The Game That Breaks Us (Us 3)

“Long, dark hair, slanted eyes, always has a mean look on her face,” I describe.

He laughs. “You described almost every girl I know. Besides you, of course.” He winks.

I smile. “I seriously need to find her, though. We should head back to our dorm.”

“Sure.” He nods. “I understand. I’ll help you look.”

I push my way through the crowd again, searching every face I see for Elle. Ryland taps my shoulder and points that he’s going the other way. I head down a narrow darkened hall where the line for the bathroom is. She’s not there. Disgusted, I turn back the way I came. There’s an upstairs, and something tells me I’m going to have to search there. Yippee. Based on the scene on the couch earlier I’m not thrilled at the possibilities of what lies upstairs.

As I go up the stairs, I use the vantage point to look down into the family room, but no one that I see is Elle.

I reach the top of the stairs and immediately spot her.

“Let me go,” she says to the guy who has her pinned to the wall. His knee is in-between her legs, and he holds his hands firmly on her hips.

“Come on, baby,” he says, lowering his head to her ear. Whatever he says I can’t hear but it pisses off Elle.

“Fuck you,” she snaps.

He leers at her. “That’s exactly what I want. Fuck. Me. I want you to ride this cock so hard—”

I’ve heard enough. I tear off my pointed heeled shoes and run down the hall. “What the fuck?” the guy spits when he glances over and sees me running toward him. Before he can blink, I smack the pointed end of my heel against his face with a satisfying thump. He stumbles back, clutching his face, and I see a trickle of blood run down his cheek. “Bitch!” he screams, grabbing onto my arm and yanking me back. I stumble and fall into his chest. His fingers bruise my skin.

“Grace!” Elle cries, concern leaching into her voice as she blindly reaches for me.

“Must be my lucky night,” the guy mocks, his breath reeking of booze. “A two for one deal.”

“Let. Her. Go.”

My eyes dart toward the stairwell to see Ryland standing there now, fists clenched at his sides. The muscle in his jaw ticked.

“You want in on the action?” the guy holding me asks. “I’m not really into sharing, but you can have them when I’m done.”

“I said, let her go.” Ryland stalks forward the smallest bit more.

“Or what?”

“Or this.” Ryland runs forward in a crouched position, taking out the guy at the knees—they both fall to the ground and I am propelled forward into Elle. She holds onto me and keeps me from falling into the guys. Ryland and the guy throw punch after punch at each other. Ryland finally gains the upper-hand and ends up on top of the guy. He lands a solid punch to his face, and when the guy no longer hits back, he holds him by the collar of his shirt.

“You never treat a woman like that. You’re the reason all men get a bad rep.” He lets go of the guy and he falls back like a useless lump on the ground. Ryland stands up and wipes his bloodied knuckles on his shirt. “Are you okay?” he asks us.

“I am,” I answer. “Elle?”

She shakes, and it’s only then that I realize she’s crying. “He-he … I don’t know what he might’ve done if you hadn’t shown up,” she tells him. “And then you.” She turns her gaze to me. “I can’t believe you defended me after what a bitch I was to you.”

“Us girls have to stick together,” I tell her.

She bites her lip and surprises me by saying, “I’m sorry. You’re not so bad.”

“Hey,” Ryland says, interrupting us. “Why don’t I drive you guys back to your dorm? I don’t want you walking out there alone.”

I look to Elle for her opinion. She nods.

“Thanks,” I tell Ryland. “We’d appreciate it.”

I wrap my arms around Elle and we start down the steps together. She’s shaken after what just happened; I am too, but not as much as she is and I want her to know I’m here. I’m scared to think about what would’ve happened if I got there only a minute later.

Ryland leads us out to his car—a beat-up Toyota—and I help Elle into the back. Between her encounter with the guy and the alcohol in her system, her legs are barely holding her up. There’s no way we could’ve walked back to campus. I would’ve had to call a cab.