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“Panties. She wasn’t wearing pants.” Fox was such an asshole.
“Shut up, you clown. But for the record, she wasn’t wearing any panties, either.”
“Ugh. Remind me to disinfect that chair to within an inch of its life before I sit in it next.”
A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips at the thought of us screwing on the office chair. Against my best efforts to keep it at bay, my grin grew. Xavier looked like he wanted to gut me, and hang my hollow body on a pole out of the window for all to see.
“Regardless of all the versions of the truth, we can sit debating until we’re old and gray. My problem... no, our problem is that you’ve taken us from a situation where we were three hours from being free and clear of all this, to so deep in doo-doo that we have to keep our mouths closed so we don’t ingest it.” Another very vivid image, and one that threatened to bring a second inappropriate smile to my lips.
“The way I look at it is that you owe us. We were all working together to end this shit, and you made the decision to unilaterally fuck up the plan, so by rights, it should be your responsibility to fix it. All on you.”
I raced ahead following his logic, and trying to preempt the angle he was taking before he said it, so that I could be prepared in advance to answer and act when he did.
“I’m going to give you two weeks to make this right. And to be clear, I mean get us to the point we would have been at if you hadn’t wrecked all our planning and hard work tonight. In other words, all her shit about us gone—files, notes, hard copies, everything short of washing her brain with one of those memory-loss sticks from Men in Black. Same with photos. And get that affidavit signed about her participation that night.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised that he wanted his pound of flesh. That vengeful shit was in his genes, if college lore was to be believed, and that was just his mom’s side. His dad was an internationally renowned asshole.
“And having said that I was going to have no input at this time, I’ve completely changed my mind. I’m taking down that stupid rag she calls a paper, and it will stay down for the whole two weeks.”
Wait, if he could do that, why hadn’t he done that in the first place, or at least mentioned it so that we could have discussed the merits of the idea?
“But know that this is a form of probation. Fuck this up, or fail to deliver in any way, and she never gets that paper back—but worse than that, I’ll bury both of you. I mean it—you’ll lose everything, including your future employment opportunities, unless bussing tables or bagging groceries is in your ten-year plan. Don’t test me on this. I will make it my life’s work to make your existences a misery, I don’t care if it costs me every last cent I have, and my dying breath; you know me, so you understand that this isn’t a threat, and you can be damned sure it’s a promise.”
I sat on the cold hard flagstone outside Honey’s dorm for so long that my butt went from sore to totally lacking in feeling, and I received so many strange looks that I wouldn’t have been surprised if someone had sent the campus cops to investigate, telling them I was a stalker. I didn’t care if they did. I’d tell them that it was a free country, and I wasn’t hurting or bothering anyone, so I could sit where the hell I liked.
I knew Honey wasn’t in her room, as I’d “let myself in” earlier to check she was okay after knocking repeatedly but hearing no signs of life. I made a mental note to tell her to do something about the lock on her door, as a four-year-old could push it in.
In the real world, they’d probably call the real cops, telling them there was a black guy making a nuisance of himself on the sidewalk, and they’d come in all guns blazing and shoot me on sight, before I even had a chance to explain myself. I’d end up dead for being black and sitting on the floor, and they’d spin it to the press that they’d thought I was an assailant because I was suspiciously dressed in a tux, or some other shady shit.
I noticed Honey approaching before she saw me, and watching her make her way toward the dorm was honestly one of the most heartbreaking things I’d ever witnessed. Almost more so than watching her terrified out of her mind, thinking she was going to be blown up by the “bomb” hanging around her neck.
Her head was bowed low as she trudged slowly my way with the fuck-me heels she’d worn to the reception clutched in her hands, her beautiful gown now gray and sodden as it dragged along the ground, and her hair that had been wound into an intricate and pretty style now hanging in matted tendrils, presumably after being caught under the sprinkler system..
She wasn’t aware of my presence until she was moments away from walking into me. I reached out to provide a buffer between us, rather than have her slam into my body, and more than likely scare the life out of her at the same time.
“Oh! I’m so—” It was then that she looked up, and saw me. “Get your hands off me. I mean it. Don’t fucking touch me. Go away, or I’m going to start screaming at the top of my lungs until someone calls the police. Go! Away!”
I kept my hands raised in surrender. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Don’t freak out. Honestly, I just came to see how you were.”
The fact was, she looked terrible—worse than terrible, if that was a thing. Actually, she looked like a woman who’d been through an ordeal, and then been soaked through to her bones under a sprinkler system. Her normally creamy skin was a pale gray, and her face was streaked with mascara—I guessed from a mixture of crying and the water from the building. Her eyes were sunken and haunted as she looked around wildly.
She was quivering all over—I wasn’t sure if from fear, nerves or cold. It was late and the temperature had dropped since the early evening when the reception had started. Not only that, but she was barefoot and sheathed in the dripping wet fabric of her ruined gown.
I wondered where she’d been since leaving Trinity Hall—it had been hours since the reception ended, and judging by the way she was shivering, she’d been outside that entire time. She was going to catch her death of cold if she didn’t get warm soon.
I shucked off my jacket, and held it out to her. “Here, take this. You look freezing.” Now that I could see her more closely, I noticed that her lips were tinged blue. Jesus. Although I’d kept my tone quiet and gentle, she recoiled, wrapping her arms around herself, and looking at the jacket I was offering as though she thought it was radioactive.
“I. Said. Go. Away.”
She was so distressed that I almost considered doing what she said, but looking at her again, and seeing how fragile and shaken she looked, I just couldn’t make myself walk away. I’d take my chances with the campus cops or the police, just to know that she was safe.
Instead of turning away, my feet instinctively drew me closer to her. I moved slowly, hoping not to freak her out further, but determined to stay regardless. I raised my arms gently into a submissive stance. I had no intention of hurting her, and I wanted her to know that.
“I’m not going anywhere. I know you probably hate me, but you need help right now, and I’m here to give it, regardless of what you feel about me.”
“I don’t need help from you or your evil fucking friends. I’d rather get into bed with The Devil than take anything you’re offering, ever. I just want to erase the memory of ever having seen or met any of you, for good, and go on with my life as though you never existed. Just like you all said tonight. Please just go. I never want to see you... or hear from you... or even think of you ever again.
She moved to walk through the gate of the dorm, but I stood in front of it, blocking her way.
