Brutal Protector: A Dark College Enemies-to-Lovers Romance (Westforde College Book 2)

by Serena Lyons

The knifeman whips around and I see the white of his eyes flash in fear.

  I swallow my smirk of triumph that this ambush clearly isn’t going to plan for him. It’s not over yet. One mistimed move and that twelve-inch blade could end up in me, or worse, in Faith.

  “Hello, Faith, isn’t it?” An incredibly well-to-do girl’s voice calls out through the door. “Is everything okay in there?”

  “Call the police, he’s got a knife.” I yell. “Now!”

  There’s a sharp yelp from the other side of the door.

  “Idiot.” The intruder hisses and lurches in our direction.

  I instinctively fall back on top of Faith, I’m tall enough that I can cover every inch of her. If he wants to hurt her, he’ll have to get passed me first. I couldn’t do the right thing for Millie, but I damn well can for her best friend.

  Landing on my back, I push up on my elbows and brace myself for his attack, but he’s not looking our way. He’s opening the window out on to the roof and heaving his body out of it.

  Dammit, there’s no fucking way he’s getting away from this. I scramble up and lunge for him, my fingers clasping on to his ankle as he vaults up through the window.

  “Fuck,” he yells, jerking his leg to break my grip.

  I clasp on harder, knowing it’s only a matter of moments until he breaks free. I’m sure I’m stronger than him, but I’m in an awkward angle, my top half suspended off the bed and I can’t get proper leverage. I need reinforcements and even if Faith’s neighbour has called the police, it’s going to take too long for them to arrive. “Help.” I yell. “I need help in Faith’s room. He’s got a knife.”

  The attacker’s leg stills, and for a brief second I think he realises the game is up, that he’s caught.

  The door creaks open, but before I can see who’s come to help me, his other leg slams hard against my face. Sharp pain explodes and hot liquid flows from my nose. The bastard has damn well broken my nose. I let go of his leg from shock.

  I blink the pain away and right myself, he’s not getting away with this.

  There’s a gasp behind me and the posh girl’s voice screams, “Help, we need help!” as I launch out of the open window after him.

  The cold air makes my bust nose burn even hotter. I gulp as I realise there’s only a two-foot wall between the tiny sliver of roof outside Faith’s attic window and the four-story drop to the quad below. It’s dark up here, above the streetlights, when there’s no moon or stars to light up the sky and the attacker seems to have disappeared into the ether.

  I’m not giving up that easily, though.

  “You can’t hide all night long. The police are on their way.” I yell out. My words disappear into the dark, as if I’m only talking to myself.

  I look in the other direction. Did I go the wrong way? Did he somehow move to the other side of the roof without my noticing? It’s a warren of sloping roofs, emergency ladders and little passages up here.

  Is he waiting in one of the shadows to push me off down to the street below? I swallow deeply. At least Faith’s neighbour should have roused enough people with her screams that I don’t need to worry about him going back to hurt her.

  I just need to find the bastard and makes sure I don’t get myself killed in the process. Wiping the blood from under my nose, I carry on the way I started, up on a pitched roof and down to the flat roof on the other side. There’s no one here, but I can’t help feeling like someone is watching me.

  Down below, sirens pierce the night’s silence. I glance over the edge and see blue lights flashing over the outside walls of college. The cavalry is here. The best thing I can do right now is tell them there’s a lunatic climbing over the roof of college and hope they find him. Kicking a loose gutter, I turn back towards Faith’s window.

  There’s a crowd of ashen-faced first-years in pajamas crowded into Faith’s tiny bedroom when I get back to the window. They let out a collective gasp when they see me, whether because of the blood or just because it’s me, I don’t know.

  One of the girls is crouched next to Faith’s head and seems to have moved her into the recovery position.

  “Is she okay?” I demand, jumping back into the room. “I think he’s drugged her or something.”

  “He?” A voice asks.

  “There was a masked guy in here, with a knife.” I snap. “But that doesn’t matter, is she okay?”

  The girl by Faith turns to look at me, “I think so, I’m doing medicine, but I mean, we haven’t really started clinical stuff yet, but I used to volunteer for the St John’s Ambulance and all her vitals are okay.” Her hands tremble as she picks up Faith’s wrist.

  My chest loosens a little. I wasn’t too late, I didn’t imagine Faith’s breath when I went to her before. “Do you think we should wait for the ambulance, or—”

  I’m cut off by a breathless policeman in a high-vis jacket. “Everybody stop moving.” He yells, eyes scanning the room. “We had reports of a knife, is that—”

  “He’s gone.” I interrupt, and the policeman turns to face me, his eyes sharpening whether from the interruption or my bloody appearance I don’t know.

  “And you are?”

  “Callum Carter-Wright. There was a masked guy in here, with a knife, but he’s gone now. But that isn’t what matters right now,” I turn towards the pale and floppy ghost of Faith and my stomach lurches. “I think he drugged Faith, she needs an ambulance.”

  “They’re on their way and I’m in charge of this scene, lad.” He sneers and it takes all of my self-control not to roll my eyes. “I need to establish that there isn’t still an active threat.”

  The other students seem to shrink at his authoritative tone, but I hate a fucking jobsworth who can’t see what really matters. “I told you the attacker climbed out of the window, you lot should be out there looking for him.” I cross my arms over my chest. “After you’ve made sure she’s okay.”

  “Don’t tell me how to do my job, laddy,” the police officer doesn’t even bother looking Faith’s way. “Did anyone else see this,” there’s a tiny pause that is the verbal equivalent of the officer doing air quote. “Attacker?” He looks from student to student, but they all shake their heads, or simply look down at the floor, avoiding my eyes as well as his penetrating stare.

  “I told you, he’s gone,” I hiss impatiently. “He climbed out through the window before anyone else arrived.”

  “How convenient.” The policeman manages a thin-lipped smile. “No one else saw anything apart from the girl in the bed and you?” He looks triumphant, like he’s caught me lying.

  “Well, er, I came in first. It looked like there might be someone else outside the window.” A petite blonde with a posh accent who must be Faith’s neighbour dares a glance at me, but the wobble in her voice makes it clear she’s not convinced. “But it all happened so fast and it was so dark, I couldn’t really see anything properly. I just saw a struggle then Callum going out through the window.”

  “Just saw him, did you?” The police officer turns towards me, arching an eyebrow. “Looks like you’re coming in for questioning, son.” He smiles wider this time, like he’s got one over on me, but I don’t care Faith’s safe.

  That’s all that matters.

  2: Faith

  For the second time in a month, I wake up under itchy hospital sheets wearing clothes that aren’t my own. This time I recognise the peeling white ceiling and antiseptic smell in the air without needing to ask where I am.

  My stomach lurches as I push myself up to sitting, like I sunk too many strong cocktails last night, even though I know I didn’t drink anything.

  Then I remember. Running out of Callum and Nina’s house. Getting chased by someone on a bike. Realising Callum isn’t my enemy, that it wasn’t him who hurt Millie. Planning to catch whoever did with them. Callum walking me home.

  Kissing me so hard that I couldn’t think of anything other than him and how good his touch felt. Then him pulling away from me when he rememb
ered how I tried to betray him, thought the worst possible of him. Me traipsing to my room, knowing I couldn’t complain because I deserved Callum’s mistrust. The whiff of unfamiliar aftershave in my room and the masked man who threatened me.

  Millie’s killer. The sinking in my bones as I realised he had me trapped. The needle as it pierced my skin.

  The door to my hospital room opens just at my memory reel fades to black.

  A suited woman walks into the room, flashing an ID card as she moves towards me. “Inspector Jones from Oxfordshire Police Force.”

  “What happened?” I ask her.

  “We were hoping you could help us answer that.” She smiles sympathetically. “We do have a suspect in custody, but we’re still piecing everything together. Can you tell me what you remember about last night?”

  I start from Callum walking me home, simply saying I was at his house with him and his sister. I can’t face getting in to everything about Millie right now, there’s time for that later.

  “So the person was already in your room?” The policewoman leans towards me. “You left Mr Carter-Wright outside of the college gates and walked straight to your room and the man who attacked you was already there?”

  “Yes, I told you. He was in my room when I opened the door.” I shiver, remembering the glee in his voice as he grabbed me. He enjoyed how scared I was.

  “Is there any way it could have been Mr Carter-Wright in your room? Is there another route he could have taken, or could he have overtaken you from the gate to the staircase?”

  “Callum? In my room?” I blink, confused. “No, he was outside of college, there’s no way he could have gotten past me. And the guy in my room wasn’t him.”

  “You’re sure of that? You said he was masked? And that he blindfolded you quickly. You can say you don’t know, Ms Davies.”

  “But I do know that it wasn’t Callum,” I lean towards her. “The man in my room was thinner, shorter, and wearing different clothes. There is no way Callum could have magically overtaken me and changed into a new outfit in the forty-five seconds it took me to go from the gate to my room. It was someone else.”

  The police officer sighs, “Okay Ms Davies, don’t bother yourself, you’ve been very helpful, I just needed to make sure you were confident. You stay here while I phone the station please, I’ll be back in five minutes.”

  [***]

  Two hours later, the policewoman seems finished with her questions and the doctors have discharged me. They think I had Rohypnol injected into me, but it works out of your system so quickly they couldn’t tell for sure. All I need to do is stay hydrated and call 999 if I start to feel funny, but I’m free to leave.

  I call Nina to come and collect me.

  “Sorry, that I keep having to ask you to do this.” I tell her as she storms into my hospital room for the second time in a month. “I owe you big time.”

  “No, you don’t,” she responds, throwing her arms around me. “This is all my fault. Mine and Callum’s. I can’t believe we didn’t make you stay at ours last night, and what was he thinking not seeing you safely into your room?”

  “You couldn’t have predicted this.” I look down at our feet. “I’m as much to blame as you guys, I insisted on leaving.”

  “Well, you’re okay, that’s the main thing.” She squeezes me again. “We’d never have been able to forgive ourselves if anything had happened.”

  “Er, where is Callum?” I try to sound casual, but my heart starts thumping as soon as I ask the question. I called Nina, but I hoped that he would have come with her.

  He must still hate me for thinking that he hurt Millie. He’s never going to forgive me.

  “Callum?” Nina looks at me oddly, like I’ve just asked her why the Queen isn’t here to collect me. “He’s still at the police station. They’ve had him in all night, although at least now just as a witness instead of prime suspect.”

  “What?” I stop moving halfway down the corridor, feeling too slow to walk and think at the same time. “I don’t understand?”

  “They didn’t believe him when he said he found someone else attacking you who escaped over the roof. Thought he—”

  “Callum found me?” I stumble back into the corridor wall. “I don’t, I don’t understand.”

  Nina’s eyes knit together. “The police didn’t tell you? They arrested Callum because he was the only one in your room.”

  “Callum was in my room?” My legs shake and my vision starts to tunnel in on itself. “I don’t understand, the police just said the girl in the room next to me called them. I don’t remember anything.”

  “He said you had his phone?” There’s a weird kind of worry in Nina’s voice as she looks at me, like she’s unsure if I’m reverting to my earlier stance of blaming Callum for everything. “And his keys?”

  I remember the heft to the jacket he leant me, how I thought it was just down to more expensive fabrics than I’m used to wearing, but how something in the pockets makes more sense.

  “Faith?” Nina’s face is blanched of colour as she reaches out to touch my arm. “Do you remember something?”

  “I know it wasn’t Callum in my room,” I shake my head, trying to force myself to feel like normal. “There’s no way he could have physically got there before me, but more than that I know that guy with the knife—” for a second it feels like I’m suffocating as I remember his arms around me, the point of the blade in my belly. “—He… he wasn’t Callum.”

  Nina rubs her face. “Thank God for that, I thought I was about to have to referee between the two of you again.”

  I laugh, but it’s forced. I’ve spent these last two months trying to take Callum down and he’s the one who saved me last night? “You said he’s at the police station still?” I need to see him.

  “Yeah, but he just texted to say they’re nearly done, he should be home just after me.”

  “Can I come to yours to wait for him?” I hate how pathetic and needy I sound, but I can’t not ask. I need to see Callum, to thank him for saving my life. I don’t care if Nina can hear the raw urgency in my voice.

  “Sure.” She cocks her head to me. “But are you sure you don’t want to go and rest?”

  I follow her eyes. I’m in a hospital gown because the police took my clothes and I haven’t showered since before I went jogging last night. I don’t need a mirror to know that I must look a complete mess. “Can I have a shower at yours?” I bite my lip as I consider whether the lie I’m considering is too sacrilegious. I need to see Callum though, and I don’t want to see him looking like this. “I can’t face my room yet.”

  “Oh God, of course.” Nina’s face droops with guilt and unease prickles at me. “Of course you don’t want to go back there, what was I thinking?”

  An hour later I’m sitting on Nina’s bed at Callum’s house dressed in an oversized t-shirt of hers and a pair of Callum’s tracksuit bottoms, because all of Nina’s clothes were far too small for me to squeeze into. She looked confused as she watched me fail to pull any of her trousers over my hips and I was glad when she gave up and went to borrow Callum’s clothes.

  “I feel terrible,” Nina says lying next to me and gazing up to the ceiling. “I didn’t realise anything was wrong until I woke up at 9am and saw all the calls from Daddy.”

  “Your Dad knows about all this?”

  “Cal called him when the police took him in last night. He’s got a lawyer for any situation.” She rolls her eyes. “Always suing the…” Her voice trails off as front door slams shut. “Cal’s back!” She yells jumping to her feet.

  Nina flies out of the room while I shakily get off the bed. I can’t wait to see him, to say thanks, but I’m nervous too. He made it clear that he couldn’t wait to get away from me after we kissed last night, and him, getting arrested because of me can’t have made that any better.

  I smooth down my borrowed t-shirt and walk out to the hall. Just the sound of Callum’s voice, rich and full, makes my breath catch
. I stumble down the stairs to the blob that his him and Nina hugging.

  Their arms are wrapped around each other and they’re spinning around like a child’s toy, Callum’s broad shoulders almost obscuring the entirety of Nina, but I can hear her excited squeals. I wish I had a brother or sister, knew this impenetrable bond, but a dead mother and an unknown father doesn’t make for a close-knit family. I stop a few steps up, not sure the best way to announce my intrusion on this private sibling moment.

  “Faith,” Callum’s voice is warm when he spots me and he stops dead, breaking their embrace and staggering away from Nina to climb the few steps towards me.

  I freeze, uncertain what his true reaction will be and poleaxed by the fact that I ever could have thought he was my enemy. Why couldn’t I listen to my gut, instead of trying to find the rational explanation?

  “You had me worried.” He stops on the step below and reaches out a hand to stroke my cheek.

  I lean into his touch, gasping as my eyes meet his, and I see the wonder and worry in his stare.

  His fingers flatten out and all of a sudden he’s holding my face, pulling my head down towards his and he’s kissing me. Kissing me with all the emotion of last night, but a totally different sort of passion; a strong, yet gentle firmness that I can’t resist, even though I know Nina is watching.

  I jolt down to his step, needing to get closer to him and wrap my arms around him. I didn’t realise how scared I still was until now when I can finally let go. I feel safe for the first time since I realised Millie’s killer was in my room. I grab on to Callum’s back, clinging to his strength. My hands run over the hard, muscled plains of his back, dragging him closer against me, then knot into his silky-smooth hair. He moans into my lips and fireworks spark inside my body.

  “I never should have left you last night,” he murmurs, pulling an inch away from my lips. His pupils are wide with desire, but I can still read something close to regret in his eyes.

  “You saved me,” I reach up to stroke his face. “You have nothing to apologise for. You—”