Claimed by the Dark Souls of VHA

Chapter Nine

AVA

The music is pumping through my veins and I welcome the adrenaline rush that I am sporting with it. Emma and I are indulging ourselves with drinks that are so f!cking delicious that the bartender has really got some serious skills. He keeps winking at us every time he hands me our drinks, and I am guessing he has his flirt going on. He's pretty handsome but I'm busy eyeing the mass of the male species out on the dance floor. My eyes roam all over, but all my head can think about is Alex's touch and the way he makes my body feel. His hands, his mouth, his everything.

Not again Ava. Let him be with Mean Girls Queen.

Emma takes me by the hand after we guzzle down our third round of drinks, not daring to leave them unattended for some asshole to spike, and we make our way to the middle of the dance floor where everyone is bumping and grinding against each other. We move our bodies to the rhythm not once letting our sight go from one another. We came here together so we will be leaving here together. We can grind into whoever we want, but by the time we leave, it'll just be us.

I watch as someone wraps their arm around Emma's waist. She's feeling good right now and the guy who is clinging to her isn't bad looking. I stay close by, making sure he doesn't disrespect her in any way, because I can use another form of release through punching someone in the face, but from the looks of it, they're doing just fine. I continue to sway my hips, reveling in the music when big hands suddenly wrap around me. I move to turn my head to see who in fact has a hold on me, stupidly thinking that it is one of the three assholes who must have followed us, but the guy stops me by lowering his mouth to my ear.

"Mmm..that's my angel. You know how I love it when you move. You've got me rock hard and it's been so long since I've laid my eyes on you." He says in a low voice, but it brings a shiver up my spine. This isn't the good kind of shiver that I get when Alex, Ryder or Christian are near by. This is the shiver from a man that has brought about so much pain in my life.

He found me.

How the f!ck did he find me?!

I struggle to get out of his grip but his hands push my stomach against his damn erection harder and I want to vomit. Literally, the three drinks are slowly rising up my throat. It tastes so much better going down than it back up.

So much for having fun tonight.

"Get the f!ck off of me Victor." I say all the while he is moaning and groaning in my ear. One hand moves up towards my throat and he begins choking me, slowly cutting off air for me to breath. He bends my head back and a maniacal grin is plastered on his face. His grip around my waist becomes tighter to the point where he'll probably leave bruises.

"You can run but you can't hide from me angel. Never underestimate the hold I have on you. You are f!cking mine!" Tears begin to prick my eyes and I'll be damned if he sees me spill one tear. He gets off on hurting, and inflicting pain.

Don't cry! I won't f!cking cry!

I writhe against him, forcing every cell in my body to put up my barriers and cease control of the situation. I didn't take kick boxing classes and defense classes for no reason. I begin to think back about what my trainer said to do if I am ever in a chokehold but everything is fuzzy. My body begins to fall limp against his, having him think he has the advantage of whisking me away. I find the strength in me to never be his target again and when he momentarily drops his guard, I awaken with the need for vengeance.

I manage to free myself from his hold and elbow him in the stomach. I turn to knee him in the balls and punch him in the face. He falls to the floor, holding his junk, and I search the crowd and my eyes immediately land on Emma. I make a beeline for her and grab her and pull her along with me, pushing all the bodies away from us so we can get the hell out of there.

"Oh my god Ava what the hell was that!" She is gasping for air after we make it out of the club and stop for a second to catch our breath around the corner.

"There is so much I need to tell you but for right now, we need to get out of here. I'll be damned if you are caught in the middle of this." She only nods seeing the intense gaze I have going on and we begin to run when a car hitting its brakes stops by the side of us. I prepare to fight, but the window is lowered to reveal Christian.

"Get in!" He says and I don't need to be told twice to get in the car with them. These assholes I can deal with. It's the other asshole, Victor, that I can not allow to hurt me or my one true friend. We hop into the backseat of their Range Rover and Ryder hits the gas speeding us away in an instant. I fail to realize that Alex is in the backseat with us and he immediately grabs my face to assess me. He turns my face from left to right and shines his flashlight from his phone on me and that is when he sees the red mark wrapped around my neck. Of course Victor left a mark on me.

"F!ck!" He punches the door, thankfully not the window because with that kind of force, the glass would have definitely shattered. I watch as Ryder takes a look through the rear view mirror and his eyes lock on mine and then move to Alex. They share some silent conversation and Ryder begins to grip the steering wheel tighter.

"Alex? Why are you in their car?" Emma says and I look to Alex and raise my eyebrow to see how he explains this to one to her.

"I couldn't find you guys at the lake party and overheard these two fighting about you guys going to a bar in town. I asked if I could come along." He cooly states. If it were any other person, this stupid response would have went right over their heads. However, this is Emma. She is insanely smart.

"Yeah right. You hate these two with a passion and wouldn't be caught dead next to one. What gives?" She crosses her arms against her chest and he runs his fingers through his hair while Ryder and Christian school their appearance, but I know they are sh!tting bricks right about now.

While this little heated exchange goes on, I lean my head back and wipe my hand against my throat. I close my eyes and all I can see or hear is Victor in my head. I immediately open my eyes and jump slightly. Alex and the other two definitely know what is plaguing me right now and I need to know how much they know.

Will they believe me, or will they take it upon themselves to deliver me to the enemy?

We make it back to campus and I distance myself from goon squad as I lead Emma back to her room. She must have so many questions, none of which I can answer right now because I am drained. I need to protect her at all costs. It is because of me that she could be in danger.

"Get some rest. Tonight was a little crazy and I will explain everything tomorrow." She looks at me like she wants to protest but doesn't. She pulls me in for a hug and I hug her back. She slides into her room and closes the door, locking it. I turn to see all three broody guys eyeing me carefully. I walk towards my room but Alex halts me.

"You're staying with me in my room tonight." He grabs my hand but Ryder and Christian stand in front of him.

"If you two don't move the f!ck out of my way, there will be problems." Alex says with such venom that it makes me do a double take. This is the first time I have ever heard him speak in such a tone.

"Like hell we'll move. She is coming to our room. You can too but it's the official plan. Let's go." Alex's body goes rigid and the grip on my hand becomes tighter.

"Hey, Alex, look at me." I place my hand on his cheek and he slowly turns to face me. His body relaxes and his expression becomes pained.

"Let's go to their room for now, okay? We'll go to yours afterwards." I say softly and he nods.

"Yea, not f!cking like...." Ryder says but Christian manages to elbow him in the ribs to get him to shut up. Alex looks at Ryder pointedly until we all make our way to their room. Once inside, Alex releases me and heads for the kitchen. I eye the giant living quarters and realize they are bigger than what they seem to be. This whole room spells filthy rich money.

Alex comes back with an ointment for my neck and I watch as Ryder and Christian plop down on the couch, watching their brother tend to my injury. I go to sit on the small couch, but Alex sits first and pulls me into his lap. The other two narrow their eyes and I hold up my hand to stop whatever this weird dynamic is between us.

"I can see you two don't like Alex touching me." They just stare at me blankly and I sigh. I turn to Alex and move myself off of him.

"No more touchy feely sh!t when you are just like those two and dipping your sh!t into Candice's shriveled up zone down there." His eyes widen and I move my a*s to the recliner chair, away from all the testosterone. I cross one leg over the other and just stare at the three guys in front of me. I can see them eye my body, my legs, the dress I have on, but right now, I think we all need answers.

***************************************************

I'm still sitting in the recliner chair, which is certifiably comfy, but the whole wearing a dress and combat boots is getting to me. Ryder comes up to me handing me a bottle of water as Christian comes to my other side, handing me a shirt and a pair of ankle socks. I give them both a quick smile as a thank you. I am not sure where Alex wandered off too, but I don't ask anything about his whereabouts.

"Can I use your bathroom to change?" Christian immediately points in the direction and I once again smile. I make my way to the bathroom quickly, entering and locking the door behind me. I shimmy out of the dress and combat boots and pull on the shirt given to me which comes to my thighs and put the socks on needing to roll them to actually fit my foot. I am just thankful that I have boy shorts on underneath so nothing too scandalous will be seen. I find some Listerine and gargle quickly, so done with tasting the drinks in my mouth. I fix my hair and gather my clothes and shoes and walk out back to the living room I guess it was where I was sitting.

"You gave her your f!cking shirt?!" Alex says loudly and I wince.

Sh!t. Here comes the epic showdown of jealousy.

"She looked uncomfortable in that dress so I loaned her a shirt. It's a shirt Alex. Relax." Christian says as Ryder eyes me, his eyes becoming darkened. He heads off to his room, closing the door with a slam.

"Don't mind him. It's been a long night." Christian says as he walks up to me, hesitating before he looks at my neck. His hand cups my cheek and I lean into it.

"I'll murder the bast!rd that did this to you. Mark my words." He says through gritted teeth. My body takes over what my mind is screaming for me not to do, but my body craves all of them, and I kiss him on the cheek.

"Thanks for the save back there." My hand holds onto his arm and before I know it, his lips are on mine, begging to taste me. I cave and wrap my arms around his neck and our tongues dance before I abruptly pull away, knowing Alex is standing right there watching. I walk back to the recliner chair and sit down with my legs crossed. I open the water bottle Ryder handed to me before and begin drinking.

"How do you know Victor?" Alex asks without a care in the world and I spit my water out of my mouth. I begin to cough hysterically and they both run to pat my back. Ryder's door flies open and he is beside me in an instant glowering at both of his brothers.

"What the f!ck! Ever heard of easing into a question sh!t for brains?!" He looks at both of them before kneeling before me, making sure I am okay.

Well, this is new.

Once I regain composure and am not choking on water, I narrow my eyes at all of them.

"How do you know Victor?" They look to one another and I brace myself for sh!t to hit the fan.

"Victor is our deadbeat piece of sh!t father." Their words take time to register in my brain and once I do, my body goes in defense mode and I throw my combat boots on, ready to make my escape. They all see the change in my disposition and become rigid. I can give a damn that I am only in a shirt right now. As long as I have my phone and my shoes on, I'm good to go. I eye the front door with my peripheral view and make a beeline for it.

These three are his sons.

They'll serve me on a golden platter to him.

I can't go back.

I won't go back

I'd rather run.

I make it to the door but before I have a chance to open it, Ryder is right by it holding it closed with his arm. I look at him and then to the others.

"Why are you running?" Christian says wanting to come closer to me but manages to hold himself back.

"I can't go back! You'll give me to him, I know you will!" I blurt out making Alex's face fall along with the other two.

"To who? Victor?" Christian says in disbelief but I can't tell if he is serious or joking. I nod and every bad memory I have kept on the inside is crawling to the forefront of my mind.

"Who is he to you?" Ryder asks or more like demands.

"He's the reason I needed to run. He wants what is his." I say to them barely at whisper level.

"And what is his exactly?" Alex asks and you can feel the tension rolling off of all of them in waves.

"Me."