RICHARD (A BAD BOY ROMANCE)

by Wild, Nikki

  I’d just begun to doze off, my thoughts at least somewhat free of Michael and his scheme to have me and Jessica under his thumb throughout our academic lives, when I was pulled back from the edge of slumber by the obnoxious chirping of my phone. I opened my eyes, turning over and grabbing the phone off of its charge.

  It was Jessica.

  “Hello?” I answered, blinking my eyes in the darkness of my dorm. Why was she calling so late? Had something gone wrong?

  “Hey,” she said, her voice almost tremulous with what I thought might be excitement or nervousness—I couldn’t tell which.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked, sitting up a bit more in bed. In the background I could hear Becky’s voice along with a much deeper, though somewhat familiar one. “Who’s there with you?”

  “Becky,” she said, though there was some hesitation in her voice. “And Greg.”

  “What is Greg doing there?” I asked, suddenly on edge, sitting forward. “I thought he didn’t want anything to do with this.”

  “I think he had a change of heart,” she replied, “and he had an idea about how we can get those pictures from Michael.”

  I frowned, flexing my fingers slowly. I wasn’t sure if it was just my own paranoia or if any of my suspicions were based on anything at all, but Greg’s sudden change of heart made me nervous.

  “How do we know that we can trust him, Jess?” I asked. “I mean, he already said that he wouldn’t help us once. What’s to say he won’t make a break for it if things get too tough? What if he’s still working for Michael? He’s already told us that he was desperate for cash before and now he wants to help out of the goodness of his heart? I don’t like it.”

  “Like it or not, it’s all we’ve got,” she said, her voice soft. “He found a way to do something to Michael’s phone—clone it, he said—we don’t even have to touch it. He can get into all of Michael’s files and delete every single picture he has of us, even the ones he had up in the Cloud.”

  I couldn’t help it, a smile broke out on my face. Maybe, just maybe, we could get through this on the winning side.

  “That’s awesome!” I said, laying back down on my bed, arms up under my head.

  “There’s just one problem, though,” she said, and all at once my hope of victory felt like it was slipping away.

  “What’s that?” I asked, swallowing hard to keep the disappointment out of my voice. I felt like we were so close to getting Michael’s shadow from around us that it should have felt too good to be true.

  “For this cloning thing to work with Michael’s phone I’m going to have to get close to him,” she said. She sounded none-too-pleased by the idea, though that hardly stopped me from getting upset. “I’m going to have to distract

  “Absolutely not,” I said, sitting up once again in bed. “I don’t want that bastard anywhere near you, Jessica. I told you that I’d keep you safe.”

  “It’s the only way that this will work, Richard,” she said, defiance creeping into her voice. “Michael won’t be able to resist coming in close—close enough for the machine in my bag to do what it has to do. Greg said that it just needs some time in order to make the right connection and download Michael’s entire phone onto a blank that is going to be hooked up in my bag. After I get the word from Greg that everything is done, then I can get the hell out of there.”

  “But what if he doesn’t let you leave, Jessica?” I asked, my voice rising in frustration. “He’s already proven what he’s willing to do to a girl to get what he wants—what’s to say he won’t use this to get you thrown in a bedroom and tied up so that he can get what he never got from you in high school?”

  “I’ll be fine, Richard,” she said, trying to wave off my concerns. “I can run a lot faster than you think I can.”

  “It’s not about how fast you can run, Jessica,” I said, “you’re going to be in a room full of his friends. Who knows whether one of them is going to grab you while you’re trying to get away? AEΩ is one of the worst frats in the entire school—they’ve had more investigations for this kind of thing than anyone else in the country! And do you know why they haven’t been shut down?”

  “I just thought that they’d—”

  “They have their former brothers in practically every part of the school administration,” I interrupted, almost yelling into my phone. “Even some of the campus police are theirs. If something happens to you, Jessica, then they’re going to get away with it!”

  There was a long moment of silence between the two of us as Jessica tried to find words to come back at mine. I hoped that I’d talked some sense into her. If only that had been true.

  “That’s going to be a risk I’ll have to take,” she said after she worked up the nerve to defy me yet again. “If it means stopping Michael from using those pictures against us then I’m going to do whatever it takes. You’re not going to lose your scholarship just because of me.”

  “I don’t care about the scholarship, Jessica!” I said, entwining my fingers through my hair. I closed my eyes, leaning forward onto my elbows as I tried to figure out a way to save her from what I knew would only be trouble.

  “I have to do this, Richard,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “This is one of the only chances we’re going to have to keep ourselves safe from him. This has got to be done, and I have to be the one to do it.”

  “I’ll come with you,” I tried to bargain, hoping that with me there she’ll at least have some chance at getting out of there unaccosted. “I can step in if things get too bad.”

  “We can’t risk him seeing you,” she said. “If he spots you, he’ll know that something is happening and he’ll run. Michael’s not a dumb guy, but he won’t expect something like this from me of all people. He thinks I’d never do anything like this.”

  “Jessica,” I said, trying to appeal to her, “I don’t think this is going to be a good idea. If he hurts you then I don’t know what I’m going to do… Or if I can stop myself from hurting him. I’ll make good on the promise I made him and make sure he rolls across that stage in a wheelchair—unless I put him in a body bag first.”

  “I know, and that’s why I can’t have you there—you might jeopardize everything if Michael catches sight of you. I need you to stay away until everything is done. Can you do that for me?”

  I stared around at my darkened dormitory, looking at the way the moonlight played against the white walls, casting dark shadows that could have swallowed up the sun.

  “I don’t know if I can, not if you’re in danger,” I replied, my fist clenched.

  “Then you need to promise me, Richard,” she said. “I need you to promise that you’ll let me do this on my own, for both our sakes. If he sees you then those pictures are as good as on the internet already. Do you understand?”

  I put my head in my hands, fretting over what might happen if I left her go off on her own like that. How could she expect me not to come after her? To be there to keep her safe after what we’d built together? I wasn’t sure if I could make that kind of promise, to just let her walk right into the lion’s den with only a cellphone for protection and the hope that nothing swallows her whole. How could she expect me to just stand by?

  She’s a big girl, I thought, though I hated myself for it. I can’t stop her from doing anything she wants, and I shouldn’t. I have to trust her to take care of herself.

  But was it her that I didn’t trust? Thoughts of Michael danced through my head, mocking me with images of Jessica being pulled into the same back room that Becky had been raped in. She could end up just like Becky, or worse. God knows how many college girls go missing year after year, and if she turned into just another face on a milk carton, I’d never forgive myself. But I didn’t really have much of a choice.

  “What if you get hurt? What if something bad happens, and I’m not there to protect you?” I asked. “How am I supposed to just let you put yourself in danger?”

  “I don’t know, Richard,” she whi
spered into the phone. “But I need you to try for me. I need you to trust me.”

  I rubbed the bridge of my nose in frustration. There was no getting around it.

  “Fine,” I said at last. “I can’t stop you… I just hate the idea of something happening to you, Jessica. I hate what he might do to you if I’m not there to stop him. I don’t know if I can live with myself.”

  “I know,” she said gently, “I’m scared too. But we have to do this if we want to be free of him.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  I ran my fingers through my short locks, shaking my head. I wasn’t sure how I’d stay sane, wondering if she would be okay or if I’d be able to keep my promise.

  “If anything goes wrong, Greg will have 9-1-1 on speed-dial,” she said, trying to be reassuring. “He’ll be listening to the whole thing. I won’t be alone. We’ll call in the real police, not some on-campus assholes.”

  “This is dangerous,” I said.

  “What’s life without a little danger?” she asked, trying to sound playful. It didn’t help.

  “I’m worried,” I said again, lying back against my pillow.

  “I know you are,” she whispered soothingly over the phone. “And you’re tired. You should get some sleep.”

  “I guess,” I muttered, though I didn’t know how I’d ever be able to close my eyes with the thought of Jessica in Michael’s clutches running through my head.

  “I love you, Richard.”

  “I love you too, Jess,” I whispered back before I heard the soft beep that signaled the end of the call.

  I sat awake in bed for what felt like hours before I eventually managed to close my eyes and drift into a fitful sleep. All the while I hoped that somehow my stepsister would be okay, and that after all of this was done, I’d be able to hold her in my arms again.

  _ NINETEEN_

  Jessica

  AEΩ was throwing their annual party to welcome their pledges as full brothers, which was a perfect time for me to get close to Michael. Just the thought of it had my skin crawling as I stood in front of the full length mirror that Becky and I both shared.

  I was dressed in a short mini-skirt with a tight black top that clung to me in way I wasn’t used to from my clothes. I shivered as my stomach peeked out from the bottom of the top, exposing the bottom half of my bellybutton. Normally I was covered from neck to knee, my tops barely ever showing even an inch of my cleavage. While most girls had spent their time in school trying to get people to notice their bodies, I had always done my best to make sure everyone ignored mine.

  Seeing how I looked now, I knew that I was going to be very hard to ignore.

  “Are you sure about this?” I asked looking over at Becky. “I feel so weird wearing this.”

  “I know, sweetie,” she said, giving me a distressed smile. “It’s not my usual fare either, but we need something that will help you blend in with the kind of girls who go to parties at AEΩ.”

  I sighed, trying to tuck the bottom of the top down over my exposed midriff, which only served in exposing more of my substantial cleavage, enhanced all the more by the push-up bra I was wearing underneath. This felt so strange, so… not me.

  “You’re going to do great,” Greg said. “I’m going to be listening in to everything that happens, and you’ll be able to hear me.”

  He walked over, holding out what looked like a flesh-colored lump of plastic.

  “What’s that?” I asked, frowning at it.

  “An earpiece,” he said. “Can’t really have you on your phone the entire time, can we?”

  I looked at him, my eyebrows raised.

  “Where did you get all of this, Greg?” Becky asked, picking up what looked like a black rectangle from the bed. “It looks really expensive.

  “A friend of mine needed to get some of it out of his dorm before an inspection,” he said, smiling nervously as I took the ear-piece from him and tentatively fitted it into my ear. “Look, don’t try to think about what he was doing with it… Just be glad it was there. Stuff like this isn’t exactly permitted on campus… or anywhere.”

  “Are we going to get in trouble for having this stuff?” I asked, frowning at the thought of campus PD opening my bad to find a slew of contraband electronics.

  “Oh, definitely,” he said, trying to play it off with a laugh. “But only if we’re caught.”

  I sighed, turning back to my reflection. I barely even recognized the woman staring back, and that scared me almost as much as the crazy stunt we were about to pull.

  “Run me through it again,” I said, taking a deep breath to try and calm myself, albeit unsuccessfully.

  “You’re going to have the device in your purse while you’re at the party. All you have to do is find Michael. Stand within at least five feet of him for about ten minutes or so. I’ll send him a text message that sets everything off. We’re using a zero-day exploit, and it works fast. Same tricks those hackers used to get all the naked celebrity pics. Anyway, that’s about how long I need to clone his phone. Becky and I will be close by with city PD on speed dial if anything goes wrong. I’ll be able to hear you with the microphone in your choker, it picks up the sounds in your throat instead of the noise around you.”

  “What if he sees me?” I asked, swallowing hard as I imagine Michael’s cold eyes turning their gaze on me, that hungry glint burning behind his stare. “What do I do?”

  “Keep calm and just wait for my signal to leave. He won’t know what we’re doing so long as everything goes according to plan.”

  Less than an hour later, I was walking through the doors of AEΩ, clutching my purse close to me as I scanned the crowd for any sign of Michael. I swallowed nervously as I pushed and wove my way through the crowd of bodies as the base thrummed through my body and down to my bones. The sound reminded me of Richard, the way he’d turned my whole life upside down and shaken me to my core that night at my going away party.

  “Everything okay in there?” Greg’s asked over the ear-piece, his voice faint compared to the sound of the stereo system.

  “I can barely hear you,” I said, my voice low.

  “How about now?” he asked, the sound in my ear a bit loud, but enough that I could hear him over the people and the music in the background.

  “Better. I haven’t spotted Michael yet.”

  “Just keep looking,” he said. “Knowing him, he’s probably watching over everyone, pretending to be the big man in charge.”

  I glanced over toward the main staircase, keeping my head low so as not to attract attention from anyone who might recognize me. As much as I hated them, I could at least owe it to this crowd for keeping me somewhat hidden.

  It only took a few more minutes of searching to finally spot Michael, sure enough standing at the top of the stairs, looking down his nose at the crowd below. He sneered, looking down his nose at the people who had initiated him into their ranks like they were all slugs that he longed to squash.

  “I see him,” I said, swallowing around the lump in my throat. “I’m going to try and get closer.”

  “Just remember,” Greg said as I wove my way toward the stairs, “you need to get close, Jessica.”

  Easier said than done, I thought. Five feet was plenty close enough for him to grab me, to pull me somewhere that he could do to me what he’d done to Becky. After everything that had happened between us in the past, I didn’t expect much in the way of mercy if the worst should happen.

  I situated myself against the staircase just underneath Michael as he surveyed the crowd. With my back against the wall I could feel the rumble of the bass with every note, vibrating my skull. I glanced up nervously, hoping that I was close enough to him for the device to do its work.

  “I’ve sent the text to his number and I’m starting the process. Just stay close Jessica and don’t let him get away.”

  “Yeah, right. 007, out,” I muttered mockingly, forgetting that the microphone could even pick up my slightest whisper.

 
“I heard that.”

  I sighed, shaking my head as I felt the seconds tick by and wishing that Richard were here with me. I only hoped that he hadn’t ignored my warning. We were so close to being free of Michael, and if he even saw a hint that Richard was there, he might ruin everything. I felt awful leaving him out, but I knew it had been the only way.

  A loud crash from up above tore my attention from my thoughts and up toward the top of the stairs where the noise had come from.

  As I turned my gaze upward, my gaze immediately fell on Michael, watching in horror as his eyes met my own for a lingering moment. I watched his face twitch slightly, though I couldn’t tell if he recognized me. He turned, walking up onto the second floor and out of sight.