Page 16 of A Little Jaded
The door rattles like thunder, and I jump at the sound.
“Raine!”Thud. Thud. Thud.Drake slams his fists against the door. “Times up!”Thud. Thud. Thud.“Told you I’d come looking! Open up!”
I squeeze my eyes shut and let out a soft breath but don't move a muscle. “I need to go.”
“Stay here,” Everett whispers.
“You don’t know me.”
“I don’t need to know you to understand whatever’s going on between you and the fuckwad pounding on my door is a bad idea.”
“Thisis a bad idea,” I argue.
“Stay. Here.”
I shake my head, ignoring how my blood boils at his stubbornness. “Hide behind the shower curtain. I’ll slip out, and he’ll never know.”
“Not gonna hide in my own house, Raine,” Everett warns.
“Open the goddamn door!” Drake booms.
I flinch at the harshness in his voice and another heavy dose of frustration flashes in Everett’s soft blue eyes. He pushes off from the wall and yanks the door open.
It happens so fast I don’t even have a chance to register what’s going on until Drake comes into view. My jaw drops, and panic blooms in my chest as his attention shifts from surprise to confusion to full-blown rage.
“What the fuck?” Drake shoves Everett, but the guy barely budges.
Lifting his hands in the air, Everett says, “We were just talking.”
In an instant, Drake swings at Everett’s face. Everett dodges it at the last second, then lands a hard punch against Drake’s jaw. His head whirls to the side. It only takes a moment for Drake to recover, and he’s returning a cross-jab combo of his own. Footsteps echo from the main area of the house as the two brawl in the doorway, blocking my escape while giving me a front-row seat to a spectacle I want no part of. With my back pressed against the wall, I cover mymouth, frozen. Fucking frozen. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know where to go. I?—
Do something!
“Stop!” I yell. “Both of you! Stop!” I try moving closer but jump back when Everett stumbles a few steps toward me after a particularly brutal hit. He immediately takes the offensive again and barrels toward my boyfriend. “Drake! Nothing happened! I swear, nothing happened! Please?—”
From the open door, Griffin jumps into the chaos, taking an elbow to the jaw before dealing a nasty right hook to Drake while simultaneously placing himself in the center of the fight as Everett winds up for another hit. Two more strangers follow Griffin’s lead and drag Drake away from Everett as Griffin turns around and reaches for my impulsive savior, pushing him back from going for another round with the enemy.
Red faced and chest heaving, Everett glares at my boyfriend. I have no doubt if Everett had his way, Drake would be swallowed by an inferno and burned alive, never to be seen again. To be fair, I’m pretty sure the sentiment is mutual with the way Drake is staring daggers at the guy who had me pinned to a wall not too long ago. The question is, who will drop their little staring contest first?
“Raine!” Drake finally booms. Blood trickles from the corner of his mouth, but he doesn’t bother wiping it away. He also doesn’t bother looking at me as he continues his little staredown with his newly gained nemesis. It’s like I’m a dog. Like I’m an object.Hisobject. It makes me sick. But now isn’t the time to stand up to him, even if this is the final straw. The last reminder I’ll ever need about what an asshole he really is. I knew it already, but…
“Raine,” Drake warns. It’s quieter and even more lethal.
Forcing my legs to move, I walk closer to him but hesitate when I’m within reach.
“Get in the car,” he growls.
I want to get out of here. I want to disappear. I want to rewind the last six months and make so many different decisions. But I can’t. I can’t erase the fact I’m here or how I’m in the middle of a bathroom with more eyes on me than I ever want. Each of them judging. Each of them assuming. Each of them making things so much worse for me.
Drake’s eyebrows pull low as he finally steals his attention from Everett and glares at me, letting the blood from the corner of his mouth paint his sneer. “Now, Raine.”
“Raine,” Everett calls from my periphery.
My body freezes as I meet his gaze for a split second. Then, I slip out of the door.
CHAPTER SEVEN
RAINE