Hunted By The Devil

Chapter Eight

Brad furrows his eyebrows at me. “What did that guy want?” He asks, staring in the direction Mateo went, even though you can no longer see him in the crowd of people on the dance floor.

I feel my cheeks heat up and I take a sip of my soda. “He umm, he wanted to dance.” I say feeling a little flustered.

Brad’s mouth opens in a shocked ‘O’ shape and then he smirks. “What did you tell him Makenzie?” He asks as he casually takes a sip of his drink.

I scoff. “What do you think I told him? I told him no, and that I was here with someone.” I say feeling my cheeks get even hotter by the second, hopefully Brad will think it is because of how hot it is in this club. The truth is in any other situation I would have said yes to a dance. Maybe to even more than a dance, but I am not in the position to be making new friends or even having a one night stand with a gorgeous stranger.

Brad laughs. “I see. Did you tell him anything else?”

I furrow my eyebrows. “Like what?”

“I don’t know, like your name or your phone number. That guy was gorgeous.” Brad says, chuckling and I slap his arm playfully.

“Shut up. You know damn well I am not in any position to be giving out my name or phone number. Besides you are all I need baby.” I say kissing Brad on the cheek.

Brad puts his hand over his heart. “Aww, same here baby. You are all I need.”

“You want to dance some more?” I ask, trying to find anything to get my mind off of Mateo. There was just something about him that seems so familiar and I don’t know why.

“Ummm, sure.” Brad says, and I smile grabbing his hand so I can spin him around. We both laugh, and sway back and forth. Drinking, laughing, spinning around and just having a good time.

My mind keeps wandering back to Mateo. Before I was married, I was used to being hit on by gorgeous men, half the time I would go home with them, and have a wild night then never see them again. In fact, that is how I met my husband. One wild night turned into six long happy years of marriage and one and a half years of pure fear, paranoia and anxiousness.

I just barely started feeling safe enough to go out again, and I still don’t feel one hundred percent safe. I can’t let myself lose control the way I used to, I have to constantly be aware of my surroundings, and I feel like I can’t trust anyone. How would I ever be able to trust a man again? I thought my husband was perfect. I would probably still have that perfect illusion if my curiosity hadn’t gotten the best of me that day one and a half years ago.

I guess anyone can hide their true identity from you, if they are determined enough. Maybe it wasn’t all on Augustus though. I’m sure there were warning signs, I was just to wrapped up in the fairy tale to notice or care. If I hadn’t been so nosy, Brad would have died. That is one thing I know for sure. The part that scares me the most is the fact that I don’t know how many Brads there were before my Brad. How many people did my husband torture in the six years we were together? How many people did he do those awful things to, before we were together?

Brad snaps his fingers in front of my face. “Hello, Makenzie, are you okay?”

I shake my head clearing my thoughts. I guess I zoned out. “Yeah. I’m okay. Sorry I guess I am just getting a little tired.”

Brad smirks. “You aren’t tired baby. You were lost in thought. Where was your mind at?’” He asks and my eyes widen. I could never tell him what I was really thinking about. Tonight is the first time I have gotten him out of the damn house in over a year. I am not going to start filling his head with all the terrible things that go through my mind.

“I wasn’t thinking about anything specifically.” I say laughing.

Brad laughs. “Uh huh. Whatever you say baby. You were definitely thinking about something?” He gasps. “Oh my God. You were thinking about that gorgeous man from earlier, weren’t you?”

“What? No! Are you crazy?” I say feeling a little embarrassed. Truth is, I was thinking about Mateo. At least I was thinking about him until my thoughts turned dark. My thoughts always seem to turn dark here lately. No matter what I do to try and stop it.

Brad laughs even harder. “You were thinking about Mister Gorgeous, don’t even try to deny it. You are a terrible liar Makenzie.

That is definitely not true. I have had to lie a lot over the past year and a half to put Brad at ease. Never about anything major, I would never keep anything important from him. There is nothing wrong with a little white lie to put him at ease though. If I really wanted to lie to him, I could and he would never know the difference.

“Fine. What if I was thinking about him? There is nothing wrong with thinking about him, right? It’s not like I am going to act on any of my thoughts.” I say giving Brad a screw you look when he burst out laughing.

“I knew it. I wish things were different, he looks like the kind of guy that could have rocked your world.”

I gasp. “Brad seriously? Are you crazy? I am not the one night stand kind of girl.”

He shrugs. “If I had t**s and an ass like yours, I would be sleeping with every gorgeous man I came across.”

I roll my eyes laughing. “You are ridiculous. Are you ready to go home?” I ask trying to change the subject.

Brad laughs linking his arm with mine. “Yes baby, let’s go home.”

I smile as we make our way through the crowd of drunk, sweaty people swaying and grinding against each other. Right before we make it to the door I feel someone watching me and I glance around really quick. At a table across the bar from where we are walking I see him. Mateo, sitting there sipping something and watching me.

He raises his glass to me and I feel myself blush again. Has he been watching me this whole time?