Page 44 of Fighting Conviction

I am wearing clothes.

I am in soft sheets… not on hard tile.

The last vestiges of hazy panic faded from her sight and she realized light filtered through yellow gauze curtains. Her breath whooshed out in relief.

I am safe. I am in control. I am in my dorm. I am in my bed.

The heavy banging that had jarred Ellie awake hammered at her bedroom door until she realized they were only normal knocks, not earth-shaking explosions.

“Ellie? It’s Virginia.”Knock-knock-knock.“Are you up?”

“Virginia, what the heck?” Ellie called out loud enough to drown her stuttering heartbeat.

“Oh good, you’re up!” The knob on her door rattled. “Why’s your door locked?” A dramatic gasp sounded through the thin doors. “Does your boyfriend seriously think you need to lock your door against me? How fuckin’ rude!”

Ellie rolled her eyes but finally remembered how she’d gotten back to her dorm. She vaguely recalled Dev using her key to the back entrance of her dorm and he must’ve laid her in the bed.

“Ellie?”

“God, what, Virginia? It’s…” Ellie looked at her watch to find it was already eleven a.m. She shook her head and hopped out of the bed to pull her door open during the middle of one of Virginia’s knocks. Ellie ducked, but not before she swatted Virginia’s fist hard enough for it to crash against the doorframe.

“Jesus!” Virginia yelped in pain. “What the hell did you do that for?” Virginia shook her hand and inspected her knuckles before turning back to Ellie with her eyes wide, asking for an explanation. “What, are you some kinda ninja, now?”

A blush heated Ellie’s face, but instead of being ashamed, she stood up straighter. Virginia’s fist had nearly used her own forehead as a door knocker. Dev would’ve been embarrassed if she hadn’t blocked it.

“What do you want Virginia?” Ellie struggled to keep her sigh of annoyance in check. She didn’t have time for her roommate’s nosiness.

Ellie’s phone vibrated on the desk behind her and she turned to check it.

17 missed calls. 10 voicemails. 28 text messages.

Ellie groaned and thumbed through a couple of the messages.

Jason: Ellie wtf happened?

Jason: Call me. Devil said he had to come get you?

Jason: Ellie call me, I MEAN IT.

Jules: Your brother’s about to lose his shit, please call him when you can.

Jason: If you don’t call me in five minutes, I swear to God I’m coming to your dorm.

Dev: Don’t worry about your brother. I’ll take care of him. Get some sleep, angel.

Dev: Leaving for BlackStone now. Call if you need to. PS your couch sucks ass.

Ellie snorted at the last one before tossing her phone to the bed. The final text was from the morning and Jason had stopped texting around three a.m., so she could only assume Dev had sufficiently calmed Jason down. It would have to do for now. She was tired as heck, and arguing with her brother might’ve literally been the last thing on earth she wanted to do. She turned back around to see Virginia was still standing in the doorway.

Nope. Scratch that. Second to last thing on earth.

“What, Virginia? I kind of have a busy day.” It was only sort of a lie. Ellie didn’t have anything on her agenda, but it wasn’t like she didn’t have anything to do. She had a crap ton of studying and she needed to check in at Sasha Saves.

Hurt flitted across Virginia’s furrowed features. “Your boyfriend dropped you off late last night. I wanted to check on you. Make sure you’re okay.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend.” Ellie turned to grab her books from her bag. There was a test the following week she hadn’t studied for yet. With her back turned to Virginia, Ellie safely rolled her eyes. She’d probably have to go to the library for some peace and quiet.

“Well, the hot redhead guy who looks at you like he’d burn the world down if anyone ever hurt you. You know the one?” Ellie turned to see Virginia’s eyebrow perked up as she smirked.