by V. L. Silva
My heart did this strange thing in my chest. It felt like a somersault. “I’m not a thing. I can’t be gifted to anyone.”
“I know, but meeting you made me happy.”
“I need to go.” Before I let you convince me otherwise.
“Can I take you?” he asked.
He actually asked and didn’t demand.
I almost said yes but then I knew I needed to make a point.
“No, Axel. I’m going to take the bus.”
He took a series of deep breaths and nodded. “Alright.”
“You have to let me go.”
His hands tightened instead. I saw the inner struggle in his eyes. Then finally, he dropped his hands.
I backed away and trudged across campus. I was surprised that he would actually let me go but I suspected it wouldn’t be for long. I wasn’t sure what outcome I should hope for.
No, that was a lie. I shouldn’t hope that he did anything but let me be. I wasn’t at Barnet to entertain him but to get my education and dip.
Also, I was still upset about Dr. Chandler. There was no forgiving that and there was no forgiving the way he was leading Diana on. It didn’t matter that she was a raging b-word. No one deserved the heartbreak she was about to feel.
An hour later I was hugging Amanda and clinging to her like my life depended on it.
“Are you ready to talk?” she asked as we took our seats in the comfy salon chairs.
The place was a tranquil white with gilded, framed paintings of pastel landscapes. It was heaven.
I turned on the built-in massager and sighed. “Yeah, I think I’m ready.” I told her I’d tell her everything about Axel today. The promise had been an easy one to make before Axel’s reemergence into my life this afternoon.
“So?” Amanda prompted. She was desperate. She’d looked Axel up after I’d told her his name. I was pretty sure she’d seen the shot of him putting an old guy into a wrist lock. The picture the reporters had taken was stunning.
Axel had been in all black. His expression detached. He’d looked like a mafia kingpin. Some people would argue that he was. Pharmaceuticals often got a bad rep.
I told Amanda everything but avoided saying his name aloud. I was aware of the ears that were listening. The girls who were doing our fingers and toes had keen ears and I watched them grimace and smile through my embarrassing tale. I whispered through a lot of it. Amanda freaked when I told her that I let him touch me and when I told her he broke into my house.
“Wow, he sounds crazy.”
“He is!”
“Like, really crazy, Hope.”
“I know!” Finally. There was someone in the world who understood what I was going through.
“He’s also really hot.”
“You’re crazy,” I told her. “All I want is to be left alone.”
Amanda propped her arm up on the arm rest. Her fingers were a neon blue. She gave me a cheeky grin. “Come on. At least admit you’re a little flattered.”
“Amanda, I want to attend West University. I want my old life back.”
“Why?”
“Why? Because this one is too much.”
Amanda sighed. “It sounds exciting.”
“Amanda,” I lowered my voice. “I got a man fired.”
“No, you didn’t. He-who-shall-not-be-named-but-is-extremely-hot got a man fired.”
“Same thing.”
She frowned and looked down at her toes. “Just tell him to hire him back. I don’t see what the problem is.”
“The problem is he won’t listen to me.” Was she listening to me?
“I heard you say he let you ride the bus here. That sounds like progress.”
Progress? The only progression I cared about was my grades.
But I thought about what Amanda was suggesting as we sat under the dryers. Could I actually ask Axel to hire him back? If he did it, I was sure it would cost me.
And what could I give him besides the obvious?
I checked my hand. I’d kept the nail polish simple because of the meeting tomorrow but my toes were a bright yellow.
When I looked back up, Amanda was grinning at me. “A billionaire is obsessed with you.”
“Yes. Thank you for reminding me that he has enough money to make me disappear forever.”
Amanda rolled her eyes. “Cut the crap, Hope. You like him.”
“Do not!”
“If you didn’t, you could have easily called the police by now, but you didn’t. You let him come after you over and over again because you’re attracted to him.” She looked at her hands and turned them this way and that as she went on. “It’s the same reason you waited until now to tell me. If you didn’t like him, you would have told me just like when you told me about David slobbering all over you and grabbing your boob after the homecoming game last year.”
“Amanda,” I exhaled.
“What?” She shrugged. “It’s true, Hope, and you know it. You didn’t like David, who by the way was really cute, but you like this guy. Come on. Tell me the truth.”
I shook my head.
She tilted her head. “Hey, it’s me. Your best friend. I totally know you. Fess up.”
I stared at her. “I’m a psycho.”
She laughed. “I blame all the glue you sniffed in second.”
I howled and god, it felt good. “If I had a glue bottle I would throw it at your head. Why do I put up with you?”
She struck her tongue out. “Because you love me, too.”
Love? Now she’d taken it too far. I did not love Axel. I didn’t even know him. Most of the stories I’d heard about him hadn’t even come from him. If anything, I had a deeper relationship with Google, except for the times I’d type in my cold symptoms to get told I was dying.
“This is my treat,” Amanda told me.
“You don’t have to do that.”
She waved me off and stood.
I smiled.
She came back a second letter, grinning like a dental ad.
“What?”
“Someone paid for us.”
“Aw. Maybe it was the woman in the chair next to me. Maybe she pitied me because of my story.”
Amanda shook her head and looked behind me, up over my head.
My stomach dropped. I turned around and craned my neck to see who I knew was there.
Axel stood over me. “Are you done here?”
I stood. “What are you doing here? How did you…”
But I already knew how. He’d followed me. “You followed my bus?”
“No, I had someone else follow your bus.”
“Of course.” Why would he stoop so low as to trail a bus? My eyes roamed his body. I loved him in suits. The first time I’d seen him wear one had been on TV on the first day of school. This one was just as dark as the one in the photo but he paired it with a white shirt and had left the collar open. The hollow of this throat was enticing. I knew it would be warm and wondered how soft it would be under my lips.
“Hey, I’m Amanda,” my little Brutus said as she stuck her hand out toward my enemy.
Axel gave her a slow smile. “Axel.” My brain stalled until it came to a puttering stop. Was it just me or had Axel’s voice gotten sexier? I loved the suits. The bossy appeal went with his whole attitude.
“I know who you are,” Amanda said. “She goes on and on about you all the time.”
Axel lifted a brow, charmed. “Does she?”
“No, I don’t!” I cried. What the heck was Amanda doing?
Amanda leaned in. “Will you teach me how to pick a lock?”
He chuckled. “It would be my pleasure.” He looked at me. “Where to now?”
“I’m going thrifting with my mom and my best friend.” I wasn’t rude enough to tell him he wasn’t invited but I was hoping he got the message.
Amanda didn’t. Or maybe she did and she just wanted to spite me. “Can you take us? Do you drive that car you had when you came to West U? The one with the butter
fly doors?”
“No, I drove something more appropriate for the area. Find it in five minutes and I’ll let you drive it.” He held up the key.
Amanda gasped at the same time I did. Then she snatched the keys and ran out of the shop.
I watched her leave and then turned to him. “How do you know she won’t steal your car?”
“Amanda Holmes, born May ninth. She lives in the apartment next to yours. She attends West U. Her parents, William and Nicole, both work at San Diego Hospital. Nicole is a nurse and William is a manager in the custodial department. By the way, he’s being underpaid. He should ask for a raise. They’d give it to him.”
“We know that already but William doesn’t believe in rocking the boat.” This was a constant fight in the Holmes household.
Axel shrugged and then looked down at my feet before he did that slow climb up that made my nipples tighten. “I hope your friend steals my car.”
“Why?” I crossed my arms to hide my traitorous breast. “So, you could have something else to hold over my head?”
He just grinned. He was such a control freak. He placed a hand on my lower back and walked me outside. She stood on the busy sidewalk. The street was a kaleidoscope of residences and businesses in a stunning array of colors. We faced the blinding sun. It would be hours yet before sunset.
Foot and car traffic was steady. Axel pulled me closer. His fingers bit into my side as he scanned my neighborhood. I didn’t know if he was trying to protect me or if he was using me as an anchor in the sea of what he would call chaos.
I could tell his senses were irritated.
“Why are you so controlling?” I asked.
He turned to me. “Where there is no order, there is chaos.”
He’d said that before. “So, everything in your life fits in a perfect little box, huh?”
His eyes burned me. “Yeah. Except you.”
My ears pinked. “I can’t be put in a box, Axel.”
He narrowed his gaze. “I’m beginning to see that. You’re very resistant.”
“Maybe you should give up and move on.” My lungs collapsed and I stopped breathing as I waited for his response.
He looked over my face with the same pensive expression he’d given my city.
A car horn startled me.
Amanda was in a silver Porsche with the top back. “Get in, loser. We’re going shopping.”
I laughed at the Mean Girls reference and climbed into the back. Axel took the passenger seat.
We barely had our seatbelts on before Amanda thrust into the street at a high speed.
“Woo!” She laughed like a maniac and I couldn’t help but laugh with her. I caught Axel grinning at me and realized what he was really up to.
My stomach plummeted when I realized my mother would be at the thrift shop. I didn’t want him to meet my mom. While meeting the parents would probably mean nothing for Axel it would mean everything for me. I’d never introduced my mother to anyone before.
I turned and watched the streets change. Five minutes in I realized Amanda was purposefully taking the long way. “We’re going to be late.”
She sighed. “Fine.” She turned on the right street and managed to find an impossibly good parking spot right in front of the store.
Axel glared at the building with blatant disapproval. He took the keys from Amanda before assisting me out of the backseat.
“You don’t have to come in.” Before today, I would have thought his look snobby and his criticism rooted at the fact that everything in this store was old, pre-owned, and cheap, but I knew the truth now. Or at least, I thought I did.
It was the disorder of the thrift shop that he didn’t like. I could see the racks through the window. While it was a clean place to do business, the clothes weren’t always neat or arranged by color.
“Let’s go.” He guided me inside and grabbed my hip again.
I got my answer then. He was definitely using me as an anchor.
A thrill went through me at the sense of power I felt. He needed me in here. Axel needed me. It was strange and wonderful at the same time.
I turned to him. “Can I ask you for a favor?”
“You can ask me for anything.”
My heart skipped. “Give Dr. Chandler his job back.”
“I can’t.”
I pulled away.
He grabbed my hand. “I tried. I can’t. It was what I was trying to do when I had one of my men tail you. The board won’t reinstate him.”
“Why?”
“Someone started a rumor about sexual harassment.” He tightened his hold on my hand. “I’m sorry.”
I snatched my hand back and walked away. He wasn’t allowed to use me as his anchor anymore. He could drown for all I cared.
I marched over to Amanda. She already had some treasures in her hand. “I’m going to go try these on.”
“Okay!” I put on my fakest, brightest smile and watched her skip away.
The moment she disappeared into the dressing room I crumbled.
The place was small enough for me to see that my mother wasn’t around and I was glad. My anger was pressed against my throat and threatened to put tears in my eyes.
A man who was a friend of my father lost everything because of this stupid game with Axel. I should have ignored the scholarship letter for Barnet. I should have stayed at West U. At least then no one’s life would have been ruined but my own.
Hands settled on my hip and a nose pressed against my throat. My vision blurred with lust.
I gripped the rack rail as his mouth grazed my skin. He pulled by body against his and kissed my ear. “He took you from me.”
“He didn’t.” I swallowed and looked around. An older woman turned her head away. She’d been watching us.
I tried to bat Axel’s hands away. “Stop it. People are watching us.”
He kissed my ear again and then scrapped his teeth against the shell. “No one will come between us.”
My core quivered and I suppressed a whimper.
I needed to concentrate but he made it so hard. I turned around and backed against the rack of clothes. “What am I to you? A person? Something you can possess?”
“I consider you both.”
Wrong anger. “Go away. I want you gone before my mother gets here.”
“Why?” He reached out on either side of me and grabbed the bars to the rack.
A woman was making her way down our aisle. She went right, not even giving us much of a glance. We had to be in her way.
Correction. He was in her way. I was here to shop. “Leave. I don’t want you meeting my mother.”
He backed away. “That’s assuming we’re not already acquainted.”
“What?” I looked around to make sure no one was listening at the cusp of a major meltdown. “You’ve met my mother?”
“More than once,” he said.
“Wait. What?” I shook my head. “When?”
He didn’t answer. He just did that stare thing I often caught him doing.
I was waiting for the day when he finally grew tired of looking at me, but I wasn’t entirely sure how I’d feel when it happened.
I turned away but he grabbed my chin. “I didn’t say I was done looking at you.”
My stomach dipped. “Well, hurry up.”
He squinted. “You’re so impatient.”
“I don’t understand you.”
“It’s not time for you to.”
Who said things like that? What was he waiting for? What did I care? Axel and I were nothing more than two ships passing in the night. Ten more months and he’d be running his business and I’d be free.
Why didn’t that thought make me jump for joy? Maybe I needed to get my head examined.
He looked at his watch. “I have to go. I’ll call you later.”
I crossed my arms in an effort to put some space between us. “I didn’t give you my number. I’m not even going to ask where you got it from. I already know it came fr
om whatever background check you ran on me, but be aware, I don’t pick up calls from strange numbers.”
He squinted. “I don’t know why you insist on playing these games.”
“What games?” I wanted to scream. I wasn’t playing any game. I was just trying to survive.
“I told you I have to go. Now you’re pissing me off to keep my attention. Attention I’m already giving you. Attention I told you I didn’t have time to give you right now.”
My mouth hit the floor. I was baffled. My heart skipped. What he was saying couldn’t be true. He was twisting reality to benefit his own version of the facts. Right? Right. “I don’t want you attention. You’re delusional.”
“And you’re a glutton for punishment.”
I stiffened. “I don’t want to be punished.”
He smirked. “Don’t worry. You’ll like this one.” He backed away.
Heat coursed up my spine. I was about fifty percent sure I wouldn’t like anything he had in mind for me. The other fifty had me curious. “Where are you going?”
“Missing me already?”
“That will never happen.” I grabbed the clothes rack. The cool metal under my fingers steadied me. “I just need to be prepared for the next time you decide to sneak up on me.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll make sure you’re prepared.” He smiled and I heard a woman gasp and two teens break into a fit of giggles.
Why did my tormentor have to be so beautiful?
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About the Author
V.L. Silva is a helpless romantic who spends her time fantasizing about the love of a lifetime that can only be accomplished when a feisty, independent, stubborn heroine with a compassionate, loving heart falls for the cocky, arrogant alpha male who never knew he had the capacity to love… until he does.
