Shit.
Yanking my ear buds out, I draped them around my neck. Then I jogged forward as the skin of my heel yelped in protest. By the time I reached her, the girl was attempting to pull herself to her feet.
It was Bella.
For a moment I just froze there, my brain too startled to react. But her knees buckled again, and my reflexes came back online. I lunged forward, clamping one hand on either hip to steady her.
Bella let fly with a hoarse shriek of terror.
Shit!
“Bella, sorry. It’s just me. Rafe. Sorry.” I was babbling, but she was trembling in my arms, and it was freaky. I stepped around her body so she could see me. “Are you okay?”
As I waited for an answer, I took in more strange details and began to understand that she was not okay. Not at all. What I’d mistaken for tattoos on her limbs were actually words inked in marker. Some person — or people — had written on Bella.
FILTHY BITCH had been scrawled on her upper arm in black ink.
And on her leg? If I used any of those words, my Ma would slap me. My chest clenched just to see it. Acting on instinct, I stepped closer to Bella, leaning her against my chest. Then I looked up at the frat house I’d just seen her leave.
Beta Rho.
The house was completely still. And except for the slow creaking of a birch tree moving in the breeze, there was no noise at all. There were no faces in the doorway or at the windows.
What the hell went on in there?
My neck tingled, and I fought off a shiver. Bella was silent. The whole situation was creepy as hell.
I really needed to get Bella home before she fell over again. “Come on. Let’s go.” I repositioned her in the crook of my arm, my hand pressed against her hip.
Moving down the sidewalk, I was practically frog-marching her. Not that it was easy. Every few steps she stumbled. With my free hand, I grasped Bella’s other elbow. Her skin was cold to the touch.
Thankfully, it was only a few minutes’ walk from fraternity row to Beaumont. “Can you tell me what happened?” I asked once.
“No,” Bella whispered. The glassy look in her eyes gave nothing away.
When we reached our entryway, I hip-checked the laser reader, hoping for enough contact to unlock the door. I heard a reassuring click, and stepped up to open the door. Bella stumbled over the marble threshold, and there was an awkward moment when I thought one or both of us was going to end up on the tile floor.
“Whoa,” I said, steadying us. I peered up the stairs. “Come on, now,” I whispered. “Almost there.” With Bella still tucked under my arm, we reached the first stair step.
With a hand on the railing, she dragged herself up the first five or six steps. Then she stopped. “Just leave me here,” she said, her voice low.
“No can do,” I replied.
She actually gave me a little shove with her hip. “Go.”
There was no way in hell I would walk away from her. Maybe I hadn’t known what to say or do since our crazy night together. I’d probably handled things pretty badly. But I knew exactly what to do right now.
Instead of arguing with Bella, I stepped into her space. I bent my knees and wrapped my arms around her hips, lifting her into the air.
For one shocked second, she said nothing. I slung her over my shoulder, grabbomg the railing with my free hand. Then I began to climb.
“Down,” she insisted to my back. “Put me down.”
“Nope,” I exhaled.
She gave my back a thump with her arm, but I only held her more tightly. I powered up the stairs. I didn’t want someone sticking his head out to catch us this way. It would look as though I was overpowering a drunk girl.
And I was, if you wanted to get all technical about it.
About a minute later, I was sliding Bella down my body and onto her feet in front of her fourth-floor door.
Her face had pinked up, and her eyes narrowed. I was glad to see it. An ornery Bella was much better than a stony-eyed one. She patted the pocket of her skirt, drew out a set of keys and then dropped them.
Before she could react, I snatched them off the floor and stuck the room key in the lock.
“Hey,” Bella argued. But I wanted her inside her room and off her feet. She still looked as if the slightest breeze might knock her down.
Behind us I heard the squeak of a door. Turning my head, I caught a glimpse of her famous neighbor’s face peeking out. Lianne’s eyes grew wide before she shut her door again.
Bella pushed her own door open, yanking the knob from my hand. She crashed into the room, stumbled over to the bed and fell onto it.
I shut the door behind me, then went over to kneel beside the bed. “Bella,” I whispered. “Are you hurt anywhere?” She seemed so weak and that was odd. I didn’t have much experience with alcohol poisoning, though.