by C. R. Jane
Clicking through some other images, I stopped. In
this picture he was with two other men. Both had the same otherworldly beauty and it was beyond my comprehension how there could be three men that looked like that in the world.
Standing beside Damon with his head thrown back laughing, was a man around the same height. He had longer dark brown hair that was pulled back in a bun. He was tan with the most piercing blue eyes that I had ever seen. They were the color of sapphires. Like Damon, he also had lush black eyelashes that would be the envy of any girl, and the yummiest kissable lips. I could see a tattoo peeking out the top of his shirt. It almost looked like some sort of wing. He was wearing layers of necklaces and rings on almost all of his fingers and there was a piercing in one of his eyebrows. He was stunning.
The man smiling next to him in the picture looked like a prince out of a fairy tale. He had tousled golden hair that was sun streaked, and eyes the color of a picture I had seen of the Caribbean Ocean. He was also tan, but whereas the man next to him was wearing a vest and ripped jeans, the golden god was wearing a fitted tuxedo that looked like it had been made for him. All three would render anyone awestruck. Looking at the caption of the picture it listed the brunette’s name as Mason Shaw, and the golden god’s name as Beckham Stone. I could have spent hours looking at pictures of them, but I had suddenly noticed how late it had gotten. I only had forty-five minutes to prepare for my shift and get over to Moxie. I reluctantly clicked out of the browser and hurried back to my dorm to get ready.
Chapter 12
The manager I had spoken to at Moxie, David, had told me they would provide me with a uniform. I was grateful for that as I had so little clothing I was sure I wouldn’t have what they wanted me to wear. Hurrying into Moxie five minutes before my shift was to start, David was waiting by the door, looking as if he had been looking out the window for someone. “You’re here,” he exclaimed, looking strangely relieved. “Of course I am,” I replied. “I’m so grateful for this opportunity, I wouldn’t miss it.” He hurried me along to the back of the restaurant, handing me a stack of clothes along the way. “I’m going to have you helping with the front tables tonight with Henry,” he stated. “Change into these, I just guessed your size.” I thanked him and went to change. The uniform consisted of a sleeveless black pencil dress with a white apron. I felt silly wearing it, since it resembled a French maid costume I had seen in books, but I wasn’t in a position to argue. I had worn my black flats thankfully. The uniform would look better in heels but the flats would be more comfortable while I was working. I exited the changing room and headed to where David was waiting for me.
David stood there staring at me, and then shook his head a little before motioning for me to follow him. Walking behind him he led me to a table where a thin, mousy looking boy around my age was waiting. “This is Henry,” David explained. Henry looked nervous. He had thick black hair that fell across his face and he was wearing horn rimmed glasses. “Henry is one of our best servers and will have you trained in no time,” he explained. Pulling me aside, David continued, “Now I want you to let me know if you have any trouble, ok. I want you to have the best possible experience here.” His hand lingered on my shoulder for longer than I was comfortable with, and after a minute David seemed to realize that he had been massaging my shoulder. Reddening, he excused himself
and hurried away, shooting me a look behind him as he walked.
“Thank you so much for your help Henry,” I said. He stayed looking at the ground as he mumbled, “It’s no problem. I’m sure people will love you.” Henry refused to make eye contact with me for the next hour but showed me how to use the register, where the trays and drink machines were, and the proper way to set down drinks and plates on the table. We also went over the menu and specials. I hadn’t heard of half of the dishes as Moxie specialized in French cuisine, but Henry was very patient with me until I could pronounce everything correctly. There was a lot more that I needed to learn but it was a good start for my first shift. People started to arrive at 6. I could see limos, sports cars, and other fancy looking vehicles pulling up and letting their passengers out. Women adorned in jewels, and men dressed up in their best suits walked into the doors and were seated. It continued to get more crowded until there were tons of people waiting to get seats.
Serving was fun. Henry was sweet to work with and was patient with me as we went along. The people were interesting. I noticed that many of the women gave me horrible looks. We kept getting called back to tables for inconsequential things, almost like they just wanted to chat with us. I tried to stay in the background and let Henry do the talking, but I was inevitably pulled into every conversation. I began to get embarrassed as I realized the men were all flirting with me, right in front of their dates. Henry began to get a smile on his face as he picked up the bills after the guests had left. There were stacks of bills on the tables along with phone numbers. I couldn’t stop blushing but was awestruck at the tips. I had never seen so much cash.
I would be able to get new sheets and some things for my dorm room right away. David came over after we had been working awhile and asked if there was any way we could get our tables out faster. “We have a wait an hour long
of people requesting you two as servers,” he said anxiously
staring at me. Henry chuckled at this. “You do mean requesting her right?” he said, finally looking at me for the first time in the face. David smiled but didn’t reply. “Just try to move your tables out faster alright,” he said, hurrying away when the sound of glass breaking echoed through the restaurant. “You have no idea do you?” Henry stated with a small smile. “What do you mean?” I asked. He shook his head at me without saying anything else and walked to a table that was waving at us.
The next two hours flew by as we finished up. I was tired, but felt exhilarated. Henry handed me a stack of bills. “I feel like everything should go to you, “he laughed, “but I’m going to be selfish and keep half.” “Your crazy, you did most of the work,” I replied. I didn’t count the money in front of him. I didn’t want him to see how desperate I was for it. “When do you work next,” he asked. “I have two more days of training starting tomorrow and then I’m off for a few days before I start on my own,” I replied. “Hopefully I get to train you tomorrow as well,” he said. I was grateful that he had warmed up to me as the night went on. Maybe we could become friends. Waving goodbye and slipping out before David could corner me for the hundredth time to talk about nothing, I stepped out into the night. Moxie and the college was in a good area so I didn’t think I should be worried walking back to campus alone despite the fact that it was so late. The street was still bustling despite the late hour. I got the sensation once again of eyes staring at me but when I looked around I didn’t see anyone in particular paying attention to me. Shivering, I hurried back to campus. After I arrived back in my room I eagerly counted my money. $700. I couldn’t believe it. I squealed loudly and did a dance. Tomorrow I was going shopping.
Chapter 13
I had been in my new home for three days now and orientation was set to start tomorrow. I had eaten breakfast with Eric both mornings at his request. He was an interesting and witty companion, and I had enjoyed the places he had chosen to take me to. Inevitably he would want to do more, and the first day I had felt obligated to at least spend another hour with him walking around campus before making my excuses to leave. I had purchased a bed set for my room along with a new lamp, some workout clothes, and a few more tops. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world with my new things. My comforter was white and I had gotten an assortment of colorful pillows in pastel colors to further brighten it up. Eric had shown up to Moxie the second night I worked with two of his football teammates. His first companion, Jared, was huge, at least 6’5, with a belly that resembled Santa Clause. He was an offensive lineman and kept me laughing the whole time Henry and I served the table with his outrageous over the top flirting and one-liners. Derek, Eric’s
other teammate, was quiet and watchful. He had sandy blonde hair and dark, almost black eyes. He didn’t contribute much but seemed to watch me closely. Eric seemed unhappy with the attention I got from other tables and from his teammates and rushed through dinner, leaving after I promised him I would eat breakfast with him the following day as well. Henry and I again received tons of tips, and Henry continued to relax around me, even joking around some.
It was finally the first day of orientation and I was elated. That morning, Eric had been waiting outside of my dorm again to take me to breakfast after which I had gone to the first introductory session. Hearing about all of the classes and activities I could participate in had me so excited. I had no idea what I wanted to study. I was interested in so many things. One good thing about home schooling was that it
gave me a lot of freedom to study things that were interesting to me instead of having to focus on strict guidelines like a normal school. I didn’t know how I would possibly decide what to major in now that I had to choose. I was walking along the green looking at the course guide when I heard a shout. Looking around, a football appeared out of nowhere, hitting me in my forehead, and knocking me down to the ground. A crowd had gathered around me as I sat up and rubbed my head, trying to shake myself out of my stupor. “Eva!” I heard a familiar voice. Glancing up I saw Eric rushing towards me. “I’m fine,” I stated softly, beginning to get a headache. Suddenly, a deep voice that I didn’t recognize, but that gave me chills (the good kind), caught my attention. I turned around to look for the source of the voice. The face that I had obsessed with for months filled my vision. It was Damon Pierce.
Chapter 14
(Damon)
After the Selena incident I had stayed holed up for a few days in my penthouse, not venturing out unless I had a modeling shoot or football practice. I had finally decided to go socialize and throw the football with some of my teammates on the green after their text messages wouldn’t stop. The weather was still warm and it was the perfect day to be outside. I was tossing the football with Eric, an asshole on my team who thought that his daddy’s money meant he was better than everyone else. He was the best wide receiver on the team however so I tried to play nice. Eric was bragging about a girl per usual as we went back and forth. “I’m telling you, she’s the hottest girl I’ve ever seen,” he boasted.
His voice lowered as he continued. “I can’t think around her, and I can’t think of anything but her since I met her.” For once he seemed almost serious. Eric was as much of an asshole as I was to women and his sudden devotion to this girl was dubious at best. “How come I haven’t seen this girl around?” I said with a cocky grin designed to piss him off. “She’s new Damon, and I’ve already called dibs so back the hell off,” he stated, trying to act nonchalant but definitely getting riled up. I smirked, not responding. He knew that if I set my eyes on a girl he had no chance. Suddenly something caught his attention, and the football went soaring over my head. “Nice throw” I called out, wondering what could have distracted him that badly. I turned around when I heard a soft “Umph”, and noticed a girl had fallen to the ground with the football by her.
Yikes, I muttered to myself and jogged over. I noticed that a bunch of guys were jogging ahead of me. This was weird because there were tons of hot girls at Rothmore. With the exception of Selena, one girl doesn’t usually get that much
attention because there are plenty to go around. I heard Eric call out “Eva” as I got closer to the girl. This must be the girl he was talking about. Pushing through the small crowd that had gathered I looked down and started to ask if she was alright…and promptly lost my breath and any train of thought. It was her, the goddess that had been haunting my dreams for the last few months. Her blonde hair was streaked with gold, falling almost to her waist. Her skin was alabaster and perfect. I could tell she wasn’t wearing any makeup, yet even with my advanced vision I couldn’t see a single imperfection on her face. She was now staring at me, and I could see her eye color was also otherwordly. It was a blue-ish purple color that was almost the color of an amethyst. She had long black eyelashes, a perfect nose, and full pink lips that were just begging to be touched. Strangely, she also seemed to have a slight gold glow about her. I wondered if others noticed it? I had never seen another creature on the earth as exquisite, and I was positive that whatever she was, she wasn’t human. I had to have her.
Chapter 15
(Eva)
Finally seeing Damon Pierce in person had made me lose my breath. He was even more striking than in the pictures. He was staring at me intensely and I could feel my cheeks flushing. It should be a sin for someone to exist that was that good looking. Suddenly, I looked away. Damon Pierce would not be good for me. All my life I had been used and abused by both men and women. Someone like Damon was bound to hurt me more than all the others because I could tell I would care more. I needed to stay as far away from him as possible. I turned back around to face Eric and allowed him to help me stand up. The crowd was still gathered around me and I immediately felt embarrassed to have fallen to the ground in front of them when I noticed how large it had gotten. Eric smoothed my hair behind my ear. “Are you okay? I don’t know how I lost control of the ball like that,” he said worriedly. “I’m fine,” I replied with a small smile. “I just wasn’t paying attention.” I could feel Damon’s piercing stare on my back. Eric looked up at something over my shoulder, and then put his arm possessively around me. “Let’s get out of here,” he said. “Why don’t I take you to the movies?” I really didn’t want to go to the movies with Eric, but I hadn’t actually ever been to the theatres, and I wanted to get away from the intensity of Damon so I agreed to go.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?” said the same smooth and deep voice I had heard earlier. Eric looked annoyed. “Of course,” he said reluctantly. “Eva, this is Damon, our team captain. Damon, this is Eva.” I hesitantly turned around. He had reached out a hand to me. I held out my hand. “It’s nice to meet you.” I said. Like Eric had done, Damon brought my hand to his mouth and kissed it softly. But while Eric’s touch had made me uncomfortable, Damon’s
touch had the opposite effect. I felt actual sparks go up my arm from where he had kissed me. I looked at Damon surprised and wondering if he had felt anything. His eyes had gotten wider, but other than that he showed no sign that he was affected. “It’s a pleasure Eva,” he replied. “I’m sorry that this idiot decided he couldn’t throw the ball today. But I’m not sorry that it led me to meeting you,” he said with a wink. I slowly pulled my hand away and backed up a step towards Eric. I smiled and turned to go. Once again he stopped me from leaving by speaking once again. “What movie are you going to?” Eric stopped walking and turned around. “Not sure yet but we have to go if we are going to fit it in before practice,” he said, sounding annoyed. “Why don’t the rest of us come along?” Damon asked, looking amused. He obviously could tell that the last thing Eric would want was for him to come along with us. The group of guys who had been crowded around where I fell, looked liked they also played some kind of sport as they were all huge and looked to be in good shape, all came closer, looking like they wanted to come with us. Eric had no choice but to agree. He kept his arm around me possessively as we walked and I had to gently pry myself away from him. Although I wanted Damon to stay away from me, I didn’t want to give the impression to anyone that I was anything other than friends with Eric.
Even though I felt self conscious being surrounded by the enormous men around me, I couldn’t help but be eager when we got to the theatre. The air smelled like butter and I headed to the counter to get some popcorn while the others decided what movie we were going to. They had tried to ask my opinion, but I had told them that I would be happy to see anything. I didn’t explain that I had never been to the theater, or that I hadn’t seen a movie in several years. I felt socially awkward enough without pointing out things like that. I felt a tingling presence behind me in line and knew Damon had
followed. “What do you want to get,” he asked silkily. “The biggest tub of popcorn they sell,” I replied with a laugh.
“A girl after my own heart,” he said smiling. “Do you want a soda too.” He asked as we stepped up to the counter. The poor employee at the concession counter didn’t know what had hit her. When Damon smiled at her she almost appeared to faint. I couldn’t blame her. Him smiling was like getting everything you had ever wished for in life. It turned his stunning face into something even more godlike. I felt myself swoon. “Could we please have your XL tub of popcorn, extra butter, two cokes, and…What candy do you want?” he asked me. “I can pay for myself,” I said shyly. “What candy do you want?” he asked, ignoring my comment. “Sour patch kids,” I said giggling. I had actually giggled. “Get a grip on yourself,“ I mentally chastised myself.
Once the concession girl had recovered enough to gather our food and ask for Damon’s autograph, the rest of the guys showed up. Eric looked angry. “Eva, why didn’t you wait for me? I would have bought you whatever you wanted,” he said belligerently. Damon stepped protectively in front of me. “Relax man, I paid for her,” he told Eric. Trying to defuse the tension I stepped from around Damon. “What movie did everyone pick?” I asked with a smile. Eric grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. “We got tickets for Captain America,” another guy answered. I once again pulled myself from Eric’s grip and walked towards the ticket stand. “How much do I owe you,” I asked. A chorus of voices answered that I didn’t owe anything. I tried to smile sweetly at them and walked into the theater.
