33. Tessa

33

TESSA

A s I stare at the sight before me, my entire body shakes. I can't call the boys right now, I need to call my best friend.

My hands are unsteady as I dial Valencia's number, my breath coming in shallow gasps. The sight of my slashed tires feels like a punch to the gut, but it's the creeping fear that someone's watching me, waiting to hurt me, that has my chest tightening with panic.

"Pick up, pick up," I whisper, my voice shaking as the phone rings.

When Valencia's warm, familiar voice answers, I nearly break down. "Val, I need you. Someone…slashed my tires. I think I'm in danger."

"What?!" Her voice jumps in alarm. "Where are you? Stay there, I'm coming."

Minutes stretch like hours until I see Valencia's car pull up, Matteo in the passenger seat. Relief floods through me as they get out. Matteo crouches down, inspecting the damage. His expression grows grim as he reaches under the windshield wiper and pulls out a piece of paper.

"What's that?" I ask, the words sticking in my throat.

He glances at me, his face pale. "Tessa, you don't want to see this."

My heart hammers against my ribs. "Just tell me."

He hesitates but hands me the note. The words are scrawled in jagged, angry handwriting:

The next thing to be slashed will be your throat.

My breath catches, and the world seems to tilt around me. A scream lodges in my throat, my vision blurring. "Oh my God…oh my God."

Valencia rushes to my side, her hands on my shoulders. "Tessa, breathe. You're okay."

But I'm not okay. My lungs seize as my body trembles uncontrollably. A sharp pain rips through my belly, doubling me over. "Something's wrong," I gasp, my hand instinctively flying to my stomach. "Valencia, I need to go to a hospital." Tears well up in my eyes as I plead with the universe not to do this to me right now. "I'm pregnant but something is wrong…"

Valencia's eyes widen with horror. "Matteo! We need to get her to the hospital, now!"

Matteo bundles me up into their car without another word, helping me into the back seat while Valencia sits next to me, holding my hand tightly. He climbs into the driver's seat and takes off in a controlled rush.

We arrive at the hospital in minutes and they're rushing me through the ER doors, helping me to the reception desk where we explain what's happening.

Everything hurts. My chest hurts. My stomach hurts. My throat feels like it's closing up. The room spins around me and I can't breathe. I can't breathe!

"She's collapsing!" I hear someone yell, but it sounds like it's coming from somewhere far away.

The next thing I know, I look up to find myself on a gurney being rushed to an exam room on the spot.

Val and Matteo hang back outside the double doors, promising to come in with me the moment that they're allowed back.

Everything sort of happens in a haze. People come in and out of my exam room checking on me and then someone decides I need to be admitted so they wheel me up to the fourth floor. Matteo and Valencia are finally allowed to come in and sit with me while they wait to get me seen by some kind of specialist.

I'm giving a nasal cannula to encourage even breathing since I was apparently in the midst of a panic attack when they brought me in.

"Tell me what's going on with you lately, please?" Valencia begs. She's sitting next to me in a hard, plastic hospital chair while holding my hand. She hasn't let it go since the moment she was allowed back in with me.

"I'm pregnant," I tell her again, looking down at our joined hands.

Valencia nods. She's wearing pajamas and her hair is in a big, messy bun. I feel guilty for pulling her out of bed at this hour. "That's what you said," she reminds me gently. "How come you didn't tell me?"

"I was still processing it," I confess. "I haven't totally decided what I wanted to do but…now that this is all happening, I think maybe I don't want to lose this baby." The admission takes me aback as I realize the truth of my words.

I'd been dithering for weeks about what to do and maybe that in and of itself was all the answer I needed. I wasn't ready to let go of the idea of bringing a tiny human being into the world.

"How far along are you?" Matteo asks, his tone gentle.

"I'm not entirely sure. I haven't been to the doctor yet," I admit, cringing because I know my best friend is not going to be happy to hear I was neglecting my health. "I missed two periods before I realized and it's been like…a month since then?"

Valencia does some quick mental math. "So like, twelve-ish weeks?"

"That sounds about right," I say with a sigh, clutching the hospital blanket to me as guilt starts creeping in.

Someone comes in at that moment to examine me and Matteo steps out into the hallway to give me privacy.

Once they're gone, Valencia turns back to me and gives me that look, the one that says she's going to make me spill everything.

"Start from the beginning," she orders.

I take a breath, trying to think about how to explain this. I haven't been telling her about everything with the boys because I didn't want to burden her, and because her boyfriend is a Sigma and I didn't want to cause a rift between them.

"You know how you suggested I fool around with all three of the guys, Alec, Jace, and Devin?" I ask. Val nods and I swallow. "The thing is, I haven't been totally honest with you. I didn't just fool around one time. It kept happening over and over."

Valencia smirks. "Get it, girl," she says, giving me a gentle nudge to the leg. "So it's one of theirs?"

"Yeah," I say, my voice soft. "But there's more to the story. Things haven't been great between us. At least not until recently."

Her brow furrows. "What's been going on?"

"A lot," I admit, my fingers nervously toying with the edges of the blanket. "They thought I was messing around with them to get close and find a way to shut down Sigma Theta. I get why they didn't trust me but instead of talking to me, they ended up trying to make my life hell for a while."

Valencia looks angry at this but she stays quiet so I can continue. "They were the ones behind the bad photos of me on the Sigma's Instagram. It wasn't Matteo's fault, he was just doing what he was told to do," I reassure her, recalling the fight they had over those photos.

"He still shouldn't have done it," Val mutters, but I can tell she doesn't want to rehash it. "What else did they do?"

"A bunch of stupid, harmless pranks. They sent a singing telegram to my class and got me kicked out. One of them put a stink bomb in my car. They kept stealing my phone, shit like that."

"You should never have let them get away with it," Val says, frustration in her tone.

"I didn't," I say, a grin creeping up on my lips. "I gave them as good as they gave me. I got them in trouble with the dean for the photos. That's why they retaliated with the pranks."

"Good girl," Val says, sitting back in the chair with a satisfied smirk.

"But then they made this horrible speech about me at their toy drive kickoff event and it sent me into a spiral. I wanted to punish them right back, but that was right before I found out I was pregnant so all my plans kind of fell by the wayside."

"Did they at least apologize?" Valencia demands.

"Yeah," I tell her. "We're trying to work it out."

Valencia shakes her head. "They shouldn't have been bullying you in the first place. Those guys are such assholes ," she says, her voice laced with venom. "They're pretending to be these upstanding guys trying to reform the fraternity's image but they're just as bad as the people they condemned. If I'd have known what was going on, I would have reported them to the interfraternity council for you."

I smile, feeling reassured at having such a good friend by my side. "I know you would have," I tell her. "But I didn't want to cause a rift between you and Matteo. I knew you would have been upset with him for standing by and letting this happen."

She nods sharply. "Darn straight. I might still have a talk with him. I'm glad they apologized but it was still super shitty of them to treat you so badly. You said they apologized?"

I nod, quiet for a moment to gather my thoughts. If Valencia was already mad, I don't think this part is going to help. "Yeah, we ran into each other today on campus. One thing led to another, and I was hanging out with them. They were apologetic and stuff but we kind of got into a fight when I told them about the stalking stuff I've been going through."

Valencia has been kept up to date on everything I've been going through so far, so she nods. "What caused the fight?"

"I was worried it might be someone in Sigma Theta, someone who holds a grudge. They didn't want to accept that someone in their midst could be a snake in the grass."

Valencia stands up. "Oh my God. They'd rather you get hurt than think one of their precious brothers could be harassing you? I'm not going to stand for this. I'm going over there right now and confronting them!"

"No!" I say quickly. "Please Val, I don't want you to go over there right now. I need you here with me."

Valencia exhales hard through her nostrils but sits back down, rolling her shoulders to calm herself. "I'm here for you, babes," she assures me. "Even if I want to wring those skinny frat boy necks of theirs."

I feel better knowing she's not about to go off on them, but there's still so much anxiety inside me about everything else.