Captivated (An Affliction Novel) by Raven

to talk to you anyway.” Markus insisted. He spun on his heels and as he passed Ayden, I heard him say, “Don’t leave her alone.” Markus’ tone was serious.
    Tanya rose up and skipped to me. She threw her arms around me and brought her lips to my ear. “Something’s different about Ayden tonight.” She paused and smiled at Ayden. Turning back to me, she whispered, “Be careful.”
    “You have nothing to worry about.” I gave her an assuring smile. “Take care of Markus,” I suggested.
    “Why? What happened?” she asked.
    “I don’t know yet.” I said quietly while squeezing her a brief moment before releasing her.
    She pressed her lips together with determination. I knew from that look that she was going to try to find out.
    I didn’t want to deal with Ayden right now as he was so eager to rekindle our ‘friendship.’ I so wasn’t having it as I was more than fine without him…even if it has only been a week since I started avoiding him. I lead Ayden back to the couch to sit down, making sure not to sit too close to him. Unfortunately, the loud music blaring around us made that impossible.
    “So, how have you been?” he asked.
    “Good” I stated. As I glanced around the room, I found what I was searching for; Dean. Once again, he looked only in my direction. He was seated at the bar near the entrance, but this time I was sure he was looking right at me. Sadly, his face looked different than the smile he had for me before. It was no longer playful; it was now twisted in pain. Just to see what would happen, I scooted myself right up to Ayden, practically intertwining our legs together. Dean looked away swiftly. After a moment though, his eyes found me again. I couldn’t concentrate. I couldn’t focus any of my attention on what Ayden was saying. All I heard was his voice mumbling in my ear. And distracted as I was, I still couldn’t ignore the stench of stale alcohol masked by mint that crept out of his mouth.
    “Mindy?” Ayden asked.
    “Huh? What’s up?” I blurted absentmindedly.
    “Have you been listening to anything I’ve been saying?” he asked in a huff.
    “Have you been drinking?” I inquired.
    Ayden exhaled. “I only had one drink at the house party I just came from.”
    I glanced back at Dean then inched closer to Ayden’s ear. Agony spread over Dean’s face. “It’s too loud in here,” I said in his ear.
    “Let’s go for a walk then.” he suggested.
    I smiled and rose to my feet. Grabbing his hand might have been a bad idea, but I had to see if I could get another reaction out of Dean. And I did. We walked past him to get to the front entrance and his eyes blazed murderously at Ayden. They were like a dark sky, promising a threatening and ominous event in its wake. The shimmering array of stars glistened every time the flashing lights hit them. But it was a grim darkness that swirled around in his eyes.
    When we exited the building, it looked as if the streets were congested with people. We hardly had any room to walk on the sidewalks, so we had to walk on the street instead.
    “Let’s go somewhere quieter.” Ayden insisted.
    We crossed the street, cutting off a car that was creeping at about two miles an hour behind another. Honks filled the air. Not directed at us, but at each other.
    “I knew it would get like this,” Ayden said confidently. “I parked far. Do you mind walking?” he asked.
    “I don’t care.” I lied. My boots were killing me, as a matter of fact. I felt as if they were squeezing my feet with every step I took, my initial expectation of comfort making it unbearably worse.
    “Let’s cut behind this building,” he suggested, “It leads to the forest.”
    Just about everything near Georgetown had a forest behind it. Austin was only fifteen minutes away, but still not far enough to get away from the forests.
    “Where exactly is your car?” I asked.
    “It’s at the end of the forest.” He stated.
    I squinted at him from the corner of my