I consider cancelling on Gina and just going back to Everly’s so I don’t have to deal with this shitty attitude I’m in now, but I don’t. I finish up closing my station and paying out my tips to the bartender and busboys then I grab a ride with Gina to her place.
On the way over, I get a notification on my phone, and while she’s droning on and on about something, I glance down and see Everly leaving through the front door camera.
What the fuck? I told her not to go anywhere.
Me: Where the fuck are you going?
Her reply comes back more than four minutes later but it feels like fifteen.
Everly: I told you I left my charger at the office, so I’m going to get it.
Me: It’s late as fuck, Everly. Stay home. You can get it in the morning.
“I’m going to stop at the liquor store. Stay in the car,” Gina mumbles as she pulls up to the parking lot of a big warehouse size liquor store. I barely acknowledge her, just glad for a moment of privacy so I can talk to Everly alone.
As soon as Gina is out of the car, I hit call on my phone.
“Will you just calm down?” Everly says as soon as she answers.
“I told you not to go anywhere.”
“Just knock it off, Cullen. I don’t belong to you! I’m not a fucking child, and I need my laptop charger so I’m going.”
“Why won’t you just listen to me?”
“Why do you care?” she yells. Her voice carries through the phone, and I can tell she’s driving and the call is connected to her Bluetooth speaker.
“Because you seem to be forgetting I am in control here. You want me to just leak those photos, don’t you?”
“Fucking leak them, Cullen! I don’t give a shit anymore.”
“I will. Then we’re done. That’s what you want, isn’t it?” I’m feeling frantic, desperate and seething with anger. I’ve lost control of her. I guess in a way, I’ve lost her completely.
“No, Cullen,” she snaps. “That’s not what I want, and you know it. I don’t want to be done with you. I just want to be done with this version where you think you need to control me all the time, punish me for how miserable you are. I’m done with that. So go to your friends, leak the fucking photos, I don’t care. Hell, I’ll send them to the dean myself if you want. And if you still want me to come to your game tomorrow, I will. But I don’t belong to you anymore…not like that.”
The phone goes dead, and I want to punch something. A rage burns through me, but I have to bite it back so when Gina gets in the car, and sees my obvious change in mood, she looks worried.
I really should go to her party, get high, and let Allie give me another blowjob in the guest room. I should do that, because it’s who I am. But I can’t.
“Take me to campus, please?” I mutter without looking at Gina.
“Okay,” she answers without arguing. She can clearly see I’m not in the mood to party. My phone says Everly just got to campus a few minutes ago so I can easily catch her in time. We’re only about five minutes away as it is.
Gina doesn’t speak on the drive, and I just stare down at my phone, the photo of Everly and I kissing in her kitchen three weeks ago on my screen. I already know I can’t leak these photos and get her in trouble. Her words just keep echoing on repeat in my head.
I don’t belong to you anymore, not like that.
15
Everly
The parking lot is dark and empty when I pull up to the building. I park near the front door, which is technically a spot for the dean, but it’s almost midnight so I doubt she’ll be needing it right now.
As I get out of the car, I’m so focused on the fight with Cullen I don’t take a good look around the area as I run up to the door. I have an exterior door key for this purpose, but as I reach the top of the stairs, I scream when I nearly slam into someone coming out. It’s a man, and he’s tall with pale skin and copper red hair. I don’t recognize him, but I’m new, so I don’t know everyone at the office yet.
“Excuse me,” he says, putting his hands on my arms to stop me from falling down the stairs.
I’m staring wide-eyed, a chill running down my spine, which I assume must be from running into a stranger in the middle of the night at an empty building.
“Excuse me,” I mumble.
He brushes past me and takes off toward the empty parking lot, red warning signs going off in my head as he leaves. Maybe it was just another professor working late, I think in my head.
Something about going into this building right now seems like a bad idea, and every one of my instincts is telling me not to. So, I’m just standing on the stairs for a moment, deliberating what I should do next.
I’m being paranoid. There are security cameras inside. I’ll be fine. I just need to run in and grab my charger. It will take two seconds. Glancing back at the stranger, he’s already halfway across the parking lot, so I quickly unlock the door and run in.
Once I get to my office, my phone buzzes. Looking down, I see it’s a message from some random app and not a text from Cullen, my heart falling at the realization. I basically just told him everything between us is over. I needed to do that. How long can this really go on?
I mean, I don’t expect him to really send those pictures out or quit what we have going on. The sex is amazing, and he’d be an idiot to give that up. The question is if he’ll still come around even after there is nothing to hold over my head.
Thinking about sex has my mind immediately thinking about him at that party. Is he going to sleep with someone else? It hurts to even think about, but he’s not my boyfriend, so he could. I have no right to stop him.
I walk across the room to my desk and grab my cord before bending over to pull it out of the wall. When I stand up, a figure in my periphery catches my attention. I let out a scream as my eyes land on the silhouette standing in the doorway.
With a black ski mask, he stands against the doorframe, leaning casually with his arms crossed. It’s dark, but with his tall figure and all black outfit, my mind immediately settles on the realization that it’s just Cullen.
“What the hell are you doing? You gave me a heart attack!”
There’s a brief moment when the rapid pulse of my heart slows and the fear in my stomach dissipates because he’s here. Not at a party and not mad at me for fighting with him. And everything feels right.
But silence spills out between us.
I can just make out the shape of his eyes in the dim haze of the auxiliary lights. My heart hammers in my chest as I glare at him. Maybe I underestimated how angry he is. Maybe this whole time I’ve completely underestimated us, thinking there could be any genuine feelings here and the whole time I’ve just been a toy to him. I’ve pushed him too far, and he’s here to make me pay for that.
“What is your problem?” I mumble, trying to sound confident but failing.
As he charges toward me, I feel the first real wave of terror I’ve ever felt with Cullen. I scream out his name as his hands wrap around my throat, pinning me hard to the desk as my back slams against the surface. I don’t bother to fight back, not at first, because somewhere deep down I know he won’t really hurt me. Not too much at least.