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Chapter 24
Hastings~
I’ve been holding on tight for longer than was sane, but she wasn’t pushing me away. She was actually trying not to laugh at me, but I didn’t care. She could laugh at me all she wanted as long as we were good. As long as we were all good.
While I had missed my first class yesterday, Saxton had let me make my other two while he had spent the rest of the afternoon with Kincaid. Once classes had ended for the day, Saxton had kidnapped me, and I had spent the night at his place. The entire night had been spent with him reassuring me that what we had was serious, real, and forever as far as he was concerned.
So, knowing that Kincaid had an early class today, I had fought my way out of Saxton’s bed this morning to find her and apologize. I had rushed home, flung the door open, run to her room, and had begged for forgiveness. And do you want to know what she’d done?
Told me that I was stupid.
Finally, she said, “Okay, I think that’s enough, Hastings.”
“You would think,” I muttered, but I pulled back, giving the girl some room to breathe. Her lips twitched, and this really was embarrassing. “It’s not funny.”
“It kind of is,” she argued. “However, I’m letting you know now that I don’t ever want to have this conversation again, Hastings.” Her voice wasn’t unkind, but I knew she was serious. “Understand that, while I love you to death, my wrath will be deadly if you ever try to upset what I have with Saxton again. Clear?”
“Christ, you’re scary.” She just shot me a look, and I knew it was time to get serious again. “I know, Kincaid. Honestly, I understand.”
“Okay, good.” She jumped up off the couch. “Now I gotta go. I have to get to class.”
I watched her go, and I was extremely grateful that I hadn’t ruined anything. In fact, I’d been so happy about it that the rest of the day had been spent floating around on cloud nine. My roommate and I were okay. The guy of my dreams was in love with me. I was making new friends with Rylee and Alexis Wyatt. I mean, things were good.
With the rest of the day going off without a hitch, it had been easy to pack a bag for the weekend when Saxton had texted me that he wanted me in his bed all weekend long. A part of me wished he’d move in with me, but I was pretty sure that was crossing an invisible line of some sort. It’d be awkward as hell to know that Kincaid could hear us having sex. Well, it’d be awkward for me at any rate.
So, after packing a bag and texting Kincaid that I was going to spend the weekend at Saxton’s, I had locked up the condo, then made my way to the under-car garage. Our building was super good about security, but because there was only one space allowed per condo, Kincaid got prime parking while I parked in the visitor’s section. I didn’t mind, though. It beat the alternative of having to park my car out on the street. While my car wasn’t too expensive by comparison, it was still a nice, white, brand-new Lexus. I didn’t need it sideswiped on the street.
As I came upon my car, I clicked the key fob to unlock it, then clicked the key to open the trunk. I had two bags and, yes, I realized how overboard that was, but one bag held my clothes while the other held my toiletries. While I didn’t mind smelling like Saxton’s bodywash and shampoo, the man didn’t have any conditioner and my hair needed it.
As soon as I tossed everything in the trunk, I made my way to Saxton’s, eager to spend the weekend with him. His condo was only a fifteen-minute drive from our place with no traffic, so it should have been an easy drive over. At least, it had been until someone hit my car from behind at the second stop sign.
Doing my best to accept that accidents happen, I pulled off to the right and onto a side street, so we could exchange insurances and inspect the damage. I was really hoping there was no damage, so that we could go about our way, but I highly doubted it. I didn’t have that kind of luck.
Getting out of the car, I had to shield my eyes because the car hadn’t turned off their headlights. It was kind of blinding, so I called out, “Can you turn off your lights?”
What happened next, happened so fast that it took me a second to realize what was happening. My eyes hadn’t adjusted to the glare of the lights yet, so when a large dark figure rushed me, I hadn’t had any warning.
I immediately went to scream, but my assailant quickly slapped a large hand over my mouth. His hand was gloved, so my yelling was nothing but a muffled mess.
Still, it didn’t matter if I couldn’t scream. I started fighting like a wildcat, not caring about anything but breaking free from the lunatic.
However, nothing was as it seemed.
For some reason, I was expecting him to throw me in the car, maybe drag me somewhere private, or even let me go after groping me a bit. It’s what happened in the movies. In the movies, the assailant never lingered. Unless he had privacy, he stole the purse and ran.
When the first fist struck my kidneys from behind, the pain was so blindingly excruciating that I lost all sense of mobility. My struggles ceased, and all I could focus on was the pain.
When the second hit came, I knew this wasn’t a mugging or raping. Whoever this guy was, he wasn’t doing this for my cash or credit cards. He wasn’t doing this to rape me.
This was a punishment.
Only, I had no idea why.
The third punch had me doubling over, and I lost count after that. I was vaguely aware of being dragged to the other side of my car, and I could only pray that a car would drive pass and see what was going on.
Hit after hit rained down on me, and because he was a guy, those hits were wrecking me. They were quick, hard, and painful. He was hitting me like I was a grown man, and a part of me wondered if he’d made a mistake. He had to have the wrong girl because I haven’t done anything to anyone to warrant this kind of retaliation.
I wasn’t sure how long the beating went on, but I knew it couldn’t have lasted too long. The chance for discovery would be too great. Though we were on a side street, anyone could drive by and see what was happening.
