Once I was in the bathroom, I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked different. Almost prettier. There was a tinge of pink rising from my cheekbones and my hair was messily curled. I couldn't believe what had just happened to me. Ok Jayden, calm down. It was probably a mistake. I snorted out loud, yeah right! An incredibly sexy guy just happens to pin me against a wall and whisper incredibly sexy things into my ear. Yeah f*ing right. I just needed to get back to Aria. Just get back to Aria. Bracing myself, I opened the door of the bathroom and stepped out into the aisle. 

 He was gone. I almost collapsed on the floor. Shakily, I walked back to my seat where Aria was looking at me with a strange expression on her face. "Jayden? Are you all right? You are pale as a ghost! Is something bothering you?" She muttered something under her breath that sounded like "Is someone bothering you?" Trying to seem as if nothing was wrong, I said " Oh nothing, I must have eaten something that didn't agree with me." I looked back down the isle. He was sitting in the seat again. I must be out of my mind. Seeing me look at him, he winked and looked back down at his book. God if he wasn't so sexy I would just hate him. All of a sudden I felt Aria tap my shoulder. "Hey hey whatcha lookin at?" She said giggling. I couldn't tell her. "Nothing." I said quickly. Giving me an "are you kidding me" look, Aria stood up and looked down the isle. For a second I could have sworn a look of pure disgust washed over her face. But it was gone in an instant. She smiled again, "I guess you really were looking at nothing." Something was wrong. I had a feeling Aria wasn't telling me something.

 The rest of the airplane ride I did my best to try and distract myself from him by talking to Aria, listening to music, or reading magazines. But all the while I was thinking of how good his body had felt when he pressed me against the wall. I knew already that I was in for some trouble. Finally, we landed in sunny California. Aria was babbling about the awesome things we were going to do, but I was too distracted. As we pushed out of the plane, I felt someone grab my hand and pull me. It was him. He pulled me to him and whispered in my ear, "Naughty girl, wanting things that aren't good for you." Pressing a piece of paper into my hands, he turned and disappeared into the crowd. "Jayden? Where are you?" I heard Aria's voice and hurried toward her. 

Only when we were sitting in the back of a taxi and Aria was lost in the music of her iPod did I dare to open the note. It said this:

 Covet is a tricky thing. It can get you into trouble angel.

 - Riley
 I felt a shiver pass through my body and I crumpled the piece of paper into my palm. Who was this guy? I needed to figure it out. I knew he wasn’t normal, I mean how else would he have changed the sign on the bathroom to occupied? The taxi stopped in front of a hotel. The hotel was entitled “The Waterfront Hotel.” It wasn’t what you would call a five star hotel. It seemed like it was built a while ago because some of the paint was peeling. I stuffed the paper into the pocket of my jeans, grabbed my suitcase out of the trunk, and followed Aria into the lobby. A smiling lady was standing at the reception desk. “Hello and welcome to the Waterfront Hotel here in beautiful Malibu.” This woman seriously needed to stop smiling. “If you can please give me your names I would be happy to show you to your rooms.” Ok, now it was getting creepy. Aria however, seemed unfazed. She smiled at the lady and said, “One suite for Aria Adelberg and Jayden Flynn.” The lady shuffled through the cards on her desk and pulled out one. She looked up and said, “There seems to have been a mistake. Our hotel has been booked for a while now and the suite is occupied. I’m afraid I can only offer you two separate rooms that are located across from each other. I hope that won’t be a problem?” She looked at us expectantly. I looked over at Aria and nodded. At least we would be in the same hotel and it wasn’t like we were on different floors. “Yes that would be fine,” said Aria smiling politely at the lady. The lady put on her sickening smile again and started to walk, “If you ladies would please follow me to your rooms, I am sure you will find them in wonderful condition.” I followed after Aria and the lady biting my lip as my thoughts went back to Riley. God I was already obsessed. We arrived at the rooms and Aria and I agreed that we should change for dinner and then leave. We were going to eat at a special restaurant that was located near the beach. Aria had made sure that I brought some nice dresses despite my protesting. Once in my room, I walked to the window and opened it. It was already dark out and I could smell the waves crashing onto the sand. I decided to get into my dress. I pulled out my dress and looked at it. It was black with straps that crisscrossed down my back and ended in a fuller skirt. I took off my clothes and slipped it on. Standing in front of the mirror, I realized I could not reach the tie on the back of my dress. Wonderful. I was about to go ask Aria to tie it for me, when I saw something in the mirror. A shadow. I spun around, my heart skipping with fear and saw that someone was sitting on my bed.

“Riley!” I yelled. “What the HELL are you doing in here? How did you get in here?” But I already knew that answer. The window. Of course. “How long have you been in here?” He smiled lazily and rolled off of the bed. I crossed my arms protectively across my chest and glared at him. Fiddling with the end of my hair he said “Long enough, Angel.” I drew in a sharp breath as his rough finger grazed against my cheek. Where the hell was Aria? But it was too late for that. Even I knew I was gone. Some part of me longed for him more than I had planned for. He looked me straight in the eye and whispered in a hoarse voice, “Do you know what I am?” He was staring intently at me now. No trace of the devilish smirk from on the plane. I couldn’t think straight. His eyes blue as ice penetrated into my own. Shakily, I raised my hand to touch his face. Pulling back in surprise, I looked up at him. The simple touch of my fingers to his skin had sent a shock pulsing through me. “Don’t be afraid,” He whispered and vanished as though he had never come.



Letting out a breath that had been trapped in my chest, I sat heavily down onto the itchy polyester of the hotel bed. I pressed shaky hands to my temples and tried to think about what had just happened. Some part of myself knew that I shouldn’t tell Aria. She would only freak and go all judo on his sorry ass anyway. But I knew I couldn’t handle fighting him anymore. He had gotten much too close. It only struck me now that there was something different about him. Because it was totally normal for people to change bathroom signs and disappear. Right. Standing up and slipping on my black heels, I left the room to knock on Aria’s door. But I paused just before my hand could make contact with the wood. There were voices coming from Arias room. Aria and a boy. Pressing my ear against the door I heard Arias voice say, " Don't you understand what this means? She can't even begin to know the importance and I can't sit here while you torment her!" She let out a breath and presumably sat down judging by the creak of mattress springs. Then I heard the other voice. "Keep your voice down sister, we aren't alone in this hotel. I'm handling it ok?" I heard another creak of mattress strings as Aria said in a hushed yell, "Handling it? You call this handling it? If father finds out about it we are both to be sent to judgment and I can't just leave Jayden to be taken by the Enkelli!" I heard him say something, but his voice became muffled and unclear. Backing away slowly from the door I leaned against the wall and let out a breath. What could Aria be hiding from me? Who was the boy? Who were the Enkelli? All of a sudden I heard footsteps coming to the door. Dashing back into my room, I slowly opened the door again to great Aria in the hall. At this point, I was hoping to god she hadn't heard me listening at the door. Aria however seemed completely unfazed. She wore an electric blue dress that hugged her curves and made her eyes stand out beneath her blue black hair. Smiling her radiant smile she linked arms with me and said, "Let's get out of this dump and have some real fun," and dragged me out of the hotel.