Grace: An Eternal Beloved Novel (Eternal Beloved Novel Series)

by R. Rodriguez

  “What’s wrong, Grace?” Lucian worried about me instantly. He was just programmed that way.

  I covered the mouthpiece and muttered a “nothing” that appeased him. He continued eating his own salad while I tended to my phone call.

  “It’s Dario, babe.”

  I had relegated Dario to the farthest corner of my mind since the Talent Showcase’s after party, or so I thought. I was so concentrated on my efforts to make it in life that I was taken aback when out of nowhere he came into my life in full.

  He was still there with Stan and his friends when I got home after my dinner with Lucian. His phone call pretty much ruined my dinner with Lucian. I was distracted and absentminded after having heard him. I finally excused myself and practically ran inside when Lucian dropped me off. So much for standing up to him.

  I opened the door and his heady cologne filled my senses. There were other guys there, but my senses were sharpened to detect only Dario. Maybe it wasn’t his cologne. Maybe it was a more basic instinct. There he was, the object of my desire lounging comfortably on my sofa.

  “There’s a sexy girl.” He smiled. His lips were drawn to the left side of his face when he smiled. It would’ve been considered a sneer on someone else, but on him it was the most sensual smile I had ever witnessed.

  I was drawn to Dario like a fly to honey. But so was every other girl, I knew. He was just irresistible. He had the most dangerous energy about him.

  I didn’t know what was coming over me in regards to Dario. When I thought of him, a fire began to engulf me. I imagined his strong hands on me at every turn and it certainly didn’t take long to get my wish. Apparently Dario couldn’t wait to get his hands on me either.

  That night was full of charged tension between Dario and me. There was a basketball game on the television. Everyone seemed to be intent on the action of the game, but Dario and I kept our gazes locked on each other. Every time someone handed him a beer, Dario downed it slowly, deliberately tempting me with his full lips.

  It wasn’t until half time that we had a chance to actually be near. We didn’t really speak. From the start, our relationship was all physical. He followed me down the hallway while I walked to my room to get more comfortable. I hadn’t taken off the heeled boots I wore to the dinner with Lucian and I was going to change them for flats.

  I sensed him behind me. His energy was so forceful. There was no ignoring him. I turned around and there he was, striding toward me with a possessive look in his eyes. We almost collided into each other as our lips crushed together.

  My body didn’t mold into Dario’s easily. Our encounter felt more like two thunderbolts colliding into each other. The instant sparks that our coming together created inebriated me like a straight shot of whisky, traveling through my body until it muddied my brain. Dario’s lips kept moving over mine expertly. There was no other description. He seemed to know exactly how to work me up. His lips and his touch were so much more than I had imagined so many times.

  “Mm.” I heard Dario groan on my lips. Then his hands were on me and I was lost. We slammed against the wall repeatedly as we struggled to get as much from the furtive kiss as we could. His rock hard body rubbed against my soft curves sucking in as much feeling as it could.

  Dario finally pulled away from me after an indeterminate length of time and then pulled me back into another dimension by his kisses and his urgent caresses. He tugged at my skin feverishly. He pulled away and attacked again, all the while watching my reaction intently, which made me all the more enthralled.

  “You’re mine,” he breathed into my lips. He took my face into his strong delicious smelling hands and tugged at my lips with his. His breath was intoxicating and I let myself get carried away until he finally ended the embrace.

  “I wanna see you again,” he whispered in my ear.

  I was still weak from our encounter. I could hardly respond.

  I offered a meek “Me, too.”

  Dario felt dangerous. He felt like trouble. But overall, he made me feel exhilarated. Also, this was me complying with one of the points of my life plan (getting a boyfriend) so I could go ahead and check that off, I rationalized.

  He became a permanent fixture in my life. Being with him was like catching a burst of energy after a lethargic day. Thankfully, my life was going well, but the stress of my many commitments was wearing me down and my brain began to search entertainment. Who better to seek it with than Dario?

  “Where to tonight, babe?” His voice through my speaker phone refreshed me even though I’d had a really hard week. I was apprehensive about going out despite the unusually warm weather for spring. I had tons of work before spring break and I had promised Lucian I’d accompany him to a gallery viewing.

  “Actually, I had plans with my friend Lucian tonight,” I said honestly.

  “Lucian who?” Dario’s tone became immediately guarded.

  “Lucian is that good friend of mine I told you about,” I explained. I had actually talked about Lucian to Dario. I had left out the exact nature of our relationship, that of savior and saved, of course, but I had mentioned how important he was to me as a friend.

  Laura caught on to the gist of my telephone conversation and started waving in the air.

  “Wait just a second, Dario.” I turned the speaker off and covered the mouthpiece with my hand.

  “Don’t be so stupid, Grace. Lucian can see you any other night. I want to see Stan, too. We sorta had a fight and I haven’t heard from him all week. I heard they‘re going to be at Ontourage Night Club tonight.” Laura pleaded further with her eyes.

  “Okay, okay.” I waved Laura away.

  The Lucian conversation was immediately forgotten.

  “Dario?… What did you have in mind?” I spoke into the phone.

  Laura was right about their plans.

  “Ontourage Night Club. Hey, you can bring your friend along if you want,” he offered. “That way you won’t leave him stranded or anything.”

  Right. Why didn’t I think of that? That was a great idea. Lucian could join us. It was a great opportunity for him to meet Dario. For some reason that made me nervous. Lucian’s opinion was important.

  “Okay. That’ll work out great, actually.” I conceded.

  “We can meet at the club, okay, babe?” Dario quickly stated before giving his quick farewells. He was getting another call on his phone, he said.

  I put my apprehensions aside and called Lucian to make the arrangements. He went along with the change of plans easily. That’s how Lucian was–easygoing and uncomplicated. He was the type of person that had fun anywhere he went and fit in different kinds of environments easily.

  I donned my sexiest club gear, trying purposely to distance myself from the conservative garbs I had to dress in for school and work. The only feature I kept intact was a sleek ponytail that hung from the nape of my neck to my mid back.

  I stepped into the darkness of the club full of confidence and renewed in full camaraderie with my girlfriends. We would hopefully release some of our pent up tension. I didn’t spot either Dario or Lucian as we circled the dance floor to some tables in the lounge area.

  The music revved up and my body started undulating automatically. Laura had already been dragged away by Stan who had arrived before us. I wondered all the while where Dario was. I thought all the guys were coming here. It was past an hour after we had agreed to meet.

  Well, Dario was nowhere in sight, but I spotted Lucian making his way toward me. I thought it was great timing because I was tired of watching everyone else dance. I was dying to go out on the dance floor.

  “Hi, sweetheart,” Lucian practically had to yell in my ear. The music was so loud. “You’re a sight tonight.”

  “Hey, Lucian! Thanx,” I shouted back enthusiastically. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

  Of course that was an understatement. Lucian attracted stares everywhere he went. Stares of envy from men and admiration from women. He never seemed fazed by a
ll the attention.

  “How do you feel about dancing?” I immediately suggested.

  “Sure… Let’s see if I still have some moves on.” He smiled at me and led me by the hand to the dance floor.

  I immediately climbed one of the high platforms of the club and dragged Lucian along with me. Although a couple of years older than me, he was fit and lithe and didn’t seem to mind following my lead.

  We began to dance to the rhythm of the house music. I was surprised. Lucian was actually a really good dancer. We were good dance partners. It was interesting to relate to him in this way that was so different from everything we had shared together before.

  It must’ve seemed like something totally different to strangers because everyone stared at us with curious admiration as we danced together. We must’ve made a striking couple. If people only knew that we were merely good pals. Still, I couldn’t deny Lucian’s good looks and… good moves.

  I let the music take over my senses. I let the fact that Dario hadn’t gotten to the club yet escape my head. I obliterated everything around me. I swerved and swooped and enjoyed myself with Lucian and my other friends. I turned to heed Lucian’s comment and that’s when I saw him.

  I spotted Dario right away, dancing with a short blonde on one of the higher dance platforms. It was kind of hard not to notice him. The platform he was on was the most lighted one in the club and their dancing certainly called attention.

  It wasn’t Melanie. It was just some random girl, I was sure. Melanie was taller. I was initially stumped by seeing him there with someone else, but then I didn’t think anything of it. It was probably just a friend. I was dancing with Lucian after all. I was glad that he was having such a good time, really. I just wished it was with me since we had a date and everything.

  “Is everything alright?” Lucian noticed my distraction.

  “Yeah, yeah. Sure. Just got a little tired is all.” I excused myself and jumped off the platform.

  Dario saw me then. He quickly dissed his dance partner and jumped off his platform also. He rushed to grab me by the waist.

  “Hey, beautiful.” He planted a kiss on square on my lips. “There you are. I was looking for you.”

  That seemed odd to me since I had been in the club for more than an hour and a half past the agreed time and I hadn’t seen him anywhere. I thought I had a pretty good view of the club from where I stood with Lucian.

  Lucian emerged at that moment and Dario immediately sized him up as he approached us. Yet another person who seemed struck by the company I was keeping. I noticed how Lucian towered over Dario’s stocky frame.

  Dario was compelling, but Lucian was simply a man who possessed uncommon beauty for his gender. I now realized this more than ever and suddenly worried that perhaps Dario wouldn’t understand my relationship to him. I quickly ignored my nagging doubts to make the proper introductions. It was important that the two most important guys in my life met each other.

  “Dario, this is Lucian. He’s my best friend,” I said, pointing to Lucian. “Lucian, this is Dario…”

  “Her boyfriend,” Dario interjected forcefully. He didn’t offer Lucian his hand as the latter did. He only shook it when he didn’t see any other choice.

  I felt a certain tension in the introduction knowing that Lucian knew exactly how many days, hours and minutes ago I had met Dario and the nature and scope of our relationship. It was obvious that Dario felt intimidated by him judging from his statement that he was my boyfriend.

  Dario seemed to tighten his hold on my waist as he went through the motions of small talking Lucian.

  “So, what do you do for a living?” And so on and so forth.

  I knew it wasn’t easy to understand how such a young guy who was barely a couple of years older than us could already be so successful, so it didn’t surprise me that Dario quickly looked for an escape.

  “Hey beautiful, why don’t we go dance a little?” Dario dismissed the line of conversation swiftly as Lucian began to respond to his questions and led me away to the dance floor. I didn’t know it at the time, but the reason for Dario’s uneasiness was that he was exactly Lucian’s age and he was on his seventh year of college.

  I didn’t have a choice but to leave Lucian in the company of my friends and turn my attention to Dario. Dario awoke unfathomable sensations in me. I didn’t know if it was the strong vibration of the house music, or simply the spell I was under. His power over my senses was hypnotic.

  Dario spun me around to face him and the dance moved on. Swerving and undulating until I felt his heat mingle with mine. His breath grazing my face as we got closer and closer to each other. His enigmatic aroma seeping into my head. My thoughts were filled with only him. The strong college girl crush I had been harboring for a whole month, hit me full force and I wanted no more than his full attention and devotion.

  Apparently all my sentiment was plastered on my face because just as I put extra twists and turns into my hopefully sensuous moves, my eyes searched for his. Dario, in turn, pulled away.

  “Phew. Great dancing, beautiful.” His husky voice commented off handedly.

  My great dancing was suddenly halted by his abrupt interruption.

  “I hate to do this now, hon, but I have a game tomorrow. I have to leave early,” he remarked.

  Figures, I thought. The jock is still a jock first. His obligation to the game was obviously more important than connecting with me. I hardly had time to respond to his farewell, because after taking a few minutes to kiss me thoroughly and forcefully, he offered me one last peck and sped away.

  As I watched him go back into the darkness, I regrouped my thoughts and hopped off the dancing platform. I decided to visit the ladies’ room and why not?… Try to rationalize Dario’s brush off.

  One of my friends popped up behind me in the mirror.

  “Boo!” she tried to spook me. “What was that all about? Did Dario pull one of his disappearing acts on you, honey?”

  I realized just then, as I pinned up my long tresses into a fashionable post dancing bun and applied a fresh coat of lip gloss, that my encounters with Dario so far were hard to define. On the one hand he pulled me close. He even declared that he was my boyfriend, but on the other hand he pushed me away.

  I ignored my friend’s teasing and smiled.

  “Good riddance.” I flashed one of my perfect smiles and joined her back to the dance floor.

  I saw the look of concern on Lucian’s face as soon as he saw me.

  I couldn’t bear to explain my boyfriend’s sudden departure to him. He knew me too well to know that something wasn’t right, so I complained of feeling drained from the hard work week and accepted his invitation to walk me home.

  I wasn’t really one to mope so, I enjoyed the rest of my night walking next to my best friend, enjoying his conversation and setting my mind up to dream about Dario. I was completely unguarded when I spotted Dario amidst a group of rambunctious students a few blocks up the street. He was hardly on his way home to rest as he had stated. In fact, he was the life of the party from what I saw. Several girls were grouped around him laughing rambunctiously at his jokes.

  “Grace.” Lucian pulled my face away with his tender hands.

  “Look at me,” he insisted.

  I shyly turned to look at him ashamed of what I knew he had noticed, too.

  “Don’t worry about him, Grace. Forget about it.” He hugged me tight to his chest and gave me one of his signature kisses on my forehead. I looked up at Lucian and almost wished that Dario was as wonderful as he was.

  Chapter 7: The Magician

  I decided to stay away from Dario, but it turned out that I didn’t have to work hard at avoiding him like I had planned because he suddenly disappeared from my immediate horizon. I didn’t hear from him for another two weeks. By that time, I was getting ready to go on Spring Break. I was stuffing my newly purchased bikini into my carryon bag so I wouldn’t have to pay the check in for a suitcase, when the shrill sound o
f the apartment phone startled me. I tried zipping up my bag with one hand while picking up the phone with the other.

  “Hello…” I answered breathlessly forgetting to check the caller I.D.

  “Hey beautiful.” He didn’t announce himself, but I would recognize that husky voice anywhere. Although I hadn’t really been thinking about him at all since my run in with him at the club, I had an instant reaction to his call. My heart started beating a million miles per minute and I jammed the zipper of my bag.

  “Oh, hi. How’s it going?” Was all that occurred to me to say. I started looking around nervously as if there was someone else in the room with me. Fortunately, no one was there to witness my awkwardness.

  Dario didn’t seem to sense anything funny. I cringed inwardly at how judgmental I was being of him, since now, I was really appreciating how nearly perfect my life was. At least Dario hadn’t put his future on hold because he was so depressed that he tried to jump off a bridge. He had probably just stalled at the next college spot on his way home that night.

  “So, what do you say about hanging out with me during Spring Break?” Dario at last announced the purpose of his phone call and it was too little, too late.

  “Well, you know…. I’m actually going away for Spring Break.” It almost sounded like an apology, even for my own ears.

  “Oh, really? Where to, babe? Goin’ home?” Dario inquired. God no. I cringed at his suggestion that I would fly home for Spring Break. I avoided visiting home as often as I could. I certainly missed my father, but I kept in touch with him often. My mom was another story. I knew that until she saw me really make it, all I’d get from her was criticism or small hints on what should be my next move on my life plan. Keeping my dad informed should be enough for now.

  “I’m going to San Juan with Laura, Stan, and a few other people. You probably know them,” I responded.

  “Puerto Rico? Funny…” he said. “No one told me about that trip.”

  There was a moment of silence. I didn’t know what to make of his comment. I didn’t know if he was upset because he expected an invitation or if he was just commenting.