by H. J. Bellus
The last bit of moonlight is shadowed behind the row of trees as my eyes focus on the trail ahead. Sweat beads form and roll down my forehead and then onto the front of my shirt, and I just push myself harder. In the next moment, I feel a hand on my shoulder and don’t jump and scream like my first stunt in front of Tuck.
I simply turn my head to see my hooded prince who’s cast a love spell on my entire soul. When my eyes connect with his, I flinch, but it’s too late. Brown eyes stare back at me…and they’re not Tuck’s. The man’s face is masked, and before I can react, he sends my body spiraling in one swift movement to the ground. My arms shield my face the best they can, but do nothing when my face smacks into the asphalt of the running trail. The skin from my elbows pulls away as they rub against the hard surface, and my hands scramble to grip the trail to pull myself up and run away from my attacker.
My feet find the pavement, and I spring forward and try to run again, but something catches my ankle. The skin is sliced away from my kneecaps as I fight, but I feel the tug of the back of my hair and then my face is slammed into the pavement, and everything goes black.
Chapter 16
Tuck
“Blue?”
Her phone has dialed me twice and there’s only been rustling on the other end. Fuck, she’s never even dialed this number and now twice in a night. Our living room is way too loud with all of our teammates loitering and celebrating.
“Sophie, follow me.”
My deep voice shuts the entire living room up, and Sophie moves without question. I know panic paints my face and is evident in my voice, but I know something is fucking wrong.
“What, Tuck?”
Lane’s on her ass and I signal them to shut the door.
“Blue has called me twice now and I don’t think it’s on purpose. Something is wrong.”
“What? How?”
Sophie’s words are cut off as my phone interrupts our conversation with another call from Blue. I quickly answer and turn on the speakerphone.
“Blue,” I roar into the phone.
The next sounds I hear are far worse than my most vicious nightmares—Blue is screaming for help. Sophie throws her hands to her mouth and screams Blue’s name. Lane grabs her, trying to silence her. After a few seconds that feel like hours, it’s clear Blue has no idea she’s dialed my number.
“She has to be running.” I tuck my phone to my ear and bolt out the door without thinking. “Lane, help now.”
I catch Noah’s attention and nod to him as well, and they both follow. Lane takes off in his truck as Sophie fumbles with his phone.
“What the hell is going on?”
I can’t answer him, but hear Lane’s. Blue’s phone goes dead again.
“Her call ended.”
“Someone call the fucking cops,” Noah roars. “I don’t have my phone.”
I keep mine gripped in my hands in case it rings again.
“Fucking Sophie, call the cops.” Noah’s hand slams into the back of the passenger seat.
“I got it. I got it.” Sophie whirls around to face me. “She’s on the running trail.”
I snag the phone from her hands. “What the fuck is this?”
“Find My iPhone. We are on the same iTunes account. Just go. That’s where her phone is.”
The truck lurches to a stop in the dorm parking lot, and I take off, watching the location of her phone and mine. It only takes a few moments to realize where she is. Fuck, the furthest place she could possibly be.
My thighs burn as I run faster than I’ve ever run in my life. I don’t hear her screams the closer I get, and that nearly freezes my whole body. Hot pink sneakers lie in the middle of the path and her long, white legs come into view. Blue’s body is twisted with her blonde hair covering her face.
“Blue.”
My voice startles her and she screams and begins to scramble.
“It’s me, Tuck.”
I go down to my knees and place my hands on her hips, trying to roll her over to see me, but she fights me off like a wild beast.
“Hey. Hey, now, it’s me, Tuck. Look at me, Blue. Look at me.”
Her eyes dart up to mine, and when we she connects with me, the amount of pain filling her is like nothing I’ve ever experienced, and it takes me back to my own living hell.
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
Her sobs start, and I try for more information while carefully cradling her to my chest. I feel like a dickhead, but totally relieved when I noticed her panties are still on and not torn.
“Blue, help is coming.”
“No, take me home.”
“You need to go to the hospital.”
“No.”
Her instinct to fight me kicks back in as she tries to scramble from me. In her weakened state, there’s no way she’ll ever be able to escape, but I don’t want her to hurt herself any further.
Holding her securely with one arm, I dial Noah and give him our location, and explain the situation as quickly as possible.
“Okay, Blue, we’ll go to my house. You can’t fight me. You’re hurt.”
She settles easily back into me when I remove the threat of the hospital, and I know it’s because she doesn’t want her parents to know. It’s just something Blue would do, but she’s going to the hospital.
I hear the roar of Lane’s truck on the opposite side of the row of trees.
“Blue, I’m going to pick you up and take you to my house.”
It kills me to lie to her. I didn’t think anything would be worse than pushing her away these last few months, but I just found it. She cringes as I stand with her and then wails from sheer pain. My fists clench and I see red, ready to fucking kill whoever did this to her.
With each steps she cries out, and I know she has to go to a hospital. She doesn’t have a choice. Her body goes limp as I near the fence and the truck comes into view.
“Fucking Noah, be careful.”
It takes every single ounce of willpower I have to let go of her.
“Is she alive?” Noah asks, his eyes wide with horror.
“She just passed out.”
I leap the fence in one swoop and jump in the back seat.
“Give her here.”
Noah passes Blue’s lifeless body to me. Leaning down, I let her breathing tickle my ear and rub the side of her jaw that’s uninjured.
“She refused to go to the hospital and panicked when I brought it up.” I look up into the other three worried faces. “She has to go.”
Sophie crawls over into the back seat and lays Blue’s head in her lap and begins crying and kissing her delicate skin.
“She doesn’t want her parents to know. They just flew out a day ago.”
“She has to go to the hospital,” I repeat mindlessly.
“They’ll call the cops.”
“I don’t fucking care.” It comes out as a roar. “She needs help.”
Blue jumps at my face, throwing her arms around my neck while wincing in pain. Sophie rubs her back and talks to her.
“Your parents won’t find out. We are going to the hospital, Blue.”
Chapter 17
Blue
“For the tenth time he didn’t rape me.”
The nurse glares, and I know she’s had it with me.
“It’s protocol.”
“I’m not an idiot. No.”
She leaves the room, and I hear Sophie let out a loud breath in the corner chair.
“You shouldn’t be so damn stubborn, Blue. They’re just trying to help you.”
“He didn’t rape me.” I sit up in the bed while a sharp pain attacks my right side. “It’s just like I told the cops. He threw me down. I blacked out for a bit, and then got my pepper spray.”
I don’t even want to know what would’ve happened if I didn’t wake up. Actually, I know exactly what he would’ve done. The curtain rustles and Tuck and Lane rush to my bedside. And in the oddest of moments as time stands still, I still
can’t make eye contact with Tuck. His voice saved me from my demise. I heard him and then fought, and somehow I associate it with the attack. It should be in a good way like the king on the white horse who saves the kingdom, but for the moment it’s the complete opposite.
I turned to see my attacker, anticipating his face, and then my world turns upside down. I’ve managed to keep the hospital from calling my parents and coaches. Being eighteen and protected by privacy acts have been my only allies. Looking down at my wrapped knees and then rubbing the pad of my finger over the road rash on my jaw, I feel ashamed and embarrassed.
“Blue Williams.” I look up into the face of a doctor with an officer behind him. “We are ready to discharge you. It looks like no broken bones, just a slight fracture in your right rib. You’ll need lots of rest and no strenuous activity for a couple weeks.”
I twist my fists into the sheets, and Tuck must notice, because he steps up and untangles my hand from the bedding and holds it in his.
“I’ll send you home with some painkillers and ointment for your skin.” He pauses and gestures to the officer behind him. “Blue, you really need to file a report.”
I gently shake my head, and the doctor opens his mouth to argue, but Tuck interrupts him.
“I have all the information and will be taking care of her over fall break,” Tuck says while rising to his feet, but not letting go of my hand.
“You have my card.” The officer nods and leaves the room.
The doctor begins speaking again. “Your discharge nurse will be with you in a minute.”
“I’m not going home with you, Tuck.”
I don’t wait until the curtain is swept shut to blurt out my words and make eye contact with him, and strangely, it doesn’t sting as badly as I thought it would. He doesn’t talk to me, but stares down at me with his relentless glare.
“Take me to the dorms, Tuck.”
“Your bags are packed and you have no choice, Blue.” He lowers his large frame to the edge of the bed. “I’ll drag your bratty ass out of here screaming and kicking. I’m not leaving you. I should’ve been there with you.”
“Tuck, you hate me. I disgust you, and you only use me to get your rocks off.”
My fingers are squeezed to near pain in his large palm. “Blue, you have two choices. Go quietly, or fight it the whole way.”
“Transport here.” A doughy-faced young man walks around the curtain, pushing a wheelchair.
“Perfect. My truck is waiting in the u-drive out front.”
Tuck stands and gathers a couple bags that I hadn’t noticed sitting on the edge of the bed, and when I think about it, I don’t remember much since being checked in here, or what day it even is.
“What day is it?” I ask as I sit up in the bed.
“Sunday afternoon.”
“I’ve been here…” I try to wrack my brain.
“We brought you in last night around eleven. They’ve been running tests.”
My feet grace the cold hospital tile floor, and Tuck’s on his knees slipping on my sandals. I hate that he’s the one doing all of this.
“Where’s Sophie?” I want her helping me, not Tuck.
“She and Lane just left.”
“To where?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.
“He’s taking her home for break.”
“She just left me?” A pang of hurt hits me hard, and it’s worse than the sharp pains in my side.
“I made her leave.”
“Uh?” I look down into his dark eyes.
“I see the hurt on your face. I made her leave.”
“Why, Jones?” As his last name slips from my tongue, it sounds odd. I hear his teammates call him by it all the time.
His palm runs up my calf, caressing uninjured skin. “Because, Blue, it’s time you meet the real Tuck.”
After all the hurt, denial, and longing for this man, he just spiraled my lust over the edge for him into straight and pure love.
“Fine.” I place my hand on his and remove it from my skin. He can think what he wants of it, but the truth is it was burning a hole in my flesh, and I’m not ready for that yet.
I push up off the mattress, but before I’m able to stand, Tuck scoops me up in his arms and gently sets me in the wheelchair. His touch is so opposite from his mean look and hard muscles, and it sends shivers down my bruised body.
Everything inside of me wants to tell him off, but my body is pulled to him. I watch my hand reach to his, and he walks by my side as the nurse rolls me down the hallway. We reach the sliding glass doors, and I see he’s not kidding about Lane and Sophie being gone. I scan the parking lot for Lane’s monster truck, but it’s nowhere in sight.
Tuck’s older truck sits in the u-shaped driveway, and I’m almost knocked back into a blackout where I don’t want to believe or feel anything.
“Tuck.”
“Yeah, Blue.” His breath is on my ear as he bends down to hear my whisper.
“Don’t break me again.”
“I won’t.”
“If you do, I won’t recover.”
“It’s your choice from here, Blue Williams. I’m about to open up more to you than I ever have to Noah.”
The melody of his voice and the sweet nothings he pours into my soul soothe an aching part of me, but that little devil on my shoulder doesn’t want to believe a word he has to say.
He lifts me from my wheelchair to his truck effortlessly, and again I’m pressed between the sweetest spot of my life and the hardest brick of chest I’ve ever experienced. His scent fills the single cab of the truck, and every single one of my tensed up muscles unwinds.
It’s the scent I’ve clung to for months…the one urge I’ve fought over and over to not devour, and now it’s surrounding me and I find myself relaxing. When I hear the driver’s door shut, I look up into his still, midnight eyes with his hoodie covering his beanie. But this time his arm and hand are outstretched to me, and it’s one offer I don’t hesitate to accept.
“Careful, Blue, your right side hurts.”
I hear each word, but don’t take the time to process them. I’m a strong, fighting, athletic individual, and this man makes me melt into him every single time.
Tuck Jones, what have you done to me?
Chapter 18
“Tuck.”
“Yeah, Blue, only two more hours.”
“I just wanted to tell you.” Lifting my head, I focus in on his beautifully etched face. “Pissing matches aren’t my style. I prefer to drown out the competition.”
“Oh yeah?” His smirk fills my vision.
I don’t know if it’s the pills he has been feeding me or his fucking charm, but I reply, “Be prepared to drown.”
Then my eyes rest again, finding everything black and safe in their path. Over the past few months at college, black and safe seems to be my polarizing force, which I prefer to bask in.
***
In grade school you learned how to tuck, duck, and roll, but this seems like the earthquake drill they taught you. Hide under your desk and pray your ass doesn’t get shaken into a deep crevice of the Earth and trapped until you rot…
“Blue.”
My eyes shoot open at the familiar baritone voice, and flashbacks hit me. I turn my head to see him, and it’s not him. It’s another person attacking me, beating my face into the asphalt and ripping clothes from my body. Then I hear his voice when I should’ve seen his face.
My eyes clench while I hear his voice hollering my name, but hands are assaulting parts they should never explore. But it’s his voice, and I scream a little louder and then fight a bit harder.
“It’s Tuck, I’m here.”
His voice is soothing and dangerous all mixed together, and I freeze. I’m sick of the tug of war or teeter or totter I’ve been riding. I need safety.
“You don’t love me, Tuck, or want me.”
“I told you.” Strong palms grasp my cheeks. “I’m taking you home and showing you everything.” His gaze
burns holes into me, while I’m used to him peering away or backing off. “It’s all yours, Blue. Now let’s see if you are up to it.”
I’m not sure if it’s the sound of his voice or him finally giving over, but a drowsy haze hits me and I succumb to darkness once again. Cheer, goals, and GPA fly out the passenger window as I fight to see and hear Tuck for the first time.
Chapter 19
It may be the meds or willing myself to unconsciousness, but it sucks when I wake up in waves of awareness and then float back to sweet dreams. Words like beef jerky or diet Pepsi float in my vision, or were they really in my face? Sometimes strong and sturdy lips attack mine and I mimic them back like a playful kitten, relishing each taste as my tongue reaches deeper inside to soak up the sexy taste. Then just like a bad dream, my shoulders begin shaking and sounds invade the peace and reality sets in. A sweet voice similar to Tuck’s but much less agonized fills my dreamy haze.
“You’re home.”
Every muscle in my body focuses on opening my eyes to see just where this wonderful sound comes from. And when I focus on the so much sweeter version of Tuck, who is also years younger and toothless, I almost smile until that sharp pain in my right side reminds me of all my mistakes and past fouls in the game of life.
“Uncle Tuck.”
“Shhhh, Ruger. Go on in. I’ll be there in a second.”
“You have a girlfriend.”
I watch as the younger Tuck’s eyebrows waggle up and down and his toothless grin mirrors back at me.
“Run inside and let your mom know I’m home.”
“Roger, Dodger,” the little Tuck replies before he peels off toward a porch light.
My voice is a squeak in the night air. “Leave me alone, Tuck. Why are you pushing me?”
The tighter I shut my eyes, the quicker I spiral out of control once again, letting pain dictate every part of my life.
“I’m going to pack you to my bedroom.”
“Were you kissing me?” I pry my eyes open to see his face and the little smile that spreads across it.
