He saw the smile drain from her face, though she tried hard to show him that she wasn’t affected by his rescinded offer. “Oh… ok,” she said weakly. She paused for a moment. “I really would like to learn,” she said quickly.
Keith looked towards her dorm room. “We’ll see,” he said evasively. “Do you have anywhere to go after this?”
“No,” Kristina replied. “I’m done for the day.”
“Ok,” Keith nodded. “I’ll wait till you get inside.”
“You don’t have to leave,” Kristina said.
“I have a meeting to attend,” Keith said.
“Oh… ok,” Kristina said, as disappointment colored her tone. “I’m sorry for keeping you.”
“No, I wanted to come,” Keith rushed to tell her. “But I just…”
“Have to go now,” Kristina said, completing the excuse for him. “I know.”
“You’ll be ok now?” Keith asked, resisting the sudden urge to hug her.
“I’ll be fine,” Kristina nodded. “I feel silly now for calling you in the first place. I was probably just being paranoid.”
“No, I’m glad you called me.”
“He was probably just some guy taking a stroll… and I—”
“Kristina, it’s alright,” Keith hastened to assure her. “It could have been something, so it’s a good thing you called me.”
Kristina nodded slowly. “Thank you for coming.”
“Of course,” Keith replied. “If you notice anything strange, don’t hesitate to call me.”
“Ok,” Kristina nodded.
Keith turned and walked away, fighting the urge to turn back and glance at her. He got on his bike and watched as Kristina walked up the steps and disappeared inside her dorm building. Once she was well and truly inside, he started up his engine and took off back to Seton and Lee, hoping against hope that Kristina had just been paranoid and there was no one tailing her.
He felt a sense of déjà vu come on as he remembered what had happened two years ago with Kovic and Natalie. The situation was not exactly the same, but there was something about the way he felt that made the whole memory more vibrant and recent in his mind. There was a sense of impending loss, as though he knew he was about to get hurt and he had no idea how to stop it. Two years ago, he had the confidence of youth and he had never imagined that he could lose Natalie. It wasn’t until she was lying in his arms that he realized how foolish he had been to think he was invincible.
It had been at that moment that Keith had realized that being a part of the Dragons did not grant him immunity from the world. It was out there, waiting to get him, the way it had always been. The only thing that had changed was his perspective. He had believed he was safe and that had been his biggest mistake. He would not make the same mistake again.
Chapter Seventeen
Kristina
Kristina was glad to find an empty room when she got inside her dorm. She didn’t want to have to hide her feelings or mask her expressions from Marie. She just wanted the freedom of being by herself and letting her emotions hang blatantly upon her face.
She changed into shorts and a baggy t-shirt and climbed into her bed with her laptop. She started surfing the web, looking at nothing in particular, with her mind heavy with thoughts. Finally, admitting defeat, she set aside her laptop and stared at the ceiling. She hated how much Keith’s presence affected her. She noticed that he had looked a little out of place walking along the campus with her, but that meant very little to her.
What did matter to her were the looks he got from the girls who passed by them. She tried not to be bothered by that, but it was harder than she expected. His presence had gone a long way in calming her panic, so much so that she had almost believed that she had imagined the whole thing. She had a hard time picturing the man who had been following her; all she remembered was that he had been intimidatingly large and tattooed.
Now, after being in Keith’s presence, she could feel the relief of calm settle over her, and it was easier to believe that she had just been paranoid and hasty in her call to him. Silly as she might have seemed to him, Kristina didn’t regret calling Keith. She could sense somehow that he would not seek her out on his own, but she also sensed that he would not ignore her if she sought him out. Kristina was not above using that to her advantage. Her impending graduation had lit a fire underneath her, and it seemed to have burned away all of her caution and common sense.
Kristina closed her eyes and pictured Keith standing in front of her as he had done only moments ago. He had been wearing dark trousers and the usual sleeveless t-shirt that put his well-toned arms on full display. His ash blonde hair had a habit of falling onto his eyes, but they still couldn’t conceal the bright blue of his eyes. She imagined what it would have been like to walk down the same path, hand-in-hand, somehow of all things, that was the one thing she couldn’t picture.
Kristina remembered the expression on his face when she had made the assumption that he had never been scared in his life. She heard the emotion heavy in his tone when he had replied, ‘You’d be surprised.’ She had instantly regretted the assumption, but her apology didn’t do anything to convince him to confide in her. She wasn’t sure why she needed him to tell her things…that was something that you expected out of real relationships or friendships, and at the moment, Kristina wasn’t sure they had either.
The campus grew quiet as the sunset and darkness slipped in through the window. Kristina hadn’t even realized that so much time had passed; she could so easily lose herself in daydreams. She stretched her hand out and turned on her bedside lamp. Immediately, light filled the room, but she could not stop feeling lonely.
“Stop it,” she said out loud to herself. “Stop it now. He’s a passing ship. After graduation he will just be a person in your past.”
She said the words, but she could hear the doubt in her tone as she said them. Keith Lee was becoming more to her than she had ever anticipated, and it was starting to worry her. Kristina knew she had to be careful. Quite apart from the fact that she wasn’t sure she had what it took to be a part of his world, she was very sure that Keith was not interested in pursuing a relationship with her. At the moment, the only thing that held them together was the lust that stood between them. Kristina was sure that once passion had left, Keith would too.
She was busy contemplating whether or not she would allow herself to be used just to prolong her relationship with Keith when a sound crashed through her ears and she felt pin pricks of pain erupt on her skin. She wasn’t sure if she screamed, all she was aware of was her heartbeat pounding fiercely against her eardrums. Blinking carefully and removing her hands from her eyes, Kristina looked around her room. Her window had been shattered and thousands of tiny bits of glass lay scattered around her.
Breathing heavily, Kristina looked around the room and noticed the large brick that had been thrown through the window. She saw immediately that a piece of paper had been wrapped around it, held in place by a vine of string. Kristina felt the panic crash over her and the calm she had felt a moment before had vanished into thin air. She dusted off the glass on her slippers and gently eased her feet into them, making sure that there was no glass there that would cut her. Slowly, she stood up and reached for the brick.
She unwound the string and peeled the paper free from the brick. She opened it out and stared at the untidy scrawl written on the yellowing paper: ‘Do you know what happens to little girls who fuck big bikers named Keith. They die. So I’d be careful… there are monsters in the night and they’re watching you now.’
Kristina realized—once she had finished reading—that the words on the page seemed to be shaking. It was only after a moment that she realized that it was her hands that were shaking. She read the note again and then a third time. By the time she had reached her sixth read she could feel nausea threaten the back of her throat. Quickly, she glanced at the time and realized that Marie would be home soon. Quickly she stuffed the note in her bag an
d threw away the piece of string. Just in time, Marie opened the door and walked in. She froze when she took in the broken glass that littered their room.
“Oh my God,” she exclaimed. “What the fuck?”
“It happened a few minutes ago,” Kristina said. “Someone threw a brick through the window.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Marie said, her voice rising two octaves. “Did you see who?”
“No,” Kristina replied. “I was in bed.”
“Oh God…”
“What?” Kristina said in a panic as she looked around. “What is it?”
“You’re bleeding,” Marie pointed out as she came closer.
Kristina looked down in the direction of Marie’s stare and realized that the side of her arm had a thin trail of blood running down. “Oh… I… it’s fine,” Kristina said distractedly. “I didn’t feel it.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Marie said. “We need to get you looked at. You could have been seriously hurt. I can’t believe anyone would do this. The kids on campus are usually not this fucked up.”
“They were probably just drunk,” Kristina suggested, hoping that Marie wouldn’t assume anyone else had anything to do with the brick. It wasn’t that she wanted to protect the people who did it; she just knew that if she told Marie the truth, Keith would get the blame.
“It’s not even nine o’clock,” Marie said.
“It’s Friday,” Kristina went on without thinking. “They probably got an early start.”
“We need to report this.”
“Yeah, sure,” Kristina nodded. “I’m going to go to the bathroom and wash off this blood.”
“I’ll come with you,” Marie said.
“There’s no need,” Kristina said quickly as she slipped her cell phone into her shorts pocket. “I’ll be right back. Maybe you can call someone about this.”
Marie nodded. “Yes, good idea,” she said as she turned and picked up her own phone.
Glad to be left alone, Kristina hurried down the hall and into the bathrooms. There was only one other person there when Kristina walked in. She washed away the blood and examined the wound. She could see a small speck of glass glinting out at her. Carefully she pulled it out, washed it down the drain and waited for the bleeding to ease. Once she had washed it all away, she got some bandages that were kept in the communal shelves and wrapped her arm until it was nice and tight.
By the time she had finished her clumsy bandaging, the other girl had left, leaving the bathroom to Kristina. She got her phone out quickly and dialed in Keith’s number. He answered on the first ring, his tone was fraught with urgency.
“Kristina?” he said. “Did something happen?”
“I… yes,” Kristina replied trying to keep her voice calm.
“Was it the guy who was following you this morning?” Keith asked.
“I... couldn’t see,” Kristina said shakily. “But someone threw a brick through my window a few minutes ago.”
There was a split second of silence on the other end. “A brick?” Keith repeated.
“It had a note tied around it,” Kristina went on, realizing she hadn’t mentioned that part yet.
“What did the note say?” Keith asked.
Kristina had the words memorized; they were ingrained into her memory. She didn’t need the paper to know what it said. “It… was a threat,” she stammered trying to avoid telling Keith what the note had said.
“Kristina,” Keith’s voice seemed calm and steady. “You need to tell me what that note said.”
Kristina took a deep breath, hoping no one would walk into the bathroom any time soon. “It said ‘Do you know what happens to little girls who fuck big bikers named Keith… They die. So I’d be careful… there are monsters in the night and they’re watching you now’.”
The other end of the phone was silent.
“Keith? Keith, are you still there?”
“Yes,” Keith replied, his voice sounded gruff and distant. “Yes, I’m still here.”
“Keith,” Kristina said, her voice shaking slightly. “I don’t know what to do… I’m scared.”
“I’m coming to get you.”
“What… no,” Kristina said taken off guard. “I can’t leave.”
“Why not?” Keith demanded.
“Marie is here.”
“Does she know what happened?” Keith asked.
“She walked in right after it happened,” Kristina explained. “But I managed to convince her that it was just some drunk college kids. She doesn’t suspect that this has anything to do with gang wars or…”
“Me,” Keith finished for her.
“Yes,” Kristina conceded. “I don’t want anything to happen to her.”
“Nothing will happen to her,” Keith assured her. “They’re not interested in Marie; they’re interested in you. So, for the moment, we need to be extra careful and keep you safe.”
“I can’t leave, Keith,” Kristina said softly.
“I’m sorry, Kristina… but in this case I’m not giving you the choice,” Keith said firmly. “It won’t be for long. You can still go to classes; you can still see you friends but for right now… I’m going to need you to come with me.”
“Where will you take me?” Kristina asked.
“Somewhere safe,” Keith replied. “Do you trust me?”
He asked the question so simply that Kristina was taken off guard by it. It wasn’t a simple question at all when she thought about it. It was fraught with a number of different implications, and it made their relationship jump several steps ahead of where Kristina felt they were. She shook the thought away; they didn’t have a relationship, no matter how much she wished otherwise.
“Yes,” Kristina replied, because that was the only answer that she could give that was honest. “Yes, I trust you.”
“Ok,” Keith nodded. “Then make an excuse to Marie and wait for me outside. I’ll be there in ten minutes tops.”
“What should I tell her?” Kristina asked.
“Whatever gets you outside as fast as possible,” Keith replied before he hung up.
Kristina could almost hear the whir of his engine despite their distance. She slipped her phone back into her pocket and made her way back to the dorm. Marie was sitting on the bed, talking to someone on the phone.
“Ok,” she nodded. “Great, thanks.”
Then she hung up and looked up at Kristina. “How’s the cut?”
“Fine,” Kristina replied. “It wasn’t very deep. I’m ok.”
“Good,” Marie said with a smile. “I spoke to Professor Cordon. She told me that the custodian would be in tomorrow to take care of the glass. She told me they would try and figure out who was responsible for the brick.”
“That’s good,” Kristina nodded, as she tried to think up a good excuse to vacate the dorm for the night.
“She suggested that you and I find someplace to stay for the night, just until things are sorted out,” Marie said. “We can go to my brother’s place. He and Angela won’t mind hosting us for a few nights.”
“That’s a sweet offer,” Kristina said, trying to keep her face normal. “But this is a long weekend, and I thought maybe I’d take the train to visit my aunt.”
“Your aunt?” Marie said wrinkling her eyebrows. “She lives over an hour away.”
“Yeah,” Kristina nodded. “But she lives by a lake, and it would be the perfect place to relax and unwind before finals week begins.”
“Finals week is still a month away,” Marie reminded her.
“Yeah, but I’ve been promising Aunt Lacey that I’d visit and I never have,” Kristina said. “This gives me the perfect opportunity.”
“I wasn’t aware that you were so keen on visiting your aunt,” Marie said suspiciously.
“Our impending graduation is getting me sentimental for some reason,” Kristina said with a shrug and a smile.
Marie gave her a sideways look and then she laughed. “Ok then… man, you are so
weird. I have never known a student to get so… turned around by the idea of graduation.”
“Well… I’ve always been a little weird,” Kristina smiled, relieved that she was getting away with it.
“I guess we should get packing then,” Marie suggested, and Kristina was happy to go along with it. She got out a duffel bag and popped in her jeans, a few tops, clean underwear, and a number of other essentials she assumed she would need. She didn’t think too much about it because she knew she’d be close enough to pop into the dorm whenever she needed something she had forgotten. Once she was done, she swapped out her oversized shirt for a hoodie and popped on her sneakers.
Tempted: The Numb MC Page 37
