Balance (The Balance Series Book 1)

by Janelle Stalder

  I walked downstairs to see my mom and dad already having breakfast.

  “Good morning, Vi Vi,” Dad said loudly.

  There should be a law about the decibel level of one’s voice in the morning.

  “How’s my girl this morning?” he asked when I mumbled back my greeting.

  I rolled my eyes while I reached in the fridge for the juice. He was used to my silence in the morning, so he didn’t push.

  “Have you seen the set-up for that ball tonight?” my mom was saying to my dad.

  “Um hmm,” he replied while still reading the paper.

  “It is going to be beautiful. What a wonderful thing to do, throw a ball for such a lovely charity.” My father was clearly not interested. “Are you going tonight with Caleb, Vivian?”

  “Yes,” I managed to say.

  My mom went on describing all the decorations she had seen, while my dad politely pretended to listen. She knew he wasn’t listening, but that didn’t stop her from prattling on.

  Still feeling exhausted, I left the house and sat on the front porch swing to enjoy the morning. It was interesting to hear what had been done to the local convention hall, but I decided I would rather let it be a surprise. Plus, the morning was so beautiful it seemed wasteful to sit inside.

  I swung back and forth while sipping my juice. Tonight would be great, I thought. I would wear my new dress that I had bought during the week with Blake, and he would do my hair and make-up so I knew I’d look good. Amanda would come by around eight to get ready with us as well.

  I sat there swinging in and out of my daydreams when I noticed a black car drive slowly by the house. Normally I wouldn’t have noticed something like that, but they were driving so slowly it made me suspicious. All of sudden they picked up speed again and took off, when they realized I was sitting right there. I watched them until the car disappeared around the corner.

  The car didn’t seem familiar at first, but as I sat there longer it dawned on me whose car it was. Alan Mansfield, the lead prosecutor in the Eastside Rapist case. There was an identical dent above the front passenger side wheel that I had noticed when he’d been over before. What would he be doing driving by my house like that? There was something strange about that guy, and the Russian prosecutor. Even having Alan at my house seemed odd. Now this?

  It was extremely confusing, not to mention creepy. My eyes scanned the streets as though I was expecting to see other cars with tinted windows watching me from all directions.

  Suddenly the front door banged against the house as Dad burst through it. I screamed, clutching my chest, nearly spilling my drink all over myself.

  “Good Lord, Vi Vi, you want to wake up the whole neighbourhood?” he said, shaking his head. It took me a moment to catch my breath again before I could respond.

  “What is it, Dad?”

  “The phone is for you, I think it’s that boy.” He turned then and went back inside. That was odd, Caleb never phoned my house. I ran inside and up to my room to take it there.

  “Hello?” I said, a little breathless.

  “You out for a morning jog?” he asked.

  “Yeah right,” I said with a laugh. “No, I was just sitting on my porch having some juice.”

  “You ok?” he asked, his voice suddenly serious.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “You sound frazzled. Did something happen?”

  How could he tell? I didn’t think I sounded any different than usual, except maybe a little breathless from taking the stairs two steps at a time. Besides that I was ok. Or was I? Maybe my voice did have a bit of an edge to it, I realized.

  The fact that he could hear that through the phone was impressive. I didn’t want to alarm him though, especially since I didn’t know what to make of the whole thing anyway, so I sat there, trying to think up something to say while he waited on the other end.

  “Vivian, tell me what’s wrong,” he pressed. I didn’t want to lie to him.

  “Nothing is wrong. Sorry, I just had a mental block. I didn’t get much sleep last night,” I said, trying to laugh casually. He was silent, which lead me to believe he probably wasn’t buying it.

  Suddenly there was a tap on my window. I screamed for the second time that morning. Damn it. The top of Caleb’s head could be seen from where he was standing on the lower roof outside. How in the world did he get here so fast?

  “Vi Vi?” my dad yelled up at me. “You ok?”

  “I’m fine, Dad,” I yelled back. “I just scared myself, everything is ok.”

  “Where did that girl learn to be so loud?” I heard Dad say as his footsteps trailed off into the kitchen.

  I shut my door quickly and went over to the window.

  “Jumpy are we?” Caleb asked, raising his eyebrows at me. He lifted himself through the window and silently entered my room. Giving me the once over, he raised his eyebrows again, a little more suggestively this time. Shit. I looked down and realized I was in my shorts again, and a tank top with no bra, not the sort of ensemble you want people seeing you in. “You’re looking lovely this morning,” he said with a slight smirk.

  “Uh, thanks? What are you doing here? You almost gave me a heart attack.” I quickly looked for something more appropriate to wear, grabbing a t-shirt that was lying over my chair. He grabbed my wrist before I could put it on, and pulled me against him.

  “That won’t be necessary, I like you this way.” He smiled down at me, and I could feel my body already melting against him. “Now, tell me what happened that has made you so easily frightened this bright and cheery morning.”

  It was a little difficult to think properly standing so close to him, but I managed to gather my wits about me. “I think any normal person would be frightened when someone pops up outside their bedroom window, bright outside or not,” I replied, trying to avoid his question. “Where were you that you got here so fast?” It looked like he hadn’t even changed from when I’d seen him at the office before I had left last night. “Have you even been home yet?” I asked in shock.

  “I had a busy night with my dad, so I’m running on a lot of java at this point. I was just on my way home now to get some sleep before tonight’s festivities.” He sat down on the edge of my bed, and I realized how tired he looked. There were tiny bags under his eyes, and his hair was a mess. “Now, please don’t make me ask again. What happened this morning?” His face was suddenly very serious, and I realized his playful banter had run out.

  “It was nothing, Caleb, stop being so overly protective.” I leaned against my vanity, arms crossed as we stared at each other. He sat there patiently.

  There was something about Caleb Banks’ stare that made you feel as though he were looking straight into your soul. As if he had already searched your mind and found the answer he was looking for, but now wanted to hear you say it out loud yourself. It was disconcerting. I shifted slightly, my nerves starting to get the better of me under his enduring scrutiny.

  Damn it.

  “A car drove by really slowly this morning when I was sitting out there, and then sped away when they realized I was outside the house.” He didn’t so much as blink. What more did the man want? I sighed. “And,” I went on reluctantly, “it looked like the same car as Alan Mansfield drives. I thought it was a little odd that he’d be driving by, especially since he was also over here the other night when I got home from work. There, are you happy?”

  “Not really,” he said, getting up and crossing to the window. “Why would Alan be at your house?”

  “Apparently he is friends with my parents,” I replied moving to the bed and flopping down on it.

  “Why do you say apparently?” he asked, turning to me.

  I shrugged and looked up at the ceiling. “Because I never knew they were friends. I’ve never seen him around here before, nor have I heard my parents say one word about him. It surprised me to learn that they were old acquaintances. My dad does own the local grocery store though, so they could have met that way. I still fo
und it odd, especially since he came here the same day I had gone to the courts with your dad.” I kept my eyes on the ceiling and waited for him to talk. He was suspiciously silent though, so I finally looked over at him and saw he was staring out the window again.

  “He was here the same day you went to court? Did he say anything to you when you were there?” he asked without turning.

  “No, actually I never even saw him glance in my direction.” I waited for another line of questioning, but instead he flopped down beside me and manoeuvred his arm under my head so he had me in his protective embrace. “Are you satisfied now?”

  “Not nearly,” he said looking down at me. My face heated again. “I think you just got spooked and there’s nothing to worry about. Maybe he was hoping you could give him some insight into our side of the case or something.”

  “Yeah…maybe,” I said. “I guess that makes the most sense.”

  “Let’s not worry about it.”

  I nodded, snuggling in against him. The morning breeze had made its way through the open window, cooling my skin. Outside, the sounds of birds and children playing could be heard, as the two of us lay together in silence.

  I looked up and saw that Caleb had fallen asleep. He looked peaceful. Wiggling slowly, I moved so that I could appreciate him better. Peaceful and resting like this, I could finally see his age coming through. Caleb always appeared older to me, but now I could recognize that he really wasn’t that much older than I was. He was just overworked, the poor guy.

  Deciding not to disturb him, I settled in to take a nap myself. I hadn’t wanted to get up so early anyway, and having him here made it seem possible to sleep again. I closed my eyes and fell back into unconsciousness.

  Alan Mansfield’s sleek, black car was stalking me as I ran through the streets. No matter how hard I tried to move away from him though, my legs would not work. It felt as if they had turned to stone. Every time I went to lift one leg, it felt as though it weighed a ton, and all I could do was drag it along. It’s a horrible feeling when you want to move fast and you just can’t seem to get control of your own limbs. He was just about to catch up to me when I woke up with a gasp.

  My head was sweaty from the afternoon heat that had crept into my room. I looked over at the clock and realized it was two-thirty. I had slept half the day away. Then I remembered who was with me, but when I turned in the bed to see him, all that was left was a tiny note on my pillow. I waited until my heart stop racing from the nightmare, before reaching for the piece of paper.

  I didn’t want to wake you. I had to go home to make sure I look my best for our date tonight. I will see you soon. – C xo

  Smiling to myself, I got up and took a long shower to wake myself up. Blake would do something nice with my hair later, so for now I dried it quickly, throwing it up into a ponytail.. My parents had gone out, leaving the house empty and quiet. I settled down on the couch in the living room and read a book to kill time before Amanda and Blake came over.

  My parents returned not too long after that, and bothered me for details about the upcoming evening. I reluctantly answered all of their questions about who, what, where, and when. They seemed to be happy knowing that we would be in a group.

  After dinner I sat on the porch swing to await my friends. The summer breeze had gotten a little cooler and helped to calm my excitement down to a bearable level. If I got overly excited, I’d start getting sticky and flushed, and Blake would probably kill me. Finally the two of them walked up to the house and the three musketeers were together again.

  “Are you ready to get glamorous?” asked Blake, smiling.

  “Absolutely,” I replied hopping off the swing.

  He was carrying two brief cases that looked like something from a James Bond movie. I half expected him to open them up exposing some sort of high tech weapon machinery inside. These were all his ‘beauty tools’, designed to transform me from ordinary looking to not so ordinary looking.

  The three of us proceeded into the house and up to my room where the magic would begin. I was going first, so I sat in the chair while Blake opened up his cases and laid out all his tools. This was going to be interesting.

  The whole process didn’t take too long until we got to the false lashes. This took longer than it probably should have, since I was completely unaccustomed to the application of such things. Blake had a hell of a time to get me to keep my eyes from fluttering every time he came near me with them. It felt like he was sticking spiders on my eyes.

  The finished product was worth it though. My eyes looked ten times larger than they normally would have. When I had a look in the mirror after he was done, I was shocked. Never would I have imagined I could look this way. He hadn’t gone overboard, a simple neutral shadow with a thick line of eyeliner. My lips were a deep shade of red, not something I might have normally worn, but it looked nice. I looked – older.

  He moved on to my hair, parting it on the side and sweeping it over my shoulder, braiding it into an intricate weave I never would have been able to do myself. It looked beautiful, yet simple, and I felt extremely elegant.

  My dress was a pale blue that fell to the floor. The straps fell off my shoulders, the body of it tight enough to keep everything in place. I wasn’t really the dress sort of girl, but this one I loved.

  Blake was exceedingly pleased with the final product, clucking over me like a mother hen. I was pretty pleased myself as I stood in front of the mirror.

  “You look beautiful, Vi,” Amanda said from the chair. It was kind of muffled since Blake had given her strict instructions not to move, but I understood it regardless.

  “Thanks, Mand,” I said.

  We had twenty minutes before the guys were scheduled to arrive, and Amanda still had her make-up to finish. Blake enlisted my help, making the process go faster. I obediently did as I was told. Amanda’s hair was set in large wavy curls that hung down her back. She wore a short turquoise dress that made her look like a bronze mermaid.

  After twenty minutes we were both ready to go, and looked awesome. Blake took some mandatory pictures – according to him – and then walked us down the stairs like a proud papa bear. My parents both expressed how nice we looked as we did the quick twirl for them in the front hall. There was a honk outside right on time, so we said our goodnights and thanked Blake again for his help.

  Caleb was waiting outside the car with the door open as we walked down the front path to where the limo waited. His eyes were riveted on me as I approached.

  “You look beautiful,” he said, holding a bouquet of red roses out to me that I hadn’t noticed. He didn’t smile, but that was Caleb. It didn’t matter, I could see the appreciation in his eyes and it warmed every inch of me.

  “Thank you,” I said, taking the flowers.

  Everyone else was already inside when I got in. The boys all looked handsome in black suits with different coloured ties. Kellan’s was a deep red, Collin had light silver, and Caleb’s was a thin black one. They could probably wear tracksuits and still look good, I thought to myself. Caleb shut the door behind him and took the seat beside me.

  He leaned in, dropping a kiss on my head before whispering, “You really are breathtaking.”

  “Aw!” Kellan yelled from where he sat. I looked over and blushed deeper when I saw them all looking at us. Caleb didn’t seem to care though, and placed his arm around my shoulders as we took off.

  The convention hall wasn’t far from where I lived, so we only had a ten minute drive in the limo before we stopped again. The whole front of the building was lit up in tiny white Christmas lights, as were all the trees that lined the path up to the front doors. They had massive flowerpots along the path with arrangements of white and red flowers. The place looked amazing. My mother was right, they had undoubtedly put a lot of effort into the decorating for this event.

  The main hall was also decorated with millions of lights and elaborate flower arrangements that were strewn about the room. There were long tables a
long the far wall that had all kinds of hors d’oeuvres that I had never seen in my life. There was a bar to your right as soon as you walked in that was stocked with all types of beverages. Finally at the other end of the hall was a stage that had a live band playing different genres of music. The middle of the room had couples scattered about, some dancing in front of the stage area, but most standing just off to the side conversing.

  My eyes found three familiar faces immediately as I looked around. Dermot was near one of the back tables talking with two other older men I didn’t know. His eyes also found mine as we walked in, so I quickly looked away to find Alan Mansfield standing by the bar. He wasn’t returning my gaze, but I had the gut feeling that my attendance had already been noted.

  A little further down the bar was the other prosecutor I had seen that day at court, Artem – the man from Russia. He was also looking away from me. His suit was a light grey with a thin blue tie. His light hair was swept to the side again, framing his deep green eyes to perfection. The other women around the room were admiring him from where they stood. I didn’t blame them, he was definitely good looking, and had a mysterious aura about him. This was largely due to the fact that he was an outsider from a country that ninety-nine percent of the people here had never visited.

  I turned my head back to Caleb as he led me further into the room. He looked gorgeous tonight. He was one of those guys that could really work a black suit. The darkness of his suit and hair brought out his eyes even more than usual, which always had me captivated as soon as I looked into them. It felt as though we were the only two people in the room.

  “Would you like to dance?” he asked, his eyes warming as they roamed over my face.

  I hated dancing, but to pass up a chance to be held close to him would be idiotic. Nodding, we proceeded onto the dance floor, leaving Kellan holding our two drinks and throwing curses after us. Caleb didn’t seem to notice.