Barely by Madison Faye

Something’s wrong.

I wake up with a growl in my ear and Colton’s arms tightening around me. My pulse skips, and as I blink awake, I’m aware that he’s already very awake.

“Colt—”

“Shh, baby,” he whispers quietly but fiercely. His muscles tense, and when I look up at him sitting up in bed, I can see his eyes sharp and piercing as they scan the bedroom.

And suddenly, there it is again. At first, I think it’s some knocking at the front door, which is insane considering it’s the middle of the night. I reach for my phone before I remember that it’s downstairs in my bag from when I first came stumbling in last night. The knocking comes again, but suddenly, there’s a wrenching, splintering sound, and my heart jumps into my throat.

“Colton!”

“Let’s move!” he hisses, jumping from the bed and scooping me naked into his arms. I cling to him, panting, my pulse racing as he storms out of the bedroom.

“What’s happening?!”

He doesn’t say anything, but his jaw clenches as he swiftly carries me down the hall towards the guest room—the guest room that happens to have a small balcony off of it overlooking the garden. My blood chills.

“Is—is it Lorenzo?”

His eyes dart to mine, and he doesn’t even have to say anything for me to know.

“Oh God—”

“Nothing is going to happen to you, baby,” he growls lowly, opening the guest room door. “I swear to you.”

He shuts the door behind him, locking it before he strides to the closet. He yanks out the same robe he gave me that first night and helps me put it on to cover my nudity. He’s still naked himself, but when we hear the sound of men’s voices and footsteps rumbling up the stairs, he tenses and whirls. Colton growls, striding to the balcony door and opening it. He carries me out, shutting the French doors and striding to the edge. We both glance over, my heart pounding.

“Can you climb?” he growls.

I swallow, panting, my head swimming as I glance down at the ivy-covered trellis going down the side of the house. It’s not far, maybe twelve feet down, and I nod.

“Yeah.”

“Good girl,” he grunts, setting me down and pulling me to him. He kisses me fiercely, my pulse still ringing in my ears as the moonlight bathes us in white.

“I need you to climb down and run. Don’t look back, just fucking run right to the campus safety office by the main gates. Tell them to call the—”

“Wait, you’re coming with me!”

His face hardens as he shakes his head. “I’m going to stall them he—”

“No!” I gasp, my face turning white. “No, you’re fucking coming with—”

“In here!!”

The yell comes from inside the guest room, and suddenly, the light inside flicks on.

“Brynn, go!” Colton roars, physically yanking me up and swinging me out into empty space. I scream as he swings me down into the ivy, my fingers clawing at the vines and trellis as I start to scramble down. There’s a crashing sound and a roar, and I look up to see Colton yelling as a man in black half shoves him over the edge.

“Colton!”

Colton snarls, wrenching away from the man and shoving an elbow into his nose. The man screams, clutching his bloodied, shattered nose when Colton suddenly bellows, picks him up, and tosses him over the side of the railing. The man shrieks, falling past me and hitting the ground with this horrible crunching sound. My stomach turns, and I quickly scramble the rest of the way to the ground. The guy on the grass isn’t moving—at all, but when there’s another yell, I look up and scream.

“COLTON!”

He’s scrabbling with two other guys, fighting both of them at once as they try and either pin him to the ground or throw him over the damn edge.

“RUN!” he bellows, glancing down at me. “Brynn, run!”

The adrenaline roars through me like fire, when suddenly, the kicked-in back door to the house falls off its hinges as two other guys come charging out, right for me. I scream, turning and booking it for the gate, but when two hands snag me, the scream curdled from my lips as they yank me back.

“BRYNN!”

There’s a roar, and then the sound of men screaming. I’m yanked around just in time to see the figures of two men in black hit the ground with a thud, and suddenly, like a savage, naked Tarzan or something, Colton leaps right over the edge of the balcony and lands in the grass with a snarl. His eyes are fierce, and his muscles are bulging and rippling as he shouts and charges, barreling right into the two guys holding me and slamming them to the ground. A shot rings out, and he winces, jumping away from the tuft of grass that kicks into the air. He whirls and charges the guy standing at the back door, slamming him into the wall and wrenching the gun away.

Hands grab me and I shriek as they yank me around until I’m face to face with him.

Lorenzo.

“You little bitch,” he snarls. “No one fucking walks out on a debt they owe me! Let’s go!”

He nods at the two guys, and they start to drag me to the gate, when suddenly, one of them slumps to the ground. And it takes me a second to realize the bang I just heard was a gunshot as I glance down to see him lying motionless in a pool of something dark.

Holy fuck.

“Brynn!”

Colton smashes into us like a fucking lion, throwing me away from Lorenzo and his other goon into the grass before he slams the goon into the fence.

“Colton! Behind you!!”

He whirls without even thinking, ducking on instinct as Lorenzo’s pistol shot goes over his head. And suddenly, I’m not watching Colton Kane the high school Principal. I’m watching Colton Kane the trained soldier. The Special Forces trained machine. He lunges, muscles rippling as he slams into Lorenzo, slamming him into the ground, whirling, and bringing his gun up in one smooth motion. The goon holding a shotgun aimed right at him grunts and drops the gun, tumbling to the ground before suddenly, it’s quiet.

Well, almost.

Lorenzo is screaming bloody murder, but Colton silences him with a fist to the face, turning his screams into muffled, blubbering cries. Colton looks up at me, his face hard and his eyes piercing into me.

“Are you okay?”

I blink, my mouth opening and closing.

“Brynn.”

“Yeah,” I nod slowly, still numb. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Can you get my phone from the kitchen?”

I nod. “Yeah.”

I run through the house and grab his phone, and when I get back out, Colton’s growling as he ties Lorenzo to the back porch with a garden hose. He takes the phone from my hand and glances at me.

“I’m calling the cops, Brynn.”

I pale. “Colton, if they come, and I’m here—”

“This ends now, baby,” he says quietly. “We’re past playing it safe. You could’ve been hurt tonight, or fucking killed—”

“I’m not letting you lose your career for me!”

“You are my everything,” he groans, moving into me and scooping me into his chest. “Brynn, the rest of it doesn’t matter. All that matters is you being safe.”

I bite my lip as my mind whirls, until suddenly I freeze as I look up at him.

“You protected me tonight.”

He frowns. “Of course, I—”

“The police don’t have to know it was me, do they?”

He arches a brow. “I think our shithead friend here might—”

“What, contradict the word of the esteemed principal of a very wealthy, prestigious private school?” I glare at Lorenzo, who’s holing his bleeding face.

Slowly, Colton starts to grin. “I’ve mentioned how incredible you are, right?”

I smile as he pulls me close, and when he kisses me slowly, I melt against him.

“Go, angel,” he murmurs. “I gotta call this in before a neighbor or someone else does after hearing those shots.”

I freeze. Shots.

“Colton—”

“Self-defense, baby,” he says quietly. “I’m going to be fine here. But you need to go, now, and get back to your dorm without anyone seeing you. Think you can manage?”

“There’s a lot of campus safety officers out there,” I say, my mouth twisting.

Colton shrugs, grabs the gun off the ground where he’s left it, points it at the back fence and fires off the rest of the shots in clip. I cling to him, covering my ears until it’s over.

“Well, now every campus safety officer and cop in a three-mile radius is on their way here,” he growls, a half smile on his face.

“Colton, I can’t let you just tackle this yourself.”

“You can, baby,” he growls. “Now go, now!”

He kisses me fiercely, and I gasp into his lips before he pulls back.

“Brynn.”

I raise a brow, and he smiles.

“I love you.”

I blink, my heart swelling up before I slam into him, hugging him fiercely. “I love you too.”

“Now go, baby. Please. Go so I can make this right and end this shit with this asshole.”

I nod, backing away from him, squeezing his hand.

“Hey Colton?”

He raises a brow and I giggle.

“Maybe put some pants on.”

I kiss him once more before I turn and run. And I just keep running, all the way back to the dorms.