Chapter 25

Trinity

The sound of glass falling to the ground and shouting made him go stiff and his hand stopped just above the waistband of my jeans. My stomach roiled and I shoved my elbow hard back into him. He grunted, stumbled and I darted forward, twisting out of his grip. I tried to run to Sindia or someone else, but in my panic, I just couldn’t seem to steer my body. The lights whirled around me. I felt sick. My legs were barely staying under me as I ran. My heart pounded in my chest.

The world flickered with darkness that seemed to stretch up into the sky only allowing the faintest and briefest glimpse of red light to shine over me. Where was I going?

The vision faded and swarmed. I heard laughter that seemed to echo forever. Something was chasing me, I knew it. My mind whirled and I was barely keeping the scream that was building behind my teeth inside.

I needed out. I needed to get far away from here before I lost it.

I could almost hear the blood rushing in my ears as my vision continued to darken and spin. I saw faces in the darkness that I didn’t recognize.

The sound of breaking glass and falling bodies filled the air, pulling me back into the bar and away from the darkness in my mind. It felt like I had been doused with ice-cold water. The scent of alcohol mingled with the music. I felt someone try to grab me and I twisted away. A red light flashed through my eyes, then darkness and fear. I had to get away. I had to get away as fast as my legs could take me.

I turned and threw a seat down to block the way behind me. Someone stumbled nearby as I sucked in a breath and tried to fight back the sense of fainting. I saw the dean coming after me and I grabbed the nearest table, pulling it over until it fell. Alcohol spilled. Glasses crashed as I hurried through the shifting crowd and away from him.

I had to get away.

Then, this man stepped in front of me. I drew up short as he looked down at me, cutting off my path. The moment I looked at him the world seemed to go silent around me. He told me to get behind him, but I didn’t know the man. At least, I didn’t think I knew him.

Something in me was screaming. My shoulder burned like someone had pressed a brand to it. I felt the fear tensing my body, but also felt my feet shifting forward to obey him.

Was he offering to protect me, or was he just looking to fight someone behind me? I didn’t know what to think of this man as he loomed over me. As I tried to resist the urge to obey, the burning started to turn more intense and started to spread through my body. The pain shifted to something that felt more like a tingling sensation like my body was going numb.

The bar was dimly lit, but I could see his face clearly and his eyes… There was something about his eyes that made me feel a deep sense of familiarity and terror. He was dressed in a nice suit. His hair brushed across his shoulders and framed his chiseled face well. It was shiny and black, but it didn’t look like gel.

He just looked well put together like he belonged on the cover of a magazine or something.

I felt something I couldn’t explain. It ebbed and flowed with every pulse of my heart.

Fear? Apprehension? Attraction? It was all muddled together, so I wasn’t sure either way, but it was growing stronger. I thought to back away from him, to get away from him if possible. I stepped back, afraid though something was telling me that I could trust him. Something was telling me that he wasn’t going to hurt me no matter what my logical mind said was possible.

I heard movement behind me and I darted behind him quickly. The dean stormed towards us and stopped in front of the man. He was a head taller than the dean and definitely bigger. There was a darkness and danger about the man that everyone nearby seemed to notice and draw back from.

“You have a problem?” The man asked the dean. “I’m in no mood to tolerate hostility.”

The dean looked at me as I peeked around the man’s broad shoulders. He hesitated but gave a thin smile and walked away, shooting me a glance as he did so. The glance made my skin crawl and my stomach lurch. He headed out of the open doorway towards the lobby. When he was out of sight, I took a deep breath and felt a bit of relief. I had avoided that for now, but I had to be more careful.

I wouldn’t feel right going anywhere alone any time soon. The man turned to me, and I smiled up at him, shuddering at the phantom feeling of the dean’s hands on me. It morphed for a moment. The bar went quiet for a long time as if I had been dropped into a deep, dark place before I broke myself out of it.

“Thank you,” I said softly. His eyes widened a bit in surprise. “For stepping in. I really appreciated it.”

I stared up at him as he lifted his head and simply looked at me. There was something about his eyes that I couldn’t quite name. Before, they looked very bright, but now they were almost glowing, but maybe that was just a trick of the light. His presence felt kingly, noble at least. There wasn’t a sense that I couldn’t trust him or that he meant me harm.

And… he was probably the most handsome man I had ever seen.

“… there is no need to thank me,” he said softly. His voice was a low rumble between us. He stepped a bit closer to me and leaned closer.

His nostrils flared as if he was taking a deep breath of my scent.

His eyelids lowered, and I felt my face heating. It had been a long time since I had been so close to a man I was attracted to. It had been even longer since the last time a man had seemed attracted to me in a way that didn’t set me on edge.

When I thought about Mark and the few other guys that I had classes or shifts with, my skin crawled. I was hyper-aware and panicked about being alone with them unless I really trusted them, but not him.

Who was this man?

Before I could ask for his name, his lips curved into a smile.

“Have a good evening.”

He turned and drifted past me. I turned to see Sindia who stared at me with wide eyes. She looked at the man’s retreating back then back to me before grinning and waving me after him.

“Go,” She surged silently. “Quickly.”

My lips twitched and I turned at the least, I could get his number and a chance to talk to him more. Though… something more wouldn’t have been bad either. Sindia was right that I needed to focus more on what I had now, enjoying the life I was making. Dealing with Mark’s feelings would have to wait until he came back, and it was still something I wasn’t interested in pursuing.

But this man was different. Why not start by getting to know a handsome man who had already come to my rescue once?

I rushed after him and almost choked as I saw the dean loitering nearby, scanning the area. He saw me and started to make his way toward me, but I hurried after the man as quickly as I could manage. I heard his feet hurrying up to catch me. The man ahead of me seemed to be striding faster. My heart was in my throat.

For a moment, the flash of red light from the bar took me somewhere else. Darkness swirled around me. I was reaching out toward a vast, red-lit plain, but the vision vanished quickly.

I blinked it away and considered my chances. The bus wouldn’t be coming until the next morning and we weren’t departing until around noon if I remembered correctly. Sindia promised to send me a text when it was an hour away from departure, so I had time to get to know him a little bit and maybe a little more.

“Wait!”

The man turned back before he reached the front door and looked at me as I got to him. I heard the dean coming closer and drew closer to the man.

“I know… this is going to sound strange, but…” I looked up at him and worried my lip. “Could you… Could you escort me back to my room?”