Page 42 of Obligation
Muffled sobs caught his attention, and he stopped, straining to hear better. He tilted his head. Sounded like the crying was coming from somewhere to his left. He pivoted and walked slowly in that direction. The crying increased in volume, and he picked up his pace.
He had no idea who was sitting alone in the woods, especially this time of night, but he treaded carefully, not wanting to frighten whoever was out there. Moving closer, he eased a low hanging tree branch out of his way and stopped.
A woman sat with her back against a tree trunk, hugging her knees to her chest, head down, body shaking with sobs. For a moment, he had no idea what to do or say, but as he took a small step closer, he immediately recognized the clothes—form fitting jeans, black heeled boots with a gold Gucci buckle, and a purple Theta Omega Pi shirt.
“Carissa?” he asked.
She glanced up, face stained with a mixture of tears and makeup. She wiped at her cheeks and scrambled to her feet. “Sorry. I—I didn’t… I’m sorry,” she repeated.
“Why are you apologizing to me?” he asked, keeping his voice smooth and calm. “And why are you out here alone?”
Her shoulders drooped, and she hung her head. “Danny and I got into another fight. He left me here. Everyone else is already gone, and he broke my phone.”
Instant, fiery-hot rage sparked inside Bradley’s chest. “He left you here?” he said, his words tight and barely controlled.
The last thing he needed to do was blow up at her when she’d done nothing wrong. Every ounce of anger he had was aimed at Danny and no one else. He took a deep breath in an effort to calm himself.
Carissa nodded. “I was going to just walk back to campus,” she admitted quietly.
“The hell you are,” Bradley said a little harsher than he intended. “C’mon.” He wrapped his arm around her. “I’ll take you home.”
But rather than fall in step with him, she turned her body toward his, wrapped her arms around his waist, and buried her face against his chest. Then, she sobbed.
Without hesitation, he held her and let her cry until she was ready to let him go. He had no idea how long they stood there, but for him, it wasn’t nearly long enough. Not that he wanted her to keep crying, but he did want to keep her in his arms, to show her that he wouldn’t abandon her like Danny had.
He rubbed her back and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. In return, she tightened her hold on him. Sporadic droplets of rain fell from the sky and splattered on him. That explained why the bonfire ended so abruptly.
“C’mon, we should go before we get soaked,” he said softly.
Carissa nodded and eased away from him, her actions reluctant. “Okay,” she whispered and once again wiped her cheeks.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, tone full of concern.
She shrugged.
Clearly she didn’t want to talk about what happened. He’d respect that. They walked in silence to his car, the rain becoming steadier with each step they took. Bradley unlocked his car, opened the passenger door for Carissa, then raced around to get in behind the wheel. He closed his door a split second before the sky opened up and the rain poured down in a deluge.
He started the engine, cranked up the defrost, and turned his wipers on high. But he made no effort to leave. Not yet. Mostly because he wanted to wait out the rain for a few minutes, but also because he wanted to give Carissa a little more time to calm down.
After several long moments of silence, Bradley glanced at her. She had her head against the window, eyes closed. Something inside of him snapped at seeing so broken and sad. He wanted to strangle Danny for whatever he’d done to make Carissa feel that way.
“Tiffany went home with Garrett and Jeremy. They’re having an after party,” Bradley said and shifted the car into drive. “I have no idea if Danny’s there, but if you want to go…”
“No,” she said, opening her eyes and sitting up straighter.
“Okay.” He understood why she didn’t want to go, but he hated that he’d have to drop her off at her residence hall where she’d be alone again. He carefully drove away from the bonfire clearing and turned onto the main road.
“I don’t want to go home, either,” she said.
His ears rang, and he sliced a look at her. “Where do you want to go, then?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I don’t want to go to a party, but I don’t want to be alone. And I really don’t want to be anywhere Danny will find me.”
Bradley swallowed around the lump in his throat. His mind raced with possibilities of where to take her. They could go get food, hang out until she felt better. But if she didn’t want to go to a party, then she probably didn’t want to go anywhere public, either.
“Want me to take you to your parents?” he asked.
“And listen to my father lecture me about how he was right about Danny? No thanks.” She huffed. “I’m sorry. You can just take me back to campus. I’ll be fine.”
