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I freeze. Ice trickles through my veins at the mention of my would-be rapist. And then it replaced just as suddenly with burning fiery anger. “You moved me into the house that, for all intents and purposes, belongs to him?Him?”
Gideon holds up his hands in a placating manner. “Ro, calm down.”
I point a threatening finger at him, and he stops his slow approach. “Don’t tell me to calm down, Gideon Brightwater, you enormous ass! You have no idea.None.Of what this… Of how hard...”
I trail off because I’m choking on my words, on my fury. Why this didn’t occur to me before? I am living in the same building as the guy who’d tried to force himself on me at the Halloween party. He’d held me down and ripped at my clothes and had almost violated me.
My fists clench at my sides. “I can’t do this. I can’t be around him. You need to move me back to Goodwin.”
Merritt is the one that approaches me, and not wary at all. She strides right up to me and pulls me into a tight hug. I burrow into her and she strokes my hair. “Ignore them, Ro,” she whispers. “You’re right. They have no idea of what that type of trauma is like. They can’t even begin to fathom it. But,” she hesitates like she knows I won’t like what she has to say before she barrels on. “But you can’t let Gabe win here. And you going back to Goodwin, putting yourself at risk. It’s not the smart move. And it’s admitting defeat.”
I shake my head against her. “I don’t care. He can have the boys’ dorm. I really don’t fucking care if it’s admitting defeat. It’ll be better than being…” I don’t finish that thought. It’ll be better than having a panic attack every time I see him, than reliving the attack repeatedly.
She pulls back so she can look at my face, her hands on my shoulders. “We’re here to help you, Ro. I’m here to make sure you’re safe. I’m pretty sure these idiots would tear the world apart to make sure you’re safe.” She tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “If you really want to go back to Goodwin, we can do it. Just be aware that we would all be moving there.All of us.Not just you and me.”
My gaze flies over her shoulder to land on the boys. Ezra shrugs. “It was easier to move you here than to secure four more rooms in Goodwin. But we can do it if you need us to.”
“Gabe’s room is on the first floor. Not on the fifth,” Fielder adds to reassure me.
“You won’t have to see him in the elevator or the stairway. He won’t be able to come up to our floor, love.”
“One of us will always be around. Whether it’s just on the same floor or in the same room as you. We’ll always be there.”
Merritt gives me a little shake. “We can do protection spells to make sure he can’t get into our room on the off chance that he somehow does make it up to the fifth floor.”
I hesitate. They make it all sound so logical, so easy. Based on what they’ve told me, I could go the rest of the school year and not see Gabe even once. The realization hits me that I do trust them to keep me safe to a certain extent, to not let him get anywhere in my vicinity. I nod, but in the next instant I’m frozen again.
Movement at the mouth of one tunnel draws my attention, and I let out a distressed sound.Gabe.Gabe is leaning against the wall of the tunnel, his arms crossed over his chest, legs crossed at his ankles, and he’s grinning at me like we’re old friends. How does he always know when I’ve started thinking about him? It’s like as soon as he crosses my mind he shows up like a bad freaking smell.
“Talking about me, are we?”
In an instant, I’m back on the forest floor struggling to get him off me, fighting with everything I have in me. I sway. Merritt’s eyes widen in concern, spinning to stand next to me, and glare at Gabe. And I then I can’t see him anymore. Gideon is standing directly in front of me, his vast body hiding me from view, his hands reaching behind him to hold on to my hips to keep me still.
Not that I’m going anywhere. Instead, I move into him. Burying my face between his shoulder blades, my fingers curled in his coat to keep him close.
Gabe tsks. “No need to hide, baby. Morgan tells me you’re one of us now.”
“Don’t fucking talk to her.” The words are harsh and not from one of the guys, but from Merritt.
“I’ll talk to whoever I want to,inept. Need I remind you, you’re in my house?”
Fire flames to life in Hardin’s hands, pulling my attention from Gideon’s back. Jesus, I hate this. Hate that he can turn me into a shaking mess with his mere presence. I pull away from Gideon and he glances over his shoulder at me in question. I give him a quick nod and then move next to him, chin lifted, refusing to cower in front of this man.
Gabe grins. “Ah, there you are, baby. I’ve missed you.”
“Funny, I hardly even noticed your absence.” It’s the truth, but my voice comes out shaky. I clench my fist and force steel into my next words. “What do you want, Gabe?”
His name tastes like ash on my tongue.
He lifts his hand, examines his nails. “Nothing, just saying hi. Welcoming you to the fold and all that.” He glances at the guys around me. “You know they voted to treat you like shit, right?”
“And yet you’re the one that tried to rape me.”
His face goes hard, and he straightens from the wall, taking one angry step forward. “These motherfuckers started treating me like shit the second I started paying attention to you. Threatening me with losing my position as head of Serpent and Hive, casting spells on me. I told you I’d given up something when I started spending time with you.”
“So that means you had the right to violate her?” Ezra’s voice is deadly quiet.
Gabe sniffs and lifts a shoulder. “It means I was owed some reparations. What better way to get them than from her sweet ass and pussy?”
