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And in its place is the shell of the man I once was.
My mind tries to rationalize this.I’m just offering to keep her safe while her roommate is away. No big deal.
“Well, I better go.” I turn, climbing into my Jeep. “Why don’t you head in and lock the door before I leave?”
Irelynn nods, then gives me a big smile. As she heads to the front door, my eyes immediately go to her ass in those shorts.
As she steps inside her door, she throws me one final wave. I wave back, and she closes the door. I’m confident she locked it behind her.
For one brief moment, I want to run after her and ask her to hang out with me and Darin. But that is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever thought of, and I need to stop this shit right now.
Gritting my teeth, I start my engine, throw my Jeep in reverse and leave, deliberately keeping my eyes trained forward. Turning up the radio, I tap my fingers to the beat.
Focus on getting wings and hanging out with Darin.
Chapter nine
Max
August25,2018,7:45p.m.
I stroll inside Darin’s ranch house, carrying the wings I’d ordered. “Hey, asshole.” I grin as he gets up from the couch, following me to his kitchen. I’ve been at Darin’s place so much the past four years, even living with him briefly when I first moved to Pennsylvania, that I never knock anymore. Unless I have reason to believe he has a woman inside.
"Bout time, asshole. What took you so long?"
“Traffic.” I lie, not remotely interested in telling him about anything that happened today.
Darin freezes, his eyes cutting to me, boring into the side of my face as I busy myself with opening the container of wings.
“You’re lying, jackass. Why?” His green eyes penetrate the side of my face so intently they could burn a hole through my skin.
I shrug. “Just don’t wanna talk about it.”
He turns his body, facing me, crossing his arms. He says nothing for a few minutes, just observes me. Ignoring him, I put wings on a plate and grab some pizza.
Finally, I look at him. “Yeah, asshole?” My eyes narrow, my lips pulled in a grimace.
Darin’s lips twitch. “Who is she?”
I feign innocence. “Who is who?” I open his fridge, grabbing a beer. “Want one?”
“No, fucker, I want you to answer my question. Who isshe?” His tone is sharp, and his eyes are narrowed when I turn and look at him.
Letting out a long sigh, I say, “If we can go into the living room and sit, I’ll tell you.”
He drops his arms and moves to the counter, grabbing a plate and piling it high with food. “Sure. But you’re telling me, asshole. I know you too well and something happened today.”
I nod, heading to his living room. I need to brace myself and consider what I’m going to tell him because the jackass is correct. He knows me too well.
Darin comes in a few minutes later as I’m methodically eating, still debating. He sits across from me, eyes glued to my face. He grabs the remote, muting the TV, never once moving his eyes from my face.
I clear my throat.I’ll get this shit over with so we can watch football. “I went to campus to get my books. I was about a quarter of the way to the bookstore when I heard two people… arguing. It was heated and I just had a bad feeling. I crept to the side of the building and saw…” I swallow hard, the image making me feel nauseous, closing my eyes. Taking a deep breath, I open them, looking at Darin. “This blond dude had a woman pinned against the brick wall. He slapped his hand over her mouth, yelling at her to stop resisting.” I swallow hard again, shaking my head. “He told her not to scream and once he removed his hand, she begged him to let her go. She was crying, man, looking so damned scared and helpless.” Pausing, I look at my plate. I grab my beer, taking a large swallow. Setting it down, I continue. “He gave her this fucking evil smile and said, ‘No.’ She was trembling like a leaf and then he started stroking her cheek.” I turn away. “I could hardly fucking take it. It reminded me of my aunt when I was a kid and couldn’t do anything. I felt powerless and then I realized… I’m not a kid and this shit is really happening. When she screamed for help, that was it. His hand went to her throat, and I was afraid he was going to really hurt her… or worse, before I got there.” I pause, taking another drink of my beer.
Setting it down, I look at Darin, who hasn’t moved a muscle. “The adrenaline started flowing and I just wanted to kill that fucker. I grabbed him, shoving him off her, then stood between them.”
Darin’s eyebrows fly up and he pauses with his beer in his hand. “You intervened?”
I shrug. “Well, yeah. I had to. I couldn’t stand the thought of her getting hurt, or worse. No one else was around.”
