Blackmailing Aria Original Version

3

"Your friends have just got back. They're waiting down stairs," Xander informs me, as his eyes are watching me carefully.

"I don't want to see them," I declare with a strong voice, despite the way I feel. How could I look Holden in the eye? I will probably stab him when I see him.

"It's already late. You can stay here tonight."

I look up at him shocked. His head is bent towards the ground, but he looks at me from under his dark lashes.

"Thanks for the offer, but I don't want to intrude."

"You already did," he says with a small smirk and a raised brow.

I let out a small chuckle, despite my inner turmoil. His smirk widens into a grin. "Are you sure? I mean, I can go stay with my friends like I'm supposed to."

"I insist." He reaches for my hand, grabbing the bag and dumping it next to the others beside him. "You may rest if you please, and I will order you food while I go talk to the police and sort this out for the night."

"What are you going to tell them?" I ask, worried.

His eyes carefully examine my body, then rest on my face. Ignoring my question, he asks, "Are you a lesbian?"

My eyes widen and I choke on the air in my lungs, which sends me into a coughing fit. Xander does nothing to try to help me, and just looks at me like I'm some math problem. Finally, when I'm able to breathe again, I turn to him with a red face and ask, "Why would you ask me that?"

He shrugs his shoulders carelessly. "For important purposes."

"I don't like where this is going," I tell him, my own eyes roaming over his body. His very, very, gorgeous body, may I add. "But, to answer your question, yes. I am a lesbian." I lie.

A smile spreads across his face, knocking all the air out of my lungs. He looks so beautiful when he smiles, not hot or sexy, but beautiful. He leans down to grab my bag and hands it to me. "You're a horrible liar, but none the less, you may sleep here, in any of the open rooms, and by the way, dinner will be up soon."

"Why did you ask me if I were a lesbian or not?" I question him again, as he opens the front door.

He steps through the threshold and looks back to wink at me, before closing the door behind him, leaving with without an answer.

With a huff I drag my bag into a room, the same one as Holden's, coincidently. I give one look to the box on the floor, before I spin right around and head for the living room. I lay down on the uncomfortable couch, looking at the twinkling lights of the lit up city of New York, ahead of me.

For the next two hours, many people come in and go out the pent-house. A few were bell boys, who pick up the luggage and delivered pizza, but none were police men or any of my friends.

While I eat the pizza - that I suppose the man ordered for me -, I continue to check my phone for any messages from my so called friends. Time passes and I don't get any from any one, so I decide to pass the time with reading a book.

Sometime later, I fall asleep with the book sprawled open on my chest and my feet hanging off the edge of the couch.

I wake up in the morning, in a nice and warm bed, in a room that I don't recognize. It takes some time for my senses to come back to me, and when they do, I realize that I'm lying in the same bed Daisy and Chase claimed as theirs the night before.

After spending a couple minutes in bed, glaring at the ceiling, I roll over and spot my phone on the bedside table. Looking at it, I see multiple texts and calls from all of my friends. I ignore all of them, and dial my grandparents number instead.