Page 124 of Forever

I screamed at the top of my lungs and dropped my phone, bathing the room in darkness again.

And then all hell broke loose.

The sound of glass shattering rung in my ears.

Penny screamed. “Get off me!”

Someone groaned.

One of the guys had definitely been hit based on that groan. Probably by Penny.

“Flip the couch!” Bee yelled.

That was a good idea.

Before I could move, someone put their hand on my shoulder. Men I didn’t know really needed to stop touching me. I threw out my elbow. But whoever my elbow collided with didn’t even flinch. He put his hand over my mouth. He was messing with the wrong person. I bit down on one of his fingers.

He cursed under his breath and released me from his grip. I crouched down feeling along the ground for a piece of glass. I’d heard something else shatter. I wrapped my hand around the stem of a wine glass.This will do.Whoever these guys were, they’d walked into the wrong house. I’d been kidnapped for the last fucking time! I stood up and spun in a circle, waiting for my eyes to adjust in the darkness.

“Get my mommy!” Jacob yelled.

“Jacob?” Panic wrapped around my throat. “Jacob, where are you?!” I reached out my empty hand in the darkness, searching for him.

“I’m a kidnapper!” he said happily.

Wait. What?

The lights turned back on. Broken glass and wine covered the floor. And pillows had been thrown everywhere. A glass lamp was shattered. I recognized Matt, Rob, James, Mason, Tanner, and Nigel even though only Rob had hismask off. They were scattered around the room. I was pretty sure it was Mason who’d knocked over the lamp because he was trying and failing to put it back on the end table. There was also a very little kidnapper I hadn’t seen before because you could only just see the top of his head over the couch.Jacob.I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Jesus, Brooklyn,” said Mason and he dropped the lamp again.

I looked down at the wine glass in my hand. The top was broken, the glass shards sticking out precariously. It was the perfect weapon. But not against my friend. I let it fall to the ground.

“Oh, sorry,” Rob said who had his arms wrapped around Penny. “Thought you were my wife.” He let go of Penny’s waist.

“I didn’t mean to give you a black eye!” Penny threw her hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry, Rob.”

Rob laughed. “You definitely didn’t give me a black eye. You lightly swatted my thigh. I thought you were just groping me.” He winked at her and then grimaced from his black eye.

Penny made a grossed out face and Rob laughed.

“How did you get a black eye?!” Daphne said and hurried over to him.

“I don’t remember,” he said. But then he quickly added: “But you should see the other guy.”

Tanner chuckled beside him. “Yeah, right.” He pulled off his mask.

“You guys,” James said and pulled off his mask too. “I thought we weren’t taking our masks off?”

Penny gasped. “James, what happened to your face?!” She rushed over to him, cradling his face in her hands.

Why were they all beat up? God, they were going to look like a street fight gang in the wedding photos.

“Did you kidnap a bunch of big strong men with mean right hooks before this segment of kidnapping or something?” Justin asked. He was looking back and forth between James and Rob. “Tell me more.”

“Kidnap, kidnap!” Jacob said and started jumping up and down on the couch.

“Is that a yes?” Justin asked with a smile.

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