by Kayla Myles
No, there was no way this was happening. I was not after that bastard’s approval, and I most certainly wasn’t having sexual thoughts about him. That was just certifiably insane.
“You’re just having a nice swim with Leila, and you know that Leila is a critic when it comes to all things fashion.” I told myself, nodding as I found a legitimate reason for worrying. “Yeah, that’s right. You just don’t want Leila to embarrass you by saying you look like a tramp,” in front of him.
Jesus, snap out of it already!
I shook my head and took a deep breath before grabbing my white-rimmed sunglasses and looking at myself in the mirror one last time. Yeah, I think this will do.
I took my stuff and left the dressing room, almost bumping into Jason who was waiting outside of the door. I glared at him before walking away, refusing to talk to him. After what happened the other day, I woke up to see him attaching cameras all over the place. I asked him what his problem was and he said he had to put surveillance cameras all over the perimeter, just in case someone trespassed into my property. He also said it was to keep track of people who came and went, and I told him it was unnecessary. He completely dismissed what I said and installed those damn cameras anyway.
And earlier, when I was about to get out of the house to come to this sports center, the buffoon stopped me and asked where I was going.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m going to the sports center with Leila. We’re going swimming,” I said, annoyed and feeling like I had an overprotective parent.
“Why would you need to go there when you had a perfectly good swimming pool here?” he asked, and I glared at him.
“Does it matter to you where we swim? It’s more fun there. There’s a lot of people,” I said. Duh!
“There’s also a higher chance of getting into trouble. A lot of people mean a lot of suspects,” he said, and my mouth went agape. Was he really saying that?
“Jesus, Jason. You can’t forbid me to go anywhere just because there are a lot of people there. You can’t tell me where to go, what to do, because you’re not being paid to do that. You’re paid to protect me, not shelter me.”
I had a hell of a lot more verbal ammunition to exhaust on him but he raised his hands up in surrender, stopping me from speaking.
“Okay, you’re right. I’m sorry,” he said, and I huffed, crossing my arms in front of my chest and looking away. “Tell me where it is and I’ll drive you there, then,”
And that was how the nice relaxing day I wanted to spend with my best friend became an outing for a trio. I’m trying to de-stress, and this is not helping.
I went out towards the swimming pool, and Leila was already lying down on the beach chair with her head tilted up as she sunbathed. I sat down on her left and grabbed the bottle of sunscreen on the table, squirting a small amount on my palm before rubbing it all over my hand.
Leila turned her head a little towards me and I could see her eyes roving over my body with a critical eye. She stayed quiet for a long moment, making me nervous a little that I had just failed in my mission to look spectacular.
“That looks nice on you,” she said lightly, and I let out a sigh of relief. “Did he see you in that thing?” she asked, and I looked at her, pretending like I didn’t know who she was talking about.
“Who are you talking about?” I asked innocently, and she tilted her sunglasses down so she could look at me in disbelief, her eyebrows raised.
“You can’t expect me to believe you don’t have a clue,” she said, before pushing her shades back over her eyes and leaning back to soak up the sun’s rays. “But for your sake, I’ll rephrase my question: Did your sexy as fuck bodyguard see you in that tiny thing you call a swimsuit?”
I rolled my eyes at her.
“Probably? I don’t know. I almost bumped into him on my way out of the dressing room,” I answered.
“That man is so hot. I’m amazed you’ve lasted this long without jumping him,” Leila said, and I scoffed at her.
“Excuse me? He is so not all that,” I said, lying through my teeth. He totally is, but Leila didn’t need to know that. She laughed sardonically, though, seeing through my statement.
“Sure, and I’m the most gullible person in America,” she countered, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “There’s no shame in admitting your bodyguard is off the charts sexy as fuck, Ronnie. It won’t make you any less human,” she admonished.
“Yeah, well, so what if he’s hot? The rest of his qualities overturn his stellar physical attributes, anyway,” I said, puffing my cheeks.
“So you admit he’s got a stellar physique, hm?” Leila said, and I winced at my blunder. “And what are these less than desirable qualities you’re talking about?”
I spot Jason on the other end of the pool, watching me and everybody within the vicinity closely, not even trying to blend in by wearing swimming shorts or anything. He caught my eye and I smirk at the chance to talk smack about him, a part of me hoping he could somehow read my lips and know every horrible thing I was going to say.
“He’s a grade A jerk, egotistical, creepily silent, bossy, self-centered and arrogant son of a bitch,” I told Leila.
“You do know that ‘egotistical’, ‘self-centered’, and ‘arrogant’ are synonymous with one another, right?” Leila asked.
“He’s too full of himself that it needs to be described multiple times,” I reasoned, making her giggle.
“You know, you are just making me more and more convinced you have the hots for him,” she said confidently, and I gaped at her. What, is she on drugs or something?
“Did you just not take into consideration that everything I listed off about him was terrible adjectives? Why would you even think I find him even the least bit attractive?” I asked.
“Oh, but on the contrary, I did consider them. As well as the unresolved sexual tension between you two that is so thick, I’m going to need a chainsaw to carve through it,” Leila answered.
“I hate him,” I said obstinately.
“There’s a thin line between ‘love’ and ‘hate’, sweetie,” she said, still not convinced.
I was about to tell her she was wrong when we heard a sudden scream coming from the pool.
“Hey! That kid! He’s drowning!” a man cried, and Leila and I watched in horror as a small child was flapping around in the middle of the pool, his head bopping up and down the water.
“Oh my God,” Leila uttered, bringing her hand up to her mouth as her face paled with fright. I looked around for a lifeguard when I saw Jason run toward the pool and dive in. He came up a couple of feet away from the kid and swam over to him, pulling him to his chest as he swam towards us.
He heaved the kid’s body over to the floor, while a couple of guys went and helped bring the kid up. He quickly climbed up to the surface and knelt at the kid’s side, checking his pulse and putting his ear right in front of the kid’s mouth.
“He’s not breathing,” I heard him whisper, and I watched him place both of his hands on top of the kid’s chest and started performing CPR.
I placed my hands together as I prayed for the kid to wake up when the little boy’s mouth gushed with water and then he started coughing. All of us heaved a sigh of relief as the little guy opened his eyes and Jason flopped onto his ass, his chest rising and falling heavily as he breathed.
“My baby! My baby!” someone shouted, and we watched a woman pulling another little girl by the arm run towards the crowd, pushing them away until she was right next to the little boy. She dropped to her knees and hugged the little boy to her chest, crying softly.
I smiled quietly at the touching moment between them before my eyes fell onto Jason, who silently accepted the crowd patting his back and telling him he did a good job. I felt Leila come up beside me, cupping her hand over my ear as she whispered.
“Does this make you change your mind a little about him?”
I said nothing in reply, but as I continued to stare
at Jason’s back, I had to admit maybe there was a piece of me that thought he wasn’t such a bad guy.
Maybe.
Chapter 11
He hummed as he worked, carefully snipping at the corners of the letter ‘H’ so it looked perfect. He took a glue stick from the other end of the table and applied it on the back of the piece he just finished before placing it carefully on the paper.
He smiled at his handiwork. The word he finished spelled ‘DEATH’. It was perfect. Just like the rest of his latest love letter for her. Perfect.
Perfect just like her, for that is the only thing she deserved.
Thirty-five characters to go and he’ll be finished. He’ll be able to send it to her soon. He could just imagine how excited she’ll be once she reads it. She would be so happy to see him. He was sure of it.
He looked at the time and grinned. He took off his gloves and placed them on the table, making sure it didn’t get the letter dirty. He stood up and walked over to his entertainment system, grabbing the remote to turn on the TV. He crouched down and stroked his chin, wondering what to play this time.
He snapped his fingers and pulled one of the DVDs from the pile, smiling at the picture of her face on the cover before opening the case and loading the disc on to his player. He sat down on his couch, grabbing a bag of chips from the top of his coffee table and waited for the opening credits to roll.
After the first few minutes, he smiled as she finally appeared on the screen.
There she was at last. His angel. His heart. His reason for being. And soon, they would be together forever. He couldn’t wait to touch her, see her, and feel her in the flesh, right before him.
He smiled and leaned over the table so he could touch the TV screen.
“Soon,” he murmured, stroking her cheek.
He leaned back and put some chips into his mouth, savoring the salty, cheesy flavor as he went back to admiring his Veronica Langley’s face.
Chapter 12
Jason
I swear to God, this girl is just a disaster waiting to happen.
I thought Henry and Sasha’s visit would clear everything up for her and put everything in perspective.
But alas, I was wrong.
Four hours earlier…
“Quiet down, buddy. Breakfast is almost ready,” I murmured. My stomach growls loudly in response and I snorted a little. I couldn’t believe I’ve reached the point of hunger where I had to talk to my own gut to get it to calm down.
“Did you just seriously talk to your stomach?” I heard a voice ask, and I looked behind me to see Veronica leaning against the little island, her head propped up with one hand.
There was no point hiding my stupid moment, so I chuckled and went back to frying my pancakes.
“Uh, yeah. I thought since my mental concentration didn’t work, I’d try to resort to negotiation,” I said, and she laughed at this. Her laughter sounded like little bells and it made my heart beat a little faster, which was surprising.
“Oh, and what did it say?” she asked, and I shrugged one shoulder.
“It said, ‘Go fuck yourself’,” I kidded, and she laughed some more.
I felt her come up beside me and she peered down at the bowl of pancake mix and the irregular shaped pancake I was currently flipping.
“What are you making?” she asked. Apparently it wasn’t obvious enough.
“Pancakes,” I answered. She nodded, and I caught her licking her lips a little. “Do you want some?” I asked, and she stared at me in surprise.
We ended up staring at each other for what felt like a long moment, which, in hindsight, was probably a bad thing because I was cooking, but thankfully (or not), we were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing.
The both of us quickly looked away from each other, her hurrying up to get the door while I cursed at my blackened and burnt pancake. I take it out of the pan and pour a new mix in, this time vowing to pay close attention.
“Hello, you two,” Henry greeted.
“Well, it’s good to see you two getting along with each other,” Sasha said, smiling at Veronica and I. Veronica winced at the remark but the both of us held off from contradicting her.
“So, what brings you guys here?” Veronica asked, clapping her hands together. “Last time I checked, we didn’t have anything important to discuss,” she said.
Both of our guests’ faces looked grim as they stared at us, and I finished flipping my perfect pancake onto a plate before turning the stove off. I wiped my hand on the dish rag before turning around to face them as I leaned on the kitchen counter behind me.
“We didn’t want to mess up your day today guys, but Henry and I thought the both of you should know about this,” Sasha started. She opened her bag and pulled out an envelope, handing it over to me. I frowned, taking it from her as Veronica stepped beside me to check the item out as well. I pulled the letter out from inside and opened it, tensing up immediately as I read it.
HELLO DARLING GIRL,
CAN’T WAIT TO FINALLY SEE YOU. FACE TO FACE.
OUR TIME WILL COME VERY SOON AND WHEN IT DOES, I PROMISE THAT NOTHING WILL EVER KEEP US AWAY FROM EACH OTHER AGAIN.
NOT EVEN DEATH.
I LOVE YOU.
The vein on my cheek started throbbing as I clenched my jaw, the slow rise of anger filling my entire system. I could feel Veronica’s breath hitch as she read the letter and I almost wanted to hold her in my arms and tell her that I was going to protect her from this crazy psychopath even if it was the last thing I do.
“We just got this letter this morning,”’ Henry murmured. He was looking at Veronica cautiously, like she was a doe in danger of running off any second.
“Did it come with anything else?” I asked, and Sasha looked over at Veronica before nodding slightly.
“It came with the carcass of a dead rat,” Sasha said, and Veronica’s face went green and she ran up the stairs to her room, clutching her stomach and covering her mouth with one hand.
I cursed out loud and I couldn’t help but glare at these two.
“Why would you even talk about this in front of her?” I asked, my anger brimming over the top. “Why the fuck would you need to do that?”
“Calm down, son,” Henry said, raising his hand like he was commanding me to heel. “Honestly, we didn’t expect Veronica to react like that. She seemed to handle the matter very well, what with the kidnapping attempt and whatnot,” Henry explained.
“And after Chase told us that the both of you weren’t exactly getting along well due to Ronnie’s refusal to cooperate, we thought that telling her about this would make her realize the gravity of the situation and make her realize you know what’s best for her right now,” Sasha said.
I sighed, scratching the back of my head in frustration. It was true that Veronica and I had been butting heads since day one, but earlier with the pancakes…I thought we were getting along well. But because of this, they probably killed any chance of Veronica and me getting along.
“Excuse me,” I said to them before climbing the stairs and knocking on her door.
“Go away, Sasha!” she yelled, and I winced as I heard her voice cracking. I opened the door slowly and peeked in. I saw her sitting in bed, covering her face with her hair as her shoulders rose up and down.
“Hey,” I said, and she looked up at me in surprise. My heart broke at the sight of her face, her eyes wet, and tears mixing with her mascara and trailing down her cheeks.
“Jason, wha-what are you doing here?” she asked, making a pathetic attempt at wiping her tears away.
“Are you alright?” I asked, and I mentally kicked myself.
Look at her, Jason. Does she look alright to you? That was the best thing you can come up with? You’re such an idiot.
She sniffled, not answering my question.
“Look, I know this is going to sound as nothing but empty words to you, but,” I stopped and knelt in front of her, putting my hands on each side of the bed, cagin
g her in. I looked up at her face solemnly, and her hazel eyes wide with wonder. “I won’t let that crazy fucker get anywhere near you. I’ll do everything in my power to protect you. I swear it,” I said.
“Are you sure?” she asked, and for the first time, I caught a glimpse of another part of her personality. She had always shown me her strong, independent side, but this timid, almost childlike shyness in both her demeanor and her voice was a new one.
I took hold of her hand and squeezed it gently, making her gasp.
“It’s my job. They wouldn’t have hired me if they thought I couldn’t do it,” I told her, smirking a little so she’d know I was kidding.
The corners of her mouth turned up a little and she squeezed my hand back. We stayed in that position staring at each other before she looked away and stood up.
“I need to let loose,” she announced, and then she opened her closet and started pulling clothes out one after another, throwing them on the bed. I frowned as I noticed that most of the clothes were short and sparkly, making me wonder what she was planning.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked.