Chapter Eight: The Party
"Shit!!!!" Theo woke up to the sound of his own phone calling, vibrating violently on the bedside table.
His heart jumped, so did his whole body!
He sat up straight, disoriented. For a few seconds, he didn't even remember falling asleep. "When did I…?"
His jacket was still half on, his shoes still on the floor.
The screen glowed in the dark room, flashing message after message from Frank.
Frank: Turn on the news.
Frank: Answer your damn phone, Theo.
Frank: Where's Danielle?
Theo's pulse spiked. "What the hell…" He checked the time…it was past midnight.
He rushed from the bed and ran to Danielle's door, knocking once. "Danielle?" No answer once again.
"Danielle!" He hit the door harder this time.
"I'm coming in! Fuck this! The bed was empty, the window half open, curtains fluttered with the mountain wind. "Shit! Shit! Shit!"
Theo swore under his breath and yanked out his phone. "You've got to be kidding me."
He opened the tracking app he'd installed yesterday.
A small red dot blinked on the map, moving, not far from campus.
"Thank God you wore the jacket," he muttered, pulling on his boots. "You're lucky I'm paranoid."
Theo stormed out of his room, ignoring the curious looks from a few night students passing through the hallway.
There was simply no time to explain why a twenty-three year old man came out from the girl's room.
The blinking dot led him across the parking lot, down a path by campus lamps, and toward a low building pulsing with music.
"A party? Of course…" Theo clenched his jaw, and shook his head. "What the hell was she thinking?"
Having no time to answer any of these questions, Theo focused on reaching Danielle before it was too late for her as well.
'She couldn't sleep so she decided to drink?' he thought, pushing through the crowd gathered outside the door.
And there she was…
Danielle was dancing in the middle of the room, cornered by five guys, one of them seemed to be holding a drink to her lips.
She tried to refuse, shaking her head, but they laughed, crowding closer.
Theo didn't even need to think of his next actions.
He pushed through the crowd, shoving one of the guys hard enough that he stumbled backward. "Back off," Theo stated.
"Who the hell are you?" one of them snapped.
Theo grabbed him by the collar, glaring into his face. "The last person you want to mess with tonight."
The others hesitated, unsure if he was joking. The look in Theo's eyes told them he wasn't.
He turned to Danielle, who looked both furious and stunned. "Let's go."
"What are you doing here!?" she demanded, pulling her arm back.
"Saving your reckless ass," he growled, grabbing her wrist.
"Let me go!" Danielle tried to yank away, but his strength was too hard to fight back. "Theo, stop acting like my father!"
Theodor was forced to pause for a moment. Her words hit something deep inside him like a bullet.
The memory of the president's name that came from Frank's texts traveled through his head, and guilt formedin his gut.
He wanted to tell her. That her father had been shot. That everything she thought she hated was now gone. But not like this.
"Danielle, listen…"
"No!" She shoved at his chest, not relaxing her eyebrows even a bit. "You don't get to control me! You're just-"
Theo didn't let her finish. He saw one of the drunk guys moving again behind her with a broken bottle in his hand, ready to step closer.
Theo moved faster than thought. One punch sent the guy to the floor. The others backed off instantly, raising their hands, muttering.
Danielle was yelling now, hitting his arm. "You can't just!"
"I can," Theo's patience was gone. He looked her dead in the eye. "And I will if it means keeping you alive."
"Alive? I'm at a party!" she snapped. "You're insane!"
Theo sighed deeply, running a hand through his hair. He was done arguing. "Sorry about this."
"What..?"
Her sentence never finished. Theo moved behind her, quickly, pressing two fingers at the pressure point near her neck. Her body went limp within seconds.
He caught her before she could hit the ground. "I warned you," he muttered under his breath.
By the time he carried her back through the dorm halls, it was nearly two in the morning. He placed her carefully on the bed, brushed her hair from her face, and sat down in the chair beside her.
Danielle looked peaceful when she wasn't yelling at him.
Theo leaned back, rubbing the back of his neck. Everything was way messier than Frank even described…"The president's situation."
He took a deep breath and whispered, "You have no idea how dangerous this is, do you?"
Being forced to stay there the entire night, Theo couldn't believe this was actually his life now.
"I couldn't protect anyone I loved…but you…you force me to become insane…"
When the morning came, Danielle changed positions.
She blinked a few times, groaning softly, and when her eyes focused, she found Theo sitting beside her bed, half-asleep but very much still there.
Her voice was rough. "What are you doing next to my bed?"
Theo opened one eye, and Danielle saw it roll. "Making sure you didn't wander off again."
Wrinkles formed on her forehead. "Did you…stay here all night?"
He didn't answer, just stood up and stretched, cracking his neck. "Get ready for class."
Danielle blinked, and frowned her mouth. "What?"
"I said, get ready. You've got class in thirty minutes."
She sat up, clutching the blanket around her. "I'm not going today."
Theo stopped mid-step. His facial expression changed again. "What did you just say?"
"I said I'm skipping."
He turned around, sounding suspiciously calmly. "Skipping?"
"Yeah," Danielle fell back against the pillow. "After last night, I need a break. You can go stalk someone else for a day."
Theo didn't speak. He walked back to her bed, grabbed the edge of the blanket, and pulled it off with one hand.
"Hey!" she shouted.
"Get up," he ordered.
"No!"
"Fine," he muttered, and before Danielle could do anything else, Theo leaned down, wrapped an arm around her waist, and lifted her straight off the bed like she weighed nothing.
"Theo! Put me down!" she was pounding her fists on his shoulder.
He walked toward the door, absolutely not caring about her well-being anymore. "You can scream all you want, but you're going to class."
"You're an idiot"
"Possibly," Theo wasn't even glancing back. "But at least I'm consistent."
When he set her on her feet, Danielle glared at him, cheeks turned red, and she was breathing hard. "You can't just order me around like this!"
Theo got closer to her face. "Until your father-" He stopped himself just in time, clenching his fists and jaw at the same time. "Until Frank says otherwise, yeah, I can."
Her eyes narrowed. "What were you going to say?"
"Nothing," he lied smoothly. "Get dressed. You've got ten minutes."
And before she could argue again, Theo was gone.
Danielle was furiously confused, staring at the closed door. "You're out of your mind," she muttered.
On the other side of that door, Theo pressed his back against the wall pressing his head against his temples since Danielle was causing his migraine back.
'If only you knew what happened last night,' he thought. 'If only I could tell you.'