Dustin stood back and looked at all three bodies. He was panting heavily, sweat and blood smeared across his body. He shifted back to human form and looked around. None of his clothes had survived intact enough for him to redress. The clothing in his car would have to do—as soon as he could get to it.

Alex and Hayden weren’t dead, and they would only stay down for a short time. Hayden had passed out, but Alex was still groggy, moving around on the ground trying to get back up. Brooklyn was out cold. He tried not to look at her naked form as he scooped her into his arms.

He hurried back to his car as quickly as he could carrying her weight. It could be tricky getting to his car. He stood at the edge of the woods—his last bit of cover—to see who was around. A couple was walking toward a car, and a man at the door stood smoking and watching. Well, one guy shouldn’t cause much trouble.

Dustin carefully set her down then picked up his keys from the spot he’d dropped them before shifting and running into the woods. He unlocked his car and popped the trunk to get out the extra clothes he kept in there. He tugged on a shirt and shorts, glancing over at the man smoking to see if he was looking. He raised an eyebrow and turned away.

Anything in his car would be far too big for Brooklyn, but ill-fitting clothing was far better than nothing at all. Carrying a naked woman, unconscious, from the woods and loading her into his car might cause someone to make a call. He didn’t need that sort of hassle right now.

He sat her up to yank a shirt over her head then lifted a leg at a time to pull on shorts. He carried her to the car and loaded her in the passenger seat. Hopefully this would seem like nothing more than a friend taking home a drunk friend. It was close enough to the truth.

He didn’t know where she lived, and he hadn’t found her purse. His only option was to take her to his place and wait for her to wake up. Then, who knew what would happen. She’d remember enough to thank him, or she wouldn’t remember anything and flip out.

Inside his house, he laid her down on the couch and covered her with a blanket. Now what? He paced for a few minutes. Maybe this was a mistake. Should he take her to the hospital? She did have significant cuts. Call an ambulance or the police? Probably he should have done something besides just lay her there, but his head was still spinning, and he’d drunk more than he should have and been driving. If the police came around, it might mean trouble for him.

He decided to get a damp wash cloth and wipe the blood and dirt from her face. As he wiped her cheek, her eyes twitched. He moved back to give her room. Her eyelids fluttered, she moaned, then she blinked. She stared at him, a confused look on her face.

“Dustin?”

He nodded. “What do you remember?”

“I…” She scrunched her face, then her gaze darted down to her clothing. Her face changed to horrified rage. “What happened?”

“You don’t remember anything?”

“I remember Hayden and Alex taking me into the woods.”

“Then?” He needed to make sure she knew he hadn’t done anything wrong.

“They… umm… shifted, and… They ripped my clothes. Hayden was—” Her words broke off in a sob. “But then someone else showed up. And I don’t know what happened after that.”

“I was the someone else.”

“You were?”

“How do you think you got here? I knocked them out then I brought you here. I can take you to the hospital or call the police. I didn’t know what you’d want to do. I know it’s not an easy situation.”

She was quiet for a long moment. “I can’t go to the police.”

“Why is that?”

“They’d want to talk to you.”

“And?”

“And you’ll never turn in your teammates. You’ll make me seem like a liar, and it’ll be horrible trying to prove anything.”

He shook his head. “I fought them both, didn’t I? I’ll tell the police the truth, even if it means getting them in trouble. I don’t want to see something bad happen to them, but what they did was…” He swallowed hard. “I never imagined a stupid contest could lead to something so horrible. It was meant to be fun.”

“I’m not surprised at all. This is what happens.”

“I guess you would know. I can’t imagine the world you live in and what you’ve dealt with. I get it now. I really do.”

She coughed out a laugh. “No, you don’t. Someone like you never gets it. They just keep going on thinking they know something and treating people badly.”

“Well, I’m trying my best not to do that. Just tell me what you want me to do to help you, and I’ll do it.”

She narrowed her eyes at him for a second. “You’re serious?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’d take me to the police if I asked you to and tell them the truth? Tell them what Hayden and Alex did, and that it was your fault?”

“I’ll tell them the truth. I’ll tell them what I saw and what I did. It’s not up to me to determine who’s at fault. I didn’t make them do this. They acted on their own. If you want to blame me, fine, but I’m not taking responsibility for what they did. Or tried to do.” He pulled his phone from his back pocket and dialed 911.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling the police.”

She needed to talk to them and get the whole thing out now, while it was still fresh, and before any evidence was compromised. Hayden and Alex were likely long gone, but they surely left some piece of clothing or some hairs behind.

She watched him with her mouth open in surprise. After he’d explained what had happened and given them his address, he was told an officer would be over soon to take statements.

“I really thought you’d try to get out of it somehow,” she said.

“Apparently, there are a lot of things you think about me that are wrong. Maybe I’m not the only one who thinks they know more than they do. People do change. Things happen and it changes people.”

His words seem to hit her hard. She drew back and looked perplexed.

“What?” he asked after a minute. The expression on her face made no sense to him, and he wasn’t about to start making guesses about her thoughts.

“You’re right,” she said softly. “Things happen and it changes people. Things happened that have changed me. And I guess something happened to you to change you.”

“You mean you did something to me to change me.” He narrowed his eyes slightly. How in the world was it okay for her to act like she’d done nothing wrong? He was so sick of the double standards.

“Right,” she said. “I guess I didn’t think it’d be that big of a deal to you.”

“Kind of like I didn’t think having a contest to sleep with the most cheerleaders would be a big deal.”

“What exactly was the second contest? To see who could sleep with me first?”

“Basically.” No point in hiding anything from her now. “We knew it would be difficult. I think what was said was ‘whoever breaks Brooklyn first’ or something to that effect.”

“Nice.”

“So was what you did to me. As if drugging me and violating me wasn’t bad enough, why did you have to take photos and post them everywhere?” His voice was on the verge of wavering, but there was no way he would break down in front of her. He was so sick of her. The sooner the cops came, the sooner she would be out of there and out of his life forever. He needed to focus on football anyway. Coach said he could get back in the game on Monday, and he wasn’t going to blow this second—third, maybe—chance. He was done with Brooklyn.

She hung her head. “I wanted you to pay.”

“Yeah. Thanks. Lucky I didn’t make you pay for what you did.”

“I know. We’ve been through this already,” she snapped.

“Oh, but if something like that had happened to you, we’d never be done talking about it. You and the double standards. It’s ridiculous.”

She glared and shook her head.

“Oh what, you don’t think it’s a double standard?” he demanded.

“Not really. Women are treated badly all the time. If we were treated equally, it would be.”

“Right. Whatever. You know what? I’m done arguing with you. There’s no point. You’re always right.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but the doorbell rang.

“Must be the cops,” he said and walked to the door. “Let’s get this over with.”