Her Forever

Sadie

I was led outside, and the pool was massive. It is raised so if the lake floods, the pool wouldn’t be affected. The pier is close to the pool, so one could easily go back and forth between the two. There was also a giant hot tub that could hold at least 15 people.

I’ve never been on vacation before, and this is the ultimate vacation!

Marco and Ethan jump in the pool while the girls set up their towels on some benches. I stroll down to the girls and take off my towel. Still feeling very self-conscious, I decide to walk down to the pier.

There are music speakers everywhere, and Ethan hooks up his music playlist so it is blaring throughout the property. I’m about to sit down, but Nathan walks up.

“Hey, beautiful, like the view?” He smirks. He flexes his abs and tightening his biceps. Is he talking about the lake or his body? Hmm, it could be both.

“Yes, the LAKE is beautiful.” I laughed.

“You wound me, Sadie!” He fakes hurt. “So Sadie, tell me about your old home. You never talk about it much.”

“Not much to tell really, my aunt died and left me the cabin. I had a few friends I thought were my friends, but ended up not being the case. My aunt was mute, either by an accident or depression; I don’t really know which. And kids thought I was weird.” I looked down, tracing the pier board planks. “When you grow up with a mute guardian, it was hard to learn to talk.”

“Then I started working at the diner at 11 and came out of my shell and talked to people. Since we were in such a small town, people already had their opinions about me, so I stayed to myself.”

“That’s terrible; they really missed out. I mean, you have made friends so fast here already; everyone at the diner loves you.” Nathan mentioned.

“That’s very sweet, Nathan, thank you.” I continued to stare out over the lake. It was really peaceful, almost too peaceful. Something stirred inside me that being still for too long was a bad thing.

“What about you, Nathan? What’s your story?” I asked.

He paused for a moment to try and find the words, “Well, I’m Nathan, devilishly handsome.” He winked, and I scoffed. “My parents are Savanna and Jason; I’ve got a few younger siblings at home that are still in school. Aaaannd you know I already work with Ethan and Marco.” He stated.

“What exactly do you guys do? You don’t really do much of anything from the looks of it.” I started laughing.

“We protect people, like bodyguards.” He puffs out his chest. “We protect the town; we are the enforcers.” He stated proudly.

“Oh, I see. Then all are the muscle of the whole town, huh?”

“Exactly!”

We sat at the end of the dock listening to everyone splashing in the pool. Until we heard some cars pull up. I wasn’t aware we were expecting more to arrive, so Nathan went to check who it was while I sat at the pool.

Rebecca rolled her eyes when she was looking at Marco and pretended to pull her hair out. “What’s wrong?” I was asking, confused, while I saw people piling out of cars.

“We got double booked. They are supposed to have a mixer here tonight. They will be gone late tonight. No one is staying, but it looks like we are in for a party.” Rebecca grumbled at me. Everyone looked at me hesitantly. They knew I wasn’t in the mood for anything like the club last weekend.

I sighed and pushed my shoulders up and down. “Well, do we get free pizza and booze?”

Everyone looked at me and laughed, relaxing that I was not upset. I can’t let everyone feel upset just because I was. After all, maybe we could have some fun tonight and meet more people that I don’t normally see in the diner.

It didn’t take long for a DJ and a dance floor to be set up in the living room and outside, a large buffet and tables for poker and card games.

It didn’t take long for a DJ and a dance floor to be set up in the living room and outside, a large buffet and tables for poker and card games.

It was quite impressive how quickly the party was put together. The people that came here for the party looked like a unit.

Some people dressed for swimming while others were dressed to go to a club. I stayed outside in my swimsuit and stayed at the end of the pier, away from the chaos.

I took a couple of sips of my fruity drink Nathan got for me. I’m feeling a little buzzed already; something that Rebecca likes to call me is a “lightweight.” I need to ask what this is because this is all I want to drink! I can’t handle anything, apparently.

Nathan walks up with his beer and sits down with me, putting our feet in the water. “Why are you out here all alone? The party is closer to the house.”

“I’m just not used to all the noise, is all; I’ll go in soon once people calm down a bit,” I said.

“Ha! Good one, it is only going to get crazier!” he chuckled as he put his arm around my shoulder. “Hey, you like dancing. Want to dance right now?” he mumbled.

“I’m not sure if I had enough of…” and I pointed at my drink.

“Nonsense, stand up.” he lightly commanded, and I did. The song Senorita by Camila Cabello came on, and I knew I could not dance to this. It was such a sultry song, like a samba. I can’t imagine using my h**s like that.

“Nathan, I can’t dance to this…” I trailed off.

“Sadie, trust me, no one else is paying attention; I’ll teach you,” he whispered in my ear. This felt so wrong on so many levels. I know he cares about me more than friendship, but I also have a hard time pushing away. I’m such a coward sometimes.

I bit my l*p, and he shows me how to move my h**s, still giving me the proper distance. He shows me a few basic steps so I can repeat them over and over to the beat. That is when his arms came around my waist, and the other hand grabbed mine.

Nathan was leaning in close to my face; his head leaned towards my lips. He was gazing at me and getting too close for comfort. I know I’m short, so he has to be really intentional about it. I finally started pushing him back, and I realized I was really uncomfortable. “Nathan, don’t…”

I’m really not experienced enough to know if what he is planning to do will happen, but I feel like with all my romance novels reading, this is the moment where he might k**s me. I haven’t had my first k**s yet, and I wasn’t planning on Nathan taking it.

I kept pushing him away and turning my head, “Nathan no,” and then that’s when I heard it.

A thunderous growl, almost a roar, that shook the very pier we were standing on. I looked over and saw the blackest eyes connect with mine. It was a man, and when I say man… he was more like a god.

His entire body was muscle, dark tattoos traced over his entire body except for the right side of his shoulder. He was flexing his muscles and fist repeatedly. The dark hair on his head, gelled back with a hard part on his right side.

This man was intimidating, scary, and I should probably faint from his dominating aura. However, I find him extremely handsome.

Those eyes, my dream! The club!

Wait. What!?

I finally whispered, “the guy from the club, he’s the one…” The one who called me those horrible things. My excitement at seeing this man was now sadness. I thought I got away from him. Is he now going to tell me more horrible things about me that aren’t even true? My heart couldn’t take it.

Nathan looked at me and back at the guy at the end of the pier.

“No, no f*****g way,” he spat and grabbed my arm and pulled me behind him.

Everyone from the house and from the pool area looking at us. The ear-shattering growl caught their attention.

Hot tattoo guy started to run down the pier, and Nathan yelled at me to go. Where in the heck do I go?! Hot tattoo guys were running so quickly I barely have time to think. I just dove into the water and swam. Muscle weighs more than fat; maybe he can’t swim?

I started swimming to the right of the lake as quickly as I could. I stopped to turn around to see what happened, and the hot tattoo guy was still coming towards me. Nathan is lying on the pier, not moving.

My heartbeat quickens, and I put all my energy into swimming across. I can feel the eyes of the people onshore, and they all ran towards where I was exiting the lake. My knees are getting hit with rocks and branches as I emerge from the icy lake. Rebecca is the first to see me, and I don’t even stop.

I ran.

I hear Rebecca screaming to stop, but there is no way I am stopping. Once I hear his body leave the water, I find the closest tree and climb it. He’s too heavy to climb upright? I certainly hope so because the theory of muscle weighing you down wasn’t true.

Rebecca, Lela, Ethan, and Marco are standing at the bottom of the tree while I climb to the top. My bikini is getting ripped, and after running through the woods, my feet are bleeding. The adrenaline is keeping me from feeling any pain right now.

“Sadie, come down, it’s OK! He will not hurt you!”

“You are NUTS! I am not moving. He was chasing me! He is going to hurt me!” I bit back a sob. Are they out of their minds? There is no way I’m coming down.

“He won’t, I promise. Please come down. Have I ever lied to you? I would never put you in danger.” She pleaded.

“Where is he? Is he down there? I can’t see with all the branches!” I yelled. I’m petrified at this point. He jumped in the water to chase me, and he had already found me just a short distance from the woods.

“He is here; his name is Seth,” she said soothingly.

“Beka… he’s the one that told me those mean things at the bar.” I sniffed. Feeling like such a baby, I choked back a sob. Rebecca knows how upset I was all week just by that one sentence. w***e and slut kept ringing through my head. Why does it bother me so much?

There was a conversation going on down below, but I couldn’t hear it. I heard more growling and whimpering. Is there a dog around here?

“Please come down; there is a misunderstanding.” Rebecca almost sobbed. “He… he….would never hurt you; he never meant to. He’s my brother.”

I perked up a moment; Beka talked so highly of her brother when we had our girl nights, even though she said he could be “kind of scary to some people, he really is a good person.”

“Okay,” I said. Crazy, I must be crazy. “But tell him to back up 10 yards and give me space.”

I heard a whimper.

What is going on with these animal noises?

My heartbeat slowed down, and cuts and bruises from climbing up the tree in a rush ached. A crowd of people was now at the base of the tree. Many people from the party. Why are there so many people here?

I finally jump down the last 6 feet from the tree and land on the balls of my feet, wincing at the sudden impact. My feet were more bruised than I thought. Standing up, feeling really shy around the crowd of people I crossed my arms over my chest. They slowly dispersed and leave. Now I am left with my small group of friends and… him.