A Touch Of Sin [BxB]

32.

The sun is warm on my back as I wait at the coffee cart.

I feel unsettled. I know charges have been placed and court is not far away, but the fact that Rhett is still walking around as if nothing is wrong, frightens me. I try not to think of Jake at work and at risk of getting hurt.

The girl calls my name three times before I register that it's me, she is waving at. I shake my head and take it from her. My mind won't stop thinking about everything that's been going on. I replay so many moments. The first date I had with Rhett. The time Jake hit him and I thought he was the dangerous one. The times in class I caught him staring.

Lena organised everyone to gather at the beach later today for volleyball and drinks. I'm looking forward to it, hoping it will take my mind off of everything that has been going on. I want Jake to have some fun, even though he seems to be handle this better than me. Maybe because of everything he dealt with in his childhood.

I pull up Kat's number and call her. The phone rings three times and then I'm greeted with her voicemail. She isn't hiding the fact that she's avoiding me anymore. I exhale, shoving my phone back into my pocket.

The lectures seem to drag on longer than usual today, and I struggle to keep my eyes open. I should have gotten a large coffee.

When I arrive at my tutorial–three minutes late, which really bothers Professor Harrold–I am greeted with everyone gathered in clusters around the tables, music playing and bowls of chips scattered over the counter tops. I want to face-palm myself. It totally slipped my mind we were doing an end of semester party. I was supposed to make brownies.

I try to slide in without notice.

"Where's your brownies?" a girl with curly, dark hair asks me.

"I forgot."

She rolls her eyes. "Plenty here, anyway."

I fill a plastic red cup up with the punch provided. I drain almost the entire cup and re-fill it, when I look up. I see a figure disappearing through the door. I jerk in surprise, the liquid sloshing over the side and onto my hand. I rush to the door and poke my head out. No one is in the hall.

The retreating figure had looked so much like Rhett. He was in this class before the AVO was placed. I swallow uneasily. Now I'm paranoid about everything.

"Are you okay?" a guy asks me, who I recognise as being one of the front row sitters.

"Yeah, fine."

I attempt to mingle with the class and the longer the time goes on, the worse I feel. My head feels light and my limbs feel slow. I brush past one of the girls who sits in my row and out the door, feeling my skin growing damp.

Both toilets in the building have an OUT OF ORDER sign slashed across the doors and I stumble down the hallway, seeking the fresh hair, gulping it down in big swallows.

A hand finds my back and guides me towards the carpark. I look to the side and recognise the dark skin and slight stubble that belongs to Rhett. I jerk my arm away, but the movement is so slow and heavy that nothing happens. My feet trip over themselves as I'm placed into his car.

"Rhett," I ground out, my words slurring.

My vision narrows and I grip the door, desperately trying to cling onto consciousness.

"Close your eyes."

I fumble urgently for the door handle.

His hand slams into the side of my head and, the corner of my face slaps the window.