by Anna Collins
"Hey what's wrong?" Rick popped his head from the open kitchen of Kate's apartment. Kate was out of town with Kent so I invited Rick to stay with me for the time Kate was gone. He was a good company.
"Here, take this coffee and tell me everything" he sat beside me.
"It's all Danny's fault. He asked me to ignore Robert at the office and you know what, Robert didn’t even look at me once while I was expecting him to stare and smile at me" I tapped on the floor angrily.
"Don't worry, he told me that he has sorted out an amazing plan for tonight" Rick assured me.
"This is your amazing plan? You want me to stand at this lonely road with this flat tire and wait for him for eternity? What if he doesn’tcross this way or what if he ignores me and drives away, what if strange guys make passes on me?" I complained while making a crying face.
"How much can you talk, God! Don't you trust us? We have got everything under control, we will be right behind you keeping an eye on you and I have checked Roberts schedule he goes by this road everyday. It's a shortcut to his home" Danny explained.
"Oh, so much research hun, good job" I patted on his shoulder.
"Thanks but I am doing this for my personal benefit as well, if you become his girlfriend I can butter him up for a promotion" he winked.
"Hey guys, what's there for me?" Rick asked.
"The unadulterated and selfless satisfaction of helping Freya," said Danny and we laughed. Rick looked a bit annoyed.
"Okay guys clear up, I guess he is coming," I asked the guys to leave. They showed me a thumbs up sign and took their position.
Chapter Nineteen
Robert
It felt like thousands of black holes have formed into my mind. I agree that my mind and heart had never been the calmest place ever but there was never a conflict between them. My heart had adopted the darkness and it never even tried to persuade me to go to the light and that somehow made me stable.
Freya Lawrence, this little girl had managed to raise a storm of conflict between my heart and brain. My heart wanted me to go close to her, it wanted me to be nice to her, but my brain was advising me to push her away.
I couldn’t ignore her no matter how much I tried. Today I had to go to the Webstore office building to discuss something with the management team. And no matter how much I tried I couldn’t stop my eyes from flying back to her. Small gestures of her like when she flipped her hair or rubbed her nose, seemed very cute to me and I found my lips curling into a smile whenever I saw her.
Damn! I punched on the steering wheel of my Porshe and accelerated in a higher speed, thinking that the high speed and cold winds would give me a much-needed peace. Whom I was kidding, I never found peace in anything.
At the far end of the road, I saw a girl standing with her car. And for a second I thought that it was Freya. The girl was wearing a yellow top and jeans. Her hair was long like Freya's. Was I imagining this? I took a halt to make sure if I had turned completely mad or not. I checked out in the rear view mirror and found out that it was Freya! I cleared my eyes, but the vision stood still.
But what the hell was she doing in the middle of the road at that late hour of the night? I shook my head, my first instinct was to drive away, but then I thought that she might be in some kind of trouble. I even started the engine but then again, the dominant part of me caused me to stop the car. I so hated myself for being so vulnerable, but I couldn’t help it.
I walked to her, but she didn’t notice me, she was trying to call someone with her phone and looked much disturbed.
"Are you waiting for someone to come and molest you?" I snapped.
I used my rudeness to cover up my concern for her. Wait...why was I feeling concerned about her?
"Yes, I am. What does it have to do with you?" she pounced back with a more insulting tone that mine.
I smirked shaking my head, she was something. It was clear that she was trapped in the middle of a road and I could be the only source of help to her and she wasn’t afraid to insult me.
I looked at her car and found out at the 1st instance, that it was a case of a flat tire.
"Now don't tell me you don't even know how to change a tire" I teased.
She crooked forehead and squinted her eyes, jeez! She was mad and was looking extremely hot.
"I know, but I don't have a spare tire and the signal is so weak in this area" she flopped her face.
"What about your boyfriend? Why is he not here to your rescue? Wait...maybe he also doesn’tknow how to change a tire or did he run away?" I mocked.
"I don't have a boyfriend" she muttered.
"Have you come here to taunt and mock at me? If you want to help then go ahead and if you don't want then take the road, drive to your home and then laugh at me" she stomped in an annoyed tone.
What? So it means that day she wasn’t talking to her boyfriend. I sighed in relief and my alter ego immediately questioned me why I did that and as usual, I had no answer.
She was hugging herself, Ahh it was too cold out there.
"Fine! As you might know, my place is near so you can come and wait in there and I will ask my driver to fix your car and drive it to my place, then you can go home. It should nottake long" I suggested.
She still had that irritated expression on her face but along with that, I could also notice a hint of nervousness.
"Okay, I'm leaving then" I announced and turned back. She wasn’t responding, speak up Freya! Don't let me leave you alone in here, its not safe. Let go off your hatred for me.
"Wait, I'm coming" she yelled at my back.
I smiled, that's like a good girl.
"Where are uncle and Liam?" Freya asked looking around curiously.
I was lighting up the fireplace in the living room."Liam has gone to spend the weekend with his mother. Caroline was missing him. And uncle has gone to Chicago to sign a business deal. Any more questions, miss question bank?" I laughed.
She twisted her lips "so its just you and me?" there was a slight shiver in her tone.
"Are you scared?" I asked, scanning her from top to bottom with my eyes. I was on my knees and she was standing few feet away from me. I was feeling strange and I had no idea why.
"Why...will I be scared of you? No one can scare me" she looked away.
"Then what's with the sulking face? Don't worry you are not going to be trapped with me forever" I said.
"I'm not sulking" she protested.
"Then, may be your face is lying" I pointed out making myself comfortable on the white leather couch.
My comment got her thinking levels high.
"Relax, don't trouble your brain.Sit here, let's talk" I suggested.
"Talk? You want to talk to me?" she raised an eyebrow.
I laughed "yes, because we never really talk. We just keep doing things on the extreme level, either we rip each other's heads off or we umm...lets say get on each other in an extreme way" I winked indicating our sexy encounters.
I saw blood rushing to her cheeks after hearing that and she bit down her lower lip gently sucking on it.
I clutched the arm rest of the couch, feeling a tingling sensation within me that almost made me want to jump up and take her in my arms. Control yourself, Robert, I muttered to myself.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, and when I opened my eyes she was sitting right beside me.
She was constantly tucking her hair behind her ear and was moving her feet. The restlessness in her body language told me that she was stressed and maybe even a bit cold.
"Wait a sec," I said and went up to the guest room to fetch a blanket for her. I couldn’tbelieve myself either, that I was being so caring for a girl who felt nothing but hatred for me.
"Take this," I said.
She didn’t move, so I took charge and wrapped the blanket around her arms.
"You don't have to do all this. I'm feeling awkward" she said now biting her nails.
"Oh really, what am I doing?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Helping me, this doesn’tsuit you. Have you forgotten that you are a monster?" she teased.
Great, at least she was loosening up.
I smiled, "and being nervous doesn’tsuit you, you should always be in your blabbering mode".
"Hmm...but somehow I lose my words around you. You are so uptight and may I say mean" she said and then bit her tongue.
Her words made me chuckle "umm...what can I say? Thanks?" I spoke.
She cleared her throat "are you all right? You should be burning with anger by my comment" she spoke.
"I also think like that, something in me is changing and its because of you. What do you think about that, can you feel it? " I spoke softly, looking intensely into her shying away brown eyes.
She was breathing heavily and was swallowing hard. The dark atmosphere of the dimly lit room and my presence was affecting her.
She scooted away from me.
"Can you call the driver and check if he has fixed my car?" she said clutching the blanket close to her chest.
"No!" my voice was stern and proud.
She looked at with shock and asked "Why?"
"Because I'm not done with you. I want some answers from you" I demanded, the stern look on my face continued to exist.
"I don't owe you any answers" she replied with a challenge in her eyes. Her nervousness was gone, she was in a full fighting mood now.
"Yes, you do! Why did you kiss me at the pub that day?" I demanded.
She looked away and blabbered something which I couldn’t hear.
I held her arm and turned her around to face me, then raised her face with my index finger, I wanted to look at her eyes.
"Let me go, please, " she requested.
"No, I can't" I whispered on her face.
She closed her eyes tightly, she was so close to me that I could hear her heavy breaths "It was a bet, nothing else. You could have easily pushed me away, but why did you kiss me back? And then why did you act so cold after that? Answer me now!" she asked.
It was my turn to swallow and breathe heavily but I answered it anyhow "because I can't resist you. Whenever I see you, a part of me wants to pull you close to my chest and trap you inmy arms, but then there is a part of me which asks me to stay away from you. A part of me says that you don't deserve to be around such a dark person like me. A part of me says that I might hurt you "
The intensity in both my eyes and voice made her shiver, I knew it wasn’t the cold. It was me. She sighed deeply, but didn’t remove her eyes from me.
Her silence was killing me "Freya, don't stay numb like this, say something, please" I brought my fingers near her lips, tracing its full shape. She quivered in return.
Unable to control myself I leaned my face close to hers and placed a soft kiss beneath her lips, sucking the flesh. She sighed, her heart was beating fast and she tugged on my arm.
Slowly and very gently I started to remove the blanket from her body. First, I bared her shoulder and bit down on the strap that was holding her top, she gasped, maybe with the slight pain that my teeth were causing her. I brought the strap down to her arms, revealing the upper part of her white bra. White, the color reminded me of the first time when we were lost in each other's arms. It was so beautiful, so special, so magical.
I continued to suck her skin down to her chest, now she was humming and wiggling a bit, so I placed my left hand on the bare skin of her waist, under her linen yellow top clutching tightly on it. She gasped and leaned back to the couch, her eyes were closed now. That told me that she was liking what I was doing. My touches weren’tthe gentle thing ever but she was taking it nicely. Her response made me want to take her right away, but I didn’t want to make a rushed move.
Her hands were roaming around on my shoulder and her mouth was busy in gasping and humming.
I felt an urgent tug of need inside my heart there was no way I could stop doing whatever I was doing to her.
I had no idea what was going inside her brain, but she was trying to move away. But I wasn’t ready to let her go, not yet. I pulled her on my lap, now I was gripping at her butt with my both hands. "Ouch, " she quivered. I smiled mischievously, she shied away and buried her face on my shoulder. I could feel her smiling lightly. I kissed the back of her neck and she dig her fingers near my belt. The scent of her hair was enchanting my senses.
Freya
He was wrapped around me like an ivy. I so wanted to push him away and get the hell out of there, but a part of me was enjoying each and every touch of him on my body. Don't like it Freya, he will only give you pain like he does to himself. And the image of him, hitting himself appeared in front of my eyes and I couldn’t stop myself from screaming "No!" .
Robert moved away from me in alarm. And I quickly stood up and adjusted my top. Then grabbing my handbag from the coffee table I turned to walk, no, to run away.
"Freya! What's wrong?" he asked, reading the fear on my face.
"Sorry, I can't do this" I replied while panting and without even daring to look back at his face I ran away to the garage where thankfully his driver was waiting for me with the keys of Rick's car. "Thanks" I managed to utter with a fake smile and drove away in speed.
Chapter Twenty
Freya
After crossing the road of his mansion, I slowed down a bit, breathing heavily. God! What did I think while making this plan? There was no way I could get close to that monster, not after seeing that dreadful sight. But each of his touches felt like heaven. God! I was getting mad.
My throat went dry and I felt the need to drink some water. Damn you Rick! why didn’tyou forget to keep a bottle of water in your car? I cursed him. It was late at night so many shops weren’t open, thankfully I remembered that there was a gas station nearby.
"Seriously, you are asking $6 for a single bottle of water? do I have the word ‘stupid' written on my face? Listen, I may look classy but you have no idea how bad assy I can be! so speak up the correct price or do you want me to create a scene right here?" I leaned over the counter and threatened the shopkeeper. He was a bald-headed young guy, I had no idea why he reminded me of Brad Kent, Ah! maybe the bald head.
"Sorry mam, its only 2 dollars" he swallowed.
"What the hell? Were you demanding a triple price from me? wait I will call the police?" I warned.
"Please don't call the police, my dad owns the shop, I'm just filling in for him, so I tried to make a bit of extra money" he confessed lowering his head.
I shook my head "this is cheating, and it's not a good thing" I said in a calmer voice.
"Mam, you don't have to pay for the water and I'm sorry again" he pleaded.
I placed $2 on the counter "boy, I am paying the correct price, I like being fair" I announced and turned back to approach the car.
That was me always playing it fair and square, but there were also some evil creatures like Robert Hudson who liked to suck out the happiness from people, even for making an unintentional mistake. I so wished to teach him a lesson, so that no one would ever misuse their powers, it was for the good of humanity.
"God! why are you not helping me?" I said looking at the sky, hoping that God will somehow notice the deep frown that was constantly hanging on my face.
I unlocked the car and was about to get inside when a speedy microbus sprayed a bunch of dirt on me. "Go to hell, you idiot" I shouted clearing out the dust from my eyes to look at the number plate of the car so that I could complain to the police about the rushed driving, because there was a speed limit of below 60 on that road and clearly they were driving above 60.
On taking a closer look, I noticed that pair of hands was patting on the window glass as if the person was trying to escape. Jeez! Was that an act of kidnapping?
Unable to calm down my curious brain, I ended up in following that strange blue colored microbus.
The microbus got off the main road and halted near a bushy area. I too took halt few feet behind it, at a favorable place from where I was able to keep a
n eye on the vehicle. Due to the dense trees, I couldn’t see the face of the driver, the only thing I noticed that he was wearing brown pants and his shoes looked very shiny and expensive. Then he got behind and forcefully dragged out four people from the back seat. Three of them were male and one was female, I could say that by looking at their legs.
When the driver dragged out the people inside the bush I saw their backs. The four people's faces were covered with black masks, oh that's the reason they weren’t speaking anything. It was very dark and my only source of light was the street lamp. Then they just disappeared. I was puzzled, what the hell was going on? Should I call the police? What if it's nothing as it seemed to me. I wanted to get the full picture before calling the police so that they would notlaugh at me. I got out of my car and went near the microbus. It was empty and there were no signs of dragging or bloodshed. But...what's with the mask?
Then I looked up and I could see the roof of a building through the trees. I thought I should go and check to get the full picture and to clear out my doubts.
I reached to the building, the collapse-able gate was open so I ran upstairs to meet someone who could give me some insight about the situation. A little bit of fear was also running inside me and I was getting negative vibes about the whole thing. I reached the 1st floor. It was a store-room containing several wooden boxes and was dimly lit by a single florescent light.
Then I heard a scary voice, which shook me. I immediately regretted going there and hid behind one of the big wooden boxes clutching tightly on my handbag.
There were four men in the room and all of them were wearing black cloaks which hid their bodies from top to bottom, even their face wasn’t visible. One of them was in a chair, tied up. Then I saw an old man joining them, Oh shucks! He totally looked like Uncle Joe. No! He was Uncle Joe. But what was he doing here? He was supposed to be in Chicago. I could feel myself sweating, but I couldn’t move, I couldn’t let them notice me.