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“Anyone know any of her friends or family?” I asked.
Everyone shook their heads. I shifted impatiently, still eager to get her out of here where we could be caught any moment by Nicholl or one of his Os.
Cannon finally stepped forward and addressed Haven directly. “Hey, sweetheart,” he said, softening his voice to almost ridiculous tones. “Where do you want to go?”
She flinched away from him and burrowed closer to me. So I murmured consoling sounds until she settled.
Cannon lifted his eyebrows and met my gaze. Though there was warning and censure in his expression, what he said was, “Looks like she wants to stay with you, bud.”
A shot of pure adrenaline raced through my veins. She wanted me.
But then I realized what Cannon was suggesting, and I drew back sharply. “No. She can’t come home with…”
Me.
That idea was just plain crazy.
“Guys, I think someone’s coming,” Izzy said, glancing fearfully up the stairwell.
“Go!” Cannon urged, grabbing my arm and yanking me outside. “We got this. Just get her out of here. Who the fuck knows what Nicholl and his Os would do if they caught us with her.”
I nodded and hurried into the dark night, Izzy at my heels. Off toward the right, I saw Polansky, a cornerback, keeping Muldoon, the team’s tight end, distracted.
Izzy raced ahead and dug through one of her many bags until she came up with her copy of my truck key so she could unlock the door and pull it open.
“Thanks,” I panted as I set Haven gently in the back seat. But as soon as I tried to pull away, she whimpered and clung tighter.
Shit. I began to sweat. Honestly, I didn’t want to let her go. This hero/protector role was playing havoc with my head. I liked having her rely on me to take care of her. But we really didn’t have time for it at the moment.
“Baby, I gotta drive,” I said, my voice frantic and begging as I cupped her face so she’d look at me and focus, maybe even shake herself out of this daze she’d fallen into. But all she did was wobble her head back and forth before she clutched my wrists, unwilling to let me go. “You’ll be okay,” I urged softly. “We’ll be here with you the entire time. We’re not leaving you.”
Her breathing picked up, panic mounted. When she shifted her head back and forth more insistently, I swore she was going to start crying again any second. My heart shattered. I had no idea what to do for her but I couldn’t handle seeing her cry as she had up in Izzy’s room. “Haven, you gotta let go of me so I can get you to safety. Please.”
“Just get into the back with her,” Izzy finally hissed, shaking her hands in antsy anxiety. “I’ll drive.”
“Shit. Okay. Good idea.” Relieved by the suggestion, I nodded and crawled into the back seat. Izzy shut us inside and climbed into the front, shedding her bags and tossing them haphazardly into the passenger’s side as she went.
As soon as she slammed the driver’s side door and started the engine, she glanced into the rearview mirror and met my gaze, snickering. “So, you already nicknamed her baby, huh?”
The knowing smirk in her tone caused me to scowl. “Shut up. It just slipped out.”
“Uh huh. Right. Whatever you say, baby.” Laughing under her breath, she pulled out of the parking spot and headed toward the street. “Just remember to never put her in a corner, okay?”
Oh Jesus. I would’ve grumbled something petulant at her about how lame her joke was, but Haven took that moment to crawl into my lap and press herself against my chest.
My attention successfully diverted, I hugged her close and set my chin on top of her head.
“It’s alright,” I told her. “It’s over now. You’re good.”
Reassured, she sank gratefully against me.
All the while, it felt as if the horror of the evening was just beginning for me. The girlfriend of my most-hated enemy was coming home with me—my enemy whom I would just love to see miserable and in eternal agony—and his girl was in such a vulnerable state that she’d probably let me do anything I wanted to her.
As Izzy drove us past the front of Dandridge Hall, I glanced out the small back side window and spotted Nicholl himself leaning against the front door, looking worried as fuck.
Good. He didn’t deserve a moment of peace.
It was night and the windows of my truck were blacked out, so there was no way he could see inside to probably even know I wasn’t the one behind the wheel, but I tightened my arms more protectively around his girlfriend anyway, ready to duck her down out of sight if necessary.
