Page 16 of Sweet Punk
I work my jaw back and forth, and when that checks out okay, I nod and grasp his hand and let him haul me to my feet.
In the locker room, we hit the showers before getting dressed again. We’re quiet through the entire process. It isn’t until Maddox is on the bench pulling on his shoes when I finally get up the nerve to tell him why he was able to knock me out. “I thought I saw Star,” I mumble.
His eyes flick to mine. “Have you talked to her?” I shake my head, my gaze down, unable to meet his curious stare. “The fuck is going on, anyway? All the shit at the party and her room getting fucked, then all of a sudden the next goddamn morning, she’s slinking out of your room, which wouldn’t have been a big fucking deal, except I could see you in the bed.”
“Did the two of you talk?”
“Look. She said she was fine. But she also hasn’t wanted to talk to pretty much anyone since.” He slaps his hands on his thighs. “Raven expressed concern that maybe something happened, and Star doesn’t want to admit it.”
What the fuck?“I didn’t do anything she didn’t want me to.” My jaw clenches hard. Except treat her like it meant nothing to me. Because I had to.
“I have no fucking issues with you and Star. What I’m surprised about is the fact that you got into bed with her in the first place. You specifically told me and Hawk that your ex-girlfriend couldn’t appreciate that you had certain boundaries that you didn’t want crossed. You said you weren’t interested in going through all that again with someone who didn’t understand you, and that’s why you weren’t dating anyone. So, what I’m curious about is whether something has changed.”
“Nothing has changed. Not really.” I huff out a hard breath. “And I doubt anything ever will.” Doesn’t stop me from liking Star. Doesn’t stop me from wishing things were different.
TEN
STAR
Milo is out there. Somewhere. Mom’s words keep coming back to me. “They released him because he’s eighteen. He’s got an apartment in Freeport, and he’s doing well. Let’s not cause trouble.” A disturbed laugh bursts from me.He’sthe trouble.
Someone was crazy enough to let my psycho stepbrother out on the streets again. Boy, does he have them fooled. I know it was him who messed up my room. The matchbook left on my nightstand is his calling card.
It hadn’t taken me long to figure out that there was no way I was keeping much of anything that’d been in my room when it’d been ransacked. The destruction was fairly thorough. Impressive, even. Fucking scary as hell.Thanks, Milo.And unfortunate for me since it left me to sleep on my torn-up bedding for a couple days, seeing as how there was no way I was going back to the guys’ suite once my locks were changed.
In the interest of keeping things quiet, SRU had been quick to cut me a check to cover the loss of the contents of my room. They hadn’t even questioned the list I’d sent them. With the money in hand, I’d spent most of Sunday evening ordering what I needed online. Quick delivery was promised, and sure enough, I got notice from the campus post office that a literal shit ton of packages had arrived for me.
In fact, there’s so much they’d put everything in a van and brought it to the dorm instead of making me pick it all up, and for that, I’m grateful. But shit. They left it all in the foyer downstairs, and since there isn’t an elevator in the building, it’s going to take me forever to get it all upstairs. I’d love to ask for help, but I have no idea where Lux and Raven are, and there’s no way I’m knocking on the guys’ door for fear Kellan will answer, and I’ll be forced to face him.
Yeah. It’s taken several days, but I’m ready to admit that I was hurt—actually, more like devastated—by how easily he’d assumed that I’d be okay with some sort of bizarro friends-with-benefits scenario. I’ve been in the worst mood, so I’ve kinda kept to myself. I’m used to going it alone, anyway. And what difference does it make if I go back to being a hermit?
And that’s when my inner voice cries. I really like having a few friends. And I’d really liked Kellan.Fuck.I hate this. I pause right on the stairwell, closing my eyes and trying to push him out of my head.
“Star? Can we help you?”
My chest jumps with a stuttered breath, and my eyes fly open to find Hawk standing beside me, looking at me curiously. “Oh. Um.” I swallow and glance over my shoulder to see how much I still have to bring up. And that’s when I notice Kellan and Maddox both standing on steps immediately behind me. “Uh.” I turn my head swiftly back to Hawk, trying to control the quiver that seeks to take over my lips at Kellan’s proximity. “Yeah. I guess I could use some help. Thank you.”
Maddox clears his throat, “All that down there yours?”
I turn and nod at him. “Yeah. I replaced all my stuff that was damaged.”
“That’s good.” Hawk reaches out, taking the box I was holding before I can protest. “I’ll head up with this. Are Raven or Lux up there?”
I glance over my shoulder, noticing Maddox has gone down, picked up a bunch of boxes, and is on his way back up. Lux and Raven have most likely given up on the sad girl who refuses to talk to anyone. And I can’t blame them. “Nope. I’m not sure where they are. I left the suite door open, though. I, uh, figured I wasn’t going to be gone for long.”
Kellan hasn’t moved from the step below me, putting us eye to eye every time I look over my shoulder. Something about the steady way he’s gazing at me makes my chest tighten. As Hawk takes off down the hall and Maddox follows, Kellan’s voice rumbles, “You know, you don’t have to explain why you’d leave a door open. No one thinks someone breaking into your room was your fault.” He asks quietly, “Have you been staying in your room? I wasn’t sure if—”
I don’t let him finish, but nod and brush past him, taking the stairs down to the main floor to collect more of my packages. Kellan follows, then stands directly in my path, holding his arms out for the boxes. “You don’t have to carry those up. We’ve got them.” As he says this, Hawk and Maddox join us.
Hawk shakes his head and gestures to the stairs. “Seriously, Star. Go ahead up to your room. We’ll take care of the heavy lifting.”
“You’ll have your hands full unboxing and putting everything away, anyway.” Maddox smiles at me and pats my shoulder. For whatever reason, it strikes me as funny—he’s always such a grouch. Not today, though.
A little bewildered, I blow out a breath, I nod. “Yeah, okay.”
Up in the suite, all of my packages are neatly stacked outside my door, which is great, but also a little overwhelming. It’ll be okay. I’ll take care of this, and then I can move on and try to forget what happened. Hawk and Maddox edge inside, setting down the final few boxes.
“Thanks, guys.”
