When Darkness Dawns

Every Single Second

A/N: the quote has absolutely nothing to do with the chapter. Just liked it...

❤

I groan as the sunlight pours into my room, blinding me behind my closed eyelids. My body aches from last night, as I ended up finding myself in the middle of an attempted sexual assault, and I had to stop the sleaze bag before he had the chance to force himself onto the helpless woman.

She was grateful that I saved her from any physical affliction, but I know that by the time I got there, there was already an abundance of emotional trauma that would now haunt her for the rest of her life.

So, ultimately, I failed. And I feel like utter shit for not being able to help her sooner.

I'm confused at the fact that I'm even awake right now, as Sylvia is usually the one to wake me up, or a terrible nightmare that very rarely will cause me to stop breathing in my sleep. But the only nightmares I had last were of that girl and the fact that I didn't really, truly save her. Though, I know that isn't what woke me up, and Sylvia isn't in the room with me.

My eyes slowly flutter open to be greeted by blurry surroundings, as I shield them for a moment with my forearm from the blinding sun. Then, when I feel I've adjusted enough to the light, I let my arm fall as I hear a chime coming from my bedside table.

With a yawn, I reach over and grab my glasses off the nightstand and put them on, making the world around me more clear. Then, I grasp my phone, turning it on to find the lockscreen riddled with notifications of missed messages and calls. Without looking at the caller ID's of any of them, I swipe my screen and put in the password, Sylvee's birthday, and find that they're all from the guys.

I missed 6 calls and I have 14 messages. That must've been what woke me up.

I smile as I read through each text, some of them already saved into my contacts and some of them not.

Unknown: Hey, aggele, it's Silas. I just wanted to say that I hope you have a great morning and that you slept well!

For a second, I'm super confused at how Silas even got my number because I never got the chance to give it to him yesterday. And then it all clicks together. He and Marc must know the 12 other amazingly attractive guys I had the pleasure of meeting in the last few days. I mean, it makes plenty sense.

I go into Uncle's fairly often, and I've literally never seen them there before yesterday. Also, I've never seen them around town before, and I never forget a face. Especially not ones like theirs. So, they must be new in town, or they must be returning after a long time, for whatever reason.

Same with the other guys. I've never seen them before, besides Victor Morgan, as he's a famous pianist. But it's strange to think about never having run into people like Owen or Sean or Axel before, as apparently they're important enough people to have been invited to one of my father's banquets. Hence, they all must be new, and we don't get many new people to this town. So it's easy to guess that they all must know each other.

Just thinking about these 14 men being friends makes a huge smile break onto my face, as I've felt insanely drawn to each of them since our first encounters. And as I read the words, my smile only grows, as I immediately save his number and reply.

Me: Hey, Superman! You're too sweet. Thank you so much, and I hope you have a great day as well!

I don't even realize the nickname I give him until it's already sent, and I completely dodge the part about sleeping well because I really don't want to lie to him.