Wildfire

Chapter 9

9. Scare

"Hey."

I gaped at the tall, haggard-looking guy as he leaned against the door frame, my eyes wide. Given the week I was having, I probably should have expected fate to throw me another curveball, but the sight of Darren Weisz, of all people, standing on my doorstep was just beyond my comprehension.

"I think you have the wrong dorm room," I said automatically. "The freshman potheads live one floor up."

There really was no other explanation for his presence; Lexie had kicked his butt to the kerb months ago when he'd started to earn a few bucks selling drugs to impressionable college students. I'd only met him a handful of times during their brief relationship, and although I'd tried to be nice for Lexie's sake, our terse exchanges had always erred on the side of antagonistic.

Darren shot me a sarcastic look. "I'll be sure to name you as my accomplice when the cops show up."

I smirked. He was clearly still bitter about the fact that I'd left him to rot in a jail cell a few months ago, after I bailed Lexie out. "Sure thing. Now we've got that sorted..."

I took a step backwards and went to close the door in his face, but he managed to wedge his leg between the door and the wall before I had the chance. He used his forearm to shove the door, crowding in on top of me.

Alarm surged through my veins. I held my ground, refusing to allow him to intimidate me – but it was difficult, considering how freakin' tall he was. My brain started to flick through some of the moves I'd learned in Ian's kickboxing classes and I felt my hands curl into fists.

"You should leave," I hissed.

A flicker of exasperation crossed his face as he eyed my stance, then he took a reluctant step backwards. With his arm still anchored above the door, I couldn't slam it shut, but at least he wasn't as in my face as before. I really needed to have a talk with Lexie about her choice of boyfriends; given that Darren was one of the milder ones, I was really starting to dread meeting Aiden later tonight.

"Look – I'm not here to cause trouble," he said.

My brows rose in disbelief. "Then why are you here?"

He shot me a pained expression. "Lexie."

"Lexie dumped your ass months ago." I returned his stare with a pointed look. "Get a clue – she doesn't want you around."

"Can you stop being a bitch for more than five minutes and listen to me for once?"

I pretended to think about it. "Um, no."

I went to close the door again, but this time he grabbed my arm. His thin fingers curled around my forearm tightly, shoving me back into my dorm room with surprising strength, considering how anorexic the guy looked. I yelped in surprise, my other fist rising automatically to deliver a clumsy punch, by he caught my other wrist and forced me back against Charlie's desk.

Some of her things – a container full of pens, a few books – went flying. The corner of the desk cut into my hip and I gasped, a glimmer of pain and shock surging through me. Darren loomed over me, a dark look etched into his face; it made his pale, thin features look so much sharper, more dangerous.

I forced myself to think past the fear that coated my blood. I could feel the adrenaline kicking in, filtering through my system like a drug hit, but instead of turning my brain foggy, it offered me a sense of sharp clarity. My eyes soaked up as much detail as possible in less than a second; his dilated pupils, the weight loss he'd suffered since I'd last seen him.