Page 39 of Tempting the Player
Her head shakes slightly side to side.
A little tension eases from my body. I watch a tear trek from her left eye and down to the corner of her lip. My thumb wipes it away and then lingers there at her mouth.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“I was walking around campus after class,” she starts, voice soft and cracking on every other word. “I kept seeing this guy. Black hat, red zip-up hoodie. I panicked and ran in here. I don’t know what happened to him after that.”
“You did good.” I continue to drag my thumb along her soft cheek. Black hat, red hoodie. Black hat, red hoodie. I repeat it over and over as I imagine what I’ll do to the asshole when I find him. “Will you stay with Arch and Brogan while I go—”
She tenses and lodges herself back against my chest, arms wrapped around my waist.
“We’ll look for him,” Brogan says when it’s clear she isn’t going to let me go.
I nod. “Can you catch a ride back to the house? I want to get her out of here.”
* * *
“Here you go.” I hand Jane a glass of water.
“Thanks.” She sits on the edge of my bed, eyes downcast.
Leaning against the dresser in front of her, I fight the overwhelming need to hold her again. She still hasn’t said much, but she won’t let me call her parents until Archer and Brogan get back.
“I’m sorry for calling. After everything that happened, I didn’t know if you’d answer. Thank you for that and for coming. I don’t know what I would have done if...” She trails off as her voice breaks.
“I’m glad you called, but where’s the old guy?”
A hint of a smile dances on her lips for the briefest of moments. “I sent Grady back yesterday. Since nothing else had happened, it felt silly having security follow me around from class to class.”
My fingers dig into the wood dresser. I can’t believe he listened to her or that her parents went along with it. She blows out a shaky breath.
“Drink some water. It’ll help.” I motion toward the glass in her hands.
“I doubt that.” She takes a sip anyway, then glances around the room. “Getting ready to leave?”
“Yeah.” My gaze drops to my duffel bag on the floor by the door. “Maybe. I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet.”
“Sounds complicated.”
“Yeah.” I run a hand over my hair as a knock comes from the other side of my door. Brogan cracks open the door slowly, smiles at Jane, and then tips his head to me.
“I’ll be right back.”
Archer and Flynn are sitting in the living room, Knox is making dinner in the kitchen.
“That’s her, right? That’s Ivy Greene?” Flynn asks with more excitement than I’ve seen out of him since I’ve been back.
“Yeah.” I look to Archer and Brogan as the latter sits down on the couch. “Did you find him?”
God, I hope they did. I want to destroy the creep who did this in a way that should probably scare me.
“Yeah.” They share a look I can’t decipher.
“And? Where is he? At the fucking police station with a couple black eyes, I hope.”
Brogan shakes his head. “We let him go.”
“You did what?” My voice climbs and bounces off the walls.
