Page 17 of Intrepid

For weeks after, he’d stalked me. Threatening to kill himself. He’d even slipped once and said he’d kill me, if I dated another. I’d changed my number after that, and made sure he knew how quickly I could secure a restraining order through my father’s contacts. Not that Karl Kutscher had ever gone out of his way to protect me, but he certainly couldn’t afford not to, with his reputation on the line.

Without so much as a hello, I stepped toward the dance floor away from him.

Dane’s grip of my arm stopped me. “Sera.”

I swung around, a warning on my face, and he released me.

“Please, I’m not here to harass you. I’m dating someone right now.”

That didn’t ease the tension in my muscles, but it certainly had me feeling sympathetic. Poor girl.

“I just wanted to apologize. I’ve wanted to apologize to you for a while, but … you refused my calls.”

I frowned, opening my mouth to protest, but he raised his hands.

“Not that I blame you. I was in a very bad place when we broke up. I’m better now. Happy.” The smile on his face seemed to reach his eyes, but I still didn’t trust him. “I’m sorry for being such an asshole.”

“I …. It’s fine.”

Apologies had never been easy for me, for some reason. Maybe because I’d been bombarded with them after my mother died. People who knew her would tell me how sorry they’d felt for my loss, and I’d have no idea what to say in return. I didn’t find their sorrys comforting, at all. They were awkward and out of place.

Just like Dane’s.

“It’s not fine. I put you through hell your last year.” He really had.

Because Dane was on the football team and coveted by some of the more popular girls in our school—which only solidified my thoughts that he was only trying to get a leg up on his law career—it’d been virtually effortless for him to spread rumors about me. Things I’d confided in him secretly about, my worries, fears. He’d used them against me, turning my heartfelt confessions into weapons.

I’d found myself counting down the days until graduation and getting away from my classmates.

“You look … fantastic.” His gaze landed on my breasts before lifting again. He’d also made a point to tell everyone that he’d dated me because he felt sorry for me being all scarred and fucked up in the head. “Your hair, it’s so …” Reaching for my hair, he swiped up a lock and let it fall. “Blue. It’s, um … different. Almost didn’t recognize you.”

“What are you doing here? You don’t go to school here, do you?” I hoped that wasn’t the case, or I’d seriously have to think about my own enrollment. Didn’t seem likely though, considering Dane had been bred for Ivy League since the day he’d learned how to say Yale.

“No, no. Are you kidding me?” With a snobby chuckle, he tipped back his beer. Pretentious ass. “University of Michigan. Poli Sci. Decided to follow in my father’s footsteps.” A surprise, as his brother had shipped off to Yale two years before him to study Political Science. Though, one thing I had learned in our conversations: Dane hated his father. It was the typical rich boy story about how he wasn’t good enough, or as smart as his older brother, Derek. Sad, in a way, how badly he sought validation from not only his father, but mine, as well. “I’m just slumming it up with some buddies of mine. We were at the casino earlier. What about you? You, uh … here with anyone tonight?”

“Yes. My roommate and her girlfriend.”

“Oh. Are you living here?” He reared back, as though it suddenly occurred to him that I hadn’t come to slum it up. “Wait … are you a student down here?”

“Yeah.” The repulsion on his face had me choking back laughter. If all I’d had to do was tell him I’d decided to go to a Detroit school to get that kind of repugnance out of the jerk, I’d have done it right after we’d broken up. Live and learn.

It seemed like the conversation had reached its max, and call it old feelings rising to the surface, but I started feeling trapped.

Times before, when I’d walked away from him, Dane would make a scene. He’d incite an argument with me, or shout some embarrassing remark that’d make me want to hide away somewhere.

I didn’t plan to talk to him all night, and I sure as hell didn’t plan to run and hide, which left me wondering what to do.

At something brushing my elbow, I glanced down to a hand there, then up to Ty, standing behind me.

“I’m cashing in on that dance you promised me, Sera.” Compared to Dane’s insincere, honeyed voice, Ty’s was rich chocolate, and his words added a spicy kick.

“I … thought you said you were here with a roommate. Who’s this?” The flinch of Dane’s eye told me Ty intimidated him.

Good.

“Dane, this is Ty.” I noticed their differences, the way Ty was rough and hard against Dane’s smooth, paraffin polish. Both guys were big, but Ty stood a little taller, with tight lean muscles, while Dane’s were bulky, almost sloppy.

Neither of them offered a handshake, which made the introduction completely awkward, and I wanted nothing more than to magically disappear from between the two.