Reckless (The Reckless Series)

by True, Holli

  “Hailey!” yelled Matt, pointing as he walked toward me. Everyone within earshot turned to glare and hush him and the loud group of guys he was with. I could tell by the way he was acting that he had been drinking.

  “Matt, you’re yelling,” I whispered, rushing up to intervene.

  “I am?” he asked equally as loud, disrupting everyone around him once again. He looked at the people near us and said in the loudest whisper I had ever heard, “I’m sorry, everybody. I didn’t know I was being loud.”

  “Where were you?” I demanded. He wasn’t drunk, he was completely wasted.

  “Why, did you miss me?” he smiled, taking another step toward me.

  “Hardly. Where did you get the alcohol?”

  He laughed, placing two heavy hands on my shoulders, “Why, do you want some?”

  I was getting nowhere with him, it was pointless to even bother. “I think it’s time for you to move along, Matt.”

  “Sigma-”

  “Pi!” All the guys from his fraternity yelled with him.

  “Seriously?” a girl snapped, glaring at all of us.

  “Get your boyfriend to a drunk tank,” snapped another, a look of disgust on her face.

  I had to get them out of there before campus security was called. Retrieving my bag from the table, I gave a quick wave to what remained of my study group and then pulled Matt by his shirt out of the library. The three guys he was with followed close behind, knocking over a stack of books on their way out. I was so embarrassed and appalled by their behavior that I just wanted to get as far away from them as possible, as quickly as I could.

  “We’re gonna go to Jimmy’s,” slurred the largest guy in the group. “He’s expectin’ us...”

  “Have fun with that,” I said in a biting tone.

  He leaned in on Matt’s shoulder and eyed me up and down, “You wanna join us, babe?”

  I cringed. “Not on your life,” I snapped.

  Matt smiled down at me, “Don’t be so defensive, Hailey.”

  I was losing patience with all of them. “You’re a disaster in the making, Matt.” I said, shaking my head. “I think you need to sleep it off.”

  “We’re wasting our time,” one of them said, tapping Matt on the shoulder. He was short and stalky, wearing a backwards hat. “Let’s go.”

  “But she’s hot!” the large guy said as he took a step toward me.

  “Not interested,” I warned him before looking to Matt, hoping he would step in and keep his friend in check.

  “Leave her alone, Marcus,” Matt said, eyeing him closely.

  “It was just a compliment,” he said, holding both of his hands up to imply he was harmless.

  “It needs refining,” I said flatly.

  “Quit being a douche, Marcus,” Matt said, shoving him in the shoulder.

  “Enjoy Jimmy’s,” I said sarcastically before turning on my heel. If Matt intended to continue with his night of binge drinking, I wasn’t about to witness it.

  The temperature had dropped at least fifteen degrees since I had last been outside. Trying to protect myself against the invasive chill, I hugged my sweater closer to my body, regretting that I hadn’t brought a heavier jacket. A strong shiver traveled down my spine all the way down to my toes, it was going to be a miserable walk across campus.

  It wasn’t long before I heard the shuffle of heavy feet a short distance behind me. Despite the tall lampposts that lined the sidewalk, walking alone in the dark on campus was never comforting— especially when it required passing by the old Pioneer Cemetery. Tons of students frequented the area to drink and scare girls but it always creeped me out to be near it at night. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end, I couldn’t tell if it was because of the cold or if it was my natural instincts telling me to get moving. Either way, I quickened my step, hoping to put more distance between myself and the person behind me.

  “Hailey!”

  I wasn’t expecting to recognize the voice.

  “Matt?” I turned to see him staggering toward me. The heavy footsteps belonged to him, immediately putting my nerves at ease. “What the hell? Were you trying to scare me?”

  “You shouldn’t walk alone,” he said, hanging a limp arm across my shoulders.

  “Right,” I muttered, feeling his added weight as I tried to continue walking. “I can see that you would be extremely useful in a threatening situation right now.

  He laughed, making it about ten more steps before slowing to a stop. “I need to sit down,” he suddenly declared, looking around the area.

  “Oh, no you don’t,” I said, trying to force him to remain on his feet, “you need to keep moving.”

  He lifted his index finger to my mouth, “Shh... You’re yelling!” he whispered loudly before roaring in laughter. “I need to sit,” he said again.

  “It’s late, Matt. I just want to go—”

  He took my hand in his and started pulling me toward the cemetery, not hearing a word I was saying. “Just for a minute,” he said, determined. I tried to pull my hand free but he tightened his grasp, “Please, Hailey, I just need a minute.” He looked like a little boy when he flashed me a crooked smile. Against my better judgement, I stopped resisting.

  “One minute,” I finally agreed, following him to the first headstone just inside the cemetery. Matt nodded, still holding my hand, bracing all of his weight against the aged limestone. Given his stature and build, I half expected it to crumble to dust beneath him.

  I shifted uncomfortably, trying not to think about the fact that I was standing in a dark cemetery in the middle of the night. A thin row of trees was all that separated us from the sidewalk, but I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling I had about being there. I told myself to relax, after all, I did have Matt there with me. Despite his current state, he alone should be enough to ward off any unwanted visitors.

  “Can we go now?” I finally asked, my hands now numb from the cold.

  “Why didn’t we ever date in high school?” he asked, completely disregarding my question.

  I blinked twice at him and slowly shook my head, this was not the time or the place to ponder our past. “Are you seriously asking me this right now? Here?”

  He nodded, “I guess so.”

  I rolled my eyes. Drunk Matt was annoying. “Look, it’s late. I’m tired and I’m freezing. I want to go.”

  “You always do that,” he said, shaking his head slowly, looking down at his feet.

  “Do what?”

  “Deflect my questions about us.”

  “Because there is no us,” I said flatly. “There is you and there is me, but there is no us.”

  “Ouch,” he said. “I guess that answers my question.”

  I sighed heavily, feeling bad for hurting his feelings. That wasn’t my intention, but unlike him, I was fully aware of the fact that it was practically midnight and we were surrounded by hundred-year-old corpses in the freezing cold. My patience was pretty much nonexistent.

  “We’re friends,” I finally said.

  “So, you’ve never even thought about it?”

  “You’re a great guy, when you’re not a drunk ass,” I said, only half joking. “But no, I’ve never thought about it. I don’t think that we would be able to tolerate each other.”

  Matt’s expression was unreadable as he looked back at me. “I know I could tolerate you, Hailey,” he said. The tone of his voice and the way he was looking at me suddenly made me very uncomfortable.

  “You’re drunk.”

  Matt slowly stood upright, saying nothing. I felt a wave of relief wash over me, assuming we were finally going to continue our trek back to our dorm hall. But as I took a step toward the trees— with the sidewalk in my sight— he pulled me back around to face him.

  “What are you doing?” I demanded, trying to push him away. The situation suddenly felt dangerous.

  Matt didn’t respond, instead he reached up and gently retrieved a long strand of my hair that had freed itself
from my ponytail. He tucked it behind my ear, allowing his hand to linger there. Panic was beginning to surge through my body as he slowly began tracing his thumb along my jawbone, cupping the rest of his hand behind my neck. When he tried to pull me in closer to him, I resisted, craning my neck to free myself of his strong hold. He was still holding my other hand in his and as hard as I tried to twist it out of his grasp, he refused to let go. I pushed against his chest with my free hand, immediately hoping he was drunk enough that I could knock him off balance before he did something I knew he would regret when he sobered up. Without missing a beat, he pulled me toward him again, determination and alcohol proving to be a lethal combination, impairing his judgement.

  “No, Matt!” I snarled, our faces only inches apart.

  His breath reeked of cheap alcohol, it made my stomach curl. The vacant look in his eyes terrified me. They were unfocused and cold, not seeing me, his friend. In all the years I had known Matt, I had never seen him like this. I didn’t know this person and he scared the hell out of me because I had no idea what he was capable of doing.

  Completely deaf to my objections, he forced me against him. I turned away just in time for his lips to graze my temple. I couldn’t think straight. Was this really happening?

  “I know you’ve thought about it,” he sneered, his mouth against my ear.

  I flinched at his words, every part of me hated him at that moment. Drunk or not, he was crossing the line and my safety was now at risk. “Get off me!” I screamed, punching my fist into his chest, trying to bite and claw myself to freedom.

  And then, for a split-second, I was airborne. My feet shuffled in the air before briefly making contact with the ground, but I couldn’t catch my footing. Before I could make sense of what was happening, my body collided with the damp ground beneath me. I remained there for a moment, in a daze. Had Matt thrown me to the ground? I scrambled around, trying to place which direction I was now facing, but everything surrounding me was blurred in black shadows.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” a deep, throaty voice demanded in the darkness. It didn’t belong to Matt, where exactly it was coming from I couldn’t be sure.

  And then I saw him. Jonah. He was standing in the space between myself and Matt, who was now pinned against a massive tree trunk under Jonah’s forearm. Where had he come from?

  “Don’t you ever touch her again!” he growled.

  With my safety no longer in question, I scrambled to my feet, hoping they would support me. My head was spinning, a million questions forming, making it impossible for me to focus. Everything was happening so fast, yet it felt like I was moving in slow motion.

  “I didn’t do anything she didn’t want me to,” Matt slurred, gesturing a hand at me. Our eyes met for a brief second and I could see the fear in them that he was trying to hide from Jonah.

  “Don’t look at her,” Jonah demanded. “Don’t even think about her!”

  “Hey,” I said, suddenly fearing for Matt’s safety. I couldn’t believe I was about to defend my assaulter. “He’s drunk, Jonah.”

  “That’s no excuse,” he said, the lines in his jaw were so tight he barely moved his mouth. He had a fist drawn back, ready to unleash his anger on Matt. I could see how hard it was for him to restrain himself. But with Matt rendered completely defenseless, it wouldn’t be a fair fight. And I couldn’t stand by and watch it happen.

  “Jonah!” I exclaimed, grabbing at his arms, frantically trying to prevent him from hurting Matt.

  “How can you defend him?”

  “Because this isn’t him, it’s the alcohol.”

  Jonah slowly shook his head, “He almost...” he trailed off, slowly lowering his hand.

  “He’s going to hate himself in the morning for what he’s done but the last thing he needs right now is a beat down from you. He needs to sleep it off.”

  “Listen to her, man!” Matt pleaded to Jonah, still wedged between the tree and his arm.

  For the first time, Jonah stopped staring down at Matt and looked at me. His stance immediately relaxed and he took a small step back, releasing his hold on him. Matt dropped to the ground.

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” Jonah asked, his eyes scanning me up and down. His eyes were filled with kindness and concern, the exact opposite of how he had been looking at Matt only seconds before.

  “I’m fine,” I assured him, “I just want to get out of here.”

  Without a word, he took off his jacket and wrapped it around me. It was several sizes too big and hung loosely over my shoulders, but it was warm and I found it comforting. He pulled me close against his body, wrapping his arms around me, leaving no space between us. I felt safe in his arms, but I couldn’t get caught up in the moment.

  I took a deep breath, unable to believe all that had just happened. How quickly my night had gone from normal to terrifying. It didn’t seem real.

  “How did you know I was here?” I pulled back and looked up at him, searching his face for answers.

  “I didn’t know it was you. I heard the scream,” he said, releasing his hold on me and taking a step back. “We should get you back to your room.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, the questions just piling up, but I didn’t even know what to ask next. “We need to help him back,” I finally said, gesturing to Matt, who was now passed out on the ground.

  Jonah didn’t say anything as he shook Matt awake and forced him to stand on his own two feet. Matt instantly stumbled to the side, I gasped as he headed face-first toward a headstone. Jonah reached out and caught him just before he made contact, saving him from what certainly would have been a broken nose.

  We didn’t speak all the way back to my dorm. It was nearing one a.m. by the time we finally made it there, thanks to Matt and his inability to walk successfully on his own. After waking up his roommate, who wasn’t too thrilled to see us, we got Matt into his bed. I was just relieved to have him off my hands.

  Jonah and I walked slowly through the empty hallway to the stairs, leading us back down to the first floor. Despite the turn of events from the night, I was suddenly feeling anything but tired. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him, I had waited over a week to see him again and given the circumstances of all that had happened, we had a lot to discuss. But before I could do anything, I needed a shower.

  “I just have to go clean up real quick,” I said, looking down at my mud-clad jeans. I didn’t even want to imagine what I must have looked like. “But I want to talk to you. Will you wait here for me?”

  I couldn’t deny my disappointment when it took him a moment to finally nod. I tried not to think about it as I showed him to the nearly empty rec room. He took a seat in one of the vacant chairs near the fireplace. I promised to be back in fifteen minutes before rushing up the stairs to my room.

  Shayne was sitting at her desk, music blaring from her computer speakers. “Where have you been?” she asked, not taking her eyes from the screen.

  “Jonah’s downstairs,” was the only answer I offered, which gained me her full attention.

  “He is?” she exclaimed, standing from her chair. “Wait! What the hell happened to you?”

  “I fell. It’s a long story,” I said, doubting I would ever tell her or anyone else what had happened between me and Matt. “I’ll explain later, but I need a shower.”

  I proceeded to take the fastest shower of my life. There were so many things I wanted to ask him. I would begin with where he had been for the past week and work my way up to the mystery of tonight. He had some serious explaining to do.

  Ten minutes later, I was stepping into my sweats, moving as quickly as I could. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun as I practically ran down the stairs. By the time I reached the bottom step, my eyes were fixated on the empty chair he had been sitting in only minutes before. I looked around the room, finding him nowhere. My blood began to boil.

  Who in the hell did Jonah think he was to disappear on me twice in one week?


  “Unreal!” I exclaimed, spinning on my heel to return up the stairs. There, only a few feet from me, stood Jonah. “Oh. I thought you left,” I blurted out.

  He shook his head, giving me a soft smile, “I said I’d stay.”

  I may have been overreacting, but could he blame me? “We should sit,” I suggested, feeling embarrassed. He followed me back into the rec room in silence. The only other person there was a girl who had fallen asleep reading a book on the couch.

  Jonah sat in the same chair he had occupied before, I decided on the chair across from him. We sat there for a moment, neither of us saying anything. I tried to be discreet studying his face as he stared at the fire crackling beside us. He really was incredibly handsome. My eyes traveled across every curve and edge of his perfect face, trying to write them to my memory. They finally settled on his mouth. My favorite.

  He turned his attention back to me, catching me staring at him. I immediately looked away, feeling my cheeks flush. He could derail my train of thought faster than anyone I had ever met. I was beginning to think he was playing mind tricks on me, making it impossible for me to focus on anything, other than his incredible mouth. Squeezing my hands together, I regained my focus and fired off the first of many questions to come.

  “So, are you playing head games with me or are you just trying to make me certifiably crazy?”

  He shook his head slowly, “I don’t think I follow,” he said, confusion written all over his face.

  “Well, for starters you don’t kiss a girl the way you kissed me and then drop off the face of the earth for eight days.” Not that I was counting or anything. I stared at him expectantly, trying to prove my point. “And then, might I add, you don’t get to make a grand entrance by suddenly appearing out of nowhere like some kind of super hero to save the day like I’m a damsel in distress. Not without an explanation anyway.”

  The corner of his mouth twitched, it was obvious he was trying not to smile. I forced my eyes away, determined to get my answers. I wasn’t trying to entertain him, I was thoroughly baffled and sincerely hurt. And his reaction wasn’t helping.