by Abella Ward
“I think he’s seen me,” Margie said, her heart beating fast.
“Oh yeah. He’s definitely seen you,” Claire said, looking directly at him over Margie’s shoulder.
“Why? Is he coming over?” Margie asked, clutching the bottle of cider close to her chest. She didn’t know what she wanted. She wanted to talk to him again, hear his voice, feel his skin under her fingers. But she didn’t want to degrade herself at the same time. She wanted him to be jealous. She wanted to make him regret it.
“No. He’s looking at us, though. If you want to make him jealous, now would be a good time,” Claire said, and Margie broke into a loud laugh. She threw her head back and laughed some more, slapping her knee violently.
“What are you doing?” Claire asked, her brows furrowed.
“Trying to make him jealous,” Margie said, still smiling widely.
“By laughing?”
“By having fun,” Margie explained and took a long swing from her bottle. Claire rolled her eyes and looked back at Lance again.
“He’s not looking anymore, so you can stop fake smiling,” Claire said, and Margie’s smile collapsed instantly.
“I’m pathetic,” she said, and Claire turned to her and tried to smile.
“It’ll feel like that for a bit. But you’ll get over it. Avoid those people, stay out of his way. Keep yourself busy,” Claire said, patting her on her shoulder. Margie sighed deeply and bit down on her lip. She was going to break into tears very soon if she didn’t try and get it together.
“Hello, ladies. Do I know you?” They heard a voice. Margie whipped around on the bar stool to find a guy she hadn’t met before smiling at them.
“I don’t. Do you?” Margie asked Claire, who was grinning at the guy.
“I’m Claire.” She stuck out her hand at the guy, who shook it and then turned to Margie.
“And I’m Hank. Art Major,” he said, extending his hand to Margie. She stared down at it, looked at Claire and jumped off her stool.
“I need to go,” she said, grabbing her clutch from the counter and pushing past Claire.
“Margie!” Claire yelled after her, but she wasn’t going to look back. She needed to be alone again. If she was ever going to be able to get over Lance, she would have to do it herself, without the help of any other guy.
Chapter Eight
Margie was walking by herself, her earphones plugged into her ears. It was a day to be happy, she had aced her tests and Lance had passed it too. Not that she admitted she cared, but of course she cared. She’d seen him in class on the day of the test a few days ago and her heart had skipped a beat. He’d seen her too and she was the one who had shied away from the stare. Whatever happened between them, Margie knew he didn’t deserve to be kicked off the team or the college. He was a smart guy and it seemed like he actually did take her advice and studied.
She felt a tap on her shoulder just as her favorite song came to an end. She whipped around to find Bryan behind her, his hands thrust into his pockets and a big smile on his face. Margie rolled her eyes, pulled out one of the earphones and held it away from her ear.
“What do you want?” she asked him, as he continued to smile.
“How are you, Margie?” Bryan asked, making sure a distance was maintained between them.
“So you know my name now. Good. Again, what do you want?” Just the look of him made her blood boil. She hated him. She wanted to punch his face and wipe that smirk off. Bryan took in a breath and looked away with heavy, lidded eyes, before turning back to her.
“I wanted to have a chat. Congratulations. I heard you topped your business class.” Bryan suddenly stuck out his hand towards her and Margie looked at it with her face scrunched up.
“Are you kidding me? You can’t have stopped me in my tracks to congratulate me. If you don’t tell me what you want, I’m going to walk away.” Margie was about to plug the earphone back in when Bryan put his arm across in front of her, a dramatic gesture to ensure that she didn’t walk away.
“No. No. Okay. I wanted to apologize,” he said, and Margie raised her eyebrows.
“For what?” she asked, crossing her arms in front of her.
“For what I was saying that day at the game. I know you heard me. And I just wanted to let you know that I’m sorry for spreading those things about you and Lance,” he said, hanging his head low. Margie could barely believe it.
“Are you serious? What is making you apologize to me? You don't strike me as the kind of person who spends every day counting their sins.” Margie pulled out her other earplug as well and Bryan let a short laugh escape his lips.
“I’m apologizing because Lance told me the truth.” Bryan looked up again and Margie shook her head in further surprise.
“Truth?” she asked.
“About his relationship with you. I’m sorry that I spread gossip based on an assumption.” Bryan sighed. His cheeks were flushed. From the corner of her eye, Margie saw a movement and realized that Lance had appeared from the side. He was leaning against a tree now, his arms crossed across his chest.
She looked over at him and he smiled at her.
“Please leave now, Bryan,” Margie said, without looking at him. She sensed him shrug and leave immediately.
Lance and Margie stood looking at each other for a few seconds before he walked over to her. He looked gorgeous, as ever. His dark brown hair was brushed to the side, falling over his forehead. His green eyes were large and begging for forgiveness.
“Hey,” he said softly. Just his voice was enough to make Margie want to fall straight into his arms.
“Hi,” she said, and he smiled, finally.
“What was that about? Did you force Bryan to apologize to me?” Margie was still confused. She’d been fooled once before, she did not want it to happen again. This time, she was going to get the facts straight.
“Kinda. Especially after he told me what happened at the game. I don’t know why I’m still friends with him after all the shit he’s pulled over the years.” Lance ran his fingers through his hair. His sharp jaw was outlined perfectly by the fading light of the evening, and Margie knew exactly what it felt like to run her finger down it. She gulped and tried to strengthen her resolve again.
“So he just made all of that up?” she asked, and Lance nodded.
“The part about the pity sex. Yeah. Of course I didn’t say that. You should have known I didn’t.” Lance looked her directly in the eye as he spoke and Margie tried to hold his gaze. It was hard to do that and not simply melt into his arms.
“So what had you told him?” she asked. She needed more information.
“That we were intimate. That I didn’t know you well but wanted to get to know you better. Of course he didn’t like it. None of the guys like the sound of it, or that I’m not dating a cheerleader again,” Lance said with a sigh. Margie licked her lips and looked at him, trying to study him closely. Could he be trusted? Was he trying to dupe her again?
“And why did you wait this long to say all this?” she asked him, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Because I wanted to wait until the test was over. Just so that you don’t think that I am actually using you. Now that the test is over, I don’t need you to be my tutor anymore, but I still want to get to know you,” he said and stretched his hand out towards her. Margie looked at his hand, breathed in and slowly placed her own on his open palm. There it was, that electric shock again!
Lance pulled her to him and she rested her hands on his shoulders.
“I can’t believe I’m falling for it again,” Margie said, shaking her head.
“From now on, we’re going to speak our minds and be open about everything. I’m sorry that I caused you pain. You caused me a whole world of hurt that night at the bar,” Lance said with a laugh, and Margie rolled her eyes.
“When I was pretending to laugh and have fun?” She laughed with him.
“That dress was killing me,” he said and tightened his hand aro
und her waist. Margie grazed her lips along his chin now, unable to control herself any longer.
“I can wear it again for you if you like,” she said with a giggle, and Lance kissed her softly on the cheek.
“Please do. But this time, don’t screech at Chloe and ask her to get off you,” Lance said, laughing again. Margie felt her cheeks flush, embarrassed that he knew about that.
“I’m sorry. That happened right after I heard Bryan talking. I had nobody else to take my anger out on,” Margie said, hiding her face on his chest. Lance was stroking her hair as he spoke. She could feel his fingers creeping up her back to trace the shape of her bra strap through the fabric of her clothes.
“Do you want to come to mine this time?” she asked, whispering in his ear, and Lance looked back at her. He was not expecting her to be this forward when she was so shy the last time.
“Yes,” he replied hoarsely.
Chapter Nine
The crowd cheered in waves. The game was being filmed this time by national television and the team supporters who were attending the game had been instructed to cheer in a wave pattern. There were going to be scouts in the bleachers, and Margie’s heart was pounding again. There was no doubt about it, Lance was going to be spotted, handpicked for a National League team.
She was in one of his jerseys, her hair tied up but her curls tumbling down over the back of her neck.
She cheered loudly as Lance kicked the team to victory. Bryan, at the other end of the seats, leaned forward to pass her a smile. Margie nodded in response. She decided she was going to warm to him.
Lance was on the shoulders of his teammates again and he caught her eye. Margie blew him a kiss and he mimed a catch and then rubbed it on his cheeks. Margie’s smile widened and she covered her mouth as she laughed. They’d been together for three months already, college was nearing its end and each day was better and better with him.
She watched as the cheerleaders swarmed the field now and Chloe ran right towards Lance. He leaned in towards her from above, still on top of two of his teammates’ shoulders and gave her a quick hug. Margie felt a jealous tug somewhere at the bottom of her heart, but he looked up immediately towards her and smiled. He was telling her that she had nothing to worry about. Lance was a man very much in love, and he was in love with her.
“He’s proven me wrong.” Claire’s voice interrupted her thoughts. It was Claire’s first game, and she had agreed to accompany Margie after days of pleading.
The buzz in the crowd had caught on to her as well. Claire was standing and clapping now, just like everyone else. Hank, the Arts Major from the bar, was beside her, equally converted on his first attendance of a football game.
“Your boyfriend is quite the performer,” Hank leaned forward to say, and Margie couldn’t help but laugh. She agreed. If there was ever a performer, it was Lance Healy.
People everywhere were blowing horns and waving big foam thumbs in the air, and Margie found confetti stuck to her hair now. This was going to be her life now, she was going to attend his games and watch on proudly as Lance took his team to victory after victory.
“Here she comes.” Claire nudged Margie with her elbow just as Chloe appeared behind them.
“We won!” Chloe shrieked, right into Margie’s ear.
“We did!” Margie said excitedly, and Chloe shocked her with a tight hug.
“What’s the deal with her then?” Claire asked as they watched Chloe walk down the seats towards Bryan and the other guys.
“Nothing. She still hangs around Lance a lot, but she knows she doesn’t really stand a chance with him. She’s kind of nice to me, though. So as long as she doesn’t throw herself at him anymore, I have no complaints,” Margie said with a sigh and a smile.
“You’ll have to deal with that a lot, though,” Claire said, rolling her eyes at Chloe, who was now hugging Bryan tightly. “Fangirls throwing themselves at Lance,” Claire added.
Margie sighed and shrugged. That is what she had signed up for with Lance as a boyfriend, she knew that.
“I consider myself lucky,” she said with another shrug. Claire pointed ahead and Margie turned to look. Lance had broken away from his team and was climbing the short distance through the bleachers towards her now.
“You are very lucky. And he’s a lucky guy to have you,” Claire said, clapping again as the crowd cheered for Lance as he made his way to Margie.
Margie’s heart was beating fast. Lance was coming to her. She was important to him, more than the game and more than the cheers.
“We won!” he said, just as he came up to her and lifted her up in his arms to give her a twirl.
“We won!” she repeated after him and leaned in for a kiss.
“Let’s get out of here?” he asked, gripping her waist tightly.
“What about celebrating with your teammates?” she asked, and Lance laughed.
“They’ll understand,” he said, planting a kiss on her belly.
“We’re leaving, Claire. I’m abducting your friend,” he said, turning to Claire and Hank.
Margie couldn’t do anything else other than blush a bright red.
*****
THE END
Vampire Romance Collection
Owned by the Vampire King
Description
A curvy runaway trying to survive PLUS a sexy Vampire King who wants a child PLUS a killer on the loose!
Twenty-something Rosa Lopez is on the run, hiding from her abusive stepfather. Living in a women's shelter and struggling to feed herself, life isn’t easy. So when Angelus Rex, King of the Vampires, offers her a way out, she accepts.
The deal is simple. She gets all the riches and luxury she could ever imagine. In return, she will be his mistress and have his child.
Angelus has been a Vampire for hundreds of years. Now he wants an heir. And with her lush curves and delicious smell, Rosa is the one he wants to impregnate.
What started off as a business contract becomes complicated when Angelus and Rosa find a passion that neither can deny.
But there are enemies who want to destroy Angelus and his mate. Don’t they know what happens when they cross a Vampire King?
When everything that he loves is in danger of crumbling to dust, Angelus has to make a decision that could destroy everything. Can Angelus save Rosa and their baby? Is he prepared to risk it all to save the one he loves?
Chapter One - Rosa
Rosa Lopez pulled her thin jacket tightly around her plump frame, shivering in the freezing wind. Her heart sunk so low that she couldn't feel it beating, tears freezing upon her cheeks as she gazed at the doors: closed and locked.
She had arrived just a few minutes too late, and now the women's shelter she lived at was closed. Her backpack, full of college textbooks, was so heavy that she felt like her shoulders were breaking, but she didn't dare put it down on the snowy ground. If her books were ruined, whatever chances she had for the future would vanish. She only had one chance to escape this city and that was to graduate with her massage therapy license.
Rosa's gaze swept up and down the abandoned street as she desperately tried to decide what to do. She had a couple hundred dollars in her pocket, but that was meant to hold her to the end of the month for food. She already couldn’t afford things like fresh vegetables or really anything other than bread and instant noodles. If she found a hotel for the night, she would have to get through her days with only the single meal the shelter provided. The buses had stopped running by this time, so she couldn’t even find refuge from the cold on public transport.
If I use my credit card, Michael will find me.
Hefting her pack higher on her back, Rosa started walking. Hotels didn't take cash, and she couldn’t risk using the credit card. If her stepfather found her… He wouldn't, so she wasn't going to think about that. Sometimes there was a homeless woman behind the theater on Twentieth that would let Rosa curl up beside her, protected from the wind by the garbage bin. It was her best bet for
having a safe place to sleep until classes tomorrow.
A sleek, black car pulled up to the sidewalk right beside Rosa and she tensed. It wasn't a cop car, which was a relief. She knew a few women at the shelter would purposefully get themselves arrested on nights like this so they could have a meal and a warm place to sleep, but that wasn't a luxury she could afford. Michael Jones, her stepfather, was on the force and she just couldn’t risk it.
The window rolled down, revealing an unnaturally white-skinned woman smiling at her. "Hi there. You look cold. Would you like to get in?"
Rosa stared at her suspiciously. She knew serial killers tended to be men, but that didn't mean she should just climb into a stranger's car. "I'm fine, thanks."
"Just get in," the woman said. "You look like you could earn a little extra money… How does five hundred, plus cab fare in the morning sound?"
It wasn't the first time someone had propositioned her, but it was the first time coming from a woman. Rosa swallowed hard. Five hundred dollars? It sounded too good to be true. It was almost three times as much as what she was normally offered. Not that she had ever accepted before. Yet, there was a first time for everything, and five hundred dollars was extremely tempting.
"For you?" Rosa asked, hardly believing that she was thinking of accepting this crazy offer.
Better than freezing to death on a night like this.
The woman smiled. "Get in and we can talk."
Rosa slid into the passenger seat, her heart pounding. If Mama were still alive this would break her heart... But she's not.
The interior of the car was so warm that Rosa relaxed despite herself. She stretched her frozen fingers toward the vent, sighing as the warmth washed over her body. Even if she did come to regret this decision later, at this moment all she could feel was relief that she wasn't freezing anymore. Besides, it wasn't like she was selling off her virginity, although it was true she had never done this with a woman before.
