“Nowhere else I would rather be,” he said, pulling me back into the room and under the covers. He moved close until we were entwined, every part of him pressed against me.

I couldn’t think of anywhere else I would rather be either.

TWENTY-SEVENDAISY

Two days later, Kye was dropping me off at my dorm again. We had gone out with the crew for a few hours to drive around and race, but I had to stay on campus tonight. There was no way I could keep staying at his place without completely failing out of college and knew I needed to come back for a few days to catch up and get to my classes. The crew had followed us over, and even now they were out doing donuts in the empty parking lot on the other side of the road.

In a matter of months, I had gone from a mess of my life to feeling completely content.

The confusion was quickly dissipating in my mind, and Kye seemed quick to call me his girlfriend now. No fake attached to it. Even the crew seemed welcoming of me being his girlfriend, the girls telling me that I would now be forced to go to their girls’ nights. And as nervous as I felt about that, I was excited.

The world felt surreal, the entire relationship somehow both months old and brand new. The life I had been leaving behind felt so distant, even Dean didn’t cross my mind at all. He had been calling and texting constantly, but I sent them to voicemail and deleted the texts. I had nothing to say to him.

There was nothing I wanted from Dean when I had Kye.

I walked down the dark, dimly lit path that went from the parking lot to the dorms. It twisted and turned through gardens of beautiful flowers until it branched out to each dorm building.

I heard the footsteps behind me, but it was rare to be out here alone. I still sped up, never liking being out here this late. It wasn’t far from my dorm, but far enough to make me uneasy. The footsteps behind me picked up their pace and my heartbeat picked up along with it. I fumbled for my phone, hitting Kye’s name and walking even faster down the path. 

“Please let this be a call that you changed your mind and want to come home with me.”

“No,” I hissed. “I think someone is following me.”

“What? I just dropped you off. Where are you now?”

“On the sidewalk, still heading to my dorm.”

“Hold on. I’m turning around. Keep walking, I will catch up.”

“This is freaking me out.” I heard tires squeal, the echo through the phone adding to the echo behind me.

“I’m coming, Daze. I’m already back in the parking lot.”

“Okay. I can see my dorm building now. Maybe I’m just making a bigger deal out of this than necessary.”

“I’m still coming, and now I’m staying the night.”

“I told you Amber won’t⁠—”

“Amber will be fine. I’ll talk to her. Are you inside yet?”

“No,” I said, fumbling for the keycard to open the first door. I pushed it open, and arms wrapped around me as I stepped inside.

I screamed, pushing back and dropping all my stuff.

“Stop it,” Dean said, pushing me inside more. I tried to elbow him. “Knock it off, Daisy.”

“Let. Me. Go.” I elbowed him again, hitting him in the sternum hard enough that his arms dropped from me.

I took off, heading for the stairs to make it to my dorm. Kye wouldn’t be far, but he wouldn’t get into the building without someone opening the front door. My dorm was only one floor up, but Dean was quick, grabbing me right before I made it to my door.

His fingers dug into my arms, forcing me to face him. One hand held onto me, the other grabbing my jaw hard.

“Let me go, Dean!” I screamed, hoping anyone in their room would open the door. He forced me back until I was up against my own dorm room door, but it didn’t help. I knew it would be locked.

Dean still gripped my face, holding it so tight that I knew it was going to bruise.

“Stop, Dean. You have to stop.”

“No, you have to stop fucking around behind my back.”

“Kye is⁠—”

“Kye is trash.”

“You are the trash.”

“You’ve been going behind my back to fuck him and now you’re not calling me back? You’re back in the dorm, and we are supposed to be together again.”

“You didn’t honestly think that would happen, did you?”

I pulled against his grip, trying to break free. One of his hands held my arm while his large body pressed my other shoulder into the door, his arm pinned between us and holding my face. I knew someone had to have peeked out into the hallway by now, and it pissed me off even further that they weren’t stepping out to help. Kye should be here, but the door to the building would slow him down.

“Kye is right behind me. He’s going to see this.”

“I don’t care.”

The sound of glass shattering echoed around us, and I cried out as Dean tightened his hand on my face again. I knew it was Kye, and the idea that he just broke the door instead of waiting for someone to open it calmed me more. 

It would be seconds before he was here.

Panic rose faster as Dean yelled something in my face. He stepped back, his hands moving down until he was squeezing my arms.

“Dean, let me go!” I yelled.

“No!” he screamed and slapped me, the force making my head turn and stinging pain radiate through my skull.

I opened my eyes, looking down the hall as Dean gripped my face harder.

“Kye,” I breathed in relief, but the relief changed to fear as I saw Kye’s face.

He had watched what had just happened.

Dean’s head snapped to him, loosening his grip on me immediately.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Dean asked.

“Get your hands off of her,” Kye said, the quiet tone not matching the deadly look to him. I had come to know so many sides of Kye, even the reckless ones, but this wasn’t any of them I was familiar with. He didn’t even look at me, his eyes not straying from Dean.