by Bella King
Ugh, why do you keep choosing the creeps?
I shook my head, trying to brush it off, but I was upset that he had so readily ditched me for another woman. He wasn’t even graceful about it. He would have left me hanging on the dance floor all night while he seduced another woman.
I grabbed a drink from the icebox that was sitting it the corner and popped the lid. It was some red and fruity nonsense that probably had more sugar than alcohol in it. I chugged almost the entire thing in one go as I glared at Brad. He was so engrossed in his new woman that he still didn’t notice me.
I looked at the bright-red liquid in the bottom of my bottle, swirling it around as I thought about how easy it would be to splash it over Brad’s back. He might not even notice it since there wasn’t very much there. Drunk me was petty as fuck.
I dismissed the urge and finished off the bottle, splashing the liquid into my mouth inside of Brad’s shirt. I couldn’t risk making more enemies on my first week at East Bridge. Austin already seemed to want to kill me.
I grabbed another drink from the icebox, leaving the room and retreating back into the hallway. I took a sip of it and wandered down the hall, looking for a break from the loud music. I took a turn down toward the balcony again, hoping to bum another cigarette off someone. Those things were addictive when you were drinking. I guess that was the point.
I didn’t feel the cold as much when I got outside again, even though it was more than it had been the first time I was out. The drink I had downed was starting to slur my speech, but only barely. I was still fine.
Smoke a cig and go to bed. You had your fun, Jane. Now it’s time to go.
I was having trouble listening to myself tonight now that I had gotten loose enough not to worry so much. I was an anxiety-ridden person, so alcohol really changed my brain when it got into my system. It was like a complete 180 in my thinking. I felt like I could socialize all night.
“Can I bum one off you?” I asked a woman on the balcony as she puffed on a rather long cigarette.
She pursed her lips at me and pulled one out of the pack, handing the slender tube to me.
“This is thin,” I noted, never having seen anything like it except for in movies.
“It’s from Europe,” she said, speaking with a light accept that I had trouble placing.
I rolled over the cigarette in my finger s a few times before placing I in my mouth. The woman handed me her lighter, and I sparked it up, thanking her as I walked back to the other side of the balcony to be alone.
I leaned over the edge of the railing, taking deep drags like I was breathing in regular air instead of smoke. I marveled at how high up I was. I lived on the second floor, but these dorm buildings rose up over ten floors. It would be a long fall if I leaned over too far.
I steadied myself on the railing, amused by my thoughts of jumping over. I felt relaxed about everything now, and that was how I ended up getting into trouble.
The cigarette burned too quickly. It was thin, so I managed to smoke it to ash within a minute. I flicked the butt over the edge of the railing, disregarding the trash bin behind me, and left the balcony to rejoin the party with my drink in hand.
The music blasted in the crowded hall as I reentered. As the night went on, more and more people arrived, rendering the space hot and stuffy. I weaved through the smartly dressed students until I got to the end of the hall, where there was a lounge with a few couches.
I plopped down in one and took another swig of my drink. I felt more than buzzed after the hit of nicotine, and I needed to sit down. I was starting to lose focus often, and my body was numb. I was more than just drunk, and with a drink in hand, I was rapidly approaching my limit.
“Jane,” a deep voice said from above me as I stared, completely zoned out, at the carpet between my feet.
It was Austin.
Chapter 12
My eyelids glowed red as florescent light hit my face, making it impossible for me to stay asleep. I would have liked to sleep forever with the way that I felt.
“Fuck,” I groaned as I peeled my face off the floor of the bathroom, where three other girls lay sound asleep. Brittany was among them.
My head was heavy, thudding with such extreme dehydration that my first impulse was to drink water straight from the sink. I got up on wobbly legs and stumbled to it, leaning on the porcelain bowl as I pushed the tap up to start the flow of water.
I gulp down the aerated water quickly. My body was desperate to replace the water that I had lost last night from the amount of drinking that I had done. I could barely remember the events, but I was pretty sure that I would have done some wild shit had it not been for Brittany.
Should I wake her up? No, just leave.
I took a deep breath top steady myself and wobbled my way over to the bathroom exit. I wasn’t exactly sure where I was, but I was pretty sure that I was still on campus. No bathroom would be that clean anywhere else.
My suspicions were confirmed when I broke out into the lobby of one of the dorms. It was still early in the morning, which meant I hadn’t slept for very long, but I could never sleep long when I had been drinking. My body was sensitive to toxins and eager to flush them out of my system.
My eyes were hot and itchy, and my throat was severely parched. How many cigarettes had I smoked? Just thinking about it made me cough.
“Rise and shine, sweetheart,” a deep voice said from in front of me as I steadied myself on the front desk of the lobby. I looked up to see Austin Parker, a perfect smile plastered on his cleanly shaven face.
I rolled my eyes at him. “Were you waiting for me or something?” I asked, feeling like I might puke.
“Perhaps,” he said, walking toward me. “You look kind of rough. Did you have too much to drink last night?”
I laughed bitterly. “No shit. I think I drank more than I have collectively during my whole life.”
“What a shame,” he said, coming to a stop closer to me than I was comfortable with.
I leaned back, looking him up and down. He looked like he had spent the entire night sleeping like an angel, then had risen super early to shower, shave, and get dressed before the sun came up. In reality, he had been at the party with me last night. He should be in the same condition as me.
“Aren’t you hungover?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I recover fast. Do you want to go out for breakfast with me?”
Not this again. I knew what he was up to. If he dropped me off in the middle of nowhere in my current condition, I might actually die this time. There was no way in hell that I was going with him.
I shook my head. “No, I think I’m going to go back to my room and sleep in a real bed.”
“I offered you mine last night, but Brittany curved me. I find it annoying that you’re buddy-buddy with my ex.”
I pressed my fingers between my eyes. “Austin, I would really appreciate it if you didn’t bring up last night. I was wasted.”
He chuckled. “Wasted or not, Jane, you wanted to ride my cock all night long. You wouldn’t have gotten any sleep at all.”
“You’re disgusting,” I said, shaking my head. I didn’t have the energy to leave yet, but I was getting there. A minute or two more against the lobby table, and I would be able to stumble out of this building and back to my own dorm.
Austin cocked his head to the side. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to breakfast? You look like you could use a bloody Mary or something.”
“Lord, no,” I said. “No more alcohol.”
“It helps, believe me,” he said.
“You can’t trick me twice, Austin,” I said, finally standing up straight and finding my balance.
“Trick you?” he asked with a smirk. “I would never.” There was a remarkably blunt sarcasm in his voice.
“So, my answer is no,” I snapped, then looked toward the door. It was time for me to leave.
“Listen, Jane. What I said before still stands. I expect you to be out of here before cl
asses start,” Austin said, growing serious.
I sighed. “You and I both know that’s not going to happen.”
“Everyone says that, but my calls are always right.”
“We’ll see about that,” I muttered as I stepped away from him, heading toward the exit.
“Yes. Yes, we will,” he replied as I left.
I stepped out into the raw morning sun, squinting painfully as the light hit my pupils. I shielded my eyes with a hand and dragged my feet down the sidewalk toward my building. My head pounded in agonizing pain every time I looked up to check the building number to see if I had arrived at the right dorm. Why couldn’t we have partied at my dorm building instead of one way down the line?
Strike that. I would have ended up in Austin’s bed for certain if that were the case. He was wicked with his seduction last night, and I almost fell for it. Well, I did fall for it, actually, but Brittany stopped me. I had to keep that girl around.
The memories were fuzzy but growing clearer as I trudged onward. I remembered Austin coming up to me after I was already too drunk to dance properly. The whole hall had been blaring with music, and I had to go all the way to the end of it to find a place to sit. Luckily, there had been a lounge back there with a couch.
What had he said to me then? It was something about how nice I looked, and I had eaten it up. Blatant flattery, I know, but I was drunk and horny, and there was no way to deny that Austin was stunningly sexy.
I could still smell his cologne on me, come to think of it. Had I gotten that close?
I almost fell over into the grass when I realized what had happened. I had kissed him last night. I shook my head slowly as I came up to my building, trying to remember more about it. How the hell had he gotten me to do that?
I scanned my keycard at the door of my dorm and walked into the building, stopping at the empty desk in the lobby to rest for a moment and think. I knew that I had kissed Austin last night, but for the life of me, I didn’t know why. It was hurting my brain to think about it.
I was getting thirsty again, and my throat hurt from the rough treatment last night. I needed to get some more water. I rushed to the elevator, almost falling over into it when the doors slide open. I rode it up to my floor and got out, moving as quickly as I could without vomiting to get to my room.
Once I got in, I went straight for the bathroom and drank so much water that I thought my stomach was going to pop. I sloshed like a water balloon back to the main room and clambered into bed. I had never been so glad to get to sleep. I closed my eyes and drifted off in an instant — no more parties for me.
Chapter 13
You would have thought that a night of mistakes would be enough for me to learn my lesson.
It wasn’t.
Although I was book smart, I wasn’t especially street smart. I hadn’t been exposed to different social situations for long enough to know any better. That was my excuse, anyway. The truth was, I still tasted Austin’s lips on mine, and I secretly wanted more.
“Don’t end up riding his cock,” Brittany had warned me.
I scoffed at that just the other night, but this evening as I finally pulled myself out of bed after sleeping off a head-splitting hangover, I felt like it was a possibility if I kept letting Austin close to me. He still hated me, that was for sure, but he treated me differently than I had expected him to at the party.
I managed to piece together the events from last night well enough to understand how things went. I thought about it as I placed myself into the shower and rinsed off the sweat and grime from the party.
Austin had approached me, being oddly nice to me, like a viper seducing his target. That’s what he had been doing, after all. I knew that he wasn’t actually in love with me. If he couldn’t get me to leave from threats alone, then he would try to destroy me from the inside out. Who says my destruction couldn’t feel good?
Water flowed over my tired shoulders and sore calves as I thought back to the party. By the end of it, I had drunk too many sugary mixed drinks and collapsed onto the couch in the lounge. That’s when Austin had approached me.
I remembered that I complained about Brad, and Austin had said something about sharing a dance with him instead. I had been tempted, but I refused, after which he leaned down and kissed me out of the blue. It had been sudden, but I rolled my eyes at myself when I remembered that I pulled him in, not wanting his lips to leave mine after the kiss.
I licked the water off my lips as I rinsed my scalp under the showerhead, thinking about the softness of Austin’s lips. It was sick to fantasize about a man so cruel, but he was just so freaking hot that I was having trouble keeping a straight head about the whole thing. I wanted to have him but on different terms.
At the same time, as much as I liked Brittany, I didn’t want to end up like her. I was at East Bridge to fulfill my destiny of being a perfect student, then going on to get a nice job and leaving poverty behind.
I soaped beneath my armpits, staring at the gleaming white tile floor as I spaced out again. Austin’s touch came back into my memory. It had been gentle, but then it wasn’t. He had placed a large hand on the back of my neck when he kissed me, squeezing it hard, as though to keep me in place.
I rubbed the muscles in the back of my neck. They were a bit sore, but so was the rest of me. I wasn’t usually a very active person, and I had danced a lot at the party. East Bridge had already succeeded in changing me, but it was for the better. I couldn’t live my whole life as a struggling introvert. There was hope for me yet.
I turned off the water and toweled myself off, getting dressed again in the same clothes that I had worn the previous day. I needed to remember to wash and dry them tonight, or I would have to go for three days in the same dirty outfit. I didn’t have anything else that could fit the uniform code.
What to do? I should probably go find a job. There were still a few days before classes started, which would give me time to start making money to afford clothes. If I worked somewhere that tipped, then it would be even quicker. I wouldn’t have to wait for a paycheck to roll in before I could go shopping.
Once I started work, I would have more money than I ever did, because my aunt wasn’t getting any of it. I felt a bit guilty about leaving her there without support, but I quickly shed the feeling when I realized I would be able to fit in completely with the other students if I was making decent money without any bills to pay. I might actually survive East Bridge University.
As I got dressed, I heard a loud knock on my door, rattling the doorknob as the fist came down hard. I jumped at the sudden noise. I pulled on my skirt and went to see who it was, stepping lightly on the carpet so that they wouldn’t know I was walking up to the door. I always did this, even if I knew who it was. I preferred to be silent until I wanted to be seen.
The door didn’t have a peephole, so I had to open it to see who it was. I unlocked the brass bolt at the top and opened the door just a crack, peeking through with a single eye to get a look at who it was.
It was Austin.
“What do you want?” I asked through the crack in the door.
“Just checking that you’re alive,” he replied.
I opened the door a little more. “Why would you care?”
He chuckled, smoothing down the lapel of his gray suit jacket. Did he always wear a suit? I had never seen him in anything else. “I wouldn’t get to enjoy you if you were dead, Jane.”
“You won’t get to enjoy me even if I’m alive, dickhead,” I hissed through the crack in the door.
He shook his head. “That’s cute, but you’re wrong.”
“Can’t you just leave me alone? I asked. “Why do you have to harass me all the time?”
Austin folded his arms over his broad chest. “I’ll tell you if you let me in.”
“No way,” I replied, but I didn’t shut the door. I was curious.
“Then I won’t tell you why I want you to leave,” he said smugly.
“You want me t
o leave because I’m poor. You already said that,” I reminded him.
“There’s more to it,” he said.
“No, there’s not. Fuck off,” I said, finally garnering the strength to shut the door on him. I turned the bolt with more force than necessary and marched back into the center of my room, unsure of what I was going to do. I waited for another knock on the door, but it never came.
Austin was doing everything in his power to get to me, and I still didn’t understand why. I knew that he disliked me because he thought that I was impure or unfit for such a prestigious school. I wasn’t sure why he held that belief, but it wasn’t that important to me. It probably had something to do with him being a stuck-up rich prick from a family of rich pricks.
Brittany hadn’t been hateful toward me just because I was poor, Brad hadn’t either, except for that he ditched me for another girl at the party, but I doubted that had anything to do with my financial situation. He probably just got distracted. Pussy does that to jocks.
I paced around my room, trying to figure out what to do. I needed to leave, but I couldn’t go out the front door because Austin might still be there waiting for me. He was out of his mind, trapping me in my room like this. I ought to have called the police, but something in my gut didn’t let me. I didn’t want to get Austin in trouble.
Stupid. You’re fucking stupid, Jane.
I was being stupid, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t a confrontational person, and telling Austin to fuck off had been the boldest thing I had done since I ran away from home. I wanted to feel good about it like I was taking control of my life, but guilt kept me from feeling that way. I always felt like I owed people more than I did, but at least I recognized that in myself.
I had to get out of my room, or I would starve. My body was begging me to put something in my stomach after all the alcohol and water I had consumed, but I didn’t have anything in my room. I had some cash with me, and the shops around town would still be open since it wasn’t that late in the evening. I just had to find a way out of the room.