by G. K. DeRosa
“Am I keeping you?” He turned his head over his shoulder, glancing in the direction I was searching.
“I should probably go find him. I don’t want him getting into any trouble without me.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re the one that’s trouble?” he asked with a mischievous smirk.
I ignored the heat rising from my middle and finished off my last sip before answering. “Too bad you won’t get to find out.”
He grabbed my hand as I turned to leave, twirling me toward him, his eyes intent on my lips. “Give me your number before you go.”
“That sounded like a demand.” I took a step back and set my jaw.
He cleared his throat, averting his eyes to avoid contact. “I’m sorry. I just… I’d like to get to know you better.”
“Look, it’s Damian, right?” He nodded and zeroed his steely gaze in on me. “I appreciate the drink, but I already have a boyfriend, and he’s enough to handle.”
“Maybe that’s the problem.” He cracked his knuckles as he waited for a comeback.
This guy was good; I had to admit. And gorgeous. But things were bad enough with Omar right now and another guy was the last thing I needed in my life. “Goodbye, Damian. Maybe I’ll see you around.” Without giving him a chance to reply, I disappeared into the mass of grinding bodies on the dance floor.
After three circles around the club, I still couldn’t find Ricky, and somehow my thoughts kept straying to a certain steely-eyed stranger I had left at the bar. I glanced at my watch. Crap, how did it get so late? Where is he?
My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a text from Ricky. Finally.
Sorry, girl, you’re on your own. The Swede got off early, and I’m out.
“Unbelievable!” I yelled as I slammed my phone back into my pocket. I hated taking the subway back into the city alone—not because I was scared, but because the ride was so long and boring. I’d probably fall asleep and miss my stop and end up in Inwood. Another stellar start to my birthday.
Grumbling to myself about the worst best friend ever, I searched for the quickest exit. The entrance was all the way across the dance floor. Man, I do not want to get jostled against all those sweaty bodies again. I looked around. A red neon sign glowed from behind the floating DJ booth to my left. I pushed my way through and shoved the heavy metal door open.
I stepped outside. The pulsating sounds of the club still buzzed in my ears, and it took me a second to adjust to the silence of the narrow alley. I paused to orient myself and turned left toward what I thought was the way to the main street and the subway.
As I made my way through the darkened passage, a couple in a shadowy corner caught my eye. I quickly walked past them since by the sounds of it, there was some major hooking up going on. My heels clicked noisily on the cement as I sped by their hidden alcove with my head down. Please don’t notice me.
Finally past, I let out a relieved breath and slowed. Just ahead was the sign for the red number 2 line. I headed toward it.
A guttural scream echoed from the alley. I whipped my head around. Where had the couple gone? I hesitated, then I doubled back toward their murky nook, walking as silently as possible. I turned the corner. The guy was backed against the factory wall, his face contorted in an odd expression and the girl was going to town on his neck. She must have heard me and spun her auburn head my way. Her pretty little mouth was completely covered in blood. What the hell? I bit down on my lip, refusing to scream.
“Get out of here!” she hissed.
No problem. I turned and ran, cursing myself for being such a Good Samaritan and going back in the first place. As I flew around the corner like a bat out of hell, I smacked into a very hard body.
“Watch it!” I yelled without looking up.
“You’re the one that nearly knocked me over,” answered a vaguely familiar voice.
I took a step back. “Cosmo guy?”
“Damian.”
“Right.” I glanced back to make sure I wasn’t being followed by that psycho chick before turning to him once again. “Listen, there’s some crazy stuff going on back there. I swear I just saw some girl biting a guy in the alley.”
His steel gray eyes widened. “What do you mean, biting?”
“I have no idea, but there was blood. Lots of blood. Maybe it’s some sort of new kinky thing or something, but that girl freaked me out.”
He glanced to where I had pointed and furrowed his thick eyebrows. He didn’t seem fazed at all. Instead, a look of annoyance crossed his handsome face.
“Are you by yourself?” He turned back to me. “Do you need a ride home?”
A ride back to the city in a car instead of the gross subway sounded amazing, but my survival instincts were yelling at me to reconsider his proposition. I eyed him up and down and contemplated the likelihood of me being able to take the guy if things went south. He was tall, definitely six feet at least, and while he wasn’t meathead muscle-bound, his defined biceps strained through his long sleeve button-down shirt. “I’m taking the subway,” I said finally, purposely avoiding his first question about being alone.
“Where do you live?”
“Upper West side.” No need to give him specifics.
He eyed me like I was some sort of scared animal he was trying to pet for the first time. “Let me at least walk you to the subway then.”
“Okay,” I conceded. Though I would never admit it, that weird girl did have me a little frazzled. What was that anyway—an episode of The Walking Dead?
We turned toward the number 2 line, which was just a little over a block away. And there was silence. Like really awkward silence. When I thought I couldn’t take another second of it, he finally spoke.
“So what happened to your best friend?”
“He met up with some guy and sold me out.”
He arched a brow and frowned. “That’s not cool.”
I shrugged. To be honest, it happened all the time. I loved Ricky like a brother but he was a huge flirt and had more boyfriends than I could count. “No biggie.”
“Hold on a sec. I need to get something out of my car.” He paused in front of a super sporty vehicle.
I didn’t know what kind it was—Ferrari, Lamborghini? All I knew was it had to be expensive. “That’s your car?” It really annoyed me how my voice went up a notch.
“Yeah.” He walked up to it, and the door opened automatically. He bent down, grabbed something from inside and slid it into his back pocket.
Alarms went off in my head as I imagined a knife stuffed into his pants. I took a step back as he locked the car and approached me. My face must have given me away because he stopped immediately.
“What’s the matter?”
“Don’t come any closer.” I tried to keep my voice calm.
“What are you talking about?” He took a step toward me.
I shoved my hand in my purse and pulled out my pocketknife then held it out, my knuckles white from gripping it so hard. “I don’t know what you just put in your pocket, but you’re not going to get a chance to use it.”
A throaty laugh escaped Damian’s mouth as his gray eyes twinkled under the dim streetlight. “Promise you won’t stab me, and I’ll show you my cell phone.”
I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks as he slowly pulled the phone from his back pocket.
“I thought I’d try to get your number again.”
I don’t know why I did it, but I pulled a stick of gum from my purse and scribbled the phone number to Thanks-A-Latte on it. I threw it to him with a self-deprecating smile. “Thanks for the drink. Call me if you ever want to buy me another one.” Without looking back, I hurried down the steps to the subway.
I was already up making coffee when Ricky poked his head out of his makeshift bedroom. Our apartment was a true one-bedroom, but we’d put up a wall to create a second semi-enclosed area for him. I had been slamming cabinets shut and banging plates together as loudly as I could all morning.
; “Could you keep it down out here?”
“No!” I hissed back, slamming the refrigerator door for good measure.
“Okay… what has you all in a tizzy?” He stepped into the tiny living room in his boxers, his hair standing up at odd angles from the exaggerated amount of gel he’d doused himself with last night.
“I can’t believe you left me at Eclipse last night.” I jutted out my lower lip and gave him my best puppy dog eyes. Not even Ricky knew it was my birthday today, and I sure wasn’t going to tell him now. “You know how much I hate riding the subway from Brooklyn alone.”
Ricky moved into the kitchenette and threw his arm around me. “I’m sorry, babe, it was the Swede! He made me do it.”
I rolled my eyes and punched him in the shoulder. “Don’t do that again! I had the most insane night.” I took a sip of my coffee and offered him a conciliatory cup. He took it and raised a curious brow as we sat on the futon. “When I left, I saw this couple making out in an alley, which seemed normal enough, but then I heard screaming. I thought the guy was trying to rape her or something so I ran back.”
“Always the do-gooder—”
“Anyway, when I found them, the guy was backed into a corner and the psycho redhead had blood dripping out of her mouth.”
“What?” shouted Ricky as he jumped to his feet. “Are you sure you weren’t hallucinating or something?”
“No!”
“Maybe someone slipped something in your drink.” Ricky sat back down.
I shook my head. I never took my eyes off the Cosmo Damian gave me. This wasn’t my first time at a club, after all.
“That’s insane. Maybe she was on something.”
“Maybe, but I didn’t wait to find out. I ran away as fast as my stupid heels would let me.” I picked up the strappy red stilettos from the floor and showed him the damage.
“Ouch, girl. Sorry I abandoned you, and thank the Lord you made it home okay.”
“Yeah, I met this guy earlier at the bar, and he showed up right as I was high tailing it out of there.”
Ricky’s dark eyes lit up. “A guy? Do tell!”
“Don’t get all excited. It was nothing really. He offered to buy me a drink—a real drink—so I accepted.” I shrugged nonchalantly, but I could tell he didn’t buy it.
“What did he look like? Did you get his digits?”
I wasn’t going to lie to my best friend. “He was smokin’ hot with the most mesmerizing eyes. You know—tall, dark and handsome, like you.”
He leaned in further, practically jittering with excitement. “And?”
“He walked me to the subway, and that was it.”
“Ugh, you’re such a tease.” He slumped back onto the futon. “I thought you were finally going to get rid of that loser, Omar.”
“Hey!”
“I’m sorry, babe, but you know it’s true. When are you going to kick that guy to the curb?”
“He’s not that bad.” As I said the words I could hear how hollow they sounded. We’d been dating for a few months now, and I honestly couldn’t name a single thing I liked about him, yet still I kept him around.
“You only put up with him because he buys you fancy purses and takes you to the hottest restaurants and bars.”
Okay, so maybe that was it. “So what’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, except he’s a rich boy drug dealer, and you’re nothing but arm candy to him.”
I shot up from the couch and stormed into the attached kitchenette. It’s not like Ricky had the best taste in men either, and this was so not the day to piss me off. “Drop it, Ricky.”
He stood and gave me his best fatherly look. “I’m just trying to look out for you.”
I cocked a brow and crossed my arms over my chest. “Well, where were you last night, then?”
He rolled his eyes as he pranced to the kitchen sink and deposited his empty coffee cup. “You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
“Maybe—”
Before I could finish my thought, a knock at the door interrupted me. I walked over and stood on my tiptoes to glance through the peephole.
“Are you expecting a package?” I asked Ricky.
He shook his head as I unlocked the door. The FedEx guy asked if I was Aria Negrescu. When I confirmed, he handed me a thick envelope.
“What’d you get?”
“I have no idea.” I turned the envelope over to see the sender’s address. “It’s from an Oak Bluffs Community College.”
He tried to grab the envelope from me, but I held him at bay. “Where the heck is that? And why didn’t you tell me you’ve been applying to colleges?”
“I haven’t.” I hid it behind my back. “I didn’t even finish my GED yet.”
“Open it!”
I peered incredulously at the perfect white letter and just couldn’t seem to get my sweaty hands to open it. I had no idea why—it wasn’t even a college I’d ever heard of.
“Give that to me!” Ricky snatched it out of my hands and ripped it open before I could object. He scanned the first page, and his expressive eyes lit up. “Congratulations Ms. Negrescu, we are pleased to offer you a place in our freshman class in the fall—”
“What?” I shouted right before I ripped the letter out of his grasp. I ran my eyes down the thick cream-colored page in shock. “I don’t get it. How did I get into a college I never even applied to?”
“Who cares? Maybe it’s some sort of outreach program for inner city orphans.”
I punched Ricky in the shoulder for that remark because he totally deserved it. “Where is this place anyway?” I asked as I continued reading through the informational folder. “Hmm… looks like a small town in Pennsylvania.”
“Yuck.”
I sat down and glanced at all the happy-looking kids wearing polo shirts and khakis in the brochure. “I don’t know; it looks kind of quaint.”
“Says the girl who’s spent her entire life in the city.”
“Look how green it is.” I pulled him down to sit next to me and shoved the pamphlet in his face. Maybe it was the fact that it was my birthday and facing another year of the same old made me cringe, but for some reason I had to at least give it a chance. “And the campus has brick buildings, and it looks huge.”
He pushed it out of the way and stood back up. “Yeah, yeah and the sky is super blue and probably the clouds are puffy and white unlike our dark polluted ones.”
“Don’t be such a hater.”
Ricky huffed. He looked at the brochure again and cracked a smile. “It’s only a few hours away. I guess we could take a drive down there and check it out.”
I leapt out of my seat and wrapped my arms around him. “Road trip!”
Click here to continue reading Magic Bound now and stay up way past your bedtime tonight! http://amzn.to/2ocXlUp.
Author’s Note
Do you want to be the first to find out when my next book comes out? Sign up to my mailing list to get sneak peaks, and bonuses and be the first to know when it’s out!
http://eepurl.com/bqpf_r
Also by G.K. De Rosa
The Guardian Series
Wilder: The Guardian Series
Wilder Destiny
Wilder Revelation
Wilder Legacy
Wilder: The Guardian Series The Complete Collection
The Hybrid Trilogy
Magic Bound
Immortal Magic
Beyond Magic
The Vampire Prophecy
Dark Fates
Dark Divide
Dark Oblivion
The Vampire and Angel Wars
Wings & Destruction
Acknowledgments
A special thank you to my loving and supportive husband who always understood my need for escaping into a good book (or TV show!). He inspires me to try harder and push further every day. And of course my mother who is the guiding force behind everything I do and made me everything I am today. And to my father who will alwa
ys live on in my dreams.
A huge thank you to everyone that had a hand in the creation of the entire series. I could not have done it without you! To Robin Wiley, the first person to read all of the Wilder books, you’ve been Celeste’s biggest supporter from day one. I don’t think I would have gone forward if it weren’t for your constant encouragement. It means the world to me. To my dearest and oldest friend Dorothee Leiser who spent hours reviewing my first manuscript and who is always there to listen or act as a cover proofer! To my awesome friend Chelsea Ferruggia who came with me on a “research trip” to an unnamed convention and for her tireless PR efforts! A big thank you to my editor, Sarah Tyrrell, who has fully immersed herself in the Wilder world and has provided me with encouragement and fool proof editing since day one. And my incredibly talented graphic designer, Masa Licinia, for creating four beautiful book covers. Finally a special thank you to my dedicated beta readers who gave me great ideas, caught spelling errors, and were all around amazing.
Thank you to all my friends, family, former co-workers and new indie author friends who let me bounce ideas off of them and listened to my struggles as a first time author and self-publisher. I appreciate it more than you all will ever know.
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author, G.K. De Rosa has been an avid reader from a very young age. At the precocious age of two, while living in Italy, she had memorized an entire children’s book in Italian and expertly turned the pages at the exact right moments of the story. As she grew up, she always enjoyed literature, no doubt having been instilled with a love of story telling from her early years in Catholic school where she was greatly influenced by exemplary teachers who taught her the value of English and Literature. Though she did not pursue writing in college and instead went for the more traditional route of International Business inspired by her love for travel and all things foreign, after a move to New York City, she found her creative writing side calling once again. She began writing a restaurant review blog, City Lights and Tasty Bites, detailing her other passion – food! The hectic hustle and bustle of the city, combined with long commuting times gave her the opportunity to spend more time reading and rekindled a lost love. After reading countless books in many diverse genres over the two years in New York City, and returning to her home state of Florida, she felt compelled to write something for herself. She had always felt particularly drawn to Young Adult novels and having been an eternal romantic at heart, a fantasy romance was a natural choice. She currently lives in South Florida with her real life Prince Charming, their new baby and their fur baby, Nico the German shepherd.