With her face turning beat red she finally walked away leaving her pride behind her. “I don’t think anyone has ever turned her down before,” I said, more shocked that he didn’t take her offer than by what he said to her.
“Well there is always a first time for everything.”
“I guess so. So, friends huh?”
“Sure. I mean if you want to be.”
“Yeah, you do seem pretty chill,” Bristol said.
“I’d like that,” I replied. I couldn’t help but wonder how hard it would be to just be friends with Parker. I had a real attraction to him. A future with him and a future with Odin flashed before my eyes and the one with Parker felt right. The future with Odin felt dangerous.
Clearing his throat Parker asked, “What are you thinking about? What has you smiling like that?”
Embarrassment washed over me causing me to nervously say, “Nothing. Just a little daydreaming.”
“Would you like to share those daydreams?” Bristol asked with a knowingly smile that played across her lips.
“No that’s ok. It was nothing really.”
“Didn’t seem like nothing to me,” she said.
Seeing my discomfort Parker changed the subject, “So Lilith, what do people do around here for fun?”
“Honestly, I have no idea. I have only been here for a few months and well sadly, y’all are the only friends I have made except for my boyfriend Odin and his friends.”
“Well no worries. We will figure something out.”
The lunch bell rang letting us know it was time to head to our next classes. On my way to my next class I noticed Parker and Bristol were following me again. “What class do you have next?”
“English. Mrs. Webster,” Bristol said.
“Let me see your schedule.” To my surprise they were in every one of my classes. “Weird, it looks like we have every class together.”
“That’s not weird. That’s fate,” Bristol said. Something about the way she said it made me hopeful. Maybe it was fate. Maybe we were supposed to meet and become friends. I don’t know why but even though I just met Parker I could tell he was already pulling on my heart strings.
Before entering the classroom Parker stopped me just outside of the door, “Lilith, I was wondering if you would help me get caught up with all of our classes? I mean you are in all of them.”
“Sure, I will help you. Do you want to meet at your place after school?”
“No. Mine is noisy. How about yours?
“Yeah I guess we can go to my house. It is always quiet there since it is just myself and my aunt who is never home. I’ll give you the address when we sit down.”
With a smile on both of our faces we took our seats. As I was waiting on the teacher to get class started I saw Odin trying to motion for me to come out into the hall. “No,” I whispered. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”
Bristol saw me talking to someone and followed my gaze to the door. It looked like anger flashed in her eyes before she said, “Who’s the hunk at the door?” With her question Parker looked at the door as well. Odin and Parker were staring at each other as if they were about to have a showdown.
“That’s my boyfriend, Odin.” Confused I asked, “Do y’all know each other?”
“No,” Parker said, through gritted teeth. Odin walked away looking more pissed than ever but at least their stare down was over, for now.
Chapter Fourteen
Dread filled me as I entered my next class that I shared with Odin. I still wasn’t in the mood to deal with him yet. To my surprise, when we entered the classroom he wasn’t there. Hopefully he decided to skip class today. I know I shouldn’t feel things like this, but he made me feel this way when he decided to take my trust away.
I took my normal seat and the two guys that were seated beside mine and Odin’s desk were more than happy to move when Bristol asked them too. All she had to do was smile and they were practically drooling over themselves. She was just as beautiful as Parker. They were identical twins. They looked exactly the same except for being different sexes. They both have golden hair and are both kind of tall. They aren’t as tall as Odin and his group of friends but still they are taller than me. They both have a fair complexion and golden eyes. I have never seen golden eyes on someone but who am I to question one of God’s creations. Both of them are elegantly beautiful. Makes me kind of jealous that all the guys were pining over her, but I guess I could appreciate the fact that she was beautiful and because of her beauty, guys would do whatever she asked.
With school ending for the day and Odin never showing up Parker, Bristol, and I said our goodbyes and I rushed home to straighten up my room before Parker came over. Besides the bed being made, my room looked like a tornado hit it. I still hadn’t cleaned it from when those two guys ransacked it last night. After cleaning, I quickly ran through the shower because cleaning in a hurry was enough to get me hot and sweaty. As I turned the water off I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Panic filled me. I knew my aunt wouldn’t be home until late tonight and I didn’t expect Parker for at least another hour.
I wrapped myself in a towel and stuck my ear to the door to see if I could tell who it was but all I could hear was my own breath and pounding heartbeat. As quietly as I could, I pulled the door open just a crack and I tried to peek through. All I could see was a silhouette of a person going into my bedroom. I shut the door and locked it. I leaned against the door trying to control my breathing, so I wouldn’t freak out. How was I going to get out of here? The bathroom window is way too small for me to fit through.
Taking in a deep breath, I finally remembered that the bathroom window was facing the street. Maybe I can get someone’s attention and they can call the cops for me. As I made my way to the window a rush of questions flooded my mind. Why does this keep happening to me? Why do people keep breaking into my house? Why do they always end up in MY bedroom and what exactly are they looking for?
I rushed to the window and just as I got it opened a car pulled into the driveway. Relief filled me as I realized it was Parker. Thank goodness he is early. I tried desperately to get his attention. I opened the window as far as I could, which wasn’t very much, and I began to franticly wave my arms. Nothing. I tried to whistle as quietly as possible so I didn’t get the attention of the intruder. He still didn’t notice me.
Despite of how angry he may get, I decided to grab the bottle of shampoo and throw it. Any other time I would have laughed at him for nearly jumping out of his skin when the bottle hit the hood of his car but I was too desperate to get his attention right now. Not to mention I was too scared to really care at this point. When he finally noticed me I mouthed that someone was in the house.
Luckily, he seemed to understand what I was saying but instead of calling the cops he rushed into the house. I could hear him run up the stairs sounding like he took two at a time. Then I heard him run into my room and start fighting with the intruder. I heard them slam into my dresser sending something made of glass shattering onto the floor. I decided to peek out of the bathroom door and just as I got it cracked open I saw the intruder run down the stairs. Once I heard the front door slam closed, I rushed into my room to find Parker lying on the floor with blood dripping from his head.
He was conscience, but barely. Without thinking I helped him onto my bed, unwrapped myself from the towel, and placed it to his head. Once I noticed I was naked I wrapped myself up in my sheet. Hopefully he was too out of it to remember seeing me naked. Normally, I would be embarrassed for anyone to see me naked, but I didn’t feel that way in front of Parker. Maybe because I know he was too out of it to notice. At least if he did, he gave no indignation that he did.
Once the bleeding stopped I stepped into my closet and threw on some clothes. I couldn’t help but feel thankful that my closet was big enough to get dressed in. Between Odin and Parker this seemed to be my new dressing room. I then hesitantly went down stairs when Bristol came
flying through my front door so fast she almost knocked me down. “Where is he? What happened?” she demanded.
“He is upstairs in my room.”
“I knew I should have never let him come over here alone. I knew it was too dangerous.”
“What do you mean it’s too dangerous?”
“Forget it,” she said as she ran upstairs.
I carried on into the kitchen to get Parker some ice and I decided to quietly make my way back to my room. I could hear Bristol arguing with Parker. “I should have never let you come alone. We both know it is way too dangerous around her. You know that everyone is looking for her. And you know as well as I do that they will do anything to get to her.” Confused I edged a little closer.
“Calm down and keep your voice down Bristol, she might hear you.”
“Do not tell me to calm down. Why are you acting like this isn’t a big deal?”
“I’m not acting like anything Bristol. If you haven’t noticed I am in too much pain to really do anything right now.”
“Well what do you plan to do then?”
“Our job. We were sent here to keep her safe and that is exactly what we are going to do.” A thousand questions flooded through my mind all at once. Why did they need to protect me? Who sent them? Why was this thing everyone seemed to be looking for so important? Fury started to take over me as I realized they had lied to me too. They were no better than Odin. They weren’t who they said they were. Did they even really want to be my friend? Now I understood how they got into every one of my classes.
“Don’t forget that protecting her is not the only reason we were sent here Parker.”
“I know, and you don’t have to keep reminding me.”
“Don’t sound so put off by the idea. I know how you really feel about it. Remember?”
“Stay out of my head Bristol and I mean it,” he said, with anger in his voice. What did he mean by that? Confused, I decided I would step back into the room. I handed the ice pack to Parker and walked over to the window and tried my best not to think about what I just heard. My heart sank when I watched Odin pull into his driveway and saw all of the guys come out to greet him. Even though I have only hung out with them once, I missed them. They showed me what it would be like if I had brothers. I missed their joking around and playful banter. I watched them until they all disappeared inside.
Coming back to the moment I realized that there was so much tension in the room you could practically cut it with a knife. Having had enough awkwardness, I turned to Parker to check on his wound. “Since the bleeding has finally stopped I’m going to grab the first aid kit from the bathroom, so I can clean the wound.” Once I returned I grabbed the alcohol and he watched as I dabbed a cotton ball over the cut. Once I wiped all of the blood away the cut didn’t appear to be deep enough to need stitches.
Seeing his wound made me think of my own and the horrible memories that came with it. Without thinking about it I reached up to feel my own wound running my fingers over each stitch. Hopefully when my stitches are ready to come out they would take the painful memories with them.
I placed a bandage over his wound and taped it down. Even though it wasn’t a deep cut it was kind of a long one and I didn’t want it to get infected. After cleaning up the mess I asked, “So rain check on studying?”
“Yeah. I don’t think I would be able to focus.” Without saying a word, the three of us walked downstairs. I assumed they were leaving, but instead they made their way into the living room and made themselves comfortable. Bristol picked up the remote and started flipping through the channels on the TV. “Why is there never anything good on TV?” she asked.
“We have Netflix.”
“What about popcorn? And soda?”
“Sure. I’ll be right back. Parker do you want anything?”
“No thank you.” I hadn’t realized that he followed me into the kitchen until he spoke and nearly caused me to jump out of my skin. “Need help with anything?”
“No. I think I can manage. Would you like something for your pain?”
“Yes, please. I could really use something.” It was starting to become awkward while we waited in silence for the popcorn to finish popping until he said, “Do you know who that was earlier? Do you happen to know what he was looking for?”
“No, I don’t know who it is or what they want. But I do know that he has been here before.”
“What?” he asked sounding a little protective.
“Yeah maybe a week ago. They broke in while I was gone and ransacked my room. They only seemed to look through my stuff though. Same as this time.”
The popcorn finally finished, and we made our way back into the living room to join Bristol. She found a scary movie on Netflix. I was in no mood for a scary movie but if I had to watch it, I guess watching it with people is better than watching it alone.
Parker and I sat next to Bristol on the couch putting me in the middle. Parker seemed to sit a little closer than I expected him to. We were so close our thighs were touching. Butterflies swarm around in my stomach. I liked his touch. It wasn’t like touching Odin. With Odin there was lust, passion, heat and electricity. But with Parker it was different, it seemed to be deeper than anything I have ever felt before. They both felt like a half of me and either one of them could complete me. It felt as if Parker and I were linked by our souls alone, where with Odin it felt like we were linked not only with our souls but by our bodies hunger for one another as well. With Odin there was so much raw passion and I couldn’t help but wonder if Parker could make me feel the same way.
As I sat on the couch not focusing on the movie, I began to remember the conversation between Parker and Bristol. Maybe they would have some answers for me. But how could I ask the million questions that I have? “Hey, I was eavesdropping earlier and heard you guys talking about me and I have a few questions like what did you mean you were sent here to protect me? And I think there was something about someone looking for something.” I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t let them know I overheard them talking. I would be way too embarrassed. I decided I would just have to wait for the right time to ask my questions.
Snapping out of my conversation with myself in my head I realized Parker and Bristol was arguing over who they thought the killer was. Just as I began to focus on the movie the killer jumped out from behind a door and the loudest scream I have ever heard escaped my throat. They stopped arguing and looked at me like I was crazy.
“What the hell was that?’ Bristol asked.
“Bristol,” Parker snapped at her before turning to me. “Are you ok?”
“Yes. I am fine. It has been a really weird few days and it has made me really jumpy. And it just scared me when the killer jumped out from behind the door.”
“Well I am still hungry. Want to grab some food?” Bristol asked.
“I’m not really up to it. I’m getting kind of tired.”
“Seriously? It’s only like eight o’clock.”
“It’s been kind of a long day, but y’all go ahead. I will be fine here. I’m just going to clean the mess up in my room and go to bed.”
“We can stay and help you clean. It’s kind of my mess anyways.”
“Ugh. You can stay and help but I’m going to get food. I’ll be back for you later,” Bristol said, as she stormed out of the front door.
“Well ok then,” I said, as I stared confused at the door she just slammed. “What was that about?”
“She can get very moody if she doesn’t eat.”
“Well, I will grab a garbage bag and the broom if you want to head upstairs.” I watched Parker walk up the stairs and I couldn’t help but notice that he had a nice butt. A smile played across my lips and I just shook my head at myself. I hadn’t even figured where things were going with Odin and I was already thinking of another guy in a way that I should only look at my boyfriend.
Ashamed of myself, a memory crept into my head of my friend from M
ississippi. She was always flipping and flopping from one guy to the next. She changed guys like she changed her panties. She would always declare how in love she was after only being together for a week, but by the next week she was in love with someone else. She never could make up her mind about who she wanted to be with. And she always seemed to pick the wrong guy too. She liked bad guys that always ended up cheating on her or always ended up in jail. Even though the relationships would never work out, she still would pick the same type of person. She should broaden her search of types of guys to choose from. She will never know if she will like a different type if she doesn’t start changing her decisions on guys.
Bringing myself back to the moment, I headed upstairs to join Parker. I decided I would try to get some answers from Parker while Bristol wasn’t around and at the same time I had to do it without giving off that I overheard their conversation from earlier. “I wonder who that was that broke in earlier. You know like I said earlier, this wasn’t the first time they have broken in. I find it kind of odd that they were only looking in my room. I mean why not search the whole house?” Catching Parkers eyes, I continued, “You know I think I know what they are looking for.”
Interest peaked, and he said, “Oh yeah and what would that be?”
Eyeing the wooden box sitting on the table next to my bed I said, “This.” Parker looked at me confused as I pulled the necklace out of my shirt.
Parker jumped to his feet and ran over to me. “Where did you get that?”
“I got it for my birthday.”
“But your birthday isn’t until next week.”
“How did you know that?” I asked, as I tucked it back in my shirt. “You know what it is, don’t you? Tell me Parker, now.”
Corruption of the Heart (The Corruption Series Book 1) Page 9