My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 40

Nina

“Fancy seeing you here,” Justin said with an oddly warm smile. “Can I sit with you?” I bit my lip and glanced around quickly, half expecting Lisa or someone else to be snickering nearby as if this was all a prank — but there was no one else. It seemed as though he came alone. Why was he acting so different all of a sudden and dressed like Enzo? It all felt a bit weird and I didn’t really want to stick around to see what would come of it.

“I was actually just leaving,” I said, shutting my laptop and standing as I slipped my things into my bag. Justin looked immediately saddened, but what could I do? He was my ex and I had made it clear, multiple times, that I wouldn’t be open to any sort of friendship or relationship with him after I found him cheating on me with Lisa in my own bed!

“Oh,” Justin said with a sad frown, his shoulders drooping. “Well, see you around, then.” I managed a pitiful smile before turning on my heel and practically running out of the coffee shop. What was all that about?

Jessica and Lori were waiting for me when I got home. Jessica was sitting on the floor with a little handheld mirror as she did her makeup, and Lori was texting on the couch when I entered. “You’re going out with us tonight,’ Jessica said matter-of-factly, not looking up from the mirror..

I stopped in the kitchen and cocked my head. “Oh?” I replied, a bit annoyed that it seemed that my roommates had decided for me already. “And where are we going?” “Some new club in town,” Lori replied. “It’s their grand opening. Free drinks.”

I sighed, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to get out of this if both Lori and Jessica had already made up their minds. I loved them, but they were both extremely stubborn. “Alright,” I said, tossing my bag down on the counter and heading to my room to shower and get changed.

“How was your date?” Jessica asked, looking over her shoulder at me with a smirk. I paused at my door, not wanting to think about Justin randomly showing up like a clone of Enzo.

“It wasn’t a date,” I replied. “We were just studying. And… It was nice.” Jessica grinned and returned to her makeup. A few hours later, Jessica, Lori and I were standing in line outside the club, waiting to get in.

“I told you to bring a coat,” I said to Jessica, who was shivering and rubbing her arms. She was wearing nothing but a skimpy, sparkly pink dress with heels while Lori and I were both comfortable in the cold with our jackets on over our outfits. “It’s too much trouble,” Jessica replied. “I hate having to deal with coat check.”

Lori and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. “Next,” the bouncer said, waving us forward. He let us through without so much as checking our ID’s, which he had been doing with all of the girls so far. It seemed that they just wanted as many college girls as possible inside, which was a somewhat gross practice in my opinion.

Once we were inside and handed our coats over to the attendant, Jessica grabbed both Lori’s and my hands and dragged us straight toward the bar, where she immediately ordered three shots of some alcohol that I couldn’t hear her pronounce over the loud club music. The bartender filled three shot glasses and handed them to us.

“Let’s get wrecked!” Jessica shouted over the music, clinking her shot glass with us and downing it like a ditsy sorority girl. Lori and I gave each other another look at our friend’s goofy behavior and took our shots.

Inside my mind, I knew that this was getting dangerous. I knew that this man did something to me, and that he had bad intentions, but I couldn’t fight back. My body felt limp and useless as he half-carried me to the bathroom with an evil grin on his face. The room spun around me as the effect of the drugs became stronger, making me feel so sick I couldn’t even speak or call for help.

He carried me down the hallway to the bathrooms, but kept going past the bathroom and into a broom closet. He shoved me inside, making me stumble and fall on the floor, and looked around for a second to make sure no one was watching before coming in after me and closing the door behind himself. I watched in horror as he propped something heavy up against the door to keep anyone from getting in, then started to unbuckle his belt. I immediately vomited.

“Ugh,” he said, unzipping his pants. You’re pathetic.”

I could only groan and lay on the floor as he crouched down and flipped me over roughly, yanking up my skirt so he could have his way with me. I wanted to scream, to kick and scratch and bite, but I couldn’t. I felt like a prisoner in my own body and could only close my eyes and wait for it to be over.

“Hey! What the-” he yelled all of a sudden, jumping up. I heard the sound of a struggle. A shelf toppled over, sending buckets and brooms sliding across the floor..

The last thing I saw before the drugs knocked me out was a familiar skull leaning over me and scooping me up off the ground.