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  Why did he have to go and mention love?

  Chapter Four

  Rayn contemplated knocking on the door. She paced back and forth for a few minutes. Once she knocked on this door there was no turning back. People would know. She raised her hand to bang on the wood and then, with regret, dropped it. Rayn wasn’t ready for the consequences of her actions, or was she? She was about to leave when the door swung open, and she grimaced. Rayn knew it was a possibility Colton would be the one to answer the door if she knocked.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” Colton asked with a sly look in his eyes. “Did you come to apologize?”

  “I’m here to see Ethan.” She tried to look past him into the apartment. Whenever Ethan needed to blow off some steam, he would sleep it off. He was weird like that, but he was her weirdo.

  Colton stepped out and closed the door. “He’s in there with some girl.”

  “Is he?” Rayn challenged him. Ethan had left her apartment less than an hour before. She knew he wasn’t with another girl, and she wasn’t going to let Colton mess with her mind. She wasn’t afraid of him and his antics.

  “Why are you looking for Ethan?” His demeanor changed in less than a second. Gone was the snug look, replaced by anger. He looked down the hall. “Did you report me, and now you want him to have your back?” He raised his voice. “You think he’ll defend you over me?”

  “What are you talking about?” Rayn inched away from him, feeling a little bit threatened.

  “Bitch.” He cornered her against the wall. “I won’t let you mess up my life!” Colton’s nose flared as he hollered. “Ethan warned me.” He shook his head. “He said I should watch my back because you were coming for me. I should’ve listened to him.”

  “You’re lying,” Rayn placed her hands against his chest and pushed him away. Ethan wouldn’t betray her. She never told him she was reporting Colton. In a blink of an eye, Colton had her held up by her neck against the wall. Rayn tore her fingernails into his wrist. “You are hurting me…”

  “If you think I’m going to let a negro like you take me down, think again.” Colton squeezed his fingers tighter and leaned in. “I hate you! I hate everything about you.” He placed his leg in between hers and pried them apart. “Maybe I’ll have a little fun with you.” His free hand crawled up her stomach to her breast. “I heard your kind is good for one thing.”

  Rayn was gasping for air at this point. She was disgusted as his fingers grazed her covered breast. Her chest was beginning to hurt as she continued fighting to breathe.

  Someone placed their hands on Colton’s shoulder and yanked him away, making him release the grip he had on her. “What the fuck, man?” Maverick yelled. “You could’ve killed her.”

  Rayn coughed, gasping for air, and ran down the hall, right into Ethan’s chest.

  She wiped at her tears with the back of her hand, but it was too late. He’d already seen them. He tipped her chin with his fingers. “Rayn.” He looked over her shoulder and saw Colton and Maverick arguing. “What happened?” He gave her his full attention.

  “Nothing.” She coughed and pushed his hand away. Rayn covered her mouth and then rubbed her throbbing, aching neck. “I have to go.”

  Ethan’s eyes followed the motion of her fingers against her throat. His pupils became larger than usual and his chest rose and fell a little too noticeably. “Colton fucking put his hand on you again?” A muscle in his jaw twitched.

  Without letting her answer, Ethan sidestepped her and jogged down the hall.

  “Ethan, I’m fine.” He was going to do something stupid, and she wasn’t up for it.

  By the time he made it to his apartment, Colton was gone. She could hear Ethan screaming his name.

  Rayn found the exit and ran down the stairs. She needed to get the hell out of that building. She grabbed her phone from her back pocket. “Rebecca, are you down for a run?”

  “Where is he?” Ethan rushed into the apartment, straight to Colton’s room, but he wasn’t there. “Where the fuck is he?” he yelled at Maverick, who was coming out of the master bedroom. He opened and closed his fists.

  “Dude.” Maverick stood next to the door. “I’m not sure what would’ve happened if I didn’t show up. He had her hemmed up by her neck. I don’t give a fuck about the color of her skin. In that moment, she was a defenseless girl. My father would kick my ass if he found out I allowed a man to manhandle a woman.”

  Ethan cracked his neck. “Motherfucker. He put his hand on the wrong woman.” He ambled into his room and began changing his clothes. He pulled out a dark gray hoodie and a pair of black sweats. “I’ve put up with his shit way too long. Tonight Colton is going to pay for every time he insulted her, treated her as less-than, every time he touched her.” Ethan pulled the hoodie over his head. “I’m done being fucking nice to a prick.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Maverick yelled.

  “Fuck that.” Ethan heard the door slam shut. He’d made Rayn a promise and he was going to keep it.

  Rayn had to clear her mind the only way she knew how, by going for a nightly run with her friend Rebecca. She was becoming nauseous all over again, still feeling Colton’s hands crawling up her torso. What would have happened if Maverick hadn’t shown up? Rayn gripped the small can of Mace she had hanging around her neck. Since that altercation, she’d contemplated dropping out several times, but then she’d come to her senses. She only had three short months to graduate with a degree in pre-med. Rayn wasn’t going to let a jerk like Colton stop her dream of becoming a doctor. She made it this far. She could handle a few more months.

  They jogged through the cars in the parking lot, making their way to the entrance of the building. “Thanks for joining me.” Rayn stopped and began stretching out her calf muscles.

  “Anytime.” Rebecca rolled her hips from side to side. “We need to look out for each other.” She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. “However, next time please warn a sister about running over five miles.”

  Once she started running, and especially with everything on her mind, Rayn lost track of time and distance. “My bad.”

  “I’m going up to take a long, hot shower,” Rebecca announced. “You shouldn’t be out here by yourself. Come on.” She glanced around the parking lot. “One of those assholes might try you again.”

  Rayn hadn’t told Rebecca the whole story, because if she had, the black football players would have Colton begging for his life.

  “I’m okay.” She chugged a bottle of water. “I need to get something from my car. Go ahead, I’ll talk to you later.” Rayn lifted the spray.

  “Rayn.” Rebecca placed her hand on her hip. “It’s late. I’ll wait for you.” She walked up to the steps and sat. “I’m waiting.”

  Someone yelled in the background.

  “Did you hear that?” She glanced over at the dim parking lot.

  “Nope.” Her friend placed her headphones over her head and started listening to music.

  Rayn began walking to her car when she heard someone grunting in pain. “Is someone out here?” She turned to look back, and Rebecca was dancing. She heard a banging, as if someone was hitting a punching bag. It felt like she was entering the twilight zone. Rayn whirled around, about to go back, when she caught sight of a guy in a black hoodie running away in between the cars. Though he made sure he covered his face, something about him seemed familiar.

  “Help…”

  She could barely hear, but she made out the word. Is this the part in the movie where the only black person gets murdered? Rayn thought, as she slowly made her way toward the sound. She unhooked the spray from around her neck and aimed it as she walked. The grunting sounds were getting louder as she got closer to a white sedan.

  Someone grabbed her ankles and made her scream out. She kicked loose, dropping the spray on the ground. Her heart thumped like it was about to jump out of her chest. At first, she didn’t recognize the person and then she looked closer. It
was Colton. His face was covered in blood. Rayn took a couple steps back. She analyzed the scene. There wasn’t anyone else around. “Rebecca!”

  “Please…hel…p,” he whispered, clearly having a hard time breathing. Colton was curled up into a fetal position, holding his midsection.

  Rayn stared at the picture in front of her. A couple of hours ago, Colton had her pinned to a wall by her throat, squeezing the life out of her, and now here he was begging for her help. The universe was laughing at her.

  “How does it feel,” she bent down in front of his beaten body, “needing help from a negro like me?” Rayn whispered, and he looked back at her through swollen eyes. “I should leave you here after everything you’ve put me through, but unlike you, I do have a heart.” She stood straight, pulled out her cell phone, and dialed.

  “Don’t…leave…me…here.” He coughed, spitting up more blood.

  Rayn chuckled internally at the irony as the operator answered.

  “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”

  “I found a man badly beaten in the parking at Paseo Apartments.” Rebecca was still seated on the steps, waiting for her, lost in whatever she was doing. Damn headphones, Rayn thought.

  “Is he breathing?” the operator asked.

  “Barely.” She watched his chest slowly raise and fall. Rayn was so busy watching his breathing, she didn’t hear someone walk up behind her.

  Someone touched her, and she screamed.

  Rayn turned in fright. It was Ethan, wearing the same hoodie she’d seen a few minutes before, but what she assumed in the darkness was black had been a dark gray hoodie, and it was sprinkled with red dots. He pulled down on the sleeves, covering his hands.

  “Are you okay?” the operator asked.

  “Yes.” She glared at Ethan. Her suspicions mounted.

  “Help is on the way,” the operator indicated.

  Rayn swiped End, and shoved her cell phone back in her pocket as Colton passed out.

  “What happened?” Ethan asked, out of breath, as he looked at his roommate on the ground, bleeding profusely. He pulled at the top of his hoodie. His hair appeared to be wet from sweat—and it shouldn’t have been. It had been hours since they’d been sweaty together.

  “You tell me?” Rayn stared at his covered fists.

  He rapidly hammed his hands in his front pockets. “You think I did this?”

  Rayn didn’t answer. She didn’t know what to think. The Ethan she knew wouldn’t hurt someone this badly. Colton was almost unrecognizable.

  “Make sure you don’t touch him. You don’t want your DNA anywhere near him.” He watched her closely as the sirens grew louder.

  It was too late. He had her DNA on him already. When he had her against the wall, his nails had bitten into her skin. Rayn glanced at her own nails. His DNA was probably there, too. “Go, before someone sees you.”

  “Karma is a bitch.” He kicked rocks in Colton’s direction and then walked away. “I’ll see you later.”

  As soon as Ethan was out of sight, Rayn raised her hand and waved it. She finally had Rebecca’s attention.

  She ran over just a few seconds after Ethan left. “Oh my God.” She covered her mouth, looking at him. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know,” Rayn replied. “I heard him on the way to my car. I guess someone had enough of his shit.”

  Slowly, and clearly painfully, Colton regained consciousness, to the irony of two black women he no doubt loathed towering over his defenseless ass.

  “Who did this?” She looked down at him, wanting to know before help got there if he knew who attacked him.

  “You…and him…” Colton spit up blood before passing out again.

  “Did he just say ‘you’?” Rebecca grabbed her wrists, pulling her farther away from the injured man.

  “Yes…he’s pathetic.” Rayn waited for the cops and paramedics to get there. It didn’t surprise her. She’d learned a lot, being raised by an attorney. Rayn hadn’t witnessed his assault and she had an alibi for the time of his attack.

  “Yet you saved his ass.” Rebecca leaned against a car.

  The cops took their statement. Rayn never mentioned seeing a man in a hoodie run away or the fact that the same-sized man, wearing the exact same clothing, came up to talk to her shortly after she’d found Colton. Ethan had a lot of explaining to do. More questioning would come after Colton gave his accounts of what happened that evening. Which, she assumed, would include the ridiculous notion that Rayn had arranged the attack on him.

  Later that evening

  Ethan was out of breath entering her apartment. “Are you okay?” he asked. “You didn’t touch him, did you?”

  “No, and no I’m not okay.” She searched the hall, making sure no one had seen him, and rapidly closed the door behind him. “What were you thinking?” Rayn stared down at his now visibly swollen, bloody knuckles. If she had any questions or doubts, they were answered. “You have to go take off your clothes and take a shower.” She rushed her words. “Now, more than ever, no one can find out about us.”

  “Rayn.” He took a step forward. “Don’t you think someone might already know?”

  “No, no…” She shook her head, moving out of his reach. “He’s accusing me of having someone jump him,” she yelled. “His hatred is so deep that he’s blaming me even though he knows I didn’t do it. Wait. Did you tell him I was coming for him?” Colton had said Ethan warned him about her.

  “What are you talking about?” Ethan’s eyebrows cocked. “I didn’t mean it in the context you’re taking it.”

  “Before he passed out again, Colton said I did it.” Rayn had been desperate after the ambulance and cops showed up, so she’d called her father just in case Colton really tried to place the blame on the black girl who’d actually saved his life.

  Ethan paced from side to side, thinking, she assumed, of the consequences of his actions. “Why did you help him? Someone else would’ve.” He grabbed the doorknob. “I won’t let you take the fall for something I know you had nothing to do with. I’m going down to the police station.”

  Rayn placed her hands on the wood, stopping him from opening the door. “You’re not doing any such thing.” She caressed his bloody knuckles. “You have so much to lose. He doesn’t have a chance, accusing me. I have a tight alibi. Do you?” She already knew the answer. “My dad’s associate is already on his way.” The lengths Ethan had gone through to defend her made her love him even more, but even so, she couldn’t condone what he did. “Even though Colton’s a piece of shit, I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself if he bled out because of me.”

  “Rayn, let me explain,” Ethan whispered. “I—”

  “We don’t have time,” she stated sadly, “the cops are coming back to question me as soon as he wakes up, which can be at any moment, and if they catch you here in your state, you’ll be a suspect, too. They’ll think we were in this together. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  He cupped her face with his shaky, rough hands. “I don’t care about going to jail.”

  “You should.” She raised her voice sternly as she backed away from him. “How will you help your parents from behind bars? Think about the sacrifices they made for you to be here. You need to leave.” Rayn opened the door. “Get rid of any evidence, and come up with an alibi.” She gripped his hoodie and pushed him out of her apartment. “This is for both of our futures.”

  Ethan placed his bruised hands in the front pocket of his hoodie. “Why did you come to the apartment?”

  Rayn swallowed, already regretting what she was about to say. “I came to give you your stuff and say goodbye,” she lied. Rayn didn’t have anything on her when she’d gone to tell him how much he meant to her. “Don’t come back.” She closed the door, and prayed he did what she advised. It hurt to say goodbye in this manner, but he’d put his future on the line for her honor, now it was time for her to step up and stop being selfish. Colton’s accusations wouldn’t stand; however, if
even one of his friends was to find out about her relationship, Ethan could go down for attempted murder. He was going to get questioned about his roommate’s injuries, and his whereabouts.

  Rayn set her forehead against the door. To think this had all started because she’d gone to Ethan’s apartment to tell him she didn’t want to lose him, and she didn’t care who knew about their relationship.

  Instead, she’d lost her first love—twice in one night.

  Chapter Five

  Ethan watched Rayn from afar as she joked around with a group of football players. He couldn’t stop staring. Jacob, the quarterback, was exactly what Rayn’s parents wanted for her: a black man with big dreams, unlike Ethan, a poor country boy. A poor, white country boy. Ethan would move mountains to be with her, to include standing up to anyone who had a problem with their relationship. There were so many times he’d wanted to speak up, but Rayn wouldn’t let him. He’d defied her wishes a few times without her knowing. Ethan had never felt this way about another girl. But since she’d wanted to keep up the charade, he’d never exposed her.

  Jacob touched her bare back, making Rayn giggle. “Stop!” She playfully smacked his hand.

  He clenched his jaw. It wasn’t right that he couldn’t touch her in public, but some other jerk could simply because he was darker.

  Rayn glanced his way and instantly, after their eyes connected, she inched away from the football players. She broke their eye contact and continued her conversation from a distance.

  Ethan strolled up, determined to talk to her. She’d avoided him long enough. An entire month had gone by without her saying a word to him. She’d blatantly ignored him after everything he’d done. The only communication he’d received from Rayn was when she’d emailed him her class notes, to help him study, he assumed. “Rayn.”

  She looked his way.