Page 69 of Into The Darkness

Then I laughed manically. This had to be a joke. These rituals did not exist in the real world—in college, of all places.

“You are fucking with me,” I said through hiccups of laughter.

“Ember, I am being serious.” He scooted closer, but I held up a hand to stop him.

“Is this why you don’t want me there on Saturday? You don’t want me to witness this because you are fucking other dude’s girlfriends?”

“No. I swear to God. Ever since we started I haven’t—”

“Why are people fucking still when the partygoers come?” I asked, remembering the one time I was there watching people fuck in the corner.

“Residual, I guess? I don’t know. Sometimes the parties are more dancing vibes, other times they turn into big fucking orgies.” He shrugged. This was a joke.

“No. I will not be doing that.”

He inched closer. “Come on, Ember. Remember when you let me fuck you by the car, and Rain and Pico were there—”

“Oh, so was that like a trial run or something?”

“No. Nothing like that.”

I laughed at his statement. “I will certainly not be going to the place that fucking drugged me, tattoed me, and allow any of those assholes who had a hand in doing that to watch me.” I stood and walked out of the tent. “I will absolutely not allow anyone else to touch me.”

I walked over to his car. “Open the door, Ash. Take me the fuck home right now.”

“Ember, we are about to go on break. I don’t want to leave like this . . .”

“There has to be another way, Ash. Why can’t we be like everyone else and just announce we are dating by changing our relationship status on social media? This is absurd.”

“It will protect you against people like Ale, Ember,” he whispered.

“You protected me.” I matched his tone. I was desperate to run and give him a hug, but what he was asking wasn’t just a walk in the park. It was something I had to commit to.

“I can keep you safer. Please, Ember.” He was begging again, but I refused to let him get in.

“This is too much for me, Ash,” I said as the cold air pierced the oxygen in my lungs. I knew what I had to say next, I just wasn’t sure if I could. “I want to be normal. I want to live like a college student. I want to go back to July when I thought my life was just sheltered. I don’t want to know the truth anymore.”

The dam broke, and suddenly, my face was soaked with cold, wet tears.

“Remember when you said I shouldn’t fall in love with you?” He nodded, and I could have sworn a small tear formed in the corner of his eye. “This is me telling you that I can’t do this anymore.”

“Okay,” he responded after being quiet for too long. He opened the door for me, and I climbed into the Jeep, hiding my face in my arms, letting my body rock back and forth from sobs.

He went to the driver’s side door and jumped in.

“Are you going to leave that stuff here?” I pointed to the tent he had set up, which only made me feel worse about how tonight went.

“I’ll get it later,” he mumbled before pulling onto the road.

“I just—”

“You’ve said enough, Ember.” His hands gripped the steering wheel. We drove the rest of the way in silence.

When we finally pulled up, he put the car in park on the curb in front of my building.

“I need to go before Rain gets pissed,” he said, not looking me in the face. His hands were still tight on the steering wheel.

“There has to be another way,” I whispered. This was my way of fighting for him, showing him I needed him.

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