Awaken: Book 1 of the Dark Paradise Trilogy

by Isadora Brown

  “So you think that because my favorite color happens to go with your favorite color means we’re meant to be together?” she asked him with doubt, furrowing her brow as she spoke.

  Noir regarded her almost lazily. “Is that your question?” he asked her, his tone matching his features.

  Keirah stopped herself from immediately replying. Was that her question? Biting the inside of her bottom lip, she nodded. “Yes,” she told him. “It is.”

  “Well then,” he began, shifting his shoulders and inhaling sharply. “Red and green don’t always go together.” This only confused Keirah but he didn’t notice. “See, there can be awful combinations of the two. Pale red and lime green? Not gonna work. However,” he drawled, his hazel eyes sparkling, “when the perfect combination is brought together in a hum … intimate embrace, well … ya can’t argue with that, can ya?” He pushed his brow up, emphasizing his question.

  “Is that your question?” she retorted. This caused Noir to toss his head back and let out a bark of laughter. She doubted that no matter how many days she spent with him, she would never get used to it.

  “Of course not, pet,” he told her, shaking his head as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I already know the answer to the question. Why would I ask you a question I already know the answer to? Silly girl!” He shook his head condescendingly, but she wasn’t offended. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes, looking at him expectantly, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “Oh, my turn, right?” he asked after a long moment of silence passed between the two. She clenched her jaw at his rhetorical question, causing him to laugh once again. “Oh all right, ya spoil sport,” he chided. “Did you ever hear how virtuous the mistress patience was?” Another glare from her caused him to burst out into more giggles. “Okay, okay. My question … hmm …” He seemed to be thinking long and hard for a moment before finally saying, “Do you have, uh, hmmm … how should I phrase this? Do you have a significant otherrr?”

  “A what?” Keirah asked sharply, her eyes widening and her posture tensing.

  Her reaction caused Noir to laugh once again. Keirah watched as he did so. He was dramatic; he would toss his head back, drop his mouth open, and just laugh. His shoulders jumped and his chest pulsated. It would have been a fine attribute had it been given to any other man. On him it just looked maniacal.

  “Hoh, I’m sorry dear, do I, uh, do I have to rephrase the question?” Noir asked. He arched a brow, tilting his head to the side as his eyes twitched shut. Upon opening them, he smacked his lips and leaned toward her. “Do you have a boyfriend, a fiancé, a husband?” His eyes lost all trace of amusement as he barked out the second syllable of husband. “Someone you might love, care for … someone you might get intimate with?” His brow snapped up, wrinkles creasing against his forehead as he regarded her with a contradicting, patient smile.

  “No,” she replied honestly, shaking her head. “I don’t have a significant other.”

  “Ya, uh, better not be pulling a fast one on me, princess,” Noir warned in his usual amused way. “’Cause if you are, I’m going to have to kill him.”

  Keirah knew even without looking at him, he was telling the truth. It wasn’t as if she wore a sign around her neck that said, ‘Don’t Date Me,’ but she was focused on graduating with good grades in order to maintain her GPA, snag a scholarship, and head on over to her first choice school, the University of Onyx. However, as focused as she was, she wouldn’t mind having someone to love.

  “Watcha thinkin’ about, dear?” Noir asked, leaning back against the couch. Keirah looked at him and noticed that smirk, the one that said he knew exactly what she had been thinking but wanted her to humor him.

  “What I’m going to ask you,” she snapped.

  Another cackle came from the prisoner. “Oh-hoh!” he exclaimed. “You know what, princess? I like you. You’re not really that afraid of me. Well, hum … you probably are and just mask it, of course. But, uh, I like that. When I escape, I’m going to find you and hum … take you … Well, I’ll take you with me.” He spoke like he was talking about the weather rather than escaping from a super-max mental ward. She swallowed.

  “Have you ever fallen in love before?” she wondered aloud. She was surprised she actually vocalized her musing, but it was something she had always wanted to know. Was he capable of feeling?

  Instead of snapping at her or laughing wildly, he regarded her with a cool look and asked, “What is your definition of love, sweets?”

  Keirah paused. It was a good question, and she thought long and hard before answering. “Being completely enraptured with someone, you’re consumed with them day and night, even if they aren’t there. You can still hear their voice in your head when they haven’t spoken. You feel good just knowing they’re alive because in some way or another, you know they complete you.”

  “Ah,” Noir said, an odd smile on his face. “You mean obsessed. I have always believed hum … where do you draw the line concerning love and, uh, obsession? What if it equals the very same?” His brow perked as his voice traveled up, indicating that he asked a question. “Because-ah, if they do equal one and the same, then yes, I have been in love.” He ran his tongue over his chapped lips before answering her question. “I love stabbing my henchmen with knitting needles for no reason at all. Because I can. I love destroying houses and buildings by way of explosion. I la-ove the Black Wing. And I am growing increasingly addicted to you, my pet.”

  Keirah knew she should be afraid of what he had just confessed to her. If anyone else had been in her position, they probably would be. But the way his voice dripped with velvet, the way he looked at her with those dark eyes, caused something to tremor through her veins.

  “My turn,” he said, flashing his yellow chops. “Tell me, princess, and tell me true: what do you feel are hum … my finer attributes?”

  This caused Keirah to straighten. She was going to have to point out his attractive features? Well, it’s obviously not going to be very hard since you’re oddly attracted to him, a voice taunted from the back of her mind. She immediately hushed it. This was inappropriate. It had to be. This was going to take thought and precision. He couldn’t know she was attracted to him, yet he had to believe that she was being honest.

  “Well,” she said after a long moment. “You’re tall.” She was surprised he didn’t offer her some smart-aleck comment, but merely looked at her, waiting for her to continue. “And … you have broad shoulders.”

  “I ah, I see we are favorable toward the alpha male features,” Noir said, a knowing smile on his face.

  “Your scar,” she continued before she could stop herself. His eyes twitched at the mention of it, but she knew she had his full attention. “Your scars make you look masculine, dangerous. They give your face a story.”

  What scared Keirah the most was that everything she said was true.

  9

  After Reese changed for soccer in the locker room, she headed down to the field, water bottle in her hand and ball at her feet. Since the season hadn’t officially started, there was no need for her to put on shin guards and tube socks, but there would be lots of running and light drills so her hair was gathered up in a high ponytail and a pair of her old cleats were on her feet.

  Before the Accident, Reese played on the varsity team of her old high school as a midfielder. It was the hardest position on the team, except for possibly the goalie due to the amount of running that was required. It meant she played both offense and defense so she not only had to be fast, she also had to be strong. Reese knew she would have to work her ass off in order to get the position, especially at varsity level. She didn’t care, though. She just wanted to play soccer again.

  When she reached the field, she noticed Gabe standing with a group of guys all dressed in gear that suggested they, too, would be running and doing drills with the team. He towered over everyone else, which made Reese feel even smaller than she already was. Somehow, as though he knew h
e was being watched, he locked his steely blue eyes with hers. Suppressing a groan, Reese forced herself to maintain eye contact and remain exactly where she was, even when his lips curled into a smirk and proceeded to saunter over to her. He was definitely the best looking person on the field—the best looking person she had ever seen—but there was something off about him, something that made the hairs on her body stand erect and her stomach churn.

  “I didn’t know you played soccer,” he said in his low voice.

  Reese swallowed, placing the tip of her cleat on the top of the soccer ball. “You don’t know a lot about me,” she pointed out.

  “I’d like to change that.” He cocked his head to the side, narrowing his eyes into hers. “I’ll pick you up at seven tonight.”

  Reese furrowed her brow. “Excuse me?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips. “I didn’t agree to anything, especially since you never asked my permission to take me out.”

  “Permission?” He had the gall to look confused. “Permission for what exactly?”

  “Who do you think you are?” she asked, wrinkling her brow and taking a step toward him, soccer ball temporarily forgotten. She had to crane her head back in order to maintain eye contact, but she barely noticed. “Just because you think you’re God’s gift doesn’t mean you don’t have to ask me out on a date. You think I’m just going to fall over myself because you showed some kind of interest in me and rearrange my life because you’ve told me we’re going out? I don’t think so. I’ve met plenty of guys like you back in Beverly Hills. You’re all the same. And you know what? I’m the same too. I’m not interested.”

  A crowd had gathered, and after Reese finished her rant, a collective gasp could be heard. The girls started to whisper among themselves while the guys started laughing or letting out strings of juvenile “Oooh”s. Gabe’s eyes flashed. And for a moment, Reese was actually frightened of him and what he might do to her for humiliating him in front of his friends and followers, but a whistle was blown and the crowd started to disperse. Gabe was the last person to leave the group, but only after he stared her into a paralysis. It was only when he turned and headed to the opposite field with the other guys was Reese finally able to move again.

  The workout wasn’t as bad as Reese initially thought it would be, but after the first lap of jogging around the field, she knew she was out of shape and would have to push herself harder if she wanted to not only make the team, but get playing time as well. Besides the two laps, they had to run a third, dribbling their soccer ball. Reese tried to look in front of her as she dribbled, something she had been able to do before. However, she found herself looking down more than usual. The drills reinstated a little bit of her confidence; at least passing and shooting were like riding a bike. She still had that look-to-the-left-shoot-to-the-right powerhouse kick that always made it into the back of the net.

  By the time the girls were dismissed for the day, Reese was tired and sore, but eager to come back tomorrow and do it all over again. She loved the sport as much as she loved her plaid skirts and the color pink, and she was determined to get back into the swing of things and be better than she had been.

  After a quick but thorough shower, Reese headed over to her designated locker where her clothes were waiting for her. As she pulled on her knee-length tights, a cough caused her to pause. She glanced over her shoulder and saw a girl she recognized as one of the two goalies. She was a senior, with straight, shoulder-length blonde hair, a round face, and big, brown eyes. She was wearing an orange cardigan and a matching spaghetti strapped tank top with boot-cut low rise jeans and a pair of old sneakers. Her hair was still damp from the shower, but was pulled back from her face with barrettes decorated with bright flowers. If Reese had to describe the girl’s fashion sense, it would be practical but feminine. And cute. Definitely cute.

  “I’m Piper,” she said. For some reason, she seemed nervous. “I just wanted to say I really admire you for what you did. With Gabe, I mean. Because he’s the only child of the city’s DA, he thinks he can get whatever he wants from whomever he wants. I don’t think he’s ever been shot down, especially by a girl he attempted to ask out. Or I guess not asked, huh?”

  Reese smiled and continued to finish dressing. “Yeah, well, I highly doubt it’ll actually make him think twice about demanding someone’s time,” she said. “I’m Reese, by the way.”

  “It’s really nice to meet you,” Piper said. “I wanted to talk to you on Friday but knowing you were new and looking the way you do, I knew Gabe would be on you in a second. It’s just, as misogynic as it sounds, there are two groups of girls on the team: those who have and want to hook up with him, and those who won’t. I’m one of the latter girls, but we don’t look like you and we aren’t popular, so he pretends he doesn’t want to sleep with us.” She rolled her eyes. “The girls who have or want to be with him are all pretty with varying degrees of intelligence and athleticism, but all they seem to talk about is Gabe this and Gabe that.”

  “Trust me, I think Gabe talks about himself enough for everyone else,” Reese murmured, pulling the strap of her bag over her shoulder. “Look, Gabe’s good looking, but he’s also an asshole.”

  Piper giggled, a surprisingly girly giggle that tugged at Reese’s own lips. “Yeah, but sometimes girls can be blind to assholes when they look like Vikings,” she murmured. “To be honest, I’m surprised he waited until today to try something with you. I thought for sure he’d do it Friday.”

  “Technically, he almost did,” Reese said as the two started walking out together. “We officially met at Jack Phillip’s party. My daddy works for Phillip and he introduced me to Gabe there. I had a feeling he might try something, and to be honest, I think he might have if it wasn’t for …” She let her voice trail off as the theory in her mind began to grow. She stopped walking which caused Piper to stop as well.

  “What?” Piper asked, tilting her head to the side. “What stopped him?” She sounded genuinely curious, but not because she wanted something to gossip about. She sounded like she cared.

  Reese opened her mouth, about to respond, when the man who populated her theory made his unexpected appearance from the main office. He was dressed in a black blazer and a maroon collared shirt with fitted black jeans and his worn Converses, flipping a gold coin and catching it in midair before repeating the action. Without thinking, Reese grabbed Piper’s forearm and yanked her behind a row of lockers. Even though Henry was walking away from them—heading to either the library or the cafeteria—and hadn’t noticed their presence, she got the feeling that he was aware of much more than he let on.

  “What?” Piper repeated, but at least she had the sense to whisper. “What is it?”

  Reese only answered when she heard his distinct footsteps fade away. “Who is that?” she asked, turning around so they were facing each other. “The guy with the suit?”

  “Henry?” Piper asked.

  “Yes, him,” Reese said with a firm nod. “What’s his deal?”

  Piper still looked confused. “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “Well, I mean, look at him,” Reese said, raising her brow. “I’ve never seen anyone like him before in my entire life and I’m from LA. He knows Jack Phillip and always wearing the top half of suits, and sometimes he looks like a teenager and other times he looks fifty. And for whatever reason, I get the feeling that …”

  “That what?”

  “I don’t know,” Reese said, throwing her arms up. “I just get the feeling that he has this power over everyone. I met him in the main office on my first day, and he didn’t outright order Ms. Dillard to do anything but she still seemed, like, scared of him. That’s crazy, right? How can a secretary be afraid of a student? But then, Gabe and I were in Jack’s library, right, just talking, and he was about to say something but then Gabe pulled me behind the bookcase. We saw Jack in his study talking to someone, and there he was. Henry, I mean. Talking to Jack like they were, I don’t know, business partners. How do
es Henry who’s, what, seventeen, eighteen, have that kind of power over Jack Phillip who’s twenty-one?”

  Piper laughed nervously and started heading for the office. Reese had no choice but to follow.

  “I think you’re overthinking, Reese,” she said. As she glanced around, almost as though she was ensuring no one was watching them, she spoke, her voice sounding shaky, “He’s just Henry. No one really knows a lot about him except, like you said, he wears blazers and suit-shirts. I know he’s a senior and seems to know everything about everything. He’s in my AP Art History class and he seems to know his stuff, especially any depictions of Greek mythology. For as long as I’ve known him, I’ve never heard of him dating anyone.” The more she spoke about him, the more she seemed to get tense, like she was reciting a speech and it was coming out the wrong way. “One thing everyone knows about him, and this may be where the whole power vibe comes from, is that he’s very open to helping anyone out, but for a price. So, like, if I wanted a cherry-apple red 1968 Mustang, I could go to him, make a deal with him, and literally, the next day, the car would be at my house with the keys in the ignition and a full tank of gas.”

  “What does he ask for in return?” Reese asked as they exited the school. From the corner of her eye, she could spot her mom waiting in the car.

  “Sometimes it’s money with added interest,” Piper answered, shrugging her shoulders. “Other times it’s something obscure, like a random article of clothing he saw you wear that one time or a dance at one of the school dances. And then there’s the favor.”

  “A favor?” Reese asked. “Like, he just asks for a favor?” Piper nodded. “Who would agree to that?”

  “You’d be surprised how desperate people can be,” Piper pointed out. “Then again, you’d be surprised that Henry can get you whatever you want if you just ask.”

  “What happens when someone breaks a deal?” Reese wondered out loud.

  “That never happens,” Piper said so seriously Reese felt a shiver slid down her back. “Henry will make sure you honor a deal in some way. I think that’s why everyone in school, even the teachers and administrators, both fear and respect him. It’s probably the reason why Gabe didn’t try anything with you Friday night. Henry might be able to use it against Gabe in some way in the future. It’s weird, actually. Everyone knows who he is, but I get the feeling that no one likes him.”