by Claire Raye
I’m so over everyone thinking Caleb is some vigilante who just started beating on an innocent man. While I don’t condone violence against anyone, Caleb’s situation was different. It brought to light his past unresolved issues and has allowed him to seek help. Without what happened we would’ve never realized how much he was struggling with his own assault. But knowing what we know now, Professor Keller was walking a fine line and could’ve possibly broken into our house and attacked me.
“You have no idea what he was doing outside my bedroom window or what my boyfriend did to protect me. You just want to hate someone you don’t even know.” I can’t stop the words from flying out of my mouth.
“I know exactly what he was doing outside your bedroom window,” she spits back, venom in her tone. “Because he did the same thing to me.”
She drops that bombshell, but her reaction to me is far different than Meagan’s. Meagan was quiet and meek and broken down, but this girl is full of rage and fire and hatred. She hates me. She hates Caleb. She hates Professor Keller, because she hates anything attached to her trauma.
She looks at Caleb and me as lucky. We avoided what happened to her, but why? Why did it pass me up but hit her right in the face?
She’s asking herself all these questions as she stands in front of me and I’m asking the same. I don’t know the answers to any of it. I wish I did. I wish it were obvious and I could protect the girls I know this will happen to, girls that are susceptible to being manipulated and taken advantage of.
But it isn’t tattooed on our foreheads or written on a piece of paper we carry around in our pocket and whip out when someone approaches us.
“I’m sorry,” I immediately respond. “Are you okay?” It’s a stupid question because it’s clear she’s not okay. She was at the counseling center and she’s projecting so much anger I can feel it in my bones.
“No, and no one cares. He’s still working here and walking around campus like he didn’t totally fuck up my life.”
“I know and it really fucking sucks, but if you’re interested, we have a lawyer and another girl came forward—”
“I went to the police and they didn’t believe me,” she asserts. “I’ve done everything I can. He was in my house. He watched me outside my bedroom window. I have a restraining order against him and you know what the police said?”
“I’m sure I can guess.”
“They told me I should leave school because he works on campus and it’s going to be hard to stay away from him.” She laughs humorlessly. “Like I’m not actively trying to avoid him.”
“I understand that you’re hesitant to tell anyone or get involved with the police again, but—”
“I’m not hesitant to tell anyone. I scream it from the rooftops, but everyone just chalks it up to a crazy girl obsessed with her professor because that’s the way he spun it.”
“So would you want to talk with our lawyer? I can give him your number. He’ll reach out and get some information from you.”
She doesn’t respond immediately and I can understand why. It’s hard to continue to have people doubt you, and I’m sure she’s wondering if that’s exactly what will happen again. Both Caleb and I know what it feels like to get knocked down over and over.
“You can pass my number along to your lawyer,” she finally responds, but the chip on her shoulder still remains.
I take her number down, not going into detail about what happened to her. I also don’t share what happened to Meagan. These are not my stories to tell and the last thing any of us needs is it to turn into gossip.
“I’m sorry for what happened to you, Kate,” I say as we part ways.
“Thanks and I’m sorry for what’s happening to your boyfriend.”
I’m now running across campus to the building I should’ve been at over an hour ago. I signed up for a time to pick up some materials I’ll need for an online class and I missed my pickup time. It’s after four now and I’m sure the building is closed, but I figure it won’t hurt to check.
I reach for the door and it opens before I have a chance to pull on it. There’s a guy standing in front of me, holding a stack of books, some papers and a few other things.
“You here to pick up for Psych 310?” he asks.
“Yeah, I am. Did you just come from there?”
“Yeah. He’s packing up but I’m sure you can still catch him.” He steps aside holding the door with his back so I can slip through. I thank him and move quickly, hoping I’m not too late.
It’s not like I can’t reschedule my pick-up, but I hate to be that student, the one who just doesn’t show up. It doesn’t look good for me and I’d like to make a better impression than that.
“Sorry!” I call out as I push open the door to the lecture hall and jog down the steps toward where a table is set up, the materials stacked on it.
“I figured you would stand me up,” a voice says and when I look up, I’m face to face with Professor Keller. A scream bubbles up in my throat, threatening to let go and I want to run, but my feet feel like lead. This has to be a bad dream, a total fucking nightmare.
How am I stuck in here alone with Professor Keller?
“You going to say something, Ruby?” he asks, a smarmy smile on his face.
“I’m just here to pick up my materials and then go,” I quickly respond, looking for my name on the stacks.
“Here you go,” he responds, handing me my things. I take them and don’t even bother to make sure I have everything. I quickly move toward the stairs, hoping like hell he doesn’t say anything more.
But I’m not that lucky and my heart begins to race as I feel him follow me to the exit.
“Don’t,” I say, that scream I quelled has now returned, ready to escape my throat and echo loudly in this large empty room.
“Don’t,” he repeats my word, his tone mocking, lips pulled up in a sneer. “Don’t you fucking tell me don’t. After what you’ve put me through. You fucking owe me. You’re lucky I haven’t found your boyfriend and retaliated.”
I want to scream in his face. I want to tell him he’s fucked, but engaging with this psychopath seems like a terrible idea, and all I really want to do is get out of here. I have no idea what he’s willing to do to shut me up or what he’s conjured up in his head to get back at Caleb.
I know what he did to Meagan, and in this empty lecture hall, I could be next.
“I’m leaving,” I say, a firmness in my tone that I hope projects that I’m not fucking around, but instead, he grabs for me.
I drop everything I’m holding, yanking away from him as I run for the door. He doesn’t get to control this situation and I’m not going to just give in. But he’s taller than me and grabs hold of my shirt, pulling me back to him.
His arm is wrapped around my waist, my back flush against his chest now as he grabs my face with his free hand, holding my head still.
“You aren’t going anywhere,” he hisses into my ear, his hot breath making me feel like I might vomit.
“Like hell I’m not.”
Chapter Thirty
Caleb
I run the whole way home, my phone to my ear as I continue to call Ruby, each call going unanswered until they get to her voicemail. My heart pounds in my chest, adrenaline coursing through my veins as I run up the front steps and unlock the door.
“Ruby?” I yell out, but I immediately know she’s not home, the silence of the house only amplified back at me as I yell out her name again. I try calling her phone again and when I hear the sound of it ringing in our room, dread pools heavy in my stomach.
“Oh fuck,” I murmur as I make my way to the bedroom we share.
Her phone is on the bed, half buried beneath some clothes, the screen illuminated and now displaying the eight missed calls from me. I slip it into my back pocket, my eyes scanning the room as though she’s somehow here and I’ve missed her.
But she’s not and the room is empty.
“Ruby?” I hear Reid call
out as the front door closes, the sound of footsteps echoing on the wooden floor of the living room.
I walk out of the room to find my sister and Reid standing in the kitchen, worried looks on their faces. “She’s not here,” I tell them, holding up her phone. “I don’t know where she is.”
“Fuck,” Reid mutters, glancing at Sie. “Do you think she went to campus?”
Sienna shrugs. “I don’t know, maybe.”
I exhale, shoving a rough hand through my hair as I try to quell the anxiety that’s now bristling beneath my skin. I can feel it, the way it courses through me, threatening to consume me if I don’t get it under control.
I can’t afford to lose my shit right now, not when I have no idea where Ruby is or why she doesn’t have her phone with her.
“I’m going to go look,” I say, walking toward the front door.
“We’ll come with you,” Sienna says.
“No,” I say quickly. “Someone needs to wait here in case she comes home.”
Sie glances up at Reid who nods once before turning to me. “Sie will stay,” he says. “I’ll come with you.”
I stop, my gaze locked with Reid’s. He isn’t saying it, but I know what he’s thinking, what we’re all thinking.
What’s going to happen when I find Ruby. What I’m going to do if I find her and he’s there.
Given what happened last time, I don’t blame them. Hell, even I have no idea what I’ll do. But I also can’t take the risk of leaving Sie here alone, not when we now know what this asshole is capable of.
“Can you stay?” I finally ask him, my question more like a plea as my gaze flicks quickly to Sie before moving back to Reid.
Reid stares back at me, his eyes searching mine for some kind of answer to the million questions I’m sure are running through his head right now. Eventually he nods once. “You good?”
I tip my head in acknowledgement even though we both know it’s a lie. “Yep,” I say before turning and walking out, not wanting to even consider what’s going to happen if I do lose my shit when I find her.
Or what the hell happens if I can’t find her.
Outside, I run all the way to campus, grateful that after meeting Ruby after class so many times, I know which buildings she’ll hopefully be at. Still, it doesn’t mean she’s going to be there now and as I make my way toward the psychology buildings, I try to push down the worry about where I’ll go next if she isn’t.
Maybe I should call the police or campus security?
But what the fuck would I even say?
Oh hi, I’m the guy who beat the shit out of that professor for jerking off outside my girlfriend’s bedroom window. Yeah, so it turns out he’s been stalking her and now I can’t find her anywhere. Think you can help me?
Not a chance in hell they’ll do anything other than hang up on me as soon as they find out who I am. Especially given they haven’t even believed the other women who have come forward with complaints about him. About stuff that’s far worse too.
“Fuck,” I half shout as I round the corner of her psychology building only to crash head on into a guy coming in the opposite direction. He’s carrying a stack of books in his arms and they all go flying everywhere as the two of us collide into each other.
“Shit,” he says, as he stumbles back, a stunned look on his face as his books scatter on the ground around us.
“I’m sorry,” I stammer, pausing only briefly as I try to move past him. I’m being a dick and I know I should stop and help him pick up all his stuff, but I don’t have time. I need to find Ruby.
“Hey, I know you,” he says, a questioning tone in his voice.
I glance back at him, already knowing what he’s going to say. “Yeah, I get that a lot,” I say sarcastically as I brush past him.
“Wait,” he says, his hand on my arm. “You’re the guy who beat up Professor Keller, right?”
My jaw clenches as anger washes over me. Of course that’s what he would think, it’s what everyone fucking thinks. That I beat up the esteemed college professor for no reason. That I’m a loose cannon who can’t be trusted. That I’m a fucking criminal.
I don’t bother answering as I yank my arm away from him.
“Hey, dude, seriously I get it,” he says and something about the way he says this makes me stop.
“What?”
He offers me a smile as he bends down to grab his books. “I mean the guy’s creepy as fuck. Tried to hit on my girlfriend once when I wasn’t in class.”
“Are you serious?” I ask, my lungs expanding as I force in a deep breath.
“Yep,” he nods. “God, I wanted to beat the shit out of him when I found out. But the guy has a rep for failing people who do shit that pisses him off.”
My hands go to my head, clasped in my hair as I try to comprehend how the fuck this guy has been allowed to get away with so much shit for so long. “How the hell is this guy still teaching here?” I ask.
The guy shrugs. “Fuck only knows,” he says. “I’ve got one more class with him and then I’m done. Can’t come soon enough if you ask me.”
One more class. Shit, does that mean Ruby will have one more class with him, too?
“Listen,” I say impatiently. “You don’t happen to know Ruby Collins, do you?”
“Yeah,” he says smiling. “We have a few—” He pauses, his face suddenly going pale as he stares off behind me. “Oh fuck.”
“What?”
He turns back to me. “Shit, I just saw her. She was on her way to get her books. She was late, the last one and he…fuck, he’s there. She’s with him now. Alone.”
“WHERE?” I practically scream as my heart starts to hammer hard inside my chest. It feels like it’s about to smash through my ribcage.
“There, straight through those doors,” he says, pointing behind me. “What can I do to help?”
I take off running, not bothering to thank him as I yell out, “Call the cops, security, everyone.”
I run up the steps to the double doors, my breathing coming hard and fast as I yank on the handle. But the door doesn’t budge, staying firmly closed despite how many times I pull on it.
“Fucking hell,” I scream, my fists pounding on the glass door in frustration as I look around for another way inside.
I notice a fire escape farther along the building, the door propped open with a brick for some reason. Jumping over the side of the stairs, I race toward it, pulling it open and running inside. The door slams back against the brick, the late afternoon light all but disappearing so only a sliver shines through the small gap that’s left.
I pause, desperately trying to get my eyes to adjust the darkness as I look around, trying to decide which way to go. Eventually my eyes focus and I see a small set of stairs leading up to a closed door. I run over, taking them two at a time as I yank on the door at the top, praying it’s not locked.
It gives immediately, nearly smacking me in the face as I pull it open and I stumble through into what I now realize is the front entrance of the building. Glancing around, I see the closed and locked doors I was trying to get through only moments ago.
The foyer area is huge, with three other doors leading off it. Two of them are open, the third and farthest of them closed. I make my way toward the closest one, glancing inside to find a reception and office area. A woman glances up at me. She’s on the phone but she offers a smile that I don’t bother returning as I immediately turn and head toward the second open door.
This leads into a student common area, with a bunch of chairs and coffee tables and a small kitchen at the back. But it’s empty. No Ruby anywhere.
With mounting dread, I turn toward the closed door, remembering now that this leads into the lecture hall. I remember coming here once to pick up Ruby and finding her stuck inside, that fuckhead professor all over her, even as she was clearly uncomfortable and trying to get away.
I fucking knew he was bad news back then. Could feel it in my gut. Maybe it was because of eve
rything I’ve been through the last two years or maybe it was just because he gave off a vibe that screamed asshole, I don’t know.
What I do know is that I should’ve done something back then. Back before any of this shit with him outside Ruby’s window happened. Maybe she wouldn’t be stuck wherever she is now. Maybe she would be safe.
And maybe this asshole would be in jail.
I reach for the door handle, my hand shaking and my heart pounding inside my chest. My breathing is coming hard and fast, my lungs burning with every inhale of breath. I feel sick and dizzy and like a lead weight is sitting in the pit of my stomach.
If anything has happened to her, I’ll never fucking forgive myself.
Just as my hand meets the cool metal handle, I hear a crashing noise on the inside, followed by scuffling and muffled voices. Yanking on the handle, I open the door and step into the room.
And my blood turns to ice in my veins.
Oh fuck.
Almost immediately, my head starts to spin, a loud screaming noise blocking out all other sounds as my vision turns red and my hands curl into fists at my side.
I see that fucking asshole with his hands on my girl, pulling her against his body as he crowds over her, clearly restraining her.
The door slams shut behind me and he looks up in shock at the sound of my entrance. But as soon as he sees it’s me, his surprise turns into a leer, his eyes wild and wide, his mouth twisted into a maniacal grin.
My gaze moves to Ruby, standing with her back to his front, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist. Her mouth is set in a firm line as she meets my stare. I move to reach for her, her name falling from my lips, wanting to get her as far away from him as possible.
I want to kill him, but I know that’s not what I should do, not when he has Ruby. Not when she needs me more.
But before I can even get to her, Keller twists away from me, pulling Ruby with him.