Chapter 2
Max
The girl assures me she's fine for what feels like the hundredth time. It's obvious she wants me to leave. She hasn’t even made eye contact once and her tone is growing more irritable each time she speaks.
Still I hesitate.
Something feels...off. Her reaction doesn't seem to be caused by the cold or even a healthy dose of caution when speaking to a strange guy alone at night. Her light brown eyes are red and puffy from heavy crying and I swear when I first saw her walking I noticed a small limp in her gait.
Something happened to her.
I should mind my own damn business. Take a hint and fuck off. That’s what she obviously wants me to do. And despite seeing her several times a week at the coffee shop I don’t know her from Adam. She doesn’t know me.
But I learned a long time ago to trust my gut and right now my gut is telling me I can't just leave this girl walking in the middle of the night by herself. Not when she’s clearly been crying. Trying her best to hide an obvious limp.
Campus itself is safe to walk at any time of night. But the surrounding area? Not so much. I receive weekly emails from the university about students being mugged for their laptops, cell phones and petty cash in their pockets.
She was easy prey for the kind of people that lived along the outskirts of campus. I would know. They’re the kind of people I’m well acquainted with.
Most students were too lost in oblivion to pay attention to their surroundings. Given my upbringing I couldn’t afford such a thoughtless luxury. Maybe that familiarity with the darkness is what compelled me to look out for this naïve girl. She had no business being out here alone. I grew up a healthy distance from this side of town but spent a lot of my time not far from here. I knew what lurked in the shadows.
On certain nights I was what lurked in the shadows.
She begins walking toward campus again for several seconds and I make a quick decision. Pulling my car to the side of the road I take a deep breath and cautiously get out. She stops in her tracks a few yards ahead of me. Hoping I don't live to regret leaving my car in the hub of robberies and carjacking I lock the doors and pocket my keys.
I start walking in her direction careful not to move too suddenly and frighten her even more.
"What are you doing?" She asks shakily. She’s purposefully not looking at me but I know I’m her sole focus at the moment. Her awareness of me emanates and I can feel her warm brown eyes casting me worried glances that she tries to hide from me. I’m a pro at reading people, noticing nuances, and she’s no exception.
"I understand if you don't want to ride in the car with a stranger but I'm at least walking you home." I explain. Hopefully my calmness can set her at ease. I’m not going to hurt her and I want her to know that. If I was planning on it I would’ve made my move by now. "I'll come back for my car."
"Why would you want to do that?" She sounded thoroughly perplexed why I was so concerned about her wellbeing.
She had a point. I didn’t really know the answer to that myself. There was just something about her that drew me in. Made me want to get her safely home.
God knows I had done enough shitty things in my life and this was one decent thing I could do. It didn't make up for my past. But I could pretend at least for tonight that I was a better man than my father. My brother. That’s the only motivation I’m willing to acknowledge.
It damn sure wasn’t because she was so beautiful she drew me into her orbit and kept me going back to the coffee shop to study even though I didn’t like coffee.
Definitely not that.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t a stalker. But seeing her from time to time reminded me of why I was in college to begin with. To break free. To be better. Seeing a sweet girl like her brought back the reality of what normal people were like and I desperately needed that reminder from time to time.
I had never been the most social guy. I preferred to sit back and observe what was going on around me rather than jump in headfirst without a plan. That was more my brother’s style. As kids we balanced each other out, him not letting me get too lost in myself and me not letting him get too caught up in the world we were thrown into.
Lately it seems like we’ve given up trying to throw out lifelines to each other and mostly just try to stay out of the other’s way.
She eyes me suspiciously, her focus lingering on the tattoo peeking out from under my sleeve. After a lengthy pause she seems to accept my answer. We fall into a casual pace and I'm careful to keep some distance between us for her comfort.
She may be quietly accepting my presence but she still wants nothing to do with me. She’s on edge. Her shoulders are tense and ready to run if need be.
I don’t want to push my luck.
The wind lifts her hair and gently swirls it around her face. She folds her arms across her chest, fighting off the chilly breeze. I wish I had a jacket back in my car to have offered her when we started this walk but I didn’t. I usually didn’t need one until winter and hadn’t even dug my long sleeves out of the back of my closet yet for the fall season.
I stealthily glanced over at her exposed legs and noticed the goose bumps speckling her otherwise flawless skin. I inch closer to her as we keep our brisk pace. She either doesn’t notice or chooses not to comment.
My larger frame blocks some of the wind from assaulting her.
"I'm Max."
"Lacey."
I still don't know what happened to her tonight but as I take in her disheveled blond hair and skittish behavior I make some quick assumptions.
"You do live on campus, right?"
"Yeah."
"First year here?"
"Yeah."
"Want me to shut up?" I ask, smirking as she opens her mouth to shoot off another automatic affirmation before registering what I said.
Then she cracks a smile.
It's not a full smile. It doesn’t light up her face like I’ve seen at the coffee shop when she’s talking to a regular or laughing with co-workers.
It's really more just the corner of her lip twitching in amusement. But it's genuine and I find it far more endearing than I should.
"No." She says softly, looking over at me as we walk. "I'm sorry if I'm being rude. I'm not normally like this…I just..."
"It's ok. You don't have to explain anything to me." I interject when she trails off, eyes brimming with tears. We walk in silence for several minutes and just when I think the conversation is over she surprises me.
"I'm a freshman. I took a year off before starting school."
"I'm a junior." I add, wanting to give her some information about myself. "I started right after high school, partied every night, drank my weight in tequila, and almost failed every class my first semester."
I suppose my statement wasn’t the most comforting but it was honest. My honesty earns me a soft laugh and I find myself fighting the urge to walk closer to her, drawn to the sound of her sweet voice.
My stomach sinks as I realize I’m practiced at making girls feel comfortable with me. It’s my standard MO. In the past that’s when I struck, taking them down into a black hole.
But that’s not who I wanted to be anymore. That’s not why I wanted to talk to Lacey tonight or to walk her home. I had no ulterior motive. No selfish plans.
A car passes us and she jumps, shooting me a sheepish glance after the fact. She was embarrassed by her reaction. I keep talking as if I didn’t notice, not wanting to draw more attention to it.
"The only class I passed that semester was finance so I decided that was a good major to declare."
"You didn't know what degree you wanted when you started school?"
"Nah. I just knew I needed to go to college so I did. I figured I would find out what I wanted to do when I got here."
"I wish I could have done that."
"Why couldn't you?"
We walk up to an older apartment complex and she leads me to the parking lot in front of her building. Red bricks with black trim. The metal handrails for the stairs were long ago painted black and are now peeling off in large flakes, exposing the rusty metal underneath. The steps are the type you can see down when walking up.
"There's no way my parents would have let that happen. Not as long as they’re paying my tuition. They already let me take off the first year to travel a bit and have a break from school.”
"It's your choice. You shouldn't let anyone make you do anything you don't want to."
Her face pales at my words and I suddenly feel like a total ass for being the reason for her distress. Judging by her reaction, I have a sickening feeling I know what happened to her tonight.
I hope like hell I’m wrong.
Before I can ask her about it a bright red douche-y sports car flies into the parking lot and the door swings open. A guy climbs out of the ridiculously low vehicle, glaring right at us. Or more accurately, right at her. It doesn’t look like he’s noticed me standing here yet.
She pales a shade lighter and takes a step back, holding onto the railing to steady her balance.
"Max." She whispers weakly, her widened eyes glued straight ahead.
Her fear is thick. Palpable.
I don’t know what the hell is going on right now but I take a step in front of her, not completely blocking this jackass’s view of her but close enough to intercept if needed. Seeing her terrified of this guy does something to me. My adrenaline skyrockets, shooting a desire to protect her through my veins.