Waiting for Perfect (6 page)

There are voices
around me now.
 
Three pairs of
hands are pulling me off Ryan.
 

“Get Sebastian,” I
hear one of the voices say.

 
They pull me into the hallway, where I
pace back and forth like a caged animal.
 
There’s blood on my shirt and hands, and I know it’s not mine.
 
I want to go back in that room and
finish him.
 
More than that, I want
to make sure Kendra’s covered up so all those people in there can’t look at
her.
 
Two guys block the door to
the room, preventing me from entering, so I just keep pacing.

Sebastian and Jeff
Weaver run up the stairs and into the hallway.
 
Jeff looks through the doorway at Ryan and then to me and my
bloody shirt.

“You better get him
out of here, man,” he says to Sebastian.

Sebastian nods and
grabs my arm, but I shake out of his grip.

“No way.
 
No freaking way.
 
I’m not going anywhere.
 
That asshole was on top of her.
 
I’m not leaving.”
 
Like I would just leave.
 
She needs me right now even if she
doesn’t know it.

Sebastian sees
Kendra on the bed and turns to Jeff.
 
“Go get Lexi.
 
I’ll stay here with Nick.”

After another
minute, Lexi and Candace appear in the hallway.
 
Keeping his voice low, Sebastian tells them what happened
with Ryan.
 
Lexi starts crying, and
Candace puts a hand on her friend’s back.
 
This whole event is surreal.
 
My heart is thumping so loud that it’s hard for me to hear anything else.

I look over the
balcony to see the party continuing below us.
 
The rest of the world is moving, and I feel like time is
standing still.
 
Only ten or so
people even know what happened, and I want to keep it that way.
 
Kendra needs to know first.

I shake myself into
action.
 
“You need to get her out
of here,” I say to Lexi.
 
“Get her
dressed.
 
We’ll help you take her
downstairs.
 
Are you okay to
drive?
 
Can you take her to your
house?”

Lexi is nodding
furiously, eyeing the blood on my clothes.
 
“Yes, yes!
 
God,
I can’t believe this.
 
What the
hell?
 
Are you sure he was trying
to…?
 
Are you sure, Nick?”

Just the fact that
she would question it causes my insides to boil again.
 
Like Kendra would willingly give
herself to that asshole after rejecting him all night.

“Yes, I’m sure, Lexi!
 
Dammit!
 
Get in there.
 
Get her dressed.”
 
I know
it’s unfair for me to take out my anger on Lexi, but I can’t contain it.
 
I’m not used to feeling this much rage.

Jeff and his
friends are carrying Ryan out of the bedroom.
 
Blood is smeared across his face, and both of his eyes are
already swollen shut.
 
By instinct,
I make a swift move toward him, but Sebastian holds me back.

Jeff says, “We’ve
got to get him to the hospital.
 
He’s unconscious.
 
There’s a
lot of blood.”

My body calms
slightly, and Sebastian releases me, keeping one hand on my shoulder.
 
A part of me is wondering if I may have
just killed Ryan Morgan, but right now, I don’t even care.

As the guys lead
Ryan down the stairs, Sebastian loosens his grip on me.
 
He gives me a silent stare, probably
evaluating my mental state.
 
I
don’t know what he sees in my eyes, but he looks worried.
 
Finally, he says, “You did good, cuz.
 
He deserved it.
 
Everything’s going to be okay.”

But all I can think
about is Kendra.
 
For her, nothing
will be okay after tonight.

SEBASTIAN

How the hell did
the night end up like this?
 
One
second I’m on the dance floor with Emma’s ass grinding against my crotch, and
the next second I’m being dragged upstairs to retrieve my psycho cousin.

Nick is covered in
blood, which is very fitting considering the Dexter shirt he’s wearing.
 
Candace has her arms crossed and hasn’t
said a word.
 
Lexi is in the
bedroom with Kendra.
 
I’m dead
sober.

After learning what
Ryan did to Kendra in that bedroom, it took everything in my power to refrain
from giving him a personal beating of my own.
 
I don’t care if she
is
his girlfriend.
 
Violating a woman
in that way is unforgivable.

I’m sure Jeff is
pissed about this whole thing going down in his house.
 
He’ll have to explain to his parents
about the bloodstains on the carpet.
 
Nick really beat the shit out of Ryan.
 
I hope he isn’t dead.
 
Well, I wouldn’t really mind, to tell you the truth, but I don’t want
Nick to go to jail over it.
 
He
can’t go to jail.
 
I couldn’t deal
with seeing that.
 
I’d probably
lose it.
 
The men in white coats
would have to lock me in a padded room somewhere.

Nick, Candace, and
I are standing silent in the hallway when the bedroom door opens.
 
Lexi emerges with mascara-filled tears
rolling down her cheeks.

“She’s dressed,”
she mutters quietly, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

I feel Nick tense
beside me.
 
He’s stronger than I
ever gave him credit for.
 
I almost
couldn’t hold him when he saw Ryan coming out of that room earlier.
 
I still don’t get the deal between Nick
and Kendra, but I’m pissed as hell too, so I understand his anger.

Nobody moves or
says anything.
 
We all just stand
around looking at the floor.

“There you are!”

My head snaps up to
see Megan at the top step with a wide, drunken smile across her face.
 
She has one hand resting on her hip and
is twirling her hair with the other one.

“I’ve been looking
everywhere for you guys.”
 
She
glances at each of us, and her smile begins to fade.
 
“What’s going on?
 
Did I miss something?”

Candace moves
toward her before anyone speaks.
 
“No.
 
We were just coming
downstairs.”
 
She glances at Lexi again
before wrapping an arm around Megan and guiding her down the stairs.
 
“Come on,” she says.
 
“Let’s go dance.”

As they descend the
staircase, Megan starts cackling about a girl throwing up all over the kitchen
floor.
 
Candace looks back in my
direction, and I give her a weak smile.
 
I respect Candace for protecting Kendra.
 
She’s a good friend.
 
After tonight, Kendra’s going to need good friends more than ever.

My feet start
moving before my head catches up, and I find myself at the bedroom door, peeking
in at Kendra lying on the bed.
 
My
gut is twisted up knowing what she just went through.
 
I want to go to her and make sure she’s okay, but I know
it’s not my place.

Still, the need to
protect her is overwhelming.
 
“Let’s
get her out of here,” I say.

Nick is at my side
immediately.
 
We step into the
room, trying to avoid the blood on the carpet.

“Lexi, go get your
car,” Nick says.
 
She nods and
turns to leave.

I sit on the bed
next to Kendra and try to pull her up into a sitting position.
 
She starts to stir and mutters
something unintelligible.

“Whoa, it’s okay,
angel.
 
I’ve got you.”
 
I pull one of her arms around my neck
and try to hold her steady.

Nick’s eyes are
daggers looking at me holding her.
 
I feel guilty for even touching this girl after what she’s been through.

“Get on her other
side,” I tell Nick.
 
“We either try
to get her to walk out of here, or one of us is going to have to carry her.”

Nick pushes me out
of the way.
 
“I’ll carry her.
 
There’s no way we’re going to get her
to walk down those stairs on her own.”
 
In one swoop, he’s got her cradled in his arms.
 
Again, I realize I’ve completely
underestimated his strength.

Kendra is lying
limply against his chest.
 
He
gently puts his lips to her hair and whispers something I can’t hear.
 
There’s a pain in his eyes I’ve never
seen before.
 
He always looks
somewhat pained, but this is different.
 
Deeper.

“Let’s go,” he says
as he leads the way into the hall.
 
I hurry past him so I can go down first and make sure there’s not a
bunch of kids that will see Kendra passed out in Nick’s arms.
 
Lucky for us, the foyer is empty.

I open the front
door for Nick.
 
He is careful not
to bump any part of Kendra on the doorframe as he passes through it.
 
Lexi’s car is in the driveway with the
passenger door open.

Lexi is standing by
it, waiting for us.
 
“Thank you,
Nick, for what you did in there.
 
I
can’t believe this is happening.”

Nick deposits
Kendra into the plush leather seat of Lexi’s Lexus and pushes the button on the
side of the chair to lay it down flat.
 
Through the windshield, I can see her curl up on her side with her hands
folded under her chin.
 
She looks
peaceful.
 
She has no idea what
just happened to her.
 
The thought
makes me sick to my stomach.
 
I
swear if Nick doesn’t do it first, I’m going to kill Ryan Morgan.

I stop Lexi before
she gets in her car.
 
“Are you
okay?” I ask.
 
Stupid question.
 
Of course, she’s not okay.
 
Her best friend was just unimaginably
violated.

She looks
scared.
 
“What do I do, Sebastian?”

Hell if I know.

“She’s going to
wake up tomorrow and not remember any of this.
 
What am I supposed to tell her?”
 
She starts crying again, and if there’s one thing my heart
can’t stand, it’s seeing a pretty girl cry.

I pull her into a
hug.
 
“You’ve got to tell her what
happened, Lexi.
 
She needs to know
the truth.”

She mumbles into my
chest.
 
“How am I supposed to tell
her?”

Nick slams Kendra’s
door shut and walks over to where Lexi and I are standing.
 
“She needs to press charges against
that shitbag.”
 
He swallows hard, and
his pierced brow scrunches down over his eye.
 
“She needs to see a doctor too.
 
They need to check if she was…” he trails off, unable to
complete the sentence.
 
He doesn’t
have to.
 
Lexi and I both know what
he can’t say.
 
If she was
raped.
 
They need to check if she
was raped.

The word hangs in
my head, and a surge of anger rushes over me.
 
Finally, the last eight months make sense to me.
 
I understand the circumstances that led
me to California.
 
I understand
completely.

Lexi is still
sobbing into my chest when Nick says, “Go, Lexi.
 
Take her to your house to sleep it off.
 
Someone needs to be with her when she
wakes up.”

Lexi backs away
from me and nods.
 
“Okay.”
 
She gets into her car and starts
backing down the driveway.

Nick and I stare at
the car until it’s out of sight.
 
Then, we walk to the Mustang.
 
Neither of us wants to enter Jeff’s house again.
 
Neither of us says a word.

I’m stewing on how
badly I want to crush Ryan.
 
When
we reach the car, I quietly say, “Ryan Morgan’s a dead man.”

Nick pushes the
hair from his eyes.
 
His features
are darker than normal, sinister.
 
“I could have killed him, Sebastian,” he says flatly.
 
“If those guys hadn’t pulled me off of
him, I would have.”

I don’t doubt
it.
 
I’ve been in plenty of fights,
and I know that once you’re in the zone, it’s hard to stop.
 
I also know what not stopping can do to
a man.
 
I can only imagine what
Nick felt after walking in on Ryan and Kendra.
 
From the way he’s been looking after her all night, I think
he could have killed for her.
 

“I know, cuz.”