Captivated (An Affliction Novel) by Raven Read Free Book Online

lights in the dark atmosphere were dim enough to hide everyone’s flaws, but there was just enough to see who you were talking to. The music was blaring; everyone spoke to each other by yelling. We slowly made our way through the maze of people on the dance floor. We found an area where there were couches. There was only one empty one and we quickly scurried to it.
    “Hey! Check out that guy over there.” Tanya pointed at a young man nervously pacing back and forth. It looked like he was fiddling with something in his pant pocket. He would periodically look up at a girl sitting by herself at the bar, a petite brunette. A group of his friends were watching him stumble his way to the girl. As he slowly approached her, he mumbled to himself, as if he were going over what he was going to say. When it seemed he finally got some guts, he marched right up to her and opened his mouth to speak. She looked up at him and he immediately shut his mouth and reached over for the bowl of nuts in front of her. After he grabbed a handful, he swiveled around and paced himself back to his friends who were laughing and clenching their stomachs.
    “EPIC FAILURE!” Tanya and Markus threw themselves back on the couch and laughed out loud. At first I felt bad for the guy, but that quickly went away and I joined them in their laughter. All of a sudden, Markus froze and stared straight ahead, narrowing his eyes.
    “What is it?” I asked and turned my eye in the same direction. Dean was in front of us, standing still. He was wearing a black leather jacket with dark jeans. His face was marked with a predatory expression. His eyes weren’t glimmering as they had before; they were venomously cold. His body was stiff, like an animal stalking its prey. Dean was focusing intently on something in our direction. Was it me? It was too dark to be sure. A wave of acid welled up in my stomach. I hoped that it wasn’t me because I did not want that coldness aimed at me. I straightened myself up.
    “There’s something about him.” Markus said loud enough for me to hear.
    “Maybe he’s on drugs or something,” Tanya hinted, “I should offer him some rehabilitation.” she giggled.
    I gave her a warning look that she didn’t take notice of.
    “No. It’s something else.” Markus said.
    “Psychotic?” Tanya asked.
    “Well, even the nicest guy in the world could be a psycho. There’s something else about him. I can’t put my finger on it.” Markus shook his head as to shake the conversation away. He stood up and stretched his arms out. “You girls want something to drink?” he asked us.
    “Yeah! Can you get me some soda?” I threw him a wide smile, “Thanks!”
    “I thought you quit?” he asked.
    “Eh, one taste won’t kill me.” I calmly said as I shrugged my shoulders.
    Markus headed towards the bar, passing Dean’s statue. He didn’t make a single movement, his eyes were still focused. His arms were down his sides and I realized then, I was gawking at him again, so I quickly turned away. But I couldn’t help it. I still watched him from the corner of my eye. Markus headed back towards us with the glass cup filled with ice and soda, napkins and straws in his other hand. When he passed by Dean, Dean quickly whirled around and dashed towards the back exit, bumping into Markus in the process. The soda slipped out of Markus’ hand and splashed on his shirt and pants. The glass cup shattered on the floor in front of him and he released the straws to hurriedly pat his pants with some of the napkins. Tanya and I ran up to him and grabbed some napkins from him to help with his shirt.
    “Talk about rude!” Tanya spat out. She patted Markus’ shirt roughly.
    “Did you see?!” Markus yelled and looked at the exit door Dean had left through. “He shoved me and didn’t even-that asshole shoved me hard.” he said defensively.
    “Just let it go,” Tanya continued, “maybe he didn’t see you. He was so focused on that guy standing