Until Alex - J. Nathan Page 0,50

hadn’t just bagged her, her lips parted, a cunning smile sweeping across her glossy lips. “Wait a minute. Are you jealous?”

I scanned the faces of the students occupying the seats. If there weren’t witnesses, I would’ve forced her to tell me the truth. I tried my final hand. “She was drugged.”

Taylor’s eyes expanded. “For real? Is she all right?”

Oh, her acting chops were stellar. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve believed her myself. “She said she only had one drink. The one Cameron got for the two of you.”

Taylor shrugged. “I was fine.”

“No, shit.” I evened my eyes with hers, moving in so our noses nearly touched. I lowered my voice to just above a whisper. “I know what you did.”

She didn’t even blink. “Prove it.”

I’d never felt more inclined to snap someone’s neck in my entire life. If I stayed a second longer, I would’ve ended up in jail. I spun away from her and got the hell out of the building.

My heart pounded harder than it had in a long time. Someone needed to take Taylor’s ass down. But I couldn’t risk the ramifications for Alex. She’d be the one who’d suffer.

Philosophy was a waste of time. I couldn’t focus on Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Who was I kidding? I couldn’t focus on anything. Anything but Alex. The girl who’d been avoiding me since the previous morning. I couldn’t blame her for not wanting to get involved with someone like me. Someone with nothing to offer. I’d put myself out there the best way I knew how. And it backfired.

The classroom clock seemed stuck on eleven forty. At least in five minutes, I’d have a break for lunch. I needed something to snap me out of my pissed off mood. Not sure if that meant running into Alex or downing some much needed carbs, but both would help.

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

Even though last night’s job went better than most and I didn’t even have to get out of my truck, I prayed it wasn’t Remy. Not today. Not with my mood.

I glanced at my professor before sliding the phone from my pocket. Oddly, everyone else in the classroom checked their phones at the exact same time.

I swiped my finger across the screen. It wasn’t from Remy, but the school’s alert system. Maybe they were cancelling afternoon classes. I wouldn’t argue with that. But it wasn’t a voice message. It was a text. No, a photo.

Whispers and snickers erupted around me.

Like a detonated bomb, the photo flashed across my screen.

Fuck me.

My stomach dropped out from beneath me.

Bile crawled up the back of my throat.

My pulse pounded in my ears.

I jumped to my feet and bolted out the door. I needed to find Alex. I needed to get her off campus before she saw it.

I rushed through the empty hallways of the psych building, not even sure it’s where she was. I thrust my face in classroom windows like a madman. There were brunettes of all shapes and sizes. But none of them were Alex.

Visions of the photo flashed in my mind as I jogged to the arts and sciences building and continued my search. Alex’s naked body. Her closed eyes. Her seductive pose. The hungry look on her face.

I wished I hadn’t seen it. I wished no one had. It didn’t depict the real Alex. It depicted someone who consented to being stripped bare and photographed. They wouldn’t know she’d been drugged. They wouldn’t know what she was really like. What she’d been through. They wouldn’t realize the photo existed out of jealousy.

As I stalked the hallways, I reminded myself she hadn’t been raped. But it didn’t stop the adrenaline from gushing through my body.

I needed to find her.

Classroom doors flew open. People emptied into the hallway from every direction. I maneuvered around bodies, shoving people out of my way. The crashing of my heart and the perpetual ringing in my ears muffled the sounds around me.

I pushed through the building exit, coming to an abrupt stop on the top of the concrete stairs. I scanned the crowded quad. Students crossed the X-shaped paths in a hurry to their next classes, while some congregated in groups, tossed a football, or sat on the grass. But no Alex.

Had she already seen the photo? Had she gone home? Was she hiding?

There was one place I needed to check, hoping to God she was nowhere near it. I jogged across the quad to the student union and right into the