Page 33 of Loving Bad
The fact that someone had been in my personal space twice made me step back and I felt like I was going to throw up. I stepped back until I felt Jordan's bed against the back of my legs. I sank down on the bed, unable to allow what was happening to sink in.
Why would someone do this? I studied the word 'whore.' Why would they write something like that on my underwear? It made no sense. I rubbed my forehead as I tried to figure out why someone would do this to me. Did they somehow know about Sin and me? Is that why they had written 'whore'? Was it possible it was a jealous previous liaison of Sin's who was jealous?
I crept onto Jordan's bed too scared to switch the light off to try and get some sleep. Most people in the same situation would have called the campus police but I wanted to keep a low profile. I feared they would recognize my name. For hours I sat with my back against the wall, looking at the offending piece of clothing that lay on my bed.
I tried to figure out what I was going to do about it. If I let my brother know, he'd be on the first plane here and he'd try and make me go back home or he'd hire a bodyguard to watch over me. I couldn't let that happen. I wanted to have my own life where I made my own decisions.
If this person had been prepared to break into my room more than once and steal my underwear, would they be prepared to do more? Would they try and hurt me? Maybe I was blowing this out of proportion. Perhaps this was somebody's idea of a joke, as sick as it was. I decided then and there that I wasn't going to allow this to dictate my life. I took a deep breath and released it as I stood up and walked over to the underwear.
I made my decision as I crunched up the underwear in my hand and threw it in the trashcan. I wasn't going to let someone scare me. I was stronger than this. I wasn't going to tell anyone, but I was going to be more careful. No more returning back to the dorms at night or early morning. I had to make sure I always had someone around. With my mind made up, I began to feel better.
"So where have you been all night?" I asked Jordan when she returned a couple of hours later.
"I was with Slater," she replied sheepishly. I knew there was something up with the two of them.
"And did you get lucky?" I teased her, wiggling my eyebrows suggestively. She shook her head at me as she walked over to her bed and lay down.
"No, we just talked."
"You mean to tell me that you spent all night with him and nothing happened? You just talked?" I asked, shocked that things hadn't gone further between the two of them.
"Yes, we just talked," she confirmed and tried to stifle a yawn. Well, that was unexpected. I couldn't stop myself from yawning. I hadn't been able to get any sleep. Despite my logic, I couldn't shake the nervous fear that had settled in my stomach.
"And why are you so tired?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.
"Because I was having mind-blowing sex with Sin," I admitted with a smug smile. I had already decided I wasn't going to tell anyone about finding the underwear on my bed.
"More than once," I added as my smile widened. When I remembered our night together, my stomach fluttered with excitement. She looked at me with confusion.
"But you went home because you weren't feeling well," she argued, trying to figure out how I'd ended up with Sin.
"Yeah, I did. It's a long story. All you need to know is that Caleb and I are just friends and Sin and I are...something."
I couldn't say we were friends with benefits because we weren't friends, so the only way to term it was 'acquaintances with benefits.'
"Really?" she asked, sitting up. I definitely had her attention.
"Yes," I confirmed. "We agreed that while we have this arrangement in place, we won’t fool around with anyone else. And when we've both had enough, we walk away and no one gets hurt."
"You really think it's going to work?" she asked. I could see she wasn't convinced that it was a good idea.
"Yes, I do," I replied. I was living my life and I was enjoying every moment of it.
The next couple of days passed quickly. Between classes and studying, I was very busy. It also wasn't helping that I wasn't sleeping well. Despite trying to ignore what happened with the underwear, I couldn't shake the feeling that it was something more than a jealous ex of Sin.
Caleb and I had transitioned back to being friends quickly. Maybe it was because we hadn't really dated for that long. He was funny and easy to be around. I didn't see him much outside of class, but around college I saw him quite often.
One afternoon after class we were walking down the hallway. We stopped for a moment and he told me something that made me laugh and I touched his arm. As I lifted my eyes, they clashed with Sin. Just the sight of him was enough to take my breath away.
Even dressed in a faded pair of jeans and a plain white shirt, he looked smoking hot. He was leaning against the wall. His gaze was dark and brooding as he watched Caleb and me. I gave him a tentative smile, but he didn't smile back. I hadn't seen him since our night together and I wasn't sure how to act around him. I wondered if I should go up to him and greet him, but his lack of response to my smile made me stop myself.
