1

EVE

When I stepped into the packed freshman orientation at V.G. Hill University, a wave of nervous excitement damn near knocked me off my feet.

I was prepared, but slightly apprehensive.

Okay, really apprehensive.

This was my first time away from home, away from my overprotective Father and stepmother.

Navigating through the crowd, my attention was suddenly captivated by a commotion at the front.

An extremely tall, muscular guy with shaggy brown hair and deep brown eyes was arguing with the staff. He was wearing khakis and a blue polo, which all the student-athletes were required to wear on days like these. He was at least six inches taller than anyone else around him. 

As a result, his frustrated voice boomed through the auditorium, making it sound like he was standing right beside me as he spoke. "I'm a junior. I've got better things to do than sit through this bullshit again!" he barked.

Despite his volatile frustration on clear display, there was something undeniably intriguing about him. He was a whirlwind of fury and energy, and I couldn't pull my eyes away.

I know this because I tried several times.

The staff's attempts to calm him were quickly met with his stubborn resolve, and they returned it in kind. 

"It's this, or you're suspended for the next two games, Kha. It's your choice." 

They were obviously well-versed in handling him.

With a reluctant huff, he scanned the room.

Our eyes met.

The anger melted away, and he almost seemed to deflate as his entire body relaxed.

He quickly made his way to the table I was at, never taking his eyes off me as he approached. 

"Is this seat taken?" he inquired, nodding towards the chair beside me. He sounded totally different from the person who had been screaming seconds before. 

"It's all yours," I responded.

He settled beside me with a grin. "I'm Khaos, but call me Kha." 

"Eveline... Eve," I managed to reply. 

There was an undeniable magnetism about him.

Absurdly, I felt an urge to touch him, even though we had just met. Throughout the orientation, I wrestled with these unfamiliar feelings.

I had to stop myself from touching him multiple times.

At the end of the presentation, he turned to me with a confident grin. "I'm actually a junior and here to show newbies around. Want a tour?"

Intrigued, I accepted. Since he wasn't acting like this was a punishment anymore, I didn't bring it up. 

As we left, a staff member shouted, "You need to have a group, Kha, not just one person!"

He just waved them goodbye as he held the door open for me. We stepped into the sunlight together as they continued to grumble behind us.

"You see that statue over there?" he pointed to a bronze figure shrouded in ivy. "Legend says if you rub its nose during finals week, you'll ace your exams."

"Really?" I laughed.

Kha grinned mischievously. "Hasn't worked for me yet, but the hope remains."

Our tour continued, and Kha's humorous and engaging tales enriched each site he insisted on showing me. He gestured to a towering old oak. "That tree is probably older than the university. It's seen more first kisses and heartbreaks than the counselors here."

Caught up in his stories, I asked playfully, "And how many of those were yours?"

"I plead the fifth," he chuckled. "But I've climbed it a few times." 

I looked over and noticed the "Do Not Climb" sign immediately. 

As people gave him a wide berth as we walked around campus, a hint of unease started to tug at me. 

What was I missing about him?

Eventually, we reached the packed food court. Realizing I had yet to activate my meal account, I hesitated, unsure if they accepted cash.

Despite my protests, Kha insisted on paying for our meals and ordered the same thing I did.

"Do you actually like sushi?" I asked with a grin. 

He nodded eagerly and said, "Yeah, I just don't think about getting it that often."

 We settled into a quiet corner. I watched as several people sitting at tables around us got up and left immediately.

"So why Khaos?" I asked as I watched him devour the plate of sushi. He obviously did like it and wasn't just trying to show off or impress me. 

He smiled and sat back in his seat with a sushi roll gripped between the chopsticks in midair like it was easy. "Well... I guess with a last name like Bane, Mom had to get a little creative with my first name. Plus, I often live up to it, so maybe she was onto something." 

I couldn't help but snort. He just shrugged with a shit-eating grin before popping the roll into his mouth with a wink. 

The intensity in his eyes, the intimidating aura that seemed to make people run, and the provocative name seemed to hint at more than met the eye.

They almost felt like red flags.

As he walked me to my dorm, he casually requested my phone number and handed me his phone so I could program it in when I agreed.

A bizarre, intense sensation shot through my body when his fingers brushed against mine. 

He seemed to feel it, too. He closed his eyes briefly before a grin lit up his face.

Was that why I wanted to touch him all day? Because I knew subconsciously it would feel like that or something? 

Thanks to my Father sheltering me, always scared shitless I would end up pregnant at 14 like my mom was with me, I had no reference for what true desire actually felt like. 

Maybe that's what it felt like. 

He called the number I programmed in instantly to verify it.

"What? Did you think I'd give you a fake number or something?" I teased as I silenced the call and programmed his number into mine.

The grin that lit up his face as he changed my name to something else, made my heart start fluttering. I snapped a quick candid photo of him as he looked down at his phone.

I attached it to his contact so I would see that image every time he called or messaged me. 

"Most girls do," he admitted with a crooked smile as he pocketed his phone.

He leaned in and brushed a strand of blonde hair out of my eyes. "Your eyes are, like... I don't know, the prettiest blue I've ever seen." When he noticed me starting to blush, he smiled and continued, "I had fun today. I'll text you later tonight if that's okay?"

The tingles that spread across my face as his finger lightly grazed my skin were intense and disorienting.

All I could manage to do was nod in response.

A nagging feeling whispered that there was much more to Khaos Bane than this charming front.

As he turned to walk away, a fleeting glimpse of red in his eyes made me pause.

Was I seeing things or something?

It had to be the light. 

Brown eyes change in the light.

------

We spent almost a week practically glued to each other before he confessed that he had changed my name to "Mine" in his phone. 

When I found it unsettling, he changed it to "My Heart." That felt more affectionate than possessive. Later, it evolved to "My Love," especially when "I love you" started flowing from his lips more often than any other words.

After four months, when we finally slept together, and he took my virginity, my contact name became "My Soul."

It was always "My" something. I eventually realized he never really removed "Mine" but rather disguised it in ways that felt more endearing and less possessive.

I couldn't blame him, nor could anyone else. If someone had the effect on me that I seemed to have on him, I'd cling to them for dear life, too.

There was no denying his intelligence. Despite the whirlwind that was his life, he maintained a perfect GPA and consistently made the Dean's list.

Academically, anyway.

He was also a fantastic football player.

His smile could have lit up the stadium the night he discovered I'd changed his contact name from "Kha" to "My Kha" when he needed my phone to text his dad.

Too bad that night was also one of the many times I had to rescue him from himself, pulling him out of a situation just before it escalated enough to get him arrested.

Now, five months after meeting Kha at freshman orientation, our lives had intertwined inseparably. 

As the weeks unfurled, I began to see why caution seemed to shadow him. 

Kha was like a storm.

Unpredictable and destructively impulsive.

 One moment, he would be perfectly fine, happy as one can be while facing the usual college BS students face. 

The next, he would be throwing things and punching walls. 

Or pretty much anyone who dared get near him. 

Anyone except me. He never so much as even raised his voice at me, much less a hand. 

Often, that kind of thing happened when I was not around. 

His inclination for trouble, from fights to just causing general chaos, kept everyone on edge before I arrived. 

But around me, he was a different person. Even when he would fly off over something, I could always pull him back. 

I'd gotten pretty good at it. 

Ultimately, this calmer side of him drew me in. I wanted nothing more than to help him navigate the turbulence that constantly engulfed him otherwise.

My roommate Marissa had organized a huge birthday celebration for my 19th birthday at the student community center. The air was alive with pulsating music and infectious laughter. 

Kha's arrival shifted the mood drastically. 

He arrived late, instantly causing issues by trying to start a fight at the door.

I watched him, my heart sinking as I recognized the signs. Crossing the crowded room, I approached him, hoping to steer him away from trouble. "Kha, let's take a break. Maybe head to my room for a bit?" I suggested.

For a fleeting moment, I caught a glimpse of a deep, unnatural red flickering in his eyes.

His reaction was sharp and immediate. "I don't need to be babysat, Eve!" he snapped, the sting of alcohol on his breath mingling with his anger as he screamed in my face.

 He pushed me back as I reached out to him.

"I'm just trying to help," I murmured, but he recoiled again as if my touch burned him or something.

Why didn't he want me to touch him?

"I don't need your help! I'm not some project you can fix!"

 His words cut deep, and with one last piercing look, he stormed out, leaving whispers and worried looks behind. 

I stood among the remnants of my celebration, swallowed by embarrassment and concern.

What was truly happening with him? 

And why were his eyes so disturbingly red tonight? 

Overwhelmed by the sympathetic looks and murmurs of concern from friends, I excused myself.

Outside, the cool night did little to soothe the sting Kha had left. 

That was the first time he'd ever yelled at me like that. 

In public, no less. 

On my damn birthday, at my birthday party. 

It was just so unlike him. Sure, he struggled with many things, but we were solid. 

I'd never doubted that before. 

Driven by anger and a desperate need for answers, I headed to Kha's dorm. My heart sank when I noticed his truck in the dorm's parking lot, engine idling. 

I started panicking, praying he wasn't so messed up that he would drive drunk. I had to get his keys, even if it pissed him off more. 

He was reckless in so many ways, but that was one line he'd never crossed. 

Then I heard it.

The unmistakable sound of Kha moaning. 

The dread that swept through my entire body froze my feet. My heart. My brain. 

Everything just stopped working. 

For a second, I literally could not move. 

The front window was open, and the unmistakable sounds confirmed my worst fears. Torn between confronting the truth and fleeing, I gathered my courage and approached the driver's side window.

Standing on my tiptoes to peer inside, what I already knew I would see broke my heart into a million pieces. 

 Kha was unmistakably engaged with a petite, black-haired girl in the backseat. 

His fingertips were digging into her hips, guiding her as she rocked up and down on his lap. His head was lying back on the seat, mouth open and eyes closed.

His jeans were pushed down to his knees, and his shirt was unbuttoned, giving the black-haired girl unfettered access to scratch and lick at his chest. 

When she looped a finger into his nipple ring, causing him to groan and thrust his hips in response, I felt something in me break. 

That was our thing. 

I thought I was the only one who knew he liked that. We'd both got them pierced at the same time on a random date dare a few months before. 

That... was our.. thing. 

The sob was involuntary, piercing through the quiet parking lot loudly.

Kha looked up, his eyes meeting mine, shining a vivid, undeniable red. 

He stuttered out a clumsy, slurred denial, "No, no, Eve, no, this...oh shit...no, oh no." But the reality before me spoke volumes over his feeble protests.

The betrayal was too profound, too visceral. 

Too damn real. 

Without a word, I turned and fled, my tears obscuring the harsh glow of streetlights.