by Sydney Lane
I turn giving him my bedroom eyes and stroll back over to him swaying my hips just a bit to get his attention as if I didn’t already have it.
Peering up I seductively place the piece of paper on his chest putting a little pressure on it and slowly lower it down over his abs. His breathing deepens, and I can feel his dick harden against me. The large bulge on my stomach has me tightening my thighs. I continue my journey south, with my number in hand, finding his hip and sliding the piece of paper into his side pocket.
Leaning up on my tiptoes, I lick the bottom of his ear repeating the same words he used this morning. “Here’s my number. Maybe you can use the picture you took this morning for your contact photo.”
Quickly pulling my hand back I turn and walk away spotting Trent watching our interaction. Taking a pull from his beer, he motions for me to come over.
“Wait!” Jace calls out before I reach Trent. ”You forgot the other part of our deal. I believe you owe me a kiss.”
I unhurriedly turn back around and tilt my cheek up to him waiting for his lips to find it, but they don’t. He grabs both sides of my face forcing me to look straight at him. I see lust and need evident in his eyes as he looks down at my mouth. I lick my lips as he rubs his thumbs along my jawline. My nipples tighten, and I’m sure he can see them through my shirt. Tilting my head up, I coax him to give me what I want. His lips collide with mine, and an involuntary moan slips out opening them up just a bit. Using it to his advantage, he slips his tongue in. Everything disappears around us. I’m lost. His kiss is like a drug, and I want to be so fucking high. I’m instantly hooked, and I want more. So much more. Both of my hands come up and grab his shirt tightly bringing his body closer to mine.
I forget where we are. Hell, I forget my name.
I almost allow him to lay me across the pool table when I hear a commotion and yelling.
“Trent. NO!” Erin screams.
Breaking our kiss I turn to see what’s going on.
It all happens in a flash. One minute I’m kissing what is probably the man who can bring me to my knees, and the next Trent’s fist is connecting with his jaw. He falls to the ground taking me with him. Our bodies turn so that I land on top of him, and his head hits the ground hard.
“Oh shit, Noelle! Are you okay?” Trent’s panicked face is the first thing I see when I open my eyes as he’s trying to help me up off of Jace. Did he just hit him?
“What the fuck, Trent! What the hell is wrong with you? Get off me,” I say smacking his hands away. Pulling myself up I glare at him. “Are you drunk? Jesus Christ! Why did you hit him?”
“Noe, oh my God,” Erin says rubbing my arm as Walker pushes Trent back.
“You fucking asshole! You almost hit Noelle!” Jace growls from next to me. Man, he got up quickly.
He pulls me around behind him and shoves Trent’s chest. “I don’t care who the hell you are, how the hell long you have known her, or if this is your fucking house. If you ever hit me again or come close to hitting her you better be prepared because I will fucking hurt you!”
Trent struggles against Walker’s hold and brings his chest to Jace’s. “I warned you, Jace! I told you to stay away from her.”
“Trent!” Erin yells.
What? Stay away from me? Who the hell does he think he is?
“That’s it,” I scream stepping in between the two Neanderthals. Next they’ll be dragging me by my hair to their cave. “I’ve had enough of this juvenile bullshit. What has gotten into you, Trent? I’m not someone’s property and I don’t need you to protect me! I don’t need this drama.”
The party has come to a screeching halt as everyone circles around us. Spotting my purse, phone and Walker’s keys on the end table I turn away from all of them. I collect my shit and head out the door.
“Noelle! Wait!” Erin calls out. She’s running towards me attempting not to fall on her ass. She’s had a few drinks tonight and her tolerance is low. I stop to make sure a trip to the ER is not in our future. “You can’t leave it like this.”
“Well, I’m not staying here, Erin. I don’t know why he did that but all we were doing was having a little fun and he hits Jace? He could have hurt me in the process. He almost did if it wasn’t for Jace.” I take a deep breath looking around. “Everyone has just had a bit too much to drink. I just want to go home now. Please.”
Angry tears start to blur my vision. I never cry. What a shitty night.
“Sure, Noe. We can go,” she says in a small voice leaving me to go inside and hopefully get Walker.
I didn’t realize how hard I was holding onto his keys until I saw the indention from his key chain. Walking over to the truck with my head down, I am shocked by what just happened. I don’t understand Trent. He is such a hot head.
“Noelle, hold up a second,” Jace calls from behind me. “Can I talk to you?”
“I don’t want to talk about this right now, Jace. I need to go home. I’m tired. I just want to go to bed.” I can’t look at him. I don’t want him to see me crying, but my shaky voice gives me away.
“Noelle, don’t cry. Hey, why don’t you come over to my house?” Both of his hands are rubbing my arms like he is trying to keep me warm despite the heated temperature. I shake my head no.
“Then take my number.” He grabs the phone from me types his number in and hands it back over. “You have my number again. Please use it. I don’t know what is going on here, but I do know that I want to see you again. I have to see you again.” His hands grab my chin gently forcing me to look into his eyes.
“Okay, Jace. Let me think about it. I need to get home now though. Thank you for not letting me get hurt. I’m so sorry,” I say in barely a whisper looking back down to the ground.
This is not me. I’m a strong woman and I don’t let men get to me, but this feels different. Like a huge shift in my life has occurred.
He grabs my chin lifting my head to look into his eyes. “You are not the one that should be apologizing. Trent should and I’ll make sure he does. And Noelle, please call me.”
Pulling myself away I slide into the back seat without responding.
Walker and Erin get in and I pass Walker the keys.
“Noe?” Erin’s voice is hesitant. I turn my head away from the window and notice a torn look on her face.
“Yea?”
“Nevermind.”
Walker puts the car in reverse without a word and pulls out of the driveway. Looking out the back window as we leave I can see Trent and almost feel his sad eyes watching. I couldn’t care less right now. Taking the turn to head home Erin turns up the volume on the radio, and I stare off into the distance.
The Redwood Series: Book 2 (Untitled)
by
Heather Nelson
Chapter 1
“Please, wake up. I need you. I need you so bad it hurts. Now wake up, Joanne. You’re going to be fine. I promise. I love you so much. Please, Joanne… please wake up,” Jem begged. My eyes flew open and I thought my head would explode as pain shot through my pupils.
“It’s okay. You’re okay. Shh… ” Jem said, hushing me. I hadn’t realized I was screaming.
“Jem?” My voice was rough and muffled.
“Oh, thank you God,” he sighed. There was something placed over my mouth and nose and I reached up tentatively to touch it. “It’s just an oxygen mask,” Jem told me softly and I closed my eyes. The pain eased, but my head spun wildly and I felt confused. Wasn’t I just in a lovely garden with my parents? I could still hear my dad’s voice. I could still smell my mother’s perfume.
Suddenly, a flood of memories assaulted my tangled mind. I flinched, remembering the fire and Reika’s limp hand in mine. We were trapped together in the Manor as it burned and she was… lifeless.
“Reika?” I croaked. “Did she? Is she?” I stammered, unable to say the awful word; the one that meant we had lost her forever. My vision blurred as my eyes filled with tears. Jem immediately ran a soothing hand over my forearm.<
br />
“No, no, Joanne. She’s in the hospital back in Redcrest. Gayda said she’d check on her again today. Don’t worry about her right now. Don’t worry about anything,” he consoled. What did he mean ‘back in Redcrest’?
“Where are we?” I managed to ask. I’d never felt like this before and I didn’t like it. I looked around the room. The walls swayed slightly when I turned my head. It looked like a normal bedroom to me, but whose?
“You’re in my home. In my private clinic in Weott,” a female voice replied from across the room. I heard high heels tap across the floor toward me. “Hello, Joey, I’m Doctor Limary Sweet.” She walked into view at the side of my narrow bed. “How are you feeling?” she asked as she reached down and picked up my hand, pressing her fingertips into my wrist.
“Weird and sick to my stomach. What’s wrong with me? Why this thing?” I reached up with my free hand to weakly point at the mask.
“The nausea is most likely from the pain medication I gave you. We may be able to back that off a bit now that you’re awake. The oxygen will be necessary for a few more days. You suffered some lung irritation due to your prolonged smoke exposure.” She examined the needle in the back of my hand and then the bag of liquid above my head. I hadn’t noticed either one before.
“Is that why my throat…?”
“Partially, but the irritation you’re feeling is primarily due to the breathing tube we placed when you initially arrived,” the doctor said. She was Albino, of course; no pigmented person would ever be allowed to obtain a medical degree. She smiled kindly, but there was a seriousness in her eyes that could not be ignored. Other than that, she had a pleasant face with blue eyes, broad lips, and a wide nose. The ends of her short white hair just barely curled out from around her ears.
“How long have I been here?” I asked.
It was Jem who answered. “Two days.” His hands locked around mine, and he looked like he’d been sitting there for the entire forty-eight hours. His brown eyes were rimmed in dark circles and his hair was standing up on one side like he’d just leaned his head against the tall back of his chair to rest. I wanted to tell him to go lie down, but my mind was in a fog. I couldn’t hold onto the thought long enough to verbalize it. I turned back to the doctor.
“I don’t understand. What’s going on? Who are you?” I asked again. My voice cracked. The doctor pulled a chair beside Jem and sat down. She crossed one leg over the other and smiled.
“I’m Doctor Limary Sweet. I’m a friend of the UPC and a personal friend of Reika. You’ve been brought here for treatment after a fire. I know this is difficult for you and the medication is only adding to your confusion, but you’re safe here.” I looked at Jem’s tired, worried face and he nodded his head in agreement. Limary continued to speak, and I struggled to comprehend everything she was saying.
“You’ve been given medication for the pain and antibiotics to protect you against infection. I’m also giving you intravenous fluids. You have a small laceration on your cheek. A cut. Just five stitches. They’ll come out in seven or eight days. The scarring should be minimal. Both your eyes have ruptured blood vessels so the whites of your eyes are red right now. Most likely this occurred from excessive coughing. There’s nothing we can do for that. Your body will reabsorb the blood over the next few weeks. Also, you have a third degree burn on your lower left leg. We have been treating and dressing the wound. It will heal, but it will take time,” she stated confidently. Jem’s face seemed to age ten years as she spoke.
My eyelids felt like they were made of lead; as much as I wanted to stay awake I had to close them while the doctor was still speaking.
*****
When I woke again, I had no idea how long I’d been out. My face ached dully, but I was less sedated, thankfully. My leg was throbbing too. It was a strange kind of hurt, almost like the pain was far away. Doctor Sweet said I had a bad burn there. Why wasn’t the pain excruciating? Maybe I was more sedated than I thought.
Jem was sleeping with his head leaned back on the chair, just as I’d assumed he was. It looked really uncomfortable. I didn’t mean to wake him, but I hadn’t realized my hand was in his and as soon as I moved, his eyes flew open.
“Joanne,” he said, relieved.
“Hey. You all right?” I rasped. I was truly concerned. He looked terrible. Tired and ashen, even thinner. Both his forearms were wrapped in white gauze. The skin that peeked out of the bandages looked red and irritated.
“I’m fine. How are you?” he asked though a yawn. Jem stretched his arms above his head and his joints cracked loudly. He leaned over me and kissed my mouth gently.
“Better, I think. What time is it?” I asked. It was completely quiet except for the sound of a machine. I could see it in the corner, a little square thing with a red blinking light. The green tube attached to my face was connected to it. I was happy that the bulky full-face mask was gone. Jem took a flashy new cell phone from his pocket and took a quick glance.
“It’s almost two in the morning. Do you need anything? Should I get Doctor Sweet?” he asked tensely.
“No. I’m fine.” I took a few deep breaths. I could tell both my throat and chest were a bit better than the last time I’d woken. “It hasn’t been another two days, has it?” I wondered.
“No. Just twelve hours or so,” he replied. His eyes were frantic, though he tried desperately to hide it.
“Jem?” I started to reprimand him for putting his own health in jeopardy in order to sit at my bedside, but I knew I would do the exact same thing if our roles had been reversed. Instead of a lecture, I asked him how we ended up here.
“Reika told me if I was ever in trouble, if we were ever separated and I needed help, I should come here. I’ve been carrying this address and phone number in my wallet for nearly four years. I never thought I’d have to use it,” he said then sighed. His expression grew more and more serious until he almost looked mad. “I never imagined… Joanne, don’t ever do anything like that again. What were you thinking? I asked you to listen to me. You promised.” Anger had seeped into his voice as he spoke and he scrubbed a hand over his scruffy jaw.
“I’m sorry. I am. But what could I do? Don’t be mad at me, please. There wasn’t time and Reika…” I babbled quickly. Stinging tears sprang to my eyes as I spoke and my throat burned. Jem looked horrified.
“Hey now, I’m not mad at you, silly. I’m just, I don’t know, mad in general I guess. I wish you would have listened to me, though. I couldn’t believe when you opened that door and went into the house. I tried to stop you, but Grey had me pinned down and by the time I got things under control you were long gone. I made Grey tell me where he last saw Reika. He told me he had locked her in her room. That was the last thing he said before I knocked him out cold. The house was so full of smoke I couldn’t see anything. When I got to the hall, I knew you had gone up to the western wing because that door was open, but there was no way to get up the stairs. There was fire everywhere. I was losing my mind until I realized I could get to you from one of the peaked roofs off the second floor. I opened the window in one of the bedrooms and climbed out onto the roof. It led right to Reika’s room.” He paused and hung his head. “I’m sorry Joanne. I broke that window. I cut your cheek,” he admitted regretfully as his gaze met mine once again. His face was blotchy red and his eyes were misty. The tears pooled up then streamed down.
“No, Jem…” I tried to soothe him, but he wasn’t listening. He was far away right then; his mind in Redcrest Manor as it burned.
“There was fire everywhere,” he repeated. “I thought I knew what Hell was, but that was Hell… I’ll never forget it. I had to jump past the flames. You and Reika were on the ground. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t carry you both…” Jem paused and rubbed his eyes with his hands. I felt sick as I realized Jem had to choose who to save first, me or his mother. My heart broke for him. “Your leg was on fire and I had to bat out the flames with a pillow. I picked you up, covered you with a
blanket I found, then climbed back out the same window. You were barely conscious, but you kept saying ‘you were right’ over and over.”
“I realized you were right about the dreams. The prophetic dreams. You were right all along.”
“I wondered when you’d see it for yourself.” He frowned and I hated seeing him so unhappy.
“Then what happened? After you carried me out?”
Jem hesitated and his expression hardened. “When I got outside Grey was still unconscious. The worst part, absolutely the worst part of the night, was leaving you there in the grass to go back for Reika with him right there, but I did. I climbed through the window and brought Reika down the same way I had brought you. The fire was worse then. So much worse. I didn’t think I could go back in, but the thought of her burning to death… and after what you went through to help her, I had to do it. Somehow I got her out. She looked bad. She looked… dead. But she wasn’t. I grabbed Grey’s cell phone and keys from his pocket, picked you up, and called 911 as I ran for his truck. Reika needed help fast. I couldn’t risk driving her all the way to Weott, but just as we pulled on to the street the ambulance passed us. They were there in two minutes, tops.”
“Has there been any news? Did Gayda check on her?” I cleared my throat and winced.
“Yea, Gayda called. Reika’s still in intensive care.” Jem inhaled deeply then blew the air out slowly. He looked up and his eyes were ablaze as if he had brought some of that horrible fire back with him. Perhaps that was impossible to avoid. I reached out and patted his trembling hand. We stared at each other.
“What is it?” I wondered aloud.
“I… I thought I’d lost you.” Jem’s voice cracked and his eye weld up and spilled over again. I moved my hand to the collar of his shirt and pulled him to me. Then I started crying too. His head pulled back and he studied me intently. That frenzied look instantly took over his face.
“Are you in pain?” He started to stand, but I gripped his shirt. Yes, I was in pain, but Jem’s pain was all I cared about.