by Rebel Hart
And if that was the expectation, then we needed gear.
I led the guys down Alleyway Cove, one of the main streets in our fair city where every single offshoot for three blocks was nothing but alleyways. Dark streets with no lamps that twisted and turned with one-way signs and yield signs for days. It was the perfect place to split up. To find our way back to our own home bases so we could recuperate and lay low.
So, with a flick of my wrist, I dismissed what was left of my crew.
Then I set my sights on that college campus to make sure Benji had gotten back all right.
15
Dani
The dimmed lights of the dorm building made it hard to navigate. But Hannah kept me close. With a cocktail of sweetness and rum in my hand, I followed her through the crowd, trying my best to put on a smile and not get grossed out at every person that shoved by me.
“Hey.”
“Get out of the way.”
“That’s my man you’re touching!”
Hannah whipped around. “She doesn’t want your scrawny man. She’s into men with muscles and substance.”
I paused. “I am?”
“Yep. Now, come on. I want to introduce you to someone.”
The more tense I grew, the more I watched people around me. All of them seemed to be relaxed. Centered. Sure of themselves. And all of these people had one thing in common. They all had these red cups in their hands, filled with drinks they sucked down to keep them from sloshing over the edge.
Like the red cup I was holding.
“What’s this drink, anyway?” I asked.
Hannah tugged me off to the side. “Dani, this is Rachel. She’s in choir with me.”
The girl waved. “Hi.”
I paused. “I didn’t know you sang.”
Hannah snickered. “I don’t. I just needed the elective.”
Rachel sipped her drink. “What’s your name again?”
Hannah laughed. “How many of those have you had?”
Rachel grinned. “Probably enough.”
I watched her chug down the drink before I gazed into my own cup. The yellow liquid stared back at me with notes of coconut overwhelming my nostrils. It didn’t smell terrible. And it didn’t look unappetizing. I’d never had a drink like this before, though. A beer here and there with Hannah, sure. I hated beer, though. It wasn’t hard to refuse a second one.
This drink made my mouth water.
“What’s your major?” Rachel asked.
I took a sip of my drink and choked it down.
“Uh, human resources. You?”
The girl smiled. “English. I want to teach and write on the side.”
I took another sip. “That’s awesome. What year are you?”
“I’m a junior. And I know, I know. Still on campus and all. But I like the atmosphere and it saves me money on rent. Rent around here would be so much more expensive than just getting my own private dorm room.”
I sipped again. “Wait, you can get your own dorm room?”
Hannah giggled. “Don’t go getting any ideas, now. I want to be your roomie until we graduate.”
Rachel gasped. “Oh, my gosh. You guys are roommates. How cute! Sophomores, right? Did you guys room together last year?”
While the three of us talked, I continued sipping my drink. It didn’t taste terrible, and it was helping me to relax. Maybe a bit too much, though. The second my drink was drained, the cup was plucked from my fingertips and replaced with another drink I started sipping on again.
“I feel all warm and fuzzy inside,” I said.
Rachel smiled. “First time drinking?”
Hannah nodded. “Yep. That’s why I’m cutting her off at three.”
Rachel snickered. “Might want to cut her off after this one. I made this myself, and it’s very strong.”
I took a long pull from my drink. “And very good!”
“Move. Get out of my way. Get the fuck away from me.”
The hardened voice turned my head and I staggered on my feet a bit. I squinted my eyes as I took another long pull from my drink, almost finishing it off. I felt someone hook a finger into the belt loops of my jeans. Was I teetering that much?
“Get the fuck out of my way.”
Benji gnashed his teeth at people as he stomped down the hallway. I watched him shove others out of the way as he came straight for me. I stiffened. My knees went numb. My eyes followed him as he shot me a dark look before shoving himself into one of the dorm rooms. This wasn’t his dorm. This wasn’t our dorm, either.
So whose room had he just walked into?
“Benj!”
Max’s voice boomed over the music and my lips parted in shock.
“Benj! Where the fuck are you?”
After finally focusing my vision on Max, I noticed how disheveled he looked. His shoulder looked slumped a bit, and he was limping. Or maybe that was the alcohol distorting my vision. I wasn’t sure. I blinked in confusion as a hand darted out from the room Benji had just walked into. And the hand was covered in bruises. In blood.
At least, it looked like blood.
“Come on, we should get back to our room,” Hannah said.
Rachel sighed. “Aww, you guys don’t want to stay for another drink?”
I licked my lips. “What are they doing here?”
Hannah wrapped her arm around my waist. “Doesn’t matter. Come on. Let’s just get past the--”
“Is Bambi getting all liquored up?”
Benji’s voice filled my ears as Hannah walked me past the open door.
“Hey! I asked you a fucking question!”
Hannah snarled at him. “Can it, you piece of shit.”
“What did you just call me?”
I heard the stomping of footsteps and I leapt to the other side of the hallway. Everyone around us watched through their own liquored fog as Benji gnashed his teeth at me like some feral animal. Max loomed behind him in the shadows, his body still a bit hunched. But Benji’s voice pierced through my thoughts.
“Bambi’s getting liquored everyone! Open season for all the hunters.”
Hannah pointed at him. “I don’t know who the fuck you are or who you think you are, but if I ever hear you speak to my friend like that again--”
Benji turned to my best friend. “You’ll what, dollface?”
That’s it. I’d had enough of this asshole.
“Don’t you dare,” I glowered.
His eyes swept back over to me as I walked toward him.
“Don’t you dare turn this on her. Don’t you dare turn this on anyone,” I said.
Benji snickered. “And what the hell are you gonna do about it, Bambi?”
I felt Max’s eyes on me as I placed my hands against Benji’s chest.
“What if I do this?” I asked.
I shoved him and he stumbled back into the dorm room.
“What the--?”
I grinned. “And what if I do a little of this?”
I balled up my hand and punched his arm. Not hard. But enough to startle him.
“Hey, get the fuck out of--”
“Or what if I do a little bit of this?”
I kicked his shin and he let out a yelp, causing Max to chuckle in the corner. Then I pointed at Benji as he stared at me with wide eyes.
“I don’t know why you’ve sunken your claws into me. I don’t know where you get off calling me names and talking to me the way you do. But it stops now. Do you hear me? It stops, or I report you. And I’ll report you as much as I need to until you’re thrown off campus and you can’t terrorize anyone anymore. Understood, asshole?”
Hannah giggled. “Get him, girl.”
Max’s voice piped up. “Strong words for a Daddy’s girl.”
I whirled around on the brute of a man, ready to dig into him, too. Because if he thought he was innocent, then he had another thing coming. I pointed my finger at him in the corner. I stalked toward him, my eyes hooked with his. But when he stepped out of the
corner and into the dim light of the moon filtering through the window, I saw it. The bruises along his jaw. His bloodied lip. His leather jacket, torn at the shoulder with what looked like dried blood around it.
The sight made me gasp.
“What happened to you, Max?”
His eye twitched before he leaned against the wall with his good shoulder.
“Best you don’t know, Daddy’s girl. Trust me.”
Benji snickered. “I’m getting a fucking drink. Want one?”
Max didn’t take his eyes off me. “No.”
Hannah stepped up beside me. “Why are you here?”
Max shrugged, then groaned in pain. “Nice party.”
I licked my lips. “This isn’t your dorm room. This isn’t your building. Why did you barge in?”
Max sighed. “Waiting for a friend.”
I eyed him carefully. “To do what?”
But, when he didn’t say anything, I looked around the room. I saw the textbooks strewn everywhere. Medical textbooks. I saw the half-open dresser drawer in the corner, with scrubs poking out.
“You came to see a med student,” I said.
Max nodded, but didn’t say anything.
“You need a doctor.”
His eyes whipped to mine. “I need to get out of here. I only came here to make sure Benj was all right.”
I nodded. “Then come with me.”
I turned my back, but didn’t hear him following me. So I turned around.
“You coming, or what?” I asked.
Hannah took my hand. “You know what you’re doing?”
No. I had no clue what I was doing. But Max needed to be cleaned up. And, if possible, he needed to be convinced to get medical intervention. None of which would take place in the middle of a party.
“Yeah, I know what I’m doing,” I said.
I cast one more look back at Max before I nodded my head. Part of me didn’t think he’d follow me, so when he did, I felt relief. We left the party with him hovering over me, and I heard soft growls falling from his lips. As if he were staking a claim on his territory and warding off enemies of the night. The sound did something to me. The smell of his cologne and sweat mixed together made my fingertips tingle. And as we made our way into my dorm bedroom, I searched around for the first aid kit Dad had made me pack before sitting Max down in the chair at my desk.
“You really do need a doctor. This thing on your shoulder looks bad,” I said.
“No hospitals for me.”
“And why not?”
He shrugged, then groaned again. “Don’t want attention from the police.”
I ripped open an alcohol wipe. “Fair enough. Hope you’re not averse to pain.”
I slid the wipe over the gash on his shoulder and he grunted. Multiple times. I slipped his leather jacket off to clean more of the wound and rolled up the sleeve of his shirt. And there, emblazoned in red and black, were the words ‘Red Thorns.’ It wrapped around his bicep with a vine of thorns-sort of design dotted with small, red roses throughout. It was an intricate tattoo. One I let my fingers slide over. I lost track of cleaning up his wound as I studied the beautiful color and design against his skin.
“Is that the name of your crew?” I asked.
Max cleared his throat. “Yep.”
“The Red Thorns.”
“Uh huh.”
“Interesting.”
“Dangerous.”
I nodded. “Figured as much by how beat up you look.”
I went back to cleaning the indentation in his shoulder.
“How did you get this?”
Max snickered. “A bullet.”
I felt my head spinning. “At least it didn’t embed itself, I guess.”
Wow, this guy really was a bad boy. Smelling of blood, and sweat, and cologne, and motor oil. Tattoos against his skin. Chiseled muscles that kept distracting my fingertips from their primary purpose. A stoic stare that could sink any person to their knees. Including myself.
I felt my blood pumping in my ears as Max’s eyes panned over to look at me.
“Does that bother you?”
“Hmm?”
My eyes met his and I stopped cleaning again.
“Does that bother you?”
I blinked. “Does what bother me?”
He grinned. “The bullet. Does that bother you?”
And as my eyes danced between his, I figured the only thing I could do was tell him the truth.
16
Max
Daddy’s girl licked her lips. “I… I don’t think so. Never come into contact with someone who’s been shot at before.”
I nodded. “Fair enough.”
I hissed as the alcohol wipe came down against my shoulder again. I looked down at my feet, trying to focus on something else other than the burn. I wanted to pull away. I wanted to growl at her to keep her hands to herself. But she was good at this. Her touch felt nice. Comforting, after an evening like this.
“All right. Where else?”
Her voice made me pause. “What?”
“Where else are you hurt?”
I shook my head. “Nowhere.”
“I saw you limping. Did something happen to your foot, or your hip?”
I furrowed my brow. “What kind of question is that?”
“The kind a doctor might ask if you went there.”
“You telling me you’re a doctor?”
“I was going to go to med school, yes.”
My gaze slid back up to hers. “Explains why you’re good at this.”
I watched her inspect my lip. She gripped my chin softly and tilted my head back. I knew what she was studying. I felt my jaw throbbing the entire way to this damn campus. I still didn’t know when the hell I’d been clocked in my jaw. Or my face, for that matter. But things happened so fast tonight that I knew I’d never really be sure of anything.
Except the wrath I’d bring down on my father’s head for this shit.
“Foot, or hip?” she asked.
I snickered. “Foot, most likely.”
“Take off your boots.”
“You really don’t want me to do--”
She glared at me. “Take them off, or I will.”
I sighed. “Suit yourself.”
She sat down in front of me as I undid the laces of my boots. And when I kicked them off, a stench unlike any other filled the air. It wrinkled even my nose. My feet had always been a hazardous zone. But, for all the care I took trying to breathe, Daddy’s little girl didn’t flinch.
She simply took my bruised foot in her hand and started running her fingertips over my skin.
“Does this hurt?” she asked.
“Nope.”
“What about this?”
“Uh-uh.”
“And… this?”
She pressed down against the base of my middle toe and I wanted to blow through the fucking roof. But instead, I let out a soft grunt.
“Yep. Not fun.”
She nodded. “Okay. Going to check your calf and your knee now.”
I watched her closely as she rolled up my jean pant leg.
“Why didn’t you go to med school?”
She sighed. “My parents pushed for it for a long time. My father is a pharmaceutical guy. Shocker, right? The Korean father wanting his daughter to follow in his footsteps, but take it farther. He wanted me to be a heart surgeon.”
I nodded, but didn’t say anything.
“But you didn’t.”
“Nope. The closest I ever got to wanting a medical profession was being a vet tech when I was a teenager.”
“Lucky animals.”
She blushed. “So I decided to study something that interests me more. And wasn’t so intensive.”
I flinched as she ran her fingers up the back of my calf.
“What are you studying now?” I asked.
She paused. “Did that hurt?”
“Answer my question.”
“Answer mine first.”<
br />
“Ladies first.”
She snickered. “Like you’re a proper gentleman.”
I chuckled. “Maybe I pride myself on not being one. Ever think of that?”
Her eyes flickered up to mine and that gorgeous flush of hers deepened.
“Human resources.”
I blinked. “What?”
“I’m studying human resources now.”
I licked my lips. “That’s a serious deviation from med school.”
She nodded. “I know. It wasn’t for me, anyway. I don’t like blood.”
“You seem to be handling it fine.”
She shrugged. “I can if I have to.”
I ripped my leg from her grasp. “You don’t have to. I can take care of myself.”
I stood up from the chair as my pant leg slid back down. I shoved my foot into my boot, trying my hardest not to wince. When the fuck did I break my toe in all this crazy bullshit?
Then Daddy’s girl stood, too. “I know I don’t have to.”
I shoved my foot into my other boot. “Good.”
She nodded. “Good.”
“Time for me to go.”
“Sure you’re good to go?”
“Yep. Positive.”
But she didn’t move.
In fact, she stood so close to me that I smelled her perfume. Or was that her deodorant? She didn’t strike me as the perfume kind of girl. But she also didn’t strike me as a drinker. And the smell of rum wafted from her lips. The fruity scent of whatever she was wearing--or whatever she’d been drinking--filled my nostrils. And I knew this girl would forever be associated with pineapple and coconut in my mind.
Especially when my eyes fell to her lips.
They were perfect. That soft lower pout with an upper lip that disappeared whenever she spoke. That button nose, curved perfectly to offset the upward slant of her eyes. I wanted nothing more than to cup her cheek, feel the heat of that blush, and press my lips against hers. Even though she wasn’t my type. Even though she wasn’t the kind of girl I’d go for after a hard day’s work.
What the hell.
My hand slid through the soft locks of her hair and I heard her gasp. My face dropped to hers, ready to capture those lips and make her mine. And when her warmth encompassed me, something inside me ignited.