How Sinners Fight (Sinners of Hawthorne University 2)

ase. Each new memory that rises up inside me makes my pulse thrum even faster.

A pair of hands on my back.

A quick push—a shove.

My body careening down the stairs, spinning out of control.

Another body at the top of the stairs. A person standing there, backlit by dim light as they look down at me.

Motherfucker.

I come spiraling back into reality, clutching a hand to my heart as if it’s about to fall out of my chest.

Someone is trying to kill me.

And they just did it again.

Cliff.

Goddammit.

Hot rage washes through me as I scramble for my phone, finding it face down on the pavement from when it flew out of my hand. By some miracle the screen isn’t cracked; there’s only a small dent on the side of the case as proof of what happened.

My hands shake as I unlock it and pull open my contacts, dialing the most recent contact. It’s Elias, and he picks up on the first ring.

“Hey, Blue.” I can hear the grin in his voice. “You coming over? We’re all hanging out at Gray’s right now—”

“Elias.” My throat constricts. “Someone is trying to kill me.”

The line goes dead for half of a second.

“Where are you?” he says, and even though his voice sounds calm, I can tell it’s laced with panic.

“I’m fine right now,” I tell him, explaining where I went to eat dinner and what happened. “I’m walking back, I’m almost there—”

“Gray is leaving right now to pick you up,” he says, “but keep walking. Don’t hang up on me.”

I stay on the phone with him, and less than ten minutes later, I recognize Gray’s car pulling up. I flinch slightly as the headlights illuminate the darkness around me, pushing aside the memory of another car speeding toward me. He gets out and rounds the hood, his gaze intent on my face.

“Gray’s here now,” I tell Elias.

“Let me talk to him.”

I hand Gray the phone, and he assures Elias that it’s him before hanging up. I go to get into the car, but Gray pulls me against his body, pressing a kiss to my lips. His heart thuds against my chest as he kisses me deeply, and I can practically feel the relief pounding through my body and his.

“We’ve got to get you back,” he says, his voice low and dark.

He helps me into the car, and for once, I don’t try to stop him. Usually, I’m not one for men treating me like I can’t do this shit myself, but I know that’s not why Gray’s doing it. He’s doing it because he can barely bring himself to stop touching me, and he wants any excuse to prolong the contact.

And if I’m being honest, so do I.

Inside the car, he grips my hand tightly, navigating the car away from the curb with one hand on the wheel. On the drive back to the campus, both of us are quiet and somber.

I try to call Max, but she doesn’t pick up, so I leave her a message telling her to meet up at Gray’s dorm as quickly as possible. I know she wanted to hash shit out with Aaron, but I also know she’d be pissed if I didn’t tell her about this.

When we get back to Gray’s room, Elias and Declan spring up, their eyes roaming over my body, checking for injuries.

“I’m fine,” I say, letting them pull me into their arms, hug me, kiss me—as if by touching me, they’ll know I’m truly okay. “Just a little freaked out, that’s all.”