When he went into the kitchen, she could see me. The foyer attached to the living room and I saw the shock on her. The horror came next. Guilt was the third and she clamped a hand over her mouth, a sob hitched in her tone. She slid off the counter, “Oh my god.”

“I got it.” Jamie came back to the foyer and turned the light on. He had a bottle of tequila in his hand.

Hannah couldn’t look away from me. I grew flustered and tried to cover myself. I’d forgotten that I only wore a pair of boy shorts and a tight tank top, no bra. Then he followed his gaze and the storm surged forward. His eyebrows furrowed together and his lips went into a tight line. His jaw hardened and he clipped out, “What the hell? Tatum didn’t wear you out? You better f**king get back to his room. And don’t you say a word of this to anyone.”

I opened my mouth, “Um—”

“I swear.” He took a menacing step towards me. “If you say one word, I’m going to cut you. I don’t give a shit whose bitch you are. I will make your life hell if you breathe one word. So keep your trap shut, you hear me, girl?”

“Jamie,” Hannah started. She slurred at the end.

Oh no. I knew what he’d done. I was revolted as I asked, “Is she drugged?”

He had turned to her, but his head rotated back to me. His massive bulk was a frightening sight when it was filled with hatred and violence, and all of that was directed at me. I shivered, but not from being cold. My shoulders lifted as I took a deep breath. Hannah was drunk. I could smell the liquor from her now. He couldn’t do this, not when she wasted. That wasn’t right.

Hoarse, I tried to speak up, “You can’t—”

“I can’t?” His voice went over mine. His chest started heaving and he clamped a hand over Hannah’s. She winced behind him, but he didn’t care. “You don’t know how long I’ve worked to get this piece of ass. You’re not going to ruin it for me.”

“I’m not going to ruin it?” I shouldn’t laugh at him, but I couldn’t stop. He was delusional and he was an ass**le. “You had to drug her?”

“She’s not drugged.”

“She’s drunk.” Pointing to the tequila in his hand, I added, “And you were going to keep her that way, weren’t you? I was going to do you a favor, but by all means—have at it. Take her to your room.” Wake the beast in his bed.

He scowled. “Are you messing with me?”

“Alex.” Hannah pressed her hands to her head. “I’m really drunk.”

“I know.” Oh god, do I know. “Maybe you should call Beth. She can come and pick you up.”

Jamie growled at me, “She’s not going anywhere.”

“And you’re not forcing her to do what I think you’re hoping to do.”

“Where the f**k’s Tatum? Why aren’t you screwing him? Use those legs for something useful and shut your trap. This is none of your business.”

My chest rose as my anger kicked up a notch. I was growing sick of his Neanderthal mentality. “It is my business. I’m here. You’re here. She’s here. She’s my friend. I know that she doesn’t want to have sex with you when she’s sober and she’s drunk right now so you do the math.”

“Bitch,” he took another menacing step towards me with his hand raised in a fist, but then he was slammed against the far wall. Punches were exchanged and everything happened after that in a flurry of activity.

Jesse threw him against another wall, and rained down on him with punches. Jamie tried to fight back, but there was no use. Jesse knocked him dazed with the first few. He couldn’t lift his arm to even block after a while, but then lights were switched on and footsteps stampeded back down the stairs.

Jesse was tackled off him and thrown against a far wall, clear across the living room now by Cord. Derek stood over Jamie and as he cleared his vision and regrouped, he flung himself to his feet and started for Jesse. Derek held him back now. Then a sob was heard from the stairs.

Tiffany stood in a flimsy nightgown. Kara was beside her, a comforting arm thrown around her shoulder. She was in her pajamas, a top and shorts like me, and patting her friend. Tiffany’s gaze wrenched from her boyfriend to her sister, who was still dazed in the foyer. “Oh my god.” She breathed out, a hissing sound, before her chest jerked up and she held firm. All the blood had drained from her face, but she turned to watch her struggling boyfriend. He was trying to throw off Derek, who seemed to have a firm grip on him.

“What the hell, man?! What the effing hell?!”

“Stay away from Alex!” Jesse shouted back at him. He pushed Cord off, shaking his head at the same time. Cord only moved a foot away with a hand kept on his arm.

“WHAT?!”

“You heard me.”

“Tiffany,” Hannah groaned. “I can’t—I’m drunk.”

“Let’s hope you are,” her sister snapped back. “You were going to screw my boyfriend. My boyfriend, Hannah!”

“I wasn’t. I’m sorry. I’m drunk.”

Tiffany looked at Jamie, who had grown still by that time. Her eyes narrowed and the same venom she had spewed at me was directed at him now. “If you would check your phone, you would’ve known I was here. And you would’ve known that she’s not screwing Cord, you idiot. She’s screwing Jesse!”

The fight drained from Jamie and his body slumped as Derek pushed him back against the wall, from the sudden lack of struggling. “She’s what?”

Cord cursed. “Man, you’re so stupid sometimes. I told you I wasn’t sleeping with her.”

“Yeah, but you never keep a girl around and then Chandra was gone. You’re not sleeping with her?”

“No.”

Jesse growled at him again, pushing against Cord.

Dumbstruck is the only word to describe the look on Jamie’s face as he swiveled his eyes from me to his roommate. Then the same horror I’d witnessed on Hannah appeared over him now. “Oh man. That’s worse. Serious?”

Tiffany rolled her eyes. “That’s the least of your problems right now.”

“Oh yeah. Um,” biting his lip, he turned to me. “I’m sorry, Alex. I really am. I had no idea—”

“Obviously,” his girlfriend ground out again. Then we heard crying from the doorway and she sighed, “Hannah.”