Page 91 of Candygrams

“Tandy.”

This time his voice jerks me from sleep and I awake to find him standing over me.

“Rip?” Great I’ve lost my mind and now I’m hallucinating. “What the hell?”

Just one more thing for me to worry about.

“Are you sick? Did someone hurt you?”

When his hand touches my forehead, I realize he’s not just a figment of my emotionally drained psyche. I lurch up after pushing his hand from my head.

“What are you doing in my room?”

“Why are you crying? And skipping classes?”

How does he know about me skipping a few of my classes? Instead of answering him, I go on the offensive.

“Get out! Get out now!”

Anger sets in and I find I can deal with it a lot easier than I can this overwhelming sadness that draped over me like a funeral shroud when he left. Guess he’s done getting his dick wet so I’m back to being his little sister shield. Only I’m not his sister and I won’t ever put myself out there for this man again.

“I’m not leaving until you tell me what is wrong?”

Like I will ever do that! I jump out of bed and nearly fall on my face. He puts his arms out to catch me but I want no part of him.

“Get out! Go! LEAVE!”

“Really? Why are you pissed at me?”

Of course! Nothing is his fault. It’s all my fault. Classic mindset of a narcissistic player.

“Rip, I haven’t slept in two days. And slept like shit before that. Get out of my room, get out of the house, and go to your own home. Find some bimbo to suck your dick and leave me alone. I’m through. Done. We’re done.”

And not a moment left to spare. If I had kept seeing only the good side of him I would have been in so much more pain.

“No more study sessions, no more parties, no more tutoring. Your grades are good so you don’t need me anymore! You don’t need me!”

And I don’t need the heartache that comes with being around him.

Chapter Fifteen

Rip

I’ve been looking for her for a few days and couldn’t find her. I stood outside her classes until one of the girls told me she hasn’t been coming to class for a few days. I wanted to talk to her and tell her I was going to find a new tutor -or maybe that I didn’t need one any longer and that I wished her well. No need to get pissy with her over not wanting me and choosing another guy.

But then I couldn’t fucking find her and I started getting worried. I came to the rental house but no one answered the door so…I let myself in using the key I took one of the first days we met. Her roommates hid the spare under a rock sitting awkwardly on the porch and I didn’t want someone using it to let themselves in because they were too stupid to hide it better. Once inside I went straight to her room and thought about kicking the goddamned door in but try the knob first. It’s open.

When I step in I have to step over mounds of tissue boxes. There are balls of tissue paper everywhere. And there she was. In the middle of her bed, rolled in her blanket like she’s trying to shut the world out. Maybe she’s sick.

Fuck! The one fucking time I leave her, and she winds up sick. Probably because that little shit left her in the rain or some shit and didn’t take care of her. When I say her name she starts sobbing in her sleep breaking my heart.

All I can see is red. Who fucking did this to her? I’m going to kill that little shit she was with! I finally wake her and mine is the name she cries out, not his.

“Rip!”

I expect her to come into my arms and tell me who hurt her, everything they did, so I can make it better. Instead, I get told to fuck off.

“Get out!”

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