Chapter 2 Mysterious Stranger

I froze. I didn't mean to. I didn't even know I had done so until Branson gave my shoulder a shake. His action startled me enough to break my trance-like state. I watched with concern as Branson turned his head toward where I had been looking. I turned back, too. The man was still there. And he was still staring at me.

I could see Branson stiffen in sudden realization. I could also tell he didn't like how the stranger didn't take his eyes off of me. It wasn't threatening per se, but it was intense and very unnerving.

As I had said before, my friends were very protective of me. That emotion was coming to the forefront now.

I cringed and reached out to Branson to turn him back to face me. His body half-turned towards me but is face did not. Neck twisted beyond what it should be, he kept his eyes directly on the man who continued to watch us.

Me.

Branson's peculiar posture and stiff stance soon attracted the other guy's attention. Despite being in the middle of the dance floor with a hundred gyrating bodies, my friends and I stood stiffly, one eyeing someone in challenge as the others looked on in confusion.

It didn't take them long to figure out who Branson was pissed at. As the man continued to only pay attention to me, the why was soon apparent.

What followed was awkwardly long and tense. Thankfully Percy intervened before Branson or any of the others made a move.

He grabbed Branson by his wrist and Archer's as well. His eyes lit on Noah and Mick and he flipped his head in a 'this way' gesture that dared them to defy him. His eyes then lit on me with a 'get your ass over here' expression and the five of us traipsed behind one very anxious bride to be.

As I started to walk, I could not help but notice how Noah and Mick lay back until I passed them. The two of them flanked me from behind as the other three walked in front. Archer and Branson kept checking back behind them as Percy marched them forward.

I also could not help but glance at the stranger as we came to the nearest point of contact. He was no more than five feet from me now and my eyes peeked in his direction. His eerily colored eyes under the rainbow fluorescent lighting were still trained on me. His face up until that point had remained impassive. But as he caught my swift peep, his lip curled up in a pleased half-smile.

The look disturbed me. Goosebumps ran up my arms and prickled my skin. I shivered despite the heat of the club. What the hell?

"What the hell?" Branson said a few minutes later as we got back to our table, echoing my sentiments of moments before.

Percy shushed him and the others who were starting to join in with their own angry comments.

"Sit!" he ordered everyone, pointing to the chairs. "Hey baby," he said, taking me by my wrist and pulling me over to sit down in between him in Archer.

That worried me.

Everyone took their seats but no one was sitting back comfortably like before. All five men leaned in towards the table, all staring at Percy with the occasional flicker of concern thrown my way. I sat squooshed between Percy and Archer, but was oddly comforted by the tight squeeze. I had a feeling Percy was about to say something I may not like and I was a little scared.

At my age that felt a little disconcerting to admit but it was the truth nonetheless. I wasn't built for trouble. I avoided it like the plague. Having been picked on in the past, I knew my weaknesses.

"So, what the hell?" Branson asked again. His head flicking back over his shoulder as if expecting the man to be approaching their table.

He wasn't. I had been watching for that. He had already walked away. I had watched that, too. After we had passed each other and he had given me that little smile, he had slipped away into the masses.

"Do you know who that was?" Archer looked at Percy and asked.

Percy grabbed my hand and gave me a small smile. "I don't think there is anything to worry about but that being said you can't mess with him," he said looking at each man in turn, his eyes landing on Archer. "None of you!" he ordered.

"You know this is my place and I know everyone here. Well, I don't know him and that should tell you something! I've seen him around though, only occasionally."

"Does he come to party or is it work related?" Mick asked with a frown.

Percy shrugged and shook his head. "I really don't know. He comes and he goes. He is as you can see, extremely attractive and has drawn more than one eye but he has never to my knowledge hit on anyone here. I couldn't even honestly tell you if he is gay."

Branson sneered. "The way he was looking at Jackson I'm gonna say he's gay."

"Yeah. I got the feeling he wasn't looking on just to make a new friend," Archer grumbled. "I didn't like how he was staring at Jackson," he added and all five heads around me bobbed in agreement.

"Still," Percy interjected, trying to mediate the situation before it could get out of hand. "He really didn't do anything wrong. Staring is not a crime. And he has bodyguards," he tacked on, eyeing each of the friends. "You can't just take him on. Doing so will bring trouble. Big trouble. And one of you could get hurt!"

I frowned then and turned to look at all of my friends in concern. I scooted forward on the bench and leaned in closer my expression earnest.

"It's okay. Let it go. He didn't do anything but watch me."

I tried to laugh, knowing it didn't come off quite as I would have liked it to.

"I mean," I said trying to make a joke of the whole thing. "You're always on me about dating someone. Look what happens the first time someone even looks at me!"

I did chuckle then because what I said was the truth. Percy laughed beside me and patted my hands that lay fisted tightly together on my knees. I glanced back at Percy who gave me a knowing look as well as a nod of approval.

"He's not the kind of person we're talking about!" Noah growled followed by several agreeing variations of the same sentence voiced by each of his friends.

I rolled my eyes then. As unnerving as the exchange had been, what was happening here and now was getting a bit ridiculous. "I'm never going to come back here so the chances of running into him again are like nil."

"That's right!" Percy spoke up, placating the men, soothing their instinctive desire to pummel whoever threatened their own, especially me.

"Sorry, Perky," Archer said, calling him by his pet name. He leaned across me to give Percy a gentle kiss.

Several regretful voices seconded, third, and fourth-ed their apologies. This had been a celebration after all and they had ruined the mood.

"Sorry," I added, feeling more guilty than them.

It had been my fault to begin with. I should have just looked away as soon as I caught the stranger staring at me instead of freaking out. I knew better than anyone how the guys reacted when they felt I was threatened.

Percy smiled around at the table graciously accepting the apologies and doting attention that was lavished on him over the next hour. Everyone completely dropped the subject of the mysterious stranger and focused on Percy and Archer and their upcoming nuptials.

That was they did until it was time to leave.

"Where are you parked, Jackson?" Branson asked as they all rose to their feet.

I looked up at Branson in surprise, noticing how everyone around me had stopped talking and were listening intently to my response.

"I'm parked a bit off the main strip," I responded glancing from face to face as I saw their frowning responses.

"What?" I questioned. "I don't want to be stuck in traffic. I hate that."

"Of course, you do," Mick responded in aggravation.

"Typical Jackson, even puts himself at risk to avoid what he doesn't like," Noah tacked on.

I glanced around in annoyance. "How did I do that? I walked here just fine from my car and I can make my way back there, too!"

In truth I had not thought about it. And it most likely wouldn't even be coming up now if it hadn't been for earlier. Now the guys were on lookout and giving me grief over their own overprotective tendencies.

Archer ruffled my hair from behind. "Everybody is a little right, okay?"

I harrumphed and everyone laughed. Though we were the same age they tended to treat me like I was younger. Not only because I was smaller but because they thought me naïve.

I usually didn't mind and I guess I didn't tonight either, considering how the stranger's eyes had made me shiver earlier just by looking at me. I was glad I had friends nearby. Maybe parking further out hadn't been my best idea after all.

"We'll all walk out together," Percy declared. He grabbed Archer's hand and my hand and led the way through the club and out through the front doors.

Archer and I immediately bumped into him from both sides as Percy came to a sudden halt. I looked up at Percy then followed his eyes to where he stared as I heard my friends walking out behind us start questioning why we had stopped. The sudden silence from behind me signaled they too had seen what Percy had seen. Their whispered curses further revealed how unhappy they were about it.

"What the hell?" I heard Branson ask for like the third time tonight.

I was starting to think it would make a good lyric to a country and western song.

My nervous gaze landed on the silent stranger leaning against the back door of an extremely ritzy looking slate colored sedan. I wasn't in to cars so I didn't know what make it was but even I could see it screamed money.

I could feel the tension elevating behind me and even beside me. Archer was hot but even Percy seemed pissed despite his earlier warning to us not to get riled. That just made me more nervous.

The stranger stepped forward. All five men did so as well, forming a solid wall of protection in front of me.

I peaked between the gaps of Archer and Noah. The men were too tall for me to see over their shoulders. I had no idea what the stranger was doing now or the expression on his face.

I very much wanted to see that.

The last smirking smile he had shown in the club still lingered in my mind. It had been a smile like no other. It scared me but it also... I couldn't put words to what exactly it did to me but it did make me curious.

As I peeped through, I watched the man cock his head and peer through the small space himself, trying to make eye contact with me. He smiled when his eyes met mine. That strange tingly zip of energy worked its way up my spine again, chill bumps covered my arms. I rubbed at them.

My actions made the stranger's smile grow. I had the strangest feeling the man knew what he was doing to me and that made me fidget even more.

"Jackson?" the man softly called to me.

I froze. The small chill bumps multiplied. How did he know my name?

My friends cursed as I heard the stranger chuckle. He was enjoying the reaction he had gotten by knowing my name. I shivered again.

"Jackson Ji Park!" he called again, his deep voice drawling out my name with perfect pronunciation, playing games with my breathing.

"How do you know his name?" Percy asked, putting his arms up and out, blocking the friends from moving forward as he knew they were wanting to do.

The stranger smiled and winked at me.

"He works for me, of course."