I closed my eyes and inhaled a shaky breath.

I took a seat on the end of the bed and buried my head in my hands.

"What are you so f.u.c.king afraid of?" I muttered to myself. "The worst he can do is kill you."

That was a lie.

I'd witnessed Blaise torture people before gutting them like a fish.

Death would not be all that would befall me if he got his hands on me again, but the life I was living was only aiding in the torture leading to the grand finale.

"Stop f.u.c.king hiding, and live," I scolded myself.

I knew I looked like a psycho talking to myself, but sometimes you needed to hear the words out loud instead of in your head. They had more effect that way.

I stood from the bed, my decision made.

I strode into the bathroom and yanked the ponytail holder from my hair. Talia had helped me to get some hair products and makeup, so I had a nice little stash of things to use.

I brushed my hair and grabbed one of the bottles of serum, using it to tame any fly-aways and help boost my natural wave. I applied some mascara to my lashes and pink gloss to my lips. It was a beach party, so I didn't see the point in using much else.

Satisfied with my appearance, I padded back into my room and over to the dresser. I dropped to my knees, rummaging through the bottom drawer. In the pile of clothes Liam had gotten me there'd been plenty of bikinis. I hadn't worn any of them.

Most of them were super revealing.

That pig.

I grabbed a random one from the drawer and changed into it.

The top and bottom were both black with a bunch of other little black straps. I guessed it was supposed to be s.e.xy, but I found it to be an inconvenience.

I grabbed a loose, crocheted-looking cover-up that was open in the middle. I didn't bother with any shorts, and on my feet I wore a simple pair of black flip-flops.

I took a deep, fortifying breath and made my way out of my room.

There might've been a ma.s.sive party raging outside, but you wouldn't know it. Liam had closed off his house to the guests. No one was allowed inside. Not for anything. It was obvious Liam took his privacy seriously. Why he'd agreed to let me stay there was beyond me.

I opened the back door to the outside and was immediately hit with sensory overload.

Music blasted from industrial-sized speakers and was so loud the ba.s.s thumped like a second heart beat inside my chest.

Bodies writhed against each other and bubbles from a machine floated through the air.

The partygoers chanted the lyrics to the song, waving their hands in the air.

I watched, completely mesmerized.

To an onlooker, it probably appeared that I'd never seen a party like that before-and they'd be right.

"Hey, hey, hey! If it isn't my favorite raven-haired raptor!"

My head whipped to the side at the sound of Ollie's voice yelling to be heard above the music. He stood near the DJ booth with Talia, Liam, and a few other guys.

Talia waved when she saw me, while Liam merely acknowledged my presence with a sweep of his icy gaze. I swore he appeared to be fighting a smile. It was just the barest of twitches of his lips, but at least it was something.

"Ari," Ollie called, waving me over with his free hand. His other arm was draped over Talia's shoulders, and her body was plastered to his side.

I reluctantly made my way through the crowd, and while I did, I used that distraction to my advantage by sneaking peeks at Liam as I went.

He wore a pair of black board shorts and a gray, sleeveless shirt. His dark hair was hidden by a backward baseball cap. He was speaking to a guy with dreads and gla.s.ses. Another guy seemed to be a part of the conversation and let out a boisterous laugh.

Liam appeared to be intent on the conversation, but since I was watching him I saw the way his eyes flickered toward me and then away, before drifting back again.

I liked his attention, but I also hated that I liked it.

It was quite the conundrum.

I finally reached the guys and Talia and felt like I deserved a medal or something. Getting through that crowd had been no easy feat.

"Raptor, huh?" I smiled up at Ollie.

He shrugged sheepishly. "I like raptors, and I like you."

"Do you have names for everyone you like?" I laughed at his randomness. Ollie was nothing if not odd, but that was what was so endearing about him.

"Oh, yeah."

"What's Liam?"

Ollie's lips lifted into a calculated grin. "Right now it's Needs-To-Get-Laid, but most of the time it's Grumpy-McGrumperstien."

"I like it." I laughed.

"Hey, man," Ollie swatted Liam with his free hand, "we gotta introduce our girl to the guys."

Liam turned away from the two guys and gave Ollie a disgusted look. "Our girl?"

"Would you prefer your girl? Because honestly, man, in the wise words of my Queen Beyonce, you should really put a ring on it before you claim such ownership."

Liam's lips thinned until they were barely visible. I was learning he did that when he wanted to hide his laughter at something.

"I don't know what part of that I should be more horrified by, but I'm going with Beyonce being your Queen."

"You can't deny her Queenliness, man," Ollie drawled lazily.

Liam shook his head, sighing heavily. He did that a lot, especially around Ollie.

His eyes finally made their way back to me, and he pointed to the guy with dreads. "This is Jeremiah. He's cool. That's Brady," he pointed to the second guy, "he's a douche, so pretend he doesn't exist."

"Hey." Brady punched Liam in the shoulder. Brady then turned his devastating green gaze on me. "Ignore him."

"I tend to do that anyway, but thanks for the tip." I shrugged, glancing around me and wondering how soon I could escape from the conversation and head down to the beach.

"Ohhhhh," Ollie bellowed. "She told you."

We all ignored Ollie. I was learning that it was best. He only took attention as encouragement for his craziness.

Brady sidled closer to me, leaving the conversation he'd been having with Liam and Jeremiah. His s.h.a.ggy brown hair fell into his eyes, and he flicked it away before lifting his beer bottle to his lips. He was good-looking, but in a pretty boy way. His eyes were a bright, rainforest green, framed by impossibly-thick, black lashes. His jaw was defined, and his lips were full. He was shirtless, so I got an eyeful of his eight-pack. Yes, eight not six. The guy should've been an Abercrombie model or something.

"How do you know Liam?" he asked me, swaying so that his arm brushed mine. His skin was heated from the sun, and I swore my arm must've been burned from his touch. He flashed me a winning smile, showing off his perfectly-straight, white teeth.

"We went to school together," I lied. I didn't know why I lied, I just did. It wasn't like I really had much of an explanation, and the truth would do nothing but baffle the poor guy. Besides, I would never reveal the whole truth that led me to end up there. Not to him or anyone else.

"In Virginia?" Brady's brows furrowed in confusion.

My eyes widened in shock. I'd a.s.sumed Liam was from California and hadn't even considered the possibility he'd grown up somewhere else before I blurted out my lie.

"Um, yeah," I said quickly. "I wanted to get a fresh start, so he told me to fly out, and here I am." I shrugged like it was no big deal.

I felt a heavy weight pressing down on me and looked to my left to see Liam staring at me while Jeremiah spoke to him. From the glint in his eyes I knew he'd heard every lie I'd spoken to Brady. I couldn't seem to break away from his gaze, and my throat became dry like I hadn't had a drop of water to drink in days.

"You wanna dance?"

I heard Brady's question and jumped on it.

"Yeah." I tore my gaze from Liam and looked up at Brady. "I'd love to."

I took his hand, and he guided me away from his friends and into the crowd I'd fought against only minutes before.

The swaying and grinding bodies closed in around us, and I breathed a sigh of relief that we were out of sight of Liam. I didn't know if I could focus on dancing with Liam so close to me.

I hated that I felt this...this...connection to him, but it was undeniable. I knew, deep down in my soul, that he and I were more alike than either of us would care to admit.

Brady turned me so that my back was to his front. His hands slid down to my waist, and his thumb circled over the bare skin of my stomach where my cover-up had fallen open. I leaned against him and slid my arms up and around the back of his neck. His hips grinded against mine, and my lips tilted up into a smile.

I didn't recognize the song playing, but that was nothing new.

Things such as TV and music had been something I hadn't gotten to enjoy with Blaise. The only things I had to keep me company were my sketchbooks.

The song ended, and another one began. Brady and I continued to dance, our bodies growing damp from sweat from all the closely-packed bodies and the sun simmering down on us.

We danced to a few more songs before Brady pulled me over to one of the tables set up with beverages. Somewhere along the way to the dance floor he'd lost his beer. He grabbed a new one and held one out to me. I shook my head and grabbed a water bottle instead.

"So," he started, sounding slightly out of breath from all the dancing, "you and Liam went to school together?"

I was puzzled as to why he was asking me again, but I nodded and lied smoothly, "Yeah. Why?"

He tipped his head in the direction where Liam still stood with his friends. "Because Liam can't seem to take his eyes off you. Thought maybe you were his ex or something." Brady shrugged and lifted the beer to his lips. "You two got something going on or something? I didn't mean to encroach on his territory. I'm not that kind of guy...well, I am," he smiled sheepishly, "but not when it comes to my friends."

I rolled my eyes at Brady's use of the word territory, like I was some sort of land to be conquered. "No, we're not exes, and there's not anything going on with us."

"Hmm," he mused, looking from Liam to me. "Funny."

"What's funny?" I questioned, trying to keep the curiosity from my tone.

His tongue flicked out, wetting his lips, and he smiled crookedly. "It's just...Liam can't seem to take his eyes off of you, and in all the time I've known him, I've never seen him pay anyone much attention."

"Really?" I took that bit of information and filed it away.

He nodded. "Liam has always been focused on his career. That's the most important thing to him."

"Huh," I mused, glancing over my shoulder at Liam.

He was staring at Brady and me with a disgusted look on his face. I was instantly reminded of the saying, "If looks could kill."

"You wanna head down to the beach?" Brady's voice broke into my thoughts, and I felt bad that I was paying more attention to Liam than him. "Get away from him?" Brady jerked his head in the direction of Liam.

"Sure." I smiled up at him.

He grinned and took my hand, guiding me to the stairs that led down to the beach.

We walked along, drifting away from the crowd, before settling on the sand in a quiet area.

We sat in silence for a moment watching the waves crash against the sh.o.r.e.

"Do you surf?" I asked him.

"Yeah." He glanced down at me, squinting from the sun. "I'd love to go pro, but I'm nowhere near as good as Liam." He shrugged. There was no animosity in his tone. Instead, his voice rang with admiration. "So for now, I work in construction."

"Construction," I mused. "Doing what?"

"Building homes, mostly. What about you?" He reached out, capturing a piece of hair blowing across my face from the breeze. He rubbed the strands between his fingers before tucking it behind my ear.

"Waitressing," I replied.

He laughed, and it was a genuine, happy sound. Not forced for my benefit. My first impression of Brady had been that he was a playboy, but in our short time together, I learned that he was actually pretty nice.

"Look at us," he chuckled, scrubbing a hand over his heavily-stubbled jaw, "living the glamorous life."

"I don't think grease stains on all my shirts counts as glamorous." I laughed with him. "But hey." I stretched my legs out and braced my hands behind me.

"What are you doing?"

Brady and I both looked up at the sound of Liam's voice. He towered above us since we were both sitting and looked even more imposing with the sun haloed behind him.

Brady started to reply, but I cut him off with my curt response of, "We're talking. Is there something wrong with that?"

Liam glared down at us. Well, at me actually. It was like Brady didn't exist to him right then.