Taken

by Mia Ford

  So yeah, maybe I was a bit of a project.

  Allie picked out an outfit for me - a black skirt that hugged my hips and fell just below my butt and a sheer long-sleeved red top that showed off my black bra clearly. I stared in the mirror and gawked at my reflection. Sure, I had a nice figure from having parents that scrutinized every little thing I ate, but this was showing it off a bit too much.

  “Lovely,” Allie said, beaming with pride. “What do you think, Lauren?”

  “I think that top looks better on me, but whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes. “She looks awesome though. Can't even tell she's a bookworm.”

  “Now for the hair...” Allie said, pulling my messy bun loose. My auburn waves fell over my shoulders and Allie looked impressed. “Nice. I'll just clean those waves up and that should work.”

  Lauren pulled me over and applied makeup, but wouldn't let me look in the mirror until I was done. Allie stood over her shoulder, watching and commenting as she worked. I'd never had someone apply my makeup before, so it felt weird – as weird as wearing fake eyelashes and eyeliner, both a first for me. My eyelashes felt heavy, the makeup felt thick on my face. I almost felt like a clown, like these girls were playing a joke on me, but when Lauren turned me around – I didn't recognize the girl looking back at me in the mirror.

  “What do you think?”

  “It's – or rather, I'm – beautiful,” I said softly, touching my cheek. It was powdery soft.

  My eyes were larger – almost too large for my face. The green in my hazel eyes shone brighter than before, thanks to the eyeshadow Lauren used. My lips were supple and red, but there was no sticky lip gloss in sight.

  “You like?”

  “I love it,” I said, a note of awe in my voice.

  The two girls smiled proudly behind me. “See? There's hope for her yet.”

  I wasn't sure what Allie was talking about, but it didn't matter. They rounded up the other girls, all of whom were surprised by my transformation, and we headed downtown to the Neon Dragon.

  Even though it had been months since I'd last seen Reese – and I doubt he'd remember me anyway – I had to wonder what he'd think of me now. The new me. The prettier, less nerdy me.

  I couldn't wait to run into him and see what he thought – see if he regretted missing out on this new me. As we rode in the Uber, all of us crammed together in the car, I couldn't help but wonder if that was my motivation for doing this. After everything my brother had said, all the mocking and teasing about my crush on his friend and him telling me that Reese just thought I was weird, I was going to show them once and for all.

  I was sure this wasn't what my mom had in mind when she told me to be social, but hell, I was doing exactly what she wanted me to do.

  And I'd show them all.

  ooo000ooo

  The first thing I noticed upon entering the club was that no one – and I mean no one – was sober. Most of the people around me looked stoned or high, staring off into space and dancing like they were off in their own little world – which, they probably were. Electronic music blasted through the speakers, drowning out any potential conversation you might want to have, and the place reeked like booze and vomit.

  Very glamorous indeed.

  We pushed our way through the crowds, headed to the bar. I had a wristband that was given to me at the door saying I was, indeed, twenty-one. Even though I wasn't.

  “What'll you have, beautiful?” The bartender asked. He was a good-looking guy, so to hear him call me beautiful made me blush.

  And I continued to blush as I tried to think of what to order. There weren't any menus like at restaurants and I'd never ordered a drink before, so I was at a loss. I stared, wide-eyed at the bartender and then turned to my friends who laughed at my naiveté.

  “Let's do shots!” Allie shouted. “Together, as sisters, come on!”

  She ordered the shots and the bartender – his name was Chad – poured and passed them out to us. I had no idea what I was holding, but it smelled like death. It was clear, and once Allie gave the word, I followed the lead of my sisters and drank it down. It burned my throat and for a second, I feared I might throw it all back up.

  “What the hell was that?” I asked Allie.

  “Vodka.”

  “Straight?” I said.

  “Yeah,” she smiled. “Good stuff, huh?”

  Not really – it tasted like ass, I thought to myself. I decided to take it easy from there on out, and told Chad to surprise me with something yummy. He smiled as he put together some mysterious concoction and then passed me a brightly colored drink with an umbrella poking out the top.

  “Sex on the Beach. It's a good beginner's drink,” he said with a wink. “Think of it like the training wheels of the drinking world.”

  “What do you –”

  “I can tell it's your first time,” he said with a smirk. “I can always tell when it's a girl's first time.”

  The double entendre wasn't lost on me. I thanked him and turned away, blushing, as I sipped the fruity concoction, which was actually pretty good, I was surprised to find. The girls started dancing, yanking me to the floor with them. I started dancing – or tried to at least – but I was terrible at it. While they all looked graceful and sexy grinding against one another on the dance floor, I was positive I looked like a hippo with two left feet trying to work it out on the dance floor.

  As I stood there, unsure of what to do, my eyes fell on the DJ booth. And that’s when I saw him. Reese Williams. My brother's best friend. He was working the booth, focusing on what he was doing – except when someone walked over and talked to him. A beautiful Asian girl walked over to him and handed him some cash. He handed her something in return and flashed her a smile that could melt hearts – or the panties right off some young, horny girl.

  It was all so curious to me.

  I turned to find Allie and Lauren, but found that they were gone. While I'd been busy watching Reese, I'd lost them in the crush of bodies on the dance floor. Nearing panic, I pushed toward the booth, hoping to find my friends in the process, but had no such luck. Of course, I didn't. One of my other sisters though – Ashley – was busy making out with a guy. Other than her though, I saw nobody else from my sorority.

  I kept moving though, and before I knew what I was doing, I found myself at the DJ booth. I stood there awkwardly, looking up at Reese who didn't even notice me – typical. I started to turn and walk away – the heels killing my feet – when I heard his voice behind me.

  “Need something, sexy?”

  Nah, he wasn't talking to me. I kept walking, but was stopped by a couple who'd stopped to make out – right in my path. I couldn't get around them as they were groping at each other, so I turned back around, only to find Reese staring directly at me.

  “I asked if you needed anything,” Reese asked, shouting down from the DJ booth.

  “Uhh what?” I asked, walking toward him, not sure I'd I heard him correctly. “Need something?”

  “I guess not,” he said with a smile. “I was just hoping a pretty thing like you –”

  He stopped and stared for a moment before jumping down from his spot at the DJ booth and got right up in my face. His eyes grew wide as recognition crossed his face.

  “You're Luke's sister, right? Luke McConnell?”

  “Uh yeah, my name is –”

  “Maya. Yeah, I remember,” he said. “Though I don't remember you looking' like this. Damn.”

  His gaze moved all over my body as he undressed me with his eyes.

  “Damn indeed,” he said, returning to look me in the eye. “Wanna step away for a bit?”

  “What?” I asked. “Step away? Aren't you working?”

  “Yeah, but later, I mean. Hang out for a bit.”

  “Hang out?” I felt my knees wobbling beneath me. Reese wanted to hang out with me, the nerdy, seriously uncool sister of his friend?

  “Yeah,” Reese said, scratching his chin as he smiled at me, a charming sm
ile that had won me over time and time again. He was smooth, that was for sure. “Just you and me, if you know what I mean.”

  “You and me,” I muttered.

  I only had a second to decide what to do. I could turn him down, sure, which was the right thing to do. Given the fact he was nothing but trouble and I was on my way to medical school, I knew there was no way anything could work out between us. He was a baller – into drugs and basketball and hanging out on the streets. And I was a good girl. Totally opposite worlds.

  Good girls didn't hang out with guys like him – especially when those guys don't even look twice at them until they were in a short skirt and showing off some cleavage. There was only one thing Reese wanted from me – I was inexperienced but not naive. I knew exactly what would happen if we got together.

  “Sure,” I said, feeling a smile on my own face. “That sounds nice.”

  “Yeah, that sounds real nice,” he said, stepping in just a little bit closer, close enough that I could feel his breath against my face and see those brown eyes boring into mine. “Meet me here at closing. We can head over to my place.”

  “Alright,” I said, feeling like my heart might explode in my chest. I was doing this. I was going over to Reese's house to hook up. After all that time spent mooning over him – not to mention touching myself thinking about him – this was really happening. “See you then.”

  As I turned to walk away, I felt his gaze upon me, staring at my ass as I walked. I swished it, just a bit extra for him. Giving him a little show. Of course, I nearly fell in my high heels, so I had to grab onto the nearest bar stool for support and pray he didn't see it.

  I told my friends I'd met someone – an old friend. He was an old friend – sort of. If you really stretched the definition of friendship, anyway. I told them I was going to hang out with him for a while and that they should just go on back to the house without me.

  Allie was shitfaced and had no idea what was happening. Lauren couldn't care less. She waved at me as they climbed into their Uber, but that was it. That was the last I saw of them before I headed back inside. The place was emptying out as security tried to usher the remaining people from the premises. There were a few drunk couples still getting handsy with one another and a few drunk guys that tried to get me to dance with them, but I was on a mission.

  I walked over to the DJ booth as Reese was packing up. It was late and I was tired, but there I was, walking up to Reese as we'd discussed.

  “You ready, beautiful?” he said.

  “Yeah, just one thing –”

  Reese raised an eyebrow, but waited for my response.

  “Don't tell my brother you saw me.”

  “Ah hell no,” Reese said with a laugh. “No way would I tell your brother anything. As far as he knows, I've never seen you outside the times we've been at your house together. And this Maya – this sexier version I never knew existed – will remain a secret too.”

  I smiled. “Good. My family doesn't need to know about this.”

  “Your secret is safe with me, baby,” he said.

  His voice was as smooth as chocolate and it dripped with sensuality. It was as if he knew he held me rapt in some magic spell. He probably did – or at least knew how to seduce a woman and was very good at it. There was no way I was his first.

  Reese leaned in and kissed me, as he ran his hands through my long hair. He held my face and kissed me the way I'd always wanted him to kiss me. Then his hands moved down, over my body and for a moment, I feared we might not make it back to his place.

  But Reese pulled away, leaving my mouth and my body yearning for more. I whimpered as he pulled away, my eyes wide as I stared at him, wanting him with every inch of my body.

  “We should get going,” he said.

  He took my hand in his, and together, we walked out of the club – which was pretty much empty, except for a few employees cleaning up the mess that had been left behind. No one even noticed as the two of us walked out of the club together. I was probably not the first woman Reese escorted out of the club after work. And hell, I probably wouldn't be the last. But it didn't matter. I was getting my wish. My one desire.

  ooo000ooo

  Reese lived down the street from the club, right in the heart of downtown Chicago. The part of town my parents told me to avoid, of course. But what did they know? I was a big girl now. Besides, what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them in the least.

  We walked into his building – which was situated above a liquor store, tucked away upstairs.

  “Sorry, no elevator. Old building,” he said as we started up the stairs, “But I'm only on the 2nd floor.”

  “That's fine,” I said, cursing my heels and wishing I had worn more suitable shoes. After a long night at the club, my feet were begging for sweet relief.

  We reached his apartment door on the second floor and Reese unlocked it. Apartment 207. For some reason, I'd always wondered where he lived and had sometimes imagined what it would look like. I knew he didn't live like my family did – in a nice, two story house in the suburbs – but I always wondered what his life might be like. Part of my interest in Reese was that he was so different than me. I'd never met someone like him before. All of the guys I went to school with were preppy and well-off, living in houses that resembled my own. We were all very much the same, living the same cookie cutter existences – but Reese was different.

  I think that's what caught Luke's attention too. My brother so badly wanted to be someone else, to not be the loser in a family of winners. Reese offered him that, but little did Luke know, Reese was still the better person. Because in the end, Reese could hold down a job and lived relatively well for someone on his own in the city. Unlike my brother, Reese wasn't relying on somebody else to buy his toilet paper for him.

  Reese's apartment wasn't what I expected, though. I guessed that I'd sort of figured flashy car and the expensive shoes meant he was well-off. But he lived in a studio apartment that was a little beat up and run down. There was a futon folded down into a bed already against one wall, a 52-inch flat screen tv hanging on the wall opposite the bed. And there was an Xbox hooked up beneath it. He had expensive electronics, but everything else seemed to be somewhat lacking.

  Perhaps it was less about not having the money, however, and more about where his priorities were at.

  “Want something to drink?” he asked, opening up the fridge. He pulled out a beer and offered it to me.

  “Uhh no thanks,” I said. “Just some water, please.”

  Reese reached over his head into the cabinet above the fridge and pulled out a plastic cup that said Bernie's Burgers on it. He handed it to me and I just stared at him blankly.

  “Oh, sorry, I don't have any ice or anything,” he mumbled.

  “Oh, okay.”

  I walked into the kitchen and turned on the tap, filling up the cup. My hands were shaking to the point that I was slopping water out of the cup – I just didn't exactly know why they were shaking so badly.

  “You know, maybe I'll take a beer instead,” I said, biting my lip.

  Deep down, I was hoping the beer might calm my nerves a bit – or just numb them altogether. I needed to loosen up. I came to Reese's knowing what was likely going to happen, and yet, there I was – terrified. I needed to chill out, relax a bit. Maybe a beer would do the trick, even if I hated the taste.

  “Here ya go, beautiful,” he said, handing me the beer.

  I put the cup in the sink, and Reese took my hand again, this time leading me into the room that served as his living room and bedroom. He smiled at me – that boyish smile that often caused me to go weak in the knees.

  He gave me an enigmatic, but still somehow salacious smiled. “Come over here, sexy.”

  Not like I was going anywhere. Not now, anyway. I followed him over to his futon, which was actually really comfortable once we sat down upon it. It was softer and fluffier than I imagined it to be. And the view from his bed was of the city street – which was aliv
e and full of people and cars. Even at that hour. It was nice, actually. Not what I was used to, but it was nice.

  The shaking in my hands stopped long enough for me to take a drink from the bottle of beer. I tried very hard to hide my disgust as I swallowed the beer down. Reese laughed and took the bottle from my hands.

  “Not your cup of tea, huh, baby?”

  “Not really,” I said, trying not to blush.

  “That's fine,” he said. His hand moved from my hand, up my arm and he started stroking my shoulder as he leaned forward, his delicious lips inches from my own. “We don't need to do much drinking anyway.”

  His hand grabbed the back of my head and pulled me into him. He kissed me long and hard. It was dizzying and full of passion. His tongue danced with mine, sending me my head spinning. This wasn't real. I wasn't actually about to have sex with a man I'd fantasized about for so long – was I? It was all a dream. Had to be. Just another fantasy, right?

  Except, in my fantasies, we were never in a crappy studio apartment on a futon. We were somewhere more romantic, somewhere more luxurious than that. No, the fact that we were in that crappy studio, on that futon meant it had to be real. And the realness of the moment hit me hard, making me pull away, just to gasp for air and get my bearings again.

  “What's wrong?” Reese asked, staring deep into my eyes. “You okay?”

  “Nothing,” I muttered. “I'm just – well –”

  I wasn't sure if telling him I was a virgin would be a good or a bad thing. I mean, I didn't want to scare him off. But if we did end up having sex, he was going to find out.

  So, I lied, kind of. Split the truth down the middle. “I'm just not very experienced, that's all.”

  Reese pushed my hair back from my face and smiled at me, his dark eyes taking me in like I was the most delicious feast a hungry man had ever sat down to. I could get lost in those eyes – something I always did when I was a stupid girl back home. It often led to awkward moments where I just stared at him, unable to articulate anything at all. But there, in that moment, I could stare all I wanted and it was delightful.