Page 3 of My Three Enemies
I slowly bite into the sandwich, making sure I don't eat so fast I get sick. While I work on it, I make my way through the rest of the cabin to investigate. My initial thought is this must be someone's winter cabin. Some people like to go to the Bahamasto avoid the cold, and some choose to isolate themselves in the woods and enjoy nature. I don't see any family photos or mail indicating who it is that lives here.
A hallway connecting to the living room reveals three other bedrooms, each with their own bathroom. All of the rooms are much larger than I expect, considering the outside of the cabin. For the most part, they have very similar styles as well. They're rustic and there doesn't seem to be any cohesive design elements. Except that all of the rooms have a bed, a dresser, and a pair of matching bedside tables.
After about ten minutes of looking around, I make my way back to the living room and take a seat on the couch. I'm well aware of the fact that the owner could come home any minute and find me trespassing. They would be well within their rights to scream at me and call the authorities, or worse shoot me. I hope they will at least listen to me before doing something rash.
I lean back on the couch and wait, turning my attention toward the door. After a few hours, no one enters. I figured that someone must live here, and they must be planning on coming back soon. The kitchen is too well stocked, they even had bread and cheese that had to have been purchased recently. On top of that, there isn't a single particle of dust or cobweb in this cabin that would tell me it's been abandoned.
A clock on the wall shows it's nearing midnight, and I have no idea when the owner is returning. Regardless, I can hardly keep my eyes open. To say my last two days have been exhausting would be an understatement.
I start nodding off, bobbing my head up and down as I try to force myself to stay awake. It's no use, my body is about ready to shut down—I'm so tired. I give up on trying and make my wayover to the first bedroom, the smallest of the three, and climb under the covers. Mere moments after my head hits the pillow, I'm a sleep.
For a while, it's the best sleep I've ever had. After everything I've been through, finally being able to relax in warmth is like heaven.
But then my body jolts awake as fingers grip my throat, holding me close as my eyes dart open. I search through the darkness for any sign of who it is. I forget where I am and everything that happened and I'm suddenly back in my room, and the hand around my throat is my father's. I'm waiting for him to chastise me about trying to run away, but it doesn't come.
“Who are you?” a voice inches away says in a low, gravelly, masculine tone that makes the back of my neck tingle.
“My-my name is Emma,” I stammer, gulping against the tight grip of his hand. I blink rapidly, hoping that my eyes will adjust so I can make out the features of the man holding me.
“Why are you here?” a different man’s voice says, this time coming from the door nearby. I try to turn to look in the direction, but the grip on my throat is restraining me too much.
“My car broke down and I was looking for help,” I croak out, reaching my hands to the one around my throat hoping to pry it off of me. It's no use, the hand is almost as big as my entire head, and the man next to me is far too strong. “I tried knocking but nobody answered the door. Please, I just needed some help.”
“Is anyone with you?” a third man’s voice asks from the opposite corner of the room, near the window. I hear his footsteps coming closer as he waits for my answer.
How many of them are there?
“It's just me,” I say, immediately realizing how dangerous an answer like that is for a woman.
A moment passes without any of them saying anything. Then, the hand around my neck tightens, and a gasp creeps out of my throat. The man lowers himself to me, leaning close enough to my ear that I can feel his breath fanning across my face.
“I know you're not telling us the whole truth,” he whispers, more shivers creeping over my body. “But you smell too good to kill.”
His fingers slip from around my neck and reach for my hair, sliding through the back of my head. Before I know what's happening, his lips press against my skin, and it feels like the room is swirling around me.
In the twenty years I've been alive, I've never been kissed. Kind of hard to find a boyfriend when you're trapped inside. I've always had a suspicion why my father kept me hidden away the way he did. With how he acted with his associates, and the extremely obvious attempts to introduce me to them. He wanted me to bepurefor whoever I ended up with.
Now, with this stranger's lips brushing against my neck, his tongue slipping between his lips and grazing my skin, my body reacts in a way I never would have anticipated. I'm extremely confused by the turn of events, but my body is more than interested in seeing where this leads. My breath quickens as I feel his lips spread wider and wider, like a vampire ready to sink his teeth into me.
The lights snaps on and I’m completely blinded, bringing my hands to my eyes to shield them as the man’s mouth pulls away from me.
3
I blinkmy eyes rapidly trying to force away the stinging sensation. When I finally manage to see without a blurry blue dot in the way, I study the faces of the men around me.
The three of themmustbe brothers, because if they’re not related, then I don’t understand anything about the universe and I spent far too long locked in a room with books as my only friends for that to be the case. All of them are very tall with broad shoulders, thick necks, and bodies that I can tell are well-toned. They're arms strain against the fabric of their shirts. Each of them have dark brown hair, though the cuts are slightly different. The one by the door and the one by the window both have dark brown eyes that glimmer against the warm lighting of the bedroom. The man standing beside me with my neck back in his hands has cool gray eyes that widen as they rake over my body.
“Why are you really here, Blondie?” the man by the window asks. His eyes fall from mine to my heaving chest as panic of being held by the neck rolls through me.
A smile forms the corner of his lips, and I see a glimmer of something in his eyes. He bites his lip before forcing a stoic expression back, struggling against the urges he is so clearly feeling. He looks like he would pounce on me if given the opportunity.
“Don't bother lying to us either,” the gray-eyed man behind me growls.
My heartbeat quickens as I feel his breath against me. A shiver runs down my back but it’s not from fear. It’s from something else. Something I never felt before. Heat spreads through my belly and settles deep in my core. I try to force my feelings down. It's not normal to feel this way being held captive, right?
“Look, I ran away from home, okay?” I glance between the other two, trying to ignore the gray-eyed man standing behind me. “Please, I can't go back there. You don't know what it's like.”
“Then tell us what it's like,” Gray-Eyes demands.
