Tutoring the Bad Boy

Saying Goodbye

Ryan

I begged Emma to come home with me after the game yesterday, but she refused. There was no way I'd leave her alone after what she told me.

"Ryan?" Emma opened the door to her dorm room, causing me to fall back. "What are you doing here?"

"I stayed here all night," I said as I stood. A muscle spasmed in my back, causing me to flinch, but I ignored it when I saw her in her tiny sleep shorts and threadbare T-shirt.

"Just leaning against my door?" Her cheeks flushed, which didn't help my hard-on.

"Yes. I wouldn't leave my girl unprotected."

She clasped her chest. "Your girl?"

I took a step closer and wrapped my arms around her. "I didn't tell you yesterday after the game, but I'll never let anyone hurt you. That, I promise you."

She sighed. "I know you mean well, Ryan, but you don't understand who Mark is. He won't stop. Sometimes I think I'll be running forever."

Kissing the top of her head, I inhaled. Emma was everything to me. There was nothing I wouldn't do to keep her safe.

Madison came up behind Emma. "Oh my god, Ryan?"

She was fully dressed in a pink sweater, a scarf, and jeans, with her backpack slung over her shoulder.

"He slept right outside the dorm room all night." Emma turned but slid her arm around my back, keeping me close.

"You know there's a few recliners in the study room, in the middle of the floor, right? It would have been more comfortable." She pointed behind me.

"I had to keep my eyes on her, just in case Mark showed up."

Madison's eyes widened. "You told him?"

Emma bit her lip and nodded.

"Good for you. The more you open up about that piece of shit and get others to help you, the better chance you have to fight him if he ever shows." Madison patted Emma's shoulder. "I'd stay and hang out, but I've got my only Friday class soon. Then it's hanging out at the campus café for the rest of the day."

Emma waved me inside as Madison shuffled past us, and I followed. Once Emma shut the door, I noticed the same layout and furniture as my dorm. The cheap wooden bed frame and desk. Instead of soccer and European football posters lining the wall, there were motivational posters that would be more at home in an office building, not a girl's dorm room.

As if reading my mind, Emma pointed to the poster with a kitten hanging by one paw and said, "Madison likes to wake up with positive thinking. She believes these posters will help her have a good day."

"What about you?" I asked, not seeing any other décor on the walls.

Emma shrugged. "Decorations are a pain to pack up and move. I keep things as simple as possible in case I have to run at a moments' notice."

Ice ran through my veins after hearing her words. She shouldn't live like that.

"What would you put up if you could?" It made her uncomfortable to talk about her ex, so instead, I decided to just talk about what she liked. It was the one subject I was eager to explore, anyway.

She tucked her hair behind her ear and sat on the edge of a green comforter. I assumed it was her bed.

"No one ever asked me that before. Uh... I suppose I wouldn't have posters—not really a poster girl—but I like plants and the outdoors. Anything green, really, because that's my favorite color." She let out a sigh. "But traveling with plants is difficult, so I don't have any."