Across The Hall (30 page)

without you. The weekend you spent with me made me realize just how much you mean to me.”

This was not what I was expecting. I was a little stunned and not sure how to respond.

“I don’t expect for you to feel this way. I know you need some time right now with everything going on. But I promise you I’m not leaving. I’m not

giving up on this. What we had was special and it could be again. Sylvia, I wil wait for you. Just don’t shut me out.”

His brown eyes were so sincere. I could see the love in them. They looked at me just as they had years before. I wanted to tel him that I felt that

way, too, but I didn’t and I couldn’t lie to him. My eyes pooled and I felt a tear slip down. He brushed it away and leaned in for a hug. I rested my

head on his shoulder and just enjoyed the feel of his arms tight around me, the warmth of his hard chest against me. I hoped that maybe someday I

would be ready for this again. I felt him kiss the top of my head, and I smiled.

He pul ed away as my cel phone rang. I debated on answering it, but it was Jason. I figured it was important. I gave a Quinn a reluctant smile and

answered.

“Hi, Jason.”

“Syl, are you okay? Reed just cal ed and told me about last night. I’m on my way over.” He sounded like he was actual y running. Damn Reed. I

didn’t need Jason brought into this right now. I had enough going on.

“Jason, stop. I’m fine. You don’t need to come over.” I glanced over at Quinn. Jason had yet to meet him, and that was just something I didn’t need

that day. Quinn was watching me intently.

“Reed and Sloane are meeting me there. We’re going to come up with a plan to keep you safe.” I had a sneaking suspicion that the man on my

couch was behind this meeting.

“Real y Jason, I’m fine. You don’t need to come over. I’l send Reed and Sloane away, too.” Quinn coughed behind me, confirming my suspicion.

“Too late, Sylvia. I’m on my way. See you soon.” Jason hung up on me. I knew it wouldn’t do any good anyway.

“So, were you going to tel me I was expecting company?” I was fairly upset about him just deciding that I needed their help.

“Sylvia, he’s going to come back. You know that. We al know that.” Quinn said it in a calm voice, almost as if he were talking to a child.

“Look, I can deal with him if he does. He isn’t going to do anything to me. If anyone should be worried, it’s you. You’re the one he said he would

hurt.” The whole conversation felt like déjà vu. We must have talked about this last night.

“Like I told you last night, he can’t hurt me.” He held up his hand. “Before you start, let me tel you why. When I got to Princeton I was angry and

moody al the time. I was mad at myself after breaking it off with you. I had never had reason to be so mad before and I didn’t know how to deal with

it. It got to the point where every little thing set me off. My roommate, Michael, was a Tae Kwon Do third degree black belt. He got me to come with

him to class. At first, it was to just be able to channel my aggression. But I also learned a few things there, too. So real y, don’t worry about me.”

Wel , that explained the hard chest and firm arms. I stil wondered, though. I’d seen what Beau had done to that guy at the bar. I shuddered and

closed my eyes.

“I wil be okay. Right now we need to worry about you. Sloane and the others are supposed to be here about noon to talk about it.”

I looked at the clock on my phone. That was just a few minutes from now. God, could this get any worse? No one needed to worry about me. I’m

sure he would just leave me alone. I didn’t want anyone else to get involved in this. I noticed I had nine missed text messages. I assumed they were

from Kai and possibly Beau so I didn’t want to open them in front of Quinn. Especial y not after he had everyone circling their wagons around me.

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. I went over to answer it, but Quinn stopped me.

“Aren’t you going to ask who it is?” He asked quietly. Like he didn’t know who it was. I rol ed my eyes at him and flung open the door. As

expected, it was Kai and Sloane.

“Good morning, Sylvia.” Kai was her normal peppy self. Why did she never get hung over? She leaned around me and waved at Quinn. “Hi.” She

flashed me a quick knowing smile and slipped past me.

I gave Sloane a tentative look. I wasn’t sure what the others were thinking after Beau’s comments. Sloane gave me a reassuring grin back. It

wasn’t a ful smile, just a hint of dimple showed, but it was stil a smile. “Hey, Sloane,” I said quietly as I let him in. I heard Reed and Kerri on the

stairs, so I just left the door standing open and went back to sit with Quinn.

Kai was stil standing talking to Quinn about his mom. Sloane pul ed out my dining chairs so everyone would have a place to sit. I sat stil and

sulked. I resented everyone there like that. I looked at Quinn, who was talking calmly with Kai.

His eyes were tired. The creases in the corners of his eyes matched the one on his brow, tel ing me he was stressed. I could make out traces of

purple shadows just above his slightly flushed cheeks. I wasn’t sure what he was blushing at. Kai must have said something to him. The blush was

cute, though. It made me think of our early days together and how nervous he would get around me. Of course I’d felt the same way, so the pair of us

often looked like a set of Raggedy Ann and Andy dol s with our constant red cheeks.

Reed came in, loudly greeting everyone. Quinn reached back and slapped something against Reed’s stomach. It must have been rather hard

because Reed let out a little huff.

“What the hel , Q?” He lifted it up and I could see that it was his flask. I gagged a little thinking about how much of that I had drunk and how I was

stil slightly sick from it.

“You forgot something here last night.” Quinn had an edge to his voice. I didn’t know why he was pissed. It wasn’t like he was the one who’d been

sick after drinking it.

Reed scanned the room for Kai. “I thought you said you’d grab that for me?”

“Oh, I must have forgotten it.” Kai seemed just a little too innocent as she brushed his question off and moved to sit on the floor in front of Sloane.

Kerri came in and shut the door behind her. She was beautiful, as always. Like Kai, she never seemed to be affected by late nights and too much

alcohol. Her black hair flowed behind her, shiny and soft. The only flaw with Kerri was the bitch face she had on. She already didn’t like Beau, and I

was sure after that, it was only worse. I have to admit, though: after saying the shit he had, he
was
a penis-wrinkle.

“Jase’s on his way over too. I talked to him this morning,” Reed told the room.

Quinn nodded. “He just cal ed Sylvia.”

“You didn’t have to cal him. There is not a problem and I don’t need you al here,” I snapped at them, crossing my arms. I knew I was acting like a

child. But I felt like they were treating me like one. It was completely stupid, but I felt like it was an intervention. I looked around, wondering if there

was a camera crew coming to tape it.
Do they send someone to rehab for picking bad boyfriends?

“Since when do you keep secrets from Jason?” Kai piped up. I glanced over at Quinn and turned red, thinking about just how much of my life

Jason knew. I bet Jason knew me even better than Quinn did.

“It’s not a secret, and there is nothing to have him to know about.”

The door opened as I was talking. Of course Jason would just walk in without knocking. “What’s a secret Syl?”

He stopped short when he saw Quinn. The two of them just stared at each other. Nobody said anything for several seconds. Then Jason shot a

glare over to Reed. “What’s
he
doing here?” He jerked his thumb at Quinn.

I spoke up before anyone else, “Jason, this is Quinn Lobato. Quinn, this is Jason Bratt.” I knew they both were ful y aware of whom the other was,

but I hoped this would break the ice, so to speak.

“Dude, chil .” Reed patted the chair by him. “Quinn was here last night when it happened. I told you that.”

Jason threw a cautious look at Quinn. Instead of sitting next to Reed, he sat on the couch next to me.
Great. Just where I always wanted to be,

between Jason and Quinn. Like this wasn’t already awkward enough.

Kerri started. “You guys should have just kicked his ass last night. I told you he was a prick, Sylvia.”

“Yes, Kerri, you did. And you were right, but I don’t think this is necessary. He’s not going to do anything. If you want, I wil text him later and tel not

to cal me anymore. You are al making a big deal of nothing. He never hurt me.” I glared at Quinn because I knew he was behind the worries of

Beau hurting me. Damn bruises. Everyone just looked at me like I’d lost it.

I knew I was fighting a losing battle, so I just sat back and let them discuss it. I only half listened to what they were saying. I was thinking about

what I was going to text to Beau.

I stil couldn’t believe he’d acted like that. I was so embarrassed. Who tel s other people that stuff? The more I thought about it, the more upset I

became. Even though Jason had his arm around me, pul ing me to his side, Quinn must have sensed my mood shift. Every once in awhile I caught

him watching us out of the corner of his eye.

I looked over at Quinn. He was listening to Sloane. I watched his hand twitch towards mine a couple times, and I smiled. I knew he must have

sensed my mood shift and wanted to comfort me, but didn’t know what to do with Jason there. I felt someone watching me and looked up to see Kai

staring at me blankly with a mysterious smile. She was up to something. I was sure of it. I just didn’t know what it was.

I saw movement to my right and realized Kerri had stood up. Reed was fol owing her. I heard him say something to Jason about spending the

night.

“Wait. What?” I looked at Jason, confused. “You’re not staying here.”

“Sylvia, it’s just until we know that he won’t come back.” Jason rubbed my shoulder as he explained it to me. “One of us wil walk you to class and

back again. It’s only for a few days.”

“NO!” I was putting my foot down. This had gotten ridiculous. “I am just fine. No one needs to walk me to and from class or stay with me. You al

live in the same building. If I need you, al I have to do is yel or pound on the floor. Not that I’m going to need anyone.”

Jason started to argue with me but Quinn stopped him. “Jason,” he held up one hand and Jason stopped talking but didn’t let up on his hold of

me. “If Sylvia doesn’t want us to stay or help, I’m sure that her dad, Kel y, would come up if we cal ed him.”

Goddamned overprotective asshole. He knew just how I would respond to that. If Dad even thought that I was in danger, he would drop everything

to come up here. He would probably drag me back home to Quarry Springs and lock me up; just to make sure I was safe.

Jason -- the traitor -- responded to Quinn with a conspiratorial grin. “Kel y may be better to deal with this. We should cal him.” I knew from the

calculated tone of voice they were using, that they were just trying to get me to agree with what they wanted. Although I had a feeling that if I didn’t,

they just might cal him.

“Fine! Don’t cal my dad. There is nothing he needs to worry about. You can sleep on my old cramped couch instead of your big comfy bed for a

couple nights for no reason. It’s your body.” I shrugged, stil upset, but I tried to pass it off as if I didn’t care.

“What, Sylvia? You’re not going to let me sleep in your bed?” I knew Jason was final y past the little crush he had on me, but he stil made

comments like this every chance he got. I felt Quinn bristle beside me. I worried that he was going to believe Beau, and think that I’d slept with every

guy I knew.

I rol ed my eyes at Jason. “The only way you’l be sleeping in my bed is if I fal asleep on the couch first.”

“Sweet. Then I can carry you to bed.” He winked at me. I stuck my tongue out at him and stood up.

Quinn sat there tensely, looking from Jason to me, trying to decipher if we were joking. Jason stood up, too, and said he was just going to run

home to get stuff and he would be back. He left with Sloane. Kai pul ed me over to her by the door.

“Cal me later. I want to know what’s up with the details.” She whispered to me.

“Whatever,” I answered her. Like she didn’t already know that he stayed and obviously nothing happened. “Goodbye, Kai.” I opened the door for

her.

“Talk to ya later, Sylvia. Goodbye, Quinn.” She gave a wave and went out the door.

I came back around the front of the couch. “You guys don’t need to be doing this. Nothing wil happen.” I glared down at Quinn.

He pushed back against the couch, reaching up to rake his hands through his hair. He ran through it twice and stopped midway through the

second pass and just pul ed on it a little bit. That was a common sign of sheer frustration on his part. He turned those penetrating eyes on me and

huffed. “Sylvia, you’re right. We don’t
need
to be doing this. We
want
to be doing this. Did you hear nothing we said?” I looked at the floor guiltily.

“We al hope that nothing wil happen. That would be great if last night was the last any of us see of him. We just want to make sure of that. We’re

your friends, Sylvia. We don’t want to see you hurt. If that means taking unnecessary precautions, then so be it. We wil do that. You would do the

same for any of us. Now stop pouting about it and deal with it.”

Wow.
My eyes flashed to his face as the last of the words came out. Even though the words sounded harsh Quinn had the tiniest bit of a smirk on

his face. God, he was handsome when he did that. Tired eyes and al , he stil made me melt.