Captivated (An Affliction Novel)

by Raven

  No thanks, I have plans.

  I had to end it with him already. Ever since Shane and Markus brought it to my attention, I haven’t wanted to do the whole friends-with-benefits deal. It really was stupid. Since we weren’t technically going out, I guessed I didn’t really have to tell him it was over, right? I could just brush him off?

  I crumpled the paper back up and threw it at him. Instead of letting it fall on his desk, he caught it in an exaggerating motion that grabbed the teacher’s attention. Mr. Shapiro walked up to him with his hand extended out. Ayden regrettably handed him the paper.

  “Such a dive for a piece of trash.” Mr. Shapiro said. He opened up the crumpled paper and walked back to the front of the class. All the students had their attention on Mr. Shapiro. “Ayden over here wants me to read this out loud.” He took a look at Ayden, “I wouldn’t want to be rude while he’s trying to say something…” Shapiro continued, “…so I’ll make sure that he gets his point out. Apparently, he wants to go to the club with Mindy and she rejected him. The end.” Mr. Shapiro crumpled and tossed the note into the trash next to his desk.

  Ayden sunk into his seat and peeked over his shoulder at me. Embarrassment flooded his face.

  “I’m sorry.” I mouthed out to him.

  “Burn!” Shane laughed out. All the students laughed along with his remark. He leaned his upper body on his desktop to get a better look at Ayden. Shane threw him a taunting smile. It was similar to the one he always gave Dean.

  I covered my face with my hands and sunk in my seat. I felt so horrible. I basically rejected Ayden in front of the whole class.

  “I’ll let you guys escape a few minutes early today. Have a safe weekend.” Mr. Shapiro announced, then dismissed us with a wave of his hand.

  The class swarmed towards the door in excitement. Ayden stayed in his desk and as the students passed him, they playfully stroked his head, messing up his hair. After all the students passed his desk, he followed with his head down. I collected all my books and tried to catch up to him.

  “Ayden! Ayden, I’m so sorry!” I called out to him. He didn’t turn around. He must have heard me though, I wasn’t that far away. I guessed he really was embarrassed. He just kept walking and I didn’t follow.

  Amazingly, the day went by pretty fast for a Friday. And everyone was raving about The Impulse. I had only been there once. I would describe it as a lounge, but with no age restrictions. Security guards made sure to catch the underage drinkers. They sometimes had bands there trying to promote themselves. Markus and Tanya were dragging me there tonight. And I really hoped I didn’t end up bumping into Ayden there.

  “Pick you up at eight?” Markus asked. He pulled up to my house and parked in front of the driveway.

  “Yeah. Eight is good.” I answered.

  “Not eight thirty,” he continued, “eight.”

  “Yes!” I assured him. In my head I was telling myself seven thirty, so for sure I wouldn’t be late. I lifted the car handle and tried pushing the door open. It was stuck. I started rocking the car as I pushed harder in an attempt to escape. “Markus?” I turned to him, exasperated.

  “Aw, not again.” He jumped out of the car and tried opening my door from the outside. “Freakin’ door,” Markus muttered. He pulled something that looked like pliers out of his pocket and started messing with the handle. The door finally creaked open, slowly. I couldn’t hold my laughter in any longer, but at least he bashfully laughed along with me.

  After Markus helped me out and began backing out of the driveway, we heard a rumbling across the air. It was a very distinct sound that came from only one motorcycle that I knew of; Dean’s. On top of the purr it gave off, it also had the deep growl of a vicious animal, warning that it was about to attack. The roar got louder and louder as he neared. I began to shake nervously. Flutters swarmed in my stomach. Is he looking at me? Is he looking? I tried to fight the urge to sneak a peek at him. I must not have had good will power because before I knew it, I was gawking. His black shirt clenched against his skin in the wind as he passed by us without even looking my way. I was a bit disappointed. And just then, when he should have sped off, he slowed the bike down to a creep. My heart skipped a beat, and then another. Slowly, he turned his head back at us, locking his eyes with mine. They were dancing. That was enough to send me soaring to the heavens. When I came back down, he was gone. Out of sight.

  “What was that all about?” Markus yelled out the open window of his car.

  I shrugged my shoulders when what I really wanted to do was laugh with joy.

  “See you at eight.” Markus confirmed. He drove off and I went inside and threw myself onto my bed. After watching some TV, I was fast asleep.

  I woke up to the blaring phone. I crawled across the bed to reach the phone and flipped it open. I had several missed calls from Ayden and a few from Markus. I didn’t really feel like talking to Ayden, so I dialed up Markus’ number.

  “You ready?” he asked. No hellos.

  “It’s not even time yet.” I drawled out.

  “I know. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” He hung up the phone.

  “What?” Still groggy, I looked over at the time. What! He was right. I dropped the phone and rolled off the bed. I did what I could with my hair before he arrived.

  Markus picked me up before Tanya. I volunteered to sit in the back seat even though I knew it would be cramped. I didn’t even think the shoe was made to have people in the back.

  Driving up to The Impulse was challenging. The small intersections that ran up and down Sixth Street were packed with cars. We ended up parking in a nearby garage and walked a few streets to the club. Tanya was having a hard time walking in her heels. I intelligently wore some boot-like dress up shoes that were much more comfortable. Tanya wrapped her arm around mine to help her with her balance. The sidewalks were busy with different people of various age groups roaming in every direction. On every corner, there was someone doing magic tricks, selling something, or playing instruments. The melodies being played by the talent were blending together in an off-beat harmony.

  When we arrived, I saw that Shane and Jennifer were standing outside of the club. Jennifer had on a tight tank top and a short skirt that would show off part of her butt…that was, if she actually had one in the first place. She had a cigarette in hand and took a slow puff. I had seen that puff before, some model on a cigarette commercial making smoking look sexy performed it, but what I saw before me, made me want to gag. Even though I had a look of disgust on my face, Shane smiled at me. It was the kind of smile you gave to someone if you knew something that they didn’t. Very mischievous. Jennifer caught him looking my way and turned to give me an evil glare. If looks could kill!

  We entered the double doors to the club, lounge, whatever it was called. The lights in the dark atmosphere were dim enough to hide everyone’s flaws, but there was just enough to see who you were talking to. The music was blaring; everyone spoke to each other by yelling. We slowly made our way through the maze of people on the dance floor. We found an area where there were couches. There was only one empty one and we quickly scurried to it.

  “Hey! Check out that guy over there.” Tanya pointed at a young man nervously pacing back and forth. It looked like he was fiddling with something in his pant pocket. He would periodically look up at a girl sitting by herself at the bar, a petite brunette. A group of his friends were watching him stumble his way to the girl. As he slowly approached her, he mumbled to himself, as if he were going over what he was going to say. When it seemed he finally got some guts, he marched right up to her and opened his mouth to speak. She looked up at him and he immediately shut his mouth and reached over for the bowl of nuts in front of her. After he grabbed a handful, he swiveled around and paced himself back to his friends who were laughing and clenching their stomachs.

  “EPIC FAILURE!” Tanya and Markus threw themselves back on the couch and laughed out loud. At first I felt bad for the guy, but that quickly went away
and I joined them in their laughter. All of a sudden, Markus froze and stared straight ahead, narrowing his eyes.

  “What is it?” I asked and turned my eye in the same direction. Dean was in front of us, standing still. He was wearing a black leather jacket with dark jeans. His face was marked with a predatory expression. His eyes weren’t glimmering as they had before; they were venomously cold. His body was stiff, like an animal stalking its prey. Dean was focusing intently on something in our direction. Was it me? It was too dark to be sure. A wave of acid welled up in my stomach. I hoped that it wasn’t me because I did not want that coldness aimed at me. I straightened myself up.

  “There’s something about him.” Markus said loud enough for me to hear.

  “Maybe he’s on drugs or something,” Tanya hinted, “I should offer him some rehabilitation.” she giggled.

  I gave her a warning look that she didn’t take notice of.

  “No. It’s something else.” Markus said.

  “Psychotic?” Tanya asked.

  “Well, even the nicest guy in the world could be a psycho. There’s something else about him. I can’t put my finger on it.” Markus shook his head as to shake the conversation away. He stood up and stretched his arms out. “You girls want something to drink?” he asked us.

  “Yeah! Can you get me some soda?” I threw him a wide smile, “Thanks!”

  “I thought you quit?” he asked.

  “Eh, one taste won’t kill me.” I calmly said as I shrugged my shoulders.

  Markus headed towards the bar, passing Dean’s statue. He didn’t make a single movement, his eyes were still focused. His arms were down his sides and I realized then, I was gawking at him again, so I quickly turned away. But I couldn’t help it. I still watched him from the corner of my eye. Markus headed back towards us with the glass cup filled with ice and soda, napkins and straws in his other hand. When he passed by Dean, Dean quickly whirled around and dashed towards the back exit, bumping into Markus in the process. The soda slipped out of Markus’ hand and splashed on his shirt and pants. The glass cup shattered on the floor in front of him and he released the straws to hurriedly pat his pants with some of the napkins. Tanya and I ran up to him and grabbed some napkins from him to help with his shirt.

  “Talk about rude!” Tanya spat out. She patted Markus’ shirt roughly.

  “Did you see?!” Markus yelled and looked at the exit door Dean had left through. “He shoved me and didn’t even-that asshole shoved me hard.” he said defensively.

  “Just let it go,” Tanya continued, “maybe he didn’t see you. He was so focused on that guy standing behind us.”

  Behind us? He wasn’t looking at me? I felt like such an idiot. There I was thinking he was watching me. Well…I was glad I didn’t wave. Markus and Tanya wouldn’t have ever let that one slide. They would’ve made fun of me forever until I slipped up again.

  “Whatever. He had to have felt that he shoved me.” He lightly pushed Tanya and me away. “I’ll be back.” he moodily said.

  “Wait! Where are you going?” Realization hit me. Markus was going to confront Dean. I pictured my tiny Markus up against the giant Dean. “Wait! Don’t. Just let it go Markus! Please!” I shouted.

  “Stay here!” he demanded and stomped away.

  I listened to him and stayed inside with Tanya but I couldn’t help but worry. I’d never seen Markus in a fight, I was betting that he wouldn’t stand a chance against Dean. Wait a minute. Why did I automatically think about a fight? Maybe he just wanted to talk. Markus wasn’t a fighter. Still…I had to go look for myself.

  “I gotta go to the bathroom.” Tanya said. “Are you coming with me?” she asked. Not phased or worried about Markus.

  “No, I should stay here. So someone’s here when Markus comes back.” A good excuse. What I really wanted to do was follow him. I had to make sure he was alright. Tanya headed for the bathroom alone and as soon as she was out of sight, I rushed to the exit. As I pushed the huge door out, someone from the outside was trying to pull it simultaneously. I lost my grip on the handle and as I stumbled forward, I found Dean on the other side, blocking my exit. He looked down at me -motionless– staring at me the way he did that day I dropped the pencil. His eyes shined with pleasure. I looked at the small gap between him and the opening...small, but big enough for me to squeeze through. I mean, really squeeze through.

  “I need to get through.” I stated, trying to keep my composure.

  His eyes locked with mine. And that rapturing gaze was taking me away from what was important right now. After what seemed like an eternity, but what was probably only mere seconds, he tore his gaze away from mine and surveyed the gap between us. When his eyes glared back down at mine, they were dark and smoldering. He raised his arm and leaned his elbow against the door frame. A flirtatious smile formed on his attractive face. I started falling apart at the thought of that smile being for me, then he purposely closed the gap a bit more, shining eyes daring me to squeeze through.

  I blinked with surprise. Now, more than ever, I wanted to squeeze through that gap. I wanted physical contact.

  Determined, I tightened my mouth into a line and knitted my brow. I wanted to look angry and I wanted him to move away before I got sucked out of reality with him. His mischievous smile stayed the same and he kept right in his place. I took a deep breath and began to navigate through him, but it was a tight squeeze; I was literally between a rock and a hard place. The warm smell of amber enveloped me, hot, vibrant waves swept through me. I lifted my shaky hands and placed them on his rib cage to help me push my back against the wall and garner some distance from him. Not a budge. So I lowered my hand and placed it on his oblique. What I intended was to just set my hand there, but I found myself exploring the roped muscles of his core as I put my hand there. My heart hammered beneath my chest. I had to get out of there. Again, I pushed against him to widen the gap at least an inch so I could squeeze through. I looked up at his flirting eyes and popped right out the other side. A victorious smile shone on me as I turned around to face him, the door slowly inched to a close. All I saw were his green enchanting eyes through the darkness. And they were smiling.

  When I finally made it outside, it was like stepping into an outdoor hallway with dividers and dumpsters beside each door. It was quiet, lifeless. I spotted Markus at a distance, getting up from a crouched position. And that made me immediately rush in his direction.

  “Markus!” I made it to him speedily and helped him up. Thinking he was injured, I hugged him and patted him down. “Are you okay? What did he do to you?” I desperately asked him.

  “Mindy. I saw. I can’t…” Markus panted. No. He was trying to breathe. It sounded like he had just been underwater for longer than he could hold his breath.

  “What! Markus. What is it?” I cried out. My heart pounded in my chest. My mind tried to reel some possibilities of what happened, but I came up empty and my knees quaked at the words…

  “The body.” Markus gushed quietly. He said it too softly. Like he didn’t want me to hear it, but he had to say it out loud. He ran around the wall beside us. I followed, keeping up with his pace. As we passed the corner of the wall, Markus crashed right into someone.

  “Is this your way of asking me for a dance?” asked a velvety smooth voice. “I know I’m stunning Markus, but don’t give up on the ladies,” he bragged.

  Markus looked up at him in disgust. “Shane?” he confidently asked. “Get into a fight?” Markus asked.

  I looked up at Shane. There was a blood smear on his soft lips; it ran down to his delicate, powder white chin.

  “No. Why?” asked Shane. He arched his brow in concern.

  “You have blood on your mouth.” Markus informed and pointed at the spot without making contact.

  Shane smiled, exposing his perfectly white teeth and wiped the blood with a tissue he pulled from his pocket. Without another word, he elegantly walked off, glancing at me as he passed. Immediately, Markus ran to where the dumps
ter was behind the wall. He jumped on the step attached to the dumpster and peaked his head in. With disappointment on his face, he hopped back down and searched the ground for something.

  “Markus?” I was growing impatient.

  He looked up at me baffled. His face was twisted with confusion.

  “The body.” He breathed. “It’s-” He turned around and searched the ground again. “It’s gone?” he asked himself in disbelief.

  ithout giving me any answers, Markus grabbed my arm and pulled me back inside. I jerked my arm away and planted my feet. He stopped and looked back at me, his face was washed in terror and his eyes were transfixed in horror.

  “What happened with Dean?” I asked. “What do you mean when you say body?” I cried out.

  “Dean?” his voice high in inquiry. “Did you see him? Is he still here?” His eyes darted throughout the club. “We gotta get out of here!” he squealed.

  I had never seen him like that before. I didn’t want to be pushy like I usually was with him, but something serious happened and Markus really didn’t want me to know. What did he mean by body? I nodded my head in agreement to his exclamation.

  We rushed to the couch at which we had started the night. Tanya was chatting with Ayden. Crap! He invited me there tonight and I had turned him down. Awkward! That was the least of my worries at the moment. As we approached, Ayden jumped to his feet, looking a little disappointed to see me there. He wanted to be the one to bring me there.

  “Mindy? I thought you didn’t want to come?” he sharply posed as he staggered towards me. A hint of anger showed clearly on his face.

  “Change of plans.” I said in hopes that it would end the awkward conversation. “We’re leaving though,” I added.

  “No. Please, I need to talk to you.” Ayden pleaded with attempted charm. “Can you hang with me for a while?” He brought his hands up and flattened them under his chin as if he were praying.