There was a clump of bushes on the side of the house that she carefully sat behind. She was right next to the porch, but she knew that she couldn’t be seen. This way she would be able to know if her attacker was coming back.
She heard a loud whooshing noise, and it took her almost a full minute to realize that sound was coming from her as she was gasping and wheezing. Her heart was racing so fast that she was legitimately scared that she was going to have a heart attack. She didn’t know what to do or who to call. All she could think about was the fact that that guy, Richard, was probably somewhere in that house looking for her. She needed to put more space between them, but she certainly didn’t want to walk back to the dorms. A girl all by herself on the streets? That was just asking for trouble, and she wasn’t sure how much more she could take before she collapsed from the stress.
She took her phone out and was going to call Lex when she saw David’s name in her contacts. She didn’t think about it before she pressed call and put the phone up to her ear.
“Hey,” he called out in greeting.
“David,” she cried out.
His voice went from friendly to serious in the blink of an eye. “What’s wrong?”
She tried to take a deep breath so she could explain to him what happened, but her lungs weren’t wanting to function correctly.
“Take a deep breath, honey. Breathe with me,” he coaxed.
He breathed loudly into the phone for a few moments until her breathing matched his. She was still crying, but at least she wasn’t hyperventilating anymore.
“That’s good. Now tell me what happened,” he demanded gently.
“Can you come get me?” she whispered.
“I’m already in my car.” Her eyes widened in surprise. “Are you still on campus? Are you safe?”
“Yes—” She was going to continue, but then she heard his voice—Richard’s voice. It sounded like it was coming from the porch. She knew that he wouldn’t be able to see her from there, but he sure as hell could hear her if she continued talking to David.
“I saw you dancing with that hot chick. Did you sleep with her?” She didn’t recognize the second voice, but when Richard responded, she felt goosebumps spread all over her arms.
“No. The bitch was nothing but a cock tease.”
She only heard silence from them for a few more moments. David was calling her name, but until she heard the front door shut, she wasn’t going to open her mouth and risk Richard finding her alone.
“Let’s go find a willing pussy for you,” his friend told him.
“Just what I need.”
She heard two sets of footsteps on the porch before the screen door slammed behind them. She slowly peeked her head around the bushes that she was hiding in and was relieved to see that the two guys were no longer there. Only then did she take a deep breath and respond to David’s frantic remarks.
“I’m safe.”
“What the hell’s going on, Carrie? I heard a guy in the background. Are you hiding from someone? Where are you?”
She ignored his first couple of questions before she responded to his last one. “I’m at the Alpha Sig house.” He was silent for a few minutes after she answered him. She was just about to take the phone from her ear to check that she was still connected with him when he spoke.
“I’m nearing that street right now. Are you in the house?”
“No. I’m...at the side of the house.”
“Where are Lex and Asher? You didn’t go to a frat party alone, right?” She sensed a lecture from him, so she quickly shut that thought process down.
“They’re here, but I couldn’t find them.” She hesitated before admitting, “You were the first person I thought of to call.”
Nothing but silence again. She worried that she might’ve overstepped some boundary, some line in the sand, but she decided to put that to the back of her mind. She only had room in her head to worry about one thing and one thing only right now.
She saw his car pull up to the side of the street just a few moments later.
“I’m here.”
“I’m coming to you,” she tried to tell him, but before she could even get the words out, she saw him jump out of the car and make a beeline for the front door. She immediately jumped up from her hiding spot and ran to intercept him. She had a feeling she knew what he was wanting to do, and she didn’t want him to go to jail for protecting her.
“David, don’t do it. Please. Just take me home,” she begged him.
“Where is he?” When she just shook her head, he ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “Where is the guy who hurt you? And don’t bother denying me, I know you too well.”
She placed her hands on his chest. “I’ll tell you in the car...please...just take me home,” she pleaded with him. She saw in his eyes the moment he decided against running into the house. He sighed before taking her hand in one of his and pulling her towards his car.
~~~
HE NEEDED TO GET HER as far away from that house as possible before he lost the tentative hold he had on his willingness not to go in there and kick some ass. He could tell the moment he heard her voice over the phone that something was seriously wrong, and then, when he heard the male’s voice, his hands gripped the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles turned white.
Richard Abel. He knew him briefly from parties that they’d gone to together. He was notorious for not listening to women, going at the pace he wanted to go instead. David had only known one girl that he’d shared a class with that had been victimized by him, but she refused to go to the cops. Sure enough, when David saw Richard again, he beat him within an inch of his life for disrespecting her.
Richard had no idea what was coming now. This time, it wasn’t about protecting some girl that he vaguely knew. Richard had put his hands on what was his. He’d hurt his girl, and he wasn’t going to be breathing the air around Gaines for very long.
But that didn’t matter.
What mattered was the terrified, beautiful woman that was sitting in his passenger seat. He needed to make sure that she was okay before he went back to rip Richard’s head off his body.
Once he was far enough away that he knew he wasn’t going to jump out of the car and race back to the house, he pulled to the side of the road. Carrie looked at him with confusion written all over her face, but he didn’t say anything before pulling her to his chest and running his fingers through her hair—he just needed to assure his mind that she was safe. She was with him now.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked her gently before placing a kiss on the top of her head.
She nodded shyly. “I’m fine.”
He still held onto her until his heart was finally beating normally. Only then did he let go of her so she could sit back in the seat comfortably. He noticed that her dress had a small tear on the bottom and the makeup around her eyes was smudged with her tears. He gripped the steering wheel hard with one hand while he took deep breaths so he could talk to her without screaming.
“What happened?” He was proud of how calm his voice was.
“I was dancing with this guy earlier. His name was Richard. Lex liked his friend, and I was trying to be a good wingman for her, but when he started to get a little too handsy, I left him and found Asher. He was sort of my bodyguard so Richard would get the point and leave me alone.” She sighed. “He didn’t do anything right away, but when I went upstairs to use the bathroom, he barged in and...”
He could tell that she was having a hard time continuing, so he reached over and grabbed her hand. He gave her a gentle, comforting squeeze to let her know that she wasn’t alone.
She gave him a grateful smile before she went on. “He pushed me against the counter. After a few moments, I was able to push him off me...I kneed him in the balls and pushed him down before I ran for it. I couldn’t find Lex or Asher, but I remembered a spot near the porch that was all but hidden if you didn’t know it was there. I hid there and called you.”
“I’m glad you did,” he told her softly.
“Were you already in the car when I called?” she asked after another few moments of silence.
He shook his head. “No. Why?”
“You just got here so fast. I thought you must’ve been nearby.”
“The moment you said my name, I knew something was wrong. I got in my car and practically broke every speeding law between here and my house to get to you. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you,” he told her truthfully.
“Really?”
He knew that he should’ve said something along the lines of “your brother would kill me if something happened to you,” but he wasn’t thinking that. Far from it. He would never be able to live in a world where Carrie Lewis wasn’t in it. What would be the point of living when the light that she so easily radiated was gone? He wanted to get to her because just the thought of her hurt left him gasping for air.
But that’s not what he told her.
“Really.”
He eventually turned the car back on and drove to his place. No way was she going back to her dorm...not tonight. When they were about halfway there, he gave her a knowing look.
“You should probably text your friends. Let them know that you’re with me since you’re not going back to the dorm any time soon,” he warned her.
She looked around like she just realized that they weren’t going in the right direction to get to her place.
“You can just take me home, David. He’s not going to come for me,” she said, but the hint of uncertainty in her voice only solidified his decision.
“Not happening. So text them.”
Once she could tell that he wasn’t going to budge, she got her phone out and tapped a few times on the screen. A few minutes later, she set it back in her bag and told him that it was done.
“Good, because you’re mine for tonight.”