Moth to a Flame

by K. Webster

  I looked up at Cale, who had remained quiet as he listened. His jaw was working on overdrive, clenching and unclenching. When he spoke, it was through his teeth.

  “That motherfucking psycho. If he ever so much as looks at you again, I am going to kill him with my bare hands.”

  I tried to ignore the shiver that skittered down my spine at his angry response. I held his sandwich up and smiled nervously. He pulled himself from his trance and grinned at me as he took a bite while I was still holding it.

  “I think this is the best sandwich I have ever eaten,” he teased as he moaned in mock appreciation.

  Rolling my eyes, I shoved it at him and picked up my own to eat. “Dork.”

  He laughed and I couldn’t keep the smile off my own face as we wolfed down our food. Cale was intense but could then turn around and be so good-natured. I was actually enjoying spending time with him, a man. There might never be a day when I would trust men like I should, but with Cale, it seemed like he was the only one I’d ever need to trust.

  Breaking away from my happy thoughts, I reluctantly said, “It’s getting late. We should probably call it a night.”

  “Kicking me out, huh?” he asked, cocking a sexy eyebrow, which caused an ache between my thighs. “I’ll pick you up Saturday around six. We’re going on a date. Dress comfortably,” he instructed, this time without question. “And please, for the love of God, don’t order any more damn shoes till that prick Sam cools off and leaves you alone,” he commanded seriously.

  Dang. I guess my shoe fetish was apparent to everyone.

  “See you then, Cale,” I uttered, agreeing to an actual date.

  He grabbed both of my hands, wrapping them around his back, and then put his own around me. When he leaned down, touching our noses together, my heart started racing like it always did when he was near. His lips brushed against mine in the slightest touch and my lips parted, inviting him in again. But he pulled back instead, leaving me with my mouth hanging open, and pecked my forehead.

  “I have to save some of my moves for our date on Saturday. Catch you later, Lia,” he said casually, like he weren’t just leaving me there to suffer from his loss of touch. With a wave, he walked out the door.

  What an ass, I thought, watching as he walked down the porch steps, unsure which ass I was referring to.

  GOD, THAT WOMAN is going to drive me crazy, I thought as I walked back to my truck. I’d never really worried about anyone—except for Madison, which was in a completely platonic way—like I’ve done in the past couple of days with Lia. This woman had a magnetism about her that I couldn’t seem to pull away from—not that I’d want to anyway.

  What went down with Sam earlier infuriated me. That dickhead was downright creepy and I got some bad vibes from him. In the morning, I was definitely going to call the delivery company and report him. I’d get his ass fired if it meant keeping him away from Lia.

  I started the truck and drove away from her house. Not far up the street, another car started in the pitch black and peeled out. Why’d this woman have to live in the damn sticks? I’d have three locks on my door too if I lived in the middle of damn nowhere.

  “Yes, I’d like to report some unprofessional behavior by one of your workers,” I told the operator on the phone the next morning.

  “Certainly, sir. Do you have the driver’s name?” she asked me.

  “Not exactly. I just know that his first name is Sam. He delivers my, uh, friend’s packages pretty frequently. She lives out on Nathan Drive here in Jonestown,” I supplied to her.

  “Hmmm, let’s see,” she said as I heard her typing away in the background. “Huh. Can I have your friend’s name?” she asked, clearly having trouble finding what she was looking for.

  “Lia Finch. Surely there aren’t that many Sams that work for you guys?” I asked the operator.

  “Sir, we don’t have a Sam that works for us. Oh, here we go. Looks like you mean Jose Juarez. He’s the one who does that route,” she said. “It’s so strange. Jose has an impeccable record. He’s been with the company for several years. Are you sure you aren’t mistaken?” she asked, genuinely confused.

  My heart started racing because I did not like how this was going. “No. Lady, her delivery guy is definitely named Sam. There’s no way that Sam and Jose are the same guy,” I barked at her.

  “I’m sorry, sir, but there must be a mistake. I can just put in here that your friend had an unpleasant experience with Mr. Juarez. I’m sure he will be reprimanded for any unprofessional behavior,” she said, trying to diffuse my increasing anger.

  “Dammit!” I yelled into the phone, not really pissed at her but at the gravity of what I was learning. “If what you’re telling me is true, then my friend has been dealing with a real fucking psycho!”

  “I’m sorry, sir. If you’d like to speak to my manager, I can get him on the phone right away,” she spoke quickly.

  “No, don’t worry about it. Thank you for your help,” I said before hanging up the phone.

  What the fuck is going on here?

  Lia said that Sam had been her delivery guy for years and this company thought his name was Jose. He definitely wasn’t this Jose Juarez—no fucking way. I sat at my desk, scratching my stubbly chin and trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

  Attempting to get some work done, I put those thoughts away for a bit and checked on the progress of my houses. Most were in the slab phase, so there wasn’t much for me to do where they were concerned. I was building my own house, and that was much further along. It wouldn’t be long before I could get in there and start doing some of the custom areas myself. At least it would give me something to do besides daydream about the sexiest green eyes I’d ever seen. There wasn’t much work being done on my end since she’d maced the shit out of me. It would be nice to do some hands-on work.

  After catching up on my paperwork, I decided to text Lia.

  Me: Hey, babe. Hope your day’s going well. I’m just doing boring-ass work. Looking forward to our date tomorrow night. C

  When she didn’t text right away, I started to think about Sam again.

  Who the hell is he?

  If they have no record of him, then how has he delivering packages to her all these years?

  The way he acted towards her last night left a bad feeling in the back of my mind. Everything about him screamed psychotic to me. Lia was already a fragile person from what I could see. I didn’t feel like there was a need to tell her about what I’d learned on the phone earlier until I uncovered more about it.

  A chime sounded indicating a new text.

  Lia: Hey, Cale! All is well. Super busy day today. I had to eat lunch at my desk. Pops keeps dropping more stuff on me as if I don’t already have enough to do! Ugh, now he’s watching me text. TTYL! XOXO

  I smiled at her text. She had such an unusual relationship with her boss. Lia had a way about her that made people want to take care of her. Pops was especially protective over her like a father would be. I was glad she had someone looking out for her at work.

  I texted her back.

  Me: Tell Pops you’re conducting business with his newest builder. Now, what’re you wearing? C

  I chuckled, thinking of how her face would turn ten shades of red at my text. Then my phone chimed again.

  Lia: Okay, Mr. Reeves. Let’s talk business. Are we talking about my business suit or what’s underneath? Underneath, well, there’s not much to describe…nothing AT ALL really to describe. I think the color’s called nude? ;)

  What the fuck?

  My dick twitched at thinking of that sexy siren sitting at her desk, wearing no fucking underwear at all.

  Another chime.

  Lia: OMG!! Cale, I am so sorry. My “friend,” and I use the term loosely, decided to hijack my phone while I was taking care of a customer. And even though she’s giving me her puppy dog face, she’s going down. God, I am so embarrassed. XOXO

  I laughed out loud, imagining Lia with her hands
on her hips, red-faced with green eyes ablaze while giving her friend the what for. I’d give anything to take in that sight right now.

  Me: Tell your friend I said “thanks.” That was the best visual I’ve had in a while. ;)

  Lia: You guys suck.

  “WHAT THE HELL, Anj!” I shrieked to my crazy friend. That was incredibly embarrassing.

  “Girl, I’m just doing you a favor. This is the first action you’ve had since I’ve known you. You ain’t messing this up. Nope, not with that Mr. ‘I Got Swagger’ Reeves. He’s a keeper, girlfriend. Just ‘cause I got me a Denzel and two little cherubs don’t mean I ain’t still got it. Me and my man still get freaky beneath the sheets. I’m just schoolin’ you. You can thank me later,” she sassed back to me.

  “What are we thanking you for, Anj?” asked Pops, walking up to my desk.

  My face burned again with embarrassment.

  “Mr. Johnson, this is girl talk. This kind of talk ain’t for old man ears,” she teased.

  Pops looked back and forth between us before shaking his head and returning to his office, sending us both into a fit of giggles. Anj was a crazy mess most days, but at least we had each other’s backs.

  “So? Are you going to see Mr. Swag tonight?” she asked.

  Rolling my eyes at her nickname, I said, “No, but we have a date planned for tomorrow night.” I smiled because I was actually looking forward to spending more time with him. He was funny and extremely hot, and most importantly, he made me feel safe. I really never thought this would ever happen.

  Me. Safe. With a man.

  “I expect a full report on his naked booty on Monday morning,” she said casually, causing my face to burn again. “You got this, girl,” she winked.

  After getting home from work, I quickly changed into my running clothes and tennis shoes. Before walking back out the door, I grabbed my water bottle and keys. Ever since the incident those years ago, I always tried to have my keys with me at all times when going outside. My keychain had my mace hooked to them in case of emergencies. Cale knew firsthand about my ability with my little weapon in what I considered an emergency.

  When I’d first moved to Jonestown, I’d been too scared to go outside for quite some time. I would go straight to work and come back. There were never days that I went out anywhere after dark. Slowly, my fear began to replace itself with determination. I wasn’t going to be a victim again. I purchased some mace and took up running. Running was therapeutic because it helped me brave being outside and alone. It also kept me in shape. Being fit might have been what had saved me that night, so I was always going to try to keep my strength up.

  I stepped outside and latched all three locks on my door. The October air was crisp this evening. From the looks of it, I probably had a good half hour before dark. I always came home from jogging before dark, mace or not.

  I am a grown woman who is terrified of the dark.

  Running out onto the driveway, I decided to loop over by the lake. It was a peaceful run in that direction. Where I lived, there weren’t many people, a fact that comforted me. Being in my own little area of nowhere, I felt secluded and safe. Tucked away from anyone who might be looking.

  Lost in my thoughts, I realized I’d run farther than I’d expected.

  Crap!

  I needed to turn around right now. It wasn’t likely that I would make it home before dark. The thought of running in the dark had my heart racing. Out here, there weren’t streetlights or porch lights. I picked up the pace. I definitely needed to calm myself down before I had a panic attack. Clutching my mace, I really started pounding the pavement. The sun had nearly disappeared beyond the horizon.

  I can’t believe how far I let myself run.

  If I sprinted the rest of the way, I could make it before the sun completely descended. The slapping of my tennis shoes on the pavement brought back memories from years ago and my heart starting violently pounding in my chest, causing me to gasp for air.

  It was then that I realized one of my laces had come untied. There was no way in hell I was stopping to tie them, not with precious daylight fading by the second. Rounding a corner that would lead me to my street, I stepped on the lace with my other foot, sending me careening to the pavement. The angle at which I was running triggered me to fall face-forward. My knees scraped the pavement before my hands. My head hit next.

  Blinking back stars, I started to jump back up. Dizziness caused blackness to eat at the corners of my vision, forcing me to sit back down. Breathing heavily, I tried to calm myself and tied my shoelace.

  Breathe, Lia.

  I was safe in my town. That man wasn’t here. Nobody was chasing me. I needed to seriously chill out. After a few minutes of attempting to ease my fears, I slowly stood up, wincing at my injuries.

  I started to jog again, but my skinned knees and pounding head forced me to reduce my stride to a quick walk. The crickets started their nighttime melodies, not comforting me at all. Focusing on my porch light in the distance, I tried to put my thoughts somewhere else. My date with Cale was tomorrow.

  Would he take me to dinner? Closer.

  Would we go to a movie? Almost there.

  Would we go dancing? Finally, I reached my driveway.

  I quickly made my way to the porch, eyes frantically darting all around as I tried desperately to thwart the oncoming panic attack. My sigh was one of relief when I safely stepped onto my front porch. A single rose and an envelope with my name scrawled across the front were sitting propped against the door. I quickly snatched them up. After unlatching all three locks in record speed, I rushed in, slamming the door behind me.

  Once I had all three locks in place, I crumpled to the floor before letting out a sob. My fear was unwarranted, but it was always there. Even though I was safe in my home, the fear would always follow me. It was a shame because I had been hoping that some of that fear was dissipating with how I’d felt since meeting Cale, but clearly, it was only while in his presence.

  Thinking of Cale, I smiled through my tears. He’d left me a rose and a note. I sniffled back the last of my cry fest, wiping my tears away with my sweaty, skinned-up hands. I opened up his letter and began reading:

  As fresh tears formed in my eyes, I stood up and stomped to the trashcan, tossing the rose and note into it.

  This is so freaking creepy!

  I WAS LOOKING over some new floor plan ideas at my desk when my phone rang. Seeing that it was Lia, I quickly answered, eager to hear her voice.

  “Hey, babe. What are you wearing now?” I chuckled out my greeting.

  “Cale…” Her voice quivered into the phone.

  “What the hell, Lia? Are you okay?” I demanded as I burst from my chair, worrying over the fear in her voice.

  “Yes, I’m okay, Cale. I just got really spooked. As much as I hate to keep bothering you with my problems, I just wanted to see if you could come over for a bit. At least till I calm down some? If you’re busy, I understand. I’m probably just being a baby, but—”

  “I’ll be over in ten,” I said, interrupting her. “You will never be a bother to me, babe. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered into the phone before hanging up.

  After only eight minutes, I slammed the truck into park and jogged up to her door, trying to quell my growing anxiety. She was scared shitless about something. I’d been able to tell by the way her voice had shaken on the phone not long before. I saw the curtains by the window move slightly when I knocked on the door and then heard the click of one, two, three locks. She flung open the door and I rushed up to her, enveloping her with my arms. Kicking the door closed behind me, I pulled away from her, needing to know what was wrong.

  “Lia, I’m here now,” I comforted her, my voice filled with worry.

  “Oh, Cale. I feel like such a baby,” she confessed with tear-filled eyes.

  Pulling her close again, I kissed the top of her head in an effort to soothe her. I inhaled her scent, a mix of woodsy a
nd sweat plus the smell that was uniquely hers. We stood in that embrace for a short while before she pulled away to nervously secure all three of her locks.

  She quietly went into the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of wine from a cabinet before locating two glasses. “I need a drink,” she mumbled as she popped the cork from the bottle, her hands trembling. Pouring some wine into each glass before handing me one, she said, “Cale, you remember those ‘ugly demons rearing their heads’ that I promised? Well, one decided to torment me tonight. I’m completely afraid of being outside after dark. While running, I realized I had gone too far and that it would be dark before I could make it home.”

  She shivered and continued. “I was racing to get home before daylight completely disappeared on me and I ended up tripping on my shoelaces and taking a nasty fall,” she said, holding up her shaking, scraped hands.

  “Babe, it’s okay. You’re home safe now,” I softly reminded her, taking both hands gently into mine.

  “When I fell, I hit my head, which dazed me a bit. I got home as quickly as I could, but I was absolutely terrified,” she whispered, eyes misting over again.

  “You’re okay now. I’m here,” I assured her, pulling her in for another embrace.

  “When I got onto my porch, I discovered a rose and a note,” she shakily explained.

  My entire body tensed at her words. Pulling away from her, I waited for her to continue, concern painted all over my face.

  “It was from Sam,” she muttered, walking over to the trashcan. She pulled out a letter and handed it to me.

  As I read it, I became insanely furious. “That motherfucker!” I growled. “Lia, I’m here now. You are safe and that dickhead isn’t going to mess with you without me kicking the shit out of him. Why don’t you go shower and put some ointment on your scrapes? I’ll fix us some dinner,” I stated, trying to calm her down.

  She drained her glass and nodded before heading for the shower.