You'll Always Be Mine

by Verne, Lara

  He placed a chaste kiss on my lips and smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Liz.” he leaned down so that his nose rubbed against mine. “Whenever you’re ready.”

  “Thanks,” I said, slipping on my t-shirt over my head. “The Expendables?”

  He nodded, “You know me so well.”

  I rolled my eyes as I searched my DVD collection for the movie and slipped it into the DVD player. I walked over to Sean and sat on his lap, starting to play with his golden blonde locks. “Do you want some popcorn?”

  His gaze moved to my lips then back to my eyes. “I do want some popcorn,” he bit his bottom lip, “but not as much as I want you.”

  “I’m going to get us some popcorn,” I announced, standing up and sauntering over to the kitchen.

  “I like mine with extra butter!” He called out, kicking his feet up on the coffee table in front of him.

  “And you’re going to like it even more when you get your feet off the table,” I snapped, placing the popcorn bag in the microwave. “Seriously,” I said once I saw that he still hadn’t removed his feet.

  He groaned, “Come on Liz,” he whined, “I’ve been here so many times I’m practically family,”

  “And you left out the part where you’re not family so,” I glanced over at his long legs crossed on the table, “Off.”

  He raised his hands in defense as he slowly took his legs off the table. “What made you so cranky?”

  I shrugged my shoulders, “Oh you know,” I pondered, “When you have a boyfriend who loves to make himself at home, you get that way.” Several minutes later, the microwave beeped, indicating that the popcorn was ready.

  After spending thirty minutes talking about our lives and other random things while taking occasional glances at the movie, we somehow dozed off. When I woke, I was on top of Sean, my face buried in his chest, which makes me wonder how we ended up in this position.

  Slowly and carefully, I slipped away from his hold and stood up abruptly. I stared down at Sean for a brief moment. His blonde curly hair hung loosely over his forehead while his darling blue eyes were hidden beneath his eyelids. “So cute,” I found myself saying.

  I turned off the TV with the remote and headed into the kitchen, intending on taking out the trash. I really don’t know how I got so lucky to have a wonderful person like Sean in my life. He was a popular jock and I was, well, Liza. I wasn’t part of the in crowd, I liked to move to my own beat and dance to my own drum and apparently Sean liked it too.

  Soon, I was outside on my porch, overlooking my neighborhood. It looked peaceful, as always but something felt off. The wooden floors of the porch were slightly damp from the snow of last week.

  A breeze kicked up, instantly making me shiver. Tying a knot in the trash bag, I quickly stepped down the wide steps and made my way to the trashcan at the side of the road. I dumped the trash inside of the can and turned around quickly, eager to make it back inside of the house where it was warm.

  It was starting to get dark outside so the streetlights lit up the vacant street. I abruptly found myself looking over my shoulder to see if anyone was behind me, then turned back around. Nobody was there, of course, it was just these long winter nights getting to me.

  The cold wind began to wrap around me like a blanket as I made it back up the porch steps, ready to open to door. I heard a rustle followed by a strange noise which caused me to furrow my brows and turn around, staring at the road. “Hello?” I called out, “Is anyone there?”

  No reply.

  I laughed to myself, swinging the front door open and walking inside. Strange of me to think that there was going to be someone out there. I seriously need to stop watching the news. I closed the door softly behind me and turned around to face Sean. I let out a small whimper.

  His grin spread across his face, “Sorry about that, doll. Did I scare you?”

  “Little bit,” I said.

  “I was worried for a bit,” he said, his eyebrows caving.

  I smiled, “I was just taking out the trash, no need to worry.”

  “Okay,” he muttered, before his lips connected with mine, sending jolts of electricity down my spine that made my knees go weak. The only thing holding me up was his arms around my waist. We stayed embraced for a while, though it felt too short before he pulled away. “I need to go home.”

  I stared down at the hardwood floor in sadness. “You have to go so soon?”

  Sean shoved his hands in his pockets. “When duty calls,” he sang, “but you’re welcome to come with,”

  I sighed, “Sean, I can’t,” I said, smiling sadly, “I would love the opportunity to be with my boyfriend every second of the day but I need to watch over the house.”

  He rolled his eyes, “Your brother isn’t here. He’ll never know.”

  I almost laughed but pulled a serious face instead. “You’ll be surprised.”

  “Well,” his eyes searched mine as he stroked my cheek with his thumb, “You better be safe.”

  “What’s the worst that can happen?” I teased him, “I call the plumber who turns out to be a psycho murderer who uses his plunger as a weapon?”

  His eyes hardened.

  “Kidding,” I leaned in closer to him, barely standing on my tip toes and brushed my lips teasingly on his. “I’ll be safe.”

  The corner of his lips upturned into a smile, “I love you Liza, and I’ll call you when I got home.”

  “Get out of here,” I snapped playfully, opening up the door for him. “I love you too.”

  He looked back at me before jogging down the porch steps and into his car that was parked at my neighbor’s house.

  CHAPTER FOUR - JACOB

  Last night when I saw her, I knew I had to have her. I had remembered her license plate number and got into my own car, not wasting time. I followed her to her house and parked a block down so it wouldn’t seem suspicious.

  She got out of her car, her long pin-straight locks cascading down her back and walked into her house. She didn’t use a key so I assumed that the door was often left unlocked.

  She didn’t come back out again so I decided to check up on her in the morning before she goes to school. Meanwhile, I decided that I should stock up on some cash if I was planning to start a life with her.

  I drove to the nearest bank and walked inside, immediately being greeted by a cashier. “Hello good sir,” a woman in her late 40s greeted, “We’re about to close in 5 minutes, what can I do for you?”

  “Um,” I looked over to the ATM, “I think I can just use the ATM,”

  “Sorry sir,” the woman apologized, “The ATMs are closed right now because we’re getting ready to close for the night. I can help you. Are you withdrawing?”

  “Uh, yes.” I walked over to the window, “My wife and I are throwing a funeral for our daughter and I have some money saved in her account, can I access it?”

  “Yes, you can,” the lady said, a smile on her face, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  I faked a courtesy smile, “It happens.”

  “What’s her name?” she asked, staring down at her computer screen.

  “Ellen McHannon,”

  Her eyes flickered back to mine, worry written all over her face. “That girl, she was on the news. It must be so hard for you. Do the cops know who did it?”

  I shook my head, “I wish they did.”

  “I’m sorry. She seemed like a nice girl,”

  I stared at her, resisting the urge to stab her right there and then. She knew nothing about Ellen. She was anything but nice. “The money,” I said hoarsely, “I need the money, please.”

  Her eyebrows furrowed with worry. “Sorry,” she apologized as she typed away on the computer. “15,000?”

  I nodded.

  “I’m afraid I can’t cash that for you.” she informed me, “Would you like a check?”

  “That’s fine,”

  “Who should I make it out to?”

  “Greg McHannon,” I lied easily.

&
nbsp; “Can I see your ID, please?”

  I pulled out a fake ID from my back pocket and handed it to her. She studied it for a moment before handing it back to me. She began to scribble on the check and handed it to me. “Once again, I’m sorry for your loss. Have a nice night, Mr. McHannon.”

  I ignored her and walked out of the bank. I hated when people said that. They weren’t really sorry. They didn’t even know Ellen like I knew her. I loved her.

  Now that I had gotten the money out of her account, I needed to get rid of her parents. They could become an ultimate problem for me.

  ▪▪▪▪▪

  The next morning, I followed her to school. She attended North Shore High School and she was a junior. That was all I could gather from today so I drove back to her house and waited until she came home.

  Damn, she was just so beautiful.

  She walked into her house effortlessly and I was shut out again. I wish I could see what was going on inside and then I will be able to get to know more about her.

  Just when I lost all hope, her door reopened and an older man stood in the doorway with a suitcase at hand. He wasn’t her boyfriend but he was too young to be her father so I settled on brother. He wore a suit and his hair was combed back with gel. He was a businessman, which was given.

  She gave him a hug and closed the door behind him when he exited the house. He strolled down the driveway, pulling his suitcase along until he approached his car. A Range Rover. He was rich.

  I sighed as I looked back over to the door where she once was. Maybe if I had known she was blessed with money I wouldn’t have risked blowing my cover to get money for her. Nevertheless, I will still spoil her. I will buy her gifts.

  Her brother sped off in record time causing me to roll my eyes. He didn’t propose a threat but if he was going to be an obstacle I was going to get rid of him.

  I waited.

  She eventually stepped out of the house approximately 45 minutes later with a trash bag at her side. She scanned the neighborhood before she stepped off the porch and walked over to the trashcan. She was just so flawless at everything she did. I would make her mine, soon enough.

  She dropped the trash bag into the can and headed back into her house, wrapping her arms around her body to protect her from the cold. She wore a tank top with shorts, something that was very odd in the winter but she looked perfect anyway.

  Soon, she was back behind closed doors, leaving me to wonder about what was going on inside. I needed to find out who lived with her so that I could schedule my time around that. Eventually, she will come with me but I couldn’t take her from home when her parents were around. That would only force me to kill them and I do not like killing unless it was necessary.

  Minutes later the door reopened, except she wasn’t alone. The boy she was with last night was by her side, looking at her with loving eyes. Those eyes would soon be mine. Only I was allowed to look at her that way. He jogged down the steps and crossed the grass, going over to the neighbor’s driveway where he had parked his car. He got inside and drove off not leaving a trace. I stared at her house once more then smiled maliciously to myself.

  I was going to eliminate him.

  CHAPTER FIVE - LIZA

  Ellie,

  I am on the plane and I thought I might shoot you a quick text message. Take care of my bathroom; you know how it gets sometimes…. I will email you once I get to my hotel, noting that I will not be able to use my phone. I love you.

  -Jeremy

  P.S, Your car needs a wash

  I smiled to myself at this oh-so-sweet text message. I imagined how boring life at home would be now that Jeremy was gone. I would have to find something to do. Looking down at my phone, I dialed the only person who could put me out of my misery.

  “Hey!”

  “Katie,” I said her name slowly, “I’m bored as hell. Come rescue me,”

  There was a silence on the other end before she snickered, “You’ve come to the right place, my friend. What do you feel like doing?”

  I could tell she had a huge grin on her face. “Surprise me, your Excellency,”

  “Will do,” she said, “I’ll be there in five. Put something sexy on,”

  “Are you crazy? It’s freaking cold outside!”

  “Trust me Liza,” she reassured me. “It’ll be worth it.”

  I sighed heavily as I hung up the phone. This outta be good. I looked up at the clock, knowing that when Katie said five minutes, she really meant twenty. Knowing that I would have a lot of time on my hands, I decide to take a nice ten minute shower.

  When I was finished, I wrapped my towel around my wet body and stepped into my bedroom. My eyes dropped to the dress on my bed. I swore that I would only wear this dress when I absolutely had to but I couldn’t think of any other reasons to wear it. So today was its lucky day.

  I slid the dress over my bare body and stepped into my 360-degree mirror. It was a simple midnight black dress that ended right below my butt and had a very revealing neckline. I smiled to myself as I adjusted the straps and stepped out of the mirror.

  I walked into my bathroom and examined myself in the mirror. I would consider myself attractive. I wasn’t ugly, I knew that for sure, but I wasn’t conceited about it either.

  I curled my usually pin-straight hair so that waves took its place, framing my heart shaped face. I highlighted my eyes with a little mascara and added color to my cheeks with pink blush. I was never really the type to wear makeup. Sean said I was naturally beautiful and I was going to let my natural beauty shine through, no matter what the occasion.

  “Hello there,”

  I jumped when I heard her voice and rolled my eyes. “Why are you here so early?”

  “I told you five minutes,”

  “It’s been fifteen,”

  “Then I’m not early,” she smiled, “You look sexy.”

  “Thanks,”

  I took the time to analyze Katie’s get up. Her orange hair was pulled back into a bun and she was wearing a strapless red dress with black stilettos.

  I shook my head in awe. Katie always managed to make her outfits look cute. If I wore a dress like that, I would be selling sex on the streets but she made it look adorable.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “To a club,”

  I widened my eyes, “A club? With alcohol?” Her grin appeared. “Katie...”

  “I already have our fake IDS that I made a long time ago for times like these and you’re really not going to make me put them to waste, are you?”

  My eyes bulged, “You made fake IDS?” I asked, but then I thought about it for a moment. Why was I so surprised?

  “How else are we supposed to get in?” she questioned, lifting a perfectly arched brow. “Don’t worry about it Liz, you said you were bored anyway,”

  “Yeah well,” I glanced down at my dress and realized how inappropriate it was. “I was thinking more of dinner and a movie or something,”

  “We always do dinner and a movie,” she wiggled her brows, “Besides, big bro Jer is gone so you’re off the hook.

  I sighed, finally giving in. This was going to be the death of me. “We’re taking my car, I’m driving.”

  Katie raised her hands defensively, “What? Do you think I’m going to get drunk?”

  I nodded.

  “Bitch,” she snapped, “Let’s go.”

  ▪▪▪▪▪

  Music. There was no other sound but music. Loud, blaring, explicit music. There were too many people here that it became unbelievably hot. I had lost Katie over an hour ago to a drunk older man.

  I was not enjoying myself. This was definitely not my scene.

  How would I get home? Sure, I could take my car but I would have to find Katie first. To try to find her in this mess would be like trying to find a grain of rice in a haystack.

  Just plain torture.

  “What can I get you, pretty lady?”

  I rolled my eyes as I came to face the bartender.
“Water, please.”

  He filled up a glass with water, placed it in front of me and disappeared to assist everyone else. I stared blankly at the glass of water. I really wasn’t thirsty.

  “May I say that you look absolutely stunning?”