Page 32 of Rejected Darkness

I have an idea of what he’s doing, but I won’t tell her. It’s better if she doesn’t know because I don’t want her chasing after him, demanding him to stay out of it. No, she is my responsibility now, which makes her his responsibility, too, despite how much he hates it. Maybe this will force them both to get over their animosity, and they can be friends. It’s wishful thinking, but fuck it.

“No idea, that’s a later problem. Let’s get you to my room so you can settle and take a nap. This way.” I guide her down the hallway on the right. “This door is the bathroom,” I point to a door on my right before coming to a stop in front of my room just a little further down. “And this is my room. Please make yourself at home.” I push her into my room, and she stumbles a few steps before catching her footing. Moving to my closet, I place her bag on the floor, knowing I’ll take care of it later when I clean out some space for her. When I return, she’s standing in the same spot, her eyes roaming the room, taking everything in. “Like what you see?”

“I didn’t expect your room to look like this?” she answers in awe.

“What did you expect it to look like?” I’m curious as to her answer. My room is decorated in shades of blue. The walls are painted a light baby blue to help light the room, and my bedding is dark blue. The two contrast each other well.

“Honestly,” she begins. “I expected dark colors like black and red or something like that.”

“I’m not a vampire, Arabella,” I laugh. “Just because I’m a Fallen Angel doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy bright colors.”

“I’m sorry,” she chuckles. “I guess that was pretty presumptuous of me.”

“No worries. Here, you can change into these,” I hand her the t-shirt and sweatpants I grabbed before exiting my closet. “I’m not sure what you packed in your bag, but those should fit youpretty well, so you can get some rest. I’ll leave you here. Rhys won’t enter while I’m gone.”

“Where are you going?” she asks softly, clutching the clothes I gave her to her chest. She’s been putting on a brave face, but right now, that brave face is gone. In its place is fear. I’m hoping it’s fear of the situation and not of me.

“I’m going to go speak to the dorm staff, and depending on how long that takes, I’ll see what I can salvage from your room for you before making some dinner for us. I promise you’re safe.” I step forward and run my fingers softly down the side of her face that isn’t bruised. I watch as she closes her eyes and nestles into my hand. I’m not sure if she knows she’s doing it, but I won’t say anything about it right now. “Get some rest, Beautiful,” I state before pulling away and walking out of the room, closing the door softly behind me. Leaving her behind is one of the hardest things I think I’ve ever done, but I need to get answers for both of us, and I can’t do that if I’m hiding out in my room with her.

When I return to the living room, my brother asks, “Is she in your room?” I didn’t hear him come back in, but I was distracted.

“Yes, she will take a nap while I go handle things. Don’t you dare go bother her,” I growl, getting in his face. “She’s been through enough and doesn’t need shit from you.”

“I’m not going to do anything,” he says defensively, throwing his hands up in the air. “She’ll be safe here while we go get answers. I already alerted the dorm staff. They are going to meet us at her suite. Let’s go.”

I never thought I’d see the day Rhys was doing something nice for Arabella, but now isn’t the moment to question it. I’ll figure out what his deal is later. Right after this mess and finding out who hurt my angel. For now, it’s good to have my brother on my side to handle this. With him, we will get more answersthan I would be able to get on my own. That’s the only thing that matters right now.

“Let’s go,” I agree, walking out of the suite and down to the fourth floor.

Chapter 18

Rhys

Inever thought I would see my brother standing in our dorm room with the little perfect angel Arabella by his side but that day sure came today. I also never thought I would be rushing out of my room to go check her dorm when my brother told me someone had broken into it. Yet, here I am with my brother beside me waiting for dorm personnel to meet us so we can figure out what the next steps are. While we are waiting, Phoenix informs me this is the second time it's happened but the first time wasn't this bad. My mind is still having trouble wrapping around everything that's happened and I'm still concerned about where she got the bruising on her face.

I shouldn't care. I really shouldn't but Arabella is mine to bully, mine to destroy, and I won't let anyone else think that they can get away with making her life hell. That is my job and mine alone. On top of making her life hell and forcing her to leave, I now need to deal with whoever is targeting her and my brother's new obsession with her. Whoever said being a bully was easy, is completely wrong.

"Who would do something like this? She's only been here a week and keeps to herself outside of the bullshit you put her through," Phoenix questions while pacing the hallway.

The second we got down here I took up post leaning against the wall outside the kicked open door. I planned to ignore my brother and try to sort through my thoughts but it seems he doesn't want to shut up while we wait. I have no answers for him, at least one that he will like. Clearly the Princess managed to piss someone else off besides just me.

"I'm going to get to the end of this," Phoenix continues. "The second I find out who did this, they will pay. They will wish they never crossed me."

"Careful, Phoenix. You're sounding like you actually give a shit about the Angel." I don't bother to lift my eyes to his, instead, I pretend to pick at my nails like I'm bored knowing he is going to keep going on despite my comments.

"She's a person too, Rhys," he snarls, hitting my hand away from me. My eyes flash with anger and I push myself up off the wall taking a step toward him in anger. "Oh, don't do that bullshit with me. You act like you hate her but you rushed out of the room when I told you what happened and you were concerned about the bruise on her cheek. You can pretend you hate Arabella all you want but I know the truth."

"Excuse me," I snarl, getting into his face. Rarely, and I mean rarely has Phoenix done something to piss me off to this extent. He's my brother and I would never harm him, but I'm starting to think he needs a lesson to remember who the fuck we are. We are fallen angels, we don't fight battles on an Angel's behalf.

"I am so sorry for making you both wait," a petite female calls out a little out of breath when she reaches the top of the stairs. "I just checked the security cameras before coming up here and it appears, well that they were down when this occurred."

"Down?" Phoenix questions from beside me. "How the hell could the cameras be down? What sort of security is that?"

"What about when this happened the first time? Were the cameras down then, too?" I ask, the hair standing on the back ofmy neck. Something doesn't seem right about this at all. I hadn't heard anything when this happened the first time, and usually, I hear everything that happens on campus, at least when it involves Angels and Fallen angels, but this was kept quiet. Now, the cameras were down when this occurred a second time? No.

"I'm sorry, first time? I thought this was the first time. At least that is what my superiors told me," she answers, shaking her head with a confused expression. "There was nothing reported about it happening before."

"What the fuck is going on here?" Isis calls out with her little friend Harper right behind her. "Why the hell are you all outside of our dorm? And what the fucked happened to our dorm?" Even from here, I can see how angry she is. That angel sure has some fire in her, I wouldn't be surprised if she becomes a fallen before her time is up on this earth. The Angels hate when someone thinks for themselves the way she does, especially a female.

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