by Terry Towers
I groaned. “Thank you Josie for –”
A wide smile emerged on her lips. “Well, you saved my life and I think this means we can call it even, right?”
Looking down at Sidney I nodded. She more than made up for what I did for her.
“Now, not to break up this lovefest or anything but the fans are getting pissy waiting in line. I think you’re going to have a nerd revolt on your hands if you don’t get out there.”
~*~*~*~*~
Sidney
For the first time in three months I felt invincible, my step was light and I swear I felt like I could walk on water. As long as Elijah was by my side, I could do anything. And that ring, I couldn’t stop looking at it, it looked amazing on my finger. I couldn’t be happier. After taking ten minutes to clean up the black smears and streaks on my cheeks we made our way back to the signing table, Elijah taking up one side and Josie the other.
Once we reached my table, Elijah parted the curtain for me and Josie to enter the little area and then followed behind. “You don’t have to hang out here, you can look around until I’m done signing,” I whispered to him as Josie took her seat and waited for me to sit.
“I’ve been away from you long enough. Even across the room is too far right now,” he whispered back.
“Oh, gag me. What did I start here?” Josie groaned.
Turning back to the crowd, I got an impulsive thought and climbed onto the table.
“Shit, Sid, what are you doing? You’re going to break your damned neck, woman,” Elijah whispered up at me. I ignored him.
“Everybody, I’m so sorry to have made you all wait, but you’ll all be the first to hear the news,” I shouted out. People in my line as well as the lines of actors on either side of me began to stare up at me. I held my hand out so they could all see the ring. “Elijah proposed and I said YES!”
A roar emerged from the crowd and a rumble of claps and cheers sounded while thousands of flashes began to blind me. Virtually everyone in the vicinity was pointing, taking pictures and shouting their congratulations. Hell, even the other celebrities had stopped signing and were watching me with interest, with smiles on their faces. A couple of the reporters covering the convention began making their way to my table.
Turning, I waited for Elijah to scoop me up and lift me from the table. He obliged.
“You’re fucking crazy, Sid.”
“Because I love you.”
“My crazy diva,” he replied with laughter in his tone, seconds before his lips came crashing down onto mine.
~*~*~*~
I’ve never felt so good in my life. Of course, I’d just spent three months in misery, which made the joy feel even better. You know that saying that you don’t really know what you’ve had until you’ve lost it? That’s exactly how I’d felt. But now that we were back in each other’s lives there was nothing that could change that. Never again. The past was the past and I wanted to move forward.
“Come on in… now, I just want to warn you…”
Elijah didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence as I pushed past him and into the apartment. “Holy shit, have you been robbed?” I scanned the living room and bit back laughter. The poised, put together, neat freak Elijah had become a slob. Although I don’t think slob really was it, it was mostly toys all over the place. “It looks like a toy box threw up in here.”
He groaned, closing the door and coming to stand beside me in the living room. He thrust a hand into his hair and nodded. “Yeah. This dad thing is… difficult.” He walked into the center of the room and began to frantically pick up the toys and deposit them into the wooden toy chest. “I’m not used to this, and it drives me insane to have everything out of place. Cleaning after him feels like a full-time job. And I need to keep it tidy, a social worker shows up once a week to check in. But Chris, he’s dealing with stuff and maybe I’m not hard enough on him.”
I bit down on my lower lip to keep from laughing, but the smirk on my face was painfully evident. “I see.”
“I know I’m not supposed to be his friend, but be his parent, but it’s so hard not to spoil him, he’s been through so much. I’ve been taking parenting classes and watching Dr. Phil.”
I couldn’t keep the burst of laughter. It was too much. This just was a side of him that I never expected to see. Watching Dr. Phil? Going to mommy and me classes? Ohmygod, I never thought I’d ever see it.
With the last of the toys put into the box he straightened and cocked his brow at me. “Something amusing, Miss Lopez?”
“Little bit, yeah.”
“You’re enjoying my distress?” He crossed his arms over his chest and waited for a response.
Walking over to him, I slipped my arms up his chest and laced my fingers behind his neck. “I think it’s really cute. This soft, dishevelled, kinda kooky side of you.”
“Kooky?” He didn’t immediately wrap me into his arms, it wasn’t until I pressed myself flush against him that he pulled me tight. “You realize, this is going to be your life too. I’m a package deal now.”
“I know.”
“Are you really ready for that? I can’t travel with you anymore. Only weekends.”
I brushed my lips across his. “I know. I’m okay with that.”
A devilish grin spread across his lips. “And we’ll have to be really quiet during sex.”
I grinned and then shrugged. “Ohhh, that might be hard. But Chris is with his grandmom on weekends anyhow, so we have weekends to be very, very loud.”
Elijah brushed the back of his hand across my cheek and I closed my eyes, leaning my face into his hand. “I’m just saying, if you want to reconsider this I’ll understand. I’m sure marrying a single dad wasn’t on the top of your spouse ‘must have’ list.”
When I reopened my eyes he was looking down at me, his love shining in his eyes. I swear I fell in love with him all over again. “You’re on my ‘must have’ list. Chris is a wonderful kid. I couldn’t have asked for a better family.” I shrugged and gave him a lopsided grin. “Besides, I come with Josie now, so I’m bringing my own baggage and trust me, that girl is one handful.”
Cringing, Elijah released me and took a step back, giving his head a shake. “Oh yeah, you’re right. I don’t know, Sid, I’ve been in a car with that girl, I don’t think my sanity can handle her incessant chatter.”
Placing my fists on my hips, I rolled my eyes at him.
“Oh, come on, you haven’t noticed it?”
“She’s a little over the top,” I admitted with a laugh.
“That chick is looking over the top in the rearview mirror.”
“She’s been through a lot. And by the way you suck at sarcasm.”
Elijah wiggled his index finger at me, ignoring my slight insult. “I’m pretty sure that she was like that prior to the abduction.”
“She’s a good kid.” I took a step towards him and slid my hands around his waist. “And she’s the reason we’re back together.”
“Yeah, ya got me. I guess we’ll keep her.” He raked his fingers through my hair. “In all seriousness. I’m glad you two had each other to lean on…”
“Me too.” Pulling out of his arms, I grabbed his hand and began to lead him towards the bedroom. “And since we only have till Monday to be loud, I think we need to get to work on that make-up sex now.”
“Fuck Sid, I love you.”
Looking over my shoulder at him as I entered the bedroom, I gave him a wink. “Then let’s get working on you showing me. It’s been way too long.”
The End.
To hear about Terry's new releases and upcoming special and promotions, please sign up for her newsletter. Rest assured we will not spam your inbox.
Newsletter Sign-up
Excerpt from
Trust
By
Terry Towers
Available Now
Prologue
Gwen
When I close my eyes and am able to block out the horrors going o
n around me and ignore the aches in virtually every inch of my abused body, I can still hear the cheers of the audience as I’m lifted into the air by the other cheerleaders. The cheers feel so good to imagine that a smile briefly spreads across my chapped and cut lips.
The Fort Louis Cheer Squad is one of the top cheer squads in New England; we were going to take the national championship. I knew it in all my heart, maybe they still will, but I suspect it will be without me. I spend more time than maybe I should wondering who will take my place as captain of the squad; Becky Peters, I bet. She’s petite, popular, everyone loves Becky. Yeah, she would be taking my spot.
When I really concentrate I can remember the feelings of freedom as I let myself go and fall from the top of the pyramid, into the waiting arms of my teammates. I trust my teammates will catch me and they always do. For those few brief moments as I topple I feel like I’m flying, I’m free and nothing can hurt me.
But I was wrong...
How long would it take before they stopped missing me; stopped looking; before I was forgotten about completely? A month? Six months? A year?
Until now, I lived a life of privilege. I was popular, cute, was the girlfriend of the captain of the lacrosse team and had a family who loved me dearly. But that’s gone now and I’ve been thrown into a living hell. I was optimistic when I was first taken that I’d somehow be free again, someone would save me, but now I’m starting to think differently.
I’m no longer a person. I’m a commodity. Gwen Anderson is dead and slave number 342 has taken her place.
Lance
People’s ignorance of the evils that surround them each day amuses me; even people you feel you can and should trust can have a darkness lurking inside, waiting for the moment to bloom into the monster they were born to be. At the grocery store, teaching at the local schools, taking positions in the government (although I doubt anyone would argue with me on that one) and even the people who swore to protect you – law enforcement. They all have a price and with that price can be manipulated into doing anything we need.
I have a plan, years in the making. It’s perfect – foolproof. All I need is to keep myself focused on the big picture – my ultimate goal. I swore that I wouldn’t get emotionally involved with the slaves. The slaves were at the compound because they were special and unique and unfortunate enough to get noticed – not my concern or my problem. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, it’s the way of life. They’re nothing more than collateral damage.
Things were all falling into place.
But then she arrived…
She tests my patience and my will. She angers and frustrates me, making the darkness within scream to be released. I want to ignore her, but I can’t. I need to let her go, but can’t seem to allow her to be sent away.
Damn her, she’s going to ruin everything…
Chapter 1
Gwen
“Oh come on Gwen, don’t be like that.” My boyfriend, Brandon Phillips, gave me a hurt look, his hazel eyes pleading with me to reconsider. His pants were undone and his shaft was exposed and rubbing against my inner thigh, as he waited for my approval to take things further and give him the one thing he’d been wanting from me for over a year.
It hurt me to upset him; his expression tore at my heart and nearly swayed me. But my conviction held strong. “We agreed to wait until graduation, so it can be special, Brandon.” Pushing at his chest I struggled to sit up, pulling my sports bra in our school colours – blue and white – and cheerleader sweater down over my exposed chest.
Truth was, I wasn’t quite sure Brandon was the one I wanted to give my virginity to. I loved him, but I was starting to think I wasn’t in love with him anymore, if I ever was to begin with. He was a good guy from a good upper-class family and my parents loved him. And we fit together perfectly, our high school’s power couple – the envy of all our peers.
It should have been perfect, but, it wasn’t… for me anyhow. A voice in the back of my head told me he wasn’t the one and I was having a hard time ignoring it. Most of my friends had had sex and told me to stop being such a prude and give it to him already; they said sex is incredible. I didn’t doubt that, I was sure it was – with the right person. I was no stranger to orgasms, masturbating more times than I could count, but never to the image of Brandon and I thought that was a sign. Correction, I knew that was a sign.
“Besides,” I said as I pulled down my plaid skirt and attempted to keep my eyes from his bobbing member as he sat up and tucked himself away, “I’m on my period.”
I wasn’t. My period was my standby excuse for not wanting to “do it,” and it tended to be effective. Just not this time.
“You were on your period two weeks ago Gwen,” he snapped and I saw anger flash in his eyes. He rarely got angry with me, but it had been becoming less rare lately.
“And. Your point.” I matched his anger and squirmed away from him and off of his bed. “You calling me a liar? Want to check and find out for sure?” I was bluffing and prayed he didn’t call me on it otherwise I’d be busted.
His face blanched and he shook his head, getting off of the bed to stand before me, his 6’1 frame towering a foot above mine. “Forget it. You might as well go home, it’s getting late.”
“I can give you a hand job,” I purred, reaching for the front of his pants. It was the best I could offer. I’d sucked him off lots of times, but he’d pissed me off and I had no interest in doing that for him tonight. I didn’t appreciate the look he’d given me or the tone his voice had taken. He was lucky I was offering a handy at this point.
“No, forget it. I’m losing wood anyhow.” He walked past me and motioned for me to follow. “Come on, I’ll drive you home.”
I should have been upset, I was being dismissed, but I wasn’t. I was relieved.
“No. I wanna walk home.” I followed him into the foyer and slipped on my white canvas running shoes.
“It’s almost midnight Gwen, you shouldn’t be walking alone this time of night.”
I snorted at him, grabbed my backpack from the floor and flung it over my shoulder. “Oh please, Brandon. I live twenty minutes away and nothing bad happens in our neighbourhood.”
“Gwen.” He gave me a no-nonsense stare, but stopped putting on his second sneaker. “I think I should take you home.”
“I’m fine. Jesus, stop sounding like my parents. I’m eighteen for God’s sakes.” I pushed past him and grabbed the door handle. Turning back to him I gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “Text me later, ’kay? Love you.”
Liar, my conscience screamed at me.
“Love you too,” he grumbled, giving in and kicking his sneaker back off. “Don’t forget to text when you get home so I don’t worry.”
Opening the front door, I was greeted by a gush of cool spring night air. Closing my eyes I inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled. It felt good, freedom. Turning back I shot him the brightest smile I could muster and nodded. “Sure will. Night.”
Not waiting for a reply, I closed the door behind me. He’d be pissed and pout for a day or two, but then he’d remember graduation was only two months away and get over it. It felt like we’d been through this exact scenario a million times already.
Dismissing the thoughts of Brandon and the pressure to have sex from my mind I leisurely made my way down the street toward my house. It was such a beautiful night, the stars appeared to shine extra bright as if in competition with the full moon ahead of me. The streets were deserted and it was so quiet I could hear crickets chirping on the lawns of the houses I walked past. I loved the soft chirps of crickets; there was nothing more relaxing than sitting out on the back patio at night, reclining back in a chair with a novel – normally a crime story of some sort – and having the crickets chirping in the background.
I smiled as I continued my walk. I had a good life. A very good one. I wasn’t one of those teenagers who would bitch and whine about petty things. I appreciated everything my parents did for me. I h
ad everything that mattered, most importantly loving parents who pressured me – some might say maybe a little too much – to overachieve, but that got me an acceptance to Stanford for the fall semester so I was thankful to them. So far in my eighteen years, I had no regrets and only anticipation for what the future held for me.
A third of the way home, my tranquil state gave way to one of alarm. An uneasy feeling came over me and I increased the pace of my steps. Looking around me nothing appeared out of the ordinary; there were no cars following behind me and no lone strangers walking ahead or behind me. But I just couldn’t shake the feeling.
Continuing to quicken my pace as the feeling of foreboding increased, by the time I hit the halfway mark to home I was jogging. I was about to dismiss the feeling in my gut when a vehicle came up behind me at a speed too fast for this neighbourhood, although I didn’t think it mattered too much to the driver. Speeding would be the least of the crimes for the passengers of this vehicle tonight.
I spun around, my shoulder-length, golden hair whipping into my face and as I brushed it back, the side door of the van slid open and two masked men leaped out. I was so shocked, I found myself rooted in the spot for a second, unable to even scream for my life. But suddenly my inner terror and survival instincts took over and I kicked into flight mode. I turned back around intent on sprinting to the next house, to the first person who could save me from whatever it was that was about to happen, but I only got two steps before one of the men was on me. His arm wrapped around my waist and another hand holding a white rag covered my mouth, muffling my screams. I kicked and lashed out, my fingernails clawing at the hand covering my mouth, and I was pulled backwards.
My last conscious thought was that I should have let Brandon drive me home or maybe even put out. Despite the faults in our relationship he was always there for me. Would it have killed me to have given him my virginity?
