Page 64 of Running Play (Gods of Campus #1)

Christian

I jog up the front stairs with Walsh right behind me. Randy’s car is in the driveway, so they must be home. “Randy, Seth!” I yell from the foyer as the screen door slams behind us. My voice must concern them because they both respond to my call.

“What’s going on?” Randy asks as he makes his way down the stairs, his eyes finding Seth as he comes through the living room.

“This is fucked,” I respond, dragging my hand down my face. I walk into the kitchen and grab a bottle of water, my friends following behind me.

“What is?” Randy replies.

“I saw Letti today,” I say, rubbing my forehead, still reeling from what she told me. “She thinks Shelby’s ex, Justin, is back. That he’s threatening her. She believes it’s why Shelby broke up with me… to protect me. To protect us .”

“Fuck, really?” Randy asks, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back on the island. I watch my friends take in the news, studying their faces. “We all know she had a stalker. Maybe he’s followed her? ”

“All the way from Australia?” Walsh questions Randy. “That would have to be some serious psychopathic issues on his end.”

“It seems drastic, but then again, he sounded fucking crazy, man,” Randy replies.

My head falls, and my words come out in a whisper. “The night he attacked her back in Australia he tried to rape her.”

My friends remain shocked, silent, and I watch Seth’s hand clench back and forth in anger. I take a long sip of water, cooling my throat and the heat rising in my body. “Shelby needs me.”

“What are you thinking?” Seth asks.

I look at him. “I believe Letti.”

Walsh speaks. “Well, if you believe Letti, then you believe Shelby didn’t cheat and she did all this to protect us because Justin is back.”

Randy adds. “Which also means she’s terrified and potentially in some serious danger.”

My phone rings in my pocket, but as soon as I touch the phone it stops. I look at the caller ID. “It was Shelby.” My friends stare at me as I quickly ring it back, but it goes instantly to her voicemail.

I look to them in determination. “I won’t let anyone fucking hurt her or come between us, and if I’m wrong and she did cheat, so be it, but I still need to make sure she is okay.”

Seth gives me a pointed look. “What are we still doing here, then?”

I set my water on the table and start for the front door, my friends and teammates following suit .

“Give me your keys, I’m driving,” Seth says.

I nod, reaching into my pocket and throwing him my keys. “You need to get your own truck.”

“Shh,” he says, pointing to the backyard where his bike is parked. “She might hear you.”

***

My facial expression is as hard as the steps I’m taking to Shelby’s building. I’m desperate to get to her, to make sure she is safe. Even if it’s true, and she did cheat on me, I still need to check on her to make sure she is okay.

The boys talk like usual, and I know they are trying to lighten the mood, but I can’t focus on a word they are saying as we cross the quad. I strain my eyes and slow as I spot Shelby standing beside a dude I don’t recognize who is gripping her face. “What the fuck!”

My friends stop to look at me and then turn in the direction of my line of sight. “Is that Shelby?” Randy questions.

We watch together as the unknown asshole pushes her backward into the car, slamming the door behind her. On instinct I break into a sprint, my friends close behind me as I watch him pull out of the parking space.

I feel a tight grip on my upper arm. “We aren’t going to catch them,” Randy says. “We need to get back to the truck and find her that way.” I pause as I watch the car disappear out of the parking lot.

“Fuck!” I swear, turning quickly as we all take off and head back to my truck.

Just then, my phone vibrates in my hand, and I realize I’d been gripping it like some sort of stress ball since we left the house. When I see Dani’s name light up the screen, I move it to my ear immediately.

“Dani.”

“Christian, you need to listen to me.” Dani’s voice is rushed. “I’m with Letti. She has been attacked, and a guy took Shelby!”

“What?”

“Yeah, Letti said she was in their room when someone came to the door, she answered it, and he hit her. Knocked her out cold.”

I can tell by the sound of Dani’s voice that she is trying to remain calm, but I can hear the shake in her voice as she speaks.

“Put Letti on!”

“Okay.” I wait, heart hammering, as the phone changes hands.

“Hello.” Her voice is weak. Wrecked.

“Letti, are you okay?” I ask, the panic tightening my throat, warping my voice into something I barely recognize.

She doesn’t answer. Just starts rambling, franticly. “He took her. It was him. It was Justin.”

My jaw clenches. “Yeah,” I grind out. “I just saw them.

“You did?”

“Yeah… you were right, Letti.” I sigh, my chin dropping to my chest as I rake a hand through my hair. “I was on my way to your dorm to talk to Shelby. I’m so sorry. I should’ve believed you sooner.”

“It’s okay. I’m just so scared for her, Christian. I’m tracking her on the app now.”

My head jolts to that news, a spark of hope erupting in my chest. “I’m jumping in my truck now, we’re only minutes behind them. Don’t take your eyes off Shelby’s location, you hear me?”

“I won’t,” she replies.

“Are you okay?” I ask again, buckling myself into the passenger seat.

“Sore head, probably need some stitches, but I’ll be fine. Travis is on his way. Just help her, bring her home, Christian.”

“I will, don’t hang up. Stay on the line with Dani’s phone and keep me updated on their location.”

I won’t, but you need to know something.”

“What?”

“He has a gun. That’s what he used to knock me out.”

“Fuck.”

“Are you alone?”

“No, Randy, Seth, and Walsh are with me.”

“Good. Keep me on speaker. I’ll read out her location.”

I press the speakerphone and hold it up so we can all listen to the directions.

I’m such an idiot. I should have gone back to the dorm with Letti.

Then Shelby would be with me right now, not him.

I tug my hands through my hair, embracing the pain.

How could I be so stupid? That fucker is here, and he has my girl, not his, mine!

“It’s Justin,” I growl out. “Letti is tracking her location on an app.”

“You’re kidding!” Randy says, as shocked as I feel right now. “That freak has flown fourteen hours to kidnap her. What the fuck is he planning on doing with her?”

“I don’t know, but he knocked Letti out cold and took Shelby at gunpoint.”

“He has a gun?” Seth states as he maneuvers the truck around a slow-moving bus.

“Yeah.”

“That’s going to change our approach.”

“What are you thinking?” I look to Seth, trying to get any guidance at all on how to approach this situation.

“I have no idea,” he responds with a shake of his head, his hands fidgeting around the steering wheel.

My eyes study the road and every car that comes into view, my heart racing a million miles an hour. “That fucker better not hurt her.”

“She will be okay, man,” Randy says from the back, slapping a hand on my shoulder. It’s reassuring for a brief second, but then the guilt of leaving her alone when she needed me returns.

“Fuck!” I yell, punching the dash of my car, unable to stop as I hit it repeatedly.

Seth quickly grabs my arm. “Ease up!”

I let out a blood-churning groan, bringing my now-aching fists up to cover my face. How the hell could I have been so stupid! When did he arrive? Has he been stalking her this whole time, watching, and waiting for the right time to take her? She must be terrified.

And what’s even worse?

She broke up with me to protect me from him and I just let her go.