Jayden leant back in the armchair, scanned his eyes up and down the blond girl before him. She was swaying from side to side, to the tempo of the music. His shirt was unbuttoned, and he reeked of cigarette smoke and beer.
“Hey, get over here, babe,” he tugged on her skirt, and she turned to face him. She gave him a seductive smile, traced a finger down the side of his jaw. “You drive me crazy,” he grinned, and pulled her into an embrace, kissing her red lips as they both went down on the floor.
He didn’t care that she was three years older. He didn’t care that he wasn’t supposed to be doing all this. He didn’t care that it was all wrong. He lived his own life now, and nobody could stop him.
The girl grabbed a glass of wine from the table, and poured it all over Jayden. She was giggling like a little girl-it made him want her more. He pretended to look angry, but it didn’t last long as she ran a hand through his drenched hair.
Another girl came in through the door, a beer bottle in her hand. She was a brunette, with long legs. She looked younger, though she was taller than he was. She stepped towards him, a smile on her face as she chugged down the whole bottle, dancing to the beat. Jayden turned his eyes from the blonde, to the brunette.
So this was how heaven felt like, he thought as he stood, and began moving to the catchy rhythm. In minutes, the room was filled with fourteen wild, party girls. He had never felt this happy in his life.
“Hell!” a loud yell sounded from the threshold. “I could hear you all from out there!”
“Jacque? What the sh-, man,” Jayden fist-bumped his friend. “How did you find me?”
“Ha, I knew where you were, of course. You’re so damn predictable, man,” Jacque took a glass from a young blonde’s hand, and drank the liquid down. “How the hell did you even get these girls to come?”
“I’ve got the looks,” Jayden boasted, a crazy grin on his face.
“You’re really drunk,” Jacque shook his head, and then swept his gaze over the fourteen dancing girls around him. “You’re really having the time of your life.”
“Hell yeah!” Jayden let out a loud burp, and burst into laughter. “Hell yeah I’m having the time of my life!”
“Hey, I came by to tell you that the three of them have been caught. Raphael and Bane will be in jail, so we don’t have to worry about them coming in our way.”
“So…what about my brother?”
“He will definitely be released because he doesn’t have anything against him. So when we have the chance, we’ll just kill him.”
“By we, you mean you, right?” Jayden lifted a brow.
“Whatever, man. I just want him dead, and then I will die a happy man,” Jacque filled his glass with more wine.
“Okay,” Jayden said, and then disappeared into the dance floor, swaying his hips to the music.
Jacque hid a smile, heading towards the balcony, away from the girls, and a very drunk Jayden. He pulled out his phone, sighing as he unlocked the screen. He stared at his wallpaper for a very long time, and his heart hurt at the memory of her.
He clicked on contacts, searched for her name. His finger hovered over the call button-he missed her so much, he had never stopped thinking about her. He couldn’t stand a day without listening to her voice.
It had been almost six months since he had last seen her, or talked to her. Every day that had passed since then wavered with the memory of her. He remembered contacting her, but every message he left her went to voicemail, and she never returned his calls or texts.
He would try his luck tonight-just maybe, she would pick up her phone, and he would hear her sweet voice again.
It seemed like eternity, but then there was a soft voice, the voice he had missed like crazy.
“Hello?” she sounded so soft and gentle.
“Kora? It’s me,” Jacque tried to stop his hand from shaking so violently.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she sounded scared, and Jacque felt worried almost instantly.
“It’s me, Jacque,” he said clearly, just to be sure she heard him.
“Jacque?” she said, and then there was a long pause.
Jacque thought she had hung up on him, so he opened his mouth to say something, but she cut in at the same time.
“I don’t know any Jacque,” she said quietly. “And I don’t know any Kora.”
“Kora, that’s you, isn’t it? Are you playing games with me?”
“I’m not playing any games with you. I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know what you’re talking about. You have the wrong number.”
“No,” Jacque was certain it was Kora he was talking to. Why was she acting like this? Why was she treating him like this? Six months had passed, and he had forgiven her for choosing Jared over him, but what did he ever do to deserve this? “Why are you being like this?”
“I’m sorry, you have the wrong person. My name is Dana Richards.”
“No, you’re Kora Mikaels, for God’s sake!” Jacque tried to keep calm. He loved her, but he didn’t like the way she was treating him. It just wasn’t fair.
“No, mister…Jack? You have the wrong person. I’m Dana, not Kora,” she insisted. “I’m going to have to hang up now.”
“Wait,” Jacque had a hand in his dark brown hair. “Where do you live?”
“Why do you want to know where I live?” she asked, an annoyed tone in her voice. “I can’t just give a stranger my address.”
“I…I need to see you…Dana,” he hesitated at the name. What kind of name was Dana? What the hell had happened to Kora? Had she totally lost her mind? “I’m a very close friend of yours that you may have seemed to have forgotten about.”
“Oh,” Kora said softly. “You know me?”
“Yes, I do know you. So, please, could you tell me exactly where you are?”
The moment she told him where she was, he knew there was something terribly wrong with her.
Either she was playing him, or she had completely lost her sanity.
YOU ARE READING
HUNT, OR BE HUNTED
Mystery / ThrillerHe was always blacking out, always confused, losing control of his actions. And when he did, he would have no memory of it. What he didn't know was that there was a monster inside him, a monster that he couldn't control. Once it took over, not a sin...
