Wiggling my legs, trying to free them from his grasp, I lifted my head. “No, Sawyer,” I said, just outside his ear, “no one’s coming to your rescue.” And then that self-defense class my parents forced me to take when I was thirteen paid out its weight in gold. Sinking my teeth into his ear, I wiggled one leg free and planted my foot once, twice, and a third time into his crotch.

He roared in agony, one hand grabbing his ear and the other grabbing his assaulted manhood. Scrambling to get the rest of me from beneath him, I slid along the carpet, knowing if I didn’t make it to the door before he made it to the nightstand, no number of self-defense classes would matter.

Then the door I was crawling towards burst open, part of the jam splintering off. Bursting through the door, Jude took one look at the scene playing out on the floor and went into a rage. Rabid beasts had better self-control than the fury that flashed in his eyes.

Not a word spared, Jude threw himself on top of Sawyer, his fists going to work on him before Sawyer knew someone else had joined us. Flipping Sawyer on his back, Jude straddled him, focusing his fists and fury on his face.

Each hit landed with a crack—each one released a little more blood. Deciphering if Jude’s grunts or Sawyer’s groans were louder was impossible. When it became obvious Jude was not planning on teaching him a lesson, but taking his life, I pushed myself off the floor and stumbled towards them.

“Stop, Jude.” My voice wavered almost as badly as my legs. “Stop.” Reaching out, I rested my hand on his shoulder.

He didn’t stop, but his punches grew slower and less frequent.

“Yeah, you might want to listen to her,” Sawyer said, spitting blood from his mouth onto the carpet. “Unless you want to find yourself locked up again. Who’s going to be here to watch after Lucy when I corner her in some other room then, Ryder?” Sawyer looked up at Jude with a bloody smile, challenging him like he had a death wish.

Jude’s muscles rolled beneath my hand, his breaths lifting and lowering his shoulders half a foot each time. “I told myself the next time I heard about you doing this to another girl, I was going to rip your dick off and stuff it down your throat. But since the girl I found you with was Luce,”—he looked back at me, his whole face lined, before leaning down so his face was an inch from Sawyer’s—“I’m going to kill you.”

And the scariest thing that had happened so far tonight was that threat. Because it wasn’t a threat; I could tell by the tone of his voice that he meant it.

Instead of crawling to them, I was crawling away from them, positioning my body in front of Sawyer’s nightstand. I doubted Jude knew if and where Sawyer kept a weapon, but I also knew he’d look, and the nightstand would be the first thing searched.

Shoving up, Jude stood over Sawyer, seething down at him. “Luce,” he said, keeping his eyes on Sawyer, “mind moving away from there so I can finish this son of a bitch?”

I swallowed—he already knew. “No,” I said.

“Luce, this is between him and me right now,” he said, his back quivering. “Move.”

My fight had shifted from keeping Sawyer from raping me, to keeping Jude from punching the shit out of him, to now keeping Jude from murdering him. I should have hit my exhaustion point about one busted door ago, but I was a girl with a lot of fight in her.

“No,” I repeated, my voice stronger.

“Damn it, Luce,” Jude shouted, “he deserves this!”

I rose, taking a step toward him. “I know,” I said, taking a few more steps until I could wrap my hands around one of his. I waited for him to look at me, and when he finally did, I saw the conflict in his eyes. “But you don’t.”

His eyes closed, the rage still rolling off him. “I’m going to get locked up for good one day, and I can’t imagine a better reason for serving a life sentence than for taking out a bastard like him. I don’t care, Luce.”

Lifting one hand to his cheek, I tilted his face towards mine. “But I do.”

He looked at me, thunder rolling through his eyes, and then down at Sawyer. His entire body stiffened again. “I want to kill him, Luce. I want to kill him more than I’ve wanted anything.” A ripple ran down his back. “I don’t know how to walk away.”

“Let me help you,” I said, waiting. I’d wait however long it took—I wasn’t walking away until he walked away with me.

Below Jude, Sawyer chuckled, spitting another spray of blood. “The felon and the slut riding off into the sunset together,” he laughed. “We won’t have to hold our breath for that happily ever after.”

Jude flinched, but I wouldn’t let him go.

“Don’t waste your life on this bastard,” I said, refusing to look at Sawyer because I was good if I never had to look at that face again. I smiled at Jude. “Why don’t you waste it with me instead?”

The lines smoothed from his face as he held my stare. And then finally he smiled. “I’ll take that deal.”

Nodding towards the door, I pulled on his hand.

Another laugh came from Sawyer. “At least someone’s going to be getting a piece of that ass tonight.”

I groaned—Sawyer had no sense of self-preservation.

Grabbing him by the shirt collar, Jude pulled him up. “You just don’t know when to shut up,” Jude said, drawing his fist tight. “Let me help you.” He drove his fist square into Sawyer’s mouth, sending him crashing back down on the floor.

“Luce.” Jude looked back at me, his face composed. “Wait for me in the hallway,” he said. “I’m not going to kill him,” he added, answering me preemptively.

“Jude.” I wasn’t going to leave him alone this Sawyer.

“Look at me,” he said, waiting for me. “I’m fine. I won’t kill him.” And then, he looked all meaningful at me. “Trust me.”

This was my chance. My chance to show him the trust I’d denied him. The trust he’d deserved that I’d felt he hadn’t. How could I say no and expect us to ever have a fighting chance?

I didn’t want to, I didn’t like it, but it was necessary. “Okay,” I agreed.

That grin I hadn’t seen on his face in so long I thought had disappeared for good appeared. “I’ll be right out,” he said. “Could you send Holly in? She’s waiting in the hallway and I think she’s going to want to see this.”

Trust. Trust. Trust. “Okay. I’ll wait outside,” I said. “Don’t keep me waiting too long.” Heading for the door, I smoothed my dress back into place, trying to do the same with my hair.

Propped against the wall, Holly had obviously been placed there to make sure no one tried to interrupt Jude and the ass beating he dealt Sawyer.

Her eyes ran down me, her face shadowing. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” I answered, coming up to her. “Jude’s asking for you in there.”

She nodded, shoving off the wall. Turning to me, her hands found mine. “Are you all right?” she asked again as a silent exchange took place between us. On a very base level, I got it, I got her, and she got me too. We were like the sisterhood of girls Sawyer preyed on and, although it wasn’t a common denominator to be proud of, it was a bond to be proud of.

“Yes,” I answered, looking her in the eye.

Giving my hands a squeeze, she headed for the bedroom. “You are one tough cookie, Lucy Larson,” she said, looking down at me from the doorway. “I get what Jude sees in you.”

Going against every urge to run back into that room, I didn’t. I hadn’t trusted Jude, I hadn’t given him the benefit of the doubt before. I would now.

I earned a few sideways looks from a couple of girls sitting at the top of the stairs, but the second floor was mostly empty. Either the party was winding down or Holly knew how to redirect traffic.

Fiddling with the conundrum that was the dress I had on to pass time, I gave up. No amount of tugging and smoothing would magically create more fabric to cover the parts of my body I preferred to keep covered, and it looked like I owed Taylor a new dress because, thanks to Sawyer, it had a slit up front to match the one on the back.