Page 81 of Unexpected Prejudice

“Where the hell have you been?”

Levi

01:03 AM

I was so into my conversation with Margot that I completely missed that Jessie went to bring us snacks and never came back. After telling Margot goodbye, I started to look for him. Thirty minutes later, it was already past one in the morning, and there were still no signs of Jessie.

I pulled out my phone and was ready to call him for the tenth time when a glimpse of silver caught my eyes, and I spotted my boyfriend and Jordan standing by the front door.

“Where the hell have you been?” I asked as I approached them, trying to ignore Jessie’s arm around Jordy’s shoulder. “I was looking all over for you.”

The two were quiet while exchanging odd glances while I was running out of patience.

“So?” I urged one of them to speak.

“Well, Jordy sort of, kind of, saved my ass from being… how do I say it in a way that won’t sound bad?” Jessie mumbled, which only picked up my anxiety.

“Just tell me what happened, Jessie.”

“The twins were going to assault me, and Jordy came in time and saved me.”

I gaped at them with wide eyes.

“They almost did what?” I nearly squealed and stepped toward him. Jessie took his hand away from Jordy and planted it around me.

“I’m okay, Babydoll. Don’t worry.”

“You’re not okay. Not even close!” I frantically studied his body from head to toe, trying to see if they hurt him anywhere. Other than ruined makeup, he seemed unhurt. “Did you call the police?”

Jessie’s eyes widened as his brows shot to his hairline, clearly not liking that idea. “The police? Fuck no. Why would I call them?”

“Because of what those…” I paused to search for the right word. “What those miscreants almost did to you.”

“The key word is almost, Babydoll. Like I said, I am a-okay,” he argued.

I wanted to hit his stupid head for thinking so casually about it. This was fucking serious. I turned to face Jordan, who had kept quiet. “And you? How did you know to go in there?”

“By a coincidence. I needed to go clean up, so I looked for a bathroom to wash off and by chance found Jessie.”

I had a million thoughts running through my mind, the main one being how close my Jessie had come to being hurt. He was almost raped, and I wasn’t there to help him. The thought of something so horrible happening to him made my gut twist and my body shiver.

“Babydoll, I’m fine,” Jessie said again. His hands cupped my face and forced me to look at him. His kind eyes looked as pure as always. “I’m fine. You see?”

A soft smile spread on his beautiful face which helped me to breathe again.

I nodded, and he chuckled.

“How about we get the hell out of here?” he offered.

Levi

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked Jessie as he came to sit beside me on our bed. His hair was damp from the shower he’d just taken, and his face was clean of smeared makeup.

“Yes, Babydoll, I’m okay. I would’ve told you if I wasn’t. You know me.” He smiled and leaned forward, pressing our foreheads together and caressing my cheek with his thumb. “You know how I cope with shit.”

When we just met, Jessie would often show up injured and bruised. I’d asked him if someone was hurting him, and he’d told me it was his foster family. He also said that it wasn’t the first time he got his ass beaten by the very people who were supposed to take care of him. While I was shocked when he told me that, he was completely unfazed, like it was just a regular day, then asked me out for ice cream.

Besides getting a slap on the butt here and there by Babushka for being bad, I was never abused, not even close, so I struggled to understand how he could be so casual about it.