12

After three more drinks, when Lou still wasn't back, I decided to look for her. I wish I could just go home, but I didn't want to leave without checking on her.

I got up carefully and first checked whether the alcohol still allowed me to move straight ahead. Then, realizing that although I was a little dizzy, everything else seemed fine, I made my way in the direction Lou had gone.

Along the counter and in front of the curtain to the right were two narrow brown doors, above which funny caricatures told which was for ladies and which was for gentlemen. I pushed open the women's door and found myself in an anteroom surrounded by multiple sinks and a large mirror. Ahead, I noticed several closed cubicles and then leaned against one of the sinks to run cold water over my warm hands.

The feeling was indescribably soothing, as if the water were removing some of the alcohol that was making me so confused. Then, when I heard a cabin door open, I turned in that direction, hoping it was Lou. To my horror, it wasn't her, but the black-haired woman, who apparently hadn't run away with Ludwig, who suddenly stood in front of me.

"He's not for you Chiara. He needs a real woman by his side, not a child." She washed her hands and glared at me in the mirror arrogantly while I started seething with anger inside. "Ludwig can probably do it himself-" "I don't mean Ludwig," she interrupted me and turned off the water tap. I studied her beautiful skin and blue eyes while she took a step towards me and her scent of lavender wafted towards me intensely.

"I'm talking about-" "There you are!" Lou suddenly stormed into the room, eyeing the person across from me disparagingly. "We should go," she then took my hand and hurriedly pulled me out of the situation into the club, and while I was grateful she was back and in the best of health, I was upset that she'd just interrupted our conversation .

Being spun around, I thought about her words and who she might have meant. Maybe she thought Chace was interested in me. After all, I was already here with him and he was also the one who had just handed me my jacket. But why shouldn't he be good for me. And where was Ludwig if not with her?

Before I could get an answer to my questions, my thoughts found their way back to reality and I found myself in the middle of the dance floor. Lou danced exuberantly and I also started to move to the beat as if the music and the lights had me firmly under control. I took in the sounds more and more intensively and closed my eyes.

The alcohol made me lose my inhibitions. I danced without paying attention to whether I cut a good figure or whether people were watching me. Eventually I felt two hands around my waist and a man's warm breath on my neck. I opened my eyes in shock and looked straight into the eyes of the brunette in front of me, who grinned at me and gave me a thumbs up. Apparently the guy behind me wasn't bad looking.

I closed my eyes again and let myself go against his body, feeling his arms tightening around me and his chin resting on my shoulder. It felt warm and made my stomach tingle with its rhythmic movements on my bottom. Without even thinking about who he was, I smiled and turned to him to see that he was really handsome.

He had brown hair that he had stylishly gelled to the side and a beautiful smile. The white t-shirt was tight around his muscular chest and he had a silver watch on his wrist. "Hey," I mumbled shyly, looking at his heaving chest. "Hi," he replied, pulling me close.

A long time passed, in which we danced exuberantly and rubbed our bodies together, until Lou finally said goodbye and the stranger offered to accompany me home.

I grabbed my jacket and put it on, and then left the club with him, which was becoming increasingly empty. I hoped to meet Ludwig, Chace, or the stranger outside the door, but nobody was there. Not even Eddie sat on his stool.

I was beginning to feel like it wouldn't have been a good idea to have a stranger accompany me, so I made up an excuse. "I have to go back in. I forgot something," I stuttered and looked at him as he stood in front of me in the dark and eyed me curiously. "You can still get that tomorrow."

He took my hand and pulled me towards the forest, which almost made my heart implode. My hand in his was starting to sweat and I felt like I was choking with fear. "I don't live there!" I hissed at him, startled, and snatched my hand away, but he grabbed it again and pulled me into the freezing darkness.

Dark thoughts shot through my head and I froze inside.

Keeping walking into nothingness, I mustered up the courage to pull myself away from him again and just walked aimlessly through the trees, just away from him.

Searing cold, impenetrable darkness and my whole body shaking. So I ran toward dawn and through the dense trees.

Everything was spinning and the alcohol made me slow down. Only fear drove my shaky legs further over the uneven forest floor. My jacket ripped open in a few places the moments I swayed too close to the spooky looking branches of the trees.

"Wait!" I heard him call behind me, but I didn't stop. For a moment I thought it was all just my imagination, until a painful fall rudely wrenched me from my thoughts.

So there I lay. Shivering and shivering with fear and cold, I rolled onto my back in tears. I looked up and in a trance I noticed that it was getting light and suddenly he was standing over me and eyeing me with concern, which caused me even more confusion.

He reached out to help me and helped me up. Standing in front of him I wiped away my tears and looked at him questioningly, but he just grinned stupidly and laughed out loud. "Did you think I wanted to hurt you?"

My eyes widened and I swallowed hard before I could answer. "Yeah, and somehow a part of me still thinks so," I stammered nervously, fiddling with the ties on my yellow hoodie. "Come with me.", he took my hand again and ran back with me. I just let it go because if he wanted to hurt me he would have done it while I was on the hard floor.

So we walked back the way together and since it was getting lighter and brighter, the fear in me completely disappeared and I noticed a small cozy looking house in the distance. "Do you live there?" I asked him, looking over at him. "No. But Jayden," he replied, stubbornly looking ahead without even noticing me.

jayden Who the hell was Jayden and why should we go to him. I felt weird and my pulse quickened the closer we got to the house until we were standing right in front of it and the stranger left me alone to enter the house in front of me. I stood rooted to the spot and looked around curiously. The house had large windows on each side and was otherwise all dark wood. I noticed that there wasn't even a path leading to the little porch with the wooden door, which struck me as odd. It just stood there as if it had risen from the ground and the nature around it had never been touched.

"You can go in," the stranger came out and Chace, Samuel and Ethan followed him, all just nodding at me and then walking past me together. It all had to be a joke, I shake my head and turn around to look after the three of them, but a deep voice drew my attention back to the house on whose porch the stranger was standing.

His ice blue eyes looked at me and gave me goosebumps. They looked so cold, like he was just a shell and dead inside. The white tank top gave me a glimpse of his muscles, which looked like he worked out for hours every day. "Please come in, Chiara."

He went back into the house and I just stared after him, completely overwhelmed. My eyes fell on the tall trees, which no longer seemed scary due to the light, but beautifully green. "Are you coming?" he called impatiently from inside and I started to move, startled.

Once inside, he closed the door behind me and stood right next to me, so close I could hear his breathing and his arm almost touched mine, which wouldn't have been a big deal but was driving me crazy nonetheless.

I tried to tune him out and took a few steps forward toward a brown leather couch that was directly under one of the windows and across from the front door. In front of her was a round glass table, on which were several bottles of beer and a full ashtray. It was only at that moment that I noticed the nicotine smell that made my nose wrinkle.

When I turned around, I noticed that there was nothing else in this room, apart from a small television that was hanging on the wall next to the front door and was apparently showing a sports program. "What happened to you?" he approached me, examining my torn jacket and my hands, which still had marks from the fall.

"I-" That's all I could get out of me, because I didn't want to answer any more questions, but finally got answers myself. I turned away from him, ran to the couch and sat down for now. I had to take a deep breath to put my thoughts into words. "So first of all, who are you? And what am I doing here? And most importantly, why was my name on a piece of paper?"

I leaned forward curiously and kept my eyes on him. The alcohol still gave me courage and this time I was the predator that eyed him. He ran his hand through his black hair with a loud snort and then pointed to the couch next to me with his finger. "May I?" "No!" I replied, still looking at him with narrowed eyes. "First you answer my questions."

"It's okay," he walked towards me and crouched down to be at eye level with me. "My name is Jayden and you're here because you're mine, but I don't want you, that's why your name was crossed out."

I opened my eyes in disbelief and laughed briefly, but then I saw that he was serious and I caught my breath. What the hell was going on here.