“Sure. I don’t got anywhere to be for a half hour or so. What do you need?”
“As you may have surmised, I injured my leg and I’m bandaged tighter than a drum. If you give me a ride to my apartment, I’d appreciate it.” Jacob pointed to his knee and the cane.
“Sure. I can do that. No problem. I’ve injured myself a couple of times on the football field and got some buddies to make sure I still made it to the pub.”
As they waited for the last student to leave, Jacob collected his things. He locked the classroom door before he followed Marcus to the student parking lot. He succumbed to the urge to glance across the lot for an ancient VW van.
With a sigh of disappointment, he recalled she had no classes until Tuesday. Jacob imagined her sprawled naked on her bed, resting, beneath her butterflies. Would she dream about the two glorious nights spent in each other’s arms? Would she remember him with pleasure, or regret?
Though Jacob lamented having met her, he cherished the intimacy they’d shared. Their lovemaking, special and fulfilling, faded like a puff of smoke when Marcus’ voice interrupted.
“Hold on. Gotta unlock it.”
Destined to run into her on campus, or downtown, Jacob ought to prepare for the inevitable. If and when they crossed paths, he would do his best to appear indifferent.
“What do I know about her, anyway,” he said. “I neglected to ask what major she pursued, or where she’d been brought up, or if she had family.”
Normal people discussed such topics when dating.
“But, we never dated,” he whispered.
“Did you say something, professor?”
“It’s nothing.”
His knee pain made him wince, forcing him to stop and catch his breath. When Marcus opened up the passenger door, a whiff of marijuana filled Jacob’s nostrils. Sliding in rear-first, he settled his aching body inside the luxury sedan. Once Marcus turned the key in the ignition, rap music blared from the rear speakers.
“Nice car,” Jacob said. He ran his fingers along the smooth leather seat, and then spied the premium GPS system.
“Yeah, my dad’s a car dealer. With all the advertising he gets for me as captain of the football team, it’s a write-off,” he snickered. “All I have ta’ do is keep it clean and runnin’ so’s they can pawn it off on some schmuck next year. Once I get to the big time, I’ll have a fleet of cars.” He grinned.
Jacob settled back while Marcus pulled out of the lot. Did Marcus believe himself pro material? Even players from the finest colleges in the East had a hard time turning pro.
“Where do you live?”
Marcus’s question pulled him back to the present. Jacob guided him onto Main Street for the quick trip to his apartment, west of downtown Fairfield.
“Nice address,” Marcus said as he inspected the tidy homes and vintage apartment buildings. Thick trees still holding onto their mantle of golden leaves dotted both sides of the street. The sedan skidded to a stop in front of Jacob’s building.
“The apartment house is quite old, but in fine repair. I love the gingerbread trim.” He remembered how Destiny had complimented the white clapboard siding and its contrasting shutters painted a soft, dove gray.
“A might too pretty for me. Off-campus housing is okay, though my roommate is an idiot.”
“This suits me and is fairly close to campus, but I can’t walk or drive with this leg. That reminds me…” Jacob realized. “I left my vehicle at the Wolf Rock Trailhead parking lot. Do you have a friend? I need it driven back here before the police ticket it, or the stereo gets stolen.” Jacob forced a smile. The pain clamping around his knee steadily increased in this position, bent inside the sleek sedan. He feared he was due for a night of relentless torment.
And me without pain pills…or Destiny’s comforting caress.
“Sure, I got a friend. Give me a key and show me where to park it.” Marcus unfolded his massive body from the sedan.
“Come in and I’ll show you my parking spot.” As Jacob limped to his bedroom for an extra set of keys, he watched the young man sweep a quick glance over the fine furniture and the paintings.
“That’s some stereo system,” he said.
“Yes.” Jacob returned from the bedroom and added, “I have an extensive music collection. It’s one reason a friend suggested I install a security system.”
“Good idea. Some joker’s been lifting CDs all around campus. He better not come near my stuff.” He sneered and then slammed one fist inside the other.
“Here’s my spare key. The Land Rover starts hard and runs rough. I keep meaning to take the beast to a local garage. Park it, lock the doors, and keep the key until you see me Wednesday in class. Come into the kitchen,” he added. He pointed out the window at the back lot.
“No problem. I should be able to get to it tonight. You don’t want to leave a vehicle sitting around a lonely place like that too long, especially a nice Land Rover. Leave everything to me and call if you need a ride.”
Jacob jotted down Marcus’s cell phone number and walked him to the door.
“You will be attending all my classes this semester, is that correct?” Marcus did not seem the type to sit through art history three times a week.
“Yeah, I kinda’ like this art stuff. I got a good memory, too, so your quizzes are easy. I need the credits. I’ll never be no artist, but it fits my busy schedule. Well, I gotta’ blow. Can’t keep a lady waiting,” he sang, as he headed down the steps.
Jacob sighed. He closed the door, then reset the alarm. He’d showered at Destiny’s cabin that morning—alone. Clomping into his gourmet kitchen, Jacob scrounged inside the freezer and found a lasagna dinner. After popping it in the microwave, he poured some red wine into a crystal goblet, sat on a stool at his granite-topped kitchen island, and contemplated the silence of the room.
Without her.
Stop thinking like this. You like being alone, don’t you?
After months in a noisy, crowded hospital, and marriage to Penelope, this peace and quiet ought to make him happy.
Jacob limped to the stereo and put on some jazz, then returned to his wine. The effort tired him out. His knee throbbed. When the microwave beeped, he toddled back to his brightly lit kitchen and removed the platter, but skipped transferring it onto a proper dish.
He ate his supper alone in his kitchen. Why bother to carry his dinner to the dining room? Silence loomed through the house like a cave. So quiet.
Dead quiet.
The silence sucked all residual joy from his body, and his head pounded, but not as painfully as the lonesome pounding of his heart.
CHAPTER 10
Destiny chucked several soiled towels into the washer, then wiped down the shower. Had it been only two nights since she and Jacob had shared the cozy shower’s velvet heat? Her body thrummed with remembered passion, while her stomach clenched.
“Don’t think about it,” she scolded the image staring back from the mirror. What occurred between them had made her body still tremble.
“I feel like I’ve known him all my life,” she sighed. An unfamiliar stirring deep inside had commenced the minute she’d spied him on the ground beside the trail. Now, her body buzzed with a yearning to make love to him.
She yanked the sheets off her bed and raised them to her nose. His scent lingered, hitting her with a wave of desire, and making her feel faint. She had never made the first move on a man in her entire life, so what made her choose him? When his magnificent body leaned against the shower wall the afternoon they met, it radiated with a childish call for help. The need for support, due to his injured knee, kept him standing still and quiet. Tall and wet, with wavy hair smelling of her vanilla shampoo, his presence and vulnerability drew her in. It had to be the only explanation for her actions.
Meeting him, she feared, had changed her life forever.
Yes, she’d seduced him, and no, she was not proud of her actions. A low curse slipped from her lips and she cranked the washer
dial to ‘start’. She wanted him to make love to her again, and soon, but would he? Until he returned, she’d have to hope they’d cross paths at school. Maybe she’d catch a glimpse of him at the dining hall.
Padding barefoot to her tiny kitchen, she checked the freezer. “Ah,” she cried, “here’s a piece of Tilly’s lasagna.” Her boss usually sent her home with a foil packet of something.
She’s so sweet. Thinks I’m wasting away. Great cook, too. The college is lucky to have her in charge of the dining hall.
As the timer on the microwave ticked off the minutes, she recalled Tilly’s always-smiling face. Destiny’s mother was no longer in her life so it was refreshing to hear Tilly sound like one. Her visits became one of the reasons Destiny kept her floors swept and her bed made. Tilly might drop by, lugging a loaf of homemade bread, or a foil-wrapped roast chicken.
“Thank goodness she didn’t invite herself over this weekend. She would’ve dropped dead at the sight of a man in my bed.”
A rare commodity back in these woods, company coming to visit sounded great to Destiny. Even finding a plumber had been a chore, but the shower needed fixing and the landlord was nowhere to be found. If the men hadn’t fixed her plumbing, then she never would have thought to bring Jacob home. Then, they’d never have made love.
“Wow!” she laughed. She should have tipped the guy, and his creepy brother, too.
Aching to keep busy, she ventured outside and swept leaves off her porch. She returned her spare key to its hiding place under the potted mum. She would have to find a new hiding spot, and soon. The frost would kill the hardy little plant within a few weeks. When she first moved here, she’d rarely locked her door, but with her growing uneasiness concerning the attentiveness of both Marcus Benton and Pete Thayer, she locked it all the time.
Maybe I’m paranoid.
She had a feeling someone had recently entered her cabin. Nothing appeared touched, taken, or out of place, but it still gave her the shakes. She shook now. She agreed with the other ladies, though. Pete strutted around like a handsome devil, but he did nothing for her. Not like Jacob.
Marcus…huge and full of himself, pride in his athletic prowess stroked his ego and made him feel free to throw her compliments. Too bad his comments hinted at other more intimate activities he’d like to share. She shivered at the thought of lying naked under two-hundred-and-seventy-five pounds of sweaty muscles.
And Pete…Destiny’s body jerked at the sudden memory of a dreadful evening at nearby Tanya’s Grill. The evening had begun pleasantly enough with friends. Coming back from the ladies room, she’d overheard Pete talking on the payphone to some girl. He’d hung up when she walked past, and cornered her in the narrow hall.
Harsh, red-rimmed blue eyes glazed over, as they stared into hers. He reeked of alcohol. Mud coated his work boots, and one beefy palm slapped against the wall for balance, trapping her.
“Hey there, Destiny. How about you and me tip-toe off to some quiet place and get to know each other better.” His leer had set her pulse ratcheting higher with distaste. He had wobbled, and if the wall hadn’t been handy, he’d have fallen to the floor.
She remembered how she had pushed him aside and escaped without uttering a response, shaking with revulsion all the way back to her table. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him stagger back to his barstool. She shivered under his scrutiny for the next fifteen minutes, but he’d kept his distance.
Other times, his actions proved even more disturbing, such as when they passed on the sidewalk, downtown. He’d smile while following her with his gaze.
Why she rejected Pete mystified her. At parties, all the women commented on his thick golden hair, feathered back from his tanned face. His chiseled jaw line complemented a straight nose. Striking blue eyes, when sober, observed everything.
***
She stepped outside. The temperature cooled once the September sun had set. Hugging her arms to her chest, she tasted the swirling night air, heavy with the scent of the balsam firs, towering over her cabin. The chilly breeze kissed her cheeks. Small birds feasted at her feeder while a flickertail squirrel sat munching a nut in her dooryard.
She tramped around the side of the cabin and grabbed a couple of pieces of firewood from the woodpile. Her landlord kindly kept her well-stocked with seasoned logs for her potbellied stove. As her only heat source, it came with the rent. Swinging around to go back inside, her arms laden with wood, she glanced down.
“Is that a joint?” She looked around for others but only found the one. What should she do with a marijuana cigarette? More importantly, how did one end up here?
Maybe the plumber or his goofy brother dropped it.
Grunting with effort under the wood’s weight, she climbed the porch steps. She dumped the logs and filled the wood crib, which sat near the front door. With winter on the way, she had to be ready for power outages. She glanced at her emergency kit wrapped inside a bright pink backpack, stored near the wood crib. At times, she welcomed nights without power, but she knew enough to stay prepared for anything.
The quiet bliss of silence and a lack of electrical lighting couldn’t hold a candle to the soft crackle of a wood fire and the gentle flicker of candles. The wonderful scent of burning hardwood filled her entire cabin, while the heat made her cabin a cozy haven. On winter nights, she’d cuddle in an old stuffed chair under her red goose down comforter, and covet its warmth. With the kettle on top of the potbellied stove, she’d boil water, and sip instant cocoa with tiny marshmallows.
I’d love to share that peace and warmth with Jacob.
“Stop thinking of him, you fool!” He wanted out of her life. He had so much as said so. Plucking the joint from her front jeans pocket, she cradled it between two fingers and then jogged to the bathroom and flushed it. Drugs and chemicals would never find a home anywhere near her.
No sense me complaining to the plumber. I’ll never see him again, Lord willing.
Thinking of addictions, the image of a naked Jacob Oliver popped into her mind. His breath had tasted of mint and his body smelled fresh, like new earth and clean rain. His secrets for living well were simple, such as the wonderful deli sandwich, pickles, and bag of granola he had pulled from his backpack.
Their first night together had been a feast in more ways than one. When both awakened after making love, she’d poured cheap wine into plastic cups. They had eaten in bed, and their food had tasted better than any steak dinner at Tanya’s Grill. She could still smell the cinnamon and apples in his kiss.
Pushing those memories onto a back burner, she ate her warmed-up lasagna and munched on a juicy red apple. After she sipped some tart red wine, Destiny showered then slipped under clean sheets. It was still early, but she’d promised Professor Braun she’d help her set up the lab at Grissom Hall.
Professor Juliet Braun was big on labs. Her students got down and dirty. Tomorrow’s lab had to do with lava flows and mudslides and their effect on topography. Destiny’s job consisted of setup and cleanup. Worst of all, Juliet had three classes tomorrow, back to back.
“I know you think I’m nuts having a lab on volcanic action when the college sits at the foot of a large weather-worn granite mountain,” Professor Braun said just the other day. Destiny laughed with her then had gazed up toward the peak of her mountain. Its once peaceful solitude had nearly morphed into exquisite pleasure, once she’d met a man in need.
Sighing, she set her newest romance novel on her nightstand, then snuggled deeper under the covers. Her eyelids drooped, so she snatched her alarm clock, set it for a God-awful early hour, then closed her eyes. Alone in the dark of her cozy cabin, she drifted off to sleep wondering how Jacob spent his evening.
***
Jacob finished his microwave lasagna and promised never to buy it again. With his drink’s bitterness coating his tongue, he dumped the rest of his wine down the sink. He washed the glass and utensils and left them in the drainer to dry.
I really ought to get
off my ass and buy real food.
Compared to the banquet he and Destiny shared in her little bed, everything had lost its appeal. Snatches of tastier memories made him harden, like the salty taste of Destiny’s skin, just below her right ear. The delicious way she winked whenever he suggested she move a certain way. Or, the mouth-watering vanilla-scented hair tumbling over her shoulders.
Shaking off the memories of how he’d taught her lovemaking techniques she said she’d only read about, Jacob glanced out his kitchen window. His Land Rover had returned to its designated parking spot behind his apartment building. Marcus had done what he asked.
“He’s a good kid.” He felt a sudden wave of depression. Marcus Benton seemed more like the type of boy Destiny should date—handsome, a popular athlete, and about her age. He rubbed his chest with his fist at the sudden ache, while reminding his brain that life goes on.
Taking careful steps, he limped to his bedroom, and dropped his clothes on the floor. Gritting his teeth, he slid his swollen body into bed. Earlier, he’d called his doctor who said to treat the pain with over-the-counter medication. If the swelling didn’t go down, he’d go in and get it checked.
He was squeamish about doctors, since he’d spent many weeks in a hospital followed by months of rehabilitation. He’d take it easy and heal at home. He sat on the cool sheets and unwound the bandage from around his left leg. The swelling had subsided, but a nasty purple bruise snaked all the way around his knee.
A groan erupted the moment he lay down on his back. The mournful sound echoed in the empty bedroom. He stuffed a pillow under his bad knee to keep it immobile. Relaxed, but still hurting, he tried to sleep—not easy, with pain emanating from both a swollen knee and a breaking heart.
***
Marcus itched to get high. He cursed his luck for being out of weed then figured he must have given his last one to his roommate, Roger. The jerk kept begging off him without the means to pay him back. Even now, he had to drive Roger back to town.
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