As everyone was settled down, I leaned over and asked Liam questions.

“Who is the gentleman next to your father,” I whispered.

“That’s Henley; he is my father's right-hand man,” Liam whispered.

“I may or may not have run to him in the hallway as I was running here,” I said sacredly.

Liam looked at me and laughed, “Good luck with that.”

I looked at him, then looked away; big help Liam was.

You could feel the presence that these two men brought into the room. 

Everyone was watching them intently and waiting for them to speak.

“Hello, everyone,” Lance said as we brought Henley to his side.

“Hello, Lance,” everyone said in unison.

I'm not going to lie; it creeped me out. Liam and I were the only person in that room that didn't say hello back. 

It made us stand out, as everyone looked at us, specifically me as if I were some random insult to the headmaster. Once they stopped looking at me, they all turned their heads back at Lance. 

Lance chuckled and then spoke: “Not many of you know why I have called this meeting today, but all of you need to meet someone new to the academy. Phen.”

Everyone stopped staring at him and immediately started staring at me. 

They all looked astonished as well as scared. 

Why did everyone look scared when they first met me? 

“Phen, would you mind introducing yourself?” Lance asked me.

I looked over at Liam, and he gave me a nod of affirmation. I pushed my chair back behind me and stood up. 

“Uh, hi. My name is Phen. I arrived here today. It seems you guys have heard of me. I thank you all for coming here as well,” I said, looking at everyone while rubbing my neck and sitting back down.

I then look next to Liam, and he chuckles. 

I stared at him and hit him on his arm as I started to chuckle and said, “Fuck off.”

Everyone was still staring at me. It was extremely awkward, so I leaned over to Liam and whispered, “Is there a reason why everyone is staring at me?”

When I first came in, they all looked at me judgmentally; now, their views seem to have shifted. 

“It's because they’ve been waiting for you long.” He whispered back. 

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You’ll see,” Liam commented. 

“Everyone settles down,” Lance said, and almost immediately, everyone did; what a presence he had in the room.

Within moments, everyone shifted back towards Lance, giving him their undivided attention.

“Today is the day that we have been waiting for for years. We finally have the opportunity to go through with the plan,” Lance said again, and a smile swept the audience—almost like it was contagious.

You could see the excitement on people's faces.

“That is all for today. I wanted to invite you all to the arrival of Phen so that you can start what you need to do. Thank you so much for your time,” Lance said as he started packing up his stuff from his seat and left the room.

Once Lance left the room, people started to follow; it ended up just being me and Liam left.

I stood up, looked at him, and asked, “What was that?”

Obviously, I was concerned. They talked about my life while leaving me in the dark about it. 

“You are the key,” Liam said, looking up at me.

Once again, I still need clarification and have no more information than what I started with.

“You have been mentioned in prophecies many times. We don't know what that may entail, but it always led back to you,” Liam said, still looking up at me.

I turned away, crossed my arms, and then turned back.

“So you guys are in the dark, just like me?” I questioned.

“If that helps at all?” Liam chuckled.

I uncrossed my arms, and all my anger melted after hearing him laugh. He is so… perfect.

After a few seconds of daydreaming, I snapped back to reality.

Liam stood up, pushed his chair in, and I pushed mine. 

He looked at me, opened his mouth, and then closed it as if he was about to say something. 

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” He said.

“What!!” I said, shoving him.

It's wild how we are already so comfortable with each other that it is as if we have known each other our whole lives. 

He took a sigh and looked around to see if anyone was there. 

What was he planning? I was thinking.

He leaned in and whispered, “Since it's our birthday tomorrow, we could sneak out and do something?”

He looked around again to make sure no one was there.

I laughed at him; he was trying so hard to be secretive that it was cute.

“Of course, I'd love to,” I said, smiling.

A smile wiped his face, and he said, “Want to race back to the room?”

The smile still lingered across his face.

“No, not in the mood,” I said.

He frowned and said, “Come on!!”

“No,” I said smiling, “No way”.

He started frowning and then looked at me; I winked and started running.

“Hey, that's not fair!! " he said as he started running, but his voice started to fade slowly as I was far ahead now.

I arrived at the door and stood there, waiting for Liam.

A couple of minutes later, he came around the corner.

He stopped before me, panting; good lord, it was hot.

“You cheated!” He exclaimed.

“It was a 2-minute difference; I don't think that that was cheating; I think you just suck,” I said, and we both started laughing.

I don't think I've ever laughed this much in my life. 

Once we both stopped laughing, we walked into the room; he plopped on the bed. 

“So, what time are we leaving tonight? He asked, lying in a starfish position on his stomach.

“I don't know, whatever you want, I don't know my way around this place, and you probably know the way out of here,” I said.

“Well, it's 16:40 right now. How about we leave at 22:00? The curfew for everyone going out is at 21:30, so it gives us some time to sneak out and make sure there are no stragglers, " he said.

“That sounds good! I think I'll take a bath in the meantime. That is, if there is nothing else to do today. Are there no more meetings?”

“Nope, none, it's your first day; I think it's time for you to relax and enjoy some alone time,” Liam said.

“Thank you,” I laughed and finished off with a smile.

I headed toward the bathroom door, which was immense once again. As the doors opened, I walked into the beautiful bathroom and was about to take my clothes off to enter the hot tub. Then I changed my mind; a relaxing time in the hot tub sounded nicer than a bath.

I tried to take off my clothes, but they wouldn't come off. I fiddled for a couple of minutes, trying to get them off. 

I was so done with this that I made my way to the door to ask Liam how to take these damned clothes off. 

As I walked in, I couldn't see him. Then I looked around the corner, and there he was, butt naked. I turned around and screamed after we made eye contact.

“I'm so sorry!” I yelled from behind the door.

He started laughing and then covered up with a towel.

“Can I help you?” Liam asked; you could hear him smiling in his voice.

“Can I come around the corner now? I have a question about these stupid clothes.” I said from behind the door.

“Yes, you can,” He said; you could still hear that smile. 

“I'm so sorry again,” I said, walking around the door with my head down.

“It's okay. I never thought that would happen, but it's all good,” he laughed. So what can I do for you?”

I looked at him; he had a beautiful body; he must have worked hard for it, I thought. I wish I could stare at him longer, but nothing was covering him, so he rushed over to grab a towel. 

“Ahem?” He coughed out.

“Oh, sorry! Umm… How do you get these clothes off?” I asked.

“You have to command them, say clothes off,” Liam said.

“So all I have to say is clothes, “ I started saying, but Liam's hand covered my mouth, not letting me finish.

“Unless you want the clothes to come off right now, I suggest you go to the bathroom and say those words,” he said, smirking.

I started blushing, and all I could do was nod. I walked to the doors and turned around to see Liam staring at me as I was about to go in. 

I was able to mutter, “Thank you, Liam, again, sorry.”

“Don’t be,” He said as he winked at me. 

He kept staring at me as I made my way into the bathroom; the doors closed behind me as I entered.

I leaned against the door and slid down, letting out a breath of air and sighed. I put my hand to my heart; I'm pretty sure my heart was beating so fast that a heart attack patient wouldn't have my heartbeat right now. 

I stood up eventually, walked to the sink, and splashed water on my face.

I looked at myself in the mirror and said, “Clothes off.”

As Liam said, the clothes came off immediately; they fell into my hands. I folded them on the counter and then walked towards the hot tub, completely naked revealed. 

I got into the hot tub and melted. It was lovely after a long day of insane confusion, exhaustion, and Liam.

I closed my eyes and laid my head back on the rim of the hot tub.

I heard the door open. I looked back, and in walks Liam. A towel once again separated his top half from his bottom half.

“What are you doing?” I exclaimed, covering everything under my neck. Thank god the hot tub was bubbling, and you couldn't see anything.

“Care if I join?” Liam said with a smirk.

“Yes, I do mind,” I said, hiding under the bubbles.

“Well, I'm coming in anyway,” he said as he took off his towel.

I covered my eyes as he came in, not leaving any time for me to object.

He moaned with relief, “This is so nice, isn't it?”

“It was nice until you came in,” I said, ensuring the bubbles continued. 

We sat in silence there for a minute. I wanted to tell him to leave but couldn't bring myself to say it. 

He lay with his head resting on the rim of the hot tub. He reached over to grab a towel to cover his eyes. Before he placed the towel over his head, he made eye contact with me, and I looked away. 

You should get used to this, as it will happen more often than you think.

Again, there is something else that I need help with knowing the answer. 

I just sighed and put my head on the rim of the tub, thinking about all the questions I had that I wanted to ask today. 

Liam removed the towel, revealing one eye, and pointed at me.

“Is something bothering you?” Liam asked with such an intense gaze.

I didn't break eye contact and just kept a straight face.

Of course, something was wrong. We almost got killed today in the diner and ended up here, in the middle of nowhere. Not knowing what was happening and having no questions answered, I was in a hot tub with someone I barely knew.

I looked at him and said, “I'm all good.”

I won't ever cry in front of others or discuss my problems. 

“C'mon, you can tell me,” Liam scooted over.

I slide over, keeping the distance between us.

“Don't worry about it,” I said again. 

He looked at me, confused.
“Is there an issue here?” He looked still amazed that I wasn't saying anything.

Is it that uncommon for people not to spill their emotions onto everyone?

“Most people jump at the topic of even talking to me, let alone them talking to me about their emotions,” Liam said, laughing.

His laugh made me happy, but I kept a straight face.

“Well, aren’t you, Mr. Popular?” I said.

“Unfortunately.” He said, rolling his eyes as he placed the towel over them again.

Oh, how hard that sounds. I thought to myself, having everything given to you.

“So, my brother Ron said I am the key to what?” I asked.

“I don't know much about it; compared to my father, he makes me train more than he does and fills me in on things,” Liam said with the towel dropping over his eyes.

You could see the top of his abs peeking out of the water; I skimmed them with my eyes for a second. 

I then looked away. He removed his towel, covered his eyes, stared at me, and said, “You like what you see?” 

Him and his fucking smirk.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” I said, acting clueless. I turned my head to the side and looked away.

“You know most girls and guys would jump at this opportunity,” he said, chuckling.

“Okay? And? What am I supposed to do with that information,” I said, “That just means you're a whore?”

He started laughing, “Well, there isn't much to do here, so you have to do something to pass the time.”

Suddenly, this man turned me off. What your business is is your business, but the second you make it mine, well, let's just say I'm not the biggest fan.

“You just turned me off so much, Jesus,” I say everything on my mind; I better be honest, for the most part, than lie. 

“Oh, come on, I haven't been a whore in a while.” He said, grinning while chuckling.

“What do you classify as a while?” I asked.

Suddenly, the bubbles start turning off, and I panic.

I clutch everything to hide.

“Turn the bubbles on right now,” I said, trying to avoid a staring contest with his dick. 

“What If I don't?” He chuckled, moving towards the button to turn it back on. 

“I'll kill you, and hurry up!” I yelled.

“What? It's nothing you haven't seen.” Liam chuckled.

He's not lying, but I just rolled my eyes at his comment. 

“What time is it?” I asked Liam.

He pulled his hand out of the bubbling water and revealed a watch, which I assume was waterproof. 

“It's 18:40,” he said, putting his hand back under the water. 

We sat there in silence; this hot tub was no longer relaxing, it was hot, and he was here, the whore.

“You better not give me any STDS while I'm sitting in this tub with you,” I said as a joke. 

“Oh, I was just joking about that, I mean, yes, I have slept with people, and yes, anyone would jump at the opportunity; I'm not that whorish.” He chuckled and then put the towel back over his eyes.

I just sat there and sighed.

We sat there for a couple more minutes.

“Do you mind if you turn around,” I asked, “I'm going to get out and shower this off.”

“It's not like I can see anything with this towel over my eyes, " he said, lying there.

“Whatever, where are the towels?” I asked. 

He just pointed to a cabinet.

I got out, walked towards the towels, grabbed one, and then wrapped it around myself.

I walked toward the massive shower and entered it; it was almost like a separate room, with four shower heads, with separations. 

When I walked in, shampoo and conditioner dispensers were on the wall under each showerhead. Thankfully, they provided them; it's not like I had time to grab mine. 

I walked over to the farthest end, placed my towel on the hanger, and walked into the shower. I started washing my hair, and then I heard footsteps come in—Liam’s, to be exact. 

He chose the exact opposite shower on the other end.

We showered, and I grabbed my towel when I was done. 

I was walking past him and looked down, and you could see his perfect ass.

I stopped beside him and asked, “So, for clothes, what do I wear now?”

“Next to your bed, there's a closet. Those are yours; just remember to touch them to wear them,” Liam said while scrubbing his head, not facing me.

“No shit,” I mumbled. 

He turned around and exposed himself, “What did you say?”

I turned around immediately so I am not having another staring contest with his dick.

“Nothing,” I said and walked out.

You could hear him starting to laugh his ass off.

I was so tired from today that I decided to sleep. I headed toward the closet to put on my clothes and then fell asleep.