Page 23 of Away Game

Moving forward, most of the guys got out of my way as I shoved my way through. When I saw West was stripped of his clothes, I lost it. I had no idea what their plans were with him, but whatever they were made my blood boil. I was ready to kill every last person in the room. Kneeling, I tried to tamp down my rage as I rolled West over onto his back and looked into his eye. He was there but barely.

Had he been drugged?

“Don’t worry, I’m going to get you out of here,” I stated as I hefted West off the ground and threw one of his arms around my shoulders. Most of his weight pressed against me as his head lolled to the side. Behind me, I could hear Ford and Ridley landing punches and keeping the wolves at bay. I was grateful for their help. If they hadn’t been there, I might have been on the bottom of the pile along with West.

Getting a better hold by wrapping an arm around his waist, I asked. “Can you stand? Help me get you dressed?”

West tried to speak, but it only came out as a mumbled slur of words with his body sagging even more against my frame. I took that as a no. I was sure he didn’t want to walk through the house and crowd with no clothes on, but I didn’t think I’d be able to get him dressed either. Not with half the room now fighting as more and more teammates filed into the room and assessed the situation.

Shouldering past the few remaining onlookers, I dragged West along with me. The blond bimbo was now up against the headboard with the covers pulled up to her chin, shaking. Good. I wanted that bitch scared.

“Don’t hurt me,” she whimpered. Her eyes widened with each step I took toward the bed.

“I’m not going to touch you, you wretched bitch,” I growled out as I ripped the blanket at the end of the bed off.

The stupid bitch shrieked as the sheet slipped, and her breasts were exposed. She didn’t seem to mind a few minutes ago.

West flinched from the noise. His body tensed up for only a second before it went lax.

“Hey,” I pulled him away and held him up by his shoulders. It wasn’t easy. We were the same height, but he was heavier and bulkier than I was. “I need you to try and stay upright. I’m going to put this around you, and then we’ll get you home, okay?”

West didn’t answer, but he seemed to have heard me. He tried to stand but swayed and was close to falling when I grabbed his arm. Wrapping the blanket around his shoulders, I let his body rest against mine as I looked around the room. Both Ford and Ridley were standing sentry by the door now. I shuffled us both over to them. The moment they saw us, Ridley threw West’s other arm around his shoulder and helped me start to move down the hall and stairs.

Ford followed closely behind, and when we got inside our house, we let out a sigh of relief. No one would fuck with us here.

“Where should we put him?” Ridley asked as we looked up the stairs.

Four flights with someone who was dead weight wouldn’t be fun. Surveying the front room, I answered. “Let’s lay him out on one of the couches down here.”

Ridley nodded and helped me get West over to the closest couch. Once we had him laid out with a blanket around him, I took a step back and wiped the sweat from my brow.

“Fuck,” I swore under my breath. “How dare they do this to one of us? To anyone?” I turned around to find the guys hovering behind me with worried expressions on their faces.

“I can stay down here and watch him to make sure he’s okay. Plus, I think someone needs to be here when he wakes up,” Ford said, looking West over. His face was a mess. The sheet and blanket hid the damage from their fists and kicks, but we wouldn’t be able to hide this from Coach. West was going to be out of commission for at least a game. Longer if his ribs were broken.

“I’m staying.” My tone brooked no argument from them even as they looked back and forth between each other. I didn’t blame them since I didn’t hide my disdain for the man laying out before us. What they didn’t know was it wasn’t because West had ever done anything to me to warrant my behavior. Well, not intentionally, that is, but it didn’t matter. No one deserved what those fucking assholes did to him tonight.

“Maybe we should have taken him to the clinic to get checked out,” Ford whispered as if he’d wake West up.

“Maybe,” I agreed. I didn’t know the right thing to do in a situation like this. I wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of weak actions. “But I say we let him decide when he wakes up.”

“And how long will that be?” Ford moved closer to lean over West’s body.

“Fuck if I should know. We don’t even know what they did to him.” I had to turn away. I was feeling too much. Too much I didn’t want to feel. “But if I had to guess, going by the look in his eye when I found him, I’d bet anything they drugged him.”

“Why would they drug him?” Ridley asked, confused.

Continuing to look out into the nothingness of the night, I answered. “When I got up into one of those stupid frat guy’s faces, he said they were trying to convert the queer on the football team.”

“West is gay?”

“The real question is, was it planned for West or was it planned for some unsuspecting girl at their party?” I growled out. It didn’t matter the answer. Those assholes were going to use it on someone at some point.

“Either way, it doesn’t matter. Alpha Mu needs to be turned in. We can’t let them get away with what they’ve done,” Oz stated vehemently. I saw him through the reflection in the window before I felt him place a hand on my shoulder.

“To turn them in, West will have to report it and get tested,” Ford stated.

“And we don’t know if he’ll be willing to do that,” Oz said with understanding. Danica had a friend our sophomore year who’d been date raped, and she’d been a mess. Understandably, but we couldn’t fathom why she tried to hide it until Danica explained how ashamed her friend was and how she thought everyone would say she was asking for it.

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