After being cheated on by her fiancé, the last thing Lydia wants to do is room with her brother and his 2 roommates, but what happens when she has no where else to go?
***
Devastated by a betrayal...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The air in the bar was swirling with grey cigarette smoke that threatened to curl around my esophagus and strangle me in my place for continuing what I was doing. I refused to believe that karma wasn't going to get the better of me, but I had to remind myself what I was doing this for, and who.
Snippets of steel guitar and keyboard filled my eardrums and I leaned back leisurely in my seat pretending to relax, ignoring the red hot stare that was pinning me to my seat. This wasn't about me, I needed to remain inconspicuous, alert but invisible.
At long last, his greedy and bleary eyes swung past me to land on the young woman to my left, her form slightly swaying to the music from the house band and the alcohol slowly lowering her inhibitions. I knew from his patterns that it wouldn't take long for him to make his way over to her, slip the drug into her drink and then take her to his awaiting vehicle.
I'd managed to stop him the night before last, going up to his target and pretending that we were best friends before he could hurt her, but he was determined that night, I could feel it in the sway of the atmosphere, something dark and dangerous breeding in the air.
"Oh I love this song!"
That was when he made his move.
"Yeah? Me too, baby. Hey what are you drinking?"
My pulse was throbbing under my skin, the wet stain on the cherry oak bar top in front of me choosing that moment to garner my full attention. I didn't want him to see my eyes, filled with trepidation, terror and...excitement?
I hadn't gone full warrior mode on any men yet since moving up north to Harvard, only scoping the bars out and making sure the women I noticed got back safe from these predators, but clearly the campus had a disgusting frat boy problem, especially the ones who didn't understand the word 'no'. The frat parties were next, but I figured I'd try my hand at the bar scene before stepping into the lion's den.
Flashes of my past invaded my senses then, as raucous screaming erupted from the table to my left and I realized with a start that they were cheering on the home football team and I cringed as I realized who exactly they were cheering for.
"Damn rookie's got skills!"
"I bet he's happy forty-two got hurt otherwise he wouldn't even be playing right now!"
"Yeah, bet coach is gonna put him in even more now though, now that he's not so green and proved himself."
Emmett. It was easier said than done to forget someone like him, but I pushed him back to the farthest corners of my mind, even when it felt like the bile would rise up and choke me on the memories of him.
I threw back the gin and tonic in front of me, hoping to stifle the emotions that inevitably surged to the forefront of my body watching his uniform clad body slam into a few of his fellow players in a cheery congratulations.
