Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

UNKNOWN

I glanced over my shoulder, then turned back around. This was exactly how girls got murdered. There were eyes on my back, I had zero doubts on that. There were just some instincts a girl knew not to question. Whoever was following me, they were making sure to stay just out of sight . . . lurking in the shadows.

It was my own fault.

Sure, victim blaming was not on brand for my character, but since I was about to be the victim, I had no problem admitting to myself that I'd set myself up for this. Patsy Cline may have gone out walking after midnight, but it was not safe for a girl to do in the real world.

Especially in a quiet beach town in . . . actually, I had no idea where I was. Last I knew, we were in the Smoky Mountains somewhere. Now I was walking on a sidewalk parallel to the ocean shore. My boyfriend—now ex- boyfriend—and I had been in a hotel room. I'd taken some cold medicine and passed out and then woke up here.

He didn't think it was kidnapping.

I did.

I'd been so furious with him I dumped him and took off. Like an idiot. It was that moment from Clueless movie when Cher got out of the car and the guy ditched her in a bad neighborhood and she was mugged at gunpoint. I'd seen that movie as a small child and always swore I'd never be that stupid. And then I got mad at my boyfriend and just took off alone.

He hadn't intended on hurting me. He just wanted us to enjoy spring break with our classmates. I never should have left the hotel. I'd just been in such a state of rage that I hadn't been thinking clearly. Now they were going to be asking my parents to identify my body after whoever was following me got bored with chasing me.

It was too late to turn around and go back to my boyfriend. Not only would that bring me face-to-face with my chaser faster, but I'd been in such a cloud of rage that I couldn't retrace my steps. And, naturally, my phone had no reception. Fate was lining up for me in the worst possible way?—

Feminine laughter echoed around me. I gasped. My eyes widened. I didn't slow down. In fact, I picked up my speed. Somewhere close by there was a group of girls laughing. This was promising. Hope flared in my chest.

I pretended to answer my phone, "Hey, I'm almost there."

Silence.

"I can hear y'all laughing, that's how I know."

More silence.

The girls' laughter was closer, and now I heard music playing softly. Golden light spilled into the foggy night sky up ahead about ten feet, so I hurried toward it while carrying on a fake conversation with myself. And then I saw my first true sign of a life raft to grab ahold of. Sitting along the edge of a wooden deck were at least five girls.

"Yes, I see them on the deck. I'm coming up now," I said to myself and my stalker as I hurried up the wooden steps just before the line of girls. "Coming up the steps now. Byeeeee."

I fake hung up the phone and shoved it into my front pocket. When I got to the top of the steps, I gasped. My eyes filled with tears. Like all of the other hotels along the beach, this one's raised deck had a pool right up at the railing so that the ocean would be in perfect view during the daylight. And in this pool right now had to be two-dozen college girls.

They all looked up with shocked, guarded expressions as the wooden planks creaked under my feet. I grimaced and waved but words failed me. I might have actually made it to safety. One creep surely couldn't hurt two-dozen women. Right? Right .

Unless of course these girls thought I was a creeper and kicked me out.

Just then a girl who looked about my age with hair like midnight and big, pretty blue eyes threw her arm in the air and waved it. "GIRL! There you are! We were worried sick!"

A runaway tear slid down my cheek.

Almost at once, each of the other girls' expressions switched from confusion to ferocious protectors. It was a flash of a second and then all of their faces were bright and smiling. The laughter picked right back up.

The nice girl glanced behind me quickly, then turned back to me with a grin. "Where did you go after dinner?"

Relief rocked me but I managed to clear my throat and then stumbled toward her. "I got lost on my way back."

"Everything looks different here in the dark." She nodded. "Come sit by me. The hot tub will feel amazing on your feet after all that walking."

I practically ran over to her. In less than two seconds, I had my shoes kicked off and my feet submerged in the hot tub as I sat beside her. Goosebumps spread across my skin. I shivered and leaned closer to her, then whispered, " Thank you. "

She grinned. "We've got to stick together out here, don't we?"

I nodded.

"You all right?"

"Yes, thanks to y'all. Someone was definitely following me."

"Creepy. Well, you stick here with us, and when we're ready for bed, we'll either escort you back to your hotel or you can crash with us until morning. That sound good?"

I smiled up at her. "That's the nicest thing anyone has offered me."

"Like I said, we've got to stick together out here. Hella dangerous. These are my sorority girls. We're here for spring break. You too?" When I nodded, she gave me a friendly wink. "Where did you come from?"

So I told her.

When I finished, she just rolled her eyes and laughed. "Men."

"I know. It wasn't smart to bolt. If he's still awake in a bit, I'll call him and have him come get me. Or maybe in the morning." I grinned sheepishly. "I'm just glad I found y'all before I wound up another statistic."

"Well, night's still young. I'm sure we could find a fun statistic for you to become." She chuckled and bumped my shoulder with hers. "I'm Morgan, by the way."

"Hi. I'm?—"

"They're here!" Morgan squealed. Her whole face beamed with excitement. She threw her hand up and waved, just like she had when I'd arrived. "Over here, my love!"

My love? I frowned and followed her stare—and my jaw dropped. Three grown ass men sauntered towards us with mischief sparkling in their eyes. The one in the middle was by far the sexiest man I'd ever seen. He was some kind of mixture of Antonio Banderas and Luke Evans with his green eyes and long dark hair that curled just under his ears. The smile on his face was sinfully delicious, as was the rest of him.

The guy on the left had black eyes and short, dirty blond hair, and somehow his black toga costume looked hot. The third guy stepped into a patch of light and I saw dark, strawberry blonde hair and matching freckles. The suit was a surprising outfit choice for spring break on the beach, but damn did he look good in it. His blue eyes scanned each of the girls in the pool, and a smirk pulled on his lips.

These three men were . . . celebrity levels of gorgeous.

All of my fear from five minutes ago came rushing back. Something about the beauty of these men freaked me the hell out. They didn't seem to go together. The sexy one in the middle wore black leather pants and a black, silky button-down shirt. But he was dressed normal and casual at least. He could fit in with the party crowd. But to see him walk up with one guy in a suit and the other in a damn toga? My stomach tightened into knots. There was something wrong with this picture.

Then I realized something I'd missed before in my relief of finding people . . . none of the other girls paid any attention to me once I sat down. Not a single one of them even glanced in my direction, let alone smiled or said hello. Only Morgan spoke to me. And now there were three of the most beautiful men I'd ever seen in my life headed right for them and none of them noticed.

Sorority girls hadn't noticed gorgeous men.

Alarms were ringing in my mind. Red flags waving.

I cleared my throat. "Hey, Morgan . . . who are those guys?"

She beamed at them. "That's my boyfriend and his two friends."

My stomach rolled. That somehow made me feel worse. While Morgan swooned over her boyfriend, I took the moment to take a better look at her. She wore a little black wrap dress made of some kind of chiffon-like material. Her black hair hung perfectly straight down her back, not a single strand out of place. No frizz. No evidence of the salty air and humidity. Almost as if she'd just gotten here herself. Even her black-winged eyeliner was perfectly intact.

When I glanced back over to the sorority girls, my heart sank. Something was wrong here. The dozen-ish girls at the far end of the pool all wore matching pink bikinis with their Greek letters written in red. They were all blonde, as in the exact same shade of platinum blonde, and their hair was curled to perfection. And they were only talking to each other.

There were three redheaded girls floating on tubes in the water, and while their bathing suits didn't match, their faces did. Those were sisters and they seemed oblivious to everyone else around them.

The rest of the girls were randos. As in, they were all in different outfits—bathing suits, sundresses, beach coverups, and some jean cutoffs. None of them seemed to be cohesive, and usually girls liked to coordinate when going out. It was a thing we did, even if we didn't like to admit it. These girls were all talking and laughing but not to each other. It was like they were carrying on their own little conversations.

I imagined this was what an insane asylum might've looked like.

Except we were on a beach.

"Baby, you're late! We've got quite a party going!" Morgan yelled out to the three guys who were only five feet away now. "Come join the fun!"

"Which one is your boyfriend, Morgan?"

She swoon-sighed. Her cheeks flushed. "The one in the middle."

AKA the sexy one. I nodded. "What's his name?"

She bit her bottom lip. "Azazel."

Azazel? "Like . . . like the fallen angel?" I forced a laugh.

"The ultimate bad boy, amiright? "

What the fuck? "Um . . . okay. Who are his friends?"

"The toga guy is Astaroth and the other is Mammon."

My jaw dropped. Those were not normal names. Every alarm in my body was going off. This was not right. I couldn't put my finger on what was wrong, but it was very wrong. All those instincts that I'd been in danger while walking came back tenfold. I had to get out of this situation. Immediately.

"Actually," I said with a laugh, then pointed to my left, "I think my hotel was down that street."

"But you came from the other way?" Morgan frowned.

I was already on my feet and sliding into my shoes. "Yeah, but I'd made a few random turns. I recognize that building though, so I'm gonna go?—"

"Are you sure?" a male's deep voice rumbled right behind me.

I gasped and spun around to find the guy in the toga standing in front of me. His black eyes were entirely soulless this close, like little black holes. He'd been on the other side of the pool. It was impossible for him to be on this side of me.

He placed his massive hand on my shoulder. It was warm to the touch. "Don't you think that's a lot of work?"

"No, it's just—" A wave of fatigue washed over me. My feet and legs felt instantly heavy. The idea of walking sounded horrible. "I mean, it does seem far away?—"

"Exactly." He curled a strand of my hair around his fingers. "Wouldn't you rather stay with us and just relax?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I would." I let out a deep breath and rolled my shoulders. "I'll just sit for a bit longer."

"I think that's the right decision."

I nodded, kicked my shoes back off, and sat down beside Morgan. But the instant my feet hit the water, I felt like I was jolted out of a brain fog. I didn't want to be here. I was going to leave, to flee as fast as possible. What just happened? What did he do to me? I looked up and the guy in the suit, Mammon as she'd called him, was watching me with sharp blue eyes. No, no, no. Fuck this. I jumped to my feet and lunged away from Mr. Toga who was still standing behind where I'd been sitting. My shoes were a sacrifice I'd willingly make to get out of this place. Those side stairs were only a few feet away and calling my name.

Azazel slid into my path, and I slid to a stop.

I gasped as heat and desire rushed through me like a tsunami. I licked my lips and stared into his eyes. "I have to . . ."

He cocked his head to the side and moved to stand right in front of me so there was only an inch between us. "Have to . . . what?"

"Have to . . . have to . . ." I had no idea what I had to do. No idea what I was going to say. All I knew was I had to stay with him. He had a girlfriend, but that wasn't my problem. She shouldn't have introduced him to all these girls. I licked my lips and batted my eyelashes at him. "I was hoping you'd tell me, gorgeous."

"What'd I tell you, my brothers? I promised you sin. Welcome back to Earth." He grinned and slid his arm around my waist so he could grab my ass, but I didn't care. I melted in his hands. "Morgan, my love , I think we'll start with this one. Keep the others hot. It won't take long."