Eternal Eden by Nicole Williams Page B

with a penchant for beating me bloody.
    “It was,” William seethed through a clenched jaw, while I reeled to take in the transaction taking place around us.
    Two men, goliath in size, stepped out from behind the shrubbery at the dorm entrance. Tall as I was, my head only came up to William’s nose; but these men were easily a head taller than the man that stood like a fortress in front of me.
    I was not frightened, though. It was irrational (little had been rational since he’d entered my life), but I felt safe. The only reason the nervous hitching pummeled in my stomach was because I was fearful for him—my own safety . . . my own life, meant very little to me.
    “Dante, Thomas.” William’s voice was cool and menacing. “What are you doing here?”
    The man on the right that looked like a cross between a gorilla and a gladiator chuckled. “You know why.”
    The other man beside him had dark, flawless skin—his eyes were a familiar shade of blue. “You also know whosent us and what course of action we will have to take if you choose not to follow the rules. Ben and Troy let you off easy.”—William’s growl of response was fierce.—“No more freebies.”
    The men exchanged a knowing look, before their gleaming smiles turned back to us—eyeing me as if in answer. “It’s time to say goodnight, William,” the hybrid gorilla said.
    William didn’t reply, and I didn’t move. We were obviously both at a loss for words and action.
    “Come now, don’t make our job difficult,” the man with the beautiful skin encouraged. “She doesn’t look as sturdy as you.”
    An expression of fierceness shadowed William’s face. Shivers tingled down my back.
    “Very well,” he growled, sounding as fierce as his expression looked. He dropped the defensive positioning of his arms slightly. “I’ll be right behind you after I escort her to her room.” He edged forward, but would not grab my hand or pull me into his embrace.
    “We’ll wait.”
    “Suit yourselves.” William stopped in front of them, looking at each one with a certain kind of expectancy, until they stepped aside and cleared the sidewalk. William turned to the side, beckoned me forward with a sweep of his hand, and followed immediately behind me.
    I took a quick glance at him, ignoring the monster men on either side of the walkway, and while he looked composed enough, I could sense his emotions swinging like a pendulum from anger to anxiety—so intense it was scalding. I unlocked the door and William threw it open, guiding me inside with the hand he’d rested conventionally over my shoulder.
    “Too bad he didn’t introduce us to his new friend.” I heard one of them say.
    “Too bad indeed,” the other replied, before the door slammed shut behind us.
    As soon as we were around the corner and stepping up the stairs, William grabbed my hand and pulled me up the flight of stairs without a word.  When his silence continued as he marched me down the hall towards my room, I stopped in my tracks and pulled against him.
    “What is going on?” I asked incredulously; the bright light of the hall dousing me in a reality check. Outside in the dark silence, the two men fit, and didn’t seem as surreptitious as they did now in the well-lit hall of a college dorm hall wallpapered with posters and sign-up sheets.
    “Everything is fine, please don’t worry.” His words were placating, not genuine.
    “Are you leaving?” I cried, glad that the music in the room beside me was blaring so it would muffle the anxiety heightening my tone. “Are they going to hurt you?”
    “Yes to your first question and no to the second,” he answered hurriedly, pulling me harder down the hall. It was like he couldn’t put enough space between me and them. 
    “I’m going too.”
    He shook his head fiercely. “That is completely out of the question.”
    “That so?” I taunted, turning back towards the stairs.
    I got two steps before he stopped my retreat. He