Blinded by You

by Terri E. Laine

  The breath that I’d been holding escaped as my own stupefaction kept me from asking for help.

  As if that air that left my lungs somehow created a breeze strong enough to reach him, he turned in my direction.

  There was a gathering storm brewing in his blue eyes as they narrowed on me and down to the tool I held in a white knuckle grip.

  His eyes rolled heavenwards as his direction course corrected towards me.

  “I know how. The nuts are tights.”

  I clamped my lips shut sounding like a complete idiot. He towered over me, reaching me in only a few powerful strides. I stared up at him like some zealous fangirl unable to speak.

  He held out his hand and glanced down at his large palm before slowing handing over the tool.

  His gaze zipped away as he bent down and easily loosened the nuts one by one with a powerful jerk. Biceps flexed and I was pretty sure I drooled a little.

  When his focus landed on me again, I was paralyzed. His silent communication went on deaf ears as I was lost in just how beautiful he was in a tragic way. It was like how my specimens stared at me with object horror that their lives had ended to be pinned to a dish to be studied.

  “Spare tire.”

  I blinked. His voice was gruff and commanded my body to move. It took a second for my brain to process the language he’d been speaking, the only one I knew. I shuffled away feeling more like a complete loser than I ever had. I shoved back at my mass of sun beached hair muttering cursing in my head.

  Had I been moving to slow, I asked myself as he moved by me so close I smelled the soap he’d used to shower with. But his skin never touched mine. I stopped in my tracks and watched as he lifted the tire from my truck like it weighted nothing.

  Then he slid by me and had the spare on before I could fully turn to watch him like I had a bowl of popcorn in my hand.

  “I’ve never seen anyone work as efficiently as a worker ant before.”

  Did I really just say that? Not that it mattered. He didn’t so much turn and acknowledge that I’d spoken.

  I pulled the hair band from my arm I used to tame my hair that begged for a flat iron. I managed to wrangle the beast into a half formed bun at the base of my neck before he stood hefting the damaged tire to my open trunk.

  The metal clanged shut and he called over to me. “Don’t drive too long on that.”

  “Thank you,” I said to his retreating from. He moved fast without running, his height giving him the advantage of lengthy strides. I muttered, “Thank you,” again more to myself.

  My phone had vibrated a few times in the minutes he’d taken to sort me out.

  “Celeste.”

  “Where are you? I’ve called a dozen times and you haven’t answered—”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I’m on my way.”

  “On your way? Seriously. I’m standing out here like an loser. I should have driven myself…”

  The shrillness of her voice had me flinching. I got in the car knowing it was better for me to be on my way than to listen to her give me hell for not being on time.

  I sat the phone in the cradle and let her get her anger off her chest hoping she would be in a better mood once I picked her up.

  When I arrived, she stood in front of the beauty spa place she frequented tapping her foot as she still berated me for being an awful sister and leaving her to wilt in the sun.

  I pulled exactly in front of her so she didn’t have to move except to barely reach out to open the car door to get in.

  “Where is your mind, Willow? I practically dripping with sweat.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Finally she took a breath. “What happened? It’s not like you. Tell me it’s a boy. I could forgive that.”

  My tongue loosened, but I stopped myself. If I told her about the nameless boy that had changed my tire, she would make it her mission to try to hook us up and only end up making the boy like her. She didn’t mean it. She hadn’t asked to be born with perfect hair, a picture perfect body that made guys weak. No, it wasn’t her fault. At the same time, I couldn’t lie.

  “My tire went flat and I had a heck of a time changing it.”

  She glared at me. “And you didn’t get some guy to help you.”

  I wasn’t helpless and I couldn’t fault her for being so. Her father doted on her like she was a princess in fact.

  “One did.”

  Her frown morphed into a blazing smile. “And?”

  I shrugged as I pulled out into traffic. “He helped and I told him thank you.”

  Though it was possible he hadn’t heard me.

  “Well, what’s his name? Is he cute? Did you get his number?” When I only shrugged, she frowned again. “You can’t not leave college a virgin. Seriously, Willow. This isn’t the 1950s. No guy is going to respect you more for saving yourself for marriage.”

  It wasn’t like I was purposefully saving myself. I dated a few guys over the years, but either they’d used me to get to her or once they met her, they forgot about me.

  “Guys aren’t interested in me,” I said half-heartedly.

  She sighed. “Willow, you’re so pretty. There are so many guys out there. You just have to stop hiding in that lab studying bugs to meet them.”

  Bugs didn’t hurt you like people did at least the dead ones, not that I killed them. I thought again about the nameless boy who hadn’t even given me a once over. My mom and Celeste could call me pretty all they wanted, but I never felt it. I was the ugly stepsister who didn’t catch the beautiful gene Mom and Celeste had.

  I wondered again what it would have been like if my father hadn’t died. I envied Celeste and my stepdads relationship. He was nice to me, but his eyes didn’t light up when he saw me like they did when he looked at her.

  “Willow.”

  I blinked and came to a stop. My mind had wandered I almost ran a red light.

  “Don’t kill us. We are going to a party tonight and I’m going to glam you up. Tonight’s your night”

  She didn’t stop there. Though I tuned her out. There was no stopping her once her mind was made up. I would be going to the party whether I liked it or not.

  Would I see that boy again? If Celeste dressed me like her a doll in clothing to short or tight, would he see me? And if he did, would I want him to like the version of me Celeste created?

  3 – Ashton

  Between two fingers, I held the glass neck of my choice of poison for the night irresponsibly memorized by the sight in front of me. Hooked on the messages my spine received focused on the truth of it.

  “Shit.”

  I glanced over at Chance, one of my former roommates, who muttered the curse staring at his girl, Brie. She had her hands in the air moving to the beat with her friend, Shelly in front of her equally engaged in a snake charmers dance. The two have caught the attention of every guy in the room, including Sawyer who had worked his way behind Shelly. I didn’t want to notice him moving like he fucks, grinding behind her ass like she’s everything he wanted and more.

  The 1952 Macallan glided over my tongue like honey coating my throat like how subconsciously he did. I was taken back to a time when he was behind me in a single moment hooked in my brain hopelessly on a loop I can’t let go.

  The rare scotch that cost upwards of five figures didn’t fill the empty spaces in me. By the time, I brought the bottle down, Shelly face was mottled with anger as Sawyer glibly walked in our direction.

  “I wouldn’t mind being in that sandwich,” he said, eyeing Chance.

  “Don’t you fucking think about it!” Chance declared with menace written in the tightness of his brows.

  Then his gaze slid my way. That was when it hit him what he said. Those times when we been the ends with some girl between us were long over.

  Time to go. I turned away from that stare I knew better than my own. His hand landed on my arm to stop me. It only took one death glare over my shoulder for his hold on me to fall away. I hated the shiver that raised t
he hairs on my arm.

  I headed the only place that offered solitude, the backyard. My new dwelling upstairs belonged to the two of us. I wouldn’t allow him to trap me there to talk. I breathe in the wood smoke coming from the fire pit and head out past the milling people to find a spot to claim and run into the girl from earlier today.

  Her back was too me, but her hair voluminous with curls in different shades of blonde was distinctive. Standing next to her is a guy that I’ve caught looking at me several times.

  His hand was on her back rubbing circles. Whatever he was saying, her head bobbed before they turned as one. My body instantly went on high alert.

  She looked nothing like the innocent girl I’d helped early. Her top dipped dangerously low and the shirt she wore wouldn’t hide a thing if she bent forward. The smile he gave me was very different from the one he’d aimed at her seconds ago. His eyes dropped to where my dick decided to make a stand.

  Her eyes on the other hand softened. “You,” she said sloppily. “Thank you.”

  She stumbled forward as if she planned to hug me. I stiffened prepared for the shock of pins and needles to spike my nerve endings with pain. The guy caught her with a smirk.

  “Let me help you with that.”

  As his eyes found my dick again, I wasn’t sure if he was referring to the girl or how hard I’d gotten.

  Confusion filled me. I wasn’t sure how to process what was going on. The only person to have created desire was lost to me. One look between them and I couldn’t look away. So many questions I had as to what I wanted in life.

  “I’m sorry,” the girl said. She wiped a hand over her mouth. “I just wanted to thank you for earlier. I’m sorry.”

  Then she looped off in a half run, half sway.

  The guys just stood there.

  “Excuse me,” I said and turned back.

  I wasn’t ready. Even subconsciously, he was there and I wasn’t yet my own person. When would the fucking feelings fade? I drifted around the side of the house and found a spot of wall to rest my back.

  The bottom of bottle found the sky as I tipped it back to swallow my pain. I longed for the burn of cheap alcohol so I could feel something other the shards of glass that made up my heart. Instead the smooth scotch had a faint citrus taste.

  A giggle caught my attention. Hidden by shadows, the couple coming through he back gate headed toward the front of the house hadn’t spotted me.

  “You think I’m pretty,” the girl said.

  “Of course.”

  I heard the lie in his voice. It wasn’t that he didn’t think she was pretty, more that I could tell he would have said whatever to fuck her.

  As they neared, I would have appreciated that they hadn’t noticed me until I saw who it was.

  It was her and she was barely walking on her own. The practically held her up. When he spotted me, his smirk grew.

  I knew him. He had a rep that made slim appealing. I wasn’t sure what made me do it, but I stood straighter and I stepped to intercept their path.

  “Ash,” Kirk said.

  I shook my head and then glanced down at her.

  His brow shot up. “Yours?”

  As a member of the same frat, I could claim one girl as mine and she would be off limits even if she didn’t know I’d marked her. In three years, I’d never claimed anyone. Sawyer had.

  “You,” the girl said when she saw me again.

  It was the purines in her smile that determined my fate. I nodded. It wasn’t like there was ever going to be a girl for me. What did it matter if I claimed her. Maybe rumors about me would stop.

  His hands jerked away, leaving her to sway on her feet.

  “Sorry,” he muttered and left her and me alone.

  “Wait,” she called after him realizing he was leaving.

  “Sorry, love.” He winked and disappeared around the side of the house.

  “Wow that was fast and he hasn’t even seen Celeste yet.”

  I frowned not sure what she was slurring about.

  Then her kaleidoscope eyes narrowed on me at the same time her lips curled into amused lines.

  “Do you know you have a beauty mark like Marilyn Monroe?”

  Before I could stop her, her fingertip landed and scorched on one of my many imperfections.

  “It’s like it was stolen from here.”

  That same finger marked the divot in my chin.

  “How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?”

  I flatten my lips hearing the lie from her lips. I was as far from beautiful as the aftermath of a wildfire on a destructive path.

  Just as I lifted my hands not sure if I was willing to grab her hand. It was bad enough the tip of her finger on my skin to have my entire hand wrapped around her wrist. But then her arms were out to balance her from falling backward.

  “Willow.”

  I glanced up to find a girl jogging to catch her friend.

  “Celeste,” Willow said with a wide grin.

  I turned away assuming she was safe now.

  “Where did he go?” I heard her ask.

  But I was left wondering why the burn of her touch was nothing like the sting of a hundred hornets I usually felt when someone skin brushed against mine. Like mothers.

  4 – Past

  “Ashton.”

  Mama wasn’t happy.

  I left the ant hill and ran with my hands in the air into the open backdoor of the house.

  “Ashton!”

  She caught my wrist.

  “Hurt.”

  She shoved me back.

  “What have you been doing?”

  She caught my ear and tugged, dragging me back outside.

  “I told you to stay clean.”

  I stumbled into the yard near where I watched the ants crawling over a hill. Then I’d stuck my hands in curious what it would feel like.

  The cold water hit me before they froze my hands. The ants were washed off me until I stood like I’d had a bath with my clothes on.

  I cried, shivering under the sun.

  “Look at your hands.”

  They were an angry red like her face.

  “Take off those wet clothes,” she commanded.

  Her mean face was back as it was most times.

  I did as told.

  “Stand there.”

  “Sorry,” I said.

  I didn’t know how long I stood out there. When she came back, my skin was dry.

  “This is an important day.”

  I nodded, not understanding what that meant.

  “You will be on your best behavior.”

  I nodded again.

  Then I was bad. I leaned into her.

  The sting across my face brought more tears.

  “Look at what you’ve done.”

  She stood. Her shirt was damp. Her mad face scared me. She marched in the house.

  When she came back, she wasn’t nice.

  The pinches hurt, but I was dressed and my hair combed.

  “Now, you will sit here and be quiet. Say nothing. Touch nothing. Do you understand.”

  I bobbed my head.

  “Say it,” she demanded.

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Good boy.”

  The man that came I’d never met before. He took my chin and inspected my face the way Mom inspected me every day for dirt.

  “What’s your name son?”

  I looked at mother to make sure it was okay to speak. She nodded.

  “Ashton.”

  His touch hadn’t hurt, but then he moved away with Mom.

  “Are you sure he’s mine?”

  Mom sounded different like he made her happy. “Of course.”

  They talked and I didn’t know what it meant.

  “I will want a test.”

  “Test all you want. He’s yours.”

  “Why tell me now?”

  “I thought I could take care of him myself, but he’s a handful. And after I heard you and your wife c
an’t have kids, I thought you should know you have a son.”

  He looked at me. I tried to smile. Maybe he would be my dad.

  “If he’s mine, I will take care of him… and you.”

  “Do you want your son to grow up here?” Her hands spread wide. “He deserves more don’t you think.”

  “Like I said, if he’s mine, he will want for nothing.”

  Then the man was gone.

  Mom came over and bent down so that her face was close to mine. She pushed at some hair that had covered my eyes.

  “Soon, we will be out of here and you will be useful to me.”

  THANK YOU

  I’d like to thank you for taking the time out of your busy life to read my novel. Above all, I hope you loved it. If you did, I would love it if you could spare just a few more minutes to leave a review on your favorite e-tailer. If you do, could you be so kind and not leave any spoilers about the story? Thanks so much!

  About the Author

  Terri E. Laine, USA Today bestselling author, left a lucrative career as a CPA to pursue her love for writing. Outside of her roles as a wife and mother of three, she’s always been a dreamer and as such became an avid reader at a young age.

  Many years later, she got a crazy idea to write a novel and set out to try to publish it. With over a dozen titles published under various pen names, the rest is history. Her journey has been a blessing, and a dream realized. She looks forward to many more memories to come.

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