LIGHTER

by Mila Cole

  The lights were dim from where they were sitting, and you could see so much of the city from the row of windows next to them. Lighter noticed as well. Her eyes scanned the windows and widened in surprise.

  “This is beautiful,” she said.

  “It really is,” the boy agreed, but he wasn’t looking out the windows. His eyes were glued on her. Of course they were.

  Strike one.

  They were seated, and I stood near the windows behind Lighter close enough that I’d be able to hear their conversation. I wanted to be arm’s length from the little pervert in case he tried anything so I could break his fingers.

  After the two of them ordered drinks, they made light conversation, and I was able to learn a lot of things about Lighter that I never knew, most of which I would’ve never asked. Things that made her seem more real, and not something I’d made up in my head. At times, when I’d think about her, I’d picture this person who’d likely fulfill all her dreams—the girl that would become CEO of her own company and who’d attend every uppity function that she could sink her teeth into. She’d shine bright despite what anyone said about her. Boy was I wrong. Hearing them talk made me see just how much she hated the life she was leading. If I were being honest, it made me wonder if she’d be happy living the type of life that I could provide. One that wasn’t at all like what she was used to. She’d be slumming it, if we were together. So much so that her parents would probably disown her. Just another reason to keep my distance. Someone like me would ruin her life completely.

  I took for granted just how young she really was.

  Guilt was settling in, and I didn’t like that feeling at all. I felt guilty for kissing her, even though we both wanted it so much, and I knew that if given the chance, I’d take more from her than just a kiss. My selfishness had no limits.

  They were so engrossed in the conversation that they seemed to forget that I was even standing there. It allowed me more time to eavesdrop.

  I learned that the boy was from New York and the two of them went to school together for four years. They talked about the people they missed, the ones they couldn’t stand, and how much Lighter missed the city.

  If she loved it so much, then why did she come back? Was it because of her parents?

  We never talked about her past. We never talked about much at all, really, other than what she wanted to go to school for. Seems she had a whole other world, that no one knew anything about other than the boy.

  “You should come back for a visit soon before school starts. You can stay with me in my apartment,” he told her.

  She shrugged. “I don’t see myself going back there anytime soon. I mean, school will be starting in a couple of months, and I just want to focus on getting my degree as quickly as I possibly can. The sooner I finish, the sooner I’ll be out of my parents’ house.”

  The waiter interrupted their talking to take their order. I stood there shifting on my feet. I stifled a laugh when Lighter ordered a steak, thinking that my girl did love her meat. It was going to be hard to watch her eat a big juicy steak while I just stood there. It must’ve been what a dog felt like who sat next to a dinner table.

  Damn.

  I should’ve eaten before I left the house.

  Once the waiter was gone, Pretty Boy reached for Lighter’s hand across the table. A look of distaste was surely written on my face, but I didn’t say a word. Not yet anyway. She didn’t pull away from his advances, so I didn’t need to intercept just yet. But he was straddling a very thin line.

  Strike two.

  “I know how much you hate being home with your father,” he said in a soothing voice. “I wish you didn’t have to stay there while you were going to school.”

  I clenched my jaw tightly, staring at him with all the anger I could muster on my face. One glance up at me and he’d know that he needed to back the hell off, and quickly.

  There were a million questions running through my mind. Important questions, like why she didn’t want to live with her dad. Yes, he was an asshole of major proportions, but the boy made it seem like her life was miserable there. Was it?

  We needed to talk, and after their date, that’s just what we were going to do.

  My insides were a bit twisted up, and the smell of food in the air wasn’t helping, so I stepped back a little farther and rested my shoulder against the window. Seeing the looks that he was giving her was making things worse. Every part of me was saying that I should just punch him in the face one good time and cut their little date short. But I couldn’t do that unless I had good reason. I was just biding my time. Sooner or later he was bound to screw up.

  Once the food arrived, I noticed that Lighter kept one hand on her lap and the other wrapped around her fork. They talked a little more, but I was farther away and couldn’t hear what they were saying. Just as well that I couldn’t because it would only give me more crap to stand there and stew over. My mind was already running a million miles per minute.

  I stared at Lighter. Her leg was bouncing under the table, causing her dress to swish around her legs. When her body tensed up suddenly, I looked over at his face. It was too serious. Clearly, something was wrong. Quickly, I moved over closer to her where I could hear what was being said.

  “I’ve told you before, Landon. I only want to be friends. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.” There was a bit of regret in her voice.

  “Don’t you just want to try? We get along so well. We always have so much fun together. I guess I was just hoping that tonight would change things.”

  “I’m sorry,” she told him.

  He scoffed. Under his breath he muttered something about a waste of a hundred thousand dollars, and that’s when I snapped.

  Strike three, little fucker.

  I was over that table with my hands around his throat in a matter of seconds.

  Lighter’s frantic voice was calling my name from behind me, but I couldn’t stop. My hands gripped tighter, and I yanked him up from his seat and slammed him up against the wall.

  “Slick, please,” Lighter said. “It’s not worth it. Let him go.”

  His face was turning blue as the life of him was being sucked through my fingertips. I loosened my grip just a little before I finally said the words I’d been dying to tell him.

  His eyes grew wide when I spoke. “I knew the moment that I first laid eyes on you that you were trouble. You won’t come near her again. Not ever. If you show your face within a hundred feet of that girl, I’ll kill you. I’ll rip your scrawny little dick off and shove it down your throat. That’s a promise, you piece of shit.”

  I dropped him from my grip and watched as he fell hard against the ground, trying harshly to catch his breath. I wanted to add a kick to his stomach for good measure, but we were surrounded by staff asking us to leave.

  Lighter stood there next to me staring at his pitiful attempt to get up.

  “Let’s go,” I told her.

  She nodded, not saying a word, and let me lead her by the hand out of the restaurant. I needed to breathe. I needed to cool off and get my footing again before we went out on the street. When the elevator stopped on the bottom floor, I pulled her in another direction, hoping we could find a back exit from the building.

  After a couple of tries, we finally found a door that we could escape from. It led us to the side of the building. It was a small alleyway that was well lit, with a couple of trash cans and some old junk. I texted Norman to let him know that we would grab a cab. He was probably back at the penthouse, and there was no need for him to come. We’d be stuck waiting for him to get through traffic. It was after 8:00 p.m., so downtown Philly traffic would be ridiculous.

  The two of us stood there, hand in hand. Neither of us said anything about what just happened. I was still trying to rein in my anger. My blood was boiling. Frankly, it had been all night. I knew right from the beginning that it wouldn’t end well. The boy couldn’t keep his mouth shut, and I couldn’t keep my hands to myself. Bad combinatio
n.

  For some reason, I guess I couldn’t keep my mouth shut either, because once I said the first word, everything I’d been holding in just came pouring out.

  “That fucking boy is a piece of shit,” I started. “I knew the moment I met him that he had his sights set on you. I guess you were just blind to it. And do you know how much it pissed me off to stand there tonight and listen to the two of you talking? You never told me that you didn’t like living at home. Why don’t you like living at home? Is it your father, because I know he’s a real piece of work. And the two of you went on and on about things I don’t know shit about. You’re like some mystery person. You should see the way my brain was moving tonight. It was like a hamster wheel. You’d say something else, and I’d be standing there in shock wondering why the hell I didn’t know that. It made me feel like shit. But I wasn’t going to stand there and let him insult you or make you feel like you owed him anything. Just because he was stupid enough to pay a hundred grand for a dinner date, doesn’t mean that you had to hike up your dress and let him have you. I know that’s what the little fucker was thinking.”

  “Slick!” Lighter screamed, and I stopped. “Shut up!”

  It was the first time I’d ever heard her raise her voice, and it stunned me for a second. She stepped over to me and grasped the front of my shirt and pulled me down to her, pressing her sweet lips hard against mine. Her lips were hungry, and I groaned against her mouth as the kiss deepened and she slid her tongue against mine. I placed both of my hands under ass and hoisted her up against me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and let me kiss the hell out of her, like I’d been wanting to do for so long.

  It wasn’t like our first kiss. This time there was so much desire. I never wanted anything more. I slipped her dress up in the back so that I could touch her skin and push her closer against me.

  She moaned. My dick was so hard that I could break concrete. She writhed against me, groaning as her body slid up and down the length of my dick. I was going to explode. I needed her. I needed to be inside her.

  I moved us to the wall and pressed her back against it, still holding her in my arms.

  “I want you.”

  “I want you too,” she responded breathlessly.

  Then we heard it.

  The snapping of a camera in the distance.

  There was no way of knowing how long they’d been there, but it was safe to say that they’d caught us in a very compromising position.

  “Son of a bitch,” I said. Both of us were facing the man as he continued to snap away. I grabbed Lighter’s hand, and the two of us took off down the alley as fast as we could toward the street. She kept her head down as I hailed us a cab.

  After we climbed in the back seat and I spewed out the address, Lighter looked up at me. There was terror in her eyes—fear like I’d never seen before. With good reason too. Her father was going to kill me, and I was going to lose everything.

  “It’ll be okay.” I pulled her against me, trying hard to calm her down.

  But I was lying through my teeth.

  Twenty-Four

  Lighter

  It all happened so quickly that I didn’t even have time to catch my breath. I guess I always knew in the back of my mind that our attraction was crazy, that it wouldn’t lead to much because of our age difference and the fact he was employed by my father. I never expected it would come to this.

  Slick walked me into the penthouse, then to my bedroom, closing the door behind him.

  “I’ll be back in the morning.”

  My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. “You can’t come back,” I told him. “Everything is so messed up. When my father finds out what we’ve done, he’s going to kill you. He’s going to kill me. You’re going to lose your job.”

  “Hey. C’mon,” he said. “We will figure it out. Just don’t say anything to him until I get here in the morning. Nothing may come of it, and I don’t want to jeopardize everything until I know for sure.”

  “I don’t know how you’re so calm right now.”

  Even his face was stoic, like he truly believed everything would be okay. This was my father we were talking about.

  “Because nothing has happened yet.”

  “Yet,” I scoffed, rolling my eyes. “You’ve completely lost your mind if you think this will end well.”

  He smirked. “Just try to rest. I’ll be back first thing in the morning.”

  Easy for him to say. There was no way I was getting any rest. This was all going to blow up. I could feel it coming. The pounding of my heart in my chest only confirmed what I already knew—that soon we’d all be under the wrath of my father.

  He rubbed his hands over my arms before he kissed the top of my head. “I know you’re scared and you’re worried. I promise I’ll be here in the morning when you wake up. If you need something between now and then, just text me.”

  “Okay.”

  I wrapped my arms around his waist and squeezed him tightly. He said good night, then left me there alone with my thoughts. There was no way I was going to get any rest knowing the kind of hell that was going to break the next day. I stalked every social media page I could find, trying to see if the story had leaked yet, but found nothing. It was possible that I was freaking out over nothing. That maybe it was too dark in that alley and the paparazzi didn’t get a clear shot.

  Who was I kidding?

  Of course they did. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have continued clicking away on his camera.

  It was two days until my trip to go see my mom. Every second that ticked away on my clock made me wish that I was boarding that plane tonight. Hopping a plane to travel across the border was sounding like the best possible plan of escape at the moment.

  I paced around my bedroom, trying to come up with some lie to tell my father. But I was coming up empty-handed. There was no way I could skate around the truth to make it sound any better. It was going to be there in a photograph, and the only thing I could do was own up to it. Nothing more, nothing less. The proof would be there in black and white, and there’d be no way I could lie my way out of it.

  After about an hour of replaying every scenario in my head, I finally made myself lie down, though it seemed like a lost cause. Sleep would be hard to find.

  Maybe.

  Or maybe not…

  *

  I heard the commotion in the other room before my eyes even opened. My dad’s voice was ringing through the halls, and a part of me wanted to crawl up under my sheets and pretend I didn’t hear a thing. It felt like the perfect time to play dumb.

  Of course, I spoke too soon.

  The door to my bedroom flung open, slamming against the wall behind it. The few things I had hanging on my wall rattled and shook like they were about to plummet to the ground. The jar of it scared me, and I shifted in the bed so that I was sitting up against my headboard. He hadn’t said a word, but the look in his eyes was enough to frighten me.

  I could count on one hand the number of times my dad had been angry at me.

  One.

  Seeing him so upset was the last thing I ever wanted.

  “How could you?” His voice was deep and menacing.

  “I’m sorry, Dad.” I couldn’t really explain myself. There was no safe way around it. I messed up. But it wasn’t like it was the worst thing in the world.

  He threw a stack of printed photographs onto my bed, and they scattered everywhere. All of them were of me and Slick in a very compromising position. My eyes were fixated on the paper, and tears filled my eyes. I truly never wanted things to happen this way, but my feelings for Slick were real. Was he upset that I was making out with the help, or that he was so much older than me? Or was it because I was making a mockery of the family name by having PDA in a public place? I was eighteen years old. It wasn’t like it was a sex tape. However, no explanation or reprimand would be good enough for my father.

  “So many fucking things are wrong here, Lighter.” His hands waved around, and I s
wore that I could see steam coming from his ears. “He’s hired help and is twice your age. He’s a nobody. Nobody! Do you understand what I’m saying? You look like a cheap slut!” he screamed.

  So I guess it was all of the above. The tears fell down my cheeks. My father had just called me a slut. A slut.

  “I’m sorry,” I cried again. “But…” I started to tell my father that I had feelings for Slick. That it was more than just some fling against the side of a building. We hadn’t even had sex. Not that he needed to know that. It was too late for that anyway. He already believed I was a slut.

  Man, that hurt.

  “I’ll kill him,” he yelled out as he stormed out of my room.

  No!

  I jumped up from my bed, still wearing the dress I had on the night before, and stomped after him. Being eighteen meant nothing to my father. I needed my mom. I needed to tell her what happened before everything leaked to public eyes. She’d understand. I was sure she would.

  Slick stepped out of the elevator just as I was entering the foyer. It took about two seconds for my father to completely flip out. He had his gun drawn and was pointing it at Slick’s head.

  “Dad, no!” I roared.

  Slick’s hands were up in the air, his eyes trained on my father.

  “Stay out of this, Lighter,” my dad commanded me.

  “Mr. Derosa,” Slick said but was quickly told to shut his mouth.

  “Don’t speak,” Dad told him. “Don’t you dare say a word.”

  The room was eerily quiet, other than the sound of my erratic heartbeat. I knew my dad was a scary man, that he probably did a lot of things I didn’t approve of. But killing someone? He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

  I didn’t know what to do. I stood there completely freaked-out, hoping that he’d put the gun down. This was no reason to kill someone, and this side of my father was one I’d never seen before. One that I hoped I’d never see again. This wasn’t the man I loved. How could he do this? Everything was my fault.