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“You probably figured it out already, but I’m Damien.” His eyes shifted from annoyance to a soft warm glow as he looked down at me, a charmingly crooked grin tugging at the corner of his lips. That feeling in my chest grew, rising until it pressed into the base of my throat, my heart trying to leap out of my rib cage.
“Damien. Oh, it’s—uh, it’s nice to meet you.” I stumbled over my words. He laughed softly at me again, a low smooth sound that sent my heart back into that chaotic, scary dance.
Just friends, Cas, just friends.
Friends or not, I mentally apologized to Kat for her warning, which I couldn’t help but ignore at this point.
My alarm went off on my phone, reminding me of my upcoming class that would start in the next fifteen minutes.Dammit, what a way to ruin an opportunity to get to know him. My shoulders slumped in disappointment as I turned off the alarm, shoving my phone back into my pocket.
“Your class about to start?”
“Yeah, unfortunately,” I groaned, unable to smother the sour expression on my face, and I turned to leave. “I’ve gotta go, sorry.”
“Wait, what’s your name?” he asked, walking after me.
I turned back to him, pulling my backpack onto my shoulder from where it had slid down as we talked. “My name’s Cassie. Some people call me Cas. You can call me whatever, though.”
Real smooth, Cas. I was a mess. My cheeks flared and I prayed that my embarrassment wasn't too obvious.
“Cas,” he repeated with a smile on his face, almost as if he liked the sound of it. “Well then, it was nice to meet you, Cas.”
“Cas! What are you doing, we’re gonna be late, come on!” Kat’s voice dragged me down out of the clouds. I looked over to where she stood across the lawn, motioning to me from the building where our next class was. I needed to come back to reality, or I’d be late.
Damien gave a light nod of his head and a single wave of his hand as he saw me off. “Maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll see you around campus?”
“Maybe,” I replied, smiling over my shoulder before hurrying over to Kat.
I watched him retreat to his friends and stifled a giggle when they teased him about me. He swiped at the blond friend’s head but missed when the blond ducked his head out of his reach. I grabbed my burger, which I’d barely touched, and tossed my tray into the dirty bin before following Kat who was giving me a disapproving look.
I shrugged my shoulders, throwing her an ‘innocent’ grin. “Don’t look at me like that.”
* * *
“Just be careful around those guys. You’re too innocent to get tied up with bad boys.”
I rolled my eyes at Kat. “Ok, mom.” She’d expressed her concern the moment she saw me talking to Damien and hadn’t let up since.
We emerged from the library, onto the balcony, after our classes finished for the day. She turned to me suddenly, her books pressed against her chest. “If you’re gonna talk to him, please Cas, just be careful.”
“I promise.”
She shook her head at me but smiled. “I’ve gotta run to the store to get my scrubs for work before they close. I’ll call you when I get home.”
“Ok, talk to you then,” I said, watching her hurry off toward the front of the campus.
I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling the absence of her presence. A sense of insecurity crept over me as I stood there, alone, in the labyrinth of buildings and strange faces. I started down the stairs in front of the library to head for the parking lot. In the distant part of the valley, the sun was setting over the mountain ridges. I needed to get home before it got dark. Whoever was responsible for the disappearances of all those people was still on the loose.
“Hey girly, where you off to?” I turned to find the tall blond friend of Damien’s towering behind me a few steps up. I hadn’t heard him approach, and nearly fell the rest of the way down the stairs.
His sharp face tilted to the side as he looked down at me, his short hair sweeping back out of his steel eyes. His scowl was sharp enough to put someone down for good, and I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
Behind him approached two others I’d seen in their group. One of them lingered at the top of the stairs, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket. His pale green eyes almost glowed against his dark tan skin. I recognized him immediately from the mall; Damien had called him Zephyr.
The other one, shorter, with jaw length, dirty blond hair, walked up. He observed us silently, lowering himself to sit atop the ledge of the wall beside the stairs, his gaze settling on me.
“Hi,” I stammered.
The one closest to me continued to stare down at me. “Seems you’ve taken a liking to our guy, Damien. You wanna talk about it?” His tone was intimidating, or maybe that was just how he sounded because everything about him was intimidating. The way his hooded eyes locked onto me nearly made me step back, and I would have easily fallen down the stairs.
