Page 2 of Marked By Night

With a sigh, I stand up and grab my float before I wade fully into the lake. I’m not in the mood for conversation today. I came out here to escape the world, not deal with two sexy strangers that are likely only here for the music festival in town this weekend, and then they’ll be gone again.

“How’s the water?” Blondie calls out, abandoning the spot they were about to get in as they start stalking toward me, floats in hand.

“It’s comfortable,” I shout back, after putting some distance between myself and them. Hopefully, they’ll get the hint.

They don’t.

They get in and wade directly toward me.

“What’s a pretty girl like you doing out here all alone?” the observant one asks, like that’s not creepy at all. Though I don’t get those vibes from him. Not at all.

He abandons his float in favor of wading in the murky water then looks down and frowns like he’s trying to see what’s below him, but there’s no use. This part of the lake is deep and dark. Like the secrets hiding below us.

I barely manage to hold back my snort. As soon as Skylar and I could swim, our dad was bringing us down here to play. I’ve been swimming in these waters my whole life, so yeah, I’m not afraid, but that’s the thing about fear. Most of the time it’s a learned reaction. Irrational, even. Whether it be from experience or someone else’s tainted view skewing your own.

Children aren’t afraid of shit until someone tells them they should be. I would know, I was one of the unfazed ones. Then my dad died, and Skylar and I had to move in with our uncle. That’s when I discovered monsters are real, and that they’re hidden inside people.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I realize I forgot to answer his question, “Well, I was trying to relax.”

The smirking blonde’s mouth turns into a full-blown grin as he runs a wet hand through his golden locks. “So, you come here often then?”

“Only when I want to get away from people.”

If they can’t take the hint, then I mean… fuck, I’ll just be blunt about it.

“Feisty, I like it,” he says.

“More like bitchy, but I’ll take it,” I respond then close my eyes, pushing everything out as I try to ignore them. Blondie laughs a deep delicious sound that causes my lower bits to tighten in response.

There’s a splash before the observant one says, “We’re sorry for disturbing your peace. We’ll be over here if you need anything.”

Still, they don’t move very far away from me. No, they stay fairly close. As if they’re drawn to me and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel riveted by them as well.

But fate can suck it. I’m not in the mood today.

Besides, who wouldn’t be enraptured by them? They look like they’re carved from stone, and trust me, the artist paid attention to every single aspect of their bodies. From their perfect chiseled jaws down to the veins I spotted running down to their nether regions. To the gorgeous dark blue eyes on the observant one, and the fiery amber eyes of the other. Every single detail is accounted for.

My curiosity gets the best of me a few minutes later. “How did you find this spot?” I ask, watching them from my peripheral vision, still reclining on my raft.

The observant one pauses, turning around to look at me with his gorgeous blue eyes as he makes his way closer once more. The sun glints off his irises, allowing me to see the lighter flecks in the middle and the dark ring around the outer edge. He shrugs. “I’m not entirely sure. We were driving around looking for a spot to get in and we saw fresh tracks down here. Figured we’d check it out.”

Ah, I knew there had to be something that gave me away. Plus, it’s valuable information to have. Next time I’ll cover my tracks.

Blondie’s amber eyes capture mine and hold. His are a light gold toward the center and fade to a darker copper shade. “It’s almost as if we were drawn here,” he says, voicing my earlier thoughts aloud. Nice to know they’re not the only ones feeling the phantom strings of fate pulling us closer.

The three of us sit in silence for a while, drifting in the water aimlessly. I know I need to be going soon so I can get ready for work tonight, but I can’t seem to drag myself out of the lake.

Eventually, a dark cloud blows over, blocking out my rays of the sun, and the next thing I know it starts pouring down rain. The weather in Kentucky is finicky as fuck. I swear Mother Nature likes to pass her beer off to someone else and say, “Here, watch this,” while she throws some new fresh hell our way. We never know what’s going to happen around here. She likes to keep us guessing.

“Aren’t you going to leave?” Blondie asks, gesturing toward the rain like it’s bothering him as he hops off his raft and heads to the bank. I suspected they weren’t from here, but that confirms it.

“Nah, a little rain won’t kill me,” I call back.

But then a bolt of lightning strikes, almost as if Mother Nature heard me and saidI’ll show her.Finicky bitch, I tell you. I’m up off my float in a millisecond heading toward the shore. Sitting in the lake while it’s raining is one thing, it’s harmless, but sitting in the lake while it’s lightning? That’s how you get electrocuted. No thanks.

Blondie chuckles, watching me scramble for the bank while he’s on dry land. His eyes glitter playfully as he says, “I thought a little rain wouldn’t kill you?”

Asshole.

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