The Deal (Off-Campus #1)(102)

I don’t know what to say. Or do. Or think.

Someone shouts, “Wellsy!”

I turn my head.

When I turn it back, Rob is hurrying away like he’s trying to outrun a bullet.

I can’t breathe.

Garrett comes up beside me. I know it’s him because I recognize the gentle sweep of his hand on my cheek, but my gaze stays glued to Rob’s retreating back. He’s wearing a Buffalo State jacket. Does he go there? I never bothered finding out what happened to Aaron’s friends. Where they went to college, what they’re doing now. The last time I had any contact with Rob Delaney, it was indirectly. It was when my dad attacked Rob’s father in the hardware store in Ransom.

“Hannah. Look at me.”

I can’t tear my eyes off Rob, who hasn’t made it out the door yet. The group of friends he’s with stop to talk to a few people, and he tosses a panicky glance over his shoulder, paling when he realizes I’m still staring at him.

“Hannah. Jesus. You’re white as a sheet. What’s wrong?”

I guess I’m pale, too. I guess I look like Rob. I guess we’ve both just seen a ghost.

The next thing I know, my head is wrenched to the side as Garrett’s hands clutch my chin to force eye contact.

“What’s going on? Who is that guy?” He’s followed my gaze, and now he’s watching Rob with visible mistrust.

“Nobody,” I say weakly.

“Hannah.”

“It’s nobody, Garrett. Please.” I turn my back to the door, effectively eliminating any temptation to look Rob’s way.

Garrett pauses. Searches my face. Then he sucks in a breath. “Oh fuck. Is it…?” His horrified question hangs between us.

“No,” I say quickly. “It’s not. I promise.” My lungs burn from lack of oxygen, so I force myself to take a deep breath. “He’s just a guy.”

“What guy? What’s his name?”

“Rob.” Nausea circles my belly like a school of sharks. “Rob Delaney.”

Garrett’s gaze moves past my shoulder, which tells me that Rob is still here. Damn it, why can’t he just leave already?

“Who is he, Hannah?”

Hard as I try, I can no longer pretend that my whole world hasn’t been knocked off kilter.

My face collapses and I whisper, “It’s Aaron’s best friend. He’s one of the guys who testified against me after the—”

Garrett is already stalking away.





38




Garrett


My blood roars between my ears. I hear Hannah calling after me but I can’t stop moving. It’s like I’m watching the world through a red mist. I’ve gone on autopilot, turning into an asshole-seeking missile that travels in a straight path toward Rob Delaney.

The bastard who helped Hannah’s rapist get off without so much as a slap on the wrist.

“Delaney,” I call out.

His shoulders tense. Several people glance our way, but there’s only one person I’m interested in at the moment. He turns around, dark eyes momentarily flickering with panic when he notices me. He saw me talking to Hannah. Probably figured out what she told me.

He says something to his friends and takes a hasty step away from the group, and my jaw turns to stone as he warily approaches me.

“Who the hell are you?” he mutters.

“Hannah’s boyfriend.”

His expression conveys unmistakable fear, but he still tries to play it off cool. “Yeah? Well, what do you want?”

I draw a calming breath. It doesn’t calm me down. At all. “I just wanted to meet the asshole who aided and abetted a rapist.”

There’s a long moment of silence. Then he scowls at me. “Fuck off. You don’t know shit about me, man.”

“I know everything about you,” I correct, my whole body trembling with barely-restrained fury. “I know you let your friend drug my girl. I know you stood by while he took her upstairs and hurt her. I know you committed perjury afterward to back him up. I know you’re a piece of shit without a conscience.”

“Fuck off,” he says again, but his bravado wavers. He looks stricken now.

“Really? Fuck off? That’s all you have to say? I guess that makes sense.” I swallow the acid coating my throat. “You’re a fucking coward who couldn’t defend an innocent girl. So why would you have the balls to defend yourself?”

The bitter accusations trigger his anger. “Get out of my face, man. I didn’t come here tonight to get railed on by some dumb jock. Go back to your slut girlfriend and—”

Oh hell no.

My fist snaps out.

After that, everything is a blur.

People are shouting. Someone grabs the back of my jacket, trying to yank me off Delaney. My hand throbs. I taste blood in my mouth. It’s like an out-of-body experience that I can’t even describe because I’m not there. I’m lost in a haze of unchecked anger.

“Garrett.”

Someone slams me into a wall, and I instinctively release a right hook. I glimpse a flash of red, hear my name again, a sharp, emphatic “Garrett”—and my vision clears in time to see the blood spurting from the corner of Logan’s mouth.

Oh shit.