Page 107 of Hate To Love You

Sammy, mom’s new dog, pops up from his spot on my bed as my bedroom door flies open, Damian rushing through looking out of breath. I jump up from my seat, watching Damian bend over, setting his hands on his knees as he tries to calm himself down.

“What the hell, Damian! What are you doing?” I demand. He holds up a finger, indicating that he still needs a moment before he explains himself.

Finally, he straightens, still slightly out of breath. “Have you… looked at… your phone at all… in the past twenty-four hours?” he pants. I shake my head, walking over to my nightstand to grab my cell.

Over one hundred text messages from our group chat, and several missed calls and facetimes from Lainey and Ellie.

“Someone attacked Ashton Davis. He’s in the hospital with a broken jaw and several other broken bones. He’s in a coma,” Damian rushes out.

“What?” I croak. My eyes widen and my heart leaps into my throat. He wouldn’t.

Damian sits on my bed, petting Sammy on the head as he watches me.

“Lainey and Ellie think it was Ryker. He’s the only one with motive.”

There’s no way Ryker would be that stupid. He may be an Elite, and they can get away with shit, but how is he going to get out of beating a man so badly he’s in the hospital with multiple injuries?

My heart stutters. Is Ryker okay? Is he hurt? Is he in trouble?

“Is he…” I begin softly. “Did he get caught?” I shouldn’t care. He’s dead to you, remember?

Damian shakes his head before running a hand through his shaggy hair. “No. A couple of students found Ashton alone outside the gym. Apparently he was covered in blood and completely knocked out.”

My breathing picks up as I begin to pace back and forth.

“Jesus,” I say, exasperated.

“What happened between you two? Something must have really pissed him off for him to go off the deep end like that,” Damian questions. Sammy rolls over on his back for Damian to rub his belly, and Damian does.

I stop pacing, recalling the night of the party and how everything I thought I knew went up in flames.

“If I’m going to tell you, I should probably loop Lainey, Ellie, and Haley in,” I say, pressing the Facetime button on my phone to call the girls.

Lainey picks up first, unsurprisingly, followed by Haley, and then Ellie. Lainey looks more worried than I’ve ever seen her, and a twinge of guilt pinches in my chest. I tell my best friend everything, and I can imagine leaving without telling her why broke her heart.

“You better have a damn good explanation for completely falling off the face of the earth for three days straight,” Lainey shouts through the phone, her anger palpable. I wince.

“Are you alright? Did something happen?” Ellie worries.

Haley stays silent. She already knows the gist of what happened since she was home when I came back to pack my stuff and get the hell out of there. She wouldn’t let me leave until I told her why I was in such a hurry.

I exhale a deep breath I didn’t even know I was holding before sitting on my bed next to Damian.

“I’m really sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just… something did happen… at the party” I hesitate. My friends aren’t the kind of people to say, ‘I told you so’, but I know they’ll be thinking it after I tell them the truth. I don’t want them to think I’m stupid, even thought I am.

“Gwen?” Ellie urges. I pick at a string on my pajama shorts as I begin to explain everything.

“This girl, Amy, found me at the party. I recognized her. She was one of Ryker’s prior hookups. She cornered me and basically told me that Ryker and I would never work because he isn’t ready for a commitment. Then, she told me they hooked up,” I explain. Lainey’s brows furrow.

“So, he hooked up with a lot of girls before you,” Lainey says.

“Lainey!” Ellie scolds. Lainey grimaces.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that you know he has a promiscuous past, but you can’t let that bother you if you want a future with him.”

“Except, it wasn’t in the past…” I feel four sets of eyes on me as they all wait for me to explain further. “They slept together the night before the party. He cheated on me.”

The words hurt to even say out loud. My heart feels like it’s been yanked out and stomped on.

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