Page 105 of Unwritten Rules

His jaw tightened, his nostrils flared, and the look in his eyes darkened into something feral. “Did he do this to you?” His words were clipped, he could barely contain his rage.

“M-my wrist was grabbed... I, uh, there were two of them,” I managed to spit out, my voice trembling as my mind spun in a loop. Everything swirled together and I could hardly tell which way was up.

“Two?” he growled. “Who is the other one?”

My face was blank when I looked up at him. “Alexander Fitzgerald.”

“Why are you talking to Alexander?”

I gulped, feeling small under his gaze as he tried to soften his eyes on me. “Sloane kept trying to push him on me and now he won’t leave me alone.”

If he clenched his jaw any harder, his teeth would surely shatter. “I’m so sick and tired of that girl.” His voice was a low growl before his tone softened as he turned his attention to me. “You,” he murmured, moving his fingers through my hair in a way that felt halfway between soothing me and taming the frazzled mess it had become, “don’t need to worry your pretty little head about Alexander.”

He started rubbing my arms down gently in slow, deliberate strokes. “What are you doing?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

“Calming your nerves,” he said, his lips quirking into a small smirk. “You look like a baby deer caught in headlights, Blondie.” He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to my hairline.

I flinched back instinctively, making him pause.

“What’s the matter?” His hands hovered just above my arms like he wasn’t sure if he should let go or hold on tighter.

I shook my head, trying to clear my head. “Nothing, sorry. I need to, uh, find Kelly. We’re supposed to go to the festival together.” Patting my pockets frantically until I found my phone, fumbling to send Kelly a text.

The screen lit up with multiple messages:

Kelly: where are u?????

Kelly: I can’t find u!!

Unknown: baby girl, I’m waiting for you

Kelly: where did he take you??

My stomach dropped. Deleting Alexander's number hadn't stopped him from texting me. I considered blocking him, but who knew what that might provoke. The second anonymous text I got drained the blood right out of my body.

Unknown: dirty little secrets...

A picture of Garrett and me out on a date was underneath that second unknown text. Along with a picture of me and Brent.

My hands trembled as I turned the phone and shoved it into Brent, showing him the messages.

His eyes darkened as he scrolled. “How long have you been getting messages like this?”

"I'm not sure," I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. "I thought they were mass texts until just now. One is Alexander. Sloane made me give him my number, but I deleted the contact before his name made me hurl. But the other one..." My hands were slightly shaking, and I felt like I was working up a cold sweat.

Who was watching me? What did they want? Another mystery to add to the already tangled web of situations I kept finding myself in.

I tried to close my eyes and breathe slowly, but it felt like it just made it worse. There was someone specifically seeking me out, sending me messages, and I was stupid enough to think it was mass texts going out.

This couldn't be happening to me... I felt the sudden urge to puke again. Bending over, I knew it wouldn’t come, but I needed my head between my legs for the nausea.

“I’ll help you find Kelly.” He held onto my arm to steady me.

I held up my hand, breathing heavily. “Don’t. I'd rather not be seen with you and have your girlfriend gunning for me too. There are too many people who want to see me fall right now before I take over my company.” God, this nausea was killing me.

Tucking my phone to my chest, I tried to stand up to move past him but was stuck behind his arm.

He rubbed his free hand across his face, a little bit of blood smearing from the cut on his lip. “You don’t need to worry about her or anyone else for that matter. I can handle it.”

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