by Hunter Rose
“Sweetheart, you have had my attention since the moment I first laid eyes on you.” I squeeze her leg and return my hand to the steering wheel. We stop at a red light, and I take a moment to glance at her. I commend her for not crying; she is not a fragile little girl. She is strong. I chuckle when I remember her saying she kicked the guy’s leg and dug her nails into his wrist.
“What’s so funny?” she asks, glancing sideways at me.
“You’re a pretty badass chick.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yeah, I’m proud you fought back.”
“Well, a lot of good it did me.” She raises a hand to touch the bandage on her forehead.
“Are you kidding? Who knows what he could have done if you hadn’t fought back?” I focus my attention back on the road and accelerate away from the green light.
“Yeah, I guess,” she mumbles.
“Did he say anything?”
“Nope.” Turning in the seat to look at me, her eyes penetrate my skin, catching it on fire. Something takes over, and I feel feelings I’ve never had before. I’ve never cared before to be around a girl for this long. I know this is the bet and I needed to have a relationship with her, but now I’m actually enjoying it.
I don’t tell her about the letter I received that gave me a warning. No need to stress her out further.
“Listen, I want you to stay with me this week. You have the week off work to study for finals, right?” I can’t believe these words when I say them; my need to protect her is strong.
When we pull up to the house, I rush around to her side of the car to open her door.
“Look, don’t answer right away. I just want you to be with me until we catch this jackass.” I grab her hand, helping her out of the Cobra and walking her to the front door.
“Well, you do realize I have a head injury. Probably shouldn’t be making big decisions like that right now anyways.” The sun catches her bright blue eyes. They draw me in as her lips lift up into the most exquisite smile I have ever seen. I stop walking; walking and staring are too difficult to pull off at the same time right now. Like a fish out of water, I stand staring at her.
“Please stay with me.” My mouth waters and I lean in to kiss her. I brush my lips against hers, which makes me lightheaded.
“Come on, lover boy, let’s get inside.” She pulls out of my embrace and we walk the rest of the way to the front door.
When we enter the house, I take her purse from her and set it on the side table.
“Are you hungry?” I ask.
Tony is at the table and his head pops up from his phone when he sees Vanessa enter.
“Whoa, what happened?” We recount the events of the day while I make Vanessa a salad. Out of curiosity, I glance at Tony’s wrist to make sure he doesn’t have her nail marks embedded on his skin. Free and clear; his wrists have no scars.
Taking a seat across from Tony, she nibbles on her food. I give her a comforting glance. “Don’t worry. We’ll catch the son-of-a-bitch.”
“Hell yeah we will,” Tony adds. He rises from the table, tossing his soda can into the trash.
Vanessa looks back and forth between us and offers her thanks. Tony smiles at Vanessa and walks out of the kitchen as he taps at his phone.
“I figure in a bit, I can head to your house and pick up a bag for you,” I say, taking a seat next to her at the table.
She eyes me, assessing me like she doesn’t trust me in her room, or maybe it’s the fact she doesn’t want me to leave. “Well, I’m going with you.”
“I can just go.” It’s really fine. I won’t snoop . . . too much.
“I am not letting you rifle through my things without me there,” she says, drawing out the words to make her point.
“Fair enough.” I laugh a little.
I grab her hand on the table and feel a spark of magic ignite my skin. The flame begins at the point of contact and travels through my system. Everything about her is alluring, and I can’t seem to get enough of her.
It’s weird, right? I shouldn’t be having these types of feelings for someone I’ve just met. And honestly, I’m not a feelings type of guy, but something’s happening to me. Something real.
Real feelings explode through my chest at the sight of her.
Vanessa raises her eyebrow and winks. “So, how do you plan on keeping me awake tonight?”
“I have a few ideas.” I say, and a billion images race through my mind at a rapid-fire speed. The feeling of being inside her washes over me, making my pants tighter across the zipper.
I get up, grab her finished plate, and toss it into the sink. Then I lead her by the hand back to my car so we can head to her house.
So I can hurry up and get her back here.
“Why didn’t we stop by my place first?” She smiles as she buckles her seat belt.
“I really thought I could leave you here and go alone. When we get home tonight, I want you to call your parents again and see if they can find out where Eric is.”
“Okay, and then we can make a plan.”
“Yes, we need a plan.”
We arrive at her house as the sun sets. Walking up the front porch steps, we see a white piece of paper taped to the front door. Oh no.
“Oh God, I can’t look.” She hides her eyes with a hand.
“I’ll get it.” I grab the paper and crumple it into my hand, then curiosity tugs at me and I open it. The red, scribbled writing makes my temper flare.
Slut,
Leave Trace alone. You are MINE.
This person knows my name. Whoever this is, they know we’re a couple. I crumple the note back up and shove it into my shorts’ pocket. The yard and neighborhood are clear. No one’s around. We step inside, and she closes and locks the door before we make our way to her room.
“What did the note say?” she asks me.
I don’t want to tell her, but I know I can’t hide it from her. “Same as the others. Slut.” I don’t tell her the note has my name in it.
But it’s as if Vanessa can read my mind, and she holds out her hand. “Let me see.”
I roll my eyes, jokingly. “Okay, fine.” I hand her the note and watch her face as she reads it. She crumples it back up into a little ball and tosses it into a waste bin in her room.
I glance around her room, wondering what in the world.
The desk has papers thrown all over it. “What happened here?” I ask, rummaging through the papers.
“Nosy, I was studying.”
“Oh, right. You’re kind of a slob,” I joke with her. She swats my chest and laughs.
A beautiful blue dress hangs from the closet door, and she grabs it. There is a white note attached to it. I am about to protest about there being another note, this time in her room, but she just smiles and hands it to me.
“This is the dress I bought today. I’d almost forgotten about it. Maxine brought it home for me.” I look in her luminous eyes and then read the note. In big, bubbly letters, Maxine wrote:
Ness, here is your hot dress,
Love you . . . Max
She packs a bag while I sit on the bed. She lets me know that she’ll have tons of studying to do while she stays with me. I plan to study, too—just nothing to do with school. A lot to do with her, though.
We arrive back at my place and, after I get her a Tylenol and a glass of water, we head into my room. After we both change into nightclothes, we lie down on my bed. She rests on my chest as I run my hand down her arm and she draws circles into my stomach, making my heart beat faster.
“I noticed today that Jordan didn’t have any scratch marks on his wrists,” she says, her baby blues wide.
“Yeah, I noticed the same thing about Tony.”
“Me, too.” She begins to run her fingers up and down my chest.
“Should you call your mom now?” I want her to continue her tickling venture along my chest, but I refocus her attention instead. We need to find Eric.
“Okay.” She lifts her head, sits up,
and reaches for her phone on the nightstand. She dials the numbers and waits.
“Hello, Mom.”
Listening to the conversation, I can hear her mother’s voice become alarmed.
“It’s okay, Mom. I have great friends who are taking care of me.” She gives me a soft smile, and my chest grows heavy. This is only a bet, and in a few weeks, I won’t need to be around to protect her, but the more I think about it, the more I want to be.
She hangs up with her mother and turns to me. “She is gonna call Eric’s parents.”
“Good. So, who else? I want to tell you, the other day I followed Jordan.”
“You did? Ooh, we have a spy in our midst.” She laughs, and I breathe a sigh of relief that she’s not mad that I followed him.
“Hardly. He didn’t do anything but lead me to his apartment. And when I got home, I had a note on my front door.” I stand up and head over to my dresser to get the crumpled white note and give it to her.
She reads the note and raises her eyebrows. “So, it seems that the universe is trying to keep us apart.”
I edge closer, leaning my head against hers. “Not the universe, sweetheart. No, some egotistical maniac wants to keep us apart.”
“What should we do?” She dips her head down, studying the letter in her hands.
“Well, I’m not staying away from you. But if you want to stay away from me, I understand.” I try to give her an out; I don’t want to risk her safety just for my own, personal needs.
“I feel safe when I’m with you.” Her face lights up as she looks at me.
I lean in and brush my lips across her rosy pink lips. I suck on her lower lip, and I hear her whimper. She places her hands against my chest, pushing me away.
“I haven’t told you that at Sofa Kings the other night, Hailey confronted me in the bathroom.”
My jaw clamps shut when she says that. My irritability tries to rip through me like Bruce Banner when he turns into the Hulk. I want to tear off my shirt and Hulk-smash something.
“What did she say?” I ask, gritting my teeth together. I knew messing around with a girl like her would lead to madness.
“She told me to stay away from you.”
There is a knock on the door, and we shrug our shoulders at one another.
“Hey, it’s Tony. Can I come in?” he asks through the door.
“Sure thing.” I am still sitting on the bed facing Vanessa, who is holding the note in her hands. We pull away from each other as Tony enters.
“Hey, we are heading to Sofa Kings. Wanna come?”
“No, she has a concussion. I don’t think that’s the type of place she should be right now,” I say, standing from the bed. He turns to leave, and I follow him out into the hallway and shut the bedroom door, holding a finger up to Vanessa to give me a second to talk to him.
“Have you seen Hailey?” I ask, making sure my voice is low enough that Vanessa doesn’t hear.
“No, not really. Is she causing problems with you and ‘Vanilla’ in there?” He jabs a finger towards the room where Vanessa sits.
“I don’t know. If you see her, tell her I wanna talk to her.”
“Sure thing, boss man,” he says, raising a hand to his forehead in a salute.
“I’m serious, Tony. Someone attacked her.”
“Didn’t you say it was a man? So, I doubt Hailey had anything to do with it. I think you guys are overreacting.” We stand in the hallway just staring at each other. He is a little taller than I am, but I won’t back down. How can he say this?
“Overreacting? Dude, her house was broken into. Someone attacked her. I don’t think we are overreacting about shit.” I raise my voice a little to let him know I’m serious.
He puts his hands up in a surrendering fashion. “Okay, okay. I’ll tell her. Tell Vanessa I hope she feels better. Have you checked with that punk-ass Jordan? Maybe he is pissed you are together, and that she won’t give it up to him.”
“Yeah, we thought about that.”
“Just think, in a few weeks you can put this whole bad dream behind you.” He laughs.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I can feel veins bulging in my forehead.
“Calm down. Just saying, in a few weeks, the bet will be off, and you won’t have to mess around with her anymore.” Then he puts one hand in the air as if he has just received a divine intervention. “You’re not getting serious with this one, are you?”
I don’t answer, which sends him on a laughing frenzy. He raises his fist to his mouth and laughs into his closed hand. “Holy shit, you are.” He leaves, laughing down the hallway.
“Hey, Tony!” I call to him.
He turns to look at me. “Yeah?”
“Just let Hailey know I want to talk to her.” I give him the best mean glare I can muster.
“Sure.” He’s still laughing as he leaves.
I re-enter my bedroom, wondering how much Vanessa has heard, and see her sitting on the bed, perusing the note over and over.
The light is dim in my room, so as not to affect her headache. She looks like an angel sitting on my bed. Her hair waves across her shoulder and falls across her face. Her body is screaming for me to hold her. I just stare for a while before making my way to her.
Just as she’s about to say something, her phone rings and she raises a finger to me. The call from her mother lasts a few minutes before she hangs up.
“So?” I ask, lying back down on the bed.
She nestles up to my chest. “Eric is visiting friends out of state. That is all they would tell my mother.”
“For how long?”
“My mom said for about a month.”
“Did he ever say anything like he wanted to hunt you down? Or that he would come after you?”
“No. Well, not in so many words.” She drops her head.
“Vanessa, sweetheart, what did he say?” I look down at her, waiting for an answer, then rub my fingers down her arm to let her know she can tell me.
“He told me I would never find anyone better than him and if I ever tried, he would be there.”
“Okay, we need to tell the police.” We reposition ourselves so she is lying on my chest again.
“Okay,” she says.
“How is your head?” I ask, running my fingers over her hair.
“It’s better. Thank you for letting me stay here.”
“Of course. I want you with me always. And I will take you to school all week for finals.”
She breathes a sigh of relief, “Okay.”
My mind starts running on overdrive, trying to put the pieces together. What if Eric’s in town and trying to keep us apart? Well, he doesn’t know who he is dealing with.
“When do you start work for Mr. Roberts?” she asks, pulling me from my thoughts.
“The Monday after school is out. But I would like for you to stay with me until we catch Eric or whoever is doing this.” I don’t want to tell her that Mr. Roberts rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it’s because his eyes pierce straight through someone when he speaks to them. Or maybe it’s because I know he’s always wanted my father’s job. I doubt he wants a kid like me to have it one day.
“Do you want to work for him this summer?”
“No, not really,” I mumble.
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to work for my father. He wants me to take over one day.”
“And you don’t want to?” She leans closer.
“No.”
“What do you want to do with your life?”
“I’m not sure. However, I know I don’t want to work at his firm. I want to do more with my life,” I say.
“Do something that makes you happy.”
“I’m happy now.” I rub a finger along her cheek. She smiles and leans back into me.
Rising to my feet, I stand at the edge of the bed.
18
Vanessa
Trace stands at the foot of the bed, staring at me with his charcoal eyes. As they move alon
g my body, my skin catches fire with want. My head throbs, but not so much that I can’t focus on everything he has planned.
Hovering over my body like a weeping willow tree that doesn’t quite touch the ground, he closes his eyes. Goosebumps explode as he blows across my exposed skin. His eyes smolder with intensity as he studies my legs, then moves up to hover over my hips then chest. As my core temperature rises, he glides his face just above my body, and I try to squirm closer to him.
I want it, I need it, and I can almost feel it. But he doesn’t engage my lips. My head falls back against the bed.
“Tsk, tsk, I don’t want to touch you while you’re healing.” His eyes catch mine, and he licks his lips.
“Well, maybe you can touch me a little,” I say as he hangs his head inches above mine.
“Now come on, you need rest.” He lowers his head, so we are a milli-fraction of an inch apart. I want his soft lips to press against mine. I can feel a ghost memory of his lips crashing into mine take over my entire mind. I need him. My head fogs over, and Trace senses this.
He lifts himself and looks me square in the eyes. “Are you okay? Are you dizzy?”
“No, I’ll be fine. You don’t have to stop.” I smile.
He moves down my body, removing my pants and panties along the way. My body reacts to him; already, I’m wet between my thighs. I don’t know what it is about that man, but he just does something to me. I love it. I can’t get enough of it.
After today, I thought for sure we would come back here and study or watch TV. I never thought I’d want his lips on me. I never thought I’d be able to handle it.
But I feel fine. Actually, I feel even better as he pecks kisses along my stomach.
“I need to taste you, Vanessa. Right now. Are you sure this is okay?”
He worries his brow, and I find it sexy that he cares so much. This isn’t the Trace I thought I knew, but it is so much the man I find myself falling for.
I spread my legs. “Yes, Trace. Taste me.” I lean my head back and close my eyes as he drags his tongue through my wetness. Oh God. It feels so good.
He works his way up to my clit, and my eyes squeeze shut as he continues sucking along my skin. I wrap my hands into his hair, tugging on the ends. “I need you.” I want him inside me, but I’m not sure if I’m up for all that.
