by J. Nathan
“Sounded like there was something going on,” Alice added, her brows raised in question.
“Did you guys have your ears to the door?” I asked.
“No!” they said in unison.
“We had the door cracked,” Alice admitted.
We all laughed because it was so typical of them to be in my business. I seriously needed to find them guys to occupy their time. Jeff and Chris were single. I glanced over at Briggs, standing there in sunglasses even though it was evening—and we were inside. Maybe he was single.
“Are you and Chris hanging out again?” Alice asked.
The recollection of last night’s incident brought on a cringe.
“What?” Elodie asked, sensing me holding back.
“Tristan kicked him out of my room.”
“That’s awesome,” Alice said way too loud.
I covered my face, hoping my hands somehow shielded me from all the looks our table was receiving.
“You coming here has been the best thing ever!” Alice proclaimed.
“We are totally living vicariously through you,” Elodie added, like I didn’t already realize that.
I dropped my hands from my face. “You do realize I’m here because I’m supposed to be laying low, right?”
They nodded, the sense of danger no deterrent for these two.
I wished I had their bravery.
***
Once I was alone in my room again, I worked on a couple assignments on my laptop before filling in my parents on volunteering and my classes. They told me Marco should be back by the weekend which gave me a small sense of peace.
Around ten, Briggs accompanied me to the bathroom then checked my room for the night. I flipped off my light and climbed into bed. I felt myself dozing off a short time later, but only after I heard shuffling on the other side of my closed door.
Tristan.
In the hallway.
Following my request to stay out of my room.
***
I didn’t see Tristan for the entire week. Briggs walked me to my classes and was on dinner duty, along with bathroom checks. But, once my door was closed for the night, I always knew Tristan sat out in the hallway.
Not surprising, Chris hadn’t called. I guess I was more trouble than I was worth.
When the girls suggested going to the bar Friday night, I knew Tristan wouldn’t be able to hide any longer. Drawing him out of hiding was the only thing that gave me motivation to go since I really wasn’t in the mood to party. I let Briggs know we were going so he and Tristan could handle the logistics on their side.
I spent way too much time in the mirror, changing numerous times until I knew I looked my best in short black shorts, a silk fuchsia halter top, and the highest black Louboutin heels I owned. I was going to show Tristan what he was missing out on if it was the last thing I did.
We left the dorm at ten with Briggs leading the way outside. My steps faltered when we reached the SUV. The bodyguard who helped Briggs at the bowling alley sat in the driver’s seat. Not Tristan.
Where was he? Was he already at the bar? Or, had he been taken off my assignment?
“Turn it up!” Alice yelled as soon as the bodyguard started the car and a song she liked played on the radio.
“Is Tristan already at the bar?” Elodie leaned forward and asked Briggs in the passenger seat.
I wished I didn’t care. I really wished I didn’t care. But, my ears perked up.
“He’s got the night off,” Briggs said.
My entire body deflated as the words left his mouth. Tristan had made a fool of me. Made me feel something for him only to cast me aside. Now I was dressing up to make him feel bad for not wanting me, and he wasn’t even going to be there. God. I was so pathetic.
We arrived at the bar, and I plastered on a smile, not wanting to show anyone my disappointment.
Briggs led the way inside while his partner followed us from behind. Briggs made his way through the crowd to a table on the far side of the bar that had a Reserved sign on it.
“We’ll be nearby,” Briggs informed me over the music. “Just signal one of us over if you need anything.”
I nodded, before the girls and I settled on stools at the round high-top. We ordered shots and spent a good hour at our table laughing and talking before heading to the dance floor. Regardless of my initial disappointment, I needed to have fun with the girls. So, I let the thought of Tristan flee my brain and I let loose, dancing until we were drunk and sweaty and didn’t care who was watching us.
“Tristan’s here!” Alice shouted over a song.
My head whipped around, checking the corners of the room. I didn’t see him. I spotted Briggs who watched the crowd intently. I looked back to Alice. “Where?”
She pointed toward the bar.
I searched the bar area which was two people deep all the way around, finally spotting him at a corner seat. I stilled. A blonde scantily clad girl sat beside him, leaning into his side and whispering in his ear.
Heat pulsed in my cheeks and my stomach roiled. Without a word to Elodie or Alice, I pushed my way off the dance floor. I needed to get to the bathroom. I needed to catch my breath. He’d done this on purpose. He knew I was jealous of other girls and purposely brought one with him.
There was a long line for the girl’s bathroom, so I stormed right into the men’s room. The guys standing at the urinals didn’t seem to mind, laughing when they spotted me over their shoulders.
I pushed my way into the only stall and braced my hands on the walls, gasping for air.
I needed to breathe.
I needed to think.
I needed to erase the vision of Tristan and that girl from my mind.
“You all right in there?” one of the guys asked.
“I’m fine,” I lied.
“You sure?” came another voice.
I dragged in one last breath and opened the door to the stall. “That girl’s line is just way too long,” I said with a grin.
The guys smiled as I attempted to steadily make my way to the hand sanitizer by the door. Truth be told, I would’ve been steadier on a trapeze. I washed my hands then yanked open the door, almost falling back when Tristan stood there glaring at me.
I straightened my spine and tipped up my chin. “Move,” I said.
He didn’t, his broad chest remaining in my face. I wished I didn’t know what that chest felt like beneath my hands or how strong it felt when pressed to mine while he was thrusting inside me.
“She said move,” one of the guys behind me said.
I kept my chin lifted in defiance.
Tristan’s eyes remained locked on mine, but he eventually relented, stepping back so I could walk out.
It took everything in me not to make a dig about the blonde at the bar, but I’d made plans with Chris, so I really had no right. And in my drunken stupor, I was bound to say way more than I should.
The guys in the men’s room walked me toward the dance floor before going their separate ways.
I was about to step back out onto the dance floor when someone grabbed my arm and tugged me back. I spun around, coming chest to chest with Tristan. “Let go,” I said through clenched teeth.
He didn’t release me.
I cocked my head, tears threatening to pool in my eyes. I willed them back. “What do you want from me?”
He stared at me long and hard, his lips twisting regrettably.
His silence kept my tears at bay, pissing me off instead of making me sad. “I get it, Tristan. You’re here to make a point. I get it. We’re never happening. Message received.”
His eyes dropped away from mine, and he let go of my arm.
Coward.
I spun away from him and went back to the dance floor, pushing my way to Elodie and Alice. “You guys ready?”
They could see the urgency in my face because they didn’t hesitate, following me toward the exit. Briggs and his partner met us outside and walked us to the car. We slippe
d into the backseat, and the girls knew enough not to ask what was wrong. Briggs drove us back to the dorm. It was a quiet ride, but only because Elodie and Alice fell asleep.
I’d sobered up dramatically after the run in with Tristan and the sight of him with someone else.
I woke the girls at the dorm, and Briggs helped them out of the car.
“Piggyback?” Alice asked him.
“No,” Briggs said, though he stifled a smile.
“No fun,” she slurred.
Briggs’ partner parked the car while Briggs helped get them upstairs. We used the bathroom then said our goodnights. After Briggs checked my room, I slipped into my pajamas and climbed into bed. I felt sick for more than one reason.
Sometime in the middle of the night, my door opened and closed. Tristan’s crisp scent filled my room and I sensed him sit down in the chair. I was too angry and exhausted to say anything. I lay there for a long time, hating him. Or, at least trying to.
“I know you think this is easy for me,” he said softly. “Having to be around you.”
“You’re fired,” I said. “There. Now you can go home.”
“I’m not joking, Kresley.”
“Neither am I, Tristan.”
“I’m trying to do the right thing,” he said.
“For who? You? Me? Your employees?”
I could hear him push the chair back and stand. “This was a bad idea.”
I rolled over in my bed so I could finally face him. “You mean a mistake?”
He stared at me, exhaustion heavy in his features.
“Dammit, Tristan. Stop lying.”
“About what?”
“Everything.”
His eyes stayed on mine for a long time. I willed him to be honest. I willed him to tell me the truth. I thought he was actually going to, but instead, he resorted to his cowardly ways. “Good night.” He turned and walked out of my room.
I listened, waiting for his door to open, but it didn’t. Had he left? Had he finally taken me at my word that he was fired?
Then I noticed his shadow lingering outside my door, and I knew he sat in the hallway.
I wished he hadn’t. I really wished he hadn’t. Because it just made me think he still cared—even just a little bit.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Kresley
I didn’t see Tristan at all on Saturday, just his shadow outside my room that night. But, Sunday morning, he was leaning against the hallway wall when I opened my door to go volunteer. My feet caught on the floor, not expecting to find him there decked out in black on black. I wondered if it was a show of defiance since he knew how much I hated it.
We walked in silence to the car. I slipped into the backseat and pulled out my phone, using it as a distraction for the ride. I would not look at him. I would not speak to him. He did this. Not me.
Once we arrived at the shelter, I pushed open the door and hurried in to see Doris and the dogs. I grabbed Simone and two other pups and leashed them. I averted my gaze as I moved by Tristan who stood against the car.
A dark blanket of clouds covered the sun as we set off on our walk. Since I wore cutoffs and a hoodie, goosebumps scampered up my legs as a cold chill moved through the woods. And, as much as I tried not to think about last night’s conversation between Tristan and me, it was all I could think about as his footsteps trailed behind me.
Why wasn’t it easy for him to be around me?
Did he think it was easy for me?
His footsteps stopped as I paused to let the dogs sniff their favorite tree. After a couple of minutes, I continued walking deeper into the woods but I didn’t hear Tristan behind me. Good riddance. I began to hum and the dogs’ tails went crazy, wagging at the sound of my humming. I laughed, loving how dogs’ love was unconditional.
“Kresley!” Tristan called from a distance.
Footsteps pounding the ground echoed through the woods behind me.
I spun around, ready to give Tristan a piece of my mind. But it wasn’t him.
A man in a dark hoodie rushed toward me. Alarm bells wailed in my head as the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I dropped the leashes and spun away from him, running as fast as I could deeper into the woods. I stumbled over tree roots as my heartbeat ricocheted off my chest, but I stayed upright because I knew I needed to get away from this man. Every step I took felt like it was happening in slow motion. Tree branches tore at my clothes as I plowed off the path and into the thick brush and darkness of the woods. I wouldn’t turn around. I just needed to run. Run as if my life depended on it. Because it did. Tears burned my eyes as I propelled my legs forward, hearing the footsteps behind me getting closer.
A gunshot reverberated through the woods.
I dropped to the ground and covered my head. A scream I couldn’t contain tore out of me. My limbs shivered as I mentally assessed myself for pain. My head. My back. My arms. My legs. I didn’t feel anything. My head jerked over my shoulder.
Tristan, with a gun in his hand, stood over the man who now lay face down on the ground no more than twenty feet away from me.
Complete terror washed over me and tears rolled down my cheeks as what happened finally registered.
Tristan looked anxiously to me. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay,” I called, my voice cracking.
He leaned down and quickly zip-tied the man’s hands and ankles, but the pool of blood beneath him told me he was no longer a threat.
I crawled to my knees. Physically, except for a few bloody scrapes marring my knees and elbows, I was fine. Mentally, I wasn’t sure I’d recover.
Tristan rushed over to me, his eyes assessing me while still staying alert of our surroundings. “I need to check the perimeter. But I need to know you’re safe in the car.” He held out his hand to me. “Come on. I don’t know if he was alone.”
Fear gripped me, knowing there could be more men out there. I grabbed his hand and he pulled me to my feet.
“Stay behind me,” he said, easing me behind him. He walked with his gun extended in front of him and his head moving from side to side, his eyes undoubtedly scanning the wooded area around us.
Neither of us spoke as we moved toward the start of the path that seemed miles away, our ears alert for unfamiliar sounds. There were so many places someone could hide in the cover of the woods. So many places someone could lay in wait with a gun aimed at my head. I jumped every time a branch snapped beneath our feet. And, the jackhammer pounding in my chest soon blocked out all other noises.
“Almost there,” Tristan assured me.
Once we could see the clearing, Tristan rushed me to the car, throwing open the back door and helping me inside. “Get on the floor and stay down.”
I did as told, shaking uncontrollably as he closed the door and locked me inside.
Minutes felt like hours as I lay on the floor of the backseat, trembling as if hypothermia had set in. How had that man found me? How had he gotten by Tristan? Who else knew where I was? Who else was coming?
I could hear dogs barking inside the shelter. I’d let go of the dogs. I’d left them to fend for themselves. And, poor Doris. I hoped Tristan told her to lock herself inside.
Sirens bellowed in the distance and relief washed over me as they moved closer. Tires sped up the dirt road and the sirens grew louder; the dogs inside the shelter began to howl. When the sirens stopped, I heard doors open and slam shut then footsteps pounding on the ground. Police officers seemed to spread out in every direction. I heard voices outside the car. I could finally breathe. The cavalry had arrived.
I pushed myself to my knees and peeked out the tinted windows. Police officers scoured the area. EMTs ran into the woods with a stretcher. Briggs jogged around checking the perimeter of the woods.
I pushed open the back door and hurried to the shelter wanting to make sure Doris was okay. She didn’t ask for any of this. I’d brought danger to her sanctuary. I tried the knob, but the door was locked. Good. I knocked on the door. It
took a minute, but Doris peeked through the window, her eyes wide with fear. When she saw it was me, she unlocked the door and I pushed my way inside, locking the door behind me. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, visibly shaken. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. But I had to let Simone and the boys go.”
“They’re already back in their cages.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God.”
“Was anyone hurt?” she asked.
I nodded. “He was after me. And my bodyguard shot him before he hurt me.”
“Oh, honey. Why would someone want to hurt you?”
I peeked out the door. Tristan stormed toward the car—the one I was no longer in. “Doris, I’ve gotta go outside. But I promise I’ll explain.”
“Is it safe out there?”
“I hope so.” I ducked out the door and heard the lock click as I headed toward Tristan, ready for him to ream me out for leaving the car.
Anger clouded his eyes as he approached me. But instead of yelling at me, he wrapped his arms around me and held me to his chest.
I felt myself melt into him, needing the safety of his arms more than I ever imagined. Tears stung my eyes.
He tightened his arms. “I’ve never been so scared in my entire life. If I ever lost you…”
Lost me?
But he didn’t want me.
“…I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”
“You shot someone…” I swallowed. “…for me.”
“I thought he was gonna get to you,” he said.
I closed my eyes, realizing how close I’d come to being hurt or taken. “I’m okay. Are you okay?”
He pulled back and stared into my teary eyes. “Am I okay? Seriously?”
I nodded, terrified that either of us could’ve been hurt.
He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine, kissing me slow and purposeful. Even if this was just the shock of what happened, I still let him kiss me. I needed him and wanted to melt into the kiss, needing it more than I needed air. Needing him more than I needed air. He pulled back and dropped his forehead to mine. “I’m so damn sorry I let him get by me.”
“I heard you call out. I knew to run.”