Sadie's POV

I was led outside and the pool is massive. It is raised so if the lake decides to flood, the pool wouldn't be affected. The pier is close to the pool so one could easily go back and forth between the two. There was also a giant hot tub that could hold at least 15 people.

I've never been on vacation before and this is the ultimate vacation!

Marco and Ethan jump in the pool while the girls set up their towels on some benches. I slowly walk down to the girls and take off my towel. Still feeling very self conscious I decide to walk down to the pier.

There are music speakers everywhere and Ethan hooks up his music playlist so it is blaring throughout the property. I'm about to sit down but Nathan walks up.

"Hey beautiful, like the view?" He smirks. He starts flexing his abs and tightening his biceps. Is he talking about the lake or his body? Hmm, could be both.

"Yes, the LAKE is beautiful." I laughed.

"You wound me, Sadie!" He fakes hurt. So Sadie, tell me about your old home. You never talk about it much."

"Not much to tell really, my aunt died and left me the cabin. I had a few friends that I thought were my friends but ended up not being friends. My aunt was mute-her vocal cords were damaged in an animal attack so I didn't really talk much growing up. Kids thought I was weird." I looked down. "Then I started working at the diner at 11 and started to come out of my shell and talk to people. Since we were in such a small town people already had their opinions about me so I stayed to myself."

"That's terrible, they really missed out. I mean, you have made friends so fast here already everyone at the diner loves you." Nathan mentioned.

"That's very sweet Nathan, thank you." I continued to stare out over the lake. It was really peaceful, almost too peaceful. Something stirred inside me that being still for too long was a bad thing.

"What about you Nathan? What's your story." I asked

He paused for a moment to try and find the words, "Well, I'm Nathan, devilishly handsome." He winked and I scoffed. "My parents are Savanna and Jason, I've got a few younger siblings at home that are still in school. Aaaannd you know I already work with Ethan and Marco." He stated.

"What exactly do you guys do? You don't really do much of anything from the looks of it." I started laughing.

"We protect people, like bodyguards." He puffs out his chest. "We protect the town, we are the enforcers." He stated proudly.

"Oh, I see. The ya'll are the muscle of the whole town huh?"

"Exactly!"

We sat at the end of the dock listening to everyone splashing in the pool. Until we heard some cars pull up. I wasn't aware we were expecting people so Nathan went to check who it was while I sat at the pool.

Rebecca rolled her eyes when she was looking at Marco and pretended to pull her hair out. "What's wrong?" I was asking, confused, while I saw people piling out of cars.

"We got double booked. They are supposed to have a mixer here tonight. They will be gone late tonight, no one is staying the night but it looks like we are in for a party." Rebecca grumbled at me. Everyone looked at me hesitantly. They knew I wasn't in the mood for anything like the club last weekend.

I sighed and pushed my shoulders up and down. "Well, do we get free pizza and booze?"

Everyone looked at me and laughed, relaxing that I was not upset. I can't let everyone feel upset just because I was. Maybe we could have some fun tonight afterall and meet more people that I don't normally see in the diner.

It didn't take long for a DJ and a dance floor to be set up in the living room as well as outside, a large buffett and tables for poker and card games.

It was quite impressive how quickly everything was put together. The people that came here for the party looked like a unit.

There were some people dressed to swim while others were dressed to go to a club. I decided to stay outside in my swimsuit and stay at the end of the pier away from the chaos.

I took a couple of sips of my fruity drink Nathan got for me. I need to ask what this is because this is all I want to drink! I'm starting to feel a little buzzed already, something that Rebecca calls as a "lightweight." I can't handle anything apparently.

Nathan walks up with his beer and sits down with me putting our feet in the water. "Why are you out here all alone? The party is closer to the house."

"I'm just not used to all the noise is all, I'll go in soon once people start calming down a bit." I said.

"Ha! Good one, it is only going to get crazier!" he chuckled as he put his arm around my shoulder. "Hey, you like dancing. Want to dance right now?" he said quietly.

"I'm not sure if I had enough of..." and I pointed at my drink.

"Nonsense, stand up." he lightly commanded and I did. The song Senorita by Camila Cabello came on and I knew I could not dance to this. It was such a sultry song, like a salsa. I can't imagine using my hips like that.

"Nathan, I can't dance to this..." I trailed off.

"Sadie, trust me, no one else is paying attention, I'll teach you, "he whispered in my ear. This felt so wrong on so many levels. I know he cares about me more than friendship but I also have a hard time pushing away. I'm such a coward sometimes.

I bite my lip and he shows me how to move my hips, still giving me the proper distance. He shows me a few basic steps so I can repeat them over and over to the beat. That is when his arms came around my waist and the other hand grabbed mine.

He was staring at me intently and getting too close for comfort. Nathan was leaning in close to my face, his head started to lean towards my lips. I know I'm short so he has to be really intentional about it. I finally started pushing him back and I started to realize I was really uncomfortable. "Nathan, don't..."

I'm really not experienced enough to know if what he is planning to do will happen but I feel like all my romance novel reading, this is the moment where he might kiss me. I haven't had my first kiss yet and I wasn't planning on Nathan taking it.

I kept pushing him away and turning my head, and then, that's when I heard it.

A thunderous growl, almost a roar that shook the very pier we were standing on. I looked over and saw the blackest eyes connect with mine. It was a man, and when I say man... he was more like a god.

His entire body was muscle, dark tattoos traced over his entire body except for the right side of his shoulder. He was flexing his muscles and fist repeatedly. The dark hair on his head was gelled back with a hard part on his right side.

This man was intimidating, scary and I should probably faint from his dominating aura. However, I find him extremely handsome, sexy, drool worthy.

Wait. What!?

I finally whispered, "the guy from the club, he's the one..." The one who called me those horrible things. My excitement of seeing this man was now sadness. I thought I got away from him, is he now going to tell me more horrible things about me that aren't even true?

Nathan looked at me and back at the guy at the end of the pier.

"No, no fucking way," he spat and grabbed my arm and pulled me behind him.

At this point everyone from the house and from the pool are looking at us. The ear shattering growl caught their attention.

Hot tattoo guy started to run down the pier and Nathan yelled at me to run. Where in the heck do I run to?! He is running so quickly I barely have time to think. I just dove into the water and decided to swim. Muscle weighs more than fat, maybe he can't swim?

I started swimming to the right of the lake as quickly as I could. I stopped to turn around to see what happened and the hot tattoo guy is still coming towards me and Nathan is lying on the pier not moving.

My heartbeat quickens and I put all my energy into swimming across. I can feel the eyes of the people on shore and they all started to run towards where I am exiting the lake. My knees are getting hit with rocks and branches as I emerge from the cold lake. Rebecca is the first to see me and I don't even stop.

I ran.

I hear Rebecca screaming to stop but there is no way I am stopping. Once I hear his body leave the water I find the closest tree and climb it. He's too heavy to climb up right? I'm running out of options.

Rebecca, Lela, Ethan and Marco are standing at the bottom of the tree while I climb to the top. My bikini is getting ripped and after running through the woods my feet are bleeding. The adrenaline is keeping me from feeling any pain right now.

"Sadie, come down, it's OK! He will not hurt you!"

"You are NUTS! I am not moving. He was chasing me! He is going to hurt me!" I bit back a sob. Are they out of their minds? There is no way I'm coming down.

"He won't, I promise, please come down. Have I ever lied to you? I would never put you in danger." She pleaded.

"Where is he? Is he down there? I can't see with all the branches!" I yelled. I'm petrified at this point. He jumped in the water to chase me and he already found me just a short distance from the woods.

"He is here, his name is Seth." she said soothingly.

"Beka,... he's the one that told me those mean things at the bar." I sniffed. Feeling like such a baby, I choked back a sob. Rebecca knows how upset I was all week just by that one sentence. Whore and slut kept ringing through my head. Why does it bother me so much?

There was a conversation going on down below but I couldn't hear it. I heard more growling and whimpering. Is there a dog around here?

"Please come down, there is a misunderstanding." Rebecca almost sobbed. "He would never hurt you, he never meant to. He's my brother."

I perked up a moment, Beka talked so highly of her brother when we had our girl nights, even though she said he can be "kind of scary to some people, he really is a good person."

"Okay," I said. Crazy, I must be crazy. "But tell him to back up 10 yards and give me space."

I heard a whimper.

What is going on with these animal noises?

My heart beat started to slow down and the cuts and bruises from climbing up the tree in a rush started to ache. There was a crowd of people now at the base of the tree. A lot of people from the party. Why are there so many people here?

I finally jump down the last 6 feet from the tree and land on the balls of my feet wincing at the sudden impact. My feet were more bruised than I thought. Standing up feeling really shy around the crowd of people. They slowly started to disperse and leave. Now I am left with my small group of friends and... him.