Chapter 6: Chapter 6

I didn't see Dustin again until class Monday morning. I wasn't sure how to act, since our relationship up to this point had been miserable, at best.

I took my seat in Art History and glanced across the room to where Dustin had sat last class. But his chair was empty. Same thing with my next class. Maybe today would be a good day, a day without Dustin's constant glaring.

But when I walked into my third class, I felt the familiar feeling of eyes boring holes into me. Sure enough, Dustin in his seat, watched me from under long, dark lashes. I gave him a tentative smile, but he looked away.

I sighed and took my seat. I should have known. Despite what happened between us on Saturday, it looked like things were going to stay the same.

Class seemed to go on forever, and every time I looked at Dustin, I caught him staring at me, his deep green eyes piercing mine. For the first time since I had met him, he wasn't looking at me like he wanted to kill me. He didn't look quite friendly, but the absence of his signature glare was progress.

"Miss Griffin?" The professor jogged me out of my internal monologue.

"Um, yes?"

"Would you care to answer the question?"

I struggled to remember what the lecture was about. "I think it was Monet?" I took a wild guess.

"Correct," he gave me a raised eyebrow. "Maybe your daydreaming look really is a paying attention look."

I tried to swallow my embarrassment and sat up straighter in my seat. I needed to stop getting lost in my own thoughts. I forced myself to pay attention to the rest of the class.

"Hey, Katie." I heard Dustin's voice while I was putting my books in my bag.

"Oh, hi," I mumbled.

"Pretty boring lecture, huh?"

My heart was pounding in my chest. "Yah."

"Look, I need to talk to you about this Anya thing."

"What about it?" He walked next to me as we headed out onto the sunny quad.

"She's a crazy bitch," he said, matter of fact. "She isn't used to people standing up to her, and she may try to get back at you and Dani. You need to keep your guard up."

I nodded. "I'm not worried about me. I can take care of myself. But I promise I'll look out for Dani."

He tilted his head and smiled at me, the first smile he'd ever given me. "You really do care about her, don't you?"

I met his eyes straight on. "Yes. I do."

He gave me an intense look. "If you need me, I mean, if it looks like Anya's going to," he stumbled over his words before taking a deep breath. "You don't have anything to prove."

"Don't I?" I whispered, letting my eyes wander to his full lips.

"Not if it's going to get Dani hurt." His voice was low and thick. "Or you."

I felt a patter in my stomach. Was Dustin actually saying he was worried about me? But before I could reply, he turned and strode away, leaving me staring after him.

# # #

The gym was crowded as Dani and I powered through our workout. Lines for the equipment were long, and more than once, while waiting, I caught sight of Dustin working out solo on the free weights.

"Katie, come spot me. I'm adding more weight." Dani laid down to do her bench press reps.

I stood behind her, my hands following the up and down motion of her arms.

"How about a little sparring before we finish up?" Dani and I headed towards the ring, located in its own private room, away from all the loudness of the general exercisers.

"You're on!"

We stood in the middle of the squared circle, dancing around each other. "Remember your feet." I instructed. "Stay on the balls of your feet for better control."

Dani bounced in a circle. "How's that?"

We both laughed.

"Not too bad, but you definitely need more practice." A voice drawled from behind me. Dani stopped, a tense look on her face.

I whirled around to see Anya and her two friends watching our practice. Oh, hell no. "Just ignore them Dani." I instructed. "Pretend they aren't there."

"Oh, she can't do that, now can you Dani?" Anya taunted in a sing song voice. "She knows she can't ignore me and she knows she can't beat me."

I spun around to confront her, trying to keep my calm. "Maybe she can't, yet. But I can, as I demonstrated the last time we met."

Anya's grey eyes flashed with anger. "Well, how about a rematch?"

"Let's go," I returned.

"Katie, no!" Dani grabbed my arm and tried to pull me out of the ring.

"Don't worry Dani, I've got this."

"Please!" Dani yelled. "You told me to ignore her. I'm telling you the same thing. She's not worth it."

I shook my arm free of Dani's grip and began dancing around the ring. It was on. I was about to show this bully bitch what happens when you mess with the wrong person. She was smaller than my oldest brother, and I had no problem laying him out. This was going to feel good.

"Damnit!" Dani jumped out of the ring and ran from the room.

Anya slipped through the ropes and slowly stalked towards me. "I don't know where you came from, little girl. But I'm about to send you back there in a body bag."

"Oh, please." I rolled my eyes. "You're so dramatic."

Anya bounced around me, her hands up close to her face. "Let's go, bitch!"

I lunged at her, the full fury of my anger behind my fists. The first punch hit home, snapping Anya's head back. Her nose began to bleed. I followed it up with another stinging blow to her jaw. Her friends jumped onto the side of the ring. "No!" Anya yelled. "Stay out of this." They paused, faces concerned.

She wiped the trickle of blood on her hand. "Beginners luck."

My heart beat fast in my chest. "You're a lot of talk, but only one of us is bleeding." I wiped my bloody knuckles across my white t shirt for emphasis.

"Katie!" I heard Dustin yell, as he and Dani came running towards the ring.

I didn't allow myself to be distracted, as Anya came rushing at me again. I pulled back and unleashed more fury on her. Punch after punch landed on her angry face. My hands became bloody again, but I didn't stop.

"Katie, no!"

I jumped on Anya and kept punching. She was down but still fighting.

I felt someone grab me from behind and pull me off her. I turned, fully intending to rain down on whoever it was, until I came face to face with those emerald green eyes. Dustin was holding me like a vice. "No more." He whispered in my ear. "It's over. She's down."

I shook myself free of his grasp and turned back to Anya. She stood up slowly, wiping blood out of her eyes.

"You wanted this," I panted. "All you had to do was leave Dani alone."

"Oh, don't worry." She smiled that bloody grin again. "I'm done worrying about Dani, cuz as of right now, you're enemy number one. Watch your back, bitch."

Anya's friends tried to help her out of the ring. She shook them off and stalked towards the locker room, leaving a trail of blood in her wake.

I turned and fell into Dustin's waiting arms. "Katie, what did you do?" His worried eyes searched mine.

"She insulted Dani, she threatened me. Did you expect me to walk away?"

He pulled me close. "You're crazy."

I wiped the sweat from my brow. "Yup. Take me home."

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"Rise and shine ladies!" It was early on a Sunday morning, and someone was at our door.

"Go away!! It's Sunday!" Dani yelled at the thoughtless intruder.

The door knob began to wiggle, and someone inserted a key into the lock. "What the?" I sat up in bed. "Someone's unlocking our door!" I jumped up and grabbed the Harley Quinn baseball bat I kept next to my bed. Someone was going to get it. Batter up!

"The only other person who has a key to our room is my brother." Dani flung her legs over the side of her bed and headed to the door. "Dustin, what the hell?" She opened the door to reveal her grinning brother.

I had to admit even though I was irritated with him, he was devastatingly handsome. "I figured we better get an early start before the gym gets too busy." He was carrying a drink holder with three coffee cups.

"What are you talking about?" Dani grabbed the cup with her name on it and took a huge swallow.

"I figured you would want to finish your sparring with Katie, since you were interrupted the other day. Let's get to the gym and practice. Get dressed and I'll meet you downstairs." He crossed the room and handed me the third cup, following it up with a tentative smile. "Hurry up!"

Dani watched him walk out the door, her mouth agape. "Um, did I miss something?"

"Something happened last weekend." I felt the heat flood my face. "The night we got into that argument? We kind of kissed."

"What?" She squeaked. "And you didn't tell me?"

I pulled on my tennis shoes, trying to ignore the bubbles in my stomach from the feel of Dustin's smile. "I wasn't even sure it happened."

She brushed her dark hair into a pony tail. "Will wonders never cease. We better get going. He gets grumpy when he has to wait."

I grabbed my coffee and headed towards the door. "Good lord let's hurry then. I can't handle Angry Dustin this early in the morning!"

She grabbed her gym bag with a sigh and locked the door behind us. "I can't believe I'm up this early on a Sunday."

We spent the next four hours hitting all the circuits in the massive university gym. Weights, cardio and finally, sparring in the ring

I watched them face off, two sides of a beautiful coin, each with the same intricate tattoo on their right shoulders. Dani pulled back her arm and went for his face, but he blocked her at the last moment. "You almost had me." He grabbed her and hugged her close, his eyes shining with pride.

He draped his arm around my shoulder and walked us towards the girl's locker room. As much as I didn't want to admit it, every time he touched me it felt like little fireworks were going off all over my skin.

I turned towards Dustin, not sure what to expect. "I was wondering if we could get together after dinner?" He wiped the sweat from his brow with a towel. "I think we should talk about the other night."

"Uh, okay." I pulled out my hair tie, letting my long blond hair fall around my shoulders.

His green eyes locked onto mine. "You're really beautiful." It was barely a whisper.

Oh, holy lord! I was speechless. Was this the same guy who had me seeing red less than ten days ago? The same guy that I had imagined punching in the face on my first day of classes? "Um," I began. He planted a soft kiss on my cheek and disappeared into the men's locker room.

I stood there for a moment, trying to make sense of what was happening. For the first time in over a month, Dustin was not only being nice to me, it seemed like he was flirting with me. The thought of being alone with him was both scary and exciting.

The Willow Diner was busy when we arrived, and the evening crowd was in full swing. "Dani!" Shawn stood up and waved. The three of us squeezed into the corner booth with Shawn, George and Jeremy. "What are you guys up to?"

Dustin handed me a menu. "We just killed it at the gym. You should have seen Dani, Shawn. She got a few good hits in when we were sparring. You would have been proud."

Shawn grinned and kissed Dani on the forehead. Swoon. "That's my girl!"

"What are you going to have?" Dustin leaned over my shoulder. "I bet you worked up an appetite." He was so close I could smell that knee weakening cologne and fabric softener scent that was all him. I tried to slow my anxious heartbeat.

Shawn gave Dani a questioning look, but she just shrugged.

The rest of the dinner was great. It was the first time since I got to SLU that I felt like I truly belonged in the group. Everyone was casual, and I started to feel like I could let my guard down.

I watched Dani and Shawn with envy, wondering if, someday I would be lucky enough to feel that way with someone.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but Katie and I have early classes tomorrow." Dustin stood up. "Shawn, can you take Dani home?" He reached out and placed his hand on my lower back, sending an entire swarm of butterflies into my stomach. Everyone at the table stopped and stared.

"Yah, of course." Shawn tried to stifle a smile, as Dani elbowed him in the ribs.

"Bye." I let Dustin lead me out of the diner and to his sexy black car.

He turned the engine over and backed out of his parking space. But instead of turning towards the school, he turned the other way. "Where are we going?" I adjusted my seat belt, fidgeting with the strap to keep my nerves down.

"Just somewhere to talk." He handled the curves with ease. It took almost twenty minutes before Dustin brought the car to a stop, overlooking a beautiful bluff.

He switched the ignition off and turned to me. "There's some things I need to tell you."

My heart bounced around in my chest. That was never a good way to start a conversation.

He took my hand. "Katie, I'm really sorry about how I treated you. I know I've been rude to you, but for certain reasons, I had to be wary of you." I could see the emotional battle in his eyes. "I told you something bad happened to Dani. But I didn't tell you what." He paused and ran his hand through his dark hair. "I made a huge mistake. I trusted someone I shouldn't have and I almost lost Dani."

I didn't have the heart to tell him that Shawn had already told me the story.

"Dani's old roommate Alicia kidnapped her and held her hostage, hoping to get money out of my parents. They tortured Dani, put her through things that no one should ever have to endure, all to forward their own sick interests. We found Dani, but we were too late to save my parents. Dani was broken. She blamed herself for what happened to our parents, and for months afterward it was hard to get a word out of her. She stayed with me or Shawn all the time. She couldn't handle being alone because she thought they would come back for her. Up until recently, I was worried she would never go back to the carefree breath of fresh air she used to be."

I swallowed hard. "What happened to Alicia?"

He looked away. "We took care of her. But there are still those out there that would like nothing more than to get their revenge against us. Being around Dani and I put's you at risk."

"Did you tell the police?" I asked. "I'm sure they could protect you. Find the rest of Alicia's group and put them in jail."

Dustin shook his head. "The police can't help us. We'll be in even more danger if we try to involve them."

His grip tightened on my hand. "Katie, I want to give you a choice. You can request a new roommate and you can move across campus. I can change my class schedule, so you won't have to see me. Being friends with us could be very dangerous for you and I need you to really think about this." His inner turmoil was written all over his face.

My heart pounded. Was Dustin right? Whatever was going on with him and Dani sounded serious. Would it be better for me to get out while I could?

He got out of the car and walked to the edge of the bluff. The moonlight bathed his beautiful form, outlining his perfect God given features.

I gave him a moment before I joined him. "I don't know what to say."

He turned and stared at me with those emerald eyes that seemed to glow in the dark. "I want to get to know you, to let you into our lives. But I need to know I can trust you. I need to know you aren't a danger to my sister."

I felt myself falling into his eyes. A tiny voice in my head begged me to demand that he take me home. But could I really give up on Dani? No, I always said I'd never run from a fight. "You can trust me. I would never betray Dani. I would never betray you. Even though you've been horrible to me, I'm willing to put that aside and try to start over. Is that weird?"

He smiled and reached for my hand. "Kind of," he teased.

I playfully slapped his hand away.

"Seriously," he took my hand in his. "I'm sorry for how I've acted. It's up to you whether you want to be friends with Dani and me. I just needed to be honest with you." He leaned close, his forehead almost touching mine.

I couldn't believe that I was standing under the moonlight with Dustin. Looking into his emerald eyes, I felt my resistance start to melt. Whatever was standing between us was big, maybe bigger than anything I had faced. But I knew there was no backing out now. Dani needed me.

I was breathless when he pulled his eyes away, my inner girly-girl sighing with unfamiliar pleasure.

"Good talk." I grinned up at him. "Now, I believe we have early classes tomorrow."

Author's Note:   Looks like Katie can really take care of herself! Maybe Dustin is having a change of heart! Let me know what you think in the comments. Luvs as always!! AM💜