And this time, I don’t bother holding back. I shove him with both hands as hard as I can. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I hiss. “I’m going to get campus security on your ass, you know that, right? You don’t belong here. You don’t go here, and I don’t want you here! So just leave.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“What are you talking about? Not that easy. What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m protecting you.”

“Protecting me from what? Do you even know what you’re talking about? Who gave you this savior complex? Because I’ll tell you, they were wrong. I don’t need you. I don’t want you here. So leave.”

“It’s not going to happen. I can’t leave you unprotected.”

“What do you think you’re protecting me from? Your father? Because you weren’t able to protect me from him before, so why now?”

He flinches at my outburst, and I know that statement hit home.

“What do you think?” he whispers, his eyes darting over my face. “Seriously. Think about it. Why do you think I can’t leave you alone? Why do you think I can’t stop watching you?”

There goes my bravado, quickly replaced by trembling fear. “Are you telling me… I have to watch out for him? You think he’d come here?”

“I don’t know, and that’s the problem. I’ll never know for sure. But how am I supposed to go to MIT and pretend everything is normal when he’s so close? He could find you easily, and then what?”

Is that what this has been about all along? I don’t want to believe him because he’s tricked me so many times before, but when I give it serious thought, I can’t help but remember times when he wasn’t hurting me. When he was trying to help me, like with the butt plug. I’m sure that was his idea—I doubt Nix would have cared either way. He wanted to make sure I didn’t get hurt. And when James forced us to fuck in front of him, Colt whispered to me and tried to make it easier. And he held me. He was kind and gentle.

“Fine, so let’s say you tried to protect me from your dad. What about all the other times? You treated me like shit back in school. I never did anything to you, and you know that damn well. But you hurt me. Humiliated me. And then, before your father ever started with me, you made my life miserable after I moved in.”