Chapter 23- Where are you going tonight?

I can smell a hint of mint on the rim on the bottle from his mouth on the bottle first. He picks up his phone, reads the messages then moves to stand up.

''I'll be right back'' he says then walks behind me.

Curiosity gets the best of me and I find myself following him. I stand behind a tree not letting him see me as he dials a number on his phone.

''I'm out'' he says, his voice is rough with whoever it is on the other end. I can't hear what the person's saying but he answers them.

''I'll be there at 9'' he says then hangs up. I head back quickly to my previous spot sitting on the sheet on the ground.

''Everything okay?'' I ask him and he nods and sits back down and the silence is deafening again.

Who was that on the phone? Was it the same guy who texted him just now? And where is he going tonight? I know it's none of my business where he's going or who he's with but the thoughts are clouding my mind.

''So uhm, what are you doing tonight?'' I ask nervously hoping he would tell me where he's going tonight.

''Nothing, just gonna chill at home'' he lies.

I'm furious right now that he just lied straight to my face. He just told the person on the phone that he's gonna meet them at 9 tonight and he just told me that he's gonna stay home tonight. I really wanna ask him where his home is and where he lives but that might be too far and he might get mad so I decide against it.

''Tell me about your family'' he says.

''What do you wanna know?''

''Everything''

''Well my parents are divorced and I live with my mom. I don't really have that much family, they're not a part of my life. The closest thing to family I have is Nelson, my boyfriend whom I've known almost all my life and my best friends back at home''

''What about your family?'' I ask and instantly regret it as his jaw clenches and he stands up.

''Don't ever ask about my family ever again, do you understand?'' he stands over me and looks me dead in the eye.

''I'm sorry Hero, I didn't mean to'' I say, I really am sorry, I didn't know it would upset him like that.

I didn't think he would get so angry about that, it makes me wonder why doesn't he want to talk about his family?

''Let's go'' he says and walks away from me

I get up quickly and grab my phone and follow behind him as I'm scared that he would just leave me out here. He grabs his sweater off the branch and hangs it over him as he walks off without saying a word. He leaves his bag and the sheet on the ground which I have no time to fold. I follow behind him like a lost puppy as I have no idea how to get out of here. He doesn't move the giant leaf out of the way for me to pass he just does it for him and the leaf slams me in the face. I just stand there rubbing my eyes as he turns around. He walks up to me and moves my hand out of the way and examines my eye making sure I'm okay.

''I'm okay'' I say and he just stares at me.

''I'm sorry, I forgot to move it for you'' He apologizes and his voice is so full of concern.

''It's okay'' I tell him.

''If you didn't want to talk about your family, you could've just said you didn't want too, you didn't have to act like that'' I say and look down.

''I didn't that's why I said don't ask about them again''

''Let's go'' he says and slings his arm around my shoulder.

''Are you gonna walk all the back there shirtless?'' I ask.

''Yeah, I know it's really tempting but try your best to resist for now'' he smirks and flips his wet hair to the side making me giggle a bit and we both walk off.

On our walk back we play I spy and all the things he spies are all on me, he spies my dress, shoes, earrings and the color of my hair and yet I still didn't seem to get it any and I lost. What had me the most confused and surprised was when he said that he spotted something perfectly radiant close to him and I guessed the sun because the sun was now setting but he said I was wrong and told me that it was me and he looked deep into my eyes.

''How long have you and Uncle Sam been dating?'' he asks.

''Uncle Sam? You mean Nelson''

''Whatever his name is''

''His name is Nelson and we've been dating for four years now''

''Four years and he still hasn't fucked you yet'' he says and I move his arm from my shoulder and stop walking.

''Excuse me?''

''You heard me''

''That is none of your business and maybe we have, you'll never know''

''No, you haven't'' he says confidently like he's so sure.

''How would you know?''

''Because I know you. I see the way your body responds to my simple touch and I can tell you've never been touched before'' he says and I'm speechless. It's true that I've never been touched like that before but I didn't think it was that prominent, I feel embarrassed right now but I don't want him to see my embarrassment so fire back.

''Well that is none of your business'' I snap and walk past him. It really is none of his business if I haven't been touched like that. I walk past him like I know where we're going when really I have no clue so he has to lead the way.

''Are you hungry?'' he asks after 5 minutes of silence and I nod.

I don't know the way back to the tent but I know for sure that we hadn't passed here on our way over to the stream. We are now walking down a trail and I spot a black antique car parked under a tree just off the trail, it makes me wonder who would park their car out here in this forest under a tree in the middle of nowhere but my question is answered as soon as he pulls out the keys to it and unlocks the car.

''What are you doing?'' I ask.

''We're going to get something to eat''

''What? now? It's almost sundown, I have to go back to the tents now''

''We won't be long'' He says and pulls out a black t-shirt from the trunk and pulls it over his head covering his once bare chest. I notice that he has a lot of clothes in the trunk, it makes me wonder if his entire closet is in there.

''Let's go'' he says.

I get in the front seat and put my seatbelt on. The car smells just like him and the backseats are kinda messy with clothes and shoes thrown all over. The mess is bugging me and I wanna fold the clothes or maybe wash them first because they look dirty and put all the shoes in pairs neatly together.

Everything in the car is black, literally everything, the seats, the dashboard, and the controls. I begin to think that everything he owns is black, does he know of any other color? but then again what did I expect him to have colors like yellow or orange because after all, he's a psycho masked man in the forest who does evil rituals and who wears black all the time. He gets in the car and starts it and he puts his hand on my thigh as he drives off, his touch makes small goosebumps appear down my legs and is hand warms my leg. The ride is smooth down the trail and the car is so silent, unlike my mother's car. I wonder what kind of car is this.

''What kind of car is this?'' I ask.

''Jaguar E-Type just one of the greatest cars of all time'' he boasts.

He doesn't look at me but his eyes are focused ahead as we pull onto the road.

''What's your favorite food?'' he asks.

''Well anything but I love pasta the most'' I say.

After another minute of silence, I finally decide to ask the question I've wanted to for a few hours now.

''How did you get that scar on your stomach?'' I ask him and he turns his head to look at me then back onto the road.

''Don't ask about that again because I'm never going to tell you'' he says and keeps his eyes on the road.

''Why not? You wanna know so much about me but you don't wanna tell me that one thing about you?''

''That's different''

''How?''

''Because it is now drop it'' he says roughly and I do decide to drop it because then I would get him mad and I don't know what he'll do and I'm afraid to find out.

We pull into a carpark and he parks to the front. It's now 6 as we arrive but the building is brightly lit up and I can tell it's a famous place as the car park is full and more people are walking in. It' s a two-story-tall building, neatly painted with the name of the restaurant plastered across the front. I feel a bit odd wearing a dress and sneakers to come to a fancy restaurant like this.

''You didn't tell me we were coming to a restaurant and now I feel odd wearing this dress and shoes'' I say as we both step out of the car.

''You look beautiful'' he says and puts his arm around my shoulder as we walk inside. I don't know what warms me more the way he just called me beautiful or his arm hanging from my shoulder.

The waiter greets us and Hero shoots him a glare when he says that all the tables are full and he gets an empty one in no time. We make our way to the table and he sits to the opposite of me. The place is packed but yet it's very quiet and the people in here look very classy. The restaurant is gorgeous on the inside, the place is bright, the floors have a wood design and so do the walls. There is a bar to the side where most of the noise is coming from.

He insists that I try the Garlic Shrimp Linguine with tomatoes and I do and he orders the same. Our meals arrive in less than 20 minutes and we both dig in. He was right it is good, this may be my new favorite type of pasta, whenever Nelson and I go out to restaurants I always order the usual Chicken and Shrimp Alfredo so it's good to try something new for a change.

''Good, isn't it?'' he asks.

''Yeah''

We talk for the rest of our dinner and mostly I do all the talking he just asks the questions. I tell him about why my parents got divorced but I leave out the part about where my father was an alcoholic and he continues to ask more things about Nelson who he keeps referring to as 'Uncle Sam'. After eating he stands up and moves behind me and whispers something in my ear.

''I'm going to pee'' he whispers in my ear that sends a shiver down my body as I feel his breath down my neck.

He leaves his phone on the table and makes his way to the restroom. His phone vibrates on the table and a message flashes across the screen. Don't read it, Sia, it's his phone, I say to myself over five times. I won't read it, it's none of my business.

It's not right for me to look through his phone but I'm not looking, the message just popped up and I glimpsed it that's all.

*How's she going? Did you do anything with her yet?

The message reads. I don't bother reading who it's from. I just read the message. Who the hell is she? Is it me? That 'she' could be anyone. I doubt the person even knows about me, do they? I need to find out who's the 'she' he's talking about. I take the number down and save it on my phone quickly before he comes back. I have no idea why I saved it but I did.

The waiter comes to the table with our bill as soon as Hero returns to our table. Hero and I bicker over who's paying the bill and I suggest that we split it in half but he insists that he pay the entire bill. We do a coin toss to see who will pay the bill, a suggestion from him, I choose heads and he chooses tails. He flips the coin on the edge of the table and it ends up falling on the floor on his side, he says it landed on tails and picks it quickly off the floor before I can see.

He smiles at me before paying the waiter, it's a schemish smile that tells me it didn't land on tails.

We make our way outside and as I check my phone it's now seven. Oh my god, I hope no one is looking for me, I completely lost track of the time. As we drive down the road my mind runs on she, who is she and is he planning on doing anything with her. My mind jumps to wherever that he's going tonight at 9. Wait so he's going there after he drops me off, where is it? I wanna ask him so badly but he would be furious if he finds out that I was reading his messages and listening on his conversation, he might throw me out the car or something and just leave me on the side of the road so I decided to keep quiet. He puts his hand on my thigh for the entire drive back and that simple touch calms me.

''What are you doing tonight?'' he asks.

''Nothing, I'm just gonna stay in'' I say. What are your plans for tonight? Oh, right you're lying to me and going somewhere that you don't wanna tell me at 9 and apparently you plan on doing something to some girl.

He drops me off on the trail close to tents. I have no idea if I should kiss him or hug him or anything after our make-out session today in the stream. He tells me bye and I do the same. He looks like he wants to say something else but he doesn't.

''Girl where the heck were you!'' Kate exclaims and hugs me.

''I was beginning to get worried and I was just gonna call you''

''Oh! I'm sorry I was on the video call and then Nelson came to pick me up to get dinner'' I lie.

''Phew, that's relief'' she says.

We make our way in the tent after talking to Easton and giving him a reason for my disappearance. It's now 8 as Kate and I make our way inside the tent. I text everyone telling them that I will call them in the morning. Nelson tries to call me but I hit ignore. I can't talk to him right now after what happened with me and Hero today.

I can't believe I did that to him, he's such an amazing guy and he didn't deserve it. He loves me and I love him and I have no idea what is going on with Hero and I. Kate and I talk for the next hour about me telling her how the dinner was, I won't lie to her I just told her the truth but just replaced Hero's name with Nelson's. I tell her about wonderful it was and how much I missed him, I also leave out many things like the messages I read on his phone and well everything else after that. I just tell her that the food was great and how much I missed his company. I do really miss Nelson but my head is wrapped around Hero and let's face it ever since I got here all I've been thinking about is him, Nelson has been the least of my concerns. Kate tells me goodnight and I do the same. It's now 9 as I change into my pajamas and lay down.

My mind is swirling with everything that happened today, I never once thought that he would ever reveal himself to me but he did. I felt as I if I was about to faint when he told me that his name is Hero, I have never heard anyone with that name before, is that even a name? I can't believe this but he's right the universe wasn't calling Nelson my hero it was actually giving me a heads up that I'm gonna meet someone named Hero which I would've never thought about in a hundred years, I wish I had known that sooner so I would've known to have never come out of my tent that night and I would never have met him and all the things that happened since then would have never happened, but it did, I met him and there's nothing I can do about that now.

I pull out my phone and decide to text Hero, wait I don't even have his phone number. I put my phone away and stare at the ceiling thinking about him, where he is? who he's with? who's Stone? and who was the she that Stone texted him about and asked if he did anything with her yet?

It's now 10 but it feels like I've been thinking about him for hours. Kate is asleep, I pick up my phone and dial the number I saved earlier.

''Who is this?'' the guy on the other end asks, I could barely hear him through all the heavy metal music playing in the background.

''I uhm..'' I stutter. I should've really thought about what I was going to say before I called.

''You coming to the party?'' he asks, his voice deep and a bit hasty.

''Uhm.. yeah, but I forgot the address''

''I'll text it to you'' he says and hangs up. He sounded drunk.

He texts me the address and it's a cabin up the mountain. I check the map that they gave us before we came on this internship and they have a bus stop at the end of this trail to the front and the bus will take me up to the mountain near the cabin. I change into jeans and a t-shirt and make my way outside the tent. For all I know I could be walking into a death trap or a devil worship party or something but here I am walking down the trail at 10 at night going to catch a bus to go there.

I need to know where he is and who he's with and why he lied to me about where he was going tonight.