Free Oxford Blood by Georgiana Derwent Page B

happened after you left? Did you and George...” The expression on
Harriet’s face made her friend trail off. “I’ll make tea whilst you tell me,”
she said.
    Whilst Caroline boiled the kettle, Harriet took a few bites
of the surprisingly revitalising bacon baguette and began to explain. “We went
onto Steele Walk, and well, things got a bit heavy. It was all moving so fast,
but if I’m honest I was totally up for it.”
    Caroline’s eyes widened. “Good for you. He seems to be a bit
of a twat but he’s unbelievably hot. You needed to have some fun and stop
obsessing over Tom. So come on, how far did it go?”
    Harriet didn’t speak for a few minutes, instead taking small
sips of her tea. Eventually she half covered her face with her hands. “Not
very. Because then he attacked me.”
    Caroline gave a sharp intake of breath.
     The horror of it all crept up on Harriet once more, and she
started to cry.
     Immediately, her friend sat down on the bed and put her arm
round her. “Oh my God, what do you mean attacked you? What did he do?”
    Harriet’s tears prevented her from being able to give a very
coherent account, which was lucky, as she still hadn’t worked one out. She
choked out something vague about being pinned down and George cutting her neck.
She remembered Tom’s explanation, but quickly dismissed it. In her hysterical
state it had felt a bit like he was biting her, but that was ridiculous. He’d
obviously had a knife she hadn’t noticed. She lifted her long hair to show
Caroline the bloody marks.
    “I don’t think he meant to cut it so bad, I guess it was
some sort of kinky game but I struggled and it all got out of control. I
actually ended up losing quite a bit of blood. That’s why I feel like shit
today.”
    Caroline was clearly struggling to find the right words.
“Have you spoken to the police?”
    Harriet realised that she hadn’t considered that at all. Any
investigating officer would be able to tell the difference between a wound
inflicted with a knife and one caused by oddly sharp teeth. She couldn’t face
the possibility that they would tell her it was the latter. She quickly changed
the subject.
    “Anyway, I haven’t told you the most exciting bit yet.”
    “What, more exciting than being attacked by some psycho-rah?
Really?” Caroline leaned in, looking intrigued.
    “Yup. Let’s just say I was rescued by the person I’d have
picked above anyone else to be my knight in shining armour.” Harriet wondered
whether she’d work it out.
    “What, Tom?” Caroline replied. “Seriously? How on earth did
he find you out there? Did they fight? Did you go back with him?”
    Harriet explained as best she could. She wished she was able
to share Caroline’s excitement and just revel in the fact that she actually had
been rescued by Tom, that the boy she’d adored for weeks whilst he blanked her
actually cared enough to save her. But she couldn’t forget how weird he’d been
afterwards and didn’t want to tell Caroline about their conversation.
    “And then he put me to bed and left,” Harriet concluded.
    Caroline looked satisfyingly enthralled. “Only you Harriet.
You spend time alone with not one but two of the absolute hottest guys in the
university and what happens? One stabs you; one tucks you in and wishes you
good night. I think you need to find a middle ground.”
    The two of them talked it over for a while longer, analysing
every detail that Harriet was willing to provide.
    “There’s something you’re not telling me,” Caroline said.
“None of this quite makes sense.”
    Harriet insisted that she’d explained it all. “I’m going to
take it easy for now, and then try to get on with my essay. You know the
Professor wouldn’t take a little thing like a knife attack as an excuse for not
getting work done!”
    Caroline reluctantly agreed to leave, having made Harriet
promise to come to hall that night with her and Ben.
    As the afternoon progressed, Harriet began