Chapter 5
AMELIA
I walk outside into the brisk air, stopping myself from shivering as I look off to the side, noticing some guys smoking cigarettes. The nasty smell assaults my senses and I have to force back a gag. I’ve always hated it when my dad smoked around me for this exact reason.
I’m about to head down the steps to find my Uber when I’m stopped by a figure who blocks my way. I pray to God it isn’t some drunk frat guy who thinks every girl is dying to open their legs for him. He towers over me, and that’s when I look up and realize it’s Rhett.
What the hell?
I thought Skye went upstairs with him and that’s why I couldn’t find her.
“Sorry, not interested.” I keep my voice as steady as I can, cutting right to the chase. I’m not the type to give a guy even the time of day if my best friend is interested in him.
“Got someone inside who wants to speak with you.”
I pause, brows furrowing. “Sorry… not interested.” The words spill out as I attempt to sidestep him, but of course, he doesn’t let me. This is around the time my mind begins to scream at me that he’s going to kill me.
“Can’t leave until you meet him.”
“Look, I don’t—”
The words die on my lips as something cold and solid presses against my side, just above my waist. It only takes a heartbeat to realize what it is, and my body immediately locks up.
A gun.
My chest heaves as a sharp, icy chill shoots down my spine. The image of the gun burns itself into my mind, its cold metal gleaming in the moonlight making my stomach churn. Every nerve in my body jolts awake, telling me to fight, but I stay frozen.
I’ve never even seen a gun in real life before, let alone had one pointed at me.
“Just come inside,” he demands, almost in a growl.
The front door swings open, and I let out a sigh of pure relief as another figure steps through it. I’m saved. But when I glance back, my breath catches in horror—the person looks exactly like the one threatening me.
What kind of twisted nightmare is this?
Looking closer, I realize the one holding the gun isn’t Rhett. The small mole under Rhett’s left eye is missing, the only detail that sets them apart. That means Rhett is the one standing in the doorway, watching. So, a twin?
“What’s taking so long?” Rhett asks, hands in his pockets.
His words hit me like a punch to the gut—he’s not here to save me. He’s complicit in this sinister plan to kidnap me.
“She’s refusing,” Rhett’s twin mutters, pulling the gun away from my waist and tucking it out of sight. I finally exhale the small, shaky breath I’d been holding in.
“Why don’t you just come inside? You can talk to him, get it over with, then you can see Skye,” Rhett coaxes.
I’m on the verge of saying to hell with it and just agreeing, but before I can, Rhett’s twin grabs my upper arm and starts pulling me into the mansion. I can hear him muttering a couple of insults, including ‘bitch’ under his breath. He’s not too peachy either to be calling anyone a bitch.
As we pass through the downstairs, I can’t help but marvel at the interior for the second time. This place is as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside, giving off an old-money vibe. The house feels like it belongs in London housing some kind of an aristocrat.
Rhett’s twin practically drags me up the stairs, finally releasing me into a room that’s nearly three times the size of my dorm room. The space is muted and modern, everything looks meticulously organized, and it smells heavenly.
“I was beginning to think I’d have to come and get you myself,” a deep voice on the far side of the room penetrates my senses, going all the way down to my bones.
The voice is unmistakable.
I close my eyes, breathing out for a second.
When I open them, there, sitting on a couch is the man whose presence now casts a haunting shadow over my life on campus. Who has a couch in their bedroom, anyway?
“Sit on the bed,” Blade tells me, nodding towards the bed, and there’s no mistaking the order in his tone. He talks like he expects the person on the receiving end to just… comply .
For a moment, I’m frozen in place, my mouth slightly parted as I process this situation. A million thoughts are whirling through my mind, each trying to overpower the next.
When I don’t move a muscle, he exhales and starts counting down. “Five… Four…”
For some reason, the soothing sound of counting brings me back to my senses, makes all the racing thoughts stop, and makes me sit on the bed. Am I in some kind of trance?
“Fuck, you’re perfect.”
“What do you want?” I ask, breath shaky.
“I think it’s well been established that I want you , Amelia.” He states it like it’s so simple. Like it’s a matter-of-fact thing he doesn’t even have to think twice about.
“I barely know you.”
“You can get to know me,” he retorts.
I draw in a deep, ragged gasp of air. Just being in here with him, alone, is starting to mess with my brain.
“I-I have to go,” I blurt out, pushing myself up from the edge of the bed.
“Aren’t you worried about your friend? You won’t find her until I say you can.”
His words freeze me in place. “Look, I only even came to this stupid party for her. I need to check on her to see if she’s okay. Your crazy friends—oh my god.” Panic surges through me, clawing at my insides as my mind flashes back to the gun. Oh my God, my friend is alone with a guy who could hurt her, or worse, shoot her. And I’m alone with a guy who could do the same. What did we get ourselves into tonight?
“Calm down, she’s okay, and you’re okay. Just breathe.” The bass in his voice goes straight through me again, giving me full-body chills. I nod and bite my lower lip, steeling myself.
Like I’m under a freaking spell, my breathing settles and my shoulders relax. Why the hell are his words having such an effect on me?
“Your friend is down there enjoying herself right now. You deserve to enjoy yourself, too. Without thinking about everyone else first for a change. You seem to do that a lot.”
“You’re tracking my life now?”
“I know what’s going on with you at all times.”
“So, you’re stalking me?”
“Just keeping a close observation of my future wife.”
Future wife? Is this guy nuts?
“Do I have a say in all this? Being… yours?” I would come right out and reject him, but I’m trapped in the room with the crazy man, and those crime documentaries taught me that wouldn’t be so smart.
He gets up and starts walking towards me at a slow, steady pace, never breaking eye contact. Like he’s a predator that just found a lonely gazelle sitting unguarded. “We can pretend you do if that’s what you want,” he says, sitting on the bed a couple of feet from me.
Great. Just great .
I have a stalker, who apparently won’t take no for an answer. And to make it worse, he’s my bully’s ex. I swear to God, if she starts trying to pick on me more for this, I’m learning Kung Fu and knocking them both out.
He reaches into his pocket, and for a second, I’m scared he’s pulling out a weapon. Until I see it’s a silver necklace. It has a small opening in the front that allows the chain to weave through and hang down.
“I want you to wear this.”
“What? No.”
“I… don’t like that word.” He furrows his brows as if the concept of hearing the word no is entirely foreign to him.
“Your friend just threatened me with a gun and you want me to put a necklace on? What, is it laced with roofies that’ll absorb into my skin or something? My dad told me about those.”
His head snaps up to me so fast I’m surprised it doesn’t give him whiplash. “He did what ?!”
Before I know it, he’s storming out of the room, fists clenched and jaw set in a rigid line. His footsteps echo his anger, sounding like thunder against the hardwood floor.
What the hell just happened?! I’m floored as I sit here, replaying the last ten minutes over in my head. From being cornered outside with a gun to Blade saying he wants me.
Wait. Never mind all that! I’m alone now—I can escape.
I race to get up from the bed and start heading towards the door, tiptoeing as quietly as I can. But just my luck, Blade comes up the stairs just as I make it out to the hallway. Trailing behind him is… Rhett? No, no mole. Rhett’s twin.
“ Apologize ,” Blade’s voice rumbles.
Jesus Christ, when did he have that voice stored in him? Does he always have the ability to talk like that or just when he’s mad? I just want to know for… research purposes.
And my legs are definitely not closing on their own, trying to steady the heat building.
I look at Rhett’s twin, bloodied and bruised, then immediately back to Blade. I can’t stand the sight of blood. My stomach churns the moment I catch a glimpse, and he’s in a pretty bad way.
“I’m sorry,” Rhett’s twin mutters, and I can store his apology under fiction because it’s clearly fake.
Before I can even process what’s happening, Blade shoves him down the steps with a force that sends my heart racing. Did he just kill him?! The thud of his body hitting the floor beneath echoes in my ears.
Blade smiles. “Go back to the room.” He nods in the direction behind me, but the thought of being alone with someone who could so casually push another down the stairs has me reeling. And the body hasn’t moved yet.
“D-did…”
“He’s not dead. Just knocked out.”
Oh, like that’s just some casual thing. “I-I want to go home. Please.” My breath comes fast and shallow, each one feeling like it could be my last. What if he decides to do that to me?! I’m spiraling, the walls of the hallway closing in, and I feel like I might suffocate.
“Hey, hey, hey.” Blade’s voice cuts through the chaos in my head, practically the only thing anchoring me to reality. He steps closer, reaching out to touch my arm. “Look at me,” he commands softly. I force myself to meet his eyes. They remind me of a storm, like the times my mom used to tuck me in during them. “I could hurt anyone in this world, except for you. You’re safe. You don’t have to go back to the room if you don’t want to. Breathe.” I let out a shaky breath, and he nods, encouraging me to do it again. “That’s good. You’re doing so good.”
I did something right. I did something right . Can you believe it?
“Thank you,” I whisper.
“Always. Just take the necklace for me and Rhett will take you home.” As he hands it over, I notice a few drops of blood dripping over the skeleton tattoos on his fingers and clench my mouth shut to stop the nausea. “Don’t take it off, ever. So no one will bother you around the campus.”
“Fine. But I’m sending you the bill for the Uber I had to cancel and still got charged for.”
He chuckles. “Triple it and send it to me.”
Before I leave, he grabs the sides of my head and presses a kiss to my forehead. “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this moment, angel. I can finally sleep a happy man tonight.”
Okay, he’s solidified it for me. He’s gone crazy. I just met the man.
···
“I looked for you at the party!” I yell to Skye from the bathroom of our dorm while I’m changing out of my dress.
“I was upset, so I went outside and sat by the pool. You know I love to stargaze when I’m down.”
“Upset? So I’m guessing that means no luck with Rhett?” I’m hoping she says she’s magically over him. It’s no coincidence he invited her to the party and helped in a plan to kidnap me. Does he even really like her, or was he just being a wingman? I don’t know. But I sure don’t want to see her hurt.
“Well, yes and no.”
“What does that mean?” I walk out of the bathroom and sit on my bed, grabbing some chocolate from my bedside stash. I need it after tonight.
“He said he likes me. But he doesn’t know if he can be with me. He has to ask permission from Blade because all the work he does for him keeps him busy. The first hot guy interested in me since I stepped foot on campus, and it may be ruined.” She throws her hands in the air. Well, one hand since she’s holding a bag of chips in the other.
“What work does he do for him if they’re both in college still?” My muscles have been stiff ever since she mentioned Blade’s name.
“They’re like in a gang or something.” She shrugs, seeming completely unphased as if she didn’t just casually drop a bomb on me.
“What?!” I yell, my eyes widening. “Why would you want to be with someone who’s in a gang?”
“Well, Rhett doesn’t do any of the bad stuff. He’s more like… an assistant, as he explained it.”
“I see.” Even though, no , I don’t see because my heart is racing out of my chest. “And Blade, that you, um—” I gulp. “—mentioned. He does the bad stuff?”
“Well, duh. That’s who Rhett is an assistant to. Catch up, chick.” She rolls her eyes. “I heard he’s like, powerful. And he’s hot too. Maybe I should use Rhett to get to him instead.”
I didn’t want to have to call my dad for help, especially only two months into the school year. I wanted to prove to myself that I could handle things on my own, but I think I’m way in over my head with this one. A gang?!
“Hey, we’re out of sugar. I need to go down the hall and ask Susie for some,” I rush out.
“Susie?”
“Or Savannah, whatever her name is!”
I hurry to grab my phone, throw on some slippers, and walk into the hall. “C’mon, pick up dad please,” I whisper to myself, pacing back and forth.
“Hello?”
“Dad! Sorry it’s late, but remember when you said if a guy bothered me on campus, I should come to you immediately? Well, it happened tonight. And dad… I think he’s some kind of criminal.” My chest heaves with each word I force out.
There’s a long pause on the phone.
“Come back home tomorrow afternoon. Skip your classes if you have to.” His voice is full of worry, which makes me shed a tear as soon as I hang up.
I’m screwed.