CHAPTER ONE
November
Sabrina
I threw back my shoulders and walked with purpose across the dark campus. It may have been three in the morning, and I may have been slightly buzzed, but I still made myself a promise. I was done being everyone’s trusty sidekick. Trace freaking Forester, superstar wide receiver and one of the hottest guys I’d ever met, friend-zoned me, and I all but encouraged it.
What the hell was wrong with me?
“Hey,” a deep voice called.
I stopped short, spinning to see if Forester changed his mind and followed me. He hadn’t. That in itself sucked, but so did the knowledge that I was being followed in the middle of the effing night, alone on a huge campus with no mace or martial arts training. I doubted my flyer spot on my high school cheerleading squad would’ve done me any good now—two years later.
“Hey, blondie,” the voice persisted.
I spun around, my now fading curls whipping around my head as I squinted into the darkness. The lights from the security phones cast a soft blue glow over the sidewalk, giving me the slightest sense of safety.
“Over here.”
I spun again, this time noticing movement by a large tree. I focused, still struggling to discern who it was and wondering if I should run instead of stand there—like the victim in a horror movie giving the murderer time to catch her.
“You gonna stand there and stare or you gonna help me?” The annoyance in his voice—and the fact that he wasn’t heavy breathing through a distorted mask—told me he wasn’t a deranged slasher.
“Help you? I can’t even see you.”
“What the hell,” he grumbled under his breath. “Come closer then.”
I dug my hands into my hips. “Sorry if I’m reluctant to venture into the darkness because some stranger I can’t see calls me over.”
“Turn on your phone’s light.”
Huh. I hadn’t thought of that.
I slipped my phone from the back pocket of my jeans and flashed my light on him. My eyes widened as I inhaled sharply. He definitely wasn’t a masked murderer. He wasn’t covered at all. He was butt-freaking-naked and tied to the trunk of a very large tree. The thick ropes binding him pinned his tattoo-covered arms to his sides.
“Why are you naked?” I asked.
“Naked? You wanna know why I’m naked?”
I nodded.
“So, the fact that I’m fucking bound to a tree is what? Not weird at all?”
I tried to keep my eyes on his, but the fact that my phone served as a wide spotlight on his naked body was a little distracting. “Sorry.”
“Sorry?” His exasperation was palpable.
“Yeah. Sorry your nakedness surpassed the fact that you were kidnapped.”
His face contorted. “Kidnapped? No one kidnapped me.”
I lifted a knowing brow.
His face grew angry. “I get how it looks, but this ain’t no kidnapping. It’s an initiation…of sorts.”
“You’re pledging a frat?”
“Do I look like a frat boy to you?”
My eyes drifted over his naked body. His very impressive naked body. Whoever did this to him was kind enough to leave his goods on show for the world to see. And I wouldn’t be a hot-blooded college girl if I didn’t inspect his extraordinary package. “Hostile, cocky, and naked.” My eyes lifted to his. “Total frat boy material.”
“I need you to untie me,” he ground out through clenched teeth.
“I didn’t hear a please.”
Given the deep growl in the back of his throat, it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to remain composed. “Could you please walk to the back of the tree and see if it’s possible to untie the knots or if you need to go find a saw or something.”
“A saw?”
He let out a long, frustrated breath.
“Just pointing out that a saw doesn’t prove you’re not some psycho murderer.”
“What?”
“How do I know I’m not the one being set up? How do I know behind that tree isn’t a group of guys ready to kidnap me?”
“I wasn’t kidnapped,” he growled.
“Says the guy tethered to a tree.”
His head fell forward and he shook it. “If you’re incapable of helping me, can you at least call someone who can?”
“I’m not incapable. Just skeptical.”
“Jesus fucking Christ. The longer I’m trapped here, the closer to morning it gets. And while I know my body’s breathtaking to women everywhere, I’d prefer not to have it plastered all over the Internet.”
Breathtaking? Was this guy serious? I flashed my light around the area surrounding us. Nothing lurked. No strange sounds existed. He appeared to just be a guy caught in a very precarious situation. “Do you even go to this school?”
“Yes.”
“Why haven’t we met?”
“Because most nights I am not bound to a fucking tree,” he snapped.
I walked closer to him, moving to the left and circling to the back of the tree. I stayed far enough away so if his ropes were an illusion and dropped from him if he stepped away from the tree, I could run. I flashed my phone around one last time, ensuring no one hid in the bushes before settling the beam on the knots holding him to the tree. Jesus Christ. “Did an entire Boy Scout troop do this to you?”
“Why? How many are there?”
“A lot.” I switched off my light and tucked my phone into my pocket so I could use both hands. “Who’d you piss off?” I asked as I began picking away at the first knot on the top.
There was a long pause before he grumbled, “The hockey team.”
“Did you hook up with one of their girlfriends or something?”
He shook his head. “I’m on the team.”
“Your teammates did this to you?”
Another long pause. “I took the captain’s position.”
I pulled one of the ropes through a loop and untied the knot. “I got one. Twenty-something more to go.”
“It’ll be morning before you get them all done,” he groaned. “Don’t you have friends you can call?”
“They’re all drunk at Forester’s birthday.”
“Should I know who that is?”
“Um, yeah. He’s our school’s star wide receiver. Probably going pro after this season. How don’t you know that?”
“I don’t follow football. And I just got here.”
“It’s November.”
“I transferred.”
“Mid-semester?”
“Anyone ever tell you that you ask a lot of questions?”
“Not every night I find a guy tied to a tree who tells me he transferred mid-semester.”
“It’s a long story.”
“Not currently going anywhere.”
He grumbled under his breath before relenting. “I didn’t know I’d be taking the captain’s position. You’d think they’d be kissing my fucking skates knowing I’m gonna win them a championship.”
“Ever heard the saying there’s no I in team?”
“Sweetheart, I am the team.”
“Wow,” I said, picking away at another one of the knots. “Conceited much?”
“Just speaking the truth.”
“I wonder what they’ve got planned next.” I hoped it was something good to teach this guy some humility.
He said nothing.
I somehow slipped a second knot free. “At least they gave you time to escape before the majority of campus woke up.”
“Yeah. I’ll be sure to thank them. What time is it?”
“Nearing four.”
He huffed. “Think you could stop talking and work faster?”
Stop talking? Work faster? Who did he think he was? My fingers picked away at the next knot. It wasn’t moving. No matter what I did, it was stuck. I moved to another. It was just as tight. I dug my fingernails in, but it was no use.
“Seriously? What’s taking so damn long?” he grumbled as I fumbled away at the unwavering knots.
His tone and impatience with me caused my fingers to shake, rendering it impossible to untie another knot even if I wanted to.
“I’m talking to you,” he said.
“Oh, I’m allowed to talk now?”
“Listen, I’m not looking to make friends. I need the damn knots untied.”
I dropped the knot I’d been working on and rounded the tree. Stepping in front of him, I crossed my arms and met his angry eyes. “We, my friend, are at an impasse.”
His eyes jumped between me and the ropes still holding him to the tree. “What the fuck?”
“I’ve been trying to help you. But it’s four o’clock in the freaking morning. My fingertips are raw. And I’m doing the best I can. But what do I get?” I threw my arms into the air. “What do I always get? A whole lot of nothing. So, if you’ll excuse me, this is my cue to exit. Good luck getting untied, but I’m starting to think you deserved it.” I turned and walked away to the bellowing roar of the stranger yelling bitch into the darkness.