The Ransom

Chapter 1

3 Years Later:

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Brooklynne's POV:

"Brooke come on! We're going to be late!" My best friend Shelly yelled at me from down the hall of the high school.

School just let out for the summer and we were on our way to a year-end party. This party has been planned for a month now and the entire school was invited to it.

"Are you sure your dad is okay with you going to this party?" I asked Shelly.

My dad, on the other hand, doesn't care what I do. He hasn't cared since my mother died of cancer nine years ago. I've been basically out on my own ever since. He's never home, always out on business traveling all over the world. I've grown up with nannies my entire life since her death. They come and go so I don't bother to get to know any of them anymore.

"Yes! I told him the whole school was going and he asked if there were going to be adults at this party."

"What did you tell him?" I asked her as we ran out of the school and down the sidewalk to jump into her car.

"That of course there will be adults." She snickered as she told me her lie to her father.

These are times when I wish my father would just care enough about me to care if I was lying to him or not. I don't even bother lying because he doesn't care what I do anyway.

Of course, she wouldn't want her parents to know that there weren't going to be any adults there at this party and that there will be alcohol and who knows what else there. I'm going because Cade Evans, the hottest guy in the school is supposed to be going. I've had a crush on him all of the high school but he only wants whoever happens to be the most popular at the time and I've never been that girl.

My father may be one of the richest men in Manhattan but at this school that doesn't mean anything, everyone here is rich. If you want to be popular you have to be one of the biggest sluts around and since I'm still a virgin that pretty much makes me the least popular girl. I guess it's a good thing I have my best friend Shelly. She's been my best friend since elementary. She's been with me through everything, including my mother's death. I don't know how I would have made it through that if it wasn't for her.

We pulled up to the three-story mansion and walked up the long sidewalk. Everyone at my school is loaded with money. You have to be if you expect to be able to go to this school so it's normal for us to go to a classmate's house and it to be spectacular. It's just normal.

Before we walk into the house we can already hear the music blaring and the kids yelling and laughing. As soon as we walked in we could smell the drugs and alcohol. Shelly pulled me straight to the large living area where the music was getting played at and we started dancing with a few other kids.

After a half-hour or more I needed a drink.

"Do you want anything to drink?" I shouted to Shelly who could probably hardly hear me.

"No, I'm good!" She yelled to me as she turned and started to grind against some kid.

That was the one thing nice about this school, it's large enough that you don't actually know everyone you go to school with so who knows who you might meet when you are at one of these parties. They also tend to invite kids from other schools as well but really, who knows!

I push my way through the crowd as more teens start to pile in. It took me a while but I had finally found where the kitchen was and where most of the alcohol was being kept. This isn't my first time drinking and I'm sure it won't be my last. I've been drunk a few times but never enough for me to forget what I did that night.

I grab a cup from the counter and I started to chug it down. It went down smooth and easily and boy was I thirsty. It was quite warm in the house with all of these bodies and it was making me hot. I set the empty cup down and grabbed another.

"Brooklynne, right?"

I turned quickly to the sexy voice of none other than Cade Evans. Damn, he's so handsome. If only he would let me kiss those soft lips of his.

"Ah, yeah. But you can call me Brooke." I told him, trying not to blush as he grinned down at me.

Everyone is tall compared to my short little height of five feet. He wasn't the tallest guy in school but he was taller than me. If I had to guess I would maybe put him at about five foot seven inches. Maybe a little more. Heck, I don't know and now that I've had some alcohol I'm probably not even looking at him right anymore.

I quickly gulped more of my drink when I realized I was just staring at him and turned myself away.

"Would you like to dance?" He asked as he turned me around by my shoulder.

Did he really just ask to dance with me? What planet am I currently on? Doesn't he remember who I am? Maybe he's had too much to drink already too and thinks he's talking to someone else.

"Ah sure," I said to him and drank the last of my drink and set the empty cup down on the counter.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd. The feel of his hand on mine made the butterflies in my stomach fly around all over. His hand was strong compared to mine and I still can't believe he said more than one word to me let alone pulling me over for a dance!

Once we got out on the dance floor we started to dance to the hip hop song that was playing. He wasn't a bad dancer and I was having a lot of fun dancing with him. I stopped and stared up at him when the music suddenly changed to a slow song. I didn't know what to do so I just stood there. It's one thing to come out here and dance to a fast song, it's not intimate or special, but to dance to a slow song? Where you have to have your hands on the other person! I swallowed hard and my hands started to get clammy. I looked away at the other couples around us that were slow dancing now to the song.

I felt his fingers under my chin and he turned me to look at him. The color of his chocolate eyes was melting me.

"Would you like to dance?" He asked in his sexy tone.

I couldn't form words so I just nodded my head.

I raised my hands so they could go around his neck and his slid over to my waist. My heart was beating wildly as we swayed to the music. The touch of his fingers was sending my nerves into high gear I couldn't help but stare up at him and his signature smile was making me melt.

We danced to a few more songs and they were faster and upbeat which made me feel much better.

"Would you like another drink?" He asked me.

I didn't realize that my throat was dry until he said something.

"Sure." I smiled up at him and we walked back to the kitchen.

The sun was going down now and the house was full of screaming teens, the occasional fight, and a lot of make-out sessions. Most, if not all, were probably already drunk. Cade handed me a cup and took one for himself as well. We stood there in silence watching some of the others hardly able to walk around, yelling and screaming at each other.

"Would you like to go somewhere quieter?" He said yelling because the music was so loud and there was a couple nearby yelling at each other over something that made no sense.

"Sure," I told him.

I was starting to feel a little bit of a headache from the loud noises going on around me and I think going somewhere a little quieter would be good. He grabbed my hand gently and we started to walk through the house. I almost lost my balance when a drunk stumbled into me and he quickly put his arms around me to keep me from falling.

We were only a few inches away from kissing and all I could do was stare at those lips! He smiled and then turned and we continued walking till we got to the staircase.

"Wait, why do we have to go upstairs?" I asked him stopping on the first step.

I may be getting a little tipsy but I know nothing good ever comes from someone at a party going up the stairs towards a bedroom. Never.

"Where else are we supposed to go that's quieter?" He asked.

I looked around the house and outside in the yard and everywhere that I looked there were kids everywhere. They were yelling, spilling their drinks on each other, and playing other drinking games. Outside at the pool people were yelling and pushing each other in the water.

"I guess there isn't." I finally said when I looked back up at him.

"Don't worry. We are just taking a break from the noise. We will come back down in a few minutes and dance again if you want." He assured me.

Come on Brook, when else has this gorgeous Greek god ever laid eyes on you any other time in your life? Never! That's right, he's never given you the time of day so why would he now?

"Brook?" He tugged on my hand pulling me from my inner fight in my head.

"Are you coming?" He asked.

He has been nothing but nice to me and I haven't seen him look at any other girl at this party since he started talking to me. Maybe it wasn't because I wasn't popular that he didn't talk to me, maybe he truly just never seen me before till this party. It's not like I've ever heard anything bad about him in school.

"Okay," I said and started to take the steps upwards.

We walked around the balcony till we came to another hallway and walked down it. The sounds of the teens and music were getting quieter as we walked away. The first door he tried opened and we walked in. He flicked the lights on and shut the door locking it

"Why did you just lock the door?" I asked wanting to walk back towards the door but he stood in front of me.

"I don't want any drunks walking in here puking on us so I'm locking the door to keep them out." He said as he rubbed my shoulders with his thumbs.

"Come, let's sit and just talk, shall we?" He let go of my shoulders and walked over to the bed and sat down.

"I'm not going to bite." He laughed jokingly tapping the bed beside him.

"Um, okay." I quietly said and walked over to the bed and sat down.

"How long have you gone to our school? I don't recall seeing you around very much, almost never actually." He said as he thought about it.

"I've been going there my entire school life," I told him as I looked around the room, noticing the elegant decorating throughout the room.

"Hmm, okay. I just don't remember you till this past year." He commented.

"That's because we didn't have any classes together this year." I wanted to tell him we never have but I decided not to.

He must not realize that I'm in the higher curriculum at the school and he wouldn't be in any of my classes, ever. He is smart but more like average smart. He's a jock so as long as he gets passing grades he doesn't have to worry about getting kicked off of the teams.

"Oh. Well, that makes sense I guess." He said turning to look at me.

"Too bad, I didn't see you sooner." He said looking into my eyes.

"W-Why is that?" I asked, my voice starting to tremble as he stares at me.

"Because then I would have gotten to look at these beautiful sky blue eyes sooner." He softly said as he placed his hand on my cheek and leaned into me.

"And feel your soft porcelain skin." He whispered

His lips barely grazed over mine. My heart was beating out of my chest and I could feel my lower lip start to tremble.

"Cade, I, um...I've never kissed b-before," I said with a soft shaky voice. Feeling quite embarrassed that I just confessed to that.

"Shh, it's okay." He said softly and moved into where his lips touched mine.

His lips were so soft against mine and he kissed slowly and gently. He sucked on my upper lip and I instinctively grabbed his lower lip. He started to move the kiss into a more passionate kiss and his hand wrapped around my head and into my hair.

I can't believe this is happening! He is kissing me! He tastes so good on my lips that I don't want to stop!

I was so into my thoughts of how amazing he was feeling that I didn't feel myself get lowered onto the bed onto my back. He continued his kisses on my jaw and my neck. I never thought being kissed like this would make you feel the way it does! I turned my head when I felt a moan escape my throat. I have never made out with a boy before and I was feeling all kinds of things I have never felt before.

His hand started to slip up under my skirt and I grabbed his arm quickly and pushed it down.

"Please, Cade, don't," I whispered out.

"I know you are enjoying what I am doing." He said and came back down to nibbling on my collarbone. He pushed his hand hard up my leg, passed my hand and my eyes opened wide when his hand reached my panties.

"Cade, stop!" I yelled again and tried to get up off of the bed.

He pushed my shoulder down making me drop to the bed again and he pinned me down with the weight of his body hovering over me.

"Don't you be a tease!" He whisper yelled at me.

"I don't want to, please don't!" I told him feeling the tears fall from my eyes.

I don't want to lose my virginity this way, to the first boy that kisses me. I wanted to save it. He started to pull my panties down and I pushed up on his head as hard as I could. His hand came out from under my skirt fast and hit me in the face.

I cried out from the pain and started to fight back even harder. I dug my nails into his skin making him groan in pain. The first chance I got I kicked him in the crotch. He buckled over and I slid off of the bed, tripping on my panties that had fallen to my ankles. I kicked them off quickly before he had a chance to regain himself and ran towards the door.

"You b***h!" He yelled and started after me.

I got the door unlocked and took off down the hallway as fast as I could and down the stairs. No one seemed to notice what was going on. They didn't see the blood on my chin from my busted lip, they didn't see that I was crying and they didn't see that Cade was running behind me. I pushed and shoved my way through the crowd and got to the door and ran down the sidewalk.

I looked back once I was down the street a little ways and saw that he wasn't following me anymore. I slowed down and took a deep breath. Resting my hands on my legs and took in deep breaths. My lungs were burning from running, my heart was thumping so loud and my body was shaking.

"Aaahhh!" I screamed when an arm went around my body and a cloth covered in chloroform went over my face.

I wiggled and fought, throwing my hands onto the arm that was holding the material to my nose. I could feel myself getting dizzy and I tried to scratch the person behind me. They were so strong and I felt myself getting weaker before the lights went out.