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Chapter One

When his li that stopped his heart A young woht away, he could tell the girl was drunk, confused, and terrified

“Hicks, stop the car!” Darian yelled and jumped out before it came to a full stop He spun the first roin, effectively taking care of hiuy yelled and ran, leaving his injured friends behind to wither on the sidewalk

Darian pointed to the et her taken care of”

Hicks had come around the car with a tire iron as backup He nodded and sla manner

Darian ot you”

She stared up at the stranger as she seemed to try to understand what just happened “Who are you?”

“My name is Darian, baby You’re safe with me Just relax”

“I didn’t mean it,” she whimpered and laid her head on his chest “I don’t want to cause problems”

Darian kept his arainst hi, love”

She nodded “I did I always do”

He nuzzled the side of her head and looked up as two girls ca around the corner

“Jesus, Larkin, you alave us a heart attack,” one of the women said

The other one caught sight of the round and pressed a hand to her mouth “Oh, my God What happened?”

“Threeyour friend here”

“Oh, God, Larkin” The tall one gasped

Darian narrowed his eyes “Where were you guys?”

Both wo expression on his face The shorter one cleared her throat “We were in the bar around the corner We turned around for a second, and she was gone The h the bar and then out here e couldn’t find her”

“So, you’re her friends?” Darian asked and raised a single eyebrow

The tall one crossed her arms over her chest “Yeah, I , but wewith us”

“What are your names?”

“I’m Monica,” the tall one said “This is Laura, and you’re holding Larkin”

“I’ll need your phone nuive you ”