Unfiltered & Unsaved (4 page)
Read Unfiltered & Unsaved Online
Authors: Payge Galvin,Bridgette Luna
Tags: #faith, #college, #Christian, #contemporary, #romance, #coming of age, #Suspense, #sexy, #love, #new adult
“It’s not—” Hope took a deep breath and tried again. “He’s a friend.”
“Whatever. You’re supposed to stay the hell out when I’ve got fun times, remember?” Brittany plucked that neon pink scarf from her bedpost and wrapped it around the doorknob, then pointed to it. “Said fun times are about to commence, so hit the trail.” She did a double take as Elijah turned his gaze on her, and leaned back on her elbows. “Then again …
you
can stay if you want, sweetie.”
“Your boyfriend probably has something to say about that.”
“Who, Brett?” Brittany asked. Brett must have been the blank-faced guy with the chiseled cheekbones hovering near the door. He didn’t look like he was following events too well; whether that was chemical or mental was another question. “No, he’s cool with it. What’s
your
name, Hope’s Friend?” There was too much alertness in her eyes for Hope’s comfort. “She never brings anybody back, you know. You must be special.”
Elijah gave her a totally impartial smile and shouldered his backpack. “Must be,” he said, in a completely bland voice. “We should go,” he said to Hope. “If you’re feeling better.”
“Wait a second, are you sick or something?” Brittany jumped on that with a frown. “Because I don’t want whatever you’ve got, swear to God. If I get the flu I swear I will kick your ass up and down this hall, because I am not missing class because of some vomit bug you brought home. You know I’m already red-lined on absences, and there’re only so many outsourced papers I can turn in.”
As far as Hope could remember, all of Brittany’s missed classes had been due to hangovers or sleepovers, not actual illness. She was smart, but she just couldn’t be bothered with actual work. “I’m not sick, I’m just—’’
Exhausted. Scared. Alone. So, so alone.
“It’s just low blood sugar.” Also true.
“Well, go eat something. If Prepster McBoring is good for anything maybe he’ll buy you dinner before he gets his dessert. Sorry, Prepster. After you get tired of the vanilla pudding cups, call me.”
“Hey!” Brett said, as if it had finally dawned on him that she was flirting right in front of him.
“Oh, relax, Brett. I’m all yours.” Brittany blew him a kiss, and Brett sank back into whatever haze he was in without another word.
Elijah held out his hand and pulled Hope up. He steadied her when she wavered a little bit, and his skin against hers felt so warm it tingled. She wanted to hold on, but forced herself to let go. She grabbed her backpack and took a deep breath. “Come on,” she said, and pushed her way past Brett Cheekbones into the clear air of the hallway. Her keys were still hanging from the doorknob, and she yanked them free as she went.
“Later, losers!” Brittany called. “Bet we have more fun than you!”
Hope slammed the door. The neon scarf waved goodbye.
“More fun, but also more STDs,” Elijah said. “Wow. That’s your roommate? I’m really sorry.”
“No,
I’m
sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry that all this is so … weird. You only wanted a place to sit and maybe sell a magazine, and now you’ve got some fainting girl with roommate issues.”
“Well, it’s not every day I get hit on by a future porn star, so I guess that’s something,” he said.
“Too bad you didn’t get her number.”
“That girl? I guarantee, she’s got it posted on her Facebook page. Besides, she’s not my type.”
“What’s your type?” she asked, in what she hoped was a snarky, self-deprecating tone. “Pale, fainting Jesus freaks?”
“You’re only pale because you need food, and I’ve got nothing against religious girls,” he said. “I like you. You’re kind, and honest.”
“You think I’m
honest
?” That almost triggered wild amusement, but she managed to keep it under control—mainly because she cared what he thought about her, and she didn’t want to drive him off. Not quite yet.
“I think you have to be pretty damn kind if you haven’t killed that crazy chick you call a roommate yet. And I think you’re pretty honest. Clueless, but honest.” He looked at her, and the look in his eyes was serious and assessing. “You got someplace else to go?”
“Well, I used to have a favorite spot, but I can’t go back,” she said. “It’s kind of a crime scene now.” That invited questions that he didn’t ask, luckily. He just nodded, as if that was the kind of thing he heard every day, like it translated as
the carpet’s being steamed
or
the roach guy is putting down poison.
“I really need a new place.”
“You really do,” he agreed. “And if you saw where I live, you’d know that getting my sympathy isn’t easy.”
“Do you have time to sit down somewhere, or …”
“I don’t,” he said. He sounded sorry about it, but there was a kind of certainty to it that made her realize this nice little oasis of comfort was almost gone. Back to the wasteland for her. “Wish I could, but like I said, my ride will be waiting.”
“I’ll walk you there,” she said. “It’s the least I can do.
You
might pass out and hit
your
head.”
“It’s a possibility,” he said. “Thanks for looking out for me.”
This time, the smile he gave her seemed utterly genuine, and he held out his hand to her. She took it, and yes, there was that unmistakable shock and tingle again. Her pulse moved faster, and the breaths she took seemed deeper.
I don’t want him to go,
she realized.
I really don’t.
“Can we walk slowly?” she asked.
“We can take it any speed you want.”
Walking to the elevator only took about half a minute, but the elevator was slow to arrive, and slower to descend, which was nice. They spent that time in silence, just holding hands, and then strolled through the lobby at a leisurely pace. Outside, the air still felt warm and dry, with a little breeze to lift Hope’s hair from her shoulders and flutter it gently. Was it her imagination, or was Elijah walking a little closer to her? Holding her hand a little tighter, as if he was afraid she might pull away?
“I know she seemed kind of extreme, but Brittany’s usually not
quite
that bad,” she said. “She just … likes guys.”
“I noticed,” he said. “Nothing against that, but I was thinking about you. It seems like it isn’t a great situation for you. The whole room screams how different the two of you are.”
“It does?” She’d always thought that, but she was surprised he’d seen it so clearly.
“Sure. Your bed was made, stuff put away, books neat on the desk. Her half looks like the party never stops long enough to pick up after it.”
“True. You know how it is, random roommate assignments don’t always work out. I’ve been thinking of finding my own apartment off campus. I just couldn’t afford it.”
Couldn’t, past tense.
You can afford it now,
a voice in the back of her mind said … not the voice of Sensible Hope. This voice, she didn’t trust. This one made her shiver, because it was the devil on her shoulder, and his whisper in her ear.
Elijah shrugged. “I’d offer my place, but the fact is if you think
this
is bad, you should see the people I travel with.”
“You travel with a group?” That was interesting, and something to take her mind off her troubles. “Like a tour of campuses?”
“Kind of,” he said. He looked down, and she got to admire the play of light on his skin as they passed beneath a tree without feeling too embarrassed about it. He had lovely skin, but she still ended up focused on his lips. Such an expressive mouth. “I might have just enough time to grab some quick food, maybe a burger or something, if you still want to have dinner with me. I could even use your extra cash if you don’t think that’s too cheap. We’ll have to make it fast, though. I really can’t keep them waiting for too long.”
She laughed. “Sure. Fast food it is.”
The walk across the campus was nice, and it felt oddly private. The campus crowd thinned out at this time of day … afternoon classes were mostly done, and ASU-RV was a commuting campus, for the most part. She turned them in the direction of the burger bar, which was at the eastern end of the University Center. Not the best food in the world, but cheap and quick.
I don’t want this to be cheap and quick,
she thought.
I want to have dinner. Real dinner. With a restaurant and a table and maybe one of those little tea candles on the table. Low lights. I might even have wine.
She knew it wouldn’t happen; he’d made that pretty clear, but it was a nice fantasy.
It ended abruptly, just as they neared the end of the University Center. The burger bar was near the visitors’ parking, and there was a long driveway for pick-ups and drop-offs. There was a beat-up white panel van idling there, and she wouldn’t have thought anything of it except that she felt Elijah’s hand close over her arm, and looked up to see that his face had gone tense and still.
He looked like a different person. Same face, but the attitude had changed completely.
“Change of plans,” he said. “You go back to your dorm, okay? I’m sorry about dinner.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“My boss is looking for me,” he said. “Nothing for you to worry about. Sorry, I can’t do dinner after all.”
She finally saw that there was a big man with a shaved head standing by the van’s front fender. His arms were folded, and he looked impatient and intimidating.
He also looked
angry.
“What’s going on?” she asked Elijah, and pulled on his hand to slow him down. “Are you in trouble?”
“I told you, my ride was waiting,” he said. “I really have to go. Just—look, you seem nice, okay? I don’t want to get you into this.”
“Get into me into what? Selling magazines?”
She knew that expression that crossed his face; she’d felt it in herself many times in the past two days. That was despair, and the wasteland. “Just
go,
Hope. Here. Take the money back.”
He tried to slip it to her, and she knocked his hand back.
“No! I said you could have it!”
“Hope, please—”
The bald man was heading their way now with brisk, heavy steps. Hope looked around. There were a few students in view, but nobody close, and the campus cops were nowhere to be seen. “Elijah, do I need to call somebody?”
“
No!
“ Elijah took her by the shoulders and looked directly into her eyes. “Get out of here. Now. Just go.”
“But—”
And then the big man was on them. “You’re late, E.J.,” he said. “Time to go.”
“Yeah, just give me a minute.” Elijah’s eyes were on Hope’s face now, and he took her hand again. “Take care of yourself.”
The big man shook his head and put his hand on the back of Elijah’s neck. Hope guessed it was supposed to look friendly, but it didn’t, especially when she saw Elijah flinch at the touch. “C’mon, kid. We’ve been waiting on you. You don’t want Mr. Solomon to get upset, do you?”
“Hey! Hey, let go of him!” Hope stepped forward. “Elijah? Are you okay?”
“This your new girlfriend?” The bald man laughed and shook Elijah by the hold he had on his neck, like a terrier with a rat. Elijah wasn’t small, but he wasn’t as bodybuilder pumped as the other man. “He’s got one of you on every campus, honey, so take my advice and walk away. You better have done more than get laid today, E.J. Your envelope’s been pretty short the last couple of days.”
“I’m sorry,” Elijah said. He didn’t say it to the man holding him. He said it to Hope. “It wasn’t like that. I swear.”
She believed him, and she didn’t even know why, really, except that he hadn’t taken advantage of her when he’d had ample opportunity. That open door haunted her, and the gentleness of his hands moving her into her room.
It wasn’t like that.
“Elijah, do you want to go with him? Really?”
“Yes,” he said. But she could tell he was lying about that. “I have to.”
“You don’t have to do anything. Come on. Just come with me, okay?”
“He’s not going anywhere with you, sweetheart. Walk.” The big man sounded bored, but he was also getting aggressive, and the look he gave her was chilling. “I’m not going to tell you again. He’s not worth it.”
“Are you taking him somewhere against his will? Because that’s kidnapping,” she said, and pulled out her phone. “And it’s a crime.”
That got the bald man’s attention. So did her punching numbers into the phone. She expected him to let Elijah go and back off—but instead, he grabbed for her. She wasn’t prepared for that. His right hand was huge and strong, and it closed around her wrist as he wrenched the phone from her hand with his left. “Let’s not do anything stupid,” he said. “Relax, honey. I’m just going to borrow this for a while—”
He’d let Elijah go to grab her and the phone, and that was a mistake. Elijah punched him from behind—a solid kidney punch—and the big guy grunted and swung around, still holding Hope’s wrist. He nearly wrenched her arm out of its socket. Elijah followed up with a fast uppercut and a kick that took the guy’s knees out from under him.
He almost dragged Hope down with him, but she wrenched free, panting, and grabbed her phone from where he’d dropped it. Elijah pushed her ahead of him across open ground, away from the van. The door slid open, and Hope got a glimpse of faces inside—five or six of them, young men and women. They didn’t get out. One of them made a motion that looked like she wanted Elijah to keep moving.
The big guy was getting up behind them.
“Run!” Elijah yelled. He took her hand, and she managed to keep up, even with the heavy backpack dragging on her shoulder and shorter legs. She knew the campus, and pulled him to the right at a dead run as they rounded the building. That led through a water garden that had a path through the center—it looked from an angle as if they’d disappeared into the jets, but the path itself was only a little damp. With any luck, the guy chasing them wouldn’t see it.
Beyond that was the square faux-adobe of the Liberal Arts building. She and Elijah took the steps two at a time, careened into the hallway, and she pulled him up another flight of stairs and headed down another long hallway toward the Media Center at the end. It was still open, though it’d be closing in thirty minutes; there were a few students still parked in front of computers working on projects, but they hardly got glances, even though she was red-faced and gasping for air. God bless headphones and tunnel vision.
