The Perfect Game (17 page)

“You come to me,” I insisted, staring him down.

All eyes were on us, entertained by our stubborn battle. 

“Gladly,” Jack responded and walked hastily toward me. He lifted me up in the air and I wrapped my legs around his waist.

“Keep it in your pants, pal,” I whispered into his ear before nibbling on his neck.

“You better stop or I’ll throw you on the floor and have my way with you.” He yanked my hair back, forcing my head away from his before ravaging my mouth.

“Get a room,” Brett shouted.

“We’ll just take yours,” Jack mumbled between kisses.

“Go or you’ll be late.” I unwrapped my legs and hopped down.

Jack looked at me one last time before turning to his teammates. “Make sure she doesn’t walk alone to the game.”

“I don’t need a babysitter.” I frowned at him, rolling my eyes.

“Dean?” he said sternly.

“I got her, J. I promise we’ll all go together. She won’t be alone.” Dean smiled at me and then looked reassuringly at his brother.

“See you guys at the game.” Jack closed the door and all eyes fell on me.

“What? Don’t look at me, I’m not the crazy one!” I yelled, shaking my head.

“Just so you know, I’ve never seen him act this way about anyone other than Gran,” Dean said, without looking up from his cards.

I tried not to smile, but failed miserably.

Forty minutes later, the group of us headed toward the far end of campus. The guys were playful as they walked, bumping into one another and knocking each other’s hats off. I stopped walking to fall slightly behind when Dean turned around, noticing my absence. I waved him ahead, pulling out my camera and removing the lens cap. When he saw my intention, he rejoined the group with a big smile. 

I knelt on the sidewalk, framing the group of guys in the viewfinder, smiling to myself at how happy they all looked.
Click.
Another shot of Dean’s hand smacking Brett’s hat off.
Click
. Jamie and Matt holding hands from the back was too much for me to resist.
Click
.

“That’s a nice camera.” A harsh voice startled me and the camera fell from my eye.

I looked up to see a large, beefy silhouette towering above me, his face shadowed by the setting sun. “Give it to me,” he insisted, before taking a swig of something hidden inside a brown paper bag. 

I stood up instantly, glancing past the man’s shoulder for Dean. I was too shocked to shout. Too nervous to run. You know how you think that if you’re ever in a bad situation, you’ll be all tough, like in the movies? That’s b
ullshit
. You’ll freeze, just like I did. All I could do was silently will Dean to look back at me. I prayed he’d notice I still hadn’t caught up.

“I said give it to me, bitch!” the man shouted before introducing the back of his hand to the side of my cheek.

His knuckles hit me with such brute force that my head flew to one side, my hair flying out all around me. I whipped my head back to face him in shock, strands
of hair sticking to my eyelashes and lips. 

Did he just hit me?

“That guy just hit Cassie! Hey!” I heard Dean shouting and the sound of feet heading in my direction.

I couldn’t move. My body was still frozen with shock. I couldn’t believe this stranger hit me.

He struck me again, this time punching me with a closed fist on the other side of my face. As I stumbled with the force of the blow, I looked in the direction of the group, my eyesight crystal clear. Dean sprinted full speed toward me when the man suddenly appeared in front of him. I watched as Dean shoved him, but the man lifted his brown paper bag and slammed it against the top of Dean’s head.

Thick green glass shattered and spilled onto the sidewalk as Dean’s body crumpled lifelessly to the ground, blood spilling from his head. I wanted to scream, but no sounds came. My mind immediately replayed the scene: Dean’s tall, muscular body losing all coordination as it collapsed into a heap on the concrete, then blood. Lots of it. Brett ran to Dean’s limp body and quickly pulled Dean’s arm around his shoulder, lifting him and dragging him away in the opposite direction. 

I watched the rest of the group as they scattered like animals in a forest fire. 

Hey, wait!

Where
is everyone going?

I took two steps in their direction before the man suddenly reappeared at my side. “Where do you think you’re going, bitch?” 

I instinctively bent over and tried to cover my face with both arms. My eyes focused solely on the black and white design of his shoes as they danced around me. The colors blurred to the left where forceful blows crashed against the side of my face and head. 

Please stop hitting me.

Blurry movement to the right and the other half of my face exploded in pain.

Please stop.

His fist interrupted my internal pleas as it collided with the side of my head once more, almost knocking me off my already shaky feet. I was his personal punching bag. Blow after blow, his blasts showed no signs of stopping, the force of each punch only growing in intensity.

Dear God, p
lease make
it
stop.

I don
’
t care if I die right now, just please make him stop hitting me.

Please.

It hurts so bad.

And just like that his shoes disappeared from my view. I glanced up to see him running between two sets of houses in the distance, my camera flailing wildly from the strap wrapped tightly around his hand. 

“Cassie!” I jerked my head down the street to see Cole waving frantically at me. “Cassie! Run!” he shouted.

I didn’t run.

I couldn’t. 

My legs were shaking so forcefully I could barely hold myself upright. I stumbled toward Cole, keeping my eyes locked on his face the entire time.

“Jesus, Cassie, are you okay?” His eyes widened at the sight of me and I couldn’t stop myself from spitting, my taste buds revolting at the metallic taste.

I didn’t speak. Blood-covered saliva covered the area where I continued spitting. I pressed my fingertips against my cheeks, the pain sharp where my teeth had ripped up the inside of my mouth.

My mind couldn’t process what just occurred. I kept thinking,
D
id that just really happen? Did he just hit me?
The words kept repeating over and over again in my mind
.

“Where’s Dean?” I looked around anxiously, visions of his body crumpling to the ground replaying once again in my mind. 

“I don’t know. Come on, we have to find Jack.” 

“Where’s everyone else? Where were you?” I asked, my tone almost robotic as a metallic taste filled my mouth. I spit and blood spattered the pavement.

“I…I don’t know. Everyone scattered. It just happened so fast.” Cole winced as his eyes avoided mine.

He tossed his arm around my waist to help steady my incessant shaking. We were walking slower than Cole would have liked toward the campus entrance when I saw Jack. He ran full speed in our direction, his hat gripped tightly in his fist. 

“Cassie!” Jack’s eyes grew wide when he recognized me. “Cassie!” he yelled, as he quickened his pace toward us.

I stopped moving, tears suddenly filling my eyes. I didn’t recognize it at first, the feeling that overwhelmed me at the sight of him. My entire body released the shock it held as I fell into his strong arms. For the first time since this whole mess began, my lungs filled themselves fully with cool evening air as I took a cleansing breath. I looked into his frantic brown eyes and finally relaxed. 

I was safe now because Jack was here. 

“What the fuck happened, Cole?” Jack shouted, his voice filled with rage. 

“I…I don’t know, Jack. One minute everyone’s together, and the next some guy’s hitting Cassie and breaking a bottle over Dean’s head and saying he has a gun.” Cole’s voice shook as he summed up the events.

“He said he had a gun?” I asked, confused.

“He said he was packing. That’s when everyone ran away.”

Jack’s chest rose and fell rapidly against my body as his jaw tightened. “What did you just say?”

Jack eased me from him and began pacing, pulling at his hair with each step. He turned to me, his eyes filled with pain. “Kitten, where were you when they ran?” My eyes darted between Cole and Jack; I wasn’t sure how to respond. “You gotta tell me, Kitten, I’m going fucking crazy right now.”

I watched as Cole braced, clearly dreading Jack’s reaction. Jack reached for Cole’s shirt, gripping it tightly in his fist. He yanked until Cole stood an inch from his face. “Where
the fuck
was Cassie, Cole?”

“Jack, I’m sorry.” Cole winced, unwilling to put up a fight.

I watched as Jack’s other hand balled into a fist. “Jack!” I longed to stop this battle before it began. Jack turned to me, my eyes locking onto his. “He took my camera.” 

I said the words out loud and allowed my tears to fall. This stranger had violated me. He ripped away a sense of security I never knew I had before suffering the loss of it. He struck my body violently and robbed parts of my innate trust in others. And he took the one material thing that I cared about the most and ripped it from my possession. 

Jack’s anger dropped away for a moment, his eyebrows pinched together in pain. “I’ll get you a new one, Kitten. I promise.”

I shook my head. “I need my camera. Why’d he take it? Why’d he hit me so hard? And why so many times?” I fell to the curb, sobbing uncontrollably. 

“Do you think we should call the cops? The campus police or something?” Cole suggested with a nervous shrug. 

“That’s where Dean and Brett are now,” Jack snapped.

My eyes opened at the mention of his name. “Where is Dean? Is he okay? I saw him fall. He looked unconscious.”

Jack leaned next to me, his hand rubbing the length of my back. “Don’t worry. He’s fine.”

“How? His head was bleeding like crazy! And he couldn’t even stand!”

“Head wounds do that, Kitten. They bleed something fierce, but it had almost stopped by the time I saw him,” Jack told me, his voice calm.

“So he’s really okay?” I released a breath.

“He’s really okay.” His voice reassured me and he kissed the top of my head. 

“Hey, Jack.” Cole took a step toward us before Jack cut him off with an angry slash of his hand.

“Stay the fuck away from me right now,
Cole,
or I’ll end up doing something I might regret.”

I looked into Cole’s worried eyes and flashed him a hollow look. 

“I’m really sorry, Cassie.” Cole’s voice echoed softly.

“Shut. Up. Cole.” Jack’s tone was deadly, and I turned away.

Jack’s arms settled underneath my legs and around my waist as he lifted me into the air. “Let’s go home,” he whispered before kissing the side of my forehead.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and nuzzled into his chest, the sound of his heart beating against my ears giving me reassurance.
He carried me in his arms the entire way to my apartment, never once stopping to catch his breath and never slowing his pace. 

Once inside, he placed me gently on my bed and kneeled beside it. “We need to get you cleaned up, Kitten. Your beautiful face is a mess.” He lightly brushed my hair back with his fingertips.

I hadn’t given any thought to how messed up my face might be. My jaw ached and my head throbbed, but other than that, nothing else really hurt. “I’m gonna get you some ice. I’ll be right back.” He brought my hand to his lips and kissed it. 

I heard his cell phone ring and his voice rose in anger at whoever was on the other end of that call. He reappeared at my side. “The police are coming here, Kitten. They need your statement right now so they can go look for this guy. And they need to take pictures of your injuries, so we can’t clean you up just yet. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’d rather get it over with anyway.” I smiled gamely and then winced. “Ouch. Shit, that hurts,” I admitted before placing my palm against my cheek.

“I’m sorry I left you alone tonight. I should have been with you.” His face twisted with anguish.

My heart ached for his self-inflicted guilt. “Jack, I should be able to walk through a neighborhood without getting beat up and robbed.”

“But if I hadn’t gone early. If I’d been there…” His head rested on my lap and he clasped his arms around my back. 

“
I’
m glad you weren’t there,” I admitted.

“Wh
y would you say that?”

“Because I could never live with the guilt if you got hurt because of me
.”

He grimaced at my admission. “Kitten, I’d break my fucking pitching arm if it meant keeping you safe.”

My heart jumped inside my chest. “You really shouldn’t say things you don’t mean.” I gave him a pained wink, reminding him about my list.