The sounds of TLC's No Scrubs came booming through the shared wall behind me. Even with my headphones on and the volume on my CD player set to the max, I could still hear the popular song meant to trash guys over Linkin Park's What I've Done.

"Finally," I muttered when the song ended. That was until it started over again. "Come on, man. What the fuck."

Pulling my headphones off, I swung my legs over the side of the bed before I pounded on the wall with my fist. "Can you play something else for the love of God! You know, there is other music out there."

Naturally, the person on the other side of the wall decided to be an annoying asshole and turn it up instead of turning it off. Whatever. Guess I was going to have to take matters into my own hands. Which was the exact opposite of the harsh lesson I was currently learning, buuuuttttttt......

I walked out of my room and didn't even bother knocking. "Do you mind turning this trash down, please?"

My little sister had her back to the door as she hung up a poster for a singer I didn't recognize. She didn't even bother turning around to look at me. Typical Lanie.

"Hello?" I bellowed. "Can you turn this crap down? I said please."

She glared at me over her shoulder. "Yes, you did. Twice. Good for you." Then she went back to adjusting her poster—but not before I saw the redness of her eyes.

I stalked into the room, going straight to her stereo to turn it off. She spun around and her perma-glare only intensified.

"What the hell is your problem? I was listening to that."

Ignoring her anger, I got right to the point. "Why are your eyes red?"

She tapped her chin, her whole presence dripping with sarcasm. "Hmmm. Maybe because someone just came into my room without knocking and shut off my music. Now get out!"

I clenched my teeth, trying to not let myself get too pissed off. "What's his name?"

"I don't know what you mean."

The way her eyes softened gave me a good idea what the expression on my face probably looked like, but I didn't care. "His name, Lanie. Give it to me."

"No."

"What do you mean, no?"

"I'm a big girl, Nate. Not some damsel in distress. I can handle myself."

Scoffing at her, I gestured around her room. "And you are doing a great job of that. I can tell by the way your bed is littered with Reese's cups wrappers and the emo music you've been blaring all day. Yeah, you got this all taken care of, little sis."

Lanie crossed her arms over her chest. "Stay out of it, Nate."

"Yeah, not going to happen."

My sister shook her head, her expression growing sad and a little irritated. "God, Nate. Didn't you learn your lesson at all over the past few weeks? You are so lucky that you're home and not in a jail cell."

She wasn't wrong. And being lucky was an understatement. If Brian's parents hadn't made him come forward and admit everything he did and had intended to do to Karma, I probably would be in a jail cell right now.

I still had nightmares about that godforsaken New Year's Eve day. Instead of bringing in the new year with the woman I loved in my arms, I nearly beat a man into a coma and ended up in handcuffs. Not my most shining moment. Fuck. The look on Karma's face when she came into that interrogation room...I never wanted to see that look on her face again.

Then there was the whole court thing. By some miracle I had been able to keep my composure pretty nonchalant during the week leading up to my court date. It was mostly for Karma's benefit, but she wasn't the only one who was dreading that day. But that cool, calm, and collected composure shattered when I saw Karma walk into that courtroom. Anguish and fear rolled off of her in waves.

It was the first time I actually worried I might go to jail. But by some miracle I didn't. The judge had been so disgusted with Brian and what he planned to do to my girl that she cut me a break. But she didn't let me off unpunished, either.

One hundred hours of community service and court ordered anger management classes. If I completed both then my record would remain clean. Brian wasn't so lucky. The judge wanted to make sure he understood the severity of his attempted drugging and premeditated rape of the love of my life. He was sentenced to one year house arrest along with community service, therapy, and a whole bunch of other stipulations. If one of them went uncompleted, he was going to be serving some time.

I would have done anything the judge wanted me to do if it meant I didn't have to go to jail and be away from Karma.

"Didn't you learn your lesson, Nate? You can't keep beating people up because they're idiots."

Boy do I wish I could. "What am I supposed to do, Lanie? Let some asshole hurt my little sister? That's not who I am."

"I know," she said softly. "And if you weren't you, then we know what could have happened to Karma that night." My heart almost stopped beating at her words, but I remained silent as she continued. "But I can't risk losing you, Nate. As much as you annoy me." She smirked after that last part. "Trust me when I say I got this. Please don't worry about me. Besides, if you do something stupid and get sent to jail, Karma will be heartbroken."

That was one reminder I didn't need. There were still nights when I would sleep beside Karma, only to be woken up by her having a nightmare of her own. She wouldn't tell me what they were about at first—and for good reason. It took a lot of pleading on my part and even that wasn't enough. It wasn't until I explained that as long as she wasn't sleeping because of the nightmares, then I wasn't sleeping.

And it was the truth. There was no way I could sleep when I knew that this was happening to her. But when she finally told me, it made me want to do another surprise visit to Brian.

"Tell me," I begged her. "Please, baby. I won't be able to sleep unless you confide in me."

Karma was sitting up next to me in my bed with her knees bent to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Slow tears trailed down her face and it nearly killed me.

"If I tell you, I need you to promise me that you won't do anything." Her watery brown eyes held mine. "Promise me, Nathan."

Cursing under my breath I muttered, "You know I can't promise that. If something is hurting you, I can't just stand by and—"

"Promise me," she pressed in a tone that told me she meant business. "I need to know that you won't react and end up nearly going to jail again."

Whatever was keeping my girl from sleeping was worse than I thought. But she was right. I needed to put a reign on my temper. Clearly, the judge new what she was talking about with the anger management classes she was making me take.

"Fine," I said softly. "I promise, baby. Now tell me."

It took Karma a few minutes before she actually spoke. Her eyes shifted from mine to look anywhere else. "It's the night of the masquerade party. Everything happens exactly the way as it did when you and I went. Except this time, you don't look up from that pool table. You don't see Brian drug my drink. And then—" Her words got cut off by a choked sob.

"It's okay, baby." Even though I was losing my mind, I continue to rub her back, trying to offer her any amount of comfort I could. "Tell me the rest."

More tears fell, and if I hadn't promised her that I would keep my cool, I would have been in my car and on the way to Brian's house right now to do a reintroduction of my fist with his face.

"He takes me somewhere," she continued. "And he...well you know the rest."

Yeah, I did. The details of what he had planned to do to her still made me sick. But now was not the time for me to let my anger get out of control. My girl was hurting and she needed me.

Reaching out, I gently cupped her face with my hand and guided her eyes back to meet mine. I wiped her tears away with my thumbs before pressing my lips softly against hers. It wasn't a heated kiss. That's not what I was going for in this moment. Honestly, I had no idea what I was going for. I just wanted to make her feel better and for these goddamn nightmares to stop.

"Look at me, gorgeous." I waited for her open her eyes so she could see the truth in mine. "Nothing and no one will ever hurt you, do you understand me? No one. Over my dead body." If felt like there was more I needed to say to make her feel better. More I needed to do. But for the life of me, I couldn't think of anything besides beating Brian senseless.

As if she read my mind, she asked, "Can you do something for me, Nathan?"

"Anything. Name it." I loved this woman so much I would stop breathing if she asked me to.

"Can you just hold me for awhile?" Karma's voice was usually so strong and sure. Tonight it was anything but.

"Yeah, baby. Of course." Laying back on the bed, I pulled her down with me and wrapped my arms around her tightly. She snuggled up against me. Laying like this reminded me of that day at the beach in Florida when I walked into her hotel room and found her upset with her mom. She wanted me to hold her then, too. It seemed to work then, so I was hoping it would work now. "I got you," I vowed, just like I did that day at the beach. "Always."

Bringing my thoughts back to the present situation in front of me, I nodded to my sister. "I know. You're right. But will you promise me that if it's anything serious that you'll let me know?"

Lanie wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. "I promise. I love you, Nate."

"Right back atcha, little sis." We pulled apart and I glanced at my watch. There was still an hour or two left before—

"Go see her," Lanie stated.

"But it's her first day. I don't want to mess anything up for her or get her in trouble."

Lanie snickered. "Well, then go see her but don't do anything, you know...Nate-ish."

My little sister's warning was clear. And she was right, I should definitely go surprise my girl. The only part of her warning that was a little hazy was the don't-do-anything-Nate-ish part. With a devilish grin I grabbed my car keys and made my way to the front door.

I was going to surprise my girl all right. And it was going to be very, very Nate-ish.