Page 15 of #Beautiful

Lena moves, and I don’t bother. She can see if it’s something important.

“Why the hell is Jackie sending you nudes, Declan?” Her voice is total ice as my eyes shoot open and meet hers.

“What?”

Holding my phone toward me, there is a preview text, and sure enough, it reads, “This is Jackie, sure you don’t want to finish what I started last year?” along with a picture of her completely naked, touching herself.

“How the hell did she even get my number?”

Lena tilts her head and rolls her eyes. “You really expect me to believe that you didn’t give it to her?”

“Whoa,” I say, holding up my hands. “I’ve put that slut in her place twice already this year. I did not give her my number, Lena, and I don’t know how she got it.”

Lena looks at my phone again and unlocks it. She’s already holding it between us on speaker before I catch up to what she’s doing. It rings twice before the line clicks on.

“Knew that would get you to call,” Jackie says through the speaker.

“Listen up, whore,” Lena sneers, “Declan is sitting here so don’t try to go behind my back and contact him again. Leave him alone, got it?”

Jackie scoffs. “Oh, yeah? And what if I don’t?”

Lean cracks her neck, a look of malice fluttering through her eyes I’ve never seen there before. “If you don’t, I’m going to make sure the next thing that touches you is a baseball bat. Leave us the hell alone. This is your last warning.” Before Jackie can respond, Lena ends the call and gets out of bed, tossing the phone at me. “I mean it, Declan.”

Right in front of her, I do as she said and show her. I’ve never seen Lena get possessive like that, and I’m not sure if it bothers me or turns me on more. I can’t really say anything, though, because if some guy sent her pictures like that, I wouldn’t warn him before I caved his skull in with my fist. Instead, I reach out and grab her shirt, yanking her body until she is flush against the bed so I can grab the side of her neck and bring her lips down to mine.

This isn’t how the day is supposed to go, but now I have more than just Lena’s health to worry about. The last thing I need is her getting suspended or expelled for fighting on campus, and something tells me she isn’t kidding about the baseball bat.

Why is it every time I think things are getting better, something else comes along and tries to drown us? I just need us to catch a damn break.

Chapter 13 - Lena

Two weeks ago, Declan said I was getting too skinny. I step on the scale the day after and was kinda shocked that I was down to eighty-five pounds. Getting that thin was never in my goals. I went to Torrey and Gretchen right away and told them what Declan said and the number on the scale, and how I was worried I might be going a bit overboard. They said it’s normal at first and that I just need to tweak my diet and routine to stay where I want.

In the last two weeks, I put on about fifteen pounds, so the hundred pound mark seems okay. Declan hasn’t said anything else about it, and I do feel a bit better. I think the problem in my routine before was purging too many times a day. So, now, I only purge twice a day. Breakfast and dinner because they’re always the biggest meals with our house. Lunch isn’t so bad since most of the time Declan and I eat in the campus cafeteria or that little sandwich shop I like. They actually have really great choices. I never thought someone could figure out or create that many types of sandwiches.

Declan and I both laugh at the one they call “The Shawshank” — it’s bologna on rye. We asked them how the name came about and the owner said it’s hard bread and cheap meat, just like you can get in prison.

We actually had lunch there today between Halloween party decorating. Greek Row throws a Halloween party every year. Each house is decorated and has a DJ or live band. PTF is having live music. Justus knows a guy that’s in this band called Tidal Wave. They’re pretty big, and he talked them into coming to play tonight, so the guys spent most of the morning setting up a portable stage in the backyard while the girls decorated out front and made signs advertising the musical guests.

Gretchen is here helping, but Torrey is sick with a stomach bug. That’s another thing that’s apparently more common when you cope the way we do— sickness. This is the third time in a month that Torrey’s been down with the bug, and she doesn’t complain. If anything, she says it’s good because when you’re sick, your body naturally purges. I’m not a huge fan of the headache and body aches that come with the stomach bug, but Torrey reached her goal weight for this semester way faster than the rest of us.

She’s gotten down to seventy five pounds, and I guess for someone that’s only five-foot-two, that’s fine. It’s made her extremely happy, so I’m happy for her. That’s what friends do, and she and Gretchen have done nothing but support me since we met, so I’m making sure to do the same.

After lunch we came back and finished helping with decorations and food, and the guys got some kegs. It’s really sweet because alcohol is kinda expected at this point in college, but Justus and Sandra came to Declan and made sure he was okay with it first. He and Justus are the only two in recovery, and it means so much to me and Declan that they remembered and wanted to ensure he’d be okay.

Right now, Gretchen, Candice, Sandra, and I are sitting in the living room, the huge coffee table scattered with stuff like a craft store exploded on it, assembling the lanyard mementos for anyone who comes to the party. Sandra estimates that with the campus size and such, we’re looking at probably close to a thousand or more students visiting the house at some point. That’s why Justus allocated PTF funds to hire security for tonight. Six guys that, according to him, make Dwayne Johnson look like a punk, will be stationed out back with the band, on the stairs to block off the bedrooms, and at the front door to check IDs.

PTF Members all have to do their best to make sure there’s as little underage drinking as possible. That’s something Sandra and Justus are big on. Sigma Nu was the fraternity on Greek Row that allowed anything and everything, and after watching their downfall last semester, most of the sororities and fraternities left are cracking down because they don’t want to get sanctioned or removed from college affiliation. And some of them are big with head chapters in other states that will rain hell if there’s anymore scandals. Honestly, I don’t care if people drink or smoke weed occasionally, as long as they’re responsible about it.

But God help me, I’ll never understand why everyone wants to snort cocaine or drink until they blackout and almost die.

As I’m blowing on one of the lanyards to dry the glue for the cute sparkly spider I just attached to the corner, something hits the back of the couch. As I turn my head, something soft and wet touches my cheek and startles the crap out of me before strong arms go around me, pinning my arms to my sides.

“Hey, beautiful.”

Sighing as my heart beats furiously, sending a small wave of dizziness through me, I close my eyes for a second until it passes. “Declan, you scared the crap out of me.”

“Sorry,” he says with a sheepish grin, leaning down to kiss my cheek again. “Want I help with glitter spiders?”

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