Chapter 3 Chapter Three

As the adrenaline from running and being caught slowly wears off I realize I am still laying on top of Austin. My soft body is pressed against his hard body, and I feel a rush of heat to the sensitive spot between my thighs. Shaking my head to clear the dirty thoughts forming, I push away from Austin to try and stand up.

Before I can even push myself to my knees Austin snakes his hands around my waist pulling me firmly down on top of him. “Austin, let go of me.” I say pushing against his chest, but he only pulls me closer. Not that it is even possible to do that.

“Austin seriously let go of me.” I say a little more firmly this time. In the light from the full moon, I can see Austin’s devilish smirk. After a few long seconds of fighting to get out of his hold, Austin’s grip around my waste loosens. Finally, I can get up.

I push against the ground again to try and get to my knees, and suddenly I’m on my back. Austin is on top of me. A loud squeal escapes from me as I try to process what is happening. Why wont he just get off of me?

“You won the game just get off of me.” I try shoving as hard as I can against his chest, but he isn’t budging.

“You’re right I won the game, so I get to do whatever I want to you right? And right now, I want to lay on top of you.” Austin says smugly, making me roll my eyes.

“Ugghhh.” I let out a frustrated sigh. This is ridiculous. I can’t even make him move an inch. “Just get off me.”

“You are so damn cute when you are mad.” Austin says as he casually brushes a strand of hair from my face.

I’m cute when I’m mad? What in the literal hell does that mean? I feel tears forming in my eyes and I have to look away. I refuse to cry in front of him. “I-“ before I can think of a response. Tyler, Spencer, Jace, and Zarakai come running over one after the other. I freeze. I’m sure our current situation looks much worse than what it is. “Austin, get off me.” I whisper so only he can hear me.

Austin’s eyes narrow at me. “Why does it look like you are about to cry?” Austin asks frowning at me.

“Oh damn! I guess you won Austin.” Tyler says with a chuckle.

“I heard her scream. I’m glad it was you and not some wild animal that got her.” Zarakai says laughing.

I can feel Jace staring at me. Glaring daggers into Austin’s back. “Are you just going to lay there? Or are you going to get off her?” Jace asks with clear irritation in his voice.

Austin sighs loudly, looking directly into my eyes before slowing getting off me. Dragging his body across mine as he stands up. I can feel him everywhere. My nipples harden and a rush of heat floods to my lower extremities.

Austin extends his hand to help me up, but I push it away. “I can get up on my own.” I say stubbornly.

“You guys ready to go back? It’s freezing out here.” Spencer says, rubbing his arms through his sweatshirt.

I had honestly forgot how cold it was out here. I guess my adrenaline and dirty thoughts were keeping me warm. A strong wind gust blows through making me shiver, uncontrollably. The short shorts and tank top I went to bed in are doing absolutely nothing to keep me warm.

The rules of the game only allow you to grab a pair of shoes and get out the door in two minutes, otherwise you automatically lose. I don’t remember exactly when those became the rules, but I do know I don’t like them.

The game started after my mom died. When I was ten years old my mom and I were headed home from the store, it was storming bad. Lots of lightning and thunder. It was raining so hard you could barely see the road in front of us. My mom was driving way under the speed limit, but bad things still happened.

We were stopped at a red light only a couple more miles until we made it home. Our light turned green, my mom took off and a semi-truck blew through the red light and smashed into our car. My mom died on impact. By some miracle I managed to survive with only a couple broken ribs, a few cuts, and some bruises.

After that night I started having horrible recurring nightmares especially on stormy nights. I would wake up screaming, reliving the moment over and over in my dreams. It got so bad I was afraid to go to sleep. My brother, and his friends decided to come up with games and activities to wear me out so I could sleep.

Our favorite one was what they called midnight moon tag. We would play tag in the backyard sometimes for hours, until I was so exhausted, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. We played almost every night for the first few years. Around my thirteenth birthday our simple game of tag became something wilder. We also started playing less and less. It became a game we only played on nights with a full moon. 

I think it was Austin that suggested we start racing to the old play cabin in the woods on our property. It really became a race for my life, if any of them could catch me before I reached the cabin, they got to choose one thing for me to do. It could be anything they wanted.

Because my legs are so short compared to their long legs, I have literally never won the game. They would always choose something simple like making me rub their smelly feet or cleaning their nasty rooms. So, what does Austin want me to do now?

“Here baby.” Jace says pulling his hoody over his head and handing it to me.

“Thank you.” I whisper as I put the hoody on over my sleep clothes. “I’m ready now.” I say as I start heading back towards the house.