The water at the base of the tub ran red with blood, and by the time I had stepped out of the shower, the swelling and blackening of bruises had already begun. I dried off, bandaged myself up as much as I could, and wrapped a towel around my body. My right eye had nearly swollen completely shut as I tried to make my way down the hall and into Adam’s room.

“Holy shit!” Adam said when he saw me come through the door. He ran up and grabbed hold of my arms, and for once, I didn’t mind the help. I felt like every muscle in my body was screaming at me as I laid down onto my back on the bed.

“What happened?” he asked breathlessly.

“Someone jumped me on my walk home,” I said weakly.

My head was pounding so bad that I couldn’t tell if it was the swelling or the pain that was screwing up my vision.

“Damn it, Lisette, I told you to wait for me!” he shouted. His loud voice hurt my head even more, and I winced.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

“It’s okay,” I replied. “I deserved it. You were right.”

He raked his hands through his hand. “No, you didn’t deserve any of this. Did you see who did this to you?”

My thoughts slowed nearly to the point of unconsciousness. I could tell him that it was Michael who did it, but what good would that do? He would likely go try to beat the shit out of Michael, and he might very well be able to beat him, especially considering that I was able to get in a few good hits on Michael tonight. But all that it would do would be to shine a brighter light on me and likely get both guys into trouble with Marta.

I needed Adam, and it wasn’t worth risking.

“No,” I lied. “I didn’t get a good look at him.”

I heard Adam curse under his breath before he kissed me gently on the forehead.

“Okay,” he said after he had calmed himself down. “Just get some rest.”

At those words, I allowed myself just to lay there in pain as Adam gingerly pulled the wet towel off from around my body and slid one of his warm shirts onto me. He even grabbed a pair of my panties and slid them up over my waist and pulled my favorite pair of fuzzy socks onto my feet. Then he pulled the blankets up over me, lifted my head for me to swallow a pain pill, and laid down beside me.

“Wow,” I mumbled deliriously as he held me. “You really do love me,” I teased.

I think that he said something after that, but I didn’t hear him because the pain pill had already kicked in and knocked me out.

Sending me to a place where my nightmares continued to plague me like never before.

12

When I woke up the next day, I had already slept through my first class. Adam had missed his class, too, because he was adamant about not leaving my side again. He tried to talk me out of going to any of my classes at all that day, but I felt like it was important that I showed Michael I wasn’t going to hide. Every single bone in my body hurt. I put on a lot of makeup, but nothing could cover up the black eye and split lip.

At lunch, I was not the only one people were staring at because Michael had a black eye, too. And it gave me great satisfaction knowing that mark of honor on his face was thanks to my fist. There were questions and rumors flying around the school, but neither of us were saying anything about what had happened.

Adam kept giving me side glances, though.

As Michael walked past Adam and me in the hallway, I felt Adam’s hand grow suddenly tighter around mine.

“Don’t,” I whispered as I anticipated what he was about to do.

Adam let go of my hand and walked up to Michael until both men were stopped in front of me.

“Did you do this to her?” Adam shouted.

“Get out of my way, Adam,” Michael demanded.

It was clear that he was in no mood to get into another altercation. It also seemed like as much as he sometimes put Adam in his place, that he never truly wanted to argue with him.

Adam stepped up to the plate. “Not until you answer me.”

Michael pushed Adam to the side, trying to get away. But when he did, Adam swung him around by the arm and held him in a chokehold.

“Did you do this, Lisette?” he growled as he held Michael to face me.

Michael jabbed his elbow behind him and knocked the wind out of Adam, which caused him to loosen his grip for a moment. He reached over and grabbed me and thrust me against Adam’s chest. The look in Adam’s eyes was one of outrage as he held me against his body and got ready to pummel Michael again.

“Yes!” Michael shouted. “I did do it. I made every mark that you see on her body. Happy now? And guess what, the next time Lisette defies me—the next time she crosses my path or refuses to leave when she is told to—I’ll kill her.”

I felt Adam’s muscles tense and knew that he was about to lunge at him again.

“I’m not afraid of you,” I shot back at Michael. “I’m glad you want to kill me because I want to kill you, too.”

Michael laughed and shook his head with a smile. “You can try,” he said as his lips curled around his words.

Michael walked away, and even though Adam wanted to go after him, I begged him not to, and he listened to me for my sake. That night at the apartment, however, Michael did not return.

“Do you think he got in trouble with Marta?” I asked as we sat up in the bed beside each other to talk.

“I’m sure he at least got a stern talking to. But for the most part, Marta doesn’t care much about what her son does. She has other, bigger things to worry about.”

“Like the drug-ring?” I asked.

Adam’s eyes widened. “How do you know about that?”

“Julian told me.”

He drew in a deep breath through his nose. “Ah, so that’s what the urgent meeting you two had was about,” he murmured.

I was surprised he wasn’t denying it or telling me that Julian was wrong about what he had heard. And even more shocked when he continued to explain. “Lineage has been the front for a drug operation since long before you or I ever knew about this school. From what I’ve been told, it’s been decades of drug trafficking that kept the pockets of all these fancy board members lined.”

I nodded slowly. “So, the board members are all drug dealers?”

He shook his head. “Not quite. The drug dealers are the low-hanging fruit. The board members are the executioners.”

Something about the way he said that last word was a bit too real and scary.

“What about Goldshire?” I asked. “Julian said there was some sort of planned merger between the colleges, but I thought they were rivals?”

“I don’t really know about that,” Adam said with a shrug. “I know that there’s something shady between the two schools, more than just a vicious rivalry. But I also know that their boards hate each other, so I can’t imagine that Goldshire would be in league with Lineage. Things are definitely amping up though, that’s for sure.”