Twisted Love: A Dark Romance

by CM Wondrak

  Yes, that was it. The stranger made me feel. He made me feel alive, even if I had no idea who he was. He ignited my heart and made my body grow warm at just the sound of his voice. How would he affect me when he stood a few feet away? How would my body feel when it was in the same room as his?

  “I’m really not that interesting,” I said, trying to shrug off his interest.

  “Nice try, but I don’t believe you,” he told me, still grinning.

  “I’m not.”

  His amber eyes narrowed playfully, and he laughed, as if I was trying to be funny. Flirting or something. I didn’t know, but I most certainly wasn’t trying to flirt with him. And if I was, it was totally by accident.

  It continued like that for a while. We ate. We talked. We worked. He did a lot of laughing while I kept trying to hide the fact that I kept looking out the front windows. All in all, it was a boring night. I kept my phone on me at all times, hoping he would call, hoping he would do something—anything. Hell, I’d be overjoyed if he busted down the front door, beat Kyle up, threw me over his shoulder and took me away from this place, took me away from it all.

  But, it was quite possible this was all in my head, wasn’t it? What if I was making something out of nothing, grasping at straws? I didn’t want to admit that I might be losing my marbles, but with what happened to my parents, it was possible. This whole thing might just be in my head.

  I… I didn’t want to think about that.

  By the time we were done for the night, it was about nine o’clock. Kayla had made herself known a few more times, cleaning up the kitchen and doing this and doing that. She never left us alone for too long, which meant Kyle kept himself away from me. He didn’t try to scoot closer to me or lean towards me or any of that, which was probably for the best.

  Kyle was busy packing up his things while I carried our plates to the kitchen. Kayla, for whatever reason, was doing dishes by hand even though we had a working dishwasher. Her way of staying close and keeping an eye on us. I had to dump what was left on my plate into the trash, but Kyle’s plate looked like it’d been licked clean. That boy could eat, that’s for sure. The stereotypical teenage boy, definitely.

  “Should I expect him over again?” Kayla asked me as I deposited our two plates into the dirty water on the right side of the sink. She was using the left half to rinse before stacking them on the counter on top of a towel.

  Her question came out of the blue, and the way she asked it was almost as if she thought I’d have Kyle over every single day, for the rest of my life. It took me far too long to say, “Well, we organized the quotes we want to use for our paper. We still have to write it, and then work on the actual presentation—” I stopped, noticing my aunt’s expression. I wanted to sound purely academic, especially in front of her—no way in hell would I ever admit that I only wanted Kyle over so the stranger could see him with me and make a move—but I had no idea if I was succeeding or not.

  “That’s fine. Like I said, as long as I’m home, I’m okay with it.” Kayla pulled away from the sink, drying her hands on the towel nearby before folding those arms over her chest. “He seems like a nice kid.”

  Oh, God. Way to make this extremely awkward. Was she trying to give me her approval for him or something? Like I wanted to date the guy? Ew. No. And, anyway, even if I wanted to, Aubree would have it out for me, like majorly. She would completely destroy me, because I would’ve stolen her man right out from under her, or so she’d believe. The truth was Kyle would never pay Aubree any attention, but that wasn’t something I could ever tell her.

  I replied, “Yeah, he’s nice.” I guess.

  Instead of saying anything more, instead of entertaining my aunt more, I headed back into the living room and found Kyle standing with his backpack slung across his shoulders. His blonde hair was raked over his forehead, as if he’d just ran a hand through it.

  As he met my stare, I caught myself wondering: why the hell couldn’t Mrs. Johnson pair you with Aubree? Her entire year would’ve been made. But, no, instead of that, she paired him up with me, out of all of the students in our class. Why? Why, oh why did my luck suck so badly?

  “I’ll walk you out,” I quickly said, speaking before he got the chance to say anything. At this rate, I had no idea what the hell was going to come out of his mouth. As much as I wanted to say this night had been enlightening… it hadn’t. This night would be fruitless, I think, which sucked something major.

  Kyle nodded, and I followed him to the front door. He didn’t wear a coat, but the night air outside gave us a chill. As we stepped out, I knew Kayla could see us, knew she was either peering out through the kitchen window or had moved to eavesdrop behind the front door. I wouldn’t put anything past her.

  My eyes automatically scanned the nearby area. The houses here weren’t too close, but there were half a dozen houses in sight, and none of them seemed to have anything out of the ordinary with them. None of them held a new car or a man standing in a dark trench coat.

  Okay, maybe he wouldn’t be in a trench coat. That would be too obvious and cliché.

  There was no one and nothing but the moon above our heads. Sticking my hands in my back pockets, feeling my phone resting there, silent and call-free, I followed Kyle to his car in the driveway. He threw his bag in the backseat, closing the door before turning to me.

  “This was fun,” he said, and I had no idea if he was being sarcastic or not. What was fun about working on a school project was beyond me. “Let me know when we can do it again. We still have a lot of work to do.”

  I nodded once. “As long as it’s after six, I’m here.”

  He grinned. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”

  I said nothing else, taking a step back as he got in the front seat and started the car up. Thankfully, he didn’t try to make a move or anything; apparently, I wasn’t too good at reading people, so I had to be careful when it came to this one. I wanted to use him, but I didn’t want things to get turned around on me.

  Once he was gone, I went back in the house, immediately pounced upon by Kayla. “Do you like him?” Her question was blunt, and it nearly made me trip as I reached the base of the stairwell.

  Turning my head over my shoulder, I met her questioning eyes. What in the ever-loving fuck did it matter if I did or didn’t like him? If I said no, would she believe me? And if I said yes, would she think I was finally starting to act like I should, like a high schooler who could only think about cute boys?

  I didn’t know what to say.

  Instead of telling the truth or going for a lie, because I didn’t know which one would have the least amount of consequences, I went for the middle ground and said, “I don’t know.” Not exactly a lie but not the truth, either. Somewhere in the middle, and my answer seemed to relax Kayla.

  “I know I never let you date, but… but I always thought that’s what you’d bug me about. Especially when you started high school, I thought I’d have to fight to keep the boys away from you. And you from them,” she added that last part, moving to the base of the steps with me. “I know you want some independence, and I know I won’t be able to protect you from the world forever, but…”

  I watched her as she trailed off, studying her face as she quieted. This was as heartfelt as things got between Kayla and me, so I knew better than to interrupt her. I’d let her finish, and then I’d go upstairs and wait. Wait and wonder why the stranger never called, why he never made a move.

  I thought for sure I’d had him…

  “Just be careful, Tenley,” Kayla finished, reaching to rub a hand along my upper arm. A friendly, warm gesture. “People out there… there are some that only want one thing.”

  Oh, God. Did she mean sex? Come on. She was thirty-five. I was eighteen. We were both old enough and mature enough to know how to be careful when it came to sex.

  But she wasn’t talking about sex.

  “They want to hurt you,” Kayla said, stunning me with her choice of words. That… that
wasn’t at all what I’d thought she would say. Not one bit. “They want to hurt you or the ones you love. You can’t trust anyone out there. You can’t.”

  I had no idea what this was about, but it was clear she was no longer talking about Kyle. The most Kyle could do was stop doing his part in the project. Or try to hook up with me and, when I denied him, try to turn the whole school against me, like in those stupid teenage movies.

  Was she saying these things because of my parents?

  “I’ll be fine,” I told her. “I’m stronger than you think I am.”

  She gave me a sad look. “Maybe you are, but I still do my best to protect you.”

  I couldn’t think of anything else to say, because it sounded like she was referencing my parents, and anytime she brought them up, I could get no words in, edgewise. So, I headed up the stairs, shutting myself in my room. In the dark.

  The only light coming in was from the crack beneath the door; Kayla was still awake downstairs, but I knew she would be in bed within the hour. It was late, and she had work tomorrow. Oh, and Kyle was gone. That was the biggest thing there.

  Meandering to my bed, I heaved a sigh as I kicked off my socks and fell back. I snaked my phone out of my pants—still no calls—and closed my eyes. Eventually I grew drowsy, and I crawled under the covers, still holding onto my phone.

  I dreamt of the stranger calling me, of being locked in a dark room with nothing but his voice as my company… but when I woke up for school the next day, he vanished, gone with the night. And my phone was still unused.

  He didn’t call.

  Chapter Nine – Enzo

  When someone you knew very well did something out of the ordinary, you paid attention. You paid notice to them. Even if nothing changed, I would’ve kept an eye on her, because I had to. Because she was mine.

  Let that last part sink in. Tenley Goddard was mine, and soon enough the whole fucking world would know it.

  I was well aware that a boy from her high school had gone to her house Tuesday night. It was now Thursday night, and he’d been over Wednesday, too. He was over again now. I drove by perhaps a bit too much, circling the block, checking the living room each time I drove by. I had to slow down to see them, but as it got darker outside, it made it easier for my eyes to focus on the illuminated room.

  It didn’t look like Kayla was with them, though every so often I’d see her in the living room, standing near them. Kayla was one overprotective guardian, but for good reason. I didn’t dare get close to the house and peer in through the windows. I knew how commonplace cameras were now in doorbells and even garage doors.

  No, I’d have to keep my distance.

  Tuesday night I’d thought it was a fluke, and I’d been far too angry to even think about calling her. It looked as if they were working on something for school, and I didn’t want to overreact. When I overreacted, I tended to make mistakes, and that was not something I could do. I couldn’t afford to make any. Not again.

  But when I’d seen him there Wednesday night, well, I started to wonder if Tenley was having him over so much because she liked him. She had gone to that party with her friend, and though I didn’t know who she’d gotten all pretty for, I could make assumptions.

  That boy. That fucking boy.

  My timing had been amazing yesterday; I’d happened to turn onto the block when I’d seen the boy back his car up out of the driveway and leave. I did the only thing I could: I followed the fucker. I tailed him, never getting too close, and because he was just a high school boy, ignorant of the ways of the world as most were, he had no idea someone was following him. The fool. The fucking idiot.

  I’d followed him all the way to his house, got his address, and a little snooping was all it took to figure out who owned the house and find out the names of the people who lived there. And—of fucking course—it was the same house that Tenley and her friend had gone to that Friday night.

  These were dots I did not want to connect, but they must be connected. They had to be, but they would not remain connected for long, for I could not sit back and allow this to continue to happen. I would not let this boy—this fucking high school kid—take Tenley away from me.

  No, Kyle Sturgis would meet his end at my hands.

  Tonight was Thursday, and he was over her house again. He and Tenley seemed to be sitting too close together on the couch, and I swore as I drove by one time I saw her laughing. Seeing any type of glee on her face, any smiles or laughter… it drove me absolutely mad. That face, her expressions. Everything on her was mine, and I was going to make sure Kyle knew it before I killed him.

  Kill. Because that’s what I had to do. Some might see that as an overreaction, but it was the only way to make sure he stayed away from her. You couldn’t trust other people. You couldn’t count on them when your life depended on it. Because of this, Kyle would meet his end, and I would take great fucking pleasure in strangling the life out of him.

  It was near ten o’clock at night when I decided to stop circling Tenley’s block and head to Kyle’s house. They lived about ten minutes apart. Not far, but when your world consisted of your high school and nothing else, the miles stretched on for eternity. I couldn’t even remember my high school days, but that was probably for the best. My life didn’t truly start until Tenley came into this world.

  When I drove by his house, I saw not a single light was on. I turned off the lights on my car as I slowed and pulled off the side of the road after doing another loop around. I waited, waited to see someone moving inside the house, some kind of motion to tell me someone was home, but it appeared as if the house was empty. The street was empty, not another car in sight. I parked halfway between Kyle’s house and the next one, and the front yards were so long, I doubted any camera would pick it up if there was one.

  And, if so… I had a black ski mask ready to go.

  I’d looked into Kyle’s parents. They were the uppity sort; they had a membership to the country club a few towns over, and I wondered if that’s where they were. Or on some business trip. They seemed to be gone an awful lot, which lent to the fact that their son could throw school-wide parties and invite anyone he wanted.

  It was quite possible his parents weren’t home—or possible that their cars were simply in their oversized garage and they were already asleep.

  I reached for the mask I had in my glove compartment, along with a pair of matching gloves. You never knew when something like that would come in handy. After pulling it over my head and securing the gloves on my hands, I got out, quiet as a mouse as I crept up to the house and started moving around it.

  I didn’t dare go to the front door or the garage; this wasn’t one of those towns in the middle of nowhere, where everyone always left their front doors unlocked. But you never knew. It was possible there was a window cracked open somewhere or maybe even their backdoor was left unlocked.

  Every window I tried was latched, but I did peer inside and study the house as I went. No lights were on; it seemed almost too quiet. I walked around the side of the house, coming onto a back patio of sorts. I crouched in the bushes for a while, looking for anything out of the ordinary. A camera, or something.

  I saw nothing. Nothing that would alert me to a camera, nothing that said this part of the yard was being watched constantly.

  You couldn’t be too careful these days. There were a lot of crazy people out there.

  Standing, I moved onto the patio, slowly walking toward the back door. It was a sliding glass door with built-in blinds… blinds that were up, which allowed me to see inside, right into the kitchen. My gloved hand went for the handle, and to my utter delight, it slid open, completely unlocked.

  The stupid fucks.

  Stepping inside, my eyes were already adjusted to the darkness. I peered around as I started to walk, haphazardly checking a few drawers in the kitchen. Nice place they got here. Pretty clean. Nothing that screamed old or well-used.

  The first floor was nothing but a big kitchen, an
equally big dining room, and a living room with a whole lot of unused space. I did poke my head into the garage and see that only one car sat in it, meaning it was quite possible his parents were out and about on this Thursday night. I did find a door that led to the basement, but my instincts told me to check upstairs, first.

  So that’s what I did.

  My feet drew me toward the stairwell, and I headed up, as quietly as I could. Before investigating the rooms I passed, I double-checked to make sure no one was in them. In the pictures hanging on the walls, I saw only a set of well-off parents with their golden boy child, no other kids.

  I found what must be Kyle’s room, and a quick glance at it told me he was way too into sports. Trophies and all that—which was well and good, I guess, but his athleticism would not save him from me.

  His parents’ room was on the third floor, taking up the entire space in what was a converted attic room. No one was in bed, nor was anyone in the attached bathroom off to the side. The house was quiet, which was good. Soon enough, it wouldn’t be quiet. Soon enough, the house would be filled with screaming.

  If I knew anything about a family like this, it’s that there had to be something hiding in the parents’ room, something tucked away so their son didn’t get a hold of it, but they had it in case of an intruder. In case they ran into someone like me in the middle of the night. I searched the nightstands first, but I found nothing other than some sex toys I bet the parents would be mortified if they knew someone had rifled through them.

  Moving to the dresser, I dug through each drawer, finding nothing until I got to the bottom drawer, where the father must keep some of his things. Watches, cufflinks, the like. Useless shit. A whole bunch of useless shit, and something that wouldn’t be so useless.

  A gun.

  I picked it up, and judging by how heavy it was, it was already loaded. I stood up, moved near the window, and cocked it, putting a bullet in the upper chamber. With the safety off, it was ready to be used.