Page 5

Chapter Five

RUTH

O ut of all my options, I feel like this guy is probably my best. I’ve lost most of the anger I was holding onto, but I weirdly feel like I don’t need it so much anymore. As much as Rowan sucks at being comforting, I kind of feel okay. Don’t get me wrong, this is still up there with the top ten worst things that have ever happened to me, but he’s made me feel about fifteen percent better about the whole situation.

“What time is your roommate back?” I ask. I’m beyond ready to get home, Georgie must be freaking out by now. We always text if one of us is going to be back at the apartment late; any time I get out of the studio late or stay at the library, I always let her know. The last time she stayed at a guy’s place after a date, I called Marshall and got him to drive me around looking for her, figuring her corpse was probably somewhere in a ditch. The fact that it’s now three-fifteen and I haven’t called her means she’s probably out trying to hire a sniffer dog.

“I don’t know,” Rowan sighs, scratching one of his eyebrows with a put-upon expression. “His date must be running long, he’s not answering his phone.”

“Did he say when he’d pick you up?”

“Not in so many words.”

I eye him suspiciously. “Which words did he use?”

“He just said he’d pick me up on his way home and I should call him if I got my own ride.”

“So, he could be out until the morning,” I say flatly. Fuck. I’m trying not to get mad at Rowan, this isn’t his fault, but I really can’t be stuck here any longer. I’m hungry, tired, and in the morning I’ll need to take my medication. A part of me knows I shouldn’t have gone to the studio in the first place. I told myself that I would stay in and catch up on assignments, but my brain wouldn’t settle. I thought that a quick practice would help get my energy out.

“I’m sure he’ll check his phone soon.” Rowan doesn’t look sure at all, and the way that he checks his notifications every two minutes doesn’t help his case.

“And there’s nobody else you can call?”

He lets out a long breath. “Not really.”

There’s something in the way he says it, almost like I’ve hit a nerve. He looks away from me for a moment and I want to take it back, to think of anything to say that’ll break the awkward tension that’s permeating the room, when three sharp bangs echo from the front door.

What the fuck? We both jump in our seats as whoever’s on the other side continues knocking, almost shaking the door with the force of it. “Ruth?” a voice yells.

Who could that be? Who even knows I’m here? My mind races as I try to piece together why someone has almost broken the door down looking for me. Wait… Georgie! Georgie must have been looking for me! She’ll have figured out where I am and she’s come to-

“Ruth, it’s Marshall!”

Marshall? What the fuck is Marshall doing here?

“Friend of yours?” Rowan asks, his voice low.

“I-uh…” I don’t know how to explain our relationship. Ex seems too strong, friend feels weird. But there’s not really a word for a former-situationship-who-acts-like-nothing-ever-happened-even-though-he-kind-of-broke-your-heart.

“Open this door or I’m calling the cops!” Marshall calls again, accompanied by more banging.

Rowan lets out an exasperated sigh. Surely he’d be excited to be rid of me? “I’m gonna let him in before he breaks the woodwork.” He unfolds his large body from the couch, crossing to open the door to a red-faced Marshall.

Marshall is mid-yell as the door swings open, his hand raised for another knock.

“Can I help you?” Rowan’s tone is casual, as if he’s the one being imposed upon, rather than someone who’s impeding what’s obviously some kind of rescue operation.

“Where is she?”

I have to hold in a snort at that.

Maybe Marshall doesn’t realize he’s doing a Batman impression, but he’s definitely doing a Batman impression.

“Marshall?” I call out, drawing his attention to the couch.

As Marshall’s gaze meets mine, he seems to visibly deflate. He rushes into the room, carefully edging past where Rowan’s taking up most of the doorway.

“Ruth!” he calls as he reaches down to pull me up from the couch. Between the two of us, we manage to extricate my body with only a minimum of grunting, thank God. I was starting to give up hope of getting off that thing.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Marshall sounds frantic as he runs his hands over me like he’s checking for injuries. I try to step away, taken aback by how intense he’s being, only to almost topple back into the demon couch.

Before I can fall, Marshall snags me around the waist, pulling me flush against him. I try to gently move him away, but his arm is tight around me.

“Marshall, I’m fine.” I try to reassure him but he isn’t deterred, wrapping me in a bear hug that pins my arms to my side. “Hey, it’s fine, I’m fine.” I wiggle slightly, hoping he’ll get the message and release me. My throat catches as I remember how it felt earlier tonight to be carried around, trapped in someone’s hold with no way of escaping.

“Hey man, maybe give her some space, yeah?” I look over Marshall’s shoulder to see Rowan taking two long strides toward us, a deep scowl on his face that highlights a small scar above his eyebrow.

Marshall pulls back just enough to shoot Rowan a look I don’t see. I could cut the tension between them with a knife as they glare at each other, Marshall keeping a firm grip on my elbow. It’s like he thinks I’m going to tear away from him and fling myself into Rowan’s arms.

“Okay,” I cut in, trying to cool things down. “I’m fine, everything’s fine. Marshall’s gonna take me home now.”

Rowan takes us in suspiciously. “You’re fine leaving with him?” His question has Marshall’s whole body locking up.

“What is it to you?”

Rowan doesn’t even look his way, the intensity of his stare almost making me squirm. “Ruth?” he asks again.

“Y-yeah,” I stutter out. “Yeah, it’s fine.”

He nods once, like he’s not convinced, but is willing to take my word for it anyway.

“I’m her friend, asshole.” Marshall moves between us, as if he’s trying to block me from any potential attack. “You don’t need to look out for her. You’re the one who’s been keeping her here.”

“Marshall, come on-”

“Did he do anything to you?” He spins to face me.

“No, of course not-”

“If he hurt you-”

“Dude, just cool off a second,” Rowan tries to interject.

“No, I’m not gonna ‘cool off’!” Marshall yells, releasing me to step up to Rowan. As he nears, Rowan straightens up to his full height, which causes Marshall to falter, the inches Rowan has on him becoming even more apparent in close proximity.

“Buddy, I’m gonna need you to calm down before I ask you to leave.” Rowan’s voice is ice as he stares down Marshall.

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Marshall looks about eight seconds away from stomping his foot.

“Marshall, honestly, it’s okay.” I rest a hand on his arm, trying to relax him even a fraction before this escalates even further. I don’t understand how things got so out of hand. I figured that Georgie had sent Marshall to come get me whilst she… Well, I don’t know what, but it must be important. But now he’s here acting like a lunatic and trying to goad Rowan into a fight? What’s gotten into him? “Let’s just go, yeah?”

He lets out a huff and turns to wrap an arm around my shoulders. “Yeah,” he says as I pat his chest awkwardly. One glance at Rowan shows an expression that looks as if he’s not sure whether to laugh or put Marshall through a wall. “Let me get you outta here.”

He steers me toward the open front door, not even pausing as I try to thank Rowan for hanging out with me.

“Bye, Ruth,” Rowan says with a confused frown.

“Rowan, I-” I’m not sure how I’m planning on finishing that sentence, but it turns out not to matter. Before I can come up with anything, Marshall shuts the front door firmly behind us and has us moving toward his car.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he rushes out. “You can tell me.”

He looks so earnest as his eyes search mine. Despite my confusion, there’s a surge of affection for my worried friend and I wrap my arms around his waist, giving him a tight hug.

“Thanks for coming,” I say honestly. I hadn’t known what the hell I was going to do, so despite how weirdly he’s acting, I’m still grateful he’s shown up.

“I’ll always come for you,” he speaks into my hair. It’s hard not to giggle at his words. They sound so much like something from a movie.

I pull back and head over to his passenger door. My arm jerks as I stop short, realizing too late that the door’s locked. He quickly opens it and I slide in. I start to say something but he pushes the door shut, almost catching my fingers where I had been holding the doorframe. He rounds the front of the car and slides in before I can get my bearings. “Did Georgie send you?” I ask.

“Georgie? No, why?”

“She didn’t ask you to come get me?” I’d figured that Georgie must have called Marshall, knowing he had a car.

“I haven’t heard from Georgie since Monday.” He frowns.

“Monday?”

“We have a class together?” He’s speaking slowly, like he’s talking to a child who’s lost their mom.

“No, I meant, have you heard from her tonight?”

“Ruth, what’s going on? Why would Georgie have called me?” He reaches out as if to cup my face, but I back away, almost hitting my head on the window behind me. Marshall’s face falls as he takes in my expression, the way that his hand hangs awkwardly between us. “Ruth, I was worried when you didn’t text me back about tomorrow’s paper.” Fuck. I wince, remembering the messages I ignored. “I went by the studio to see if you were there, but it was empty.”

“You went looking?”

“I was so worried,” he continues. “Your phone was on the ground, there was still music playing. At first I thought you’d just gone to the bathroom but when you never showed, I knew that something bad had happened.”

“How did you find me?”

“I follow a couple of the Beaufort guys on social media, someone posted it.” He gives me a smile that almost makes me feel better. “I’ve been driving around the block for an hour, asking around at any party I could find.”

“And they just told you?”

“I mean, it took a while.” He gives a self-deprecating chuckle.

“So Georgie really didn’t reach out to you?”

“No, Ruth,” he’s a touch firmer. “It was all me.”

“God.” I rub a hand over my face. “She must be so worried.”

“I’m sure she’s fine.” His tone is almost sulking.

“She’ll be freaking out by now, I’m never home this late.”

“It’ll be okay.” He gives me a tight smile as he passes over the toad head that I’ve only just spotted on his lap. He must have grabbed it on the way out. Probably whilst I was staring back at Rowan. “You must be hungry. We can stop somewhere, and I’ll get you some food.”

“No, I’m fine.” Why is everyone so determined to feed me tonight?

“Don’t be silly, I’ll stop and-”

“Seriously, I just want to go home,” I cut him off, wanting nothing more than some time alone, away from all his worrying.

He frowns, trying to see if I’ll change my mind. I don’t.

“Sure,” he replies with a slight huff in his voice.

“Thank you.”

As we pull away from the big house, I can’t help but look back as long as possible, wondering about the sulky man inside.