Skin Deep (Skin Deep #1)

Luke was snoring beside me, his arms and legs sprawled out and his head lolled back so far it looked like his neck was broken. If I weren’t so buzzed I think I might have been a little more concerned or considerate and help him fix it, but…

I tried to focus on the room, seeing if I was the only one left awake. My eyes (eye?) blinked and tried to focus when I saw Allie straddling Brandon as he kissed down her chest, and Jackson was pressed to her back, her head turned toward him over her shoulder as their mouths ate at each other. I shook my head (bad idea) and tried to find my brother and his whatever she was.

When I finally was able to see them, I couldn’t help but snort and maybe hiccup a little when I saw Calland passed out face first in what’s-her-face’s lap while Doug was sitting on his back eating pieces of popcorn he’d sniffed out in the girl’s hair.

I closed my eyes when I heard a low moan come from the vicinity of the couch. I held up my hand, though I wasn’t quite sure why because they sure as hell weren’t paying attention to me, and cleared my throat. “Umm…‘scuse me? Not passed out people in the room! If one of you would be so nice to try and get me up in my room we’d be gratefully happy. Me and Mr. Snoozypants here…” I hiccupped again and opened my eyes when I heard Allie laugh, but they fell closed again immediately.

When I opened my eyes again, I bolted up in bed as fear chased down my spine. A high-pitched scream ripped through the house again and I threw myself out of bed and ran down the stairs to see what the hell was happening. I didn’t even realize that Luke was behind me until I heard him snort in disbelief as Allie, followed by Jackson and Brandon, all stumbled into the room.

I looked at the couch which is where I determined the screams had come from since they’d died down to non-stop whimpers, and smacked my forehead with my hand. Oh, God.

Buffy…nope, still not any better in the light of day and sober…was lying paralyzed on the couch, her eyes locked unblinkingly on the large yellow lab sitting smack dab in the middle of her chest looking down into her face. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water and I leaned closer to hear what she was saying.

“What…what does it want? Help me!” she whispered.

I stepped closer to the loveseat, tripping over my brother who was sprawled on the floor in front of her, still sleeping like the dead. I caught myself and peered down over Doug’s head to see if I could figure out what had him transfixed. I nodded my head and reached down into the brunette hair of the poor girl. I pulled my hand back again and tossed Doug the piece of popcorn I’d dug out of her hair and he jumped down off of her as soon as he swallowed it.

“See? All better,” I said.

“He seriously was that intense about a piece of popcorn? I thought he was attacking me!” she shrieked. She leaned down and smacked my brother, yelling at him to get up and take her home, away from crazy dogs and freaky people.

When Calland finally got up and, grumbling, headed out to take…her…home, I turned to Allie who was trying to shuffle nonchalantly back into Brandon’s bedroom. I raised my eyebrow at her and she turned her head every which way but backwards trying to avoid my gaze, before I shrugged and let her escape. I would definitely find out the details of whatever happened later.

Luke came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing my neck and asking me to come back to bed with him. So I did. Boy was I glad I did!

Chapter 23

Six o’clock and it was finally time for me to go home! I’d had a client call and ask if they could come in late to sign some papers that we’d drawn up and he’d not made it in until quarter ‘til six. I’d driven to work today because I knew I’d be a little late, so I headed out to my car, pulling my cell phone out and calling Luke to let him know I’d be there shortly.

It was almost April and the weather had actually warmed up just a bit like spring, but had turned dreary and drastically cold again today. Typical Ohio weather. I pulled my sweater close to me as I walked toward my car, the wind cutting through my thin slacks.

Luke and I had settled into a routine over the last couple months, and it honestly was the best feeling in the world. I was in love with a wonderful man who treated me like a freakin’ queen, made love to me whenever and wherever he could, and we’d started planning our wedding.

Jackson’s plans for his house were almost finished and they would begin breaking ground in two weeks, as long as the weather held. He and Brandon were walking around like they’d lost their best friend because, well…they kinda had. After the drunken fest back in January things had been different with them. Allie was pushing them away but they didn’t want to be pushed and I couldn’t get her to tell me what the hell was wrong with her. She had finally given me details about what happened that night since I’d seen her making out with both of them, but she still swore that nothing else really happened. She said that they just all made out, a lot of kissing, heavy petting, and then sleeping. I didn’t know if I believed her completely or not, but I figured she probably was telling the truth because Brandon’s big mouth hadn’t shouted otherwise.

Calland had dropped that girl off and never saw her again. I think he realized she was in over her head with him and he’s gone through probably twenty more girls since then. I keep telling him to grow up and not be such a whore, but he doesn’t listen. Doesn’t even listen when I tell him his dick is gonna shrivel up and fall off if he isn’t careful.

I reached my car and hit the unlock button on my key fob to get in. Before I could get the door open, I felt a hand tap my shoulder. When I turned my head to see who it was, I cried out at the sharp pain that burst through my head and my world went black.

The drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet woke me up and I groggily reached out to shake Luke awake and make him go fix it. My hand kept going, encountering nothing but empty space and I froze, fuzzy memories slamming back into place. I brought my hand up to touch the side of my head, near my temple, wincing when with pain when I touched it, my hand coming away wet. Panting in fear, I scrambled up and opened my eyes, my back against a cold, hard concrete wall. I couldn’t see anything because the room I was in was pitch black.

I opened my mouth to scream and realized that my lips wouldn’t open. My hand flew up to my face, feeling the slick stickiness of some kind of tape across my mouth. I fumbled around, trying to find the edge of the tape with my fingertips so I could pull it off. I could hear the muffled sound of whimpering and I looked around in panic before I realized that it was me. I finally located the edge of the tape and lightly scraped with my fingernails to raise it in order to peel it off, but in my panicked haste, I scraped too deeply, wincing when my nails jabbed into my own cheek.

I was picking at the edge to loosen it some more when I heard the scrape of footsteps somewhere above me. I froze, crouching down against the wall at my back and staring hard into the darkness, trying to discern where I was, or to see if there was anything around me that I could use as a weapon. When I heard the footsteps stop and a door open, I quickly laid back down, frantically trying to calm my breathing and remember how I was laying when I woke up.

My mind was racing, trying to formulate some kind of plan but all I could come up with was to pretend I was asleep until I could figure something out. I heard heavy stomps coming down what sounded like wooden stairs so I was presuming I was in a basement of some type.