Chapter 1

The never-ending screech of an alarm clock assaulted Zira’s ears. Each time it went off it ripped her further from her blissful dreamless sleep. By the third round, she opened her eyes and cursed at the blinding sunlight hitting her directly in the eyes. Blinded, tired, and wedged under something heavy Zira wiggled to the edge of the bed and sifted through the pile of clothes on the floor until she found the source of the noise.

“Oh shit.” When she finally managed to silence the alarm she realized why it was going off. It was already 8:30 am. She had class! Zira turned to figure out what was on top of her and froze. It wasn’t a what. It was a who. She narrowed her eyes at the very attractive and very blurry face resting on her bare chest. It looked like she had a good time last night.

When she felt movement behind her back and an arm wrapped around her pulling her close, she craned her neck to see the same face? Oh, she had a great time last night.  All the movement made her head spin. Zira cursed under her breath again. She was still drunk. Again.

“I swear to whatever god will listen to my pathetic ass right now, if you help me get to my class without puking I will never drink that much again.” And she meant it. For the moment. That wasn’t the first plea she made and it wouldn’t be the last. Mira had plenty of time to contemplate what a train wreck her life was but at the moment she needed to move her ass.

Slipping out wasn’t easy. Not only was she having trouble holding her head up, but the twins also kept grabbing for her every time she moved. It was the same thing her little sister used to do every time they napped together. As gently as she could she pushed pillows into her spot as she pulled herself out. She breathed a sigh of relief.

“Talk about clingy.” She stumbled around the room finding her clothes. The skin-tight party dress was ripped to shred. As ashamed as she would have been to do yet another walk of shame to class, it wasn’t even a possibility. She eyed the two laying on the bed. Their bulging muscles were easily visible as the blanket was more on the floor than on them. Man, she wished she could remember the night before.

“Focus!” She scolded herself. She reached into a set of dresser drawers and pulled out a graphic t-shirt. Then rummaged around until she found a drawer full of jeans. The shirt was big. It fit snug across her breasts but hung loose down to her hips. The jeans were long. Extremely long. She had curvy hips and a well-rounded ass so filling them out wasn’t the problem. In a last-ditch effort to not look completely ridiculous, she rolled the denim legs up to create cuffs at her ankles. The black wedges she wore the night before would look good with the outfit. She couldn’t risk putting them on and making noise against the hardwood floor. The last thing she needed was an awkward good morning.

Satisfied that she was more presentable than last time she slung her bag over her shoulder and with shoes in hand she darted from the room. Zira darted down the hallway and peaked out into the living room. Saying a silent thank you to the universe for it being empty. She fumbled with the lock like she was defusing a bomb. Years of sneaking out of her father’s house prepared her for this moment. Only waking up her father would have resulted in a severe beating. She was pretty sure if she woke these guys up the only thing she would be in for was an extremely awkward goodbye.

Thinking about her father lit a fire under her ass and got her out the door and down several flights of steps like her life depended on it. It was going on three years since she ran away from home. There were times that she regretted it. How could she not? She missed her little sister and big brothers. Hell, she even missed her mother and father. Their family was so tight-knit she had to wonder if she did the right thing.

Shuffling down the street she shook her head trying to rid herself of her doubts. Of course, it was the right thing. Her family was loving in its own way but it was so controlling she damn near had to ask permission to breathe. Up until the day she ran away her father wouldn’t even allow her to interact with anyone outside their family! Can you imagine being an outsider in your own family? Constantly catching the wrath of your father just for existing?

Zira cracked open the back door to the lecture hall and quietly tip-toed toward the back row of seats. The toe of her shoe slipped against the slick floor and she went tumbling forward.

“Nice of you to join us, Ms. Alexander.” The professor stared at her as she pulled herself off the ground. Every student turned their eyes to her. Snickering and whispers filled the lecture hall. Zira was pretty sure she saw the flash from a camera but couldn’t rule out it being the by-product of a concussion.

“Don’t mind me. I’m totally okay. No one get up.” Said Zira as she slid into a seat in the back row.

“Are you done now?” The professor asked. Zira nodded as she tried to melt into her seat and disappear. It could have been the alcohol still in her system but the professor seemed colder than usual. Coming to class was probably a mistake. The slides and homework would be posted online as usual but attendance was still important to Zira. Her father saw to it that she was home-schooled. Any chance she got to exercise her newfound freedom to leave her home as she pleased was not something she took for granted.

The class was going slow and her head was splitting. Biology was an interesting class on most days when the grad student was teaching. But when that grey old fart was in charge the class could be considered strange and usual punishment. Pulling out her phone she decided to scroll through and see if she could piece together her night. 87 unread texts? She leaned forward in her seat no longer making an effort to keep her phone hidden. Did something happen to her friends?

“I miss you.” it was from an unknown number. Zira’s heart thundered in her chest. No one had this number. She only gave it to her closest friends. It wasn’t even in her name.

“Are you busy?” Read another text.

“I want to see you.” And another.

“Don’t act like you don’t miss me.”

“Answer me.” Text after text they became more demanding. More insistent. The tone of the texts, the wording, the punctuation, everything was familiar. Far too familiar. She kept scrolling, the bile rising higher in her throat until she got to the last one.

“See you see, Zae Bae.” That was it. She sprinted from the room, her bag barely hanging onto her shoulder, and burst into the bathroom Zira just made it to the toilet before all of last night’s fun made a second appearance. Her stomach heaved as though it were trying to turn itself inside out. As soon as it stopped she slumped onto the floor and looked at the phone again.

Zae Bae. There was only one person in the world that called her that. Her ex-boyfriend. His family was close to hers. They grew up together and were homeschooled together. On her eighteenth birthday, her father was going to force her to marry him. As much as she thought she loved him every cell in her body rebelled against the idea. Mason was even more terrifying than her father. She had the scars to prove it. He always seemed to know her worst fears and wasn’t afraid to use that information against her.

“Zira? Are you in here?” The bathroom door creaked open and the familiar sound of Kady’s footsteps came rushing to the stall door.

“How did you know?” Zira got up and flushed the toilet before opening the stall.

“Oof, I could smell you a mile away.” Kady made a face. “Where did you get those clothes?” Zira froze, she almost forget she stole someone’s outfit.

“I was hoping you knew. I don’t remember anything from last night. Just woke up this morning and found my dress ripped up.” The color drained from Kady’s face.

“Goddess are you okay? Did they hurt you?” Zira turned the sink on and scrubbed water on her face.

“No, no, I’m fine. Sore, but in a good way. They looked like they drank harder than I did.” She leaned against the sink feeling like she may need to run back to the toilet.

“They?” it wasn’t like Kady to be judgemental. She was Zira’s best friend. Really, she was her first friend. When they got together the best things happened.

“How did you know I was here? Like, in the bathroom?” She looked at her friend through the mirror and hoped she would take the b**e and change the subject. As wild as she could get this was the first time she ever ended up in bed with two men and she wasn’t ready to talk about it. Kady pulled out her phone and waved it at her.

“Erin, how else? You guys have bio lecture together remember? She sent me a video of you falling on your face and then one of you stumbling out of the room early.” Zira groaned and splashed more water on her burning skin.

“She is the worst roommate ever. Do you think she sent it to anyone else?” Kady made a face and stared at her phone like it was the most important thing in the world.

“Ugh, that bitch.” Zira put her whole head in the sink and contemplated drowning herself.

“Are you okay? You really don’t look so good.” After a moment of silence, Zira shook her butt in Kady’s direction. She got the hint and pulled the phone from Zira’s back pocket. It didn’t take long for her to gasp. Drowning herself was sounding better and better. “Z, are these from…?”

“Mason? Yes.” Just saying his name made her want to vomit. She didn’t tell Kady everything about her past. She only told her enough to keep her from asking questions. Like when she saw the scar on her neck from when Mason tried to tear her throat out with his teeth the day she told him she didn’t want to marry him. Of all the marks he left on her body that was the one she hated the most. Kady wouldn’t leave her alone until she explained it.

“Holy shit is he here? Did he find you?” Zira turned off the water and turned toward her friend. Despite the water on her face, the tears were still evident.

“I don’t know yet.” The words broke her as the tears flowed full force making her drop her face in her hands. “If he finds me that means my family can find me. I’m going to have to run again.” Kady wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. This wasn’t the first school she hid at. She hoped it would be the last.

“No screw that. That asshole won’t come near you. I’ll make sure of it. You can stay at my place. Taylor won’t mind. I’ll skip my next class and take you home to get your stuff.” Zira pulled away. One reason why the two of them got along so well is that they both had similar goals and ambitions. Missing class just wasn’t an option.

“No, it’s fine. Don’t skip class. I’ll be okay, I swear. I’ll go take a shower grab my stuff and meet you at your apartment by the time class is over.” Kady looked at her and frowned.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yep. No worries. Just get to class. And then text me how you managed to drink way more than me and still look like you got a full eight hours of sleep. If we were really friends you would have shared your secret by now.” They both laughed at how rough Zira looked compared to Kady. She gave her one last hug and then left for class.

Zira was glad the halls were mostly empty. She made her way back toward her room. The whole way she tried to reassure herself. The texts might not be from him. Even if they were, there was no guarantee he knew where she was. She wasn’t even going by her real name. Usually, she changed her number every couple of months. It had been too long since the last time she changed it. The whole way home she tried to reassure herself that everything was fine while she ignored the never-ending nagging feeling that she was being watched.

“Yep. I’m totally okay.”