I use my hands to scramble backwards away from Hardin and Dan as Hardin lifts Dan's head with his hands still wrapped around his neck and slams down into the grass. For a second I wonder if Hardin would have done the same if he were on concrete. I am answered by him lifting his fist up and punching Dan in the jaw.

"Hardin!!" I scream and climb to my feet. Everyone else just stares, Jace seems amused and even Ronnie seems entertained.

"Stop him!" I beg Jace but he shakes his head as Hardin's fist connects to Dan's already bloody face.

"This has been coming for a while, let them hash it out. Do you want a drink?" He smirks at me.

"What? No I don't want a drink! What the hell is wrong with you!" I yell. A crowd has now gathered around and people are cheering on the fight, I have yet to see Dan hit Hardin and I am glad but I want him to stop hurting Dan.

I am too afraid to try to stop Hardin myself so when Zed appears in the yard, I yell for him. His eyes find me immediately and he jogs over.

"Stop him, please!" I yell. Everyone seems to calm except me. If Hardin keeps hitting him, he will kill him. I know it.

Zed gives me a quick nod and takes a few steps over to Hardin. He wraps his fist into Hardin's shirt and pulls him backwards. Hardin is caught off guard so he is easily removed from Dan's body. Hardin tries to swing at Zed but Zed dodges his fist and puts his hands on Hardin's shoulders. He says something to Hardin that I can't make out and then nods his head towards me. Hardin's eyes are blazing, his knuckles bloody and his shirt ripped from Zed's grip. His chest is moving up and down rapidly. I don't make a move to walk towards him, I know how angry he is at me. I can tell. I am not afraid of Hardin the way I probably should be, even though I just witnessed his temper being completely lost I know that he would never physically hurt me.

With the excitement winding down almost everyone has began to move back inside the house. Dan's crumpled body lays on the ground and Jace leans down to hold his hand out to Dan to help him up. He stumbles to his feet and lifts his shirt up to wipe his bloody face off. He spits out a mixture of blood and saliva and I look away.

Hardin's head turns to look where Dan is and he tries to take a step toward him. Zed grabs Hardin again and stops him.

"Fuck you Scott!" Dan spits. Jace steps between them. Now he wants to do something.

"Just wait until your little..." Dan shouts.

"Shut the fuck up." Jace snaps and Dan's mouth closes.

Dan looks at me and I take a step back. I wonder what Jace meant by "its been a long time coming." with Hardin and Dan. They seemed fine a few minutes ago.

"Go inside!' Hardin yells. I immediately know that he is talking to me.

I decide to listen to him, for once and turn around and run into the house. I know that everyone is staring at me but I don't care. I push my way through the crowded house and rush up to Hardin's room, luckily the door isn't locked. I must have forgotten to lock it when I left and to add to my horror, there is a big red spot on the carpet. Someone must have stumbled in here and spilled a drink on the tan carpet. Great. I hurry to the bathroom and grab a towel and turn the sink on. I lock Hardin's door once I step inside and furiously wipe the stain, the water only spreads the spot and makes it much worse.

The door clicks and I try to stand before he enters.

"What the hell are you doing?" His eyes move to the towel in my hand then to the spot on the floor.

"Someone.. I forgot to lock the door when I went downstairs." I admit and look at him. His nostrils flare and he takes a deep breath.

"I'm sorry." I squeak.

The anger is radiating off of him and I can't even be angry with him because all of this is my fault. If I would have just listened to him and stayed in the room, none of this would have happened. He runs his hands over his face in frustration and I take a step towards him. His fingers are busted and bloody, Hardin's knuckles always seem to be in this state. He surprises me by grabbing the towel from my hands, I reflexively jump back a little. His eyes flash with confusion and he tilts his head slightly as he uses the non stained portion of the towel to wipe his knuckles off.

I expected him to barge through the door and break things while screaming at me, instead I am granted with his silence which turns out to be much worse.

"Could you say something?" I plea.

"Trust me Tessa, you don't want me to speak right now." His words come even slower than usual.

"Yes, I do." I tell him. I can't stand his angry silence.

"No, you don't." He growls.

"Yes I do! I need you to talk to me, tell me what the hell happened down there?" I wave my hands towards the window and he clenches his fists by his sides.

"God damn it Tessa! You always have to push and push! I told you to stay in my fucking room, multiple times and what the fuck did you do? You didn't listen, as usual! Why is it so damn hard for you to listen to what I say?" He yells and slams his fist against the side of his dresser, cracking the wood.

Once again, I should have kept my mouth shut.

"Because Hardin, you don't just get to tell me what to do all the time!" I yell back.

"That isn't what I am doing, I was trying to keep you away from shit like what just happened. I already warned you that they aren't a good group of people yet you prance out there with Jace and then volunteer yourself to play that fucking game! What the fuck was that?" The deep veins in his neck are straining against his skin so tightly that I fear they may break through.

"I didn't know what the game was!" I defend myself.

"You knew I didn't want you to play and the only reason you wanted to play was because Molly's name was mentioned and you have some crazy obsession with her!"

"Excuse me? Crazy obsession? Maybe I don't like the fact that my boyfriend used to sleep with her!" My cheeks flame. My jealousy and dislike towards Molly is a little crazy but Hardin just choked a guy for almost kissing me.

"Well sorry to break it to you but if you're going to have a problem with everyone that I slept with, you may want to transfer schools" He spits and my mouth falls open.

"You didn't have a problem with the girls downstairs." He adds and my heart rate dramatically increases. 

"What girls? Those three that were playing with us?" My breath catches.

"Yea and just about every other girl downstairs!" His voice holds no emotion as he glares at me.

I try to come up with something to say but I am at a loss for words. The fact that Hardin has slept with all three of those girls and basically the entire female population at WSU makes me nauseous and the worst part is that he just threw it in my face. I must look like such a fool hanging around Hardin when everyone knows he has slept with so many girls. I knew he would be pissed off but this is too far, even for Hardin. I feel like I have went back in time to when I first met him and he would purposely make me cry on an almost daily basis.

"What? Surprised? You shouldn't be." He says.

"No." I am not surprised one bit, I am hurt. Not about his past, just the way he told me out of anger. He said it that way just to hurt me. I blink rapidly to stop the tears from coming but it doesn't work so I turn away from Hardin and wipe my eyes.

"Just go." He says and walks towards the door.

"What?" I ask and turn to face him.

"Just go, Tessa."

"Go where?" 

"Back to your room.. I don't know.. but you can't stay here." He doesn't look at me.

This is not at all what I thought would happen. The pain in my chest is growing with every second of silence that passes between us. Part of me wants to beg him to let me stay and argue with him until he tells me why he reacted the way he did downstairs, but a bigger part of me is embarrassed and hurt by his cool dismissal. I grab my bag off the bed and sling it over my shoulder. When I reach the door I look back at Hardin and hope that he will apologize or change his mind, but he turns to the window and completely ignores me. I have no idea how I will get back to the dorms, Hardin drove me here and I had every intention of staying the night with him. I don't remember the last time I stayed alone in my room and the thought is not appealing to me in the least. The drive to Hardin's house seems like days ago instead of hours. When I reach the bottom of the stairs someone tugs at the back of my sweatshirt, I hold my breath as I turn around and silently pray that it isn't Jace or Dan.

It's Hardin.

"Come back upstairs." His voice is desperate and his eyes red.

"Why? I thought you wanted me to leave." I stare at the wall behind him.

He sighs and grabs my bag from my shoulder and walks back up the stairs. I think about just letting him have the bag and leaving anyway, but my stubborn attitude is what got me in this situation in the first place.

I huff and follow him back to this room. When the door closes he turns around and backs me up against the door.

"I'm sorry." He looks into my eyes. He pushes his hips against mine and puts one of his arms against the door close to my head so I can't move.

"Me too." I whisper.

"I just.. I lose my temper sometimes. I didn't really sleep with those girls, well not all three of them." He admits. I feel a little relieved but not completely.

"My first instinct when I get angry is to come back even harder, to hurt you as much as I can but I don't want you to leave and I am sorry for scaring you by beating the shit out of Dan. I am trying to change, change for you.. to be what you deserve but it's hard for me. Especially when you do things to purposely piss me off." He says. He brings his hand to my cheek and wipes the drying tears left on my cheek.

"I wasn't scared of you." I say.

"Why not? It seemed like you were when I grabbed the towel."

"No.. well I was a little when you grabbed the towel, but I was more afraid for you when you were fighting Dan."

"Afraid for me? He didn't get a hit on me." He brags.

I roll my eyes. "I meant that you would end up killing him or something. You could get in a lot of trouble for assaulting him." I explain and Hardin chuckles.

"Let me get this straight, you were worried about the legal repercussions of our fight?" He laughs.

"Stop laughing I am still mad at you." I tell him and cross my arms. I'm not exactly sure what I am upset about except him telling me to leave.

"I am still pissed at you too, but you're very amusing." He presses his forehead against mine.

"You drive me crazy." He says.

"I know." I tell him.

"You never listen to me and you always fight me on everything. You are stubborn and borderline intolerable." He continues.

"I know." I repeat.

"You provoke me and cause me a shit load of unnecessary stress, not to mention you almost made out with Dan right in front of me." His lips touch my neck and I shiver.

"You say the most annoying things and you act like a child when you're mad." Despite the insults he is throwing at me my stomach is fluttering as he kisses my skin and continues his light verbal assault. He pushes his hips against mine again, more forcefully this time.

"But all that being said.. I also happen to be vigorously in love with you." He says and sucks harshly on sensitive skin below my ear.

I wrap my hands in his hair making him groan and he puts both of his hands on my waist, pulling me to him. I know there are more things to be said, more problems to be solved, but right now all I want is to get lost in Hardin and forget about tonight.