Claimed

by Portia Moore

  “I’m not even sure I’m going,” I mutter, and she scoffs at me.

  “Are you crazy?” she spits out as if she’s going to have an aneurysm.

  “All of this is weird. What normal, handsome rich guy does all this for a girl he’s only seen once? It doesn’t make any sense,” I say. Yes, this is exciting, one of the most exciting things that have ever happened to me, but it’s still crazy. If my mom knew I was even considering this, she’d freak out.

  “Who gives a shit if he’s normal, Rain?” she declares, pushing off my bed and sitting in front of me.

  “Mallory showed me a picture of this guy. He’s a ten with money to boot. God, if you don’t want to go then just have him pick me up!” she says, looking entirely all too serious. Her and Mallory got over their little tiff quicker than I thought to be buddy-buddy enough to discuss my dating life.

  “What if he’s a serial killer or something…” I trail off, and she gives me an annoyed look.

  “Odds are he’s not a killer, and if he is, it’s better to go out with a bang, right?” she teases.

  “Just turn on the ‘share my location’ on your phone and send it to us. If anything goes down, the police will be there in three minutes,” she says simply with a shrug. She makes it sound so easy.

  “He’s bought a lot of stuff for me, Dena. What if he expects something for it?”

  Dena bursts into laughter. “Sweetie, it doesn’t matter if a guy bought you a cup of coffee or a burger from McDonald's. In the end, they all expect reimbursement for it. Some are just nicer about it than others,” she reasons. I bite my lip, thinking of the few dates I’ve been on where after a date at Applebees, the guys expected me to let them shove their tongues in my mouth and their hands down my pants.

  “What time are you supposed to be ready?”

  “Seven-thirty,” I sigh. Her face contorts in disgust.

  “So you have two hours to get ready, and you look like this?” She scowls.

  “Gee, thanks,” I say, touching my messy bun. She stands and pulls me up.

  “Go get in the shower, and as soon as you’re out, I’ll help you get ready,” she demands. I look at her curiously. Me and Dena have never been close, but what I do know is that she rarely cares about anyone but herself.

  “Why are you being so nice?” I ask her bluntly.

  “I truly do feel bad about what happened. You guys really came through and haven’t given me too much shit for it,” she says, sounding sincere. Then she flashes me a smile that makes her the highest-earning waitress at Funbags.

  “Besides, if things go good for you, I’m sure Mr. Moneybags has a friend or two you could introduce me to,” she says with a wink, back to her old self.

  Chapter 8

  Rain

  Five years earlier

  The next morning when I wake up to get ready for school, I hear a tapping at my window.

  My pulse leaps into my throat, but I scurry to the window anyway, pushing the curtains aside to see Zach standing outside. I push up the lower window, listening carefully to hear if Erin is up yet. My mom will have already gone to work—she leaves before either of us catch the bus in the morning.

  “Zach!” I hiss anxiously. “What are you doing?”

  “I brought something for you. Let me in.” He grins up at me, that silly, boyish grin that never fails to make me smile in return. “C’mon Rain, let me up.”

  “Fine.” I roll my eyes at him and step back, clutching my bathrobe around me. He climbs into the window with all the grace of a teenage boy, but he successfully makes it inside. As soon as he’s in my room, he shrugs his backpack off and kneels down, opening it.

  “What…what’s going on?” I blink down at him, perching on the edge of my bed’s footboard. I’m suddenly very aware of the girliness of my room—the pink duvet, frayed at the edges, the boy band poster, the stuffed animals on my desk. I wonder what he’ll think of it. If he’ll see me more as a girl, and less like a buddy, now that he’s seen the inside of my bedroom.

  And then I catch sight of what he’s dumping out on the floor. Food—and a lot of it. Two packages of ground beef, packaged snack cakes. Even a bakery cheese Danish somehow—my mouth starts watering just looking at it. A roll of breakfast sausage. We haven’t had anything but plain scrambled eggs covered in a slice of processed cheese all week, and my stomach growls as I stare down at the sausage. Three packs of chicken legs.

  He gathers it all up and plops it onto my bed, and then digs in his pocket. In his hand is two twenties. Forty dollars—a week’s worth of groceries for us. Maybe more, if we really stretched it.

  I stare at him, bug-eyed. “Zach, where did you get all of this?” I whisper. “Did you—”

  “Don’t worry about that, Rain.” His mouth tightens, and I feel bad. He’s gotten all of this for me, and I’m being judgmental. But stealing…

  “It’s fine,” he says flatly at my expression. I frown at him, not knowing what that means. He sighs, and his eyes dart to the floor before finding mine again.

  “Do you want me to be straight with you?” I think a minute before I say yes because at first I’m not sure if I want him to, but then I nod.

  “I kept watch while the other guys did. I guess that’s just as bad as doing it myself, though. Or you’re gonna think so, anyway.”

  “No!” I say quickly. “No…I mean…I don’t want you to steal, Zach. I don’t want you to get into trouble. But this…this was really sweet.” I look up at him, sinking down on the edge of my bed. “What about you?”

  “This was just part of the haul. I kept some back for my folks. We can get more, too. Next week, maybe.” He looks at me earnestly. “You aren’t mad at me?”

  I should be, I know. I should be furious with him for stealing. I should tell him I don’t want any of it. But part of me just doesn’t care. My mother has been trying to get assistance for months. I hear her arguing about it with my dad. But she can’t. I think of Erin’s face when she sees sausage patties with her eggs, and I can’t be angry with Zach.

  And I have to admit…it’s kind of intriguing. That bad boy edge about him was the first thing I noticed when I saw him in the cafeteria on my first day, and this just confirms it. I have a sudden picture of us running off together hand in hand, going from motel to motel, far away from our families and every bad thing that’s ever happened to us. We’d make it, just the two of us. Friends…and maybe something more? I can see us sleeping side by side in a motel bed, him rolling over to put his hand on my stomach, kissing me. I kind of have an idea of what comes after that, but I mostly think about the kissing part. About what his lips would feel like on mine. They look soft—I seem to look at them more and more lately.

  I gaze down at him now, squatting on the floor with his backpack, and when he looks up and his bright blue eyes meet mine, I feel that familiar shiver of warmth go through me.

  Him stealing to help feed me and my family hasn’t done anything to stop the crush I have on him. If anything, it’s made it a little bit worse.

  “No,” I whisper. “I’m not angry with you. Thank you.”

  “I just want to help. You’re my friend and I want to take care of you.” He looks up at me earnestly. “My family—there’s not much I can do. I try to make money to help and it just disappears when I give it to my dad. But I can do something for you. I’ll always protect you, Rain. I promise. Always.”

  A thrill rushes through me as I look down at him. He’s like a white knight, someone from a fairy tale, promising to defend and protect me. I know that realistically, there’s not much he can do. He can do small things like this, but in the grand scheme, two teenagers are basically helpless against the cruelties of the world.

  But he means it, I can see it in his eyes. And I feel something that seems like something else, more than a crush.

  I smuggle the food into the kitchen, leaving Zach to climb out of my bedroom window. He promises me that he’ll be waiting at the bus stop, and for a moment when he
stands up, I think he might kiss me. His eyes lock with mine, and I feel that shiver that’s becoming more and more familiar. But he just turns away, sliding out of my window and landing on the grass below with a soft thud.

  I want to take care of you.

  His words echo in my ears as I get dressed quickly, pulling on my usual jeans and t-shirt and hi-top sneakers. I make Erin and me ham and cheese sandwiches with the food Zach brought, and it makes me smile when I’m able to sneak a snack cake into her lunch bag. We head toward the bus stop together, and for the first time in a long time, I feel on top of the world. I can’t stop smiling as I meet Zach, and we sit in our usual seat on the bus, sharing headphones as he plays his off-brand MP3 player.

  One of the first things we did together on our lunch break after the day we met was listen to music, one earphone for each of us.

  I guess maybe it’s just something friends do together. But today of all days, it feels romantic and special.

  Which is why my heart sinks almost to the bottom of my feet when we get off of the bus and the red-haired girl with the glossy lips is standing there.

  She’s wearing tight jeans and a flouncy top today, and I watch Zach as he stuffs the MP3 player into his backpack and fixes his big blue eyes on her.

  He can’t hide his reaction. He blushes slightly as she takes a step towards him, toying with her bright red hair that she’s wearing loose around her face today.

  Fuck, I think. I’ve had to be careful about not cursing around my parents—Zach does it all the time, and I’m starting to pick it up. But at the moment, I wouldn’t care if my mom was standing right beside me. I want to yell it out into the air because I can see how Zach is looking at her. He’s interested. I wish he’d look at me the way he’s staring at her.

  “I missed seeing you after practice yesterday,” she says, smiling at him with a slight pout, the kind I see the girls make on One Tree Hill. “Why don’t you come by this afternoon? I really could use that help studying. Maybe afterwards we could go get a burger or something. My treat.”

  “Um…” Zach runs his hand through his hair, clearly at a loss for words.

  Why isn’t he saying no…he’s taking too long to say no!

  He’s thinking about it.

  That means he’s about to say yes to an almost sort of date, while I’m right here.

  But who the hell am I? His little friend he’s taken pity on, some sort of little sister he’s adopted like a stray cat?! My eyes start to burn from tears. I step away, muttering something about having to get to first-period English, and Zach barely hears me. I feel hot tears well up in my eyes as I half-run towards the building where my first class is, my chest aching.

  I’m so stupid!

  How could I think that Zach might like me? I’m two years younger than he is. He says he’ll always protect me. I don’t doubt that he means it. But I remember the part that came before him saying that he would take care of me—that’s how he thinks of me. Like a friend. Like family.

  Not someone he wants to kiss or touch.

  He wants to kiss the girl with the red hair and the shiny lips. Not me.

  I was stupid to ever think that he would.

  By now, I’m crying too hard to even consider going to class. I go to the girls’ bathroom instead, dropping down onto the floor inside one of the stalls and clutching my books to my chest. I’ve never felt so stupid in my entire life.

  I don’t want to lose him as a friend. He means more to me than I ever thought anyone could.

  I’ll just have to keep my crush to myself, I think, as I sit in the bathroom stall, wiping at my eyes and sniffling. I’ll be happy for him if he’s happy. It’s better than not having him in my life at all.

  But I already know that’s going to be easier said than done.

  Chapter 9

  Rain

  Present day

  During my shower, I try my best to numb my mind completely. My thoughts are running at a million miles per hour. The more I think, the more negative my thoughts become. I’ve almost pushed myself close to a panic attack twice in a short period. The best option for me at this point is to try and force myself not to think at all.

  I stand in the steamy bathroom and patiently wait for my reflection to appear in the mirror. After a few minutes, I can see myself clearly. My blonde hair seems almost brown as it lays across my shoulders. I can hear the water falling from the strands and dripping onto the floor. My hair is trying its hardest to curl despite being heavy with water. My brown eyes look dull and tired.

  A knock on the bathroom door pulls me from my thoughts. I clutch my towel against my skin as I move to open the door. Dena’s standing on the other side.

  “What are you doing?” she asks with amused disdain.

  I raise an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean? I’m getting ready for my date with Vincent.”

  Dena narrows her eyes at me, both hands on her hip. “You’re wasting our time.”

  I open my mouth to object to her accusation, even though she’s completely right. Without missing a beat, she grabs my arm and pulls me out of the bathroom. If I wasn’t holding the towel so tight, I’d have lost it. She doesn’t let go of my arm as she pulls me down the hallway and back into my room, steering me towards my desk set up by the window. She doesn’t let go until I’m firmly placed on the seat.

  “I’m going to get a couple of things from my room. You better be sitting in this chair when I get back.”

  I roll my eyes at the woman. “Sure thing.”

  When she returns to my room, her arms are practically overflowing with makeup. I immediately start shaking my head. “Nope. No way. I don’t want all of that on my face.”

  She doesn’t even look at me as she starts to lay it all on my desk in front of me. “It doesn’t matter what you want. It’s what you need.”

  I narrow my eyes at her. “I don’t need any makeup.”

  She shakes her head. “I will not allow you to wear Balenciaga barefaced. It should be a crime.”

  I sigh and relent. I probably will never get another chance to wear an outfit as nice and expensive as this one. I might as well take full advantage of it.

  The last hour before my date is the quickest I have ever experienced. Dena works her art on me from head to toe. The girl I’m staring at now isn’t the one that I had seen in the bathroom. Seeing myself draped in the expensive dress, my hair pulled into a low, sleek ponytail makes me feel different, like another person. One not intimidated by the kind of guy who will be picking me up soon.

  I peer up at Dena grinning over my shoulder in the mirror. She gives me a soft smile when our eyes meet in the mirror. “You’re doing Balenciaga proud babe,” she says with a wink.

  I can’t help but grin back at her before I turn around to pick my phone up. “Thanks, Dena.”

  “I have a feeling Mr. Moneybags won’t be complaining about how much money he’s spent tonight.”

  I laugh. I have an inkling that Vincent probably makes so much money he’d never complain about how much he spent. But I do look good.

  A knock on the front door silences the both of us. We instantly know who it is. My confidence is starting to waver like a ship at sea.

  Dena tells me she’ll get the door so I can make an entrance, but I hear a disappointed groan and when I step out, it’s just Mallory.

  “You guys look so happy to see me.” She pouts, but when her eyes land on me they widen in approval. “Rain, you look phenomenal!” she gushes.

  “I do good work, huh?” Dena says proudly. I spend the next five minutes catching Mallory up on everything. Dena begrudgingly gets herself ready for work for her second job at a lounge she moonlights at and is disappointed that she has to leave before meeting Vincent.

  “Remember, you only live once. Don’t be a tight-ass,” she tells me with her signature smile before leaving. Mallory catches me up on everything that happened at work, which is the same ol’ same ol’—customers being assholes, Benny complaining abou
t not making enough money for the day shift—when there’s a knock at the door. We both freeze, but Mallory breaks out into a wide smile and mouths that she’ll get it. I stand up, smooth down my dress, and grab my bag. Even Mallory looks slightly nervous as she opens the door. She looks a bit stunned, coming face-to-face with Vincent. His figure is looming over hers. His eyes barely rest on her before they lock on me. His gaze is making me freeze up instantly, and he hasn’t even said anything yet.

  Was he always this tall? Were his shoulders that broad that day? His intense stare feels like it’s on me for years before he reveals an electric smile, showing perfect white teeth.

  “You look amazing,” he says, his voice deep.“I’m glad to see that you put your gift to good use.”

  I’m so fucking nervous, but something about seeing him smile at me like this has restored the confidence I had started to feel. I give him a soft smile back as I tuck a stray strand of my hair behind my ear.

  I approach Mallory from behind and gently place my hand on her shoulder, trying to signal her to move out of the way. She glances at me before she takes a couple of steps out of the doorway. Vincent and I both use this as an opportunity to take in the full appearance of each other. His eyes travel up and down my body at an unhurried pace. It seems as if he’s appreciating how I look and trying to undress me all at the same time. It’s not like I’ve never had a man look at me before—it happens to me all the time at Funbags—but my body’s never felt hot from it. My adrenaline has never pumped so hard. I have to fight to stand.

  The suit that he’s wearing tonight looks a lot like the one I had met him in, maybe slightly darker. He looks effortlessly handsome, dangerously rich, and almost good enough to eat. My heart is pounding. My skin feels like it is on fire. I haven’t been this attracted to a man since…I won’t think about that tonight.