Page 47 of Starstruck

Seeing my locket go into his pocket made that fear fade and a waveof anger wash over me. “What the fuck is your problem? Huh?” I looked around me, trying my hardest to shift from under the weight of the guy behind me. And when I couldn’t, I spat back, “Tell your ugly friend to get his meat hands off me before he loses them.”

A round of laughter erupts around me, their sickening smiles all Icould focus on. “Who's not being polite now?” He was getting way too much pleasure out of seeing me like. “We just wanted to have some fun.”

Joe lifted his black eyes up to the monster behind me. “It’s clearback there, right?”

I shook my head as a quiet sob fell from my mouth. “No, no please—”

"Oh, it’s a little late for manners now baby,” Joe laughed, as hegripped my arm. “Move your ass before someone finds—”

“Oi!”

One moment Joe was pulling my arm, back into the alleyway that wasanything but safe, and the next he was by my feet, holding his head in his hands and groaning.

Through the tears in my eyes, I could see someone, their silhouette,and once I’d dried my eyes, the white light from the street lamps gave away that it was Tristan, as he held his clenched fists, that I could see getting redder from here.

He nodded down at Joe, and the guy behind me, their intimidatingheight no match for Tristan, who towered over them by at least a foot. “Alright lads?” He smirked, ever so sarcastically. “The fucks’ going on 'ere then?”

The weight that had been pressing down on my shoulders suddenlyleft, and while I should have been paying attention to what was happening, all I could do was hunch over and grip my shoulders, anything to ease the pain that felt like a blazing fire. It didn’t take long for me to feel a hand slip through mine, and before I knew it, I was settling into Tristan’s side, catching my breaths in the same air he was.

The guy who’d let go of me spoke up to Tristan, as Joe began to getto his feet. “I don’t think it’s any of your business. Just some fun that you weren’t a part of—”

“I’ll think you’ll find it is my business when my girlfriend’s involved.”

I lifted my eyes just enough to see the commotion in Tristan’s,wondering whether it was the fact that he could feel my frantic heartbeat pounding against his chest, only picking up it’s pace once I echoed his words in my head that caused it.

His girlfriend.

My eyes fluttered as I jolted back into the moment, inching closertowards Tristan as I regained some consciousness, shivering as he slipped an arm around my waist. I let my arm wander around his torso, not thinking straight, but knowing that I needed to hold him, purely to settle the idea that I’d dreamed that someone had found me.

I clung onto his body, the ridges of his stomach molding around me,as he stepped us back from the guys, whispering ever so subtly, “I’ve got you.” into my ear.

“Now, you,” Tristan said, nodding his chin at the other guy, as he puthis attention back on them. “You get a head start, because I’m feeling generous.” Both Joe and the other guy looked at each other for a second, before they twisted their heads back to Tristan, who simply shooed him. “Go on then, off you fuck.”

The man who’d thought he had any right to pin me down like thatbacked away, before the shadows of the alley ate him up, and he disappeared for good.

He nodded his chin at Joe, who was still holding his head like itwould fall off with one slight move. “And now you, dickhead,” Tristan said, moving closer towards him, without moving his hand from around my waist. “Unless you want to start eating your breakfast through a fucking bendy straw, I suggest you chase after your boyfriend and think about your life choices that made you want to attack a nineteen-year-old woman.”

Joe’s face whitened, but some of that darkness still lived in hiseyes. “And why should I—”

The thud that sounded as Tristan’s fist met Joe’s face for thesecond time was even louder than the first one, like a lightning strike that defied the rules of science and struck in the same place twice. One deadly hit right after the other.

Joe’s groans were louder this time as he lifted his eyes to take usin, before he stumbled back a few steps, the shadows consuming every part of him for good.

And then things went silent, so quiet that I had to look around, untilI felt Tristan move back beside me. I dove into his eyes as they got wide, and his voice got shaky.

“Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay.” He urged, as his eyes gotglassy and his trembling hands cupped my cheeks.

I did my best to nod at him. “I think so.” I managed, as we bothnodded in sync.

Tristan’s head dropped to our feet, and I felt him suck in a breath,before connecting our eyes again. “I saw that you were practically crying as you left the table, so after a minute I came to check if you were okay and…” His glassy eyes didn’t stop roaming mine, as though he were checking for fractures, any sign of permanent damage. “Fuck, Gold’s I nearly had a heart attack when I turned the corner and saw what they were doing to you. I nearly…”

He caught his breath, as his hands slid down to my shoulders, glidingover the parts of my arms that I knew would be black and blue in the morning.

“I nearly screamed. But I didn’t want them to hurt you so I justpunched the guy who was closest to me and—”

“Tristan, it’s okay.” I breathed, my hands cupping his cheeks likehe’d done with me, not caring about how close that made us. “I’m okay. It was those assholes from the concert, the ones you had thrown out.”

Realisation washed over his face, in a way that had me shaking myhead and muttering to him. “I’m okay. I’m safe.”

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