I could hear low voices as we made it to the bottom of the stairs. My body froze for a moment before I quickly shook my head. I can do this. It's just meeting a few new people, not everyone is like Jacob and his friends. I was safe.

I glanced up at Hunter, who was leaned against the railing of the stairs watching me patiently.

"You good darlin?" He questioned. "We can go back upstairs if you want." He gave me a reassuring smile. I shook my head and blew out a breath.

"No. I'm good." I gave him a soft smile. He stared at me for a moment before returning the smile and holding his hand out to me. I glanced down at it for a moment before softly moving my hand to grab it, watching as it disappeared inside of his large one. His hand was warm and calloused. I felt a small shiver run through my body. He gave my hand a quick squeeze before tugging me softly in the directions of the voices.

"You're making it out to be a bigger deal than it actually was!" I heard a voice exclaim before laughter boomed from the room, making me flinch slightly.

Straight ahead from the staircase was a thick wooden door with multiple locks and a small window closer to the top. There was a wide bench to the right of it, with boots stacked underneath it and jackets hanging from the wall above it. The voices were coming from the open doorway to the left of it.

"Nah man." Another voice chuckled. "You're lucky the fire department was so close. His mom was so pissed!" Another round of laughter sounded.

We walked inside what seemed to be a living room. There were three massive dark brown couches that took up half of the room, circled around a large wooden coffee table. There was a fireplace with a tv hanging over it against the wall opposite of the couches, tall shelves on either side.

My hand tightened on Hunters as I noticed the men from last night lounging on the couches. Two blondes sat on each side of the center couch, one had short curly hair and the other was the man from last night with his hair pulled into a topknot. On the couch to the right of them there were two other men, one had tattoos covering his arms and brown hair that was styled in a buzz cut. On the other side of the same couch was the tan man with long black hair from last night. He shot us a quick grin as we walked in.

"Whatever." The man with the topknot grumbled out as he glared at a man with blonde curly hair. "Y'all just don't appreciate the finer things in life." The blonde shook his head with another chuckle.

"What finer things are we talking about?" Hunter questioned, pulling us to sit on the empty couch. The other men glanced in our direction, making me shrink into Hunter's side. The man with the buzz cut shook his head with a slight laugh.

"Arthur was just telling us about the time Jackson blew his treehouse up when they were kids." The other men chuckled as the man with the topknot threw his hands up.

"You guys weren't there, you didn't see it!" He tried to argue before he glanced at me. "What's your thoughts on fire?" I raised my eyebrows as he stared at me, waiting for my answer.

I glanced around to see the other men watching us, the curly haired blonde shaking his head in amusement.

"Umm, I think it's warm.....and pretty?" I said hesitantly, flinching as the man jumped from his seat.

"See! She gets it." He rejoiced. "They just don't understand creativity like us." He said as he shot me a goofy grin. My head tilted to the side as I stared at him. He was odd. I liked it.

"This is Jackson." Hunter introduced. "He is what we like to call a pyromaniac." Jackson shot me a quick bow, making a small smile rise on my face.

"That's Arthur." He said as he pointed to the man with curly blonde hair. "He's our brain power when it comes to technology." Arthur looked amused as he shot me a grin.

"That's Ace." Hunter pointed to the man with the buzz cut. "He is the chef of the house and our marksman." Ace gave me a nod before smirking as he glanced at our hands that were still together.

I blushed before slowly pulling my hand from Hunters, who looked at me in confusion before continuing. "Lastly, this is Jai, our jack of all trades. From mechanic work to what plants are edible. He and Mak are brothers." He explained as he pointed at a man with black hair, who sent me a wave and smile.

"Guys, this is Rose. She's gonna be staying with us for a little while." He said, making my eyes narrow.

"Just for a few days." I corrected, making Hunter stare at me for a moment before he glanced away nodding his head. I looked up to see the other men staring at us in amusement.

"Arthur, I was hoping you could find someone for Rose." Hunter said, making me glance at the blonde who immediately started nodding his head.

"Sure. What information can you give me?" He asked as he pulled a small notebook from his back pocket.

"Um. Her name is Lisa Carson, she's twenty-eight, or maybe twenty-nine now, we were in Texas." I trailed off, feeling my forehead crease as I tried to remember the town we had moved to.

We both went to college together at Colorado State University, she had been my roommate from freshman to senior year. When we graduated and she decided to move to Texas to work as a teacher she begged me to come with her, it didn't take much convincing and we were packed up and on the road. We had only lived there for three months when we went to the club a few cities over and I got kidnapped. "In a city called Whiteland. She's a teacher at one of the local schools."

"I bet that drive sucked. Texas is a good bit away from Georgia." Ace commented as he rubbed his jaw, my eyes widened and my mouth dropped open slightly. I was in Georgia. "How long did it take you to drive it?" He questioned, he glanced at me and his eyes narrowed in concern.

"I....umm....I'm not sure." I stammered. I could feel their confused stares on me, but I was too far in my mind.

I always thought I was still in Texas somewhere or a state over, not four states over. I felt my shoulders drop, getting back was going to be more difficult than I thought. Maybe if Arthur could find Lisa she could send me the money I had stored away in my room, if I still had a room. I had been gone a long time, she could have moved somewhere else.

"You wanna see something cool?" Jackson's excited voice broke the silence. I glanced at him to see him looking at me with a hopeful expression. I started to slowly nod, thankful for the distraction, before Hunter interrupted.

"No. Your definition of cool always involves something getting blown up. She's not going." He said sternly, making my eyes narrow. Did I not have a choice?

"Buzz kill." Jackson coughed before glancing around. "Anyone else up for an adventure?" Jai and Arthur shook their heads.

"Nah, I've got some stuff to take care of. It was nice meeting you Rose, I'm sure I'll see you around." Arthur joked, before standing and walking out of the room.

"Someone has to make sure you don't burn the house down." Ace said as he stood up. They started to make their way out of the room.

"Wait!" I hadn't realized I spoke until everyone glanced at me. "Um, actually...I would like to come." I felt Hunter's gaze on me making me glance at him, his forehead was creased.

"Rose, no. You're supposed to be resting." My eyes narrowed at his words. His eyes softened. "Don't give me that look. You don't need to go, you could get hurt." I couldn't help the scoff that escaped my lips.

"It's alright sweetheart, I can show you another time." I glanced up at Jackson, he had a mischievous smile on his face. "You should listen to him, we don't want you to get in any trouble." My eyes narrowed making his smile widen.

"Exactly." Hunter agreed, making my eyes shoot to him with a glare, the smile on his face faltered. "Now hold on a minute darlin, don't get mad." He said warily, I could hear Jackson let out a quiet snicker behind me.

"I'm going with them." I stated as I stood up, Hunter's eyes narrowed as we had a small stare down.

"I said no, not today Rose." He said in a hard voice making me flinch slightly. His gaze softened. "I'm sorry darlin, I just don't want you to hurt yourself more." He said softly. His words brought my anger back. Did he think I was incapable of taking care of myself? Why did I have to listen to him? I'm tired of being told what to do.

"Do I have to have your permission?" I ground out with clenched teeth. His eyes widened as he stared at me.

"You're right darlin." He said softly, his hand coming up to cup my cheek. "I apologize, I didn't mean to sound controlling. I just have this overbearing urge to protect you." I felt the glare fall from my face. His thumb rubbed over my cheek before he pulled away.

"She comes back with even a scratch and I'll cut your hands off." He threatened as he glanced at Jackson and Ace, they both nodded. "Watch her knee, she doesn't need to be on it too much." He looked back at me, giving me a soft smile as he pushed a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Well come on then m'lady" Jackson said in a teasing voice, when I looked over he had a wide grin on his face. Ace had another smirk on his face, giving me an impressed look as I walked over to them. I glanced at Hunter as he walked up to me, giving him a soft smile as he handed me a small blanket, before following the guys.

We moved further down the hallway, and past the staircase Hunter and I had come down. There was another open doorway to the left, glancing by as we passed I noticed it was a kitchen with a connected dining area. There was a closed door to the left, inside the base of the staircase. Straight ahead was another heavy wooden door like the one on the other side of the hall.

"Her soul speaks to yours." I heard Jai state softly, his voice carried into the hallway as we reached the door.

"Yeah." I could hear Hunter's soft chuckle. "Yeah, It does."