Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
RILEY
Islipped out of the car and sent a text to Ivy. I understood that she was concerned about me, but she didn't need to be. I was trying to find answers, but so far I was more confused than ever.
Were they part of some kind of mafia organization? I was starting to wonder if it was possible after what I overheard. I shivered at the thought.
I turned on my phone's flashlight and looked around the garage.
It was more square feet than the first floor of my townhouse and had off-roading vehicles, a boat, and two motorcycles.
Lined on a shelf were different motorcycle helmets.
I spotted Morgan's motorcycle and figured we must be at his house.
I slipped off my shoes and put them behind what looked like a trash can and tried the door. It opened and I took a deep breath before slipping in, hoping there weren't cameras.
I was in a hallway that led to a large living space. I stayed as close to the wall as possible and peeked around the corner. The house was gigantic.
Everything was sleek, modern, and clean. The entire back wall was glass, looking out onto a giant swimming pool. Surrounding the outdoor area was a railing, and then the ocean stretched as far as my eyes could see.
I hunched down and tiptoed into the room, hiding by the kitchen island. The kitchen was all white and smelled of lemons. There wasn't a crumb on the floor or counter. The stainless-steel appliances had not one fingerprint of grease splatter.
I peeked over the counter. They were in the pool, swimming laps. They must have gone straight outside and jumped in. The lights in the pool made the water look like it was the ocean.
I eyed the stairs and then dashed up them. I stopped at the top and listened to make sure they hadn't seen me. There wasn't a sound.
The first door on the right was cracked open, so I peered inside and pushed the door open the rest of the way. The room was a mess, and I could tell from the helmets and motorcycle posters that it was Morgan's room. I wondered who he lived with since his parents were deceased.
I didn't know what I was looking for, so I started with the desk, which was just as messy as the floor.
I wasn't the neatest person in the world, but his room took it to a whole new level.
I moved some papers around and only spotted notes.
The desk drawers had a lot of junk and papers crammed inside.
I looked at the nightstand on the side of the bed he slept on. I only knew because he left it unmade. I stepped over a pile of clothes and pulled out the top drawer. Did he really need that big a box of condoms? I shook my head and opened the next drawer.
He had eye masks, a ball gag, wrist cuffs, and a switch in the drawer. I shuddered and closed the drawer. I might have been a virgin, but I was a well-read and knowledgeable one.
In the nightstand on the other side of the bed there was a roll of money that was all hundreds. It was tempting to take a few, but my conscience wouldn't allow it.
I left his room and shut the door the way it had been.
The door across from his was open all the way.
I walked in to a much more organized room.
The bed was made and only a few shirts lay on the back of the desk chair.
One of the walls was plastered with prominent black sports stars, and another with a giant canvas painting of sea life.
I ran my thumb over Jax's name signed on the bottom. I had no clue he was a painter or so talented. The painting looked like it was a photograph instead of done by hand.
I went to the desk where books were stacked neatly. There was a small container holding sticky notes and sticky flags and a cup with pens and highlighters.
I opened a drawer and pulled out a folder that looked jam packed with papers. Inside were printouts of college admission criteria. There were color coded highlights on each page. I flipped through them and spotted an opened Salinity Cove High envelope addressed to Blake.
Did Morgan and Blake live together? I wracked my brain, trying to remember if I'd ever actually seen any of their families. I hadn't been paying enough attention to them in the past to recall.
I knew exactly what it was by the seal broken on the back. Curiosity got the best of me and I pulled out his transcript. He had straight As and was ranked in the top ten percent.
I put it back inside the envelope and folder. Blake didn't act like a top student in class, but that didn't mean he wasn't one. The rumors about him paying people to do his assignments was still likely.
After his room turned up nothing, I tried the rest of the rooms. One was a guest room and another was locked. The last room was behind two double doors at the end of the hall.
I knew as soon as I cracked the door open that it didn't belong to anyone's parents. Jax's scent hit my nose, and in the corner of the room was an easel with a drop cloth laid underneath.
They all lived in this house without their parents? I thought that only happened in movies, but I guess when you're rich anything is possible. They were all eighteen as far as I knew, but leaving three guys to their own devices seemed negligent.
My eyes took in the master suite, which was way too luxurious for an eighteen-year-old still in high school. Like downstairs, the entire wall of the room was windows with a small terrace that looked out at the ocean.
I shut the door and stepped farther into the room, turning toward the bathroom that was encased in glass. The shower was against the glass wall, looking out to the ocean, and there was a giant tub right next to it.
Voices came from outside in the hall, and I looked around frantically for a place to hide. Where the hell was the closet door?
I heard a door shut down the hall and cursed under my breath. I ran to the other side of the bed and dropped to the floor right as the bedroom door opened. I saw his bare feet as he walked to the bathroom.
I needed to wait until the opportune moment and hightail it out of there.
It was a completely stupid idea to hide in the back of the SUV and then come inside and snoop.
I'd clearly lost my mind and my common sense over the past week.
If I got caught they might call the cops, and then what? I had no one to bail me out.
The shower turned on and I scooted forward to peek around the end of the bed. My lips parted as Jax's bare, muscular ass greeted me as he stepped in the shower. He stood under the spray of water, facing away from me.
I prepared to dart around the bed and to the door. Even if he heard me, I should be able to get out of the room and house before he could catch up. It was doubtful he'd run after me naked. If he did, I didn't know if I would be able to not look.
I put a hand over my mouth to cover a giggle that threatened to bubble out of me at the image of his dick bouncing around as he chased me.
He turned to face the window, looking out to the ocean.
His eyes were shut and his jaw hardened as he put his forearm against the window and put his forehead on it.
He grabbed his cock and began stroking it, the water still hitting him from the side.
He stroked himself from root to tip and stopped at the end of every pull to run his fingers around the crown and over the tip.
I was glued to my spot on the floor and my stomach clenched with need. His pace increased and the muscles in his arm flexed as he worked himself.
I needed to get out of there.
I scrambled on my hands and knees, and when I was just about to the door, my phone fell from my back pocket. It wasn't loud, but the second I looked back at the bathroom, Jax's eyes met mine over his shoulder.
His mouth opened and he threw his head back, ropes of cum shooting out onto the glass window in front of him.
I jumped up and tried to grab my phone, but it was too far back and Jax was already out of the shower.
I threw open the door and ran down the hall. I took the stairs as quickly as possible and turned the corner then came to a stop. Blake was coming in the door from the garage and looked right at me.
"What the-"
"Riley!" Jax's voice came from the top of the stairs as I ran through the kitchen to the other side of the house. "Get the fuck back here!"
I was in such deep shit. It would be a miracle if I made it out of the house without them catching me. And then what? I had no shoes and no phone. I'd be walking for hours to get home. It was what I deserved for being so stupid.
I made it through the living room and down another short hall which had a bathroom and an elevator button. I pressed it and it slid open immediately. There was no other choice. The bathroom was in the middle of the house and wouldn't have a window for me to escape out of.
I ran in and frantically pressed the button just as Blake rounded the corner and sprinted toward me. It slid closed just before he could reach me and began its descent.
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!" I was an idiot jumping into an elevator.
I had never seen their house from the outside, so I didn't know what the hell was going to be at the bottom. It stopped after what felt like five or six stories and I rushed out.
My eyes went wide and I turned to go back into the elevator, but the doors already slid shut. I pounded my fists on the metal, but I could already hear it moving.
I searched around frantically for a stairwell, but there was only the elevator. Talk about breaking fire code. I turned and looked at my surroundings.
I was in a cave that had lit up as soon as the elevator doors had opened. It was oddly quiet inside, but that wasn't what had scared me. The gently rippling water was what gave me pause. It was dark and looked deep.
There were two boats and three jet skis in the water. I didn't even know how they got out of the cave because there wasn't an exit. Against the rock face next to the elevator were storage cabinets.
I opened them but there was no space to hide. I looked back at the elevator and listened. The noise stopped and then it started moving again.
They were coming.
The only possible place to hide was one of the boats. I didn't know what else to do, so I ran down the platform and climbed onto one. I sat with my knees drawn to my chest in front of the driver's seat.
Maybe there was a way out that I wasn't seeing and they would think I swam out. I shuddered at the thought of having to find a way out of the cave through the water. I would just wait it out.
The elevator door dinged and I tried to calm myself down. My chest was heaving and I couldn't catch my breath. I curled into a tighter ball, trying to get my body to stop shaking.
"You check over there," Blake said.
I couldn't hear them searching and shut my eyes. The boat moved with the water and I bit down on the sleeve of my shirt, suddenly taken back to when I was seven.
My chest and throat burned as I coughed up water. My gasps for breath made me feel like I couldn't get enough air. I gripped the side of the buoy I was on as it rocked in the water and coughed so hard it felt like my throat was on fire.
I was going to die.
A head popped up and I rubbed at my eyes. Only his eyes and forehead were showing. His skin was as blue as the water and his eyes were amber and shaped like a cat's. My mouth opened to scream, but my vision tunneled and everything went black.
Someone grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet. I screamed and it echoed in the cave. Blake had ahold of me and I twisted in his grip, shoving at him.
I managed to slip out of his grasp, but he reached for me again and our bodies collided. My ankle rolled as I stepped on something inside the boat and my balance was thrown off.
It happened in a split second. We hit the water in a tangle of limbs with a scream leaving my lips.
He let go of me and I fought against the panic that was threatening to render me helpless. I hadn't been in the water since I was seven. I was able to keep my head above water and I grabbed onto the first thing I could.
A cry lodged in my throat and I tried to pull myself up on the boat but every muscle in me was shaking so I just held onto the rear platform of it for dear life.
"Where's Riley?" Morgan asked.
"Help." My voice came out as a croak.
I heard a splash, and then faster than should have been possible, Blake was wrapping his arms around me. "Let go, Riley. I'll get you out of here."
"I can't."
He pried my fingers from the edge of the platform, and instead of putting me on the boat, he swam back around it to the ledge where Morgan was waiting.
He grabbed me and pulled me out of the water. Relief washed over me and my muscles went limp. They had been so tense that now they felt like jelly. A chill swept over me and I curled myself into a ball.
I heard them get into a small argument but wasn't really listening to them. The sound of my heartbeats in my ears was deafening. Blake scooped me into his arms, and the next thing I knew, he was setting me on the bathroom counter.
"You need to get out of these clothes. You're freezing." He started to pull the hem of my top away from my body.
I shook my head. I wasn't about to let them see me naked. I dug my nails into his arm and he looked at Jax, who had appeared in the doorway. I avoided looking at him after seeing him get off in the shower.
"We should be throwing her ass outside the gates, not coddling her." Despite Jax's words, he walked to the shower and turned on the water.
"Let's get her warm so she doesn't get hypothermia and then we can figure out how we want to deal with her."
I had almost forgotten why I was at their house in the first place. A shudder rocked through me as Blake stepped into the shower with me in his arms. He said something to me then dropped my legs. I sagged against him, clinging to his body.
"Come on, Riley. Stop being difficult."
Jax moved to my other side and gripped my arm. My body warmed with his touch, more so than from the warm water.
The water was shut off and I was handed to Morgan, who was waiting with a towel. I nodded when he said something and they shut the bathroom door as they left me.