I kiss her hard then, our bodies melting into each other. And it’s not long before I’m buried inside of her again.
This time it’s different though, it’s like a barrier has been lifted. Those three simple words bring us closer together.
I love you.
God, it feels so good to say - so good to hear.
“You’re smiling so big right now,” she tells me as she rolls over, straddling me. Her perfect tits and her smooth skin and that laugh of hers that fills a room. How the hell did I manage to get this woman to see past my thousand flaws and still choose me?
“I’m really fucking happy,” I admit as she sinks down on my cock. She leans over, kissing my cheeks, my nose, my lips. She is so tight, still so innocent, and I love that I’m the only man who has ever explored every inch of her skin.
“I’m crazy happy too,” she says. “But we need some music. Something romantic?”
“Demanding,” I tease, reaching for my phone as she begins to move her hips in a circle. “How’s this?”
The song “I Wanna Sex You Up” starts blaring from my surround sound speakers and Charlie starts laughing, her hands on my chest as her shoulders shake. “Nothing says I love you like Color Me Badd.”
I sit up, my hands around her waist, and pull her into my lap. “I fucking love you, Charlie Hayes.”
Our foreheads touch and we move as one. Her body shaking when the orgasm washes over her, and I’m here, holding her tight. “Oh Spencer,” she moans as her body presses tight against mine.
I come deep inside her, then, our lips crashing together; it’s impossible to satisfy our need.
So we don’t try. Instead, we roll in the tangle of sheets, our hearts one.
* * *
Later, my cell buzzes from somewhere in the room, but I ignore it. When Charlie’s starts ringing right after, we both frown, and she starts to reach for hers.
“Hello?” Her frown deepens. “Yeah, he’s right here. One second.” She hands me her phone. “It’s Prescott. He sounds upset.”
“What’s going on?”
“Someone broke into Ava’s dorm room when we were out.” Prescott is barely holding back his rage, I can hear him ready to snap. “Didn’t look like they took anything, but...”
“Tell me.”
“The room was covered in blood.”
“Blood?”
“Most likely fake or pig’s blood. Fuck,” he curses, sounding raw, and ready to murder someone. “Ava was traumatized. She was still shaking when I left.”
“Shit.” I sit up, feeling Charlie’s worried gaze on me. “Where’s she now?”
“I just dropped her off at my place. I’m going back to talk to campus police, and get some of her things. I got her out of there pretty quickly, so she didn’t get a chance to—”
“Pick me up on your way.”
“I can deal with it myself.”
“Campus police aren’t going to do shit? And if this is linked to...” I drag my hands through my hair, then stand and head toward my closet, grabbing the first shirt I see.
“To what?” Prescott demands. “Is there something going on you’re not telling me about?”
“You already know about the stuff with Charlie, but there’s more since we last spoke.”
I fill Prescott in on the voice mail from Ethan, how it was connected to a burner phone, and even though it is hard to admit that my brother was obviously involved in some sketchy shit, the idea of anything happening to my little sister is unbearable.
Fuck family secrets - I have Ava and Charlie to protect.
“Shit, Spencer. Ava is going to be wrecked.”
“Less so if she is alive. We have to find whoever is threatening the people I love.”
Love.
It’s good Charlie knows I’m all in, committed to us. Especially now when someone is so intent on ruining my life.
“You think it’s the same person?” Prescott asks.
“I don’t know, but I’m sure as hell going to find out.”
Prescott’s breathing is rough. “There’s something else. I got Ava out of the room before she saw it, but...There was something written on the wall in blood.”
“What?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“Royalty must pay. I’m not sure what it means—”
“I think I do. Or at least I have my suspicions.”
“This is really fucked up, Beckett.”
“No shit.” I glance over at Charlie, my protector mode at full throttle.
“I’m five minutes from your place.”
“I’ll be ready.” I hang up and pull on a pair of jeans, then grab my wallet off the dresser.
“What’s going on?” Charlie has already gotten dressed and is chewing on her thumbnail, sitting on the bed, knees tucked under her chin.
God, we’ve had such a good night, and I don’t want to worry her, but I promised no more secrets.
“Someone vandalized Ava’s dorm room.” I move toward her and hand her phone back.
“Oh no. Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. But Prescott and I are going to go and see if we can get some answers.”
“Do you want me to come?”
I lean down and press a kiss to her forehead. “No. Stay here. I’ll call you.”
She grabs my hand as I start to walk away. “I love you.”
I inhale, heart swelling despite the fury I feel, but before I leave, I kiss her again, hard, and say with every ounce of my being, “I love you, too.”
21
Charlie
It’s hard to sit still and not pace while I wait to hear back from Spencer. I’m not close to Ava, I don’t even have her number on my phone, but I understand probably better than most people what she’s going through.
I turn on the TV and flip through a few channels, but I can’t concentrate, and I can’t help but think this is all about me. Or at least somehow connected to the person who sent me the notes, warning me off Spencer.
But as much as I try to put the pieces together, nothing makes sense. All I know for certain is that someone doesn’t want Spencer and me together. But why bring Ava into it? And what does Spencer’s brother have to do with it all?
I’ve chewed my thumbnail down to the skin when I finally stand and turn the TV off, then go back upstairs and check my messages.
There are twelve missed calls from Daphne and a stream of frantic texts. An unsettling feeling washes over me and my skin prickles with premonition as I press the call back button without listening to her messages.
“Charlie you have to come back now,” Daphne cries into the phone, her words barely audible through her sobs. “Everything...it’s...all...ruined...”
“Calm down. Tell me what happened.”
I can hear people in the background. Girls crying, talking animatedly, some yelling so that I can barely hear Daphne.
“Daphne. What’s going on?”
“The whole room is ruined. All my clothes...my brand new Versace dress....” She lets out a wailing cry, so loud I have to pull the phone away from my ear.
“I can’t understand you.”
She keeps sobbing but manages to say one word that sends ice throughout my entire body. “Blood.”
“No.” Oh my god.
“It’s everywhere.” Daphne is whimpering now, and I can hear someone in the background comforting her. “My laptop, my bed...”
“Did you call the campus police?”
“I...think...” She sniffles. “I think someone did. What am I going to do?”
I glance around the bedroom and find Spencer’s keys. Prescott picked him up, and I know he won’t mind me borrowing the Mercedes to pick Daphne up.
“I’ll be there soon. You can come back to Spencer’s with me until we figure out who did this.”
“You’re sure?”
I chew on my bottom lip. I know Daphne and Spencer have never really cared for each other, but I know he’ll be okay with her staying here, at least
for the night.
“Yeah.”
She sucks in a shaky breath. “Okay.”
As soon as I hang up, I call Spencer, but it goes straight to voicemail.
“Hey,” I say to the machine as I gather my purse, jacket, and boots, and try not to let the anxiety I’m feeling, the sickness at what’s been done, come out in my words. I try to remind myself that whatever is ruined, it’s just stuff, and stuff can be replaced. “I just got a call from Daphne and whoever vandalized Ava’s room, also got to ours...” My stomach rolls thinking about it, not knowing what I’ll find when I get there. “So, I hope you’re okay with this, but I’m going to take your car and pick Daphne up and bring her back here.”
I shrug my jacket on, wishing I was talking to Spencer and not his machine. I need him now. But so does Ava, so I try to sound calm despite the tsunami of emotions that rage inside me.
“Call me back when you get the chance.”
After I hang up, I lock the front door before finding Spencer’s Mercedes. I’ve driven it a couple times, but as I pull out of the driveway, my fingers tingle and I feel a weird pressure on the base of my skull, like something isn’t right.
“I’m just being paranoid,” I mumble to myself, turning on the radio.
But as I make a right, then a left, I notice a set of headlights behind me, following too close. When the road turns into four lanes, I slow to the minimum speed limit, hoping they’ll go around me, but they stay on my bumper.
I let out a shaky breath. “It’s just someone being an asshole.”
When my phone starts ringing, I jump and swerve a little. At the same time the car behind me accelerates and races by me, the tail lights disappearing into the distance.
I glance down at my phone briefly and see the picture of Spencer and me from New Year’s Eve that I made as his ID. My phone isn’t paired with his car, so I press speaker and accept the call.
“Hey,” I say. “You got my message.”
“Shit, Charlie.” Anger vibrates from his words. “I’m going to find the fucker who did this. I promise you.”
“I know.”
“Where are you now?”
“Just driving back to the dorm. Daphne’s a mess. I hope you don’t mind that I invited her back.”
“Of course not. I’ll meet you there and we’ll go home together. How are you holding up?”
My hands are shaking as I turn onto one of the side streets that leads toward campus, but it’s not the time to break down.
“I just need to see what I can salvage.” A lump grows in my throat as I think about all the mementos I have in the room. Things of little value to anyone else, but to me mean the world. Photo albums, the quilt my grandmother made me when I was ten, the stuffed gorilla I got when my mom took me to the Detroit Zoo when I was eight.
Anger overrides all other emotions.
“I’m just pissed.”
“Yeah, I know. But there’s one good thing that’ll come out of it.”
I grunt. “What’s that.”
“I get to keep you at my place all night.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Hate to burst your bubble, but remember Daphne comes with me.”
He groans. “Right. Any way we can pawn her off on Tatum. You said they’re getting closer.”
I chuckle. “You’re still jealous of him.”
“Nah. I’ve got your heart, Hayes. Nothing and no one can take that away.”
“You know I love how corny you are.” I frown when I look in my rearview mirror and see a car speeding toward me. It’s dark, so I’m probably wrong, but it looks like the same car from before.
Like Tatum’s car.
“Charlie?” Spencer’s voice echoes through the car. “You still there?”
“Uh, yeah...Did you say something?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” The car speeds up, flashing its high beams and getting right on my bumper, then slowing down again. “What the fuck.”
“Charlie, talk to me.”
“I don’t know. There’s a car...” I don’t tell him that it’s the same make and model as Tatum’s. Again, it’s dark, and he’s not the only person in Princeton who drives a beat-up Ford Taurus.
But the silhouette is definitely a man.
The car speeds up again, this time blaring its horn before squealing its tires right before it hits me, and taking a sharp left.
“What the fuck is going on?” Spencer shouts.
“There was someone on my bumper, but they’re gone.”
He curses under his breath before asking, “How far away are you.”
I glance around, not knowing this area well. “I think fifteen minutes.”
“Okay, just drive safe and don’t stop. I’ll meet you in front of your dorm.”
“You’re a good boyfriend, Princeton Charming,” I say teasingly, trying to lighten the mood, or maybe as a way to try to calm my own nerves. “I think you deserve a—”
The Taurus pulls out in front of me, and in order not to hit him, I have to slam my brakes, but I must catch a piece of black ice, because the car starts spinning.
Everything happens so fast, and yet it seems like slow motion. I try my best to straighten the car, but I see the tree in the corner of my vision seconds before I hear the crunching of metal and Spencer shouting at me through the speaker on my phone.
Glass shatters around me, and I feel something sharp in my side, and something warm running down my face. The airbag must’ve gone off, even though I don’t remember it, because it’s still slightly inflated in front of me.
“Charlie,” Spencer yells, but his voice is muffled. My phone has fallen on the passenger side floor and when I try to reach for it, I let out a cry of pain.
I glance down at my stomach and see dark red blood staining my shirt. “Oh god.”
“Christ, Charlie, talk to me.”
Bile rises in my throat, and my vision goes blurry. Headlights beam in front of me, and a tall figure walks toward the car. I can only see the man’s silhouette. Tall, muscular, the guy has on an old baseball cap pulled low, and wearing a Princeton Athletics sweatshirt.
I blink trying to make the guy come into focus, but my head feels fuzzy, my vision like I’m underwater.
“Fuck,” I hear the guy mutter before he starts pacing outside of my car.
“Tatum?” My voice is weak. I don’t want to believe it’s him, but I recognize the stain on the back of the sweatshirt where I accidentally spilled bleach when I’d been doing his laundry.
“Is Tatum with you?” Spencer yells through the phone. “Charlie, answer me right now. What was that sound.”
And then the guy is walking away, he gets into the car and slams the door, before speeding in reverse. My brain must not be working, because in no reality does any of this make sense. And I’m so damn cold.
“Help,” it’s all I can say as the world starts to grow farther away, like I’m being sucked backward through a black tunnel.
“Okay.” Fear strains Spencer’s words. “I going to find someone with a phone to call an ambulance, because I’m not getting off this call, understand?”
I whimper, but the pain is somewhat bearable now. I just feel tired. So damn tired.
Spencer is yelling at someone else now, barking orders. I don’t know how much time passes, but I’m pretty sure I lost consciousness for a moment, because I can hear sirens in the distance, and Spencer shouting my name.
“Spencer,” I mumble, unable to open my eyes.
“Yeah,” he says, voice ragged with emotion. “I’m here. I’ve called an ambulance. There’s GPS on my car, so they should be there soon. Just stay with me okay?”
“I’m sorry...”
“For what?”
“I...wrecked...your car.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the car, Charlie. I just need to know you’re okay.”
Ice flows through my veins and my body feels heavy. Is this what it feels like to die?
; There’s shouting outside the car, and when I manage to open my eyes slightly, I see flashes of blue and red around me.
“They’re...here...”
“Okay, good,” Spencer says. “I’m going to meet you at the hospital. You’re going to be all right.”
Except I don’t know if I am. And when I close my eyes again, it isn’t darkness but light I see. Someone pulling me, warmth surrounding me, and I want to let it, because I know it’s where my mom is. I miss her so much … and now she’s here. With me.
And I’m not sure I have the strength to fight my way back to the cold, icy reality.
So I do the only thing I can, I let the light consume me.
22
Spencer
“You need to calm the hell down.” Prescott is in my face, his hands on my shoulders, shaking me. “Charlie’s going to be fine, but you need to keep your head.”
“She sounded bad, man.” I heard the paramedics working on her, heard the words they used, slow pulse, possible internal bleeding, head trauma, before they took her away. I can’t breathe, can’t move. It feels like the whole goddamn world has fallen out beneath my feet. One minute we are confessing our love and the next, our entire world is falling apart.
I can’t lose her.
“We need to go, now.” Prescott thankfully has kept his cool, and I’m grateful for him when he forces me to move.
I tug at my hair when we’re in his car, racing through red lights toward the hospital. I can hear sirens and wonder if it’s the ambulance Charlie is in.
“Drive faster,” I bark out, before letting out a stream of curses.
“You need to keep your head, Beckett.” He glances over at me, features tight. “Whatever happens you can’t let her see you like this.”
“How the fuck am I supposed to be?” I punch the dashboard, hard enough that I feel something snap in my fist. But I welcome the pain - need it.
“Does she have anyone you need to call?” Prescott asks, voice steady.
“Her dad. Shit. He just lost his wife. I can’t...” I run my hands over my face. “Can’t be the one who tells him.”
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