The sand felt like fiery lava against my feet.

Even with my slippers on, my feet sunk deep into the soft sand with every step I took towards the benches where my friends stood taking pictures under the dehydrating heat. My steps were quick as I focused on my sole mission which was to get as far away from the strangers in the lobby as possible. Their presence held so much dominance and power it would have anyone cowering in fear; and I despised it.

I was surprised to find that my friends weren't the only ones there. Seth had mentioned that the property was fairly isolated and that there was a huge chance of us having the place completely to ourselves, however, there were a handful of people sunbathing and swimming in the lake.

"Nora!" A familiar voice called out for me excitingly, running towards me in a speed much greater than I anticipated. I didn't have time to look at who it was before I was squished in an extremely tight embrace, it had me taking two steps back, and I would've surely fallen on my butt had they not held me still. "I missed you so much, Princess!"

I only had one friend that had been calling me by that sweet name for the past three years, and my heart suddenly warmed when I recognized who I was hugging. "Noah!" I giggled as I wrapped my own arms around his torso and gave a tight squeeze.

"Alright, that's enough. It's my turn." Noah was suddenly yanked out of my embrace as Elliot stepped forward next, wrapping his arms around my waist and raising me above the ground, spinning me once as he held me tight. I squealed and slapped his shoulders, ordering him to set me down at once. "Missed you, little one." He gave me a warm smile as he gently set me down, ruffling my hair.

"Missed you too, big boy." I pinched his cheek teasingly. He rolled his eyes and swatted my hand away, holding back a smile. "Where's Bella?"

"Over by the shore snapping pictures with your idiot friends." He pointed behind him and I glanced over his shoulder to see both Ariel and Bella posing together as Seth bent to take their pictures from different angles.

I laughed and ran towards them, photo-bombing one of their pictures in the process, much to Seth's dismay - who groaned and scolded me for ruining what could have been an "aesthetic shot". I all but slammed into Bella and hugged her tightly, her own arms wrapped around me firmly as she laughed cheerfully, stumbling backwards at loss of balance from the impact.

"Nora!" She exclaimed cheerfully.

"How've you been? I can't believe it's been that long since I last saw you!"

"I'm doing great, babe. And there's so much I wanna tell you about, I feel like if I start I'll never stop." She groaned frustratingly.

"Well, you've got an entire week to plan it topic by topic." She laughed and nodded along to the idea.

"You guys can catch up later! Now pose," Ariel exclaimed as she grabbed my arm and pulled me to her left. She turned a bit to her side, flipping her strawberry-blonde hair over her right shoulder and giving Seth - or rather, the camera - a flirtatious look. Bella posed alongside her with her hand on her hip, and I copied her movement, ignoring the awkward stares some of the strangers directed our way.

Seth whistled, "Alrighttt! Give it to me!" He exclaimed and I couldn't hold in my laughter. He snapped some pictures of us before Elliot approached him and slapped him on the back of his head, calling him an idiot. "You're just jealous you don't know how to hype up our girls."

Elliot rolled his eyes and walked away towards where Noah stood, his arms crossed over his chest and a light smile on his lips as he watched us being total chicks.

"Okay, that's enough for today." Seth announced as he stood tall once again, groaning as he stretched his muscles. He must have been bending in weird angles for a while to take those pictures from different sides, knowing how picky Ariel could be when choosing a decent picture to post on her Instagram page.

"Lets get in the water already!" Noah exclaimed, grabbing the back of his white shirt and pulling it off, exposing his sun-kissed skin.

"I wanna enjoy the sun first," I announced as I walked towards one of the benches and settled down. I grabbed my hair and pulled it up into a messy bun.

Noah groaned in annoyance, "Why are chicks so obsessed with tanning? The water is the best part!" He shouted from the distance.

"That's because not everyone is born with naturally appealing skin-tones like you, Parker!" I snapped jokingly, and watched as a proud smirk appeared on his features and he winked at me.

"You think I'm appealing, Princess?"

I rolled my eyes and lied down on the bench, refusing to answer him; but even with the distance between us I could still hear his deep chuckle.

It was no secret that Noah was extremely attractive, I had even had a small crush on him back when we first met in college, alongside a handful of other girls. But of course I wasn't going to admit that out loud, especially not to him.

I untied the cover up I had around my waist and shoved it into my beach bag, then snatched the sunscreen and began smothering it on my arms and legs. I relaxed back and closed my eyes, feeling the sun's heat sinking deep into my skin, warming up my insides. I hummed softly, my satisfaction boundless as I sunk deeper into a comforting haze, feeling the sun on my skin and hearing the sound of splashing waters as the rest got into the lake.

It truly was heavenly.

I don't know how long I had been lying there when I heard soft footsteps sinking deep into the sand as they approached me. I lazily opened my eyes and squinted hard as I tried to recognize the face against the sun's blinding rays. When they settled on the evil smirk on Noah's lips, I gasped in horror.

I didn't have enough time to push the warning threats out my lips, and was suddenly hauled off my seat and thrown over his shoulders, with his arm wrapped around the back of my thighs. I squealed and punched his back, even scratching him and demanding that he puts me down; but the jerk had the nerve to laugh and run towards the water as if I weighed nothing.

"Noah! I swear to God if you- " my sentence was interrupted as he stepped into the water, splashes flying up to my face as he went deeper in. I knew the only solution then was to accept my inevitable fate. So I took in a deep breath and held it in, closing my eyes and waiting for what's to come.

Suddenly, Noah's heavy arms wrapped around my waist and - pretending like I was nothing but a sad sack of potatoes - pulled me off his shoulders and threw me a feet away into the water. I held back a gasp as the cool water washed over my warm skin, and pushed my feet to reach back to the surface.

I emerged with a loud gasp and a cough, at loss of breath. I rubbed my eyes clean of the water and sent daggers at Noah. His laugh slowly subsided to a low chuckle, then a small smile, then a grimace of fear as I lunged at him, my arms out to grab him but he ducked into the water and I was met with nothing. Suddenly I felt two hands clasp around my ankles, and I all but screamed as I thrashed in the water, kicking some part of his body in the process.

He resurfaced with a cough as he held his nose, groaning in pain. "I'm going to kill you!" I yelled as I took advantage of his weakened state and lunged at him, this time successfully grabbing his shoulders. I jumped on top of him, my hands pushing his shoulders down underwater. He sunk deep in but didn't fail to pull me in with him, his hands clasping onto my own that were still pushing his shoulders in.

We thrashed around some more until he finally took a few steps back, raising his hands in surrender and his chest rising up and down rapidly as he gasped for breath.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry." He kept on apologizing, and I would've still fought him if my brain wasn't dying from lack of oxygen. I heaved as my own lungs began collapsing due to our rapid movements.

"You... are... an... idiot!" I managed between breaths. He laughed and nodded.

"I'm your idiot," he winked, putting his hand flat against his chest as he tried to steady his breathing. I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help but smile at his words.

Something moved in my sight and I suddenly noticed that our friends were surrounding us, some laughing with us while others were oblivious to our playful fight. Out of nowhere, Seth turned to us and groaned loudly, greatly annoyed by an unknown cause.

Elliot submerged from underwater just in time. "What's your deal?" He asked Seth while he ruffled his black hair to rid of the water.

"I expected us to have the entire inn for ourselves. Nobody usually comes here," Seth rolled his eyes, a slight pout on his lips.

"It doesn't matter," Ariel began, "that's not gonna stop us from having one of the best summers of our lives."

Seth continued frowning, not entirely convinced by Ariel's words.

"And they just keep coming," he groaned. I frowned in confusion until I saw where his eyes were settled.

We all shifted to look over his shoulders as a group of five heavily built men stepped off the inn's porch, walking on the sand towards the benches. Two of them stood out the most for being the largest in the group, both bald and wearing black dress pants and black t-shirts, looking just like your stereotypical bodyguards.

The other three members, however, were dressed in typical beach attires; a pair of shorts and a tee. They took seats right next to our benches, while the darkly dressed men stood by their sides - clearly guarding them. From what, though, I didn't know.

Two of the more normal looking men were chatting enthusiastically, big smiles on their features as they began taking off their shirts - probably to enter the water. The third man, on the other hand, was seated on the bench and his face was positioned straight at us, with dark sunglasses covering his eyes. His hand reached up to his face and he slowly took them off, and my heart immediately fell to my stomach.

Even with the great distance separating us, I could tell his eyes were set on me; he was the same man from the lobby.

"Why the hell is he staring at us like that?" Noah asked, frowning in annoyance.

"It's not us he's staring at," Ariel began, a small hint of amusement in her voice. "It's Nora."

I tried to open my mouth and tell her she was being ridiculous, but my voice was stuck in my throat, my eyes still connected to his, as if I was in a deep trance.

It felt like a whole minute had passed between us, when I was roughly yanked by my waist into a hard chest. I gasped and broke our contact, my eyes glancing behind me at Noah who's jaw was ticking at the stranger. "Well she's not for display." He snapped.

I suddenly felt very uncomfortable, and kind of awkward. I gently placed my hands on Noah's and pulled them off me. His eyes snapped down to mine, and I gave him a confused look. His Adam's apples bobbed up and down as he gulped, aware of his odd behavior.

The awkward tension was immediately broken off when Bella splashed us with water, and declared war. Noah snapped out of his weird trance and went back to being playful as he took a step back and announced to Bella that "it's on". She went on to hide behind her boyfriend, Elliot, and he protected her from Noah's violent water splashes.

My curiosity got the best of me and I decided to sneak one last glance at the group of strangers before joining the game of war. My heart sunk in my stomach when I saw that the man was still staring daggers our way, only now his fists were tightly clenched by his sides, and a deep frown was etched to his features. The other two men were also quietly staring at us from their seats, a disapproving look on their faces.

I gulped in fear. And for some unknown and completely irrational reason, I could feel how angry and disappointed they were, and I had to fight hard against the feeling of shame gnawing at my chest.