Bad Taste (Part I) // Colby Brock

35 - Tara

          I listened, hard, the moment Colby ran upstairs to meet Rebecca. My heart, which didn't beat at all, was pounding in my chest. I was terrified.

So many scenarios had run through my head when I saw those bruises: what if he was compelling her? What if he was just manipulating her? What if he had hurt her in some other way? None of them were good. Not for one second, did I believe that he actually cared about her. Sam was a different story. When Rebecca was telling Colby to take her to his room, Sam was encouraging him. Colby didn't want to show it, but I knew he was listening.

"You won't hurt her if you don't want to, Colby," was the main thing he'd said. Meanwhile, I was sending daggers at him. Colby had already hurt her twice, even if he hadn't meant it. I needed to get them away from each other, so I waited in the red room listening.

It was strange that everyone had just gone to normal when Colby disappeared, as if the whole thing hadn't happened. I wasn't like that, though.

If I wasn't furious at Colby, it would have been amusing to hear Rebecca say he was obnoxious, joke about the bed — or stop him from joking about the bed, and acting all bitchy with him. It was admittedly still a little amusing, as I heard her telling him to move. What he was doing, I didn't know.

There was the light sound of shuffling and then Rebecca spoke quietly. "Are you going downstairs at any point?" She sounded a little tired.

"No," Colby replied, which surprised me, because he sounded like he meant it.

"Good."

My gut clenched. I had to go up there, and soon. Surely Colby was doing something to her. It didn't make sense otherwise why they would be together. It just didn't. Not after he'd hurt her.

I bit my lip as I listened specifically to Colby's breathing. It was steady rather than his normal heavy, deep breaths. I glanced at Sam, who looked surprised as he stared at the ceiling, then got ready to run up there. I was too fast for Jake to stop me as I darted up the stairs to Colby's door. I stood, listening again.

"What do you want, Tara?" Colby whispered, so quiet I couldn't really hear him.

I scowled. "Whatever you're doing to Rebecca, stop it," I demanded the wood in front of me.

His fast footsteps led right to it and next thing I knew, he was stood outside his door, holding it mostly shut, shirtless and glaring at me.

"And what is it that I'm doing?" he challenged, angry.

"I don't know! Something! I don't get why you suddenly like her, or want to be with her, or whatever. It doesn't make sense. You've obviously compelled her or-"

"Tara, stop," Colby snapped.

I thought he was about to break my neck, but he pulled the door completely closed and pushed me closer to the stairs. "Stop your accusations when you have no idea what's going on. She isn't yours to get protective over."

"Whose is she, yours?" I growled.

"No, she isn't. Go back downstairs to Jake and mind your own damn business. I want to go to bed." And he disappeared.

I heard him slip back into bed with her, and she sighed a second later. My eyes narrowed at the door. I was tempted to stomp in there and rip him away from her, to save her from him. But Jake appeared and placed his hands on my arms. He picked me up, zipping back to the red room. I huffed as I dropped into my seat, glaring at Colby's chair. Jake's arms wrapped around me and he pressed his lips right next to my ear.

"Are you really that worried?" he whispered.

"Yes! Colby is a complete ass. There is no way he has any good intentions with her."

"Looked real to me," Sam said.

"You're biased," I snapped, nodding at the ceiling. "I refuse to believe that he's not going to kill her or hurt her again or... I don't know! Something's just not right."

"I think you're overreacting. So does Rebecca herself. You heard her," Corey reminded me.

That hadn't made me very pleased, when she'd said I was freaking out for no reason. She didn't know what Colby was capable of, even if he for some reason told her he's killed people before — and that he still does. What kind of attitude was "over it" when dealing with something like this? Forget Reggie and Colby being suicidal, is she? "Over it"after hearing someone she's kissing and sleeping with has and does kill people?! She either wasn't right in the head or had been messed with. There was no alternative.

I made it my mission — for my friend — to stop whatever Colby was doing to her. I'd keep an eye on her from now on and search for signs she'd been compelled. There had to be something Colby missed if he'd been doing that.

Had to be.