Goddess Revenge: Goddess Series Book 4 (Young Adult / New Adult) (14 page)

He pressed himself against her. “I don’t like mouthy little bitches. But I’ve got something to shove down your throat that’ll shut you up.” He ground the evidence of this against her, and she wanted to vomit. “I’m going to teach my new whore a lesson on how—”

Then he was off her. Gone. She stumbled forward, gasping for air, falling to her knees since the person she was pushing against had suddenly disappeared.

“River!” She heard someone yell.
Seth
? She was shaking and felt incoherent, but it sounded like Seth. Oh gods, what had just happened?

She recoiled further under the bleachers up against the wall when she saw a shadow come toward her. “Baby?” River asked softly.

She looked around him frantically, trying to find Casey, not even fully registering the horrified look on River’s face. He reached for her, and she flinched away from him.

“Legacy, it’s okay. It’s just me,” he said, coming closer.

He reached for her again, and she pushed him away.

He winced, hitting the wall, locking his teeth to keep from crying out.

“Is she okay?” Seth asked, trying to peek under the bleachers.

Panting, River said, “Give us a minute.”

He turned toward her, taking slow, deliberate steps with his hands up as he crouched to the floor.

“Legacy,” he whispered. “I’m going to help you out of here. Don’t shock me again, okay?”

He reached for her, and she shook her head, tears of shock streaming down her face. She couldn’t understand what just happened to her with that guy, but she didn’t want to move.

“Okay, okay,” he murmured, sitting in front of her instead of coaxing her.

He watched her closely for several minutes while she flinched and looked at every noise to make sure she was safe. Where was he? Where did he go?

“The coach wants to talk to you,” Seth said to River from the edge of the bleachers.

River sighed heavily. “I’ll be right back, baby.” He walked backwards, watching her until he was out from under the bleachers. He stood by the opening where she could still see him, and she heard him mumbling to the coach.

River came back under the bleachers and squatted in front of her again. “I’m going to ride with you back to school. Seth’s going to stay, too, but the rest of the team needs to leave.”

She didn’t look at him. She still looked around at every sound that was made.

“We need to leave, baby,” he whispered. “I need to get you home.”

She nodded reflexively. She couldn’t speak or look at him.

River reached out and clutched her waist to pull her over to him. He stood them up, and she instinctively put her hands against him. He winced, stepping against the wall. “Baby, you have got to try to get a hold of your shocking ability. I’m not going to hurt you, and you might accidentally shock Seth or Kate. They can’t take it like I can.” He stepped up to her again, and she shocked him away.

“Legacy, look at me.” When she didn’t look, he gently put his hands on her face and tilted it up. “What’s my name?”

She stared at him before answering. “River,” she whispered, and her breathing hitched.

“You’re safe now, baby,” he breathed, leaning his forehead against hers.

Her body shook as tears consumed her. He wrapped his arms around her, and she grabbed his shirt as she cried uncontrollably. He held her tightly while she sobbed, rubbing his hands on her back. After she started to calm down, he guided her out from under the bleachers. She stumbled as she walked because her feet hurt.

He kept both arms wrapped around Legacy as he walked her to Kate’s car. She had her arms banded around his waist, her head buried in his side.

He kept his arms around her on the way back to school, stroking her back with one hand and her face with the other.

When they arrived at school, Calli was waiting for them.

“What took you so long?” she asked as River slid out of the car, pulling Legacy out of the same door. “And why didn’t you ride the bus?” Then she saw that Legacy had been crying and gasped. “What happened?”

“Long story,” River said as he gathered her in his arms, walking her to his car.

“She’s staying the night at my house, so she can ride with me,” Calli said, following behind.

“No, I’ll take her.” He sat her in his car and started it to warm it up. Turning to Calli, he said, “I have to go change. Don’t let her out of your sight. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He turned and ran for the gym.

Calli sat in the driver’s seat and stared at Legacy. “What happened?”

She shook her head as new tears formed. Calli didn’t ask again. She just watched her until River came running back to his car.

“What happened?” Calli barked at him as she got out of his car.

He pulled her to the side and shut the door. Legacy figured he wanted to talk to Calli without her hearing him. She saw her BFF’s head snap in her direction, a look of horror on her face, while he spoke. Calli opened the car door.

“You have to call the police,” she said frantically.

River pulled her away from the car, but left the door open this time. “She’s in no condition to file a police report.”

“What happened to the guy?”

“Seth said when he pulled the guy off Legacy, he fell to the floor. Legacy’s safety being the most important thing, Seth looked under the bleachers to check on her and called me to come over. When I got there, Seth went after the guy, but he couldn’t find him.”

Calli ducked her head back into the car. “Do you still want to spend the night, or do you want to go home?”

“I’ll stay,” she muttered.

Calli nodded. “You need to call Lissa and tell her what happened.”

She nodded, looking around for her things. “I-I left her purse in Kate’s car.”

“I’ll go get it,” Calli said. “She’s still here. Seth’s over there with her. I guess they wanted to make sure you were all right before they left.”

Calli left, and River got in the car. He stroked her hair, looking in her eyes, not saying anything. When Calli knocked on her door, she flinched and gasped, looking frantically at her.

“Shh, it’s just Calli,” River murmured while he unlocked the door.

Calli opened it and handed Legacy her purse.

River leaned forward, looking at Calli. “I’ll follow you.”

After Calli pulled out, River got on the road behind her. Legacy dug in her purse for her phone and called Lissa.

Before she could even relay what happened, she started to cry. She told Lissa everything through tears. River tried comforting her while she spoke to her. He gently stroked her hair, rubbed her arm, caressed her knee. When she got off the phone, she stared outside, and he lightly took her hand into his and rubbed his thumb soothingly on the back on hers.

She’d never felt as helpless as she had tonight. She tried to tell herself that it happened very quickly, and she couldn’t have done anything differently to defend herself in that moment. She remembered thinking she wished she could shock him if only she could touch him and figured that was why she kept shocking River when he tried to help her.

When River pulled into Calli’s driveway, he ran around to her side to get the door. He helped her out of the car and into Calli’s house, holding her tightly. He waited outside Calli’s bedroom while she donned a pair of her pajamas. After she got dressed, he came into the room and tucked her in her bed. He lay beside her, stroking her hair, kissing her forehead until she drifted away into a dreamless slumber, grateful he was there to watch over her.

Chapter Eleven

Lissa took Legacy to the police station first thing the next morning to file a report, but they were politely informed this Casey guy hadn’t tried to rape her, and it’d be her word against his. Of course they intended on following up with him to get his side of things, but she got the feeling nothing would come of it.

When they got back home, River’s car was in the driveway. Before she could even open the door to get out of Lissa’s SUV, River was at her door, opening it.

“Good morning,” she said, looking at him

“Hey,” he murmured as he took her hand to help her out.

He wrapped his arms around her and guided her into the house like he had last night at Calli’s. He walked her over to the couch and sat beside her.

River’s behavior during and after the basketball game last night had her believing he had heard this guy come onto her, but they hadn’t had a chance to talk about that—until now.

“Did you, er, hear that guy talk to me last night before the game?”

He groaned, looking away. “No.”

“Then how did you know he came onto me? You obviously heard something. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have elbowed and cursed at him during the game, and you wouldn’t have been protective of me afterward.”

River wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted his other arm, rubbing his hand on his forehead and shaking his head. “I didn’t hear him,” he said slowly. Then his eyes flashed over to hers. “And I would’ve been protective of you regardless.”

He wasn’t making any sense. “If you didn’t know what he—”

“I didn’t say I didn’t know. I said I didn’t hear him,” he said slowly.

She frowned while she contemplated this. He hadn’t heard that guy, but he knew what he’d said. That was impossible. Unless,
unless
River could hear people’s thoughts. Her eyes flashed to his, and her concern suddenly shifted. If River could read thoughts, then he’d known all along what she was up to.

His eyes got really big. “You’re worried about something. What are you worried about?”

If he could read thoughts, then he should know why she was freaking out. She’d been scheming against him for weeks. If he could read her thoughts, then that’d mean he knew everything. If he could read thoughts, then he’d been playing her all along, and he was still playing her by acting like he didn’t know what she was thinking right now.

“How did you know?” she asked slowly.

“His energy,” River said as if that were obvious.

“You mean you could feel his energy?” She didn’t know why she didn’t think of this before. She knew he could feel her energy. It only made sense that he could feel other people’s energies too. At least he didn’t say he was a mind reader, thank gods.

“No. Well, not when he was talking to you. But people’s energies radiate around themselves. I guess it’s like an aura. I can see it if I want to. Usually, I don’t because it’s just a bunch of meaningless colors. Feeling one’s energy is a more powerful indicator of emotions, but I have to be in close proximity to someone to get a read on his or her emotions.” Looking down, he said, “When he was talking to you, I saw that you looked irritated, so I tuned in—to his aura, I mean. He was radiating a dark color I hadn’t seen before. It was a coppery black color with a dark red glow. During the game, I wanted to get close to him to feel his energy, hoping that’d make more sense, but his energy was, well, very difficult to feel.”

“Were you able to feel anything coming off him?”

River sighed. “When I could feel him, he had the same energy as the other players. He was focused on the game.”

“I still don’t understand, River. How could you have known if his energy hadn’t told you his intentions?”

“Because the color of his aura was also different during the game. He had a normal glow about him, but as soon as the game was over and you came over to hug me, his aura changed to that dark color again.”

“So you didn’t know for sure he was going to do that to me?”

River shook his head, his eyes hardening. “If I’d known, he would’ve been dealt with
before
the game, the moment he set his sights on you,” he said darkly.

The look in his eyes was unmistakable. River wanted to kill Casey. “Um, the police said they’d look into it,” she said quickly, though she didn’t want to voice her beliefs that nothing would ever happen to Casey for what he’d done to her.

River nodded slowly.

She just suspected
he
could read minds before she realized he was reading energy, but now she’d bet she could read his mind. He didn’t just want to kill Casey—he wanted to make it painful.

“The
cops
can’t do anything about him,” he muttered.

Oh no. “Neither can you, River.”

He smirked and looked away.

“River?” This was not good!

“Don’t worry, Legacy,” he said, looking back at her. “I don’t ever want you to worry about him again.”

“What does that mean?” she said gravely, the blood falling out of her face.

River looked at her from the corner of his eye. “You don’t think I’m going to let him get away with hurting you like that, do you?” he asked, barely a whisper.

Her heart started racing as the adrenaline pumped through her veins. “River, I-I don’t want you to do anything to him.”

“Let’s not talk about him right now,” he said, standing up. “I realized after last night that you haven’t been working on your abilities like I asked you to on my birthday.”

“Hmmm …” He was right. She hadn’t. She’d been so caught up in Adin with his accident and their breakup, and now River because of this vendetta that she hadn’t even focused on harnessing her abilities.

“We’re going to work on that
now
. I don’t want you finding yourself in another situation where you can’t defend yourself.”

He took off his jacket, grabbed her hand, and pulled her up. He took a deep breath and stared warily into her eyes for several seconds before walking her over to the side of the living room by a wall.

“You told me Casey had you pinned against the wall. I want you to show me how he was holding you,” he said, trying to sound detached.

She gasped, shaking her head. She wasn’t ready to relive that!

“Look, Legacy, I know you were terrified last night. I think the best—and fastest—way to develop your abilities is to recreate what happened.” Looking down, he said, “I know you wanted to shock him away because you kept shocking me when I tried to help you.” He looked back up. “I think we need to see if you can shock me without using your hands.”

She really didn’t like this idea, but she knew he was right. She couldn’t allow herself to be caught off guard like that again. Casey was just some strong, mortal jock. How could she expect to fight off a god who wanted to kill her if she couldn’t even fight off a human? “Okay,” she said on a sigh.