I step into him. “Because I fucking told you to.”
The guy is shorter than me, and I tower over him. He takes one look at my tightened jaw and blows out a breath. “Whatever, man,” he grumbles, clearly understanding the death sentence in my eyes. “Good luck, you’ll need it with that one. Total cocktease and clearly not worth it.”
I resist the urge to punch him for talking about her like that, but I don’t want to cause a scene and leave her vulnerable. When he walks away, I watch until he’s out of my eyeline before I turn back to Maya.
“Are you okay?” I ask with concern.
Maya sighs, her eyes almost rolling back. “H-he’s been so persistent, and he doesn’t get the message. I’m too nice to people.”
I frown and lean down an inch. “Where are your friends?”
“I don’t know,” she huffs before digging her phone out of her pocket. “And my phone’s dead.”
“You don’t know where they are?”
She shakes her head. “I-I think they left.”
“They left you here alone?”
My blood starts to boil as she shrugs. “I guess.” She chews on her lip. “I need to go home. I should probably start walking now.”
“Walking? You’re not walking home by yourself.”
Her brown eyes waver for a moment. “I can’t call anyone, my phone’s dead. I forgot to charge it before I came out. Silly me.”
I swipe a hand over my jaw. “I’ll walk you home.”
“Why?”
“To make sure you get back okay.”
“I’ll be okay walking. I like walking. Do you like walking?”
“Yeah.” I nod. “I like walking, so I’ll walk you home.”
Maya blinks up at me. “You don’t need to do that, you’ve already saved me once. You can’t be my knight in shining armour twice. That’s just stupid,” she slurs.
“Watch me,” I say slowly.
She sucks in air. “But?—”
“Come on.” I gesture with my hand. “Let’s go.”
Maya swallows. “Okay.”
I text JJ to tell him that I’m leaving to take Maya home when my phone vibrates immediately. I glance at it and roll my eyes. I could have guessed the response.
JJ:
The girl you said you’d stay away from?
But I’m not going to allow her to walk home alone, drunk or not.
The journey back to campus doesn’t take long and is mostly occupied with Maya telling me about her night and her so-called ‘friends’ who ditched her. I don’t think she’s paused to take a breath, but hopefully the walk has somewhat sobered her up.
When we reach her accommodation, she sways when she attempts to put the keycard in the door. I gently take it from her fingers. “Let me do it.”
“Thank you,” she murmurs. “Sorry, I’m such a mess.”
