“Come on, let’s find you some clothes,” Theo says, walking out of the kitchen, heading towards the stairs. I follow after him, back into the bedroom. Theo rummages through his drawers and pulls out some shorts with a drawstring, tossing them to me. I slip them on before tying them as tight as they will go. Even now, they are still threatening to fall down.
“I need to at least go back and get my clothes; I can’t keep wearing yours. I might as well walk around naked.”
“I wouldn’t mind. One of us will go grab some stuff from your apartment on Wednesday for you,” Tobias says, walking into the room and grabbing a shirt from the hanger.
“Or, I could go with you,” I plead.
“No Imogen, my word is final,” he says.
“No Imogen, my word is final,” I mock back with my best impersonation of Tobias’s deep voice. I’m so not in the mood today. I hear Theo chuckle beside me and catch him shaking his head out of the corner of my eye.
“Stop encouraging her, Theo. She is in enough trouble when we get back.”
“Yeah, and what is the big bad wolf gonna do? Stop me from leaving? Oh that’s right I’m already a prisoner here,” I reply dryly. I hear Tobias growl a throaty growl, coming from the back of his throat, vibrating through his chest.
“That’s the third time now, Imogen. That attitude of yours is going to get you in trouble.” I roll my eyes, so over hearing about being punished.
“And I’m starting to think your bark is worse than your bite,” I retort. I see Theo’s lips turn up slightly, repressing a smile. I watch as he walks out and starts walking down the stairs. I start to follow him out when I’m suddenly picked up from behind and walked over to the railing, Tobias lifts me over. I hear Tobias’ throaty laugh before I’m suddenly dangling over the railing of the second floor. Tobias, not even breaking a sweat, as he holds me with one hand like I weigh nothing. I look down at the ground below and gulp.
“Not so sassy now, huh?”
I look down and see my feet dangling in the air, I hate heights. “I swear to god, Tobias, if you drop me…”
“You’ll what?” He says tauntingly, letting go of my arm only to grab my hand before I plummet to the ground. I scream and look back down at the slate floor below me. “Fine, fine,” he says, lifting me back to the railing. I put my foot on the side when Tobias grabs me and pulls me closer. He kisses me hard, then shoves me backwards. I fall towards the floor, closing my eyes. A scream escapes my lips, my hands go to my face as my heart drops into my stomach. Next thing, I find myself in Theo’s arms, he pulls me into his chest. My hands are shaking as I grip his black shirt.
“I warned you not to test him,” Theo whispers, I hear the smile and laugh he is trying to hold back.
“You damn asshole, you could have killed me,” I scream up at Tobias, who is proudly standing next to the railing looking down at us, a smug smile on his face, like he finds this all very amusing.
“I knew Theo would catch you. Stop being a baby, you were never in any danger.”
“Fuck you, Tobias” I say, letting go of Theo as he places my feet back on the ground. I turn my back on them and walk to the front door.
Going outside, I sit on the wooden chair next to the stairs. After a few minutes, Theo and Tobias walk out. Theo has a bag on his back, he sits on the steps and puts on a pair of hiking boots, Tobias does the same.
“So where are we going?” I ask. I really hope not hiking. Me and hiking don’t mix, and I don’t even have shoes, only heels which I’m not wearing.
“You will see when we get there, come here,” Tobias says, holding his hand out to me.
“No, you just dropped me off the second floor, I’m not going near you.” I cross my arms defiantly.
“I can take her,” Theo says, trying to break up our standoff.
“No, she can come with me,” he says. Theo shrugs and Tobias holds out his hand expectantly. “Now, Imogen,” I hate when he says my name like that, sounds like he is scolding a child.
I shuffle closer but refuse to take his hand. Tobias grabs me around the waist, forcing my legs around his hips. “You’re going to want to hang on,” he says and starts running. I hear him laugh when my arms quickly wrap around his neck. Tobias’ skin is warm and stops the chill from the wind. I close my eyes, so I don’t get dizzy, but the motion of him running doesn’t help as my stomach does backflips.
After a few minutes, we stop, but Tobias doesn’t put me down. I look around and see that we are beside some river edge, Tobias walks along the river before stopping. I turn to look and see that we are on the edge of the small cliff; I look down and see a waterfall next to us and a lagoon looking area below. Looking ahead, all I see are trees for miles, they almost look like they never end. “Ready?” Asks Tobias, I stare at him, confused.
“Ready for what?” Instead of answering, he jumps. I squeal and clutch tighter to Tobias. I can hear him laughing before I feel water rushing past me as we are plunged into the water.
Tobias lets go as soon as we go under, and I frantically swim upwards to the surface. Once I catch my breath, I look around. The drop wasn’t as big as it looks from up the top. Tobias surfaces next to me, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me to him. I don’t argue and let him.
“Where is Theo?” Tobias points to the top and I watch Theo drop the bag off the edge over the cliff, it lands on the dirt just outside of the water. Theo then dives off the top, landing in the water. I look around for him, but he doesn’t surface. Then, I’m tugged under water by my feet, slipping out of Tobias arms as I’m dragged underneath the water. I make my way back to the surface to see Theo, smiling at me.
I dunk his head back under the water before swimming away. “You like it?” Theo calls out when he resurfaces.
“It’s beautiful here,” I call back before floating on my back. I focus on looking up at the sky, which can only just be seen through all the trees that make a sort of canopy above the lagoon. Tobias and Theo swim over to where I’m floating.
“It’s peaceful here,” Tobias says.
“Of course, it is, we are in the middle of nowhere,” I tell him.
“Not true, we are only half an hour out of the city.”
I stand up and look at him. “You’re lying. I trekked through this forest for hours the other day and never found a road.”
“Well, it would help if you were going in the right direction. You were moving further out, not closer,” Tobias says. I ponder for a second, well in that case, maybe I will be able to leave. I don’t let that slip though; they have given me a little too much information on our whereabouts.