by Alexis Leia
“I’m not going to hurt you”, he said gently and watched the boy trying to decide if he was telling the truth.
“Yeah, because not a single serial killer said that ever”, the boy’s voice dripped with sarcasm, making Chris’s mouth twitch with a smile.
“Not a serial killer, I promise. I was just wondering why you think I should stay away from Selene.”
The boy took a fighting stance and crossed his thin arms over his scrawny chest. He was still just a kid, but there was an unnatural maturity in his eyes and behind his moves.
“She doesn’t like you, I saw how she yelled at you yesterday”, the boy pointed out.
Chris nodded and felt thankful for Jackson’s silence. He didn’t want to scare off the child and make him think they were going to hurt him even more than he’d already been hurt. Because Chris knew he was hurt, knew it for a fact. And his soul bled for the boy.
“That’s true. But she’s just mad at me”, Chris said and casually walked around his car, his hands in his pockets. The boy followed his every move, but didn’t back off this time.
“Why would she be mad at you? Selene never gets mad”, the boy said, slight confusion covering his face.
“Yeah, she’s really awesome like that. But I was a jerk to her and she’s now mad. I deserve it”, Chris said and put on his repentant expression that wasn’t so fake at all. It really was the truth.
“Did she hit you?” the boy suddenly asked, making Chris’s guts twist.
“No, kid. She would never hit me, and I would never hit her. That’s just something mean people do when they are too sick and lazy to work out their problems like normal adults”, he carefully explained, hoping that that would put the kid’s mind to ease.
He was already starting to get the picture of the boy’s story and didn’t like it one bit. No child deserved to be robbed of his childhood by witnessing or experiencing violence. The boy just lowered his gaze and stared at the pavement.
“What’s your name?” Chris asked him and crouched to seem less intimidating to him.
“Why do you care?” the boy defiantly shot back.
“Well, I like to know my friends’ names”, Chris smiled lightly when the boy’s eyes widened. He gave the boy a nod of encouragement to keep him talking.
“Sam”, he murmured, barely audible.
“Nice to meet you, Sam. I’m Chris and this is Jackson over there”, Chris said and nodded his head back. Jackson kept his position behind the car, and waved at Sam with a kind smile on his face. Sam’s eyes darted between him and Jackson and he gave them a court nod.
“Don’t worry about Selene and I. We would never hurt each other”, Chris said and realized he was lying. Of course they could hurt each other, but not physically like Sam thought. Chris would never do that anyway, but he knew a person could be hurt in so many different ways. The kid didn’t need to know that.
Sam sighed heavily, turned away from them and started walking toward the park. Chris’s instincts screamed at him, telling him not to let such a young child roam the streets alone in the dark. This was Mountainview, yes, but it was still a town where crime very much existed, and just like everywhere, there was danger lurking in the dark corners.
“Hey, Sam”, Chris called out to him gently and Sam turned around.
“If you want to hang out, I’ll be at Waterfall Lake, 4 p.m. on Monday”, he said, not really knowing what he was doing, but the pull to show Sam that not all people were evil overwhelmed him. In hindsight, inviting a child to play in the park was seriously creepy, but by God, it was the only way he could think of to make sure the kid was at least safe if not happy. Because he could see Sam was deeply sad, he recognized it in his eyes.
Sam’s mouth fell open and he wordlessly ran off. Chris rubbed his face with both his hands, his gut still twisting at the strange encounter with Sam. He just hoped, wherever the kid was now, that he would be safe and treated well. And if he wasn’t... well, Chris would do everything in his power to change Sam’s situation for the better. He didn’t know why he cared so much. Mountainview people… they always had a strange effect on him.
“Way to go Mary Poppins. Invite a kid to a playdate, not creepy at all”, Jackson said sarcastically, but Chris paid no attention. He already began texting his personal private investigator in L.A., tasking him with finding everything he could about a foster kid named Sam who lived in Mountainview. He, of course, couldn’t know for a fact that Sam even was a foster kid, or if all of it was a product of his own imagination. Still, checking wouldn’t hurt, despite the limited information he had.
“But man, the kid is not well. He’s fucking sad”, Jacks continued. It takes a damaged person to know one, Chris thought to himself, fully knowing Jackson’s story; he hadn’t had a much better life than Chris himself.
“I know.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Oh, please, don’t talk so much, I can’t handle the sound of your voice”, Jacks said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Fuck off.”
“Yeah, I’ve never heard that before. C’mon, let’s get inside. The auction is about to begin”, Jackson said and started walking towards the Town Hall.
“What auction?”
“They’re fundraising for the renovation of the foster home, the main prizes being a date dinner with local women and men”, Jackson explained and grinned.
“Really? Who are the candidates?”
“Six or seven women and six men, but the main attraction is the newest mayor”, Jackson said and rubbed his hands together as if getting ready for a challenge.
“Don’t even think about it”, Chris warned him.
“Why, you ready to offer some money?”
“You can bet your balls on it.”
The auction was in full swing when they arrived, with all the guests – and there were many – gathered in front of the stage, where the remaining women stood lined up. Chris felt the gazes on his back, knowing people recognized him, and not a small number of them talked to him earlier. He didn’t mind that, but his attention was fully directed to a particular redhead at the end of the line, who stood with a short brunette, involved in a deep conversation. A cute blonde woman was in the front and the bidding started. Men and women shouted, outbidding themselves as the ex-mayor Wilson led the auction.
“One thousand dollars, going once, going twice... And sold, to the young blonde fella’ over there”, Wilson said in the manner of a true ring announcer.
“Now, our next beautiful candidate is an aspiring chef, a volunteer in our soup kitchen and an emergency interventions expert, who can fix anything from a lightbulb to a car cooler. Our one and only, Annie Wallberg!”
Catcalls and whistles were followed by a thunderous applause as the guests took in tiny Annie. Both Chris and Jackson stood in awe as they watched her smiling at the crowd. Chris in surprise to see one of the kids he shared his foster home with and Jackson in fascination.
“Three hundred dollars!” a guy in the back yelled.
“Five hundred”, Jackson shouted, surprising the hell out of Chris.
Annie’s eyes widened as she saw Jackson and Chris knew she wanted Jackson to be the winner of the auction. It was the effect his friend had on women. She walked up and down the stage, posing and sending kisses to the crowd. People saw her as an innocent little woman, but she’d always had the power of charming the crowds. The bidding lasted for a while, and the price went up to two thousand dollars. The fight was being fought between Jackson and an older, good looking man in the front. They seized each other up and then Jackson concluded the competition.
“Five thousand dollars!” It outbid the man’s three thousand. Chris raised his eyebrows at Jacks, and he simply shrugged.
“Did you see her?” he asked Chris rhetorically before Wilson went with the usual procedure.
“Going once, going twice... and sold to the black-haired guy in a leather jacket. Come and c
laim your prize.”
Jackson confidently strolled up the stage, catching every woman’s eye and lustful sigh. When he approached Annie, who barely reached his chin even in her heels, he bent in the waist and planted a gentle kiss on top of her hand. Annie swooned, and so did others, as they watched the scene unfold.
Chris grinned and shook his head at his best friend, who always had his charming way with women. Annie and Jacks stepped down the stage, hand in hand, and went over to one of the tables for a conversation and a drink. Chris’s attention was now fully directed at Selene, who stepped forward and gave the crowd such a loyal smile, it caught Chris by his soul. She waved over to Wilson, who gave her the mic.
“Before we start, I would like to say a few words. I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for throwing yesterday’s amazing bash. And thank you for voting for me in the first place. Yesterday’s celebration was so amazing, I didn’t even remember to hold a speech for you, even though I know you love your speeches”, she smiled at the crowd.
“Just as I said in the beginning, this is not my victory, it’s ours. And lastly, I want to thank you for... for raising me as one of your own”, Selene said emotionally.
Chris thought what she was saying was just a figure of speech. As a foster kid, you don’t really feel you belong to anyone in particular. Selene loved Mountainview and its people, hence her feeling of being raised by all of them. He couldn’t believe she was still fond of everyone here, which further proved how big of a heart she had. She handed over the mic and signaled for the auction to begin. She stood with her arms behind her back and her ankles crossed in front of her, a soft smile lighting up her face. She did nothing to pose or flaunt, she just had to breathe in order to charm the crowd. And the crowd was charmed, indeed. That cop started the bidding and made Chris grow incredibly competitive.
“One thousand dollars”, the cop shouted and winked at Selene, whose lips twitched in amusement.
“Two thousand”, Chris said and raised his eyebrow when Selene started visibly seething. He told her he was going to be around, didn’t he? Besides, he was only a bit above stalking to get some alone time with her, and the auction was a perfect damn opportunity.
“Three thousand”, someone else joined in.
“Five thousand”, Chris kept on going. Money meant nothing to him, and this amount wouldn’t leave a dent on his bank account. Plus, Selene deserved so much more.
“Seven thousand”, the cop again.
“Ten thousand!” Chris.
“Twelve”, the cop.
“Twenty thousand dollars!” Chris shouted and the crowd silenced. Even Selene and Wilson seemed taken aback. Selene gestured to Emmet to do something, but he shrugged and shook his head.
“Uhm... going once. Going twice! And sold to Christopher Ledford”, Wilson said, which caused a major commotion in the crowd.
There were some who hadn’t recognized him earlier and they all stared open-mouthed at their old new guest. Chris didn’t care at all; his eyes were locked with Selene’s and he teased her with a smile. However, she didn’t react, and he decided to change that. He climbed up the stage and took her hand in his. She tried to pull it out, but he wouldn’t let her. It’d been over a fucking decade since he last felt her gentle touch and he craved it. She gasped at the contact and goosebumps traveled across her skin, especially when Chris mimicked Jackson’s move and planted a kiss on her hand. He then put a hand on her lower back and led her down the stage.
People followed their every move, again witnessing the magnetic pull between the two. As soon as Wilson took the stage again, Selene moved out of Chris’s reach, and he couldn’t lie to himself – it hurt that she was backing away. He guessed his departure thirteen years ago hurt her badly, but he had hoped she got over it. However, there was something more to it. He felt it in his gut.
“Why are you backing away from me, Red?” he asked her as they stood at one of the tables in the far corner of the room.
“And why do you think you deserved to be in my proximity, Chris?” she fired back.
‘‘Are you going to say you forgot what we meant to each other?’’ he asked her, sounding like one of those butthurt women he was always trying to avoid.
“Jesus, Chris. We were kids growing up in a foster home. We were friends who split eventually. Our lives went in different paths. It’s all in the past now”, she said, visibly frustrated.
“Selene that I knew would never say that”, he said almost desperately.
“I’ve changed.”
“I haven’t.”
“I know”, Selene said wryly.
“I still go after what I want”, he told her, thinking a fair warning was better than no warning at all.
“Well, what do you want?” she asked, already on the edge.
“You. I want you.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“How dare he?! How fucking dare he barge into my life and tell me what to do? Is he a lunatic?” Selene seethed, pacing inside Emmet’s office, scaring the shit out of him when she’d stormed in and started yelling without even saying hello.
“Calm down, woman”, he said and immediately regretted it, since he firmly believed the vein on Selene’s forehead would explode as she stared at him with her mouth open and her hands on her hips.
“Calm down? You have no right to tell me that! You should’ve kept on bidding for me instead of giving up and letting the jerk win.”
“Jesus Christ, Selene, he offered twenty thousand dollars. How could I possibly compete against that? Give me a raise and then we’ll talk.”
He would’ve done anything for his best friend, but he lost that battle before it even started. Having a money contest with Chris Ledford was like having a staring contest with the Sun.
“Do I give a shit? You should’ve protected me, because I am your best damn friend, Emmet!” she shouted.
“Dude, I did you a favor! I kept the bidding going, and I should’ve gone even farther. The man is loaded, and this money will contribute greatly to the renovations. It was all a part of my carefully elaborated plan.” It wasn’t.
“It wasn’t.”
“Shit, you’re a mind reader.”
The only thing that could calm Selene when she got like that was carefully executed humor.
“Oh, c’mon, Sel. You’re a pretty expensive investment. And it was you or my new lawnmower”, he said and shrugged. Selene’s eyes widened and she plopped herself at the chair across his desk.
“You chose a grass-cutting machine over me?” she said in a dangerously calm tone.
“I’m addicted to Shop TV. Besides, did you see the weeds growing in my back yard? I swear to God, someone injects fertilizing steroids in my grass while I sleep”, he said and enjoyed when Selene’s lips twitched in an attempt to hide her amusement.
She kept her mouth shut and her arms crossed over her chest as she fought with laughter. Emmet decided to push her a little more, to keep her mind off unwanted thoughts.
“How much did you raise exactly?” he asked her.
“Forty-seven thousand”, she answered, offering him a genuine smile.
“That’s going to be enough to renovate the foster home?”
“No, but it will cover a major part of the expenses. The rest I’ll just have to draw out of the state.”
“How?”
“I have a plan”, she said and grinned slyly.
“Of course you do. What plan?”
“Can’t tell you yet, but I’m on my way to the Council meeting where I’ll propose the new project and if it gets accepted, we’ll move forward to using the state’s funds that will cover our investments.”
“Is it a top-secret project?”
“Yes, Emmet. The X-files level secret”, she said sarcastically and rolled her eyes.
“But I want to knooow”, he said in a voice of a three-year-old, earning a chuckle from Selene. For such a big twenty-seven-year-old man, he always acted like an overgrown child. If Annie was
the soul of the party, Emmet was the heart.
“And you shall, my little grasshopper, if it gets accepted.”
“You should change the town’s Council members. They’ve been around since 1865”, he said and snorted.
“I happen to like our old members.”
“Of course you do, they have great knowledge about life. After all, they all knew dinosaurs personally”, Emmet kept on joking and earning Selene’s laughter.
“Shut up”, she said through her chuckle and Emmet grinned, closing his hands in front of him and leaning his elbows on the desk.
“The fun part is, you can’t shut me up since you’re the guest in my office.”
“I’m technically your superior, of course I can.”
“Oh, God. If I had known it would be like this, I’d never have voted for you”, he groaned.
“Well, you brought it on yourself”, she said, looking much happier.
“Feeling better, sweetie?”
“Yeah, thank you”, she said and stood up to give him a firm hug.
“You’re the best friend ever”, she added and kissed him on the forehead.
“Are you going to buy me that lawnmower for being such a good friend?”
“No, but I’m going to forgive you for giving up on bidding for me.”
“And when is that dreadful dinner going to happen?” he asked her cautiously. She sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Friday night.”
“Why don’t you just refuse to go?”
“You don’t know Chris”, she said darkly, not fully explaining, but Emmet got the gist of the douche’s character through the stories she had shared.
Although she only told him once about everything that had happened, it wasn’t really a secret; the whole town knew Ledford had once been a foster kid, Selene’s protector and boyfriend. However, that story wasn’t entirely true, not according to Selene.
Chris was never her boyfriend, but he did act like one. Emmet remembered how the high school guys started noticing Selene when she got her – ahem – assets, and Ledford was the one to scare them away. Emmet was three years younger than Chris, but he still remembered the notorious teenager and his possessiveness toward Selene. The reason he remembered it so well was because he wanted to make a move on Sel back then, but he was scared shitless of Chris’s reaction.
