I watched Ivy and Trent laugh and smile. Funny, I wasn’t as jealous anymore. I didn’t like what I was seeing, but I no longer felt the urge to kill Trent.
It was progress.
Trent walked away, leaving Ivy standing there alone. I leaned in to Romeo and said, “Don’t wait up.”
He held out his fist and we pounded it out. “You got her?” he asked.
“I got her.”
He turned back to the crowd as I separated from it. I rebuffed anyone who tried to lure me from my path, solely focused on getting to Ivy.
She started to head this way when four guys materialized out of the trees. I knew right away they were drunk as shit.
They were probably fucking on something, too.
My steps picked up when I watched him grab her, saw the fear in her eyes. I saw her call out, but no sound made it to my ears.
They laughed as they dragged her into the trees.
I started running.
Chapter
Thirty-Six
Ivy
“We know who you are,” said the guy who dragged me away.
It was much darker here beneath the trees without the glow of the fire. Adrenaline and fear warred inside my body as I frantically searched for a means of escape.
There was only one reason a woman was dragged into the trees by a bunch of drunk strangers.
It wasn’t a good reason.
“You’re the slut of Alpha U.” One of the other guys snickered.
“You shouldn’t believe everything you read,” I snapped as I tried to get out of the arms holding me.
“Seeing is believing, and it was all right there in color,” he quipped. As his friends laughed, he threw me on the ground. I landed with a hard thud, and for a few precious seconds, my vision swam before my eyes.
“Hold her!” the leader ordered.
“No!” I yelled, trying to scramble up.
Two guys pinned me down, holding my arms into the hard, cold ground. “Your tits look as good in real life as they do in that picture?”
Oh. My. God.
I screamed bloody murder. I screamed so loud it hurt. A hand came over my mouth.
I bit it.
“Ow! She bit me!”
The leader watched me over the rim of his cup as he poured more alcohol down his throat. One second, his eyes were gleaming with vile thoughts, and the next, they were rolling back in his head as he slumped to the ground.
“You got two seconds to get your hands off her!” Braeden roared and leapt forward.
The men holding me let go instantly, but one got tackled to the ground. I scrambled up and stood against a nearby tree as Braeden took on three guys at once.
They were drunk and sloppy.
He was sober and athletic.
He was also clearly infuriated.
He could have grabbed me and gone, but he didn’t. I knew he wouldn’t.
Instead, he left all four would-be rapists in a heap on the ground. None of them were moving. Or conscious.
“Just can’t stay out of trouble, can ya?” he said and stepped up close.
I wanted so badly to fire back something smart and sassy, but all my lower lip would do is tremble.
“It’s all right now,” he murmured and stepped a little closer. “I got you. You’re safe.”
I collapsed against him, but I didn’t cry. I’d done so much crying the past week I didn’t have any tears left. Instead, I shook and wobbled.
Thank God he was there.
Braeden swept me up against his chest, cradled me in his arms. I listened to the rapid beat of his heart as he carried me around the edge of the party—staying in the trees—and to his truck. I slumped in the seat as he drove.
The ride was short, and soon he parked in front of my dorm.
“Key,” he demanded, holding out his hand. I pulled it out of my pocket and handed it over. Instead of coming around to the passenger side, he slid me across the driver’s seat and helped me down to the ground.
Quietly, we went inside, thankfully passing no one (everyone was at the party), and straight up to my room.
I didn’t bother with the overhead lights. I went right to my bed and collapsed. What almost happened was so frightening I couldn’t think. I just lay there, replaying over and over the things I should have done or if there was anything I could have done to keep them away.
I should have walked away with Trent.
I shouldn’t have stood there alone to think.
I should have stayed home.
I shouldn’t have slept with Zach.
“Ivy,” Braeden whispered from nearby.
Suddenly, all I could think about was being pinned down. Their rough hands and appraising eyes. The sheer terror I felt when I realized I was outnumbered and it probably wouldn’t matter how hard I fought.
I jolted off the bed, onto my feet, and started tearing at my clothes. “Get off me,” I sobbed. “Off!”
My hands were rough and insistent as I tugged at the clothes those men touched. I couldn’t bear to have them on me anymore.
“Hey,” Braeden spoke; his voice was gentle but held a note of alarm. He moved forward and I moved back.
“I’m not gonna hurt you, baby.”
“You already have.” I slumped. “Everybody has.”
“Shit,” he swore and stepped up close. “Tell me what you want right now,” he whispered.
“I want these clothes off. They touched them. They…” My voice broke.
Slowly, Braeden took my hands and pulled them away from myself. “I’ll help you. Is that okay?”
I nodded, numb. It was scary how numb I felt. My mind was freaked out, but my body was entirely disoriented and unfeeling.
His fingers latched onto the hem of the flutter-sleeve tee. I’d probably never wear this shirt again. It was such a shame. The lace detail was so beautiful.
It was tugged away and tossed somewhere out of sight. “These too?” he murmured, grazing his finger across the buttons on my jeans.
I nodded.
My body started shaking when he peeled them down my legs. He paused in motion and looked up at me from his crouched position on the floor. “Are you scared? Want me to back up?”
Oh no, I wasn’t scared.
I shook my head slowly, and he finished pulling off my boots and jeans. When he was done, he stepped back, putting some distance between us.
“Is that better?”
No. It wasn’t. I sort of felt like I’d been out in the cold for too long. You know when your entire body goes numb from the low temperatures? But once you step back in the heat and your skin begins to thaw, everything starts to shake and tingle as awareness seeps back in.
That’s how I felt.
My body was finally beginning to catch up with my mind.
I couldn’t stop the tremors from rocking my limbs. I felt like someone flipped a switch inside me to vibrate.
Braeden went to my dresser, pulling open drawers and rifling through the clothes. He seemed to be searching for one thing, but I didn’t ask. My teeth were chattering too hard.
A sound ripped from his throat when he found what he was after. He came back with his shirt gripped in his hand. I looked between him and the fabric.
“It doesn’t smell like you.”
He tossed it away, and it landed on Rimmel’s bed. In one swift motion, he pulled the shirt he was wearing over his head and then down over mine. His unique scent swirled around me as the warmth from his body heat seeped into my skin. I pulled my arms in the oversized sleeves to unhook my bra and let it fall down at my feet.
Only then did I sigh and start to relax.
The hard contour of his bare chest wasn’t to be denied. His smooth, olive-toned skin stretched wide across the strong set of his shoulders, and his waist came down into a V. The definition in his abdominals was so sharp he looked carved in stone.
And his arms.
His arms were strong and thick. They looked like the perfect place
for shelter.
I stepped toward him and those arms came out, inviting me in. I fit against him easily, and the safety he always made me feel was so welcome.
My fingers dug into the muscles of his back, but he didn’t seem to care. I felt his lips in my hair, and a sensation of cleanliness washed over me.
“Make love to me, Braeden. Right now.” I stared up at him.
His arms flexed around me. Desire pooled in his eyes, but his mouth turned down in a frown. “I’m not sure now is a good time.”
“It’s the perfect time,” I whispered. “I still feel their intent on my skin. My body still hums with what they wanted to do. Take it away. Take them away.”
A low groan rumbled in his chest as his hands slid under my arms and lifted. I wrapped my legs around his waist and settled against him.
Usually, his kiss was eager, hot, and insistent. This time was different, but it was no less devastating. He kissed with painstaking deliberation, like he thought about every single movement, every single stroke of his tongue just before he made it.
He touched me like he’d found the manual for my body’s ultimate pleasure and was following it to a T.
Everything else fell away.
The woods, the drunk guys became obsolete.
The rumors, the picture, the shame…
None of it mattered anymore.
Maybe I’d feel different when he wasn’t so close, but I didn’t care. Even if Braeden never touched me again, the effects of how he was making me feel right then would never fade away.
He carried me to the bed, moving like he was going to keep me on top. I knew it was so I would feel safe, but it’s not what I wanted.
“No,” I murmured, breathless. “I want you over me.”
He pulled back and looked in my eyes. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. I’d never wanted anything more.
I wanted to be boxed in by him. I wanted to feel caged in by his arms and see nothing but his body when I looked up.
He laid me out across the mattress and came over me. His hand glided up the inside of my shirt and he kneaded my aching breast. I purred and pushed myself farther into his hand.
The buttons of his jeans proved a worthy opponent for my trembling fingers, but eventually I made a sound of defeat and pulled them away. B chuckled and pulled back. I watched him through half-closed lids as he removed all his clothes.
His cock stood out proudly from his center, and my core clenched with desire. He laid a condom on the mattress beside me and reached under my shirt to pull my panties away. I started to pull at the shirt, but he shook his head.
“Leave it. You have a beautiful body, Ivy, but seeing you in my clothes is even more so,” Braeden told me as he ripped open the foil packet.
He entered my body inch by delicious inch, and my eyes rolled back in my head. Being with Braeden was almost an out-of-body experience; nothing or no one could ever compare to this.
The buildup was heavy because of his unhurried pace. By the time an orgasm crashed over me, I moaned in relief. Braeden wrapped himself around me, holding me so tight. He kept moving, kept thrusting inside me until I gasped, on the brink of another climax.
“Come for me, baby,” he whispered in my ear, nipping at my earlobe.
This time we both plummeted together. It almost felt like we merged as one.
When at last I could think again, Braeden rolled to the side but pulled me with him, keeping me close. I laid my cheek on his chest and fitted one of my legs between his.
Neither one of us spoke a word.
There wasn’t anything I could say, not a single word in existence that could match how he made me feel.
I just hoped he felt the same.
Chapter
Thirty-Seven
Braeden
Talking.
I had every intention of talking to Ivy tonight.
I had no intention of stopping her from getting raped.
But it happened.
Just like what just went on between us in this bed.
I could have easily killed all four of them, and I probably wouldn’t feel bad. Men like that deserved a lot worse than death. But Ivy deserved more. So I settled for beating the shit out of them and leaving them there to rot.
I hoped they remembered everything when they finally came to.
I sure would. If I ever saw their faces on campus, they wouldn’t get a free pass again.
I was partially responsible for what happened tonight. If I weren’t such a colossal asshole, she wouldn’t have been vulnerable tonight. Even if she had walked off to speak with Trent (what was that about?), I would have been close by. Those guys never would have been able to lay a hand on her, but at least I stopped them before they could do too much damage.
Still, the carnage of the past few weeks was high, but I was gonna make it right. She was here with me now, and that meant I still had a chance. That’s all I needed, a chance. I might have screwed up in the past, but I wouldn’t this time.
This time I was going to make sure she knew exactly how I felt. How I was always gonna feel.
Ivy was it for me. She was my forever girl. For so long, I thought she didn’t exist, but now I saw I wouldn’t exist without her.
She was there even when I didn’t want her to be. A constant. Just like the beat of a heart.
Ivy wouldn’t take my crap, but she also wouldn’t try to change me either.
I wasn’t foolish enough to think our relationship would be perfect. In fact, it would probably be as far from perfect as two people could get.
But it was real.
And it was right.
I caressed the side of her cheek with the backs of my knuckles, and she smiled. Quickly, her smile turned to a grimace, and she grabbed my hand. “You split your hand open again.”
I looked down; some of the bandages were gone, and others were ripped. There was dried blood smeared across my skin, and what bandages were left were saturated, too.
“I had faces to punch.” I shrugged against the mattress.
A sound of distress filled the room, and she climbed over me and tumbled off the bed.
“Where you going?”
A few seconds later, she came back with the first aid kit, the same one she was going to use on me before. Except this time, I wasn’t going to say something stupid to stop her. She sat down beside me and pulled my hand into her lap.
I caressed the inside of her thigh (what? I’m a guy) as she used my stomach as a table for everything she pulled out of the kit.
“Does it hurt?” She picked it up again and cradled it in her palm.
“Didn’t even notice it.”
She worked carefully, peeling away the rest of the bandages. When they were gone, she cleaned my hand with shit that stung like a bitch—but I acted like it didn’t hurt ‘cause I’m a man—and then blew across the scrapes and cuts with gentle pressure. The gesture drew attention to her lips and made me want to kiss her all over again.
“How did you even play tonight with your hand like this?” she murmured, working meticulously applying some kind of cream and clean bandages.
“It’s not that bad.”
Once it was clean, dry, and bandaged, she lifted it to press a soft kiss to the center.
“You know, I really intended to talk to you tonight,” I murmured.
“That’s why I was there, too.”
“What’s this shit about Rome throwing his protection behind you?”
Ivy shrugged and packed up the kit. “Some people said some stuff, and he was standing there. He said something.”
I was glad he was there. I’d do the same—and had—for Rimmel. But I finally got why Romeo always got so testy when he thought I was being too protective over Rimmel. That was his job.
“I’ll protect you.”
“I don’t need protecting.”
“You seriously gonna say that shit to me after what just happened tonight?” I spat.
Her shoulders sl
umped as she climbed off the bed to put away the kit.
“Hey.” I captured her hand, and she looked over her shoulder. “I don’t mean it in a bad way. I know how strong you are. Shit, you freaking handle me like no one else does.”
“I’m not sure that’s true either.”
She placed the kit down, and I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her back onto the mattress. “I didn’t handle it well.” I brushed the hair out of her deep-blue eyes and stared into them. “I saw that pic and pretty much exploded. I fucking hate that guy, what he did to Romeo and Rimmel.” I paused and took a deep breath. “The thought of him touching you makes me insane. Just looking at Trent talk to you makes me want to punch someone, so seeing you half naked and in bed with the biggest piece of scum I know makes me—”
She ducked her head. Too late, I realized I shouldn’t have said that.
“You have no idea what it’s like to live with what I did,” she admitted. “From the very second I woke up that morning and realized what I’d done… It haunts me.”
“Nightmares,” I murmured, thinking of the night at Rome’s when she was calling out in her sleep. Don’t touch me.
“What?” She glanced up.
“Do you dream about it?”
“More than I’d like. It’s like I can’t get away from it. Just when I thought I was going to be able to move on, it shows up on the stupid Buzzfeed.”
And it almost got her raped.
There was no excuse for that. None. There wasn’t one solitary reason that could justify that Buzz about her.
“How’d you know?”
“Know what?” I asked.
“I had nightmares about Zach.”
“Because that guy is a walking nightmare,” I quipped.
“They’re just dreams. To be honest, I really don’t remember that night. I was so drunk. I’ve never blacked out like that before, you know?”
I frowned as she talked. I should have been there that night. I should have been watching out for her.
“It’s the reason I don’t drink so much anymore. It’s scary, not knowing what you’re doing. Clearly, when I drink, I make very bad decisions.” Pausing, she shivered. “I’m glad he’s gone.”
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