I’m In Love With My Brother’s Best Friend?! – Episode 05
Kaitlyn braced both hands on the bathroom sink and stared at a reflection she barely recognized. Her cheeks were flushed, her pupils too wide, and the edges of the room moved whenever she turned her head. She had consumed only one drink. Whatever was happening to her was not ordinary intoxication.
Cold water offered a few seconds of clarity. She needed to call someone, but when she searched her purse, her fingers would not cooperate. The music outside battered the walls and made it difficult to think. Before she could unlock her phone, the bathroom door opened behind her.
“Someone’s in here,” she called, expecting another student. Brent stepped inside and closed the door. The click of the lock sounded unnaturally loud. His smile carried none of the concern he tried to place in his voice.
He claimed he had followed only to make sure she was all right. Kaitlyn moved away from him and told him to leave. Brent’s gaze traveled over her unsteady body, measuring the effect of the drug rather than her distress. The realization chilled her despite the heat beneath her skin.
She repeated the order more firmly. Brent remained between her and the exit, saying they had unfinished business. When Kaitlyn asked what he meant, he reminded her how long they had dated and how patiently he had waited. His language turned their relationship into a transaction in which he believed patience had purchased access to her body.
“You owe me your first time,” he said. For a moment, shock cut through the fog in Kaitlyn’s mind. Then anger arrived, bright and clean. She told him her body had never belonged to him and never would.
Brent laughed as if refusal were part of a game. He blamed her for teasing him throughout high school and suggested the dress proved she wanted male attention. Kaitlyn pointed toward the door and ordered him out. Her voice trembled, but the word no remained unmistakable.
Elsewhere in the house, the front door slammed open. Conversations faltered as Cole entered, tall and visibly furious. Students who had spent the evening hoping to attract his attention instinctively moved aside. He scanned every face without seeing the only one that mattered.
Someone greeted him and asked what had brought the campus’s most elusive graduate student to a freshman party. Cole did not acknowledge the admiration in the question. He said he was looking for Kaitlyn Sinclair, and the urgency in his voice silenced the nearest group.
Whispers spread immediately. The rumors about his mysterious roommate were true, but his expression made the discovery feel less like gossip and more like a warning. He asked who had seen her and received only uncertain glances. Every second of hesitation sharpened his fear.
Inside the bathroom, Kaitlyn tried to edge around Brent. He blocked her path with one arm and told her she would change her mind. She informed him that cheating had destroyed whatever claim he imagined he possessed. She would never return to him, no matter what he did.
Brent’s smile disappeared. The compliant girlfriend he remembered had been replaced by a woman willing to name his cruelty. Rather than accept the loss of control, he stepped closer. Kaitlyn retreated until the sink pressed painfully against her back.
Her thoughts drifted toward Cole despite her effort to remain alert. She remembered the concern in his eyes when he noticed she had been crying, and the certainty with which he told her she would not be homeless. If she could reach him, she knew he would come. The belief gave her enough strength to keep resisting.
Cole moved deeper into the party, questioning everyone in his path. A student remembered seeing Kaitlyn with Lydia and Nat; another thought she had gone toward the hall. Cole followed the fragments, his dread growing as he realized no genuine friend had stayed with her. Whoever had sent the warning had been right to be afraid.
Brent reached for Kaitlyn, and she slapped his hand away. The motion nearly cost her balance, but she caught the sink before falling. He told her to stop making things difficult. She answered that he was the only person responsible for what happened next.
The distinction enraged him. Brent had built his entire justification on the belief that Kaitlyn had caused his frustration. Her refusal to accept blame left him with no disguise for what he intended. He shifted closer to the door, ensuring she could not escape.
In the hallway, Cole demanded to know where the bathroom was. Partygoers stared as the usually composed honor student abandoned every trace of politeness. No one had ever seen him frightened, and his fear emerged as anger powerful enough to clear a path.
Kaitlyn heard voices beyond the door but could not distinguish the words. She called for help, only to have the music swallow the sound. Brent told her no one could hear and reached for her again. She pressed herself against the counter and prepared to fight despite the weakness spreading through her limbs.
Then Cole’s voice carried faintly down the corridor, calling her full name. Kaitlyn closed her eyes in desperate relief. Brent heard it too, and panic flashed across his face before calculation replaced it.
Cole Hart had arrived, but a locked door and a house full of confused students still separated him from Kaitlyn. Inside, Brent moved to silence her before she could answer. Outside, Cole turned toward the hallway, following an instinct that told him the woman he had sworn not to want was in immediate danger.