“Reeve, what the fuck—” I think that’s Stanley.
I mutter to Paxton, “This isn’t fucking LA.” The wall rattles when he tries to push me off, but I hold him there.
“Reeve, what the fuck, man?” I feel hands on my shoulders.
I lean in and sputter, “What the fuck are you doing?”
“It’s a fucking game, Benson!” Gianna shouts, so I look at her, and it gives Paxton the opportunity to swing.
My head turns, and I don’t register why at first. It’s a fucking shock. First it’s warm, then it’s a heat at the corner of my mouth, then it’s a real pain in the bone, and by then I am already turning back. I throw my shoulder into him, and we both go down.
The floor is sticky. My shoulder blade hits something. Someone is yelling — Stanley, I think —yo yo yo yo yo,and I am on top of Paxton, punching him back. Then he’s on top of me, giving it right back. Beers fly, girls scream, and my teammates are trying their best to Camdenk us apart, but I’m determinedto kick his fucking ass to remind him whose turf he’s on. I get a solid one on his nose. He gets me right in the fucking cheek.
Walsh and Blue are on us. Blue gets me. Walsh gets Paxton. They pull, and this time, I let them. Blue has my shirt collar in one fist and his other arm across my chest. Paxton is on his feet with his hand over his nose. The house is quiet except for somebody’s phone in the other room playing Taylor Swift.
Stanley says, “Yo, what thefuck, Reeve?”
I wipe my bloody mouth.
Paxton, wiping his nose with the back of his wrist, eyes hot, says, “Reeve, what the actual fuck.”
I look at him while I catch my Camdenth. We’re both a bloody fucking mess. There’s alcohol spilled across the floor. Everyone’s quiet and staring. Blue still has me by the shirt. I look at the blood dripping out of his nose and exhale. I fucked up big time.
“Fuck,” I mutter. “You can’t just come here and fucking––”
Then Gianna’s voice cuts through. “Benson.”
I look at her. Her eyes are wide and furious. She shouldn’t be so fucking surprised.
I glance to her left and right, but I don’t see Lucy. Where the fuck did she go? I scan the kitchen, the hall, the dining room, and the corner where she had been. She isn’t anywhere.
I push past Blue and the rest of the guys. Stanley says my name, but I don’t stop. The hallway is a tunnel. The front door is open. The screen is swinging shut on a spring that has been broken since June. I push through the screen. The porch is cold. The street is colder. Down at the bottom of the front walk, twenty feet ahead of me, walking fast under the streetlight without a jacket, is Lucy.
She looks back, and when she notices me, she doesn’t stop. I jump down the steps and chase after her.
Chapter 18
Lucy
Ikeepmyarmstucked around my body, and I power walk as far away from that party as possible. My mind keeps replaying Benson grabbing Paxton and slamming him against the wall. Why the hell would he do that?
There was blood splattering. Alcohol went flying. The sound of the party halted to their fists hitting each other. All the guys were panicking, trying to pull Benson off. And the worst part is that Gianna acted surprised when she had been pushing Paxton towards me all night. She was so determined to get me ‘laid’, and she orchestrated the entire thing like she knew this would happen.
“Lucy,” Benson calls out, and I wonder why he’s out here. He’s a foot taller than me, and it’s so not fair that he’s already caught up. Fucking athletes. “Lucy, wait.”
I have nothing to say to him, so I keep walking. What he did back there was reckless.
“Lucy, please.” He catches up. He’s on my left now, walking next to me at my pace and not touching me. I keep my eyes forward, but I notice his split lip. He slides his hoodie over my head. I put my arms through the sleeves, inhaling his scent, and keep walking.
“Don’t follow me,” I mutter.
He says, “I’m walking you home.”
That makes me stop in my tracks. He walks in front of me, so I look up at him. His lip is actively bleeding. It drips down into the river off his chin. His face is red and swollen. Blood soaks his shirt. “I don’t need you to walk me home.” I step around him and keep walking.
He grabs my arm, and the touch sends a shockwave through me.
“Why did you do that?” I snap.
