by CJ Adler
I back out of his grip and begin to walk after Melinda, ready to give her a piece of my fist, but Mason tugs me back again and it just so happens to be on my injured wrist. I hiss in pain and flinch, cradling my arm against my body protectively.
“Don't be such a baby. I barely touched you!” he snaps at me. He grabs my wrist again, more gently this time, after putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
“What happened? Did someone hurt—”
“It's nothing,” I cut him off, sobering up. “I'm fine.”
It's obvious he doesn't believe me because he makes a move to lift up my sleeve. Caught off guard, he succeeds and holds my wrist to his face. Thankfully, he can't see anything in the dim room.
I let out a sigh of relief, but it's in vain because he begins dragging me after him into the brightly lit kitchen. He takes a look without my consent. His mouth is agape and his eyes widen when he notices my fresh wound and the fading scars.
I inhale a sharp breath and turn my face away from him, unable to look at him in the eye.
“Aqueela,” he begins slowly, “what the hell is going on? Who did this to you?”
I pull my wrist forcefully out of his grip and turn my entire body away from him, completely humiliated. “Why do you care? You used to hurt me all the time.”
“Yeah,” he admits, “but not to this extent. Does Bell know about this?”
I shake my head. “No, and I intend on keeping it that way.”
“Would you at least face me?”
I shake my head at his request.
He places his hands on my shoulders and forces me to turn around. “I just need to know who did this to you. Please,” he whispers, almost desperately, and I'm taken aback by the concern laced in his voice.
I finally open my eyes to look at him, only to see true concern. I sigh as I confide in him. “My stepmother.”
“You're kidding, right? You can't be serious. How have you made it for so long? You live with the woman and you never complain or think to say anything? You are always smiling. That's all a front?” He bombards me with questions arising out of his own state of shock.
I'm about to reply when Bell drops in to save me from her over-protective, mindless boyfriend. “There you two are! I've been searching for you guys everywhere.” She notices our sour expressions. “Is everything okay?”
He will tell Bells. He always tells her everything.
Mason glances at me from the corner of his eye. I send him a pleading expression. He sighs. “Yup. Your friend is just annoying me again. Nothing new.”
I send him a grateful smile to which he rolls his eyes and mouths that our discussion is far from over.
“I almost thought that you two were getting along for a second. My wish never comes true,” Bell replies with a sad yet hopeful smile.
“Far from it,” I answer bluntly. “Anyway, I should be going.”
“No, stay,” Mason insists, his way of telling me that we need to discuss this openly with Bells and include her, except, it isn't his decision to make.
“No, I think I will go.” I feign a smile at him and then glare at him when Bells looks away.
“I insist, stay,” he says through clenched teeth.
“No.” I shake my head. “I really should go. In fact, I insist on leaving,” I say in a clipped tone.
“I insist that you stay put and I insist that you don't freaken insist on moving.”
“I insist that you shut your face!”
“I insist that you get a face!”
“I am insisting leaving insisting!” I yell at him. Before he can stop me, I'm already grabbing a bottle of alcohol and leaving the party. “Adios muchachos!” I call over my shoulder carelessly.
I walk down the driveway past a group of delinquents.
“Hey, Aqueela, want some tequila?” one of them asks me.
I roll my eyes at his dry joke. “Ha-ha. Oh, stop, you're making my sides hurt,” I retort sarcastically. Idiots.
His friends laugh at his expense. I don't stay around long enough to care. I keep walking until I finally decide to just sit on the curb. I raise my head and glance up at the sky filled with stars. I breathe in the sweet air and grin to myself, relishing in the silence.
I jump up in anticipation when I see him, by chance, strolling past me as if on a mission of his own. Overly eager, I end up falling down again. It doesn't stop me from calling out to him with the name he specifically ordered me not to call him by. “JT!”
“Klutz? That you?” He turns to find me on the floor looking up at him with an enthusiastic grin.
“Exqueeze me?” I ask all too quickly, slurring slightly. “I mean, excuse me?”
I correct myself and then clap in pride at my achievement.
He takes a seat beside me, inspecting me carefully. “You are wasted.”
“And you are correct.” I smile sheepishly.
He shakes his head, surveying the lonesome area. “Do you need a ride home or something? These streets aren't safe.”
I shake my head, not looking at him. “Why? So you can find out where I live and thus plot my murder?”
He moves so he is kneeling before me, facing me directly. “I'm not joking. You're a pretty girl on your own out here at night. It's not smart.”
I stubbornly shake my head. “Nuh-uh.”
Not taking 'no' for an answer, he grabs my forearm and hauls me up with him. “C'mon,” he orders as he drags me along behind him until we reach a red Gallardo.
He unlocks the car door and then gets in, not bothering to open the passenger door for me like a gentleman would, not that I expected him to. I'm starting to get used to his rude ways.
“Oh, please, by all means, take your damn time,” he retorts sarcastically, opening the passenger door for me from inside before leaning his head against the steering wheel, impatiently waiting for me to get in.
I roll my eyes at him and climb in slowly for emphasis. “Sweet ride, JT. How did you land a car like this?” I ask, gazing around, feeling up the comfy leather seats.
He grins, choosing to be vague. “What can I say? I'm a guy of many talents.”
“Yeah, apparently so,” I mutter beneath my breath.
It doesn't take me long to notice that Jay prefers not to follow the law. He likes to go over the speed limit. I quickly buckle myself in before I die. “You're awfully rebellious, aren't ya?”
“You haven't seen anything yet,” he says seriously, glancing my way and not focusing on the road as he should be doing.
“Keep your eyes on the road, mister,” I order, afraid of being in another accident.
He doesn't listen and merely pushes me a step further as he removes both hands from the wheel with a taunting grin.
Don't get me wrong, I love speed, but it has to go hand-in-hand with safety. Jay Taylor doesn't exactly scream safety to me. He's reckless.
I glare at him and then glance back at the road, only to see an oncoming car. “Jay!” I shout, fear washing over me.
Jay, at ease, grins victoriously and swerves past the other car without looking at the road. “Calm down. I'm not a klutz like you. I only screw up when I want to,” he says, his eyes straying back to the road ahead of him.
What is that supposed to mean?
“H-how did you do that?” I question in shock, my heart racing faster than what we are driving—which is very fast, by the way.
“You wanted to know how I landed this car, well, now you know,” he says quietly.
“I know nothing,” I state, annoyed at him for beating around the bush. “True that.” He chuckles to himself.
“Just tell me already!” I raise my voice in exasperation.
“I'm a street racer. I race for pink slips.” I give him a befuddled expression to which he rolls his eyes at my confusion and clarifies. “Cars. I race for cars.”
How am I supposed to know what pink slips are? The only pink slips I get are detention slips.
I play it cool. “Totally knew tha
t.”
“Yeah, I bet you did,” he says sarcastically, humoring me.
I watch him carefully as he stops the car on the side of the road. I gaze at him curiously. I barely know him and, for some reason beyond me, I got into his car. Now he's stopping said car on a lonely road.
Fudge nuggets!
Once the car has stopped, he turns in his seat to face me. Before he can say anything, I speak right over him, “You're not going to lock me in the car with you, right?”
He cocks his head, a small grin on his face. “And why would I do that? You have any ideas?” he asks suggestively.
My eyes widen at this. “Who? Me?” I begin to shake my head. “No! Pshaw, no! I never have ideas. I'm dumb, so mind-numbingly dumb, but not that dumb so as to take advantage of me. I'm smarter than that but still really dumb.”
If he feels threatened, he'll kill me, and believe me, I know how threatening I tend to be. I'm a very threatening person.
He blinks slowly with those dark eyelashes of his. “Thank you for pointing out the obvious but do you really think I would try something?”
I talk on impulse.“Well, would you?”
His facial expression turns to stone, and his eyes harden at my question as if taking offense to it. “I'm not into you like that.”
“Phew! What a relief! Thank goodness!” I exclaim, taking no offense, much to Jay's initial surprise. He was anticipating an entirely different reaction from me.
“Take it personally, we have no chemistry,” he points out.
“Your face has no chemistry,” I retort back lamely, now on the defense.
“Not with yours it doesn't,” he says smoothly, unfazed. “Where do you live? I can't drop you off if I don't know where you live. That's why I stopped the car, genius.”
I panic at his question. “No! Uhm, just drop me off here. I can walk the rest of the way, that's if you first tell me where 'here' is.”
He sighs. “Just tell me. Don't be difficult.” He leans over his seat and toward me with a frown etched onto his lips. “Why won't you say?” he asks calculatingly, almost as if reading into my expression.
“Why won't you shut it?” I narrow my gaze at him, hoping to intimidate him.
He gives me an accusing stare, in turn. “Where do you stay?” He repeats firmly, refusing to let up on this.
I sigh as I look up into his electric blue eyes, the hue of blue depicting his mood. “I can't go home right now, Jay. Okay? So, please just take me anywhere else. Please,” I beg, not wanting to be in her presence again.
Thankfully, Jay is different from most. He doesn't bother to question my motives. He shrugs in obedience before starting the car and driving off in the opposite direction of home, and in a better direction altogether—away.
Chapter 8
Ditto
When bored, I tend to become extra loud and extra talkative—devoid of control.
“So, when the ice cream washed off, I told Bells that we should shrink your jacket and dye it pink, but then you stood me up. I was a tad bit offended, but that's when my intrigue for you arose. I wanted to get to know you. Speaking of colors, my favorite is blue, like your eyes. Maggot told me that I'm too attached to you. I guess it's because you're different from everybody else and you spark the curiosity within me, but you know what they say about curiosity killing the rhinos etcetera. Speaking of Mason, what happened with you guys? So much tension. He's like a fragile baby when you're around. Speaking of babies, I don't want any, ever. They're so noisy and dirty, almost as terrifying as old people, and—”
I stop talking abruptly when Jay takes one hand off of the wheel to poke me in the side, making me squirm on the spot. “Do you ever shut up?” he questions, distracted.
I flinch back into the car door and away from his hands probing at my ribs. “Jeez, dude, at least take me on a date and buy me an island first before getting so touchy-feely,” I reprimand him.
“I'm just looking for an off button on you,” he replies and removes his hand from my ribs. “A stop button.”
“Well, you'll never find one 'cause it broke a long time ago,” I reply in a sing-song voice, pumped up after that party.
“Clearly,” he says flatly. “Is there at least a pause button?”
I shake my head. “Nope.” I grin. “But there is a rewind button if you're interested?”
“Hell no. What about a fast forward button?” he asks, focused on the empty road—expected at this ungodly hour of the morning. It's 1 a.m.
“Doubtful.” I irritate him further. “There's a replay button,” I add teasingly.
I wait for his reply but it never comes and I know exactly why—he has given up.
He parks the car in nowhere particular and gets out without so much as an explanation as to why we stopped near a gloomy forest.
He really is going to kill me. I've done it now. I've pushed him too far.
I sit still in the car, unmoving. If I'm to die then I'll rather die here in this comfortable Gallardo than outside there in the cold. Bonus, that way he'll have to drag my body into the woods. I'll be annoying him even when I'm dead, now that takes skill.
A loud knock on the car window jolts me upright. Jay's annoyed expression comes into view as he motions for me to get out the car. I begin to panic and reach forward to lock the car from inside out with the central locking system.
He sees what I've done and sends me a cold glare before he takes his car keys out his front pocket and unlocks the car. I quickly press the lock button yet again. Jay presses the unlock button on his keys, and so it continues back and forth until he loses his patience. He finally grabs the door handle and swiftly yanks it open before I have time to lock the car.
I scream in terror as he reaches for me. On instinct, I ram my fist straight into his nose.
When the blood begins to pour from his nose, my actions hit me. I just punched Jay Taylor in the face...and maybe broke his nose. I could have killed him, maybe. I'm a very powerful being.
However, despite my force and brute strength that could possibly kill a man, Jay does not flinch or react at all. He simply gives me a look before reaching up to his nose and wiping some of the blood away with his thumb.
“Oopsie.” I wince apologetically when he narrows his eyes at me in accusation.
He merely shakes his head at me, unfazed. He leans back against his car, tilting his head forward ever so slightly, applying pressure just below the bony part of his nose in order to stop the bleeding.
Judging by the way he handles himself, I'd say that he's been punched in the face more than once.
The guilt sinks in soon after my act of crime. I climb out the car and go to stand beside him. “I am so sorry, but that was an act of self-defense, heroism…whatever you want to call it. I wasn't thinking.”
“I'm beginning to doubt that you ever think. If you did, then your thinking patterns need to be analyzed immediately for the sake of all life. Humanity doesn't stand a chance against an outsider like you.” He grins, loosening up.
I roll my eyes, taking in the blood stains on his white v-neck. Jay slaps my hand away from his face when I attempt to help. “You annoy me,” he comments.
“Ditto,” I agree and wink at him. “Guess we do have chemistry after all.”
He scoffs loudly at this, disagreeing.
I reach up to hit him, but his hand unexpectedly catches my uninjured wrist in mid-air. He tugs me forward. I lose my footing and collide into him. I curse him beneath my breath before scowling up at him, ready to give him a lecture on personal space. However, when I find those electric blue eyes already staring down at me, I find myself at a sudden loss for words.
His eyes, blue with a twinkle of silver, paints a picture of lightning flashing through the sky.
“What?” he asks at seeing my dumbfounded expression, breaking me from my stupor. When I don't answer, he releases me, slowly growing uncomfortable under my gaze. “What is it?”
“Your eyes get me every time,” I c
onfess in ease.
He exhales lightly before shaking his head at me, a faint smile gracing his lips. “You're something weird.”
At least, I'm something.
“Well,” I pause, offended, racking my brain for insults to use on the spot, “y-your hair is ugly,” I retort back lamely.
“Nice one.” He claps his hands mockingly. “You've won this round,” he tells me sarcastically.
“Your face is going to win this round when I'm done with you,” I mumble impulsively.
“That makes no sense,” Jay points out, bringing it to my attention. “Your face makes no sense.”
“Really?” He quirks an eyebrow at me, unbelieving of my childish ways.
“Your face is really…”
“Hot?”
“Your face is really hot,” I blurt out without thinking.
“Why, thank you.” He grins in satisfaction, giving my appearance a once- over. “You're not too bad yourself,” he says before boldlywalking off.
There is nothing more that I want than to wipe that smug smile off of his face. I find myself standing alone beside his Gallardo and beside a dark forest.
The only source of light is the plentiful stars and moonlit sky. The street lights are all off. A gentle, cool breeze stirs within the air and I find myself being transported into countless horror movies. It's always the loners that end up dying first.
“Jay!” I shout atop my lungs. “Wait up!” I call as I hurry after him.
I sprint down the flattened path leading into the forest. He must come here often if he's made a makeshift pathway. I blow out a breath of relief and stop at the end of the trail when Jay's back comes into view.
He's watching something intently. I close the distance between us and join his side, only to take in the magnificent view.
“Wow,” I breathe out quietly, in awe of the black lake surrounded by mountains.
Absentmindedly, I take a step forward. My heart just about jumps out of my chest when I lose my footing. Fortunately, Jay is quick to push me back with the force of his right arm. “Watch your step,” he warns, staring down below.
I follow his gaze, only then realizing how high up we are. The lake is below us. We're standing on a mountaintop overlooking it. We're on the banks of a cliff.