3. ~Brianna~

3

~Brianna~

I was exhausted.

It had been almost the crack of dawn when I'd finally arrived home last night.

Again.

For three days and nights running now.

I hadn't trusted that the guys would stay away when I'd really needed them to after that messed-up revelation about what Levi had done.

Urgh. It was beyond invasive and a violation of my freedom and choices, something he knew was so important to me.

I couldn't believe he'd actually done this.

So I'd come home really late yet again, and I'd had to get up far too early to go to my first class of the day.

As I finished getting dressed, I checked the text notifications I'd heard as I'd stepped out of the shower.

I was more than a little surprised when I didn't find anything from the boys.

Nothing at all.

Not for three whole days.

There hadn't actually been any contact whatsoever since the night I'd kicked Levi in the balls.

Instead, there were some from Chloe.

Chloe: Are you okay?

Chloe: Maybe I shouldn't have told you. I'm so sorry I upset you.

I shook my head to myself and wrote back.

Brianna: You didn't upset me, you just told me the truth. It was brave and I love you for it.

Chloe: Aww, I love you too. I wish we could be at Stonewell U together still.

Brianna: Me too. But, you know, it's gonna be great for your career at least being where you are now instead at that special design school.

Chloe: Yeah, there is that.

Brianna: Exactly.

Chloe: There you are again always seeing the positive in everything, even when there seems like there isn't any to be found.

I started at her message.

I guess I did do that.

At least these days since my reinvention.

But I hadn't done that earlier with Levi after I'd found out he'd kept my friend from me.

Worse, that he'd actually driven her away from me, that he'd manipulated a whole bunch of things to make it happen too.

I just… it had hurt.

We'd come through so much, all his craziness at the beginning, the bullying from Mason and Hex , so fucking much.

I'd thought we'd turned a corner, that we were all out of the woods.

I'd thought the trust was there.

More than that, I'd thought it had been solidified between all four of us.

That we were a team.

And I got that this had obviously happened before that had come about, before things had changed between the four of us, before we'd grown so close.

But he still should have told me that was what had happened, that he'd done that.

I mean, I'd forgiven him for other things.

The fact he hadn't told me… it hurt.

And, honestly, it worried me that there could very well be a whole lot more he was keeping from me.

Maybe that Mason was keeping from me too.

Colt, not so much. He was an open book and he didn't have a manipulative bone in his body. That first interaction with us where that had seemed to be in play regarding the duet excuse had been all Levi putting it up to him, so I didn't count it as Colt's infraction, but Levi's.

I sighed heavily and said my goodbyes to Chloe over text.

I needed to get to class.

I grabbed my bag off my bed, then headed out of my bedroom.

I just needed to focus on college until I was able to calm down from the rest, until I could process it.

As I went to open the door, the lights suddenly shut off.

With the early hour it plunged the immediate area into blackness.

An eerie sensation rolled over me, the sensation that I wasn't alone anymore.

A warning screamed at me.

In the next moment, the door was flung open and a rush of movement came my way.

I didn't even get to react when I was suddenly trapped in a bear hold, a hand slapped over my mouth.

I screamed into the palm and struggled wildly, slamming the weight on me against the wall.

They held fast, the impact not even dislodging their grip in the slightest.

My head was wrenched back, making me grunt.

A damp cloth was slapped over my nose and mouth.

And then everything started to fade away.

My fight disintegrated.

My surroundings slipped away.

No! No! Not again.

Not back into that hellscape!

The demons had found me.

I couldn't… I couldn't stop the overwhelming sensation dragging me under.

It was going to take me.

No. No.

It was too late in the next second.

Everything slipped away.