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ChapterTwo
Ryker
Ididn’t know what the fuck triggered it, but Brandy was losing herself. She hadn’t been able to properly sleep for two weeks now. She just waited until her body forced her to pass out before she gave in, but even then, her rest normally only lasted a couple of hours at most before she woke up screaming.
My woman was getting more and more scars and cuts on her pretty skin because it was the only thing I knew to keep her out of her fucking head. Giving her a different type of pain to focus on was the only thing that kept her with me.
I’d even taken to having Alfonso sit with her while I was in class so she wouldn’t be left alone. I was goddamn terrified to find out what would happen if I did.
I was scared of coming home to find her dead on the floor. Because I’d seen her eyeing the sharp objects in our apartment.
She was contemplating suicide.
Fuck, she was contemplating leaving me, and I wasn’t fucking having that shit.
But today was the Fourth of July—Independence Day—and I was getting her out of this fucking apartment. I couldn’t stand to see her sitting here wallowing in her misery for another damn second longer.
“Brandy, don’t play games with me,” I warned her when she just rolled over onto her stomach. I smacked her bare ass, making her squeak. Her skin instantly turned red. I dug my fingers into the tender flesh, making her jump. “Get your fine ass out of bed. We’re going to campus.”
“I don’t want to go,” she mumbled.
I grabbed her upper arms and hauled her off the mattress. She stumbled, and I latched an arm around her, keeping her steady on her feet until she regained her balance. Her eyes snapped up to mine in shock and alarm. “Tough luck, Little Star. Get in the shower. Now.”
She huffed and stomped away from me. I reached out and latched a hand around her throat, yanking her naked body back against mine. She trembled in my hold, her breathing shallowing. “We got a problem, Little Star?” I whispered in her ear.
She shook her head. I bit at her earlobe. She moaned, her body squirming against mine. “You forgot the rules so easily?” I asked her, tightening my hold on her throat.
“No,” she squeaked. “No, we don’t have a problem, Ryker.”
I slackened my grip and pressed a kiss to her neck. “Good girl.”
I released her, and much more calmly this time, she walked to the bathroom. “Door stays open,” I ordered when she moved to close it. She turned to look at me, hurt in her gaze. I shrugged at her as I shoved my hands in my pockets. “I don’t trust you right now,” I told her honestly. Tears welled in her eyes. I hated hurting her like this, but she needed to know that I loved her too goddamn much to let her go. “I won’t risk you harming yourself when I’m not around to watch, Brandy. Door stays open. You’re not leaving me.”
With a deep frown pulling at her lips and her brows furrowed, she nodded and removed her hand from the handle of the door before turning to step into the shower. I sank onto the mattress with a tired sigh, scrubbing my hands over my face.
Something had to bring her back to me. I just didn’t fucking know what.
When we got to campus later that evening, I led Brandy straight out to the front lawn. There was a big party being held by the campus administration. Campus police littered the area to keep things under wraps, but I knew most of everyone was here just for the fireworks since there wasn’t any alcohol being served on campus. After the fireworks were over, everyone would branch off to go to the real parties.
Brandy was wearing a pair of tiny ass shorts and a crop top. It revealed the cuts and bruises littering her skin. But one thing to know about Brandy, she wore my marks proudly. She didn’t give a fuck where we were at, whether it be the grocery store, the doctor, or a party. She never hid the darkness inside of her soul.
It was one of the things I loved about her. She was just as fucked-up and tainted as me.
“Does she seriously fucking think she looks hot enough to wear that shit?” I heard a guy mutter as I wrapped my arms around Brandy from behind. The people the school had hired were just beginning to light the fireworks. “Needs to cover up. Fucking disgusting.”
A firework exploded in the air. “Fucking sick that she proudly wears his marks like that.”
Another firework exploded in the air, and I moved quickly, knocking out his friend before I dragged the talker to the woods off to the side. He struggled, but we were at the very back, and his pleas for help were drowned out by the constantly exploding fireworks.
Brandy followed, her eyes locked on me as I tossed the son of a bitch to the ground. “You want to repeat your fucking words?” I growled.
I didn’t put up with people talking shit about Brandy. She dealt with enough in her head. She didn’t need the outside world fucking her up, too.
“I didn’t mean anything by it—”
“You didn’t?” I snarled, pulling my knife out of my back pocket. I flipped it open. His breathing quickened, and his eyes dilated with panic. “If you didn’t mean shit by it, you wouldn’t have opened your goddamn mouth in the first place.”
“I’m sorry—” he spluttered.
