Page 100 of Almost Ours

The girl I pulled out of the trees looks at me, tears running down her face. “I’m so sorry.”

Bewildered, I ask, “For what?”

“You got hurt because of me.”

“No.” I shake my head, trying to reassure her as my own voice wavers. “No, don’t do that. They did this. Not you.”

“I should have left earlier. I was flirting with him. This is all my fault.”

“This is not your fault,” I bite out, feeling anger, shock, and an awful dose of reality hit me. We could have seriously been hurt. “You can change your mind whenever you want. You can kiss someone once and decide to never kiss them again. You can go to someone’s house and decide to leave. This is not your fault!”

“Ruby?” I hear a shrill, familiar voice and turn towards the entryway of The Shed. Oscar is stood there, face thunderous. He comes straight towards me with Cam behind him, cutting through the people gathered outside without looking at any of them. “What the actual fuck?”

“I’m okay.” I try and reassure him. “I’m alright, O. I swear. It wasn’t me. It was her.”

It isn’t until I hear another voice say my name that I start to fall apart.

Josh is striding towards me with unrestrained terror and fury all over him. “Oh my fucking God. What happened to you?” He stops in front of me. “What happened to your face?” Both hands close around my upper arms as his eyes tear over me with such frantic concentration that I forget how to speak. He looks at the graze across my cheek, then down both of my arms, turning one slightly when he sees the marks beginning to come up beneath my sleeve, and when his gaze catches on the blood across my knuckles his fingers clamp harder around me. “Is this yours?”

“I—I don’t think so.”

His eyes snap back to mine. “You don’t think so?”

“I hit one of them.”

“One of who?” He lets go, hands dropping from me as he turns towards the crowd with his chest heaving and his whole body wound so tightly that I barely recognise him.

Oscar moves closer to my side, one hand finding my lower back, and I lean into him, the sight of Josh losing his mind is wiping away any composure I’m trying to keep.

“They were attacked in the bushes by the pond,” one of the lads who came over when we reached The Shed says from behind us. “There were two guys. They were back that way when the girls came running out.”

Josh turns towards the path, pointing with one finger in the direction I ran from. “That way?”

“Yeah!” Someone answers and dread tears through me.

“Josh,” I hurry after him, catching at the back of his shirt before he gets too far. “Don’t go over there!” My fingers barely manage to graze him before he pulls out of my reach, and panic surges through me. “Please, just stay here! You could get hurt!”

He doesn’t slow or even turn around. He just shoulders through the students gathered behind us, knocking one lad sideways as he forces his way between them, then breaks into a run towards the pond.

“Josh!” I lunge after him, managing two steps before Oscar’s arm hooks around my waist from behind and hauls me backwards so quickly my feet skid across the pavement.

“Ruby, what the fuck are you doing?”

“He’s going back in there!” I grab at Oscar’s forearm and try to wrench it away from my stomach, twisting hard enough that my trainers squeak against the ground, but his grip only tightens. Josh is getting further away with every second, his dark figure cutting across the path towards the trees. “Oscar, let me go!”

“Don’t worry!” Cam shouts, already moving. “I’ve got his back!”

My head snaps towards him. “No! Cam!”

Cam takes off after Josh, barging past a couple standing near the edge of the crowd before breaking into a sprint, his long strides closing the gap between them frighteningly quickly.

“CAM!” Oscar bellows over my shoulder.

Cam throws one hand into the air without looking back and keeps running.

“Oh my God.” I shove both hands against Oscar’s arm and bend forwards, trying to slip underneath it, but he catches me higher around the middle and drags me flush against his chest. “Let me go, Oscar!”

“No way.”