I knew it. I knew they'd ask. Maybe I was stereotyping pretty boys but most of them seemed to be players like I thought.

I wasn't going to say yes, but for a moment I entertained the thought.

No. I shook the thoughts from my head. Gilbert bore over me with a smirk. Francis was playing with my hair, pressed against my right side with Antonio was pressed against my left and playing with the hem of my shirt.

"N-no. I've never done anything like that before." I said shyly.

Gilbert smirked while Antonio looked surprised and Francis looked almost sad for me.

"Mademoiselle, you poor thing, deprived of such euphoria." He said solemnly.

Antonio sniffed my hair, it smelled like strawberries now thanks to my shampoo and he smiled happily. Probably happy it wasn't so dirty anymore but it was still kind of wet.

Gilbert crawled over me, our bodies inches apart from each other. I was fifty shades of red and he only made it worse when he touches my forehead with his own and asked with a devilish grin-

"Want to then?"

"Wh-what?" Was all I could manage.

"The three of us. We'll be kind to you." Antonio whispered into my ear.

"We'll be gentle, unless you want to be rough," Gilbert said with a lustful grin plastered across his face.

I froze up. I tried not to imagine what he was implying.

I could see him caressing me gently and just the opposite I could see him tearing my clothes off and biting my chest, leaving hickeys and bruises everywhere.

I forced myself to stop thinking those thoughts.

"We understand if you don't want to though, three at once can be rather overwhelming," Francis assured me. He sounded more seductive though when he said that, not comforting. He was adding to the tension building up. Again unwelcome images came to mind.

I was naked, I was sweaty and the pillows and cushions and blankets on the couch were messed up and entangled as the three of them took full advantage of my body.

"Especially for a Virgin," Gilbert added with half-lidded eyes, trying to be as seductive as he could. I wondered what was going through his mind, was he thinking about getting to take my first time. Was he wondering if I'd be able to take him? I could almost see the lust in his eyes, the growing want.

"And you've never done it before," Antonio added.

"That's what being a virgin means, stupid," Gilbert said and Antonio glared at him. I wanted to laugh at their bickering but I was still in shock and trying not to think about what they were likely thinking about. The things they intended to do to me.

"Yes, but has she even been in this situation before?" He questioned.

"Umm." I tried speaking up as they talked amongst themselves about me.

I was right there though, they could ask.

I wasn't scared of them, even though I was scared of sex, something told me I was safe with them even in this situation. I was uncomfortable and I think Francis noticed because he put his hand on Gilbert's shoulder.

"Don't scare 'er now." He cautioned and Gilbert noticed I was trembling.

Not fearfully, unbeknownst to them I was trying to shake away the dirty thoughts they were giving me.

"Oh, Entschuldigung!" He said quickly and sat beside Antonio on my right, thinking he'd scared me.

I sat upright quickly, trying not to pant. My forehead was slightly damp, not from my wet hair but from the slight anxiety the situation was giving me.

"Umm, lo siento mucho." Antonio apologized and sat up.

"Sorry." I murmured and clutched my sides.

"Why are you apologizing?" Francis asked.

"I don't know, I must be Canadian or something." I laughed quietly. "You didn't do anything wrong, I just- like Francis said, sex...it scares me." I trailed off quietly.

I didn't like to admit this to guys often because they immediately lost interest in me.

"I don't mean to be invasive but do you know why?" Antonio asked concerned, he put his hand on my knee worried I might spill a tragic back story.

"It's just always been that way. Nothing happened to me, I've just always been somewhat repulsed by it." I admitted. Ever since I found out how children were made, since I found out people were naked, I never looked at anyone the same and I shunned relationships.

"That's fine, I 'ope we didn't scare you off just now." He said.

"No, you didn't. You're very calming." I told them.

Antonio smiled and ruffled my hair.

"Je m'excuse," Francis said and held my hand comforting.

They seemed apologetic but Gilbert especially seemed disappointed, maybe a little annoyed.

Antonio glared at his friend and Gilbert scratched his head and sighed.

"It's late now, is there anything else you want to do to pass the time?" He asked.

I pondered the idea but I shrugged.

"I don't really know, what do you guys do for fun?"

Gilbert smirked and raised one eyebrow mischievously. "I think it's clear what we do for fun." He said.

Antonio and Francis nodded with an equally devilish grin.

"Is that all you do?" I asked exasperatedly.

"Mostly." Antonio nodded.

I rolled my eyes. "Geez, that sort of thing is supposed to be saved for someone special." I scolded. Even though I didn't intend to find that someone in my life and even if I did I didn't want to expose myself to them like that, it's what I was raised to believe.

Gilbert laughed.

"There's a slight difference between sex and making love though." He chortled.

"Making love is to your partner, it's intimate and binding. Sex is a form of lovemaking but it's more based on fun and pleasure, not really focused on the participants just on the feeling." Francis explained.

I went to bed shortly afterward, still embarrassed. That was the first time I'd ever been faced so directly with the proposal of having sex. I'd find myself in the coming future dealing with such many more times especially as I'd soon grow closer to them, more than I could've imagined at that time.

I took my pills out of their sight, I didn't need them to know I needed so many just to remain stable. It scared some people or they started feeling bad for me and I didn't need sympathy. For the most part, it was vitamins or pills to keep me awake and then to get me to sleep.

Downstairs and in the hallway, it was chillingly quiet.

I turned the ceiling fan on so I'd have decent white noise and my every toss and turn in bed wouldn't be heard by the whole house.

After fifteen minutes and I hadn't drifted to sleep yet, even with my pills I had a feeling it was for a reason.

Was I excited about something? Was I missing out on something? Was I in regret, scared, anxious? Or maybe, I was in danger.

But I didn't feel like I was in danger. I was chilled, I didn't have little bumps on my arm, my heart wasn't beating faster, I wasn't sweating. Any tell tale sign I recognized as fear or endangerment that I got often in times I was alone in more dangerous countries, wasn't there.

What was there was the three young men downstairs? The couches had been rearranged back to normal and the three discussed something very seriously and so quietly I couldn't hear them.

They eyed me immediately as I stepped down the stairs, even though my footsteps were extremely light. I'd thought they were anyway?

"Need something?" Antonio spoke up.

Gilbert proceeded to ask if I'd changed my mind and Antonio punched his arm.

"No-I, I just need some water. If that's okay?" I asked and Francis nodded and got up quickly. He opened the cabinet above the sink and took out a glass. It was dusty.

He washed the dust out.

Did they not drink from the glasses often?

Francis noticed my arched brow, which I'd raised out of habit.

"Usually we drink from our bottles." He said nervously and pointed to three metallic bottles on the side of the sink, drying off.

I nodded. Oh, I was the same way. I always had one bottle I preferred over the others.

He filled my glass up with water from the fridge and handed it to me carefully.

I thanked him and ascended the stairs quietly and slowly, I looked down again at the three as Francis rejoined them and picked up on whatever they'd been discussing.

It was very suspicious to me and I paused for a moment at the top of the stairs, out of sight.

I couldn't even hear their whispers.

I could hear them shift on the couches or take note of something, one of them checked their phone, it was quiet enough to hear him unlock the main screen.

I gave up and shut the door to my room quietly.

I got back under the covers and felt a wave of anxiety, I needed to sleep the day off.

In a week I'd be out of here, nothing seemed too dangerous at the moment, I'd given my mom my location in case and a safe word I'd put into a conversation if I was in trouble, without saying I was in trouble.

I felt secure and I kept my gun under my pillow for safety and my pocket knife in hand.

It fell off the bed at some point, I heard it and felt it leave my grip as my hand relaxed like the rest of my body and drifted into sleep.

Like anyone else I don't remember falling asleep, when it happened that is, but it did.

I woke up earlier than I usually did. Maybe because I was in an unfamiliar atmosphere. I traveled a lot but still all that time I was in my familiar, cozy van.

I sat up groggily and hunched over a few minutes nodding off until I stretched and forced myself out of bed.

The wooden ground was cold and I didn't have any slippers.

I rubbed my arms and stood up slowly.

I took a sip of water and went downstairs slowly.

Antonio greeted me with a wave as he drank from his metallic bottle.

He licked his lips and sighed, satisfied from drinking.

"Thirsty?" I asked, teasing.

He nodded, "Very. Gilbert and Francis went out to drink."

"At eight in the morning?" I asked with an arched brow, stretching my arms out as we conversed.

"Not alcohol, there's a nice place in town they frequent." He said calmly like he was tired too.

"How late were you three up?" I asked sympathetically. In my younger years, that makes me sound old, but anyways those days I'd get no more than three hours of sleep, going to bed at four or five and getting up before eight. I knew how he must feel but he shook his head.

"Not too tired, I'm used to all-nighters." He said and sat up, stretching his arms too.

"You didn't go to sleep at all?"

"No, our co-op needed us to work on something."

"A co-op, what kind?" I asked, tilting my head like a child.

"It's sort of an investment group. There's a lot of businessmen and CEOs." He said looking through a book on the couch. It was full of detailed elegantly written notes.

"Your handwriting is amazing," I said. I wasn't sure if it was his actually, despite them speaking fluent German among French and Spanish the notes were in perfect English.

He blushed and thanked me flipping through the notes quickly like he was trying to show off. The calligraphy was amazing.

I smiled. "Can I see some of the notes?"

"No." He said quickly, it caught me by surprise.

"Oh, lo siento." He said even faster. He tucked the book under his arm and excused himself from the room rushing to the study.

He came back without the book and apologized again, looking jumpy.

The front door opened loudly and Francis and Gilbert walked in looking satisfied.

"Hola, Chicos! Having fun-Did you have fun, completos?" He asked switching back and forth between English and Spanish.

They gave him a questioning look as their friend panicked.

I was just as curious as they were as to why he was so nervous.

He calmed himself down and took a long gulp from his water bottle and wiped his mouth off with his dark wooly sleeve.

He had on a cute red sweater with green hemming like a Christmas sweater but it didn't look like a holiday sweater.

He laughed nervously again and left up the stairs to his room.

"I think I need a cat nap." He said and left me with the other two.

Gilbert held up a grocery bag with a Frosted Flakes box inside and grinned sheepishly.

"Want some? We didn't have many breakfast foods." He explained.

I nodded enthusiastically and thanked them profusely. I ate straight from the box like a starved animal.

A questioning looks from them and I blushed and slowed down.

"Shorry." I said with my mouthful.

Gilbert laughed and let Francis know he was going to check up on Antonio.

"Oui, I 'aven't seen 'im act like zhat before...not since..." and then he trailed off and they shared a knowing look.

Gilbert left up the stairs quickly and I heard the door to Antonio's room open up. Gilbert said something but I couldn't understand it and their voices were blocked out when the door shut.

Francis sat down at the round table across from me.

He didn't know what to say and looked around for a second.

"So...did you sleep well?" He asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, you?" Even though I already knew the answer, it was likely they hadn't slept either.

"Didn't sleep, busy working on a project for our business partners." He explained.

"You mean your co-op?" I asked and he looked startled.

"Huh?"

"Antonio said you were a part of a co-op with lots of businessmen. Can you tell me about it?"

"Oh, sûr. It was founded by Chinese business owner, Yang. For a while our British acquaintance-" he grimaced at that part, maybe they didn't get along? ", tried to boss everyone around but then his protégé took over instead, Alfred, he's very strict with us. He can be kind of scary actually so we always make sure to get things done. After you leave this week we're hosting a small dinner here, to talk about a portion of investment a few of us are involved with."

"What kind of people are they? The ones in the co-op?"

I asked.

He took a minute to think about it.

"Dangerous...well I mean that is if you mess with them. Honestly, every one of them is a lot like us. Players, they fool around, they're flirtatious, they act like young teens at times, they make stupid jokes, we all have fun and uphold certain traditions the modern world doesn't see so often."

"Really like what?" I asked excitedly.

"Oh...well nothing you'd be interested in." He tried making a hand gesture to help me understand he was referring to more intimate things but I didn't understand.

He sighed and Gilbert came back downstairs.

Francis looked at him curiously and Gilbert tried to explain as simply as he could "he just needed a little help." He said.

"With what?" I asked.

"Just some stuff." He brushed off and I frowned.

"So anyvay, vant us to take you into town, mädchen?" He said lightheartedly changing the subject from whatever it was on before because I still wasn't so sure.

I shrugged and nodded.

"Sure, what kind of places are here?" I asked happily.

"Hmm, there's a historic trail I could show you. You said you liked that sort of thing right?" He asked and I nodded enthusiastically until my neck hurt.

I jumped a little, very excited and he grinned, glad to see me so happy. Or maybe he was just trying to distract me from their weird behavior that morning.

I darted upstairs and got changed into some nicer hiking clothes. A loose camouflage shirt, black shorts, narwhale socks, and my dirty sneakers. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail and brought a small jacket to tie around my waist in case I got cold.

I rushed back downstairs after dabbing on some makeup and pulled up google maps on my phone.

"We don't need google maps, we know every pebble in this town," Gilbert said.

"Every pebble?" I asked sarcastically.

"You'd be surprised." He smirked and I rolled my eyes and laughed.

We piled into his car, aside from Antonio who was entangled in his bed sheets, exhausted mentally and physically.

The ride was short. Not very scenic, rather the path was unknown by everyone but them and a select few, so they say.

Behind a mechanic shop, not the one my poor van was in but an out of business, long abandoned building, a shell of what it once was; was the path.

You could barely tell it was there, it wasn't walked often, but it lead right from the back door of the abandoned building through tall grass and right into the woods.

The path was pressed down enough, the grass had been dug up, but the dirt path was overgrown with vines, Ivy, broken branches, fallen trees and dead leaves that hadn't withered away yet.

The leaves crunched loudly as we entered along the path.

Gilbert looked around reminiscing. He pointed to a broken boulder out of the corner of my eyes.

"There, see that?" He asked and I nodded and we stayed very quiet as if we were looking at a wild animal.

"Those breaks are caused by gunfire. An American fleet ran into this forest and only three survived, they managed to escape behind the boulder but the few remaining wiped out the German troops before the boulder broke." He explained in great detail.

"How do you know?"

"I studied it, checked the timelines, the troop destinations, stories from soldiers, the remaining evidence." He explained still looking at the boulder closely.

"Over there, that tree is still very young, not even a hundred, that's where the troops died. That tree was one of ten planted where the soldiers died when they were retrieved later. The other trees fell but I think that tree there survives on the blood spilled from the soldiers." He said, thinking almost philosophically.

He told it almost like he was there.

"You should be a tour guide." I complimented. "You tell the story, like you were there, like you saw it, read about it in the newspapers decades ago," I said in awe.

He blushed and nodded, he had a cute smile but Francis looked at him nervously.

"Gilbert, likes to see a story in everything." He added. "There are lots of bullets and such still littered in the forest, Gilbert feels like he can see it himself sometimes." He said and Gilbert looks at him with an arched brow but turned to me and nodded smiling.

"That's so lucky," I said and he looked surprised. "What I wouldn't do to see the past, I'm so in love with it. Sometimes I take little tokens I'm not supposed to from historic sites and have dreams about them. I wish I could go back in time. I would love to fight for the allies, for freedom, to be a part of the biggest most life-changing event in history. More recent history anyways." I trailed off, realizing I was rambling on as I tended to do and blushed.

He laughed at my embarrassment and assured me he didn't mind my rambling if I didn't mind his.

Francis seemed to get more worried the further along the trail we went.

Often I noticed Francis would send Gilbert a worried look or bite his lip like Gilbert was spilling national secrets.

We heard a branch snap behind us and out of nowhere appeared Antonio.

I stumbled backward in surprise and Gilbert caught me and held me upright.

"How the mierda?" I cursed, brushing the imaginary dirt off my clothes.

"Geez, Toni you turn into a ficken ninja?" Gilbert cursed and Francis glared at him.

"I-I just wanted to surprise you three?" He said but it sounded more like a question and Francis gave him a deadpan face like he wasn't gonna