Page 10 of They Break Beauty

He had the place enraptured in mere moments, that charisma of his and that powerhouse voice taking control of the whole place.

It was staggering.

I’d never seen him live before. I’d only heard one of his songs from Chloe after she’d worked with him on some branding related to that specific song during her mixed media class.

He stuck out his tongue during a guitar solo and a tongue piercing glinted under the muted lighting in the space. Whoa.

Speaking of the lights, they started to dim when he reached the end of the song and a slower, more intimate melody began.

A chill rolled through me as they dimmed too much for my liking.

I didn’t… I didn’t like the dark.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the sorority girls around me had disappeared into the crowd which had shifted when Colton had taken the stage.

And Chloe was gone!

Shit!

I spun around, trying to locate her through the dark, crowded space.

I tried to make my way through, but I had to push through the throngs that felt like they were closing in around me.

Heat rose to my face and neck, my chest.

My pulse spiked.

My breathing became unsteady and a strain.

I was about to suffer one hell of an anxiety attack.

Making it to the wall, I managed to navigate around the outside of the space and make my way out into the lobby.

The dark lobby where no one was hanging out now that concert was underway and had focused everyone’s attention.

My phone buzzed in my jacket pocket and I pulled it out with shaky fingers.

It took me three tries to swipe it open.

Chloe: Sorry I disappeared. Threw up in bushes. At your car. Drive me home.

Relief coursed through me. She was okay.

Brianna: Be right there.

I pocketed my phone, then slumped against the wall, needing to take a beat before I headed outside and saw her. I didn’t want her to see me like this. She didn’t know about these… episodes. No one did. Not even my dad.

They weren’t a regular occurrence, so it wasn’t a big deal.

Besides, I could handle it.

Right now, I just needed a moment.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t even granted that as a booming voice sounded, followed by what appeared to be two sets of screams, a moment before two bodies rolled down the stairs over on the other side of the lobby.

I watched, stupefied, as the two guys scrambled up in obvious pain, beaten and bloodied, just as a hulking mass of a man stomped down the stairs.

“You’re done. With your fraternity. With this campus,” he spoke in a fierce and uncompromising tone.

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