CHAPTER 1

"Blaire, get up or you will be late for work," my mother yells at me from downstairs.

I let out a frustrated groan; I just want to sleep. For some reason, I have been exhausted for the past few weeks. When I think about it, it has been since my 18th birthday. Maybe I partied too hard and my body can not take it.

"I am up," I yell back, dragging my tired body out of bed and into the bathroom. Standing in front of the mirror, my long black hair is out of control, as if I went ten rounds with my pillow last night. I had another strange dream last night where this lady tells me to run from the monster chasing me. I keep running as this thing with blood-red eyes chases me. I always wake up right as it gets to me. I'm always covered in sweat, and my body shakes when I wake up. I do not understand what it means.

Getting myself ready for work, I hope that today will be a slow day at the dinner. I don't want to run around waiting on people's needs. I want a nice cruisey day with maybe one or two customers, so I don't get too bored, but I'm not run off my feet either.

Coming down the stairs, as I get to the third one from the bottom, I trip over my feet, tumbling down the last few steps and landing flat on my back. I let out a groan of pain, looking up to see my dad staring down at me.

"I hoped when you turned 18, you would grow out of your clumsiness", he laughed before holding out his hand to help me.

I roll my eyes, taking his hand and letting him pull me to my feet. "sadly, I don't think I will ever grow out of that one, Dad. I am a walking accident."

We both laugh. I'm always falling over or running into things. I don't know why; I guess I was just born unlucky. I follow behind my dad into the kitchen, where my mum is standing there leaning against the bench, and my little brother is sitting at the table eating like a wild animal. I've always wondered where I fit in here. I mean, I know they are my family and that my mum gave birth to me, well at least that's what she tells me anyway, but the thing is, I look nothing like them. They all have the same dull, dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. Then there's me, jet black hair and bright blue eyes. It doesn't make sense. I've asked my mum a few times, but she always says the same thing: I look just like my great-grandmother. I've never seen a photo of this woman; I have to take her word for it. I used to think when I was little that my mum and dad were some rich criminals who got in trouble and left me on the doorstep here to keep me safe, and one day, they were going to come back and get me. I had a wild imagination as a child. The main reason I thought that was because I remember having a dream once about a woman and man kissing me on the forehead and telling me they loved me before sitting me down at the front door of my house, knocking and leaving.

"eat", my mum points to the table where toast sits on it.

"I'll eat at work", I smile at her. "I'm taking Blue to work with me so no one has to worry about him escaping and coming looking for me" Blue is my dog that, on my 16th birthday, just came wandering into the house and claimed me has his. Mum and Dad were unhappy about it, but they just went along with it because any time someone tried to make him get outside, he would try to bite them.

"Okay, do you want your father to pick you up after work?" she asks

"no, it's fine, I can walk. I don't finish till late, and I know that Dad will want to watch the footy" I look over to him, giving him a wink.

"Well, be careful and come straight home."

I roll my eyes as soon as my back is turned on her. It drives me crazy how they still treat me like a child. I mean, I'm 18. I should be able to do whatever I want, but they have never let me stay out past nine. I was never allowed to go to sleep over, and god forbid that I ever even thought about having a boyfriend. They are the true meaning of helicopter parents. I was so shocked that on my 18th birthday, they let me have a party with only five people and it had to be at home.

"bye, love youse", I yell as I walk out the front door. "come blue."

I got to work setting Blue up outside in his regular spot at the back door. He's a strange dog. He always has to be close to me. I can never go anywhere without him. If I do, then he comes looking for me.

Walking in, the dinner is empty. Only the three other girls who work with the cook and the guy who owns the place are here.

"oh my god, thank fuck your here", Sarah greets me. She's my favourite person to work with.

I looked down at the time, realising that I was ten minutes late like normal. I mentally face-palm myself, knowing that if the boss comes out and sees me, he's going to make me go into his office and give me some stupid speech while rubbing my shoulders and making me feel very uncomfortable. He's such a creep.

"Dave hasn't noticed, has he?"

"not yet----" she was cut off before she could finish.

"Blaire, my office", Dave's voice came from behind me, making my skin crawl.

"oh, thank god it's her and not me. I can't deal with that prick touching me today," I thought I heard Sarah say, but her mouth never moved.

I stood there staring at her for a second.

"What?" she asked

I shook my head, trying to work out if she had spoken before or not. "nothing, I just thought you said something."

"no? Well, at least I don't think I did" She looked just as confused as I was.

I shrugged it off, turning around to go into Dave's office. He was standing at the door waiting for me to come in, holding his arm out and gesturing for me to take a seat, which I did. he closed the door behind us, walking around the back of me, placing his hands on my shoulders making my body became stiff.

"you later again", he said as he rubbed my shoulders. I had to swallow the bile that was slowly creeping up into my mouth. "your luck that I like you,"

"it won't happen again, I promise" I just want this to be over; I want out of this room and his hands off me.

"if it does, then I will have to punish you" his grip tightened on my shoulders, and he let out a breath. "oh, how I would love to have you bent over my desk and fuck the brains out of yo----"

I jumped up, making him let go. I turned around to face him, shocked at what he had just said. "why would you say that?" my voice was shaking.

He stood there looking like he had just seen a ghost. "what are you talking about?"

"you just" I stopped thinking about what I was about to say and what had just happened. I couldn't work out if I were imagining it or not. I feel like I'm going crazy. "nothing, um, sorry, I'm just drained, and there was a spider", I lied

He didn't buy a word of what I was saying, but he didn't say anything or try to stop me as I walked out the door. I didn't understand what was happening. I had to be going crazy hearing people say things that they hadn't.

Sarah grabbed me. As I walked into the kitchen. "what happened? You've come out of there looking like he just told you your cat died."

"Nothing, he just gave me a warning," I lied. She stood there staring at me for a second, trying to figure out if she believed me before letting my arm go and moving on with whatever she was doing. I was thankful she didn't push to find out more.

Walking out into the dinna, I headed to my first table of the day. "what can I get for you today?" I asked without even looking up at them. I had too much going on inside my head even to pretend I was interested in being here.

"just a coffee," a deep male voice said.

His voice made me look up from my notepad, locking eyes with him. As soon as my eyes met his, it was like all the air had been sucked out of my body. I couldn't speak or move. My mouth opened and closed as I tried to focus words to come out, but nothing would; he was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. He had dark brown hair, untamed like he had just gotten out of bed, olive-coloured skin and the perfect facial structure I have ever seen. His green eyes stared back at me. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach growing. As I stared at him, I didn't know what to do. I know I'm being weird by being star-struck by some random beautiful male, but I couldn't move.

A voice flashed through my head. "run!" it was so loud it scared me, making me drop my pen and look around. When my eyes returned to him, he stared at me with confusion written all over his face.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

"I - um- I'm really sorry" I bent down to pick up my pen, and as I did, he reached for it at the same time. As soon as our hands touched, it was like lighting hit me, sending me backwards. I hit the ground. Looking up at him, I could tell he had felt the same thing, but he hadn't fallen over. He was now standing over me, and god, he was tall.

A million voices came into my head. It was like I was hearing everyone talk around me, but as I looked around, no one was talking to me at all. My hands came up to my ears, covering them, trying to block it all out. "shut up!" I almost yelled.

The sound of his voice snapped me out of it. "I didn't say anything."

I locked eyes with him again, realising what had just happened, my body filled with embarrassment. Pulling myself up off the ground. "I'm sorry, I don't feel well. I'll get Sarah to take your order," I said as I hurried out of there.

I didn't stop until I was outside, still covering my ears, the voices screaming at me. Leaning against the wall, I slid down it, trying to figure out what was happening to me. Blue came over, putting his head on my lap, trying to calm me down.

I have to be going crazy, or maybe I'm dying. My head felt like it was about to explode.

I felt blue become stiff in my lap, letting out a growl.

"Are you okay?" a hand came down on my shoulder, making all the voices in my head stop.

Taking my hands from my ears, I looked up to see the guy I had been trying to serve in the diner. I quickly stood up, trying to act like I was okay. Blue stood between us, growling like he was ready to attack at any minute.

"I'm fine; I just have a headache and need to go home" There's something about this guy that makes me so nervous, but I also feel drawn to him. i can't put my finger on what I'm feeling.

"you don't look fine" he was standing closer, then I liked his tall, large, muscular frame, which made me more uncomfortable.

"I'm fine. I'm sorry I ran out, but I need to go home" Before he could say another word, I walked away as fast as I could.