Page 66 of Toxic

Not wanting to test his patience, I asked him how he was feeling after we ate. When he said he felt okay and that he needed to work for DevApp, I said goodbye and returned to my dorm.

The way back was—once again—filled with this strange emptiness in my head and unidentified emotions boiling just below the surface, which even numerous deep breaths couldn't calm down.

But when I got to my room, I wasn’t expecting what I walked into.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw a really perturbing sight. Don was sitting on the bed with Alvin, looking at something on a laptop together. Archer was on his bed, busy applying a cooling pack to what seemed like a strained forearm muscle.

The moment I saw Don’s dumb face as he turned toward me like nothing was wrong, like he hadn’t caused Soren so much pain, something inside me snapped.

I’ll admit, all the plans and promises I’d made to myself (and Soren) went out the window.

With a wild growl, I launched myself at him so fast that neither Alvin nor Archer had time to react. I grabbed a fistful of his blond mop and slammed the back of his head against the wall.

"You piece of shit! You human garbage!"

My next punch landed on his shocked face, hitting his open mouth, and blood instantly spurted from his split lip. The third punch caught him on the cheekbone, near his eye, making his head jerk to the side toward Alvin, who was busy trying to save the laptop, shoving it to the other side of the bed. But it wasn’t Alvin who stopped me.

Archer jumped up and grabbed me from behind, pulling me away from Don.

Even my rage was no match for Archer’s iron grip. The guy was like a machine. He dragged me back from the bed, repeating, "Skye, calm down, calm down…"

But I turned to him and managed to whisper just loud enough for only him to hear, "He raped someone I really care about."

A second of silence, and Archer’s grip loosened. I could tell he understood.

I immediately lunged at Don again, but this time he was more prepared, quickly rolling off the bed into a small gap between the headboard and Alvin’s desk. Alvin jumped between us, blocking my path to Don with his body.

"Get a grip, what the hell is wrong with you, Skye?!" he yelled, shoving me, but I shoved him back harder and went at Don again. My fist connected with his temple this time, dazing him, and his head slumped back against the wall.

"You bastard, you pathetic scum!" I roared.

But Alvin wasn’t about to let me beat Don to a pulp. He jumped on me again, clinging to my back with enough force that he finally managed to pull me away from the bastard.

"You’ve lost your damn mind, Skye! Leave Don alone, he’s backed off from Soren! What more do you want?"

"Get the hell out of here right now, you piece of trash. I know everything you did, and I don’t want to see your face. Don’t come near me, don’t talk to me, don’t even look at me. If you try anything, I’ll beat the crap out of you. And I mean the hospital will be your next stop!"

I could see in Don’s eyes that he knew exactly what I was talking about. Wiping the blood from his mouth, he scrambled out of the corner where he’d tried to hide, got to his feet, and… bolted out of the room. Not a word! He had the face of someone guilty as hell.

I was left alone with Alvin and Archer, who were both staring at me, though with completely different expressions.

"Now, are you gonna explain why you just lost your shit? You’ve gone completely nuts, Skye!"

I only huffed in annoyance. "He knows damn well what I’m talking about, Alvin, and that’s all I’m gonna say. Don’t get involved in this."

Alvin stared at me for a moment, mouth hanging open.

"You know, you’ve really changed, Skye, since you met Soren. It’s like something’s taken over you. You've become desperate, volatile. This relationship isn’t doing you any good!"

"You have no idea what you’re talking about, Alvin, so shut up and mind your fucking business."

Alvin just shook his head in disbelief. "You’re gonna regret this, Skye, you’ll see. This whole thing is gonna come back to bite your ass. If you think you’re going to be the one to lock down Soren, you’re fooling yourself. Every one of our patrons thought the same thing last semester—they all bent over backward trying to win him over, and what happened? Nothing. It didn’t work, no matter how much you think he likes you! He’s just using you for now, trust me."

"What I do with Soren is none of your business, Alvin."

"He’s already lined up a job, he’s gonna move in with that nerd friend of his, and he’ll leave you behind without a second thought, and you’ll be on your knees, crying with a broken heart, mark my words!"

I didn’t say anything back, just sat down on my bed with my laptop and started working on the Python exercises Soren had assigned me earlier. I had nothing to say to him.

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