Chapter 3 Untitled Chapter

The loud chatter behind me suddenly died down. I heard the sharp scuffle of sneakers on the tiled floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed two girls quickly drop their cups into the trash and hurry out. Two other guys stopped talking mid-sentence and quietly slipped into the living room.

Within a few seconds, the kitchen was dead silent. Everyone was scurrying away like mice hiding from a giant cat.

I stopped pouring. My heart pounded against my chest, but this time it wasn't from the memory.

Slowly, I turned around.

Standing near the refrigerator was a guy. He was incredibly tall, towering over everyone else who had just fled. He had broad shoulders that seemed to fill the entire space. His dark hair fell slightly over his forehead, crowning his face, but his eyes were fully visible. They were the darkest shade of grey, and they were fixed on me.

He didn't say a word. He just stared, his eyes dragging from my top and my cup of wine, then down to my jeans, like I was a strange bug that had crawled into his private space. His expression made it perfectly clear: I was not supposed to be here.

"Who the fuck are you?"

The words came out of his mouth like a growl. The deep, rough tone of his voice cut through the kitchen, making me flinch. The plastic cup slipped from my hand, landing on the counter and splashing a few drops. My breathing hitched.

I looked past his broad shoulders. The living room behind him, which was crowded with dancing students, had stopped moving. Dozens of different faces were looking into the kitchen, their eyes moving from the towering guy to me. The weight of everyone's stare made my skin prickle with goosebumps.

"I—I'm Summer," I stammered, my voice coming out tremulous.

The tall guy let out a low, mocking laugh. He didn't move from where he stood, but his eyes narrowed at me.

"Who the hell is Summer?" he asked, angling his head. His jaw clenched. "Because I sure haven't heard this name in Kingsley before."

I swallowed hard, pressing my lips together. I was speechless. After a heavy, silent moment, he took a step closer. The air in the room suddenly felt twice as heavy.

"Who the fuck invited you to my party, Summer?" he demanded.

"My friends," I blurted out, my hands gripping the edge of the counter behind me. "They brought me here because—"

"I don't know who your friends are," he cut me off.

He slowly turned his body around, looking out at the crowd of students gathered in the hallway. The music in the living room had died down. The thumping bass was gone, replaced with a suffocating heat and silence where one could hear a pin drop.

"Do you guys know this girl?!" he shouted into the house, his voice echoing through the walls. "Who the fuck invited this kid to my party?!"

Nobody answered. A few students actually took a step back, looking away to avoid his gaze. I scanned the faces in the crowd, desperately searching for my roommates. But the living room was just full of quiet strangers.

The guy turned back to face me, a cold, mean smile pulling the corner of his lips upward.

"No one knows you here," he said, taking another step forward. The scent of expensive cologne and leather drifted into my nostrils. "No one invited you. So who the fuck are you?"

My heart was thumping so loud that for a moment I thought it was going to explode. I squeezed my eyes shut for a brief second to gather whatever courage I had left.

"I just came today," I said, looking straight into his dark eyes. "I haven't looked for anyone's trouble, and I'm trying to mind my business."

"Mind your business?" He let out another dry laugh, shaking his head. "Did you check the warning on the invite, kid? Because I didn't invite a single fresher to my party. Did you come here for some fucking attention from me? Is that it?"

"No!" I said quickly, my cheeks burning with a mix of embarrassment and anger. "I don't even know who you are."

He didn't seem to hear me. He turned away again, looking back toward the crowded space.

"I'm asking one last time," he said. "Does anyone know who invited a kid to my party? Because when I find you, I'll fuck you up."

A cold dread pooled in my stomach. Images of my roommates, Sophie and Bri, appeared in my mind. They were just trying to be nice to me. They wanted me to have fun on my first night, and now this monster was threatening to hurt them because of me. I wouldn't let that happen.

"You will not hurt my friends," I said.

The words left my mouth before I could stop them. They weren't loud, but in the quiet silence of the kitchen, everyone could hear them, even from a distance.

The guy froze for a second, then slowly, very slowly, turned his head back to look at me. The anger in his eyes turned into disbelief.

"You have one hell of an audacity," he murmured.

He started walking closer. Every step he took felt heavy and full of threats. My instincts kicked in, and I immediately started moving backward. He mirrored my movements, and I kept going until the solid, cold surface of the drywall hit my back. I was trapped. He stood in front of me, blocking out the kitchen lights. Up close, I had to raise my head to look at him. His eyes were cold and terrifying.

I held my breath.

But then, before he could lift a hand or say another word, a voice cut through the air.

"Get away from her."

The tall guy stopped. He didn't look happy about being interrupted, but he slowly turned his head toward the entrance of the kitchen.

I blinked, shifting my gaze past his broad shoulder. Standing right at the entrance of the kitchen was Cole. He had changed his coffee-stained shirt and was now wearing a black shirt. Everything else looked the same.

Only, he wasn't smiling anymore. The relaxed, calm guy who had helped me carry my heavy bags was gone. His face was set in a hard, deep expression, and his eyes were locked on the guy standing over me.