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“Exactly, and he has exams this week. He needs to get out of his head. That means we need to keep an eye on him and make sure he is getting downtime.” Lachlan wasn’t alone in having no idea what happened. The growing closeness between him and KC seemed absent.
It had been evident, even in classes. She was shutting everyone out. The friendships she’d made were all gradually slipping away, as the tide of school and commitments swept them all up.
The only friendship KC maintained seemed to be the one she arrived with. She was leaving everyone—leaving me—even while physically on campus. After Lachlan left with Jonas, I went to the gym. A workout helped, and the rain had turned to a full-on downpour. I tried everything to take my mind off the blue-haired siren, but she was the only thing occupying my thoughts.
My instincts said she was hurting. Whatever went down between her and Jonas piled onto that crap Lachlan pulled with RJ. While the stunt has been effective in getting RJ arrested, as well as banned from the campus, there were no assurances he’d stay in jail.
Combine those incidents with the fire at the start of the academic year and the break-in to her and Jonas’ suite… I was impressed that KC hadn't just washed her hands of all of us and left. Impressed and a little grateful.
As long as she was here, I could keep an eye on her. While she might be avoiding my brothers and me, I had spread the word among the other TAs and RAs. We did our best to make sure she was never on her own, even if we weren’t physically with her.
Whatever preoccupied her, I kept thinking about the baby in the hospital. If her daughter was struggling, it would explain everything. Daughter. The idea she was a teen mom was hard to wrap my mind around. On the one hand, she just seemed—so self-possessed.
Then again, all the maturity in the world didn’t prevent mistakes from happening. Realistically, it was none of my business, but it didn’t stop me from thinking about her—I was jogging between the buildings when I spotted the figure sitting on the picnic table beyond the buildings, near one of the trees on the quad most popular in sunny weather for kids catching some rays.
Slowing my pace, I scanned the darkened area. One of the lights kept flickering, but even with the waterproof hoodie on, I was all too aware of the rain and this kid was just sitting there without a jacket…
Fuck.
I altered my route to get them ushered back into a building. If they were one of my residents, I’d look after them…
The soft sobs hit me as I got closer. Then the light flickered, illuminating her slicked down hair and damp face.
“KC?”
She sniffled, lifting her head to look at me. Any cosmetics she might have worn were gone, her eyes were reddened and her face blotchy.
“How long have you been out here?” I glanced around. Where the hell was her friend? Or anyone else for that matter? She didn’t say anything, just let out another hiccupping sob as she swiped at her face. It was hardly going to do any good with her crying.
“Kaitlin,” I tried her full name, but she didn’t stop crying. The soft sounds were gutting me. “Siren? What happened?” I reached out to take her hand, it was ice-cold in mine and she turned those huge, sad eyes on me and the blade sank deep. “C’mon, you’re freezing. Let’s get you out of the rain.”
She didn’t fight me, but she didn’t get up either. I’d seen people here before. It was that moment when reality just overwhelmed everything. Hell, I’d been there. Fight or flight wasn’t the only thing that kicked in when the stressors grew too much. Sometimes, you just shut down and closed out the world.
Sometimes, it was the only way to survive.
“I’m picking you up,” I said, giving her a minute. If I didn’t get any verbal responses out of her after I got her in and out of the rain, I’d call for the nurse. I didn’t know what happened, but I intended to find out. "Okay, Siren, hold on.”
I slid an arm under her legs and another around her waist as I lifted her right off the table. She weighed next to nothing, even soaking wet. The fact she just curled into me and buried her face against my shoulder wrecked me more than I was prepared for.
I’d seen this girl fair beyond measure, feisty, flashy, furious, and funny. This—this sobbing broken mess was not the girl—woman I’d gotten to know over the last couple of years. Every little broken-hearted sound made me want to do violence to whatever provoked this reaction.
Back at the dorm, I didn’t waste time taking her upstairs, I just carried her into my suite. Thankfully, Lachlan was still out, so I didn’t have to deal with him as well.
I carried her into the bathroom with the towels. When I tried to set her on the counter, she tightened her arms around me.
“Shh, Siren,” I whispered against her wet hair. “We need to get you out of these wet clothes and dried off. Okay?” That at least got her to lift her head.
She glanced around the bathroom, but I didn’t get the feeling she was seeing it at all. I used the distraction to set her on the counter.
Reaching down, I tugged off her shoes. Her feet were bare, leaving only her pale blue toenails to wink up at me. Even as I urged her jacket off, I reached over to nudge on the heat lamp. She was already shivering.
“Okay, I’m going to turn on the shower and get you something to change into. You get out of those clothes, then into the shower and warm up. I’ll be right back, okay?”
Her lack of responsiveness was really starting to worry me. I ducked back into my room, stripped off my wet clothes, and out of the shoes before I dragged on a dry t-shirt and sweats.
Back in the bathroom, she was still sitting on the counter, staring at the shower where the steam was starting to rise. In her hand, she white-knuckled her phone.
“C’mon, Siren,” I coaxed. “I need your help here. You need to get out of these wet things, you’re cold and you’re miserable already. I don’t want you to get sick.”
