Taylor

Sin dispensed with the condom while I got off the counter and grabbed my panties off the floor. I felt nervous as I slid them on again and Sin pulled up his boxers and jeans. It was a little awkward and I wasn't sure what to say.

"It's hard to believe you haven't done this much," he said as he stood before me. I shrugged, unsure of how to respond to that comment.

"I'd better go," I mumbled, feeling nervous and awkward as I reached for the door handle of the bathroom and opened the door.

"It's too late," he said as he stopped me with a hand on my wrist. "Besides, I'm not finished with you yet."

My stomach fluttered at the last comment and I ran my tongue along my bottom lip as my eyes met his. I let him lead me by the hand back to his bedroom. Inside his room, he released my hand and walked over to get his phone from his desk.

"What's your number?" he asked.

I gave him my number and he programmed it into his phone. Once he was done, he put his phone back down on the table.

"Give me your phone," he instructed and I handed it to him. He programmed his number into mine. I wasn't sure how this arrangement between us was supposed to work. Did we call each other when we had an itch to scratch? The only way I was going to know was to ask him the questions.

"So how does this work?" I asked as he handed my phone back to me. His eyes darkened as he looked at me. It was the same way he looked at me when I was naked beneath him and wanting more. It made me feel so aware of my body when he looked at me like that.

"Whenever we need relief, we call each other," he began to explain and I felt myself blush slightly. He smirked at me as he took a step closer. He reached out and caressed my cheek with his knuckles.

"And no hooking up with other people," he said, voicing the rule I'd put into place. "No feelings, just mind-blowing sex. And when we're done, we both walk away."

He leaned forward and kissed me. His tongue pushed into my mouth and tangled with mine. I felt my toes curl. His kiss was hard and seductive. My hands reached out and splayed across his hard chest.

We'd just had sex and I couldn't believe that I felt that ache of need between my legs so fast after the last time. I wanted him again. As he kissed me he walked me backward until my knees felt the bed and he lay me down and covered my body with his.

That night he made me shatter two more times and afterward, sated and tired, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep with Sin lying naked beside me.

*************

It was still dark when I woke up. I tried to move and realized something heavy was keeping me in place. Sin was sleeping on his stomach with his arm wrapped around my waist and his leg placed over mine. I wanted to stay there wrapped up nice and warm in his arms, but this wasn't part of our arrangement. Cuddling wasn't part of what we'd decided and if I was going to keep my heart intact, I needed to remember that.

Besides, if I waited till the sun came up and Sin woke up with me still in the bed, I might come across as wanting more than we'd agreed. I slipped out of the bed as quietly as possible without making sudden movements so Sin remained sleeping and oblivious to my departure. I got dressed as quickly as I could and I left without waking him.

Downstairs, I looked for Slater. But unlike the previous two times, he wasn't there. He was probably getting some sleep. I let myself out and called a taxi. It was three in the morning and I waited nervously outside in the dark for about fifteen minutes before the taxi arrived.

Back at the dorms, I entered the stairwell as usual with the fear sitting in the pit of my stomach. At the first sound of the additional echoing of footsteps below me, my heart began to pound in my ears as I rushed quicker up the stairs.

The faster I rushed up the stairs, the faster the mysterious footsteps echoed behind me. It wasn't a part of my imagination—there was someone in the stairwell and they were chasing me up the stairs.

I panicked as I climbed the last step and rushed to the door that would lead me to safety. I opened the door and stepped through just as I heard footsteps behind me. Scared, I ran down the hallway to the door to my room. I didn't look back to see if the person had followed me into the hallway.

I opened the door and entered the room quickly. I closed the door and locked it. Scared and breathless, I leaned against the door. For what felt like forever I listened for the footsteps but there was nothing and after a little while I pushed off the door and switched the lights on.

Jordan's bed was still made, which meant she had slept out. I wondered if that had something to do with Slater. Jordan was a lot more experienced than I was and I hoped that she knew what she was doing. Slater was very much like Sin. They had issues and they weren't the type of guys who made good boyfriend material. I knew what I was getting into with Sin and I hoped she did too.

It was only as I reached for my pajamas that I saw my purple underwear that had been missing neatly spread out on my bed. The bra was placed above the panties. As I took another step closer, I put my hands over my mouth to smother a scream.

Written on the panties and bra in some sort of red marker was the word 'whore.'

Horror and fear shivered down my spine. Someone had been in the room. Then the realization hit me. That person had to have been in my room twice, once to steal the underwear and the second time to put it on my bed.

The fact that someone had been in my personal space twice made me step back and I felt like I was going to throw up. I stepped back until I felt Jordan's bed against the back of my legs. I sank down on the bed, unable to allow what was happening to sink in.

Why would someone do this? I studied the word 'whore.' Why would they write something like that on my underwear? It made no sense. I rubbed my forehead as I tried to figure out why someone would do this to me. Did they somehow know about Sin and me? Is that why they had written 'whore'? Was it possible it was a jealous previous liaison of Sin's who was jealous?

I crept onto Jordan's bed too scared to switch the light off to try and get some sleep. Most people in the same situation would have called the campus police but I wanted to keep a low profile. I feared they would recognize my name. For hours I sat with my back against the wall, looking at the offending piece of clothing that lay on my bed.

I tried to figure out what I was going to do about it. If I let my brother know, he'd be on the first plane here and he'd try and make me go back home or he'd hire a bodyguard to watch over me. I couldn't let that happen. I wanted to have my own life where I made my own decisions.

If this person had been prepared to break into my room more than once and steal my underwear, would they be prepared to do more? Would they try and hurt me? Maybe I was blowing this out of proportion. Perhaps this was somebody's idea of a joke, as sick as it was. I decided then and there that I wasn't going to allow this to dictate my life. I took a deep breath and released it as I stood up and walked over to the underwear.

I made my decision as I crunched up the underwear in my hand and threw it in the trashcan. I wasn't going to let someone scare me. I was stronger than this. I wasn't going to tell anyone, but I was going to be more careful. No more returning back to the dorms at night or early morning. I had to make sure I always had someone around. With my mind made up, I began to feel better.