It All Started with a Lie

Chapter 24

My water bottle is in the corner of the studio and I am thankful to get it back. I take a swig from it before recapping it just as my phone buzzes with a message from Klaus telling me that he just finished his exam and asking if I am still on campus. I respond quickly, telling him to meet me by the studio and maybe we can go get dinner. I can just imagine his smile at the words, I am never the one to suggest dinner, but I am exhausted and hungry and it will be nice to see him.

He texts that he will be there in five—the time it takes to walk from the exam hall to here—and as I am replying and exiting the studio at the same time I smack directly into someone. I hit so hard my phone goes flying across the hall. "My bad, I wasn't looking," I apologize.

"Alexandria, it's good to see you again."

I have grown so accustomed to the name that it doesn't phase me at first, not until I realize who has said it, then my blood runs cold. "James."

"I haven't seen you in a while." He tucks my hair behind my ear and I crinkle my nose at the action. "You stopped coming to see me after class."

I wonder why. It's not like you hit me or anything. "I've been meeting up with some friends after class."

He tries to touch me again but this time I take a step back, clutching my keys like claws. He only laughs. "You don't have any friends, Alexandria."

I do. "It was good to see you." It wasn't.

I try to bush past him but he only steps in my way again, and now we have moved far enough that we are in view of my teammates. They watch the scene though they do their best to act like they are not. "I miss you, Alexandria."

"Do not call me that." I am pinned between the wall and his body with no escape and no pepper spray and no help from my teammates. I decide, that if he does plan to try something, I will not go without a fight and he will have to kill me to get his way with me.

"Alexia," he tries again, leaning in like he will kiss me.

I spit in his face. A glob of my saliva lands just under his eye and the action is so absurd to him that he is baffled beyond reason. With wide eyes, he wipes the moisture from his face, then he looks pissed and I think he might hit me again. He doesn't, only yells and I yell back.

I can feel my teammates eyes on us but I do not have a guess as to what they are thinking, probably that I am the whore who slept with her TA for a good grade. They aren't entirely wrong and I hate them for that fact.

I hold my breath but not my tongue as he screams, and think of how to escape. There is no fear in my bones, because there are too many witnesses so he cannot hurt me, but I am exhausted and arguing only drains me more.  It is almost a relief when he is pushed off of me, and Klaus stands between us, guarding me. I reach for him almost on instinct, so that he will not kill James because I am looking forward to dinner too much for us to end up in jail.

He stays with me, a safe distance from James who will go home alive tonight, and tells him to never fucking go near me again. It works in an instant and James scrambles away like a scared child while Klaus takes me in his arms to ask if I am alright. I am. "Is that the guy that hit you?"

My face contorts in confusion so he elaborates, "My sister told me."

Of course she did. I shouldn't be surprised at all. They have no secrets. Isn't it wonderful? My brother would never be invested in my friends' lives. "I'm okay." I link my arm with his and lean into him and I feel his muscles relax at my touch. "You know," I begin, "I could get used to having you around. No one's ever gonna touch me again."

He wraps his arm around my shoulders, kissing the top of my head and with that gorgeous smile laughs, "Damn straight, you're mine now."

His. I like the sound of that, of being someone's, of being his. For a second I want to tell him that I love him, but the words get caught in my throat. I do not want to be like the woman who had this ring before me, who loved her lover so much he vanished into nothing. So I do not tell him. I should have. Instead I ask, "Say it again."