I ducked under his arm. “Goodnight Riley.” I smiled, and then turned to James. “Goodnight.” He nodded politely at me.
I heard Riley shouting after me, “You’ll give into me one of these days, Princess.”
Silly boys, always thinking they were Prince Charming. Riley had been calling me “Princess” forever. He had seen a picture of me with my dad, dressed up as Cinderella and Prince Charming for one of my birthdays as a kid, and got a kick out of it. Since then, he’d been calling me “Princess.”
I headed down the stairs of the apartment building and rounded the corner to get to the path home where I bumped into another couple going at it. Geez, love is in the air this year! Scratch that, it was probably just lust and alcohol.
The guy looked up at me and I realized the couple was Ashley and Devon. Ah, love for her then and lust for him. I wanted to throw up at the sight of her tongue down his throat and his hands exploring her body in ways that should have been publically embarrassing for her. Come on, Ashley! When Devon made eye contact with me I could swear his eyes were glowing. His cheeks were a bit sunken in and his skin looked dull as well. He had definitely looked more attractive inside. Out here he looked crazy. Clearly, I must have had more to drink than I thought.
“Ummm … sorry guys, I was just heading home. Thanks for the party, Ash. See you tomorrow!”
I rushed away from them as quickly as I could without breaking into an all-out sprint and headed towards the path. Why had this been such a weird evening with Ashley’s beau? Had his eyes actually been glowing? No, don’t be silly, I laughed, shaking my head at how ridiculous that sounded, even if it was just in my thoughts.
Ashley’s apartment is only about a five-minute walk from our apartment, so after a minute or two on the path, I could see the lights of my complex. The clearing of the woods was visible when a low snarling noise caught my attention. It sounded far off in the distance, but it was still definitely a sound I was not used to hearing on my walk home. I turned around in order to look back towards the woods I had just passed through. The news story I’d heard earlier flashed through my head, almost like a warning. Then, I felt a chill down my spine. Just hurry home and lock the door, simple enough. It wasn’t that much further. Turning back around to continue towards my building, I was abruptly stopped in my tracks.
Standing right in front of me was a shaggy, growling animal. It was barring its teeth at me and almost looked like it was trying to make eye contact. Closing my eyes, I shook my head in an attempt to regain some sobriety. When I reopened them, the scene in front of me hadn’t changed. Between shaking my head and the sobering adrenaline pumping through my veins, I was provided enough respite from the effects of the alcohol to feel certain that this was no illusion. I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t know how to react.
If I screamed, I was sure someone would hear me. I was close enough to my apartment where neighbors should be around. That is, if they weren’t out partying. I almost always headed back earlier than the rest of my friends. What if I had headed back earlier than the rest of the college student population in general? No one would hear me.
We were at a standstill. Do I scream and make the animal nervous or do I just stand there waiting for it to leave? I’d never even seen an animal like this up close before. It worried me how similar this animal looked to the drawing the news crews had been showing on T.V. earlier in the evening. This wasn’t a hiking trail, though. This was a path near a town with lots of people. What in the world was the thing doing in a populated area like this?
As if it were reading my thoughts, the beast growled and put a paw forward towards me, its sharp claws digging into the dirt path. I held up my hands, trying to somehow get a message across that I wasn’t going to hurt the stupid creature. The huge wolf tilted its head as if it was enjoying watching the panic trickle over me like melting ice. I was frozen in place, and unable to make any kind of movement at this point. This was bad.
To my right there was rustling, as if trees and branches were being pushed out of the way. A blur shot across the path at the wolf. Both the blur and the wolf disappeared the second it happened. That's when I felt something like a truck plow into me, knocking me off my feet, but surprisingly, not injuring me in any way.
I was on the ground, dazed and a bit winded from the sudden jolt. My eyes had been closed from the impact and when I opened them, I was alone. There was no wolf, no blurry hurling objects, nothing. It was as if none of it had been real.
Sitting up, I shook my head as if trying to shake off a bad dream. What in the world had just happened to me? I rolled myself up onto my hands and knees carefully. Am I dreaming?
"Ariya?"
A soft voice came from the path in the direction of Ashley's apartment. Please, please, don't let that be who it sounds like, I prayed. Struggling, my body refused to cooperate in time for me to get to my feet before the person calling my name came around the bend. My worst fears were confirmed. It was James. Of course he'd be the one to find me like this.
"Ariya, are you all right?" Concern laced through his beautiful voice.
I forced myself to chuckle through my embarrassment.
"I'm the biggest klutz ever. I'm fine." A smile came easier than I thought it would.
It's not like I could tell him the truth. I didn't even know the truth. What should I say, Well James, a second ago there was a wolf looking like he wanted to attack me, and then two blurry objects came out of nowhere. One hit the wolf and one hit me, which is why I’m on the ground out here. No, he already probably assumed I was crazy after finding me on my hands and knees in the woods in the middle of the night.
I finally had the wherewithal to stand. I felt his hands clasp around my arms, helping me up. It felt like he had just shocked me and my stomach filled with, well, actually I wasn’t sure what this feeling was. Desire? I can’t say that it was a familiar feeling. Holy cow, Ariya, I thought, knock it off!
He continued helping me until I was fully standing. I pulled away, feeling like if he continued to touch me, I'd do something embarrassing like try to kiss him.
"Sorry," I mumbled. A perfect sounding laugh came from him. I was sure my jaw had dropped slightly at my amazement that such a sound even existed.
"Why are you apologizing?" It was rhetorical, so I chose to ignore it.
"What are you doing out here?” I asked, curiously.
He smiled, "I live in one of the houses past these apartments." He nodded his head in the direction of my complex.
"You live on Shab Row?"
Shab Row was the only set of houses past our apartment and it tended to be the wealthy area. I knew the Dean of Kingsbrook lived in one of those houses, and that they were some of the oldest, but fanciest in Mineral Point. He seemed uncomfortable at my shock.
"My ... uh, parents thought it would be best that I had a quiet place for myself. To study." He shrugged, and I was impressed. Smart and gorgeous, he couldn't be real, could he?
"Nice. Well, I’d better get going. Thank you for the help." Walking away now could end all further awkwardness, on my part.
"May I escort you home?" He took a step towards me.
Escort me? What century was I in?
"I live in those apartments," I said, nodding my head towards the direction of the lighted area ahead of us. "It's not far."
"Well, you did fall already. Maybe I'll just walk behind you to ensure it doesn't happen again." He grinned, and it was my turn to laugh.
"Okay, you're right. Thanks."
I knew I was blushing, but I was thankful for the dark sky and hoped it hid the color of my face. We began the trek back to my apartment complex. It really wasn't that much farther from where we were.
"How was your first Kingsbrook party?” I asked, wanting to hear his voice again.
"It has proven to be an interesting evening."
He smiled down at me and I turned my face to try to hide the embarrassment his comment caused. This is what I had been hoping to avoid. Teasing was fi
ne, but his presence did something to me I wasn’t used to feeling. Comments I could normally laugh off felt out of the ordinary.
"Yes well, it's not every day you get to rescue a clumsy senior on her way home from a party, I guess." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes more at myself than at James.
He beamed at me, causing another flip-flop sensation to course through me. This was ridiculous. No man should make me feel this way. Maybe Caroline was right; it had been awhile since I’d had a full-blown crush. Perhaps I had just forgotten the feeling.
"Hopefully, you don't make it a habit."
"Oh, it’s too late for that, the clumsiness is a habit. However, having a stranger find me on my hands and knees in the woods is not, so I can at least try to work on that."
"I wouldn't say I'm a complete stranger." He raised his eyebrow as he teased me.
I narrowed my eyes at him jokingly. "We'll see."
We were at the stairs leading up to my building when I thought of one more thing to bring up.
"Could you maybe not mention finding me on the ground?" He tilted his head curiously at me as if he didn't understand why I would request something like that. "I know it would be an awesome story at our next get together," I started to explain," but Caroline tends to be a bit of a mother hen when it comes to me. She can get overly protective, and if she knows I can't even make it home on my own unscathed, I might not be let out of her sight for awhile." I chuckled and James nodded, knowingly. Did he really understand?
"Sure. It'll be our secret. Goodnight, Ariya." His smile was contagious, and my mouth was turned up in an over-the-top grin in response.
"Thanks, James, for walking me home. Goodnight."
I opened my door and shut it quickly. Leaning my head against the door, I tried to wipe the grin that was making my cheeks ache off of my face. I'll try to play it a bit cooler next time I see him. I tried to convince myself. Yeah, right.
After tossing my keys on the table by the front door, I went to get ready for bed. It was a slow process since my mind was on constant replay of the evening. The encounter in the woods with that animal should have caused me more concern, or at least frightened me. Instead, the giddiness I felt walking home with James eclipsed any fears I previously had.
Shaking James from my thoughts rather forcefully, my brain focused on the incident with the wolf. What had that been? Had the wolf been toying with me? Was that even possible? Had it truly been about to attack? Was it the same wolf that the hikers had seen in the news? So many questions spilled through my mind that I felt like my head was going to explode.
Besides just the wolf, there was that strange object that had knocked me out of the wolf’s path. What in heaven's name would have been able to do that? Maybe I had been drunk and imagined most of it. Could alcohol cause such a vivid imagination? Perhaps that was it. I'd talk to Caroline about it tomorrow.
I had just told James not tell Caroline about finding me on the ground, but what if I didn’t say something and she ended up getting hurt by the wolf thing? Crap! I was going to get hell from her for this. I’d probably never go home alone again. My conscience won out after my imagination put into vivid scenes Caroline getting attacked because she wasn’t aware of what was around her. I decided to err on the side of caution and warn her to be careful.
I put my phone down after pushing the “send” button and stared at my ceiling. My willpower was now focused on trying to stay awake until Caroline got home so I could ask her whether or not she had seen the animal. Now that I’d told her about the wolf, I might as well tell her the rest of it. I started fading in and out of sleep, but fought it by pulling out my book to read.
There was a flurry at the door. I heard it slam shut, followed by the sound of keys hitting the table. Uh, oh, were she and Nick fighting? It would be wrong to eavesdrop or listen in. I decided I could pretend I was asleep, and then we could just catch up tomorrow. I slid my book under the covers and scooted down, trying to be quiet. Throwing the covers up close to my chin, I steadied my breathing into longer, heavier sighs.
Sometimes when Caroline got too protective of me, I would sleep when I wasn’t in a talking mood, so I had lots of experience. I could usually fool her. She was probably that way because she was an only child like me, so that pushed her to look out for me. She always threw in my face the fact that she was older and supposedly wiser. She was only a couple months older, officially, but she still used that as a reason to be the big-sister figure.
My door cracked open slowly and I knew she was checking to make sure I was asleep. Then it closed. I could still hear muffled voices coming from the living room.
“She’s sleeping. He’s over-reacting. I can handle this. Just because my father isn’t the best there ever was doesn’t mean I’m not great at what I do. She’s my best friend. Of course, I want to keep her safe. It wasn’t a close call.”
“I know, babe, but you just have to go with the team thing. It’s too much for one person right now, no matter who you are.” Nick’s voice was soothing, trying to calm Caroline from whatever had upset her. What was she talking about?
“I think he’s confused about his feelings and he’s taking it out me … it’s the first time he…”
The rest of the conversation was muddled completely. A door had opened and closed, so that must mean they were now in Caroline’s bedroom.
What in the world were they talking about? Sitting up in bed, I tried to process what I’d heard. It had been a strange conversation. Was she talking about me when she said her “best friend?” Whose father was the best and at what? I wanted to knock on her door and talk to her, but the excitement of the evening was catching up to me. My body slowly began shutting down. I was out without much of a fight.
Chapter 3
I jerked awake again and realized that my leg was spasming. How many times was I going to have that sensation when I woke up? I complained about it to Caroline a few weeks ago when it had started. Her response was that everyone gets these dreams, and that stress could also bring them on. If that’s true, I must be subconsciously stressed all the time.
I hated waking up so suddenly. It made me feel like I didn’t get a good night’s sleep. I peeked over at my dresser to look at my clock and saw that it was 7:30am. I almost always woke up early after an evening of drinking. I stretched out as far as I could and then relaxed my body. My mind wandered back to the events from the night before, and the wolf encounter. Did Caroline end up seeing it? I asked myself.
I didn’t even know how to approach the conversation I’d overheard last night. Maybe it wasn’t even about me. She had made sure I was asleep, which meant it was none of my business.
I had self-defense classes early at 8:30 am on Saturdays. I had been taking them since I was a kid, because my grandfather had insisted. His desire for me to be able to protect myself had been so intense that I had to ask my mom why he was so adamant about it. Apparently, he had done the same with her until I was old enough to start training, then he transferred all the self-defense attention to me.
I loved my grandfather, but after my grandmother died, everyone claims he went a little crazy. I asked him why he wanted me in self-defense so much, and he said he swore he would make the family stronger when my grandmother died. My grandmother died of a heart attack, so I never really understood how those things were connected. I don’t think any kind of self-defense can save you from a heart attack.
When I was getting ready to go to college, he said he would pay for all my schooling if I continued taking a self-defense class once a week. He passed away when I was in my sophomore year, but even in his will, my college money would only get allotted to me if I could show the lawyers that I had been attending self-defense class. It boggled my mind how serious he was about it, but I guess he was just very protective. I was the only grandchild he had, so maybe he felt obligated to be that way towards me. If it was what he wanted, I didn’t mind. Plus, it couldn’t hurt anything to know self-defense.
M
y freshman year, I found a Saturday morning class offered by our school at their gym. Since I almost always got up early anyway, it worked out perfectly.
I got dressed and thought how good it’d feel to run at the gym a bit before class. It would give me time to think. By the time I got back, Caroline should be awake and I could download with her about the previous night. Perfect.
It was only a fifteen-minute walk to the gym. The run before my hour-long class had felt good and helped vent out some frustrations from the strangeness of the evening before. My body ached about half way through the class and I noticed my muscles felt fatigued even though I really hadn’t pushed myself that hard on the run. Strange, I thought.
The instructor nodded at me when I walked in and took my usual place in the group fitness studio. Class started and I blocked out the fatigue and focused on the motions we were covering today. This was a place where I could clear my mind and just be. I loved being able to do that.
The class ended a few minutes early, so I took advantage and stretched out. Energy seemed to drain out of me the minute I didn’t have the class to think about. Maybe it was from not sleeping well that my body felt tired now, even if this was my normal routine.
I headed out the doors of the group fitness room, fidgeting with my gym bag that had somehow tangled its straps around so that I couldn’t pull it up on my shoulder, and collided with someone.
“I’m sorry,” I said, gasping from the shock of the run-in. When I looked up to try to salvage a weak apology smile, my heart skipped a beat. “James?” I said, surprised.
He looked bashful for a moment, which made no sense to me, almost like he had been caught in the act of something, but what?
“Hey, Ariya.”
“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.” I shuffled my bag and finally got it hiked up on my shoulder. Now, all I needed was an exit strategy. Great, Miss Graceful strikes again.
“Were you in the self-defense class?” His eyes were dancing as if the thought entertained him.
“Oh, yeah. I usually come to this one each week.” My smile was a bit more relaxed this time.
Protected (Book 1 in the Ariya Adams trilogy) Page 3