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Why am I thinking about that evening now?
I pushed those visions aside and focused on the others. There was a laptop, and pictures. And, oh my God. The Dean had a video of Callum and me at that same masquerade ball. We’d been in that hallway I kept seeing now, and he was fucking me right there where anyone could’ve walked up and seen us.
Someone did, because that was the only thing that explained both Callum’s anger toward me, and the video that was now playing in the background on repeat. There was more, though. The Dean told me that Callum had been suspended, and he also asked that I not return to campus until the investigation was over. Tears sprang to my eyes and burned a path down my cheeks. More visions came to mind, this time of me with Callum in his office after my mother had died. There was also me driving home in the snow, then someone grabbing me in the parking garage.
That’s how I’ve gotten here. But who would do this to me?
It couldn’t be Callum. Yes, he hated me for what our short affair had done to his career, but he had to know that I’d never turn him into the Dean, despite what I’d told him in his office that day. I’d only wanted him to let me go because I knew I wasn’t strong enough to resist him. He weakened me in a way that no one else ever had, and in another life, we might’ve been fire together, but not in this one. It didn’t mean that I loved him any less, though. I had to get to him. Forcing myself to fight, I pulled at my binds, but whoever had restrained me had done them tightly.
“Is anyone here?” I finally asked, then started to choke. Another wave of nausea afflicted me, but I continued to call out for anyone. Sure, I was alone, I was about to face that when a shadowy figure emerged. “W-who are you?”
“Is that you, Nicole?”
Another sob escaped at the familiar voice. The relief felt in that moment was so profound as I knew I’d be okay. “T-Travis? Help me!”
A light came on, and I had to close my eyes to ward off the brightness of the room. “What are you doing here?”
“I don’t know, but I need you to help me get free. Please.”
“Shhh,” he told me as he moved closer. There was a look of bewilderment on his face, and I knew it had to mirror the fear in mine. I was so thankful for him. He always seemed to be there when I needed him. I would’ve never been able to even try to move on from Callum without his friendship, or to have tried to pick the pieces back up after my mother’s death without him, either.
Travis had been a godsend for me more than once, and while there was risk in him trying to free me, I knew he’d ignore it all to help me. My tears continued to fall and when he tipped my chin up, I mouthed two words to him. “Please hurry!”
I was very afraid that whoever had done this to me would come back, and if they saw him, they might try to harm him, too. I’d already ruined Callum’s life, and I couldn’t handle the guilt if I ended up doing the same to Travis. He circled around me and when he knelt down, I noticed something familiar. He had hugged me numerous times, so of course his touch would be recognized, but there was something else, too.
Hints of orange, and some sort of wood enveloped me, and I’d only smelled that cologne once. I tensed up immediately as everything came crashing down around me. The man who’d kidnapped me, and the one tending to my binds, were one in the same. Travis had been the perpetrator, and my mind went into overdrive as I remembered him being there for me when I’d found the book outside my door. He had convinced me to file an order of protection against Callum, when the one I’d needed it from was him. If he was responsible for that, he had to be for the other gifts, too. But how?
Travis stopped when he realized how still I had gotten. I was frozen, and without freeing me as I had hoped, he dropped his hands, and circled back around me. “You know?”
I could still get myself out of this. I had Titan blood in me, so I would be damned if I cowered to him, or anyone else. I doubted there was a second party because Travis had always seemed to be a loner like me, which was why the two of us had hit it off so well together.
“Know what?” As long as I played innocent, there was still a chance.
“You’re here because of me.” He didn’t seem sad about it, or even regretful. In fact, his voice had changed so drastically that it was as if he was proud of himself.
“How?”
“The ‘how’ isn’t as important as the ‘why’ which is all that matters right now.” His dark eyes bore down on me, and the evil inside of them made me tremble.
“Then, w-why?” I stammered, needing to know what had pushed him over the edge. The two of us had been friends since I’d arrived here, and had even hung out together in California when on school breaks. None of this made any sense to me. Sure, Callum and others suspected that he liked me, but surely no one thought he was a homicidal maniac. I certainly hadn’t.
He reached out to stroke my face, and I whipped my head to the side in an attempt to evade his touch, but he grabbed the side of my face and held it in place between his large palms. Callum used to do the same, but I’d see something completely different when I’d look into the eyes of my lover as opposed to the almost dead ones I was now forced to stare into. I closed my own, unable to stand the sight of him, then pain swiftly exploded across my cheek as he slapped me. His other hand went to my head, and once he had gotten a handful of my long hair, he yanked his hand back so far that my eyes flew open on their own.
“You were supposed to be mine, Nicole. I’d worked so hard, and did so much, so you would—”
“What did you do?” I asked, although I already had a feeling that I knew.
The question was the right one to ask because he released his grip on my hair so I could at least raise my head if not anything else. Travis began to pace, and I half wondered if his slight stagger was due to his drinking. He’d confided in me once when in California about a drinking problem he’d had the first year of college. No one was perfect, and it was a very frat boy type of thing to do, so I’d never held it against him. In fact, I had great admiration for him admitting to such a common problem and actually seeking help on his own for it. He’d beaten his addiction, but now I was not so sure. I didn’t know much, evidently, except for one thing. I needed to keep him talking until I found something I could use to my advantage.
“What did you do?” I repeated.
“I would do anything for you,” he told me as he raked a hand through his hair. “I only wanted us to be together.”
“I know, and I’m sorry. I was seeing—”
“Him,” he yelled, the loud sound echoing in the enclosed room.
As my eyes quickly scanned my surroundings, I realized I was at his place. There were pictures on the wall, and on the dresser in front of me. I focused in on one, and I realized it was one that he’d taken of me at the holiday charity event, and one of the ones given to the Dean. It was Travis all along. The most bizarre thing was that Callum had been cut out of the picture completely and replaced by one of Travis in a tuxedo. In fact, most of the pictures he had were either the two of us together, or ones he had put photographs of himself over to cover anyone else in them. I’d even noticed a frame or two that looked familiar and I sobbed when I realized he’d stolen the pictures of me, frame and all, from my house in California.
