Page 120 of Heartless Heathens

The urge to stop existing was dragging me down into a pit of hopelessness that I knew I wasn’t strong enough to climb out of. So I clung to the only other person I knew wouldn’t hurt me in this entire world.

“Hey, hey hey.” She smoothed down my hair and held onto me, the sound of my wailing cries drowning her out so that I could barely hear her. “What happened, Mina?” She used Felix’s nickname for me, and a feral sob left my throat.

“Okay, Okay.” She tried to calm me down, she looked around nervously before pulling me all the way inside. “Let’s get you to my room, okay?” she said softly and I nodded, hiccupping between cries that made their way out of my chest uncontrollably.

She swiped her card in the elevator and held me tightly against her while the numbers slowly decreased and the doors dinged open. Inside, the numbers took twice as long to climb before we reached the number four. She ushered me out and pulled me along until she stood at her door.

“It’s messy in there, and I have a few more hours downstairs at my post before I switch shifts with the other RA, but you’ll be okay in here. I have drinks in the minifridge and there’s snacks in the drawer next to my bed.” I stood awkwardly while she showed me where everything was. “Here’s the remote, don’t open the door for anyone unless it’s me. Okay?” She waited for my answer, I must have barely moved my head with my nod, but she seemed satisfied enough to accept it.

It was tiny, a smaller bed than any of the boys had in their rooms was elevated and underneath it was a desk. There was a couch on the opposite side and screen hanging on the wall above the desk. I took the remote from her, but she raised her eyes at me suspiciously.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I-I-I don’t know.” I shook my head, still not sure if I even knew what had happened myself. “Sonny told me to get out.” My sentences were still broken from the hiccups I couldn’t fight away.

“Let me see if I can get someone to cover for me right now. Don’t move,” she said, her eyes giving me a sympathetic look before she turned back and left the room.

I knew well the sound of the key turning the lock before her footsteps faded away. I didn’t move, I just waited.

I was good at waiting.

“Oh God, Romina!” I heard Reesa, unsure how I missed the sound of her unlocking the door before she came in. “Your lips are purple. Take off those wet clothes, I’ll start a bath for you.” She pushed me towards the bathroom and turned on the tub.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” Reesa said softly from the doorway, and I shook my head, not sure what there was to say.

“Maybe acting like a normal person for a night will help get your mind off of it,” she said and I frowned. “No offense. Those guys just kind of treat you like you’re made of glass.”

I didn’t respond, we stayed quiet for a while and her nervousness showed. She bit the skin around her nail and only stopped when her phone buzzed. She picked it up, moving her thumb quickly before her face lit up.

“There’s a party on the second floor.” She raised her eyebrows like she was up to no good.

I knew the look. Corvin wore it well.

Once I got out of the tub all I wanted to do was lay in bed for the next six thousand years, but she insisted on getting me dressed. She put me in a bright red dress with thin straps that hugged my body from top to bottom, though the bottom ended right below my butt.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked her, staring at myself in the mirror, slightly appalled at how odd I looked in such contrasting color.

Black was much more suited to me.

“They’ve just been dressing you up like Wednesday Adams at the Met Gala over there, some color is good.”

“I really don’t think I like it,” I told her truthfully with a sour tone to my voice. “Maybe I could just stay here and you can go?” She flattened her lips into a line of disapproval.

“Look, those guys have already pissed all over you in front of the whole campus. No one's gonna mess with you. Let’s go have fun, be normal for a night before you turn back into a pumpkin at midnight.”

“I don’t think that’s how the story goes.”

“Hold on.” She dug through her closet pulling out the same exact dress but in black. “Here you go. No excuses.”

“Where are we going?” I asked as she grabbed me by the hand before I could finish putting my boots back on.

“Just down two floors. It’s usually just a bunch of horny atheists, sometimes a harnoy Catholic or two sneak in but it’s at least entertaining.’”

I let her drag me out of her room and into the elevator, tapping my feet nervously while we made our way to the second floor far too slowly for my liking. I recognized some of the faces immediately as we walked through the darkened room with neon lights glowing throughout it. Music blared from every angle as if different songs were playing from different rooms and I couldn’t recognize where it came from.

“Isn’t this Santorini’s ‘pet’? The one we’re all supposed to keep our hands off of or else?” I heard a voice and I turned to see the same guy Sonny had hated enough to send a message to more than once now.

Lincoln Rugsley.