Crushed (14 page)

Claire: I was with Will... and it
did not end well. I kissed him.

Merit: OMG. Did he attack U
again?

Claire: Yes... but... the wrong
end.

I stared at my phone waiting for
those three little dots to appear. I bit my lower lip worriedly and
glanced around my room. My butt was still hurting. I needed to go
out to get some pain killers at the very least. I grabbed my
student card and shoved it into my back jean pocket. My phone
chirped. I responded as I walked out my door.

Merit: Ouch? I'm not even sure
what 2 say, I'm shocked!

Claire: Yes, ouch. I don't
recommend it. I'm headed 2 the Union 4 some meds. Meet me
there?

Merit: Sure. C U soon.

I put my phone into my other pocket
and sighed. The temperature was dropping little by little every
morning. I zipped up my hoodie and froze in my tracks as I spotted
Neil on the ground, a little crowd of people around him all buzzing
about what they should do.

My feet moved into action and I ran
to his side. I pointed a girl and ordered her to go press the Blue
Emergency button and then I told everyone else to back off. Neil's
face was already turning black and blue around his left eye and
cheek. A trickle of blood was coming out of his mouth. I wiped it
gently and ran my hand over his hair gently. "Neil? Neil can you
hear me?" He didn't respond.

The blue strobe light above the
light was circling around and around and it wasn't long before a
security officer found us. "What happened here?" The girl answered
because I couldn't. I hadn't seen anything.

"A big dude punched him out and
then walked away. No one wanted to stop him because he looked
menacing."

"What did he look like? What color
hair?"

"Blonde." My eyes widened and
looked between Neil, the officer and the girl. Will did this? Why
were they even fighting? The security officer spoke into his walkie
talkie and another few minutes passed before an ambulance came to
pick Neil up off the sidewalk.

I felt tears sting my eyes, I felt
so helpless. I hated Neil for what he did to me but I still cared
about him. I knew I always would, no matter what he did to me. I
wiped at my eyes as I backed away from the bed on wheels. I made a
mental note to go check on him later if he was on campus and then
my eyes met Justice's. She looked just as distraught over Neil's
unconscious state. My feet went into motion again and I headed
towards Will's dorm. He had some explaining to do.

I knocked on Will's door and
shifted impatiently from foot to foot. The door opened and without
looking I unloaded.

"What in the hell is your pro-" My
fire died down when I realized it was Will's roommate, Tse, that I
was yelling at. I felt my cheeks blush, showing my embarrassment.
"Sorry, Tse... is Will here?"

Tse nodded and stepped back, he had
a hat on. "Yeah. He's taking a shower, he'll be out in a few. Make
yourself at home."

My voice softened quite a bit as I
sat down on Will's bed. "Thanks Tse."

He nodded again, "See ya," and then
he was gone, the door closing behind him. I looked around, the
bathroom door was closed and I could hear the shower running. Did I
stay where I was and wait for him to come out all drippy and in a
towel or did I rush in there and give him a piece of my mind when
he was most vulnerable?

I stood up, heart pounding, and
went into the bathroom. I was about to pull back the curtain when I
heard him moaning. I froze and slowed my breathing so he wouldn't
hear me. I tiptoed to the edge of the curtain and peeked in. He was
hunched over, his large hand was wrapped around his equally large
dick and he was stroking himself. I couldn't tear my eyes away, he
was a beautiful specimen of man. His cock filled his hand so
perfectly, the water made it glisten. When his release came his
huge body shuddered and a name spilled from his lips. Not mine. Not
even female. I gasped and he turned, spraying his seed on the
curtain and my hand. I gasped again and disappeared from his view.
I grabbed toilet paper and wiped at my knuckles. Ew. I was still
wiping when he pulled back the shower curtain. I stared at him and
he stared at me.

It was a stare down to see who was
going to do or say something first. It was going to be me. I threw
the toilet paper in the trash and walked quickly towards the door
leading back to his bedroom. Before my hand touched the handle I
felt his warm wet hand on my shoulder, pulling me back. I screamed
and turned around, my fist was flying. He wasn't expecting such
expert ninja moves from me and left himself open and my fist
connected with his jaw, his head turned to the side.

My vision blurred from the pain of
actually hitting someone and I shook out my fist and then cradled
it to my chest. He let me go in his surprise and I ran like hell
out of the bathroom. He was hot on my tail and grabbed me again
before I got to the door. "Claire! Get back here!"

I screamed again and tried to kick
him but before I could get my balance my feet were off the ground.
He had his hands around my waist and was pulling me up. I kicked
him with the heels of my tennis shoes but it was no use. He was
breathing rapidly in my ear and I felt goosebumps break out across
my arms. "Please don't hurt me..." I begged, I had nothing else in
me.

He snorted and then put me down, I
tried to bolt but his large arm was around my throat and slowly,
painfully slowly I felt my airway closing. I wondered if this was
what happened to Neil and why it was happening to me. And then
darkness enveloped me.

Chapter 22

Neil

"...Neil....Neil can you hear
me?...." Her sweet voice filled my darkness. I was waiting for the
light, waiting for the path to light itself so I could go that way.
But there was nothing, just darkness. When I heard her voice I felt
myself move towards it. The pain came back, the searing pain in my
head cut through her voice and the other voices that were slowly
coming back to my conscious. It hurt, it was overwhelming. But I
had to see her. I had to find her.

I opened my eyes just as I was
being wheeled towards the ambulance. I saw her blonde hair blowing
in the light breeze as she walked away. She looked like she was on
a mission, her shoulders squared, her pace quick. I assumed it was
her, I couldn't be sure as I didn't see her face. I was probably
hallucinating.

At the school infirmary they asked
me all kinds of questions ranging from my lingering symptoms to
information I should be able to recall, such as my name. I recalled
all of it. Everything. The school security force was out searching
for Will after I told them what happened. They wouldn't let me
leave my bed even though I was adamant that I was fine. I didn't
need them to baby me, I needed to get the hell out of here and go
to Claire. My jaw clenched as I thought of her and Will together.
My stomach rolled and I swallowed hard to keep my breakfast
down.

The nurse insisted that I be under
supervision for at least the next few hours while they waited for
blood tests to come back and monitored my vitals. I groaned and lay
back. I was about to close my eyes to rest when the door to my room
opened. Merit, panting from running, was staring at me.

"Oh thank Zeus! Where the hell is
Claire?" She looked around my room as I sat up, my fingers clenched
the sides of my bed as fear gripped me.

"What the hell do you mean 'Where
the hell is Claire?'" I felt my nostrils flare and my insides
squeeze as all the possibilities ran through my mind. I noticed how
pale she was as she shook her head and stepped into the room,
closing the door behind her.

"She was supposed to meet me at the
Union and she never showed. I texted and texted and called and her
phone was turned off. I went by the dorm and saw fresh blood on the
pavement and rushed here, hoping she fell and was here but...she's
not..."

"I saw her heading for the boys'
dorm before they closed the doors on the ambulance." Merit turned
for the door and was a few steps away from leaving me alone in the
room. "Merit! Please! If something did happen to her and Will was
responsible you're not going to be able to fix it by
yourself."

"Well I can't just sit here and do
nothing!" She was panicked, she needed to calm down.

I leveled my voice, pretending I
was the eye of the storm, quietly calm. "You can't run in there
guns blazing either. Take some breaths and think. What is your
plan?"

She threw her hands up,
exasperated. "To make sure Claire is okay!"

I smiled a little, I couldn't help
it. Women were adorable when they were all worked up, it was one of
the many things I admired about them. "And if she isn't? What
then?"

"I'll cross that damn bridge when I
get to it!" The nurse walked in just then, froze and then started
to step back out.

I yelled to stop her, "Can I
go?!"

She stepped back in and nodded.
"The doctor signed the discharge paperwork so you're free to go,
Mr. Begley. But you need to rest and come back if you experience
any worrisome symptoms. Like a headache that won't go away,
dizziness, mental confusion..." I nodded and unstrapped myself,
sitting up. I didn't have time for her babbling.

I grabbed my clothes and quickly
put them back on. I grabbed Merit by her arm and pulled her out of
the room, taking the papers the nurse was shoving at me as I headed
for the exit.

"Neil, you can't come with me
either. The nurse just said you need rest!"

I let go of her arm and looked over
her wardrobe. She had a belt. I could use that. I looked her in the
eye, "I can handle it. Let's go find our girl."

**************************

Merit knocked on Will's door. I
sighed and put my hand on the doorframe as I waited, pretending
that I was impatient to cover the fact that it hurt overtime I took
in a breath. She knocked again and there was still no answer. I
balled my fist and felt the wood rattle under my force as it met
the door. I clenched my jaw in frustration and walked to the other
side of the hallway, pulling out my phone. I texted Tse.

Neil: Hey man. Urgent. Can u come
2 ur room?

Tse: What's up? I'm in the middle
of something.

Neil: If u don't come back right
now I'm going 2 kick in ur door and all ur stuff will b exposed 2
whoever walks by. GET HERE NOW

I shoved my phone into my back
pocket and looked up and down the hall. I'd give him five minutes
and then the damn door was going down. Merit was looking at me
expectantly and I raised my eyebrows.

"What's the plan now?"

I shrugged my shoulders as casually
as I could muster. My bloody ribs were screaming. "I warned Tse
that I was going to bust in his door if he didn't come open it,
like ten seconds ago." I pushed off the wall, ignoring the pain,
time was up, I didn't have the patience right now. I pulled my foot
back and kicked at the door just under the door handle where I
figured it would be the weakest. I got in one good kick and then
Tse was yelling as he ran towards us.

"I'm here, dammit!!" He pushed me
out of the way and unlocked the door, letting us in.

I rushed in with Merit in tow and
looked around. There was no evidence that either of them were in
there. They must've gone out. There were wet footprints, giant ones
so they must've belonged to the ogre, that went from the bathroom
to the door. A damp towel was discarded carelessly on his bed. I
went back to the desk and shuffled through the few papers that were
there. I slammed my fist on his desk and let out a string of Irish
curses.

Tse looked between us, still trying
to catch his breath. "What's going on?" His brow furrowed in
concern.

"Claire is missing." Merit said
softly, calmly, she'd gotten her shit together as I was losing
mine.

"Shit..." Tse muttered. "Is there
anything I can do to help? She was here when I left like two hours
ago. She looked like she was ready to murder Will... maybe she's
hiding his body?" He was trying to lighten the mood but it
certainly wasn't making me feel like laughing. It made me feel like
punching him in the face.

"If only there was a way we could
trace his phone. Then maybe, if it was on, we could figure out
where they were."

Tse sat down at his desk and
started typing on his computer. "It's going to take me a minute but
I can do that."

"Music -and- computers? Really?" I
made my way over to his desk and stood behind him as I watched him
navigate through shit I couldn't even begin to
comprehend.