I march past Lucas and head right through my living room, eyeing the fucking broken lock with a snarl. These assholes managed to uproot my life in only two days. Fucking bastards. Twice my dorm room has been ransacked. I’m getting creepy letters and messages.
It’s so dark inside my dorm that when I head outside, I still can’t see anything, and I run right into a body. “Whoa,” a slurred voice says.
I peer up at Todd who’s clearly just getting home from the party. He stops to smile at me, but then almost falls over.
Jesus. I hope he didn’t drive himself home. I right him, holding the top of his arms until he can get his feet under him again. He narrows his eyes, and they sparkle over a cloudy haze. “Blue’s Clues. You’re killing me.” His gaze rakes down my body, but I shrug it off. He clenches his shirt right over his heart. Well, it would be over his heart if he had the right hand up. “You hurt me today. Straight up wounded me.”
I start to walk away, but Lucas’s footsteps in the living room sound, reminding me I have nowhere to go. I put on a placating smile even though I doubt he can even see me clearly. “Hey, do you need help to your place?”
He grins, and it’s kind of cute in a sloppy kind of way. “You might be making my night—”
“Dakota,” I supply for him before he can even think to call me by that stupid name. Fucking Meghan, I swear to God. It felt good to pull one over on her today. Come to think of it, I didn’t even see her after Stone had a talk with her. Good. Bitch. I hope she left the party alone and feeling miserable.
“Da-kota,” he says, testing it on his tongue, and it doesn’t sound nearly as sexy as when Lucas says it. Or Stone for that matter. That’s neither here nor there though.
Speaking of... Lucas finally emerges and steps out onto the balcony. “Dakota, what are you doing?”
I look back over my shoulder. My arm is around Todd’s waist. He towers over me by at least a good foot. “Helping Todd back to his place.”
“Wait...” Todd says, putting two and two together. “Is this the dick?”
Lucas snarls. “Get your hands off her.”
Todd, whose hands weren’t even on me before, slides them around my waist. He must’ve grown some balls with all the alcohol. “This way, pretty girl.”
I turn away from Lucas, leaving him right where he is as we move the few doors down to Todd’s room. He tries to go one too many, and I have to convince him that the door we’re in front of is actually his room. I take his keys from him and actually place them in the lock to fully convince him, to which he says, “You really are a treasure hunter.”
The awe in his voice is too funny. I can’t help but laugh because his comparison is just outrageous.
As soon as I swing the door open, Todd trips into the room. At least, I think it’s a trip at first until a strong arm pulls the door closed in front of me. I gaze to my left to find Stone Jacobs standing there, a mask of fury on his face. “What did I tell you about other guys?”
“Blue’s Clues? Where are you?” Todd calls out from the other side of the door.
Stone moves my back to the door, crowding into my space like he did at the party. He sniffs the air, and his demeanor turns even more sour. “You smell like cheap beer now.”
I try to push him off, but he doesn’t budge. “Get away from me.”
“Mmm, nice try. You’re finally ours, and I’m not backing away.” The handle on the door tries to turn, and a guttural noise comes from the back of Stone’s throat. “If you open this door, I won’t just maim you, I’ll kick your ass for thinking you can put your hands on what’s mine. Do you understand me, fuck boy?”
“Fuck boy...” It takes a moment but then a laugh erupts on the other side of the door. Todd is well and truly obliterated.
I glance behind Stone to find Lucas and Wyatt standing there. It’s Wyatt’s turn to look bored, but Lucas is frowning.
Stone moves my chin, so I look him in the face again. “You were going to get down with that?”
This time, I really do shove him off. “Fuck you,” I growl. “In case you didn’t hear, I don’t have a place to stay now because of you three fuckers. I wasn’t going to fuck him. I was going to ask if I could spend the night.”
Stone tightens his grip. “Do you know what ‘spend the night’ is code for in fuck boys like Todd’s eyes? It means you’re down to fuck. He’s drunk as shit. He outweighs you by seventy-five pounds or more, do you really think you want to go down that route, Wilder? All he has to say is that you said yes.”
My throat burns. Embarrassment creeps to my cheeks in a wildfire of scorching shame and fury. I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t think of that first or if I’m pissed because he thinks I can’t handle my own shit.
“You’re too innocent,” Stone says. His words are nice, but he says it like a curse.
Indignation clogs my throat. Stone doesn’t know me at all. I’d wager no one does. “Not that innocent,” I bite out, pushing past him.
A growl rips from his throat as the meaning is one-hundred percent clear between the three of us. “After I get through with you, you’re going to eat those words.”
I ignore him and head past Lucas to get my truck. I can always stay with Dickie. I didn’t want to wake him in the middle of the night
