“You don’t have to go.” Mia stood by the front door, twisting the doorknob as her sister gathered her belongings.

“I know you want me to stay, but there’s a lot I have to get through. If I want to come here for school next year, I need to veg out. Besides, I have classes on Monday.” Licia slung her bag over her shoulder.

Mia sighed and stepped aside. “I feel like we’ve made this amazing progress, I don’t want it to slip away because you’re going home.”

I sat quiet as a fucking church mouse on the couch while the two girls had their Hallmark moment. I don’t know what happened in the bathroom last night, but they’d both emerged holding hands and being a happy, cohesive family unit again. They spent the rest of the morning talking and bonding over cups of coffee.

It gave me hope for Mia and me.

Licia leaned into Mia and gave her a tight hug. “It won’t. I promise. Next year, after I bring my grades up with these courses, I’ll be here in Madison annoying the hell out of you.”

“You better,” Mia said.

Licia glanced my way. Today she looked like the eighteen-year-old she was, and not the sexpot hellbent on my ruin. Her hair was swept up into a ponytail, and she was fresh-faced. There was still an innocence about her that I was glad hadn’t been ruined from her first foray at a college party.

I dipped my chin her way. I would never be close to her. Not after the stunt she’d pulled. But we could be cordial.

Her mouth turned with a bittersweet smile, and then she stepped out into the hallway and headed towards the elevator.

Mia shut the door with a sigh. “This weekend has been…weird.”

“I think that’s an understatement.”

Mia shook her head and joined me on the couch. “Some of it’s a good weird, though. I never thought Licia and I would fix the problems between us. I fucking hate that she had to go through that situation, but maybe it was fate.”

I urged her close, coaxing her to relax against my chest. “Maybe. I don’t know if I believe in fate and destiny, but you were there when she needed you most.”

“So were you. Thank you for coming with me, and for demanding I let you drive.”

Damn, be still my heart. Mia actually thanked me.

I dropped my forehead against hers. “For you, I would do anything.”

Mia’s eyes sparkled, and she stroked my cheek. I was sure she was going to kiss me until a half-scream rented the morning air.

Mia sat up. “Angela’s awake.”

I stood first. “I’ll go check on her.”

“Do you think she’ll want to see a guy after everything?”

“I don’t know, but she knows me.”

Mia curled her legs beneath her. Anxiety pinched her features into worried lines. “Good luck.”

I didn’t know what I was going to say to Angela. It all depended on what she remembered of last night. Gingerly, I opened the door to the bedroom.

Angela sat in the middle of the queen-sized bed with a wild look on her face. She jumped when the door opened.

“What’s going on?” she asked when she saw me. Her voice was tremulous with fright.

Sitting on the bed was probably a bad idea, so I stood beside it, palms out as if I could calm her down. “What do you remember from last night?”

Angela ran her fingers through her hair, disheveling the already wild blonde strands. “I don’t know. Where am I?”

“You’re at Mia’s.”

“I went to a party last night.”

I nodded. “Yes, up on Eagle Heights.”

“I was with a friend, but she hooked up with a guy. I didn’t really want to stay, but I was finishing my coke.” Angela bent forward at the waist and rubbed her hands over her face. “Why do I feel hungover?”

“You got slipped something last night.”

Angela’s head jerked up. Her cheeks, bronzed from what I could only assume was self-tanning, paled. “Wha…what happened?”

Shit, this was harder than I thought it would be. I scrubbed at the back of my neck. “We found you with a guy in one of the bedrooms.”

Angela stared at me as if I’d turned into a monster. Her eyes widened with horror, and her bottom lip trembled. “Was…he…was I…”

I stepped closer and perched on the foot of the bed. “I don’t know.” I didn’t want to hide what happened to her. It was her right to know. So, I told her everything that we’d seen.

A tear slipped free and sluiced down her cheek as Angela closed her eyes. “I’m always so careful.”

“I know you are. We didn’t want to decide for you, but if you want to go to the police, Mia and I can verify what happened.”

“I just want to go home right now,” she said in a small voice. One that made me think this broke something inside of her. Angela was bold, brash, and wore her heart on her sleeve. It was what had attracted me to her initially. Never mind that she was fucking gorgeous. But she craved love like other people needed air. And I couldn’t give that to her.

“We’ll call Jo,” I said.

Angela nodded and curled under the covers.

I stood, and then hesitated. “I wanted to say something.”

Angela kept her back to me. “What?”

“I’m sorry for how things happened between us.”

“Things.” She laughed and it wasn’t a nice one. The bitter hurt in her voice made me feel like shit. “You mean calling me a stage-five clinger with a stalking disease?”

Fuck. I winced as she repeated the careless words I’d bandied around about her. I exhaled and sat back down.

Was I making things worse by talking it out?

I don’t know. But I did know she needed to know how amazing she was, and would continue to be. That whatever happened between me and her, and last night, shouldn’t change her.

“Among other things, yes. I’m in love with Mia. I have been for a long fucking time. I used you, and it wasn’t right.”

“You made me think we had a future.” Tears thickened her voice, and the soft sniffles as she rubbed her tears into the pillows made me feel like scum. Worse than scum. Dog shit on the bottom of someone’s shoe.

“I know. I wanted a future, I wanted to get over Mia. But I never gave anyone else a chance, and I am sorry I hurt you. If I had been able to, I would have wanted it to be with you. You love fully, Angie. You deserve someone who will treat you like a princess. Don’t let what happened last night break you. Please.”

Angela shifted slightly, rubbing at the dampness faintly marking her face. She turned on her hip, staring up at me with liquid blue eyes marred by anguish. “Does any of that even matter anymore?”

When I didn’t, couldn’t answer, her eyes closed. “Thank you for finding me.”

I frowned. There was something off in her voice, unspoken words that I heard anyways.

But it was too late.

Shit.

I squeezed her foot where she had it tucked beneath the blankets. “Whatever you need I’m here for you, Angie, okay?”

Angela stared at me with watery eyes, but said nothing.

“Let me go call Jo, and if you need me, I’m here for you.”

I was conflicted as I left the bedroom.

“Will you ask Jo to come pick up Angela? She wants to go home, but she may go to the police later.”

Mia chewed on her bottom lip and picked up her phone. It was a quick conversation. While I didn’t know the state of Jo and Angela’s friendship, or even if they had one, Jo was Angela’s roommate and there must be some unwritten rule that said when your roomie needs you, you come running.

Within ten minutes there was a light knock on the door. Mia let Jo in, and right behind her, was Kevin. He braced his hand on Jo’s back.

“Is she okay,” Jo asked.

“Physically, yeah,” I said. The same answer I’d given Mia last night. “Mentally, I don’t know but I think if she needs help you’ll be able to help her.”

Jo’s eyes flashed with acknowledgment. She nodded and made her way towards the bedroom with Mia.

Kevin shifted in the doorway, rocking on his feet, and looking awkward as fuck.

“Do you want to take a seat?”

He pushed back his floppy dirty-blonde hair and shook his head. “No, we’re not staying long. Angela will probably want to head back to the apartment, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah, she’s really shaken up.”

Concern strobed over Kevin’s face. “What happened?”

It wasn’t my place to spill the details of Angela’s assault. So, I shrugged and left it ambiguous. If she chose to go to the police, the college campus rumor mill would churn up enough shit and rumors.

“Ah, I understand.” We exchanged a look. “Assuming I think I know what happened, can the guy who did this still walk?”

Kevin was my trainer at Twisted Fitness. He was also my friend, and he’d taught me how to grapple, honed my body into the damn machine it was now and supported my goals. Whether they were parading around in a speedo on stage during a fitness competition, which he thought I should do, or not.

“Not without a limp for a while.” I knew I should feel bad about knocking the guy out. Violence was opposite of societies expectations. But shit, he deserved it and worse.

Kevin’s lips quirked into a lopsided smile. “Good.”

We were on the same page.

Jo and Mia emerged with Angela wrapped in a blanket, the long length of it wrapped and tucked around her body. I hadn’t even thought about her purse or jacket. Would she want to go back to the fraternity house and get them? Hell, what about her car? All the trivial aspects of an after emergency rescue suddenly jumped on me.

I stepped back and let the two pass. Angela still wore the spaced-out look from the drug she’d been given. It would take at least another day for her to feel better. Shit, I think I was the only one out of the four of us who knew how close to an overdose she’d been.

Stupid fucking assholes. What would they have done if they accidentally killed her? Rage filled me all over again at the thought of what had transpired a few miles away, and probably on every campus across the country.

Mia blinked at me as if she knew exactly what I was thinking. I took a step back, letting Jo and Angela join Kevin They paused at the stoop as Kevin opened the front door.

Angela’s eyes were enormous in the pale oval of her face. Mascara rimmed her lower eyes like soot, making her look gaunt and sickly. Her long hair was tucked in lank strips behind her ears. In the time I’d known her, and during our brief fuck-buddy acquaintances, I’d never seen her look less than 100% put together. The fact that she was going out into public without even brushing her hair or washing her face told me what I needed to know about her mental state. Fuck, I hoped she could bounce back from what happened. She’d done everything the safety meetings said to do. She went to the party with a friend. Got her own drinks. Wasn’t drinking alone, and some fuck-wit still spiked her coke.

She sacrificed a small smile. “Thank you.”

Then the three of them went down the hallway, leaving Mia and me alone.