Keep Her - Afraid of the Dark

Bianca

I was tipsy and filled with a restless desire to fill myself with something.

Camden, my perfect blonde and athletic boyfriend, was passed out on a seat while my 18th birthday continued around him. He wasn't going to be any use to me tonight.

The only sober ones on deck were the four bodyguards who accompanied the elite youth gathered on my family's yacht to sponge off the money my father was spending on me in lieu of attention.

The guest list had been chosen for me and kept small to reinforce the exclusive nature of the party, consisting of two other girls and four boys.

Daphne had originally been invited to even out the numbers, but she was prettier than me, and Camden had 'accidentally' fallen asleep with his head in her lap at the last party. So she had 'accidentally' received the wrong time for the launch.

My long blonde hair was tussled in the sea air as we rocked gently far from land under the cloud-obscured stars. I looked amazing, I had tanned topless, plucked and moisturized, and chosen a sparkly dress that complemented my heterochromia. Even if Camden made jokes about being half perfect, because he liked the blue one, I liked them both.

Brandon won over both Aria and Avalon, and they retreated below decks to have a private party. Conrad had taken this about as well as any other rejection in his 'son of a crime lord' life and had demanded his bodyguard ferry him to shore.

He had drunkenly slapped the bodyguard when he had correctly tried to tell him we were too far from land. I figured we could just pick them up in the morning on our way back.

That left two bodyguards and Lysander, whom I could never get a read on. He was the son of one of my father's associates, I knew his dad was a weapons dealer but had never met him. Currently, Lye was playing golf, bashing golf balls into the ocean with a disturbingly precise violence.

He had loosened his tie and I watched the muscles under his shirt stretch with every swing. I briefly considered seeing if Lye wanted to take me on the artificial grass in front of the bodyguards, but I chickened out.

My phone alarm went off. 1.33 am, I was now officially 18.

Happy Fucking Birthday to Me. I downed my glass.

The boat engines fell silent. The lights went out.

God, it was dark out here, far from civilization. The stars were the only light, and they were shrouded behind the clouds that rolled above.

Her alarm went off. I smiled. Did it really matter to me that she was eighteen? Not really, but I liked savoring the hunt and fuck did I love a starting pistol.