Page 12 of Lost Paradise

And I swear to god, I thought these three men had deep voices, but Jack just took it a notch lower. It’s as if he’s growled out the last letter of his name.

“You weren’t at the party last night,” I say, knowing I would have remembered him. His striking presence would have definitely had my attention.

He shrugs his shoulders. “I might have been.”

“You weren’t part of our group that security caught last night,” Zane confirms.

Jack ignores Zane's remark and instead turns his gaze to me. His intense blue eyes lock onto mine with an intensity that I feel a frightening chill run through me. His stare feels like it's peering right into my soul, leaving me feeling exposed and vulnerable under his scrutiny.

“My mate, Jack, is a man of few words. Best leave him be in his own world,” Astro explains.

“And how do you know him?” I ask curiously as if Jack isn’t even in the room.

“He’s my roomie,” Astro winks at him but Jack remains silent and continues to eye me carefully as if scrutinizing me. If he’s sharing a room with Astro, then I can only imagine he’s another asshole in the making.

As I watch Jack from across the room, I find my gaze drawn irresistibly to him. While he may have initially blended into the background, now that I've noticed him, I can't seem to look away. There's something about him that demands attention, a magnetic presence that refuses to be ignored. Despite his attempts to fade intothe shadows, he now stands out vividly in my mind, an enigmatic figure I can't ‘un-see.’

His raven black hair falls effortlessly over his pale skin, framing a face that seems chiseled by an artist’s hand. Deep blue eyes, like sapphires in the night, hold an intensity that draws me in to want to know his deepest, darkest desires. His jawline is sharp, accentuated by a perfectly sculpted face, and his full lips….geesh! His lips are perfect! This man is gorgeous, and I wonder if he knows it or if he tries to hide himself because of it.

Dressed in entirely black, he does, however, exude an air of mystery and a certain defiant confidence in his own choice of lifestyle. His fitted leather jeans, black hoodie, and black leather biker jacket make him more bad boy goth than emo. A black leather necklace adorns his neck, holding a dark stone that seems to mirror the depths of his gaze.

But it’s the tattoos that peek out from beneath his jacket sleeve that he has pushed up that intrigue me the most. Black ink etched onto his skin, trailing from his wrist up his thick, veiny forearm and sneaking out from beneath the fabric to the side of his neck. Each design seems to tell a story, adding to the layers of mystery that surround him.

As our eyes meet and he reels me into a lock hold, my heart races with anticipation. Time seems to stand still between us.

“You don’t scare me,” my voice betraying my nerves, and my words hang in the air, regretting every syllable I’ve just uttered.

“I’m sorry if you think that’s my intention,” he says unexpectantly, his voice so freaking deep and commanding. But it’s the simplicity of his words that catch me off guard, leaving me at a loss for what to say next.

There's an undeniable aura surrounding Jack, something that transcends his subdued gothic appearance. Despite his quiet demeanor, there's a quality to his presence that draws me in. It's as if there's a depth to him, a mystery waiting to be unraveled beneath the surface. I can't shake the feeling that there's more to Jack than meets the eye, and I'm oddly intrigued by the enigma he presents.

Desperate to break the tension, I scramble to find what to say next to this obviously beautiful person in front of me.

“Why are you here?” I finally blurt out, yet my voice barely a whisper.

He shrugs a nonchalant gesture that only adds to his mystique.

“I hadnothing better to do,” he replies, his tone casual yet tinged with an underlying complexity.

I realize that there is so much more to him than meets the eye. Despite his silence and his aloof demeanor, there is a depth to him that I can’t quite grasp. As I sit down, entirely captivated, I can’t help but wonder what secrets lay hidden beneath the surface of his attractive facade.

He had nothing better to do?

What a weird thing to say.

Does he realize we’re going down the rabbit hole with possible disciplinary action for what we did last night?

“He’s a bit of a basket case,” Astro interjects before I can say something. “Best not question his actions.”

And suddenly, Jack breaks his stare to turn to Astro. His smirk suggests that he agrees with that description.

“So, do we have a story for the dean?” Zane's gaze flicks between Byron and me, dismissing Astro's presence.

“Yeah,” Astro interjects sharply, “we should lay it all on Four Eyes here. It's his damn fault we're in this mess.".”

“How the fuck did you come to that conclusion?” I ask before Byron has a chance.

“This is what I reckon,” Astro continues, animated. “I was upstairs busy getting it on with you. Zane was on a wild goose chase roaming the house looking for you with that Emily tart trailing him, hoping for some jock cock. Meanwhile, everyone else was partying it up. Except for Byron, who was left fuming in the basement and ended up calling campus security out of sheer spite.”

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