Page 7 of Sweet Punk
My mouth hangs open as I stare into her eyes, the implication of everything she’s said rocking me to my damaged core.No.I— She can’t—
Before I’m able to put my thoughts into words, Star turns and races for the dorm steps, slaps her ID card to the scanner, and heaves the door open. I haven’t moved a fraction of an inch. I should go after her. I should talk to her. But my head is so twisted up. Is she saying what I think she was saying? Did she mean she thought it was me… and she liked what I was doing to her?Shit.A girl like Star deserves someone who can give her what she needs. I don’t think I’m ever going to be that person. She doesn’t know that when she looks into my eyes, she’s looking at a dark, devastated soul. One with irreparable damage. One that is so cracked and broken she shouldn’t want any part of me.
FIVE
STAR
I’m going to have a heart attack. I race up the stairs to the second floor of the dorm as quickly as my feet will carry me and head down the hall toward our suite, my mind replaying on a loop. I thought I was dancing with Kellan. I thought it was him touching me, his erection pressing into my backside. Reliving it is the worst kind of torture. Because I wanted it to be real. And for those few minutes, I thought maybe things were finally going to happen for me. Even though I know it’s a terrible idea to let anyone in, I wanted it. Him.
My chest hurts, and my head is so jammed up with all the questions clanging around in my head. If it wasn’t Kellan, who the hell was I dancing with? I thought I was in a safe space, that he was taking care of me the way Hawk cares for Lux or Maddox treats Raven. And yeah, I thought it was a little odd that he’d touch me like that because he never has before, but I also thought that maybe the little interlude in the bathroom meant something to him, the way it had to me—that it had somehow brought us closer.
Stupid.I’m so stupid.
When I thought it was Kellan, I liked it. A lot. Everything from the way he’d swayed so effortlessly to the music with me in his arms to the sexy way he’d slid his hand under my bralette to touch my breast. But it wasn’t Kellan. It was some guy getting his rocks off while groping me. Some jerk’s dick rubbing up on me, some stranger breathing heavily behind me. I shudder. And thatScreamghost had disappeared fast the second he realized I was freaking out.
A horrible thought sinks into the back of my mind where I try to keep all things Milo. Could he have been so damn bold as to walk onto this campus and feel me up at a party? Is hewatchingme?
I get to our suite door and my hands are shaking so badly, it takes me three attempts to jam the key into the lock. Inside, I finally exhale, but then my breath hitches. My bedroom door. Standing open. What the hell?
Warning bells go off in my head.No. No, no, no.I swallow hard, taking a step forward to peek into the room.
My hands fly up in alarm, covering my mouth as I fall to my knees, ungracefully hitting the floor. A buzzing begins in my head and rings in my ears. My brain doesn’t want to process this. I can’t focus on anything but the wild disarray inside my room. Everything I own is upended. Tossed carelessly around. Broken. Shredded. Torn.Ruined.
In my mind, I cry out. But I can’t make a sound, my screams are caught in my throat. And then Kellan is there, squatting down next to me, his hand on my back. And I shriek, long and loud.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” He holds his hands up as if he’s been caught red-handed. His gaze follows mine to the disaster in front of us. Staring at it with wide eyes, he gets up and pokes his head into my room. For several seconds, he says nothing. But then a disturbed, “What the fuck,” leaves his lips, and he blows out a hard breath. Stealing a look back at me, his brows pinch together. “Are you okay? Was someone here when you came in?” He’s wearing this slack-jawed expression that betrays how thrown he is by what we’ve encountered.
“No. No one,” I answer quietly. “The suite was locked, but my door was open.”
“Did you go in?” His gaze swings from me back to the mess before us.
“Do I look like I went in?” My words would sound a lot stronger if my voice wasn’t catching as I try to speak. I huff out a breath and sweep my fingers under my eyes, realizing there were tears forming.
He rubs his hand over his stubble-coated jaw. A stubble-coated jaw that’d been hidden under theScreammask that was across the room from me earlier tonight. Not behind me. He wasn’t dancing with me. Didn’t touch me. My thoughts crash around my head, and I’m finding it harder and harder to concentrate.Am I in shock?
“We should report this. I’m going to text the resident advisor and see if they think we should contact campus security or go straight to the local police.” Pulling out his phone, he begins to tap out a text.
I blink hard. “What? Wait.” Scrambling to my feet, I grip his arm. “No. Please don’t.”
He frowns. “Why the hell would you not report someone smashing your entire room?” Glancing inside, he shakes his head. “It’s bad.”
Anytime I’d ever told my mom about something Milo had done, it’d only made things worse. She never believed me, andhe’dfind a way to punish me for it. Until that last time, anyway, when I submitted an anonymous tip. And now, all this time later, maybe my punishment is finally being swiftly delivered.
“What’s going on?” Lux walks into the room, followed by Hawk, Raven, and Maddox.
Kellan’s jaw is rigid—actually, his entire body is tense—as he grits out, “That’s a fuckin’ loaded question at this point.”
Raven looks from me to where I’m still gripping Kellan’s arm hard, then into my room. “Well, shit. What—?”
“Oh my God, if one more person asks me what happened, I’m going to go into full-on freak-out mode.” I let go of Kellan’s arm to press both hands to my cheeks, embarrassed by my outburst. “I’m sorry. I don’t know. And I don’t know what to do.”
“Well, first, we’re not staying here with your room ransacked like this. And I know it was primarily you that’s been affected, but someone broke intooursuite.” Lux shrugs. “We need to report it. We need someone out here ASAP to change the locks on all the doors.”
I want to argue. But I can’t. She’s right. This doesn’t simply affect me. It’s all three of us. But damn, I know it’ll make things worse.
Maddox glances at Hawk. “It’s not like they’re hard to pick. I wonder if we can convince them to put something heavier duty on the suite door at least.”
“Agreed.” Hawk grimaces. “Sorry, I know it’s nothing to brag about, but we can both get in here in under thirty seconds. The locks are shit.”
