Hellbound With You

CHAPTER 6:Weird night

Sofia Navarro POV

SHOT.SHOT.SHOT.SHOT.SHOT.

I had been chanting it into Bonnie's ear for the last hour .

This night was going exactly as planned. We had fixed our hair in the morning. Spa in the afternoon — full massage, nails done, And now here we were, dressed and glossy and celebrating the fact that I had a job.

An actual job.

"It's your turn," Bonnie said, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the bar. "Shot. Now."

We knew how we did it. Bar first. Shot. Then we split — find someone to flirt with, someone to sponsor the next round, maybe someone to make out with

Tonight was no different.

We took our shots at the bar and I felt the warmth spread through my chest immediately.

"Look at that guy," Bonnie said, already zeroing in. "Tattoos. Hot."

"He's with someone," I said.

She pouted.

"I don't care."

She grabbed her drink and was already moving.

"Bonnie find me before you leave!" I called after her.

She nodded.

Or maybe not.

I turned back to the crowd.

My turn.

I scanned the room slowly.

Nah… Too loud over there.

There..Too crowded over there.

Then my eyes landed on him. Across the room. Tattoos running up both arms, dark hair……

I grabbed two shots.

Started walking.

Then someone tapped his shoulder.

And he turned and kissed the person standing behind him.

I stopped.

Blinked.

"Yeah," a voice said behind me. "He's gay."

I turned.

A woman standing there, completely unbothered, like she had watched this exact thing happen to other girls all night.

We looked at each other.

I handed her one of my shots.

She took it without question.

"I know someone though," she said, and grabbed my hand before I could respond.

We walked toward a darker corner of the club — the kind of corner where the music was muffled and the lights barely reached. She let go of my hand the moment she spotted someone familiar and disappeared into the crowd.

Just like that.

I stood there alone,bored.

Great.

I wandered back toward the main floor and ended up near a guy leaning against the wall with a cigarette.

"Can I have one?"

He nodded. Lit one for me.

I took it and smoked and let the music wash over me and thought about tomorrow and the fact that I actually had somewhere to be in the morning.

That felt good.

Really good.

I almost didn't notice the second guy at first.

But after three drags I caught it — the cigarette guy making slow deliberate eye contact with someone across the room. Nodding slightly. Like they were communicating something.

I looked.

There was a man standing maybe ten feet away.

Watching me.

Not in the way people watched each other in clubs. In the way that made the back of your neck do something uncomfortable.

The cigarette guy leaned closer.“You here alone?”

I pretended not to hear him and took another drag instead.

He smiled slightly like we were sharing some private joke.

“That usually means yes.”

I looked away, already bored.

“I’m waiting for my friend.”

“Sure you are.”

Something about the way he said it made my stomach tighten.

My body disliked him before my brain caught up.

I moved to step around him.

His hand landed lightly on my thigh.

“Don’t touch me,” I said immediately.

He moved closer.

I kept my eyes forward.

His hand landed on my thigh again.

Rough.

"If I haven't asked you to touch me," I said quietly, "then you don't."

I moved his hand away.

He grabbed my wrist.

I took the lit end of the cigarette and pressed it into the back of his hand.

The sound he made was satisfying in a way I probably shouldn't admit.

But then the other one — the one who had been watching from across the room — was suddenly right behind me. He grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back and the satisfying feeling evaporated immediately.

This was real.

And was not good.

I ran.

I didn't look back. I didn't think. I just moved — through the crowd, past the bar, down the back corridor — and I saw the door.

VIP RESTROOM.

I shoved it open and stumbled inside and pressed my back against the wall and put my hand on my chest.

My heart was going insane.

He was following me. I could feel it.

I just needed one minute. One minute to breathe and figure out—

The door opened.

I spun around.

A man.

Tall. Dark jacket. Eyes that landed on me and stayed there.

"I'm sorry," he said immediately. Deep voice. Calm. "I didn't mean to—"

"It's fine." I exhaled.

It wasn't him. Just a stranger.

"I thought you were someone else," I said, pressing my hand to my chest. "He's so creepy."

The man nodded.

Turned to the mirror.

And I actually looked at him.

Dark hair pushed back. Sharp jaw. The kind of face that was almost unfair — too composed, too put together for a club bathroom at midnight.

He pulled out his phone.

Or tried to.

Because I caught it — the exact moment his eyes came back to me in the mirror. Just for a second. Then away. Then back again like he couldn't quite stop.

Something about that.

The adrenaline still humming through me. This stranger who clearly hadn't come here for the same reasons I had. The way he was trying very hard not to look at me and failing quietly.

Something about him made me feel reckless in a way I usually tried to avoid.

I walked toward him.

He didn't move.

I reached up and grabbed the front of his jacket.

"You looked like you needed a distraction," I said.

And kissed him.

For one second he didn't respond and I thought — or maybe I have completely lost my mind—

Then he kissed me back.

And I stopped thinking entirely.

His hands found my waist like they already knew where to go.I pulled him closer, threading my fingers through his hair.

He made a low sound in his throat that did something very unhelpful to my nervous system.

He picked me up.

My legs wrapped around him and my back met the wall and he kissed me like he was in absolutely no rush. Slow. Thorough. Like he wasn't rushing it

I forgot about the creep.

Forgot about everything except this stranger who kissed me like I was the only person in the building.

His hands moved to the curve of my waist.

I pressed my fingers softly into his scalp.

This time I moaned softly, suddenly not wanting the night to end.

"SOF!"

Bonnie.

I pulled back so fast I nearly fell.

His eyes met mine.

So fast I didn't have time to react

One second.

That's all I gave myself.

Then I ran.

Out the door. Down the corridor. Back into the noise and the lights and Bonnie grabbing my arm with wild eyes.

"Where have you BEEN—"

"Dance floor," I said. "Now."

"Sofia what—"

"NOW Bonnie."

She pulled me onto the dance floor and I let the music swallow me whole and tried very hard not to think about dark eyes and large warm hands and the specific way someone could kiss you like they meant it.

Tried.

Failed completely.

Later that night I lay in my bed staring at the ceiling.

I touched my lips and groaned into my pillow.

Tomorrow was my first day at Castellan.

And I had just kissed a stranger whose name I didn’t know.