Chapter 3 – Kayla
I lay across the bed feeling ridiculously morose and lonely. It was insane how much I relied on technology for communication from the outside world, I hadn't even realized it until now. I didn't even care about speaking to my mom anymore, I just wanted to talk to anyone. To feel connected. I even just wanted to click through the comments on my Instagram account, just to look at the good ones, just for the confidence boost.
Now I had nothing.
“Knock, knock,” Mouse cooed through the door in that patronizing manner of his. “Can I come in?”
“No,” I shot back in a heartbeat. “I'm busy.”
But of course, he totally ignored me and came inside anyway. Once of these days I would be actually in the middle of something and then he'd get a shock. “Here is Hex, the bodyguard I told you about.”
“Right,” I pouted, allowing my sulkiness to shine through. “Whatever.”
“Hello there,” I suddenly heard a chocolaty, gruff voice, but it wasn't that which got my attention. It was the wariness to his tone, as if he didn't want to be in this position either.
I glanced up and found my eyes traveling up a well sculpted, picturesque body which had my heart fluttering like crazy. I wasn't sure what else I'd been expecting, shapeshifters always looked incredible, but being close to this one felt different.
“Erm, yeah, hi,” I sat up straighter on the bed and smoothed down my hair. As he shook my hand to be polite I felt a weird buzz race through my body, almost as if he excited me, which was crazy. In all honesty, his morose expression was enough to know that he wasn't the sort of person that I would even like, never mind…
Well, nothing, because those sorts of thoughts weren't even in my mind.
“Where am I going to sleep?” he asked me, not even batting an eyelid.
“Erm…” what did he mean? I knew that he had to be with me all the time, but not in my room, surely? I couldn't handle that. How the hell was I supposed to process everything that was happening to me if I didn't have any time by myself?
“We can book you a room,” Mouse interjected, much to my relief.
“No, don't worry about it,” Hex replied. “I will sleep outside the door. That way I'll be able to keep an eye out all around. And don't worry, I'm a very light sleeper.”
As Hex and Mouse left me by myself in my room, I felt all off-kilter. I could almost feel a magnetism radiating off this man, despite the fact that he wasn't even in the room anymore, which left me all on edge. I'd been weary before, close to getting ready for sleep, but now I had a weird anticipation coursing through my veins.
I needed to do something. All of a sudden my hotel room felt totally claustrophobic and I wanted to get out. Only I couldn't, not with the light sleeper on the other side of the door.
No, I needed to forget that plan and climb into bed, before I did something stupid. But even as I thought about resting I knew that it wouldn't happen. I just wasn't in the right frame of mind.
Wasn't my plan to escape anyway? To act up to make everyone else see that this was my life and I could do whatever I wanted? Once I broke free and partied all night long, Mouse and the rest of them would soon see that they were wrong about my stalker. Yes he freaked me out online, but everyone knew that the Internet was a completely different world to real life.
My heart thundered in my chest as I considered the possibility of escaping. I wasn't one for always doing what I was told anyway, but tonight it felt even naughtier. I'd had it expressly forbidden.
I mean, it was possible. This hotel room was on the first floor, I could jump down with ease. I might not have had my phone to contact any of my friends', but I knew where they'd be. That new club had opened on the corner, and it was all that everyone could talk about. It was exclusive, but I was just about famous enough to be counted as a VIP so getting inside wouldn't be an issue.
The more that I thought about it, the better the idea sounded. It exhilarated me. It was either remain here, cooped up and pissed off, or go out and have fun. There really wasn't any competition with that one.
I slid the window open as quietly as I could, glancing towards the door constantly as I did. I didn't want Hex to hear me until I was gone' and there was nothing that he could do about it, which made all of this even more thrilling. My pulse rate was about as high as it could go. My whole body was trembling. I almost giggled from the excitement.
As I tossed myself out of the window, and the cool breeze hit my face, that laugh finally burst free from my chest. I'd done it, I'd acted the worst that I ever had, and now I was about to reap the benefits of that. I didn't have anything on too early in the morning, so I could get drunk and dance all night long – it was going to be epic.
But just as I escaped from the hotel grounds, my body slammed into that of a stranger, causing me to stagger backwards.
“Ooh, sorry,” I said quickly, hysteria lacing my tone. “I didn't mean to…
“That's okay, Kayla,” came the very cold reply. “I don't mind having your body up against mine.”
My blood ran cold, my whole body iced up. It couldn't be… could it?