Page 76 of False Idols

I nod at the angry red rope burn around her throat. “Then what the fuck is that?” I ask.

Nevaeh ducks her head and tries to pull her blouse up to hide it, but it doesn’t do the job. “It’s nothing. It’ll heal. Yours did,” she says. She means when I cut her. She’s not wearing the bandage for that, but the mark is visible. It’s not the same though, when I look at where I used my knife on her.

That mark shows she’s mine. I don’t want her covering it up. “Don’t hide that,” I tell her and brush her hand away when she keeps trying to pull her blouse higher.

“But you’re looking at my neck!”

I press my fingers to the healing wound. “Looking at where I marked you. That, you show. I want everyone to see what I did to you.”

Nevaeh sucks in a sharp breath and she drops her hand away from the collar of her blouse. “Okay,” she whispers and looks out the window, but I don’t miss the blush coloring her cheeks pink or the way she presses her thighs together. She’s turned on. Good. I’m going to fuck her brains out the second we get to my apartment. I think about that and it calms me down some. The image that I can’t get out of my head is Nevaeh being dragged through the cemetery and begging for him to stop. That sonofabitch did that to her. Made her weak and wrapped a rope around her. He was dragging her behind him like a fucking dog when I showed up at the cemetery. For a second I thought I was hallucinating. There was no way this was happening in broad daylight, not after what she survived last night, but it was. Of course it fucking was. It was Nevaeh. She attracted evil like a fucking magnet. I saw her fight back though. She surprised the fuck out of him when she ripped the rope away from him. I have no doubt she would have used it on him if I hadn’t been there. The thought makes me proud.

My girl is vicious. Warms my fucking heart knowing she’s just as much a menace to the world as it is to her. Nevaeh fiddles with her phone and I see her texting someone. It only takes one glance her way for her to tell me what she’s up to.

“Sunny,” she says and holds up her phone. “I-I wanted to make sure she was okay.”

I nod. “Good. She was in a hurry about everything. Said her grandma was calling her back because of what happened at the dorm, but that she was going to try and get out of it.”

“Her grandma?” Nevaeh sounds surprised but before I can ask her why, her phone trills.

“Hello?” She answers and the sound of a video call connecting sounds.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry I had to leave!” Sunny cries, bypassing hello. I can hear the sound of a loudspeaker going off as well as the dinging sound of an elevator and people talking. “I’m sorry, it’s really loud at the airport, but are you okay? Did Beau find you?”

“He did, yeah. Thanks for telling him where I was, but where are you going?”

“Back home to Texas. The ol’ ball and chain doesn’t think it’s safe for me to be here with you know, what happened to you last night.” Sunny sighs. “I didn’t want to go. She just started using my brother as leverage and I had to, Nev. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, it’s okay. I get it.”

Whatever Sunny’s grandma has on her, it’s big. When I got to their dorm room that morning, she was packing as fast as she could without bothering to look at what she was actually shoving in her bag.

“That old bitch needs to die,” Sunny says and Nevaeh gasps.

“Sunny!”

“What?! You remember what I told you about my grandmother! I’m surprised she’s bringing me back when a serial killer could finish the job for her and oh my god, I’m so fucking insensitive after what happened to you. I’m sorry, Nev. I’m such a dick.”

She’s right, she is being a dick, but it’s fine. Who isn’t? I pull into my parking lot and cut the engine. My apartment is nicer than most in town. Definitely the nicest a college kid could hope to be in. From what I’ve seen, the other inhabitants in my building are professionals. I think there’s a doctor across the hall from the scrubs I’ve seen him wearing when he comes home. There aren’t going to be any parties or keggers thrown here this year or any year for that matter, which is good. I’m glad it’s quiet. I’m not used to the noise of college. I don’t think I ever will be, if I’m honest. The apartments are really lofts set in a historical red brick building that comes with every luxury bell and whistle imaginable. It also comes with a state of the art security system and a door man. I’m glad for both considering Nevaeh has been attacked twice in the last twelve hours. At this rate, I’m going to have to sleep with one eye open if I want to keep her alive.

“Sunny, it’s okay, I promise. It’s weird right now. I’m glad you’re at the airport and not here. You don’t need to be dealing with the whole dorm situation.”

I open my door and that’s when I hear Sunny say, “Wait, you aren’t driving. Oh my god! Are you with Beau?!” I shut the door while Nevaeh splutters a response to her friend and round the car to open her door. When I open the door, Nevaeh is still trying to come up with a response to Sunny’s badgering, so I lean into the frame of the call and wave at her.

“Hey, Moonbeam.”

“What up, Mister Du Pont! I’m so glad you found our girl.” She winks at me and I nod while Nevaeh blushes. I like how she can go shy even after I watched her ready to throw down with that dumbass in the cemetery. Nevaeh. My perfect fucking match.

I reach out and run my hand through her long, dark hair and kiss the top of her head. “She’s hard to get a hold of, but we’re good now. I’m moving her in here till shit calms down.”

“That’s a great idea! She’s got this really cute pink bag that would be good for a weekender bag.”

“Good to know.”

“It’s under her bed and she keeps her toiletries on her desk next to where we put the mail,” Sunny offers.

Nevaeh covers her eyes. “Sunny, stop!” she pleads, but when I offer my hand to her, she takes it and lets me lead her out of the car and towards the apartment building.

“I’d throw a fit wanting to know when this happened,” Sunny says and looks over her shoulder when there’s the telltale sound of an announcement going off, “but that was them saying my flight is boarding. I’ll call when I’m in San Antonio, okay?”

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