Boyfriend Material (Hawthorne University, #2)(36)

His version of caring for her is sick.

I lunge for him without warning, my fist connecting, twice, rapid fire, square on his jaw. He stumbles back against his desk, books and papers flying.

He slides down to the floor, curses falling out of his mouth.

“Get up!” I loom over him.

Last time I laid Parker out like this, we were freshmen. His older Kappa friends stuck up for him (and not me). It was the perfect reason to ditch Kappa.

“This place is fucked up,” I say as I bend and get in his face. “And you’re the reason.”

He struggles to his feet and clings to the edge of his desk to steady himself.

Footsteps pound up the stairs as brothers call to each other, asking what’s going on.

Hands grab me from behind, trying to pull me back. “Hey!” a guy says. “You can’t do that—”

“That was nothing,” I growl as I shake him off, then stalk to Julia.

“Are you okay?”

She nudges her head at the end table, a small whimper coming from her. “He put the keys in there.”

I unlock the cuffs, and she jumps off the bed and weaves on her feet, her face ashen. She rubs the red marks around her wrists. “Eric . . .” Her throat bobs.

“I’ve got you,” I say in a gentle tone as I reach in to pull her into a brief hug. Staring down at her, I search her face. “Did he rape you?” I rub my thumb over one of her tears.

She shakes her head. “H-he dragged me up here and locked the cuffs on me. I screamed, but no one heard me.”

“I heard you.”

“Hansen, get out of this house,” Parker mutters, climbing to his feet. He moves forward, making a play for Julia. “This is none of your business.”

Jesus. I can’t believe he wants more.

I shove him back to the floor. “Don’t come near her,” I say, then lace her fingers with mine.

Parker gazes at our hands, his nose flaring. His lips open and close. “Wait? Are you and her . . .”

“What if we are?” Julia yells at him, regaining some of her equilibrium—and anger. “You can’t do anything about who I’m with, Parker!”

“Come on, we’re walking out of here,” I say to her.

She leans into me, nodding. “Okay, okay.”

“Do you want to die tonight? Because I will end you,” I tell another Kappa who appears at the door. I shove our way between all of them.

I maneuver Julia in front of me, my hands around her waist to keep her steady. The stairs are full of brothers as we walk down. They shoot eye-daggers at us, but no one moves.

I catch sight of the photograph of Kurt in the composite from his senior class before he went to Harvard, and my lips twist. The fraternity was good then; it had people like him to lead by example. If Kurt were here, he’d do the same thing I’m doing right now.

We reach the main floor and walk out the door. The porch is mostly deserted as we descend and head to the back alley that leads to my house.

“Hang on,” I tell her as she stumbles.

“I feel weird,” she murmurs faintly. “Like I can’t breathe.”

I sweep her in my arms, and she goes limp as her cheek rests on my chest.

“It’s the adrenaline. You’re crashing. You’re safe. No one will hurt you now.”

I sit on my steps with her in my arms as she shudders, then weeps softly into my shirt. I rub her hair, smoothing it back into where she had it in a ponytail.

“I got you, let it out, all of it.”

“I felt so powerless. And scared. Not one of those brothers helped me. I mean, Connor frightened me too, but I expected it. I prepared for it. But Parker never got so rough with me. I thought they’d just give me a hard time, and I’d leave, but . . .” She sniffs and wipes her face.

“You broke up with him. Everyone knows it. And he can’t let that go.”

My gaze goes back to the Kappa house, anger amplifying now that I’ve gotten her out. Later.

I focus on her and murmur softly to her as I rest my chin on her head. “You must have broken his black heart.”

She huffs out a laugh, just like I was hoping. Her fingers rub at the collar of my shirt. “Eric, you’re always saving me. How does that even happen? You’re always there when I need you.”

“Lucky you.”

Another small laugh.

I take her hand and turn her wrist over, exposing a small round scar, pink and raised. It looks irritated from the cuffs. “Did Parker do this?”

Her head shakes. “Connor burned me with a cigar after I missed a payment. I seem to attract the wrong kind of men in my life. I always thought Kappas were your friends, but tonight . . .”

“They’re not. Even if they were, I’d never support that kind of mentality.”

“Why are you always hanging out there?”

“Hockey fans come to their house, but trust me, I’m done with that frat.”

“Because of me?”

I stare into her eyes. “You are the final straw, yes.” I pause, recalling Channing making out with a girl at the party. “Hey. Are you and Channing . . .”

She presses her face into my neck and sighs. Little tingles skate down my body.

“I don’t even know what that was. Me trying to be normal, I guess. Doesn’t matter. Same story, different guy. He was with someone. Apparently, Parker set him up, but still . . .”