Page 62 of Running Play (Gods of Campus #1)
Shelby
“Well, well, well, how the mighty have fallen!” The words linger in the air as I turn around in dread and watch the group of Raptor cheerleaders approach me. The brunette in the middle snaps her chewing gum as her ponytail bounces behind her.
She is right, how quickly I have gone from someone to being outcast and pushed around, literally. I got shoulder shoved at least three times today. Which didn’t hurt nearly as much as seeing him having lunch with Jasmine yesterday.
“Nobody missed you last night at Christian’s party. He had an amazing night,” she boasts.
Party? He had a party?
“He really let loose, if you know what I mean,” she winks.
“I have some footage of him…want to see?” Before I can answer, her French tips are shoving her phone in my face.
I watch as Christian dances around his living room with a bottle of alcohol in his hand.
He is clearly drunk, while at least twenty women dance around him.
He is shirtless, his perfect body glistens with sweat.
His chiseled V disappears into his low-hanging shorts, an d he looks way too sexy for any woman to resist. A girl approaches him, kneeling and rubbing part of his chest with a cloth, and he stands there, letting her.
After a few seconds, she starts writing something across his lower stomach— way too low for my liking.
His whole body is already covered in writing: names, phone numbers, drawings.
But that’s not what gets me. It’s the way he watches her.
The way he looks down at her… and the way she looks back up at him.
Like if he wanted her, he could have her.
A few moments later, he disappears in the video, swallowed by the crowd of women.
The thought of him dancing with all those gorgeous women makes me sick…how drunk did he get? What if he slept with one of them? God, he could have had all of them if he wanted to. I can’t control the tears welling up in my eyes. No, no, no, I chant to myself. Don’t cry .
“Aww, don’t cry,” the brunette says, trying to rub my arm, but my reflexes are quick, and I pull away from her.
“We will take real good care of him,” she says, coming into my personal space with a wicked grin.
I quickly turn my back on her as I feel more tears building and rush away from her and her laughing friends.
My body is drained as I enter my dorm building, I don’t know how much longer my body can keep this up.
Since Justin’s message, I have not slept, barely been able to eat, and only left my room to attend two classes today.
I’ve been on the phone to the detectives back home, and they have been communicating with the local police here, putting out an APB on Justin.
As the front door closes behind me, I see Sarah on the phone.
She gestures for me to come over. She covers the mouthpiece of the phone and whispers.
“These came for you.” Reaching down, she pulls up a bouquet of flowers, and not just any flowers, white roses—my heart drops. I feel faint, this can’t be happening.
“Are you okay?” Sarah asks.
I can feel the blood leaving my face. “I’m fine, I-I don’t want them, you can keep them,” I say, pushing the flowers back to her and stepping away.
“Really? Thank you, they are lovely.”
I turn and head for the stairs. I know they’re lovely, they used to be my favorite.
Now there’s only one thing worse than seeing him, and that’s seeing a bouquet of white roses.
I rush to my room in a daze and feel faint and nauseous.
He knows where I live, he’s been here watching me.
I can’t go back to looking over my shoulder, back to not eating, and not wanting to leave my room, but he knows.
He knows my dorm building and probably my room number.
Yep, I’m going to be sick. I don’t know how much more my body can take as I run into the girls’ bathroom.
I’m crying again, my body drained from the last few days of no sleep, constant tears, overwhelming fear, and missing Christian. I vomit into the porcelain bowl.
A knock at the door startles me. “Are you okay?” a girl asks .
“Yeah, something just doesn’t agree with me,” I say as I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.
“Do you want me to get someone?”
“No, I’ll be fine,” I yell back.
“Did you go to Christian’s party too? My roommate went there and was sick all night, I told her–”
I cut her off. “No, I didn’t. I’m fine, really.” I say as I flush the toilet and lean against the stall door, resting my head in my hands.
I need to warn Letti. I need to let her know he’s here and that he knows where I live, and I need to call Christian. I can’t do this anymore. Keeping this from him—living with him hating me—it’s killing me.
I miss him.I love him.And right now, I need him more than anything.
I steady my hands on the walls and stand, exiting the stall. I wash my hands and pull out my phone. They tremble as I walk down the corridor and bring up his number. I open our door and freeze at the body on the floor.
“Letti,” I yell, dropping my bag and pushing my phone into my back pocket as I fall to my knees beside her. “Oh my God. Letti, are you okay?” I can see the patch of blood staining her brown hair. Fresh blood. Rubbing her back, I get down to her face to check her breathing. “Letti, can you hear me?”
She moans and relief washes over me as I watch her back rise and fall.
“It’s going to be okay,” I whisper, brushing her hair away from her face.
I go to reach for my phone, but the sharp click of the door shutting behind me freezes me in place.
My heart thuds against my ribs. I hadn’t even realized he was in the room, my eyes had been locked on Letti, but without looking I already know.
The air shifts, thick with his presence, sharpening each sensation, every nerve screams, muscles coil, ready to run, ready to fight, yet I remain locked in place.
I take a deep breath and turn, coming face to face with him, my living. breathing nightmare.
Seven-thousand miles and he’s here. My ghost from the past, standing before me as if distance never mattered.