Was it possible to be in love with someone who didn’t know what love was? Neither of us had any idea, so probably not. Though the thought of him was always front and center in my mind. Syler had taken up residence without my acceptance. Okay, maybe that was a lie too. I gave that man every consent possible. He could do with me as he pleased, and I would still be waking up happy in his arms every morning. He was my own personal drug and I didn’t need it injected into my arm like most. I didn’t want it like Toska needed it, because my high was just him.

His hands were skimming down my bare legs as I lay on my back on his bed, my head hanging over the side. He had been working all day on his computers, and now he was prowling me like he knew he was about to have his way with me, and it made me smirk.

My panties and a loose black shirt were all I had on, and his hands touched every bit of free skin he could find. Then he placed his cigarette between my lips, I drew back on it, and he pulled it away as I blew out the smoke.

Syler was my high, and that’s why I didn’t ever want to leave.

His hand cupped my vagina, and I closed my eyes. My head was still hanging off his bed with my body spread out like a platter for him.

“Move it! I need to party.” Toska’s voice was close. Turning my head, I saw her smiling at me as she stood in the doorway. I’d been with them for two years, two long years, and I’d come to know just about all there was to know about Toska Hunter. All her sick ways, and the way she had Syler wrapped around her finger.

Groaning, I sat up.

“I’m coming.”

It’s the first time since the last party I went with them two years ago.

Syler’s hand dug into my leg, and I yelped in surprise, turning back to look at him.

“What’s wrong?” I knew I wouldn’t get an answer, but I asked anyway. Instead, it was Toska that spoke.

“Syler, do you not want her to come?” The way she said it made my eyes backtrack to her, and her eyes were examining him, waiting for something, but I didn’t know what. He didn’t answer, just got off me, stood up, and pulled on his shirt over his head. I watched as he grabbed his hatchet, sliding it in his jeans.

Syler gazed up at Toska, then they both turned to stare at me.

“Get dressed! We’re off to play tonight.”

Her smirk should have told me not to go.

I wish I’d listened to that gut feeling.

But instead, I went.

We left in a hurry, driving over and pulling up to the party. Sliding out of the car, we walked beside her.

The man that I met at the very first party, who was covered in tattoos, walked out. He tapped Toska on the ass as he walked by her. Toska was off to find her next victim, I guess. Staying with Syler seemed to be the only logical plan.

The guy looked me up and down, then looked over at Syler. “She yours?”

He seemed so normal and nice the first time I met him, but it was a disguise. The way he asked Syler if I was his was anything but nice. No, he seemed as if he would chop me up, eat me, and smile while doing it.

Glancing over at Syler, his eyes were already on me. He nodded his head infinitesimally, and my heart beat faster, just like it did every time he touched me. I wanted to reach out and touch him, but I knew I wasn’t allowed, so I didn’t.

“Keep her by your side then.” He glanced over at me one more time before he walked off back inside the house. One thing I had come to notice was that Syler never went in until he was asked to by Toska.

“You plan to stay out here?” I asked him.

He took a few steps until he reached a wooden bench, where he sat down, pulling my hand and making me sit next to him. “Yes. Don’t go in.”

I nodded my head in compliance but asked, “You didn’t want me to come... why?” My eyes were already on him, they always were.

His weren’t at that very moment. But he turned and searched my eyes for something which I’m sure he didn’t find, due to the confused look on his face.

“You shouldn’t have come.”

I squinted at him. “I won’t distract you, I’ll stay quiet,” I replied, thinking that was the reason he didn’t want me here. His hand touched my thigh, and he leaned in so close his breath tickled my neck.

“It’s your life you should fear for. She doesn’t play for long usually and you’ve been around for a long time.”

My hands twitched in my lap. Glancing down at them, I could feel his eyes on me. “What about you? Do you want me gone?”

His eyes didn’t move off me as he answered, “No.”

I felt his answer was true, he wanted me here as much as I wanted to be here with him. Some things, though, weren’t meant to last forever, and we were one of those things.

His cell beeped, and I knew it was time to go in. He stood, his hands tucked into his pockets as he went. “Stay here.”

I shook my head, standing and following him in. He didn’t look back, but he knew I was following close behind him. I saw the stairs, but he didn’t take them. Instead, he walked straight through the party, winding between the people dancing and talking. Some stepped away to make room for him as he came past, and others only stared.

He stopped at the door, opening it, then waiting for me to step through before he shut it again. The people outside couldn’t see inside, the glass door was tinted so black you couldn’t see a thing.

Turning around, I heard music. It was loud, but so was her voice. Toska was singing to the song “Black Betty,” which played through every speaker. A pool was the centerpiece with Toska dancing around it.

Going to take a step forward, Syler’s hand snapped out and stopped me by touching my stomach.

“Toska.” She stopped, turned, and checked back. Her eyes were wild as the music played on her lips again. She skipped over to us, and then looked at her brother then back to me. Her hand enclosed around mine, then she pulled me forward, Syler dropping his hand from me. Toska’s red hair was a mess, and lay limply down her bare back. All she had on was panties, her tits were free, and her feet were bare.

She stopped pulling me as we got closer to the pool. My feet were now on the edge, and her head dropped to the side. Craziness was all I could see written all over her face. She was broken and unbalanced.

“I want you to play. Now you play.” She pushed me in, and my hands flew out from my sides as my body fell backward. My heart pumped hard as my back hit the water, and I just had enough time to take a deep breath before I went under. Eyes wide and hands floundering, I made my way to the surface to see her staring down at me. She moved her eyes to the side then back to me.

“Play with him, like you play with Syler.”

My eyes automatically found Syler. He wasn’t observing me, rather his eyes were down at his hatchet, clutched tightly in hand. Turning to look where Toska gestured, the guy in the pool was obviously high as he floated but he was completely still. I didn’t think he even noticed the extra people around him. I swam over closer to him, and he noticed as my hand touched him. He pulled me down, dragging me back under the water with him. His hands clutched at me, keeping me down. I scraped at him with my fingernails as his hands pulled me further down, not allowing me to swim to the surface. Then in one swift moment, his hands were freed, and his body was still. The loss of him was instant and I felt free for just a second until I realized where I was.

Swimming up for air, it was then I saw it, the hatchet that was in Syler’s hand was now in the dude’s head as he floated. The pool was filled with blood and I was dripping in it. Turning to look at him, I blinked, but everything was blurry. Lifting my hands up from the water, I saw the blood, and it was all over me—through my hair, on my skin—and the small pool was now a light shade of red.

Gazing up, I saw Syler staring at me.

Turning, I saw Toska’s smirk.

“Syler.” His name dripped from my lips as I blinked the crimson water from my eyes.

“He doesn’t like people touching his things,” Toska said as the doorbell chimed.

We all turned to check it out.

Syler reached down, offering me his hand, and helped me out of the pool. My body slammed into his, and my breathing was hard.

“Am I yours?” I asked Syler.

Wrong place.

Wrong time.

I knew this, but he didn’t give me much, and I still hung around for any amount he would toss my way, like a lost Mouse.

“You’ll always be mine, Mouse, even when you aren’t.”

My breath hitched at his words.

“You were mine first, though, Jaya. Have you forgotten?” Toska stepped up behind me. My body was already against Syler’s, and now hers was pressed into my back. She moved my hair from my shoulder. “We haven’t played much. We really should play. Soon.”

My eyes stayed on Syler, his eyes watched me. He didn’t stop her from touching me or say anything about her hands skimming down my back. I could feel her fingers through my wet clothes. My head turned to the water which was now a lighter red from the blood going through the filters. My eyes skimmed down to my previous white Converse which were now stained pink, while Toska’s hand played on my ass.

The doorbell chime was heard again.

Toska circled me, waving at her brother to step back. He did so, but reluctantly. She came around full circle, and now her green eyes were in front of me, darker than her brother’s. Her lips were puckered as she leaned forward. “Don’t you want to share, Jaya? Don’t you want us both?”

My eyes fell over her shoulder, his eyes were no longer on us. My eyes fell back to her as another doorbell chime resounded throughout the house, only this time it was louder and followed by banging and a yell.

“Police! Open up!”

My body froze, and my eyes went wide. I noticed the body floating in the water. It was still. Turning back, I saw them already in action, grabbing any evidence of them and pushing it into a bag. Watching them, I wondered how many times they had done this—ten, twenty, fifty? Shaking my head, the door rattled again with the force of the banging, and my eyes found him. They always found him.

He was helping her.

He always helped her.

She was an adult, though.

Why must he do everything she asked of him? It was an unhealthy dynamic.

I laughed despite myself, and it bubbled up from my lips. Shaking my head, I looked back to him, and he was watching me while she was sliding on her pair of boots.

“Mouse.” They were walking toward the back door. His hand was outstretched, but I just shook my head at him. Distance was what I needed, from him, to breathe. I wanted to breathe again.

Turning around, I noticed a door. I walked back toward it. They slipped out, and he glanced back one more time before the back door shut behind him, leaving me in the pool area with a dead body, my heart unsure, and my hands shaking.

Slipping through the door, it opened into a bedroom. Looking around, I saw there was a fancy bed with four posts. It was all black, with black bedding and a television hung on the wall with a few drawers below it. It was large, but it felt empty, like a man’s room.

“You have blood all over you.” My head turned and in the corner there was a man sitting on a chair. As I searched around with my eyes, I noticed all the red stains that covered me. My body was still wet, and my hair was sticking to my neck.

“I fell in the pool.”

He stood tall and brooding. I could hardly see him in the dark corner, but his presence was everywhere.

“That would be a lie. I saw her push you.”

My breath hitched, and my head swung back to the door that I came through then back to him.

“You should be running.”

My mouth opened but then I closed it again. He opened the door that led outside. I saw him more clearly then, from the moonlight that trickled in through the opening. He took my breath away, just about as much as Syler did. However, he seemed the type that would only play with me, then get rid of me just as quickly and simply as a toy that bored him. Whereas Syler kept me, but told me numerous times not to stay.

“Thank you....” I left it open for him to tell me his name.

“Taj. It’s my house your friends came to play in. Next time, I won’t let them play. Tell them that.”

I gave him a curt nod, reaching for a large jacket, and walked out of that door while feeling his eyes on me the whole time. Walking down the street, I checked my phone to see if it was still working. It flickered a few times, but thankfully it sprung to life. So, I called a taxi, only checking back once to see him still watching me.

He saw it all, yet he let me go.