2. Ariel - The strangers 2

I don’t blame him for not trusting me. I can barely believe it myself.

“Only my name. Ariel.”

“Ariel,” someone echoes from behind me—another man.

His deep voice makes me turn on my heels. It’s the man I passed by on my way to the table. He stares so intently at me that I see my reflection in his green eyes.

“I’m Elijah,” he presents himself.

I just got here, and in less than five minutes, I already find myself surrounded by three tall, handsome men. Sex and sin ooze from them, and I can’t help but feel drawn to them. It must be the alcohol.

“So what do you say, Ariel? Will you spend the night over at our place?” Khai insists. “As you can see, we don’t bite.”

Killian snorts. “Speak for yourself.” He flashes me a grin. “I wouldn’t mind having a bite of your delicious ass.”

My eyebrows inch up, and I push my glasses up my nose. The way the vocals roll off his tongue…sends a wave of need through me. Fuck the shower. I need an exorcist to purify my thoughts.

Killian twirls a strand of my hair around his finger. “You would like that, wouldn’t you, Ariel? My lips on your luscious ass.”

I want to say no, but instead, a weak ‘yes’ leaves my lips. Fuck! I probably never had a man like Killian look in my direction, let alone talk about biting my ass. If he does that, I’ll probably get a tattoo of the bite, so I’ll never forget having his sexy mouth on my body.

Killian chuckles. “Anything for you, beautiful.”

Khai elbows Killian. “Hey! I saw her first!”

“No, I actually saw her first,” Killian corrects Khai. “I was on my way to her when she came here.”

“Whatever,” Khai snorts. “I talked to her first, so she’s coming home with me!”

Killian rolls his eyes. “We live together, stupid!”

While Khai and Killian are bickering, Elijah wraps his arm around my waist. “I say we leave them here and have some fun in the city. Just the two of us. The night is still young.”

I blink, not understanding what’s happening.

There has to be a logical explanation for why these three men are hitting on me.

For one—they like me, which can’t be possible because…I don’t know. There’s nothing interesting about me. I mean, I might most likely be a common working-class woman, probably having a boring nine-to-five job and a cat, and I consider my looks average. Plus, I can’t remember jack shit.

Two—this whole situation might probably be part of a prank, and the moment I flirt back, someone is gonna say, “It was all a joke.”

“Are you making fun of me?” I ask.

The three men stare at me, with confused looks on their faces.

“Why would you think that?” Killian asks.

I don’t get to reply as a fourth man joins the discussion—the one with lilac eyes.

“Maybe because she just said she can’t remember anything, and yet you guys hit on her without a care for how she feels.” Lilac-Eyes takes my right hand into his and takes it to his mouth. “Forgive my friends. Sometimes, they talk without thinking. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Asher, but you can call me Ash,” he says in a husky voice before his lips press a kiss on the top of my hand. My panties just got ruined with how wet I am. No man had ever had such an effect on me before. At least, that’s what I assume.

I’ve seen my reflection in a mirror before I stepped inside the ballroom and nothing about me stands out in particular. Long, dark auburn hair, grey eyes, decent tits size, short but not necessarily petite. Like I said, nothing about me could catch the attention of four drop-dead gorgeous men.

To be honest, Asher is the one who stands out the most. But his gaze is not as warm as the other three. And yet, I can’t stop myself from being attracted to him. But I’d take the other three home as well, and fuck them, one by one, or all at the same time.

Girl! When did you become such a slut? I haven't a clue, but the way they are looking at me right now. I don't care in the slightest. I only have one life...

At least I’m not shy. Being shy and without memory of the past would be the death of me.

Asher lets go of my hand. “Allow me to make one thing clear, Ariel. We are not joking. We want you to come home with us.”

All four of them must live together. They don’t look alike so they can’t be brothers, so they must be friends.

“Why?” I ask, wanting to know why it’s so important to them that I spend the night with them. Not that I don’t want to, but I need to make sure that I am not getting myself involved with some sort of serious crime lords or, even worse, some serial killers who went rogue and lure in young women with their charms.

Asher hesitates before replying, “We lost someone. She was very important to us, and we couldn’t protect her when it mattered. We vowed to never let something like that happen again.”

There’s pain behind his words. Their eyes turn misty.

Not serial criminals, then. Good. Because I don’t think I’m built to run through forests, graveyards, or whatever other places they take their victims. Ok, not them, since I already established that they won’t kill me.

Elijah finally lets go of my waist before saying, “What do you think will happen to you in a place you have no recollection of?”

I grab a last cup of champagne and quickly drink it. “Fine!” I finally made up my mind.

I must be crazy for agreeing to go over to their place, but it’s not like I have any other choice. It’s either them or the streets and I would take my chances with the streets but I don’t even have a purse. Maybe I did bring one when I came in here, but I don’t know where I lost it. I don’t know who to ask about it, so I must rely on Khai, Killian, Asher, and Elijah for help. For now, at least.

Looking at the four men, I say, “But if anyone tries anything funny, they are dead!”