Saint puts his helmet on and asks, “Ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Which campus do you go to?”
I tell him, and the bike roars to life as we leave. When we reach the main road, he takes off. I knew it was coming this time, so I’m more prepared and don’t even have to hold onto him. But when we take a turn, I wrap my arms around him out of fear. Beneath his mass, I feel the steady beating of his heart and it calms me to the point that I’m able to relax.
We speed down the empty roads as the sun rises, basking everything in a light pink glow. When we turn into the campus driveway, I’m shocked to find that I’m a little disappointed that we’re already here.
Saint comes to a stop in front of my dorm building. He looks up, shaking his head.
“What?”
“Just thinking I better get out of here. I’m sure they don’t appreciate old guys on bikes rolling in with cute college girls at six in the morning.”
“When you put it like that it sounds bad.” I climb off the bike and unbuckle the helmet, handing it back to him. “Thanks for the ride.”
He’s looking at me with an expression I can’t describe on his face. A look, I might add, that leaves me feeling warm all over and wanting more.
“Saint?”
He clears his throat. “Right. No problem.” Then he says, “Wear something less revealing tomorrow.”
He starts the bike and takes off, leaving me standing there, wondering what in the heck just happened. And then I look down.
“Fucking Rabbit!”
Once again, my newly cut shirt has risen, given Saint a free show. At least it wasn’t as bad as when I was with Razor. I yank the shirt down and run into the dorm. When I get inside my room, I tug the shirt off, tossing it into the trash where it belongs. Lucy is sleeping and doesn’t even stir as I grab a nightshirt.
I climb into bed, trying to process everything that happened over the past few hours. Saint is… I can’t even put into words how he makes me feel. Bash seems sweet. Razor seems a little wild. And Jas will hopefully warm up to me the longer I’m around. Closing my eyes, I try to go to sleep, but my thoughts keep going back to Saint. He’s on my mind as I finally drift off.
The door slams and the thirteen-year-old version of myself curls into a ball on the mattress, praying he doesn’t notice me. I can’t go through this. Not again. Not so soon. I’m still hurting from last night-
His stale breath assaults my nose and I begin to shake. I mean, how could I not? I’ve known what this means since I was eight.
“Get up.”
His words slur--but not enough. God, why couldn’t he be more drunk?
My eyes water, and I wish I could stop this. Or that someone could save me.
“I said get the fuck up.”
Pain radiates down my back from where he kicked me.
I stand. Because there’s nothing else I can do and no one is going to save me.
“Now. Undress.”
“Olivia, are you going to get up today?”
Lucy shakes my shoulder again and I jerk away, breathing heavily from my nightmare.
“What?”
“Girl, your phone’s been going off nonstop, for the last hour. Someone’s trying to get ahold of you.”
To prove her point, my phone dings twice as a text message comes through. I grab it from my nightstand, unlocking it. Holy shit. It’s already four in the afternoon and there are a ton of messages on my phone. But that dream… god, it’s left me feeling out of control.
Lucy perches at the end of my bed. “So… were you on a date last night?”
I glance up. “Why would you think that?”
“I’ve known you for three years. You’re as predictable as my grandma. And you didn’t come home until this morning and you never sleep in this late.” Her eyes are positively twinkling as she finishes.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but it wasn’t a date. I got a job at a club.”
“Another job? Doesn’t that make, like, three?”
“Only one now. The library and deli in the student union had to let me go for the summer.”
My sweet roommate would shit a brick if she knew what else I did for extra money. Which reminds me, I need to log into the app to see if I have any jobs I can do before I go into the club. After last night’s panic attack, and now this dream I need to make sure I’m in total control, and that means taking care of my other needs.
She shakes her head. “You’re going to work yourself into an early grave.”
“Maybe. But, I might be able to afford an apartment next semester.”
Her eyes light up. “Does this mean what I think it does?”
Lucy has been wanting to live in an apartment since I met her. The college requires freshmen students to live on campus, but after that we’re free to live where we choose. I really think she could have moved out during our sophomore year, but she said she didn’t want to leave me behind. I appreciate that kind of loyalty.
“It does. See if your mom can snag us a good deal.”
She throws her arms around my neck. “I’ll have her work on it over summer break. Wait. Where are you going to stay during the summer?”
“I’ll figure it out.”
“You know, the invitation still stands. You can come home with me.”
“I’ll think about it.”
But we both know I won’t go. I don’t want to impose, even though she’s assured me that her parents won’t mind having me. Plus, I’ve seen the way her dad looks at me. If I were to go, I would only ruin things in Lucy’s perfect little family. It’s still nice to be asked, though. Heaven knows my family’s not the same. I’ve gone to my cousin’s house once since leaving for college and it was a nightmare.
It was so bad that I ended up renting a room over the garage of an elderly couple’s house. They let me come back last year, but they called a few months ago, saying they were moving to be closer to their kids, which means I’m shit out of luck this summer. I have to wonder if they knew what else I was up to in their little room with the hideous floral wallpaper. Something tells me they did.
Lucy says, “I’m going to the library to turn in some overdue books. Want to come?”
“I need to make a call, but I’ll text you when I’m done.”
She shakes her head, chuckling. “New job. Agreeing to get an apartment. Saying you’ll text to possibly hang out. I think I like this new Olivia.”
She grabs a stack of books and heads out. I wait until she’s gone to look at my text messages. They’re all from Agent Hill, asking how last night went. I punch his number and it rings once before he answers.
“Good afternoon, Olivia. I was getting worried about you.”
“I just woke up.”
“I’m at Panera Bread. Meet me in ten minutes.”
He ends the calls before I can reply. I groan. Ten minutes. I won’t even have time to shower. But he sounded kind of pissed, so I grab a t-shirt and shorts. I pull my hair into a messy bun and don’t even bother with make-up. Grabbing my keys and wallet, I head outside. The campus is fairly busy with people moving out of the dorms. I regret not grabbing my laptop before I left. I need to find a room as soon as possible.