Beautiful Beings

by Kailin Gow

  Everyone snickered and stared as I walked in, the girls with daggers in their eyes, the guys with curiosity and lust. The only friendly face in the room was Braxton, the seat in front of him empty and waiting for me.

  His gaze swept over me, taking in every detail. “You know, you sure looked hot when you first arrived here with that leather miniskirt and white shirt, but, dang, you know how to rock a school uniform.”

  “Thanks, I think I need a pick me up.”

  “St. James too rough for you?”

  “The homework certainly is. I don’t think I’ll ever get out from under the mountain of homework I have.”

  “I’m sure it’s not that bad. Why don’t you let me have a look at where you stand in your classes and I’ll see where I can lend a hand. I share most of your classes anyway, so I know where you should be.”

  I leaned in to take a good whiff at him.

  “What are you doing?” he asked with an unsure chuckle.

  “I smell an ulterior motive.”

  “If your parents are anything like mine were, they sent you here so you’d get the best education you could get. And remember, my uncle has a vested interest in keeping your father happy. So if I help you, you get better grades, your parents are pleased and my uncle is happy. Everyone wins.”

  Surprised by the sense of disappointment that suddenly crowded out all other emotions, I managed to hide my feelings. We were friends, after all. There was really no reason for him to have ulterior motives, nor any reason for me to be disappointed.

  “I win too, of course.”

  I could feel the bright and silly grin on my face before I could keep it from getting there.

  “Let’s start tonight,” he whispered as Mr. Monaghan cleared his throat to begin the class.

  By the end of the afternoon I was mentally drained and wondered how much studying I would actually get done.

  “Need a hand hauling the library you call your locker,” Brax said as he came up behind me.

  My locker was a little over-stuffed. “You’d think every teacher thought they were the only one. I got this ten pounder for math and look at this book,” I said as I pulled it out. “It’s a veritable cinder block. No wonder why kids our age are having back problems.”

  I shoved the cinder block into my back pack and carefully zipped it up, all the while praying the seams didn’t bust. Despite the leather school bag already slung over one shoulder, Braxton quickly reached down to pick it up.

  “You okay with all that?” I asked

  He cocked a brow of indignation and reached into my locker to take the small canvas bag that housed my science and history books. “Eyaw,” he whinnied as he walked off.

  Laughing behind my hand, I closed my locker and hurried after him. “I should probably tell my parents I won’t be home for dinner.”

  Shifting the weight of his load, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it over.

  Oblivious to how the instrument worked, I stared at the screen a moment.

  Braxton smiled, a warm smile that lacked all mockery or condescension. “Here, what’s your number?”

  There was something paternal in his manner, in the way he took care of me. He punched in the number I gave him and handed me the phone again.

  After leaving a brief message to my parents, I returned the phone to him, our fingers brushing together ever so slightly. We’d reached his car, a beautiful black Escalade.

  “Quite a chariot for a mule,” I teased.

  He opened my door, waited until I was comfortably seated in the cushy leather seat before going to the back to dump his weighty load.

  “Are you always such a gentleman?” I asked when he got in.

  “My father believed very much in treating women right, while my mother balanced that by reminding me that women were strong and capable of much more than men wanted to believe. Between them, I hope I have a healthy view of man/woman relations. There’s nothing wrong with being a gentleman, especially if it gets you a chance to be with a girl like you.”

  He drove off, his driving fluid and soothing. No quick passing, bumper hugging or tire screeching around curves as so many young men were apt to enjoy. He patiently waited at a corner as a young mother crossed the street pushing a baby carriage and holding the hand of a young child, and when another young man in a red Honda Civic rudely cut him off, he didn’t even furrow his brow, but simply relaxed the accelerator, letting the hot head go his merry way.

  The maturity with which he carried himself impressed me, perhaps even surpassing the great maturity I prided myself with. No doubt I would have honked my fury at the Civic.

  Once inside the raven gate, he pulled up in front of the imposing home and lugged out our many bags, then guided me through the mansion, straight to the back terrace. The house, now silent and bereft of any life, left me chilled and uncomfortable, and all the more eager to reach the sunny view with the eye-pleasing view.

  “Not quite the same atmosphere as last night,” Brax commented quietly.

  “Is it always like this?” I whispered with the fear of disturbing some unseen entity.

  “Pretty much.” He set the books down on the teak table.

  “I thought you had a lot of friends at St. James.” I settled into the chair that offered a glimpse of the Golden Gate.

  “Not so much friends as acquaintances. Like so many at the school, I got trapped into a clique, the obscenely rich clique. I tried hanging out with kids who… well, who weren’t as rich, but they didn’t want anything to do with me, as though I had the plague or something. I get along with everyone but I’m not really that close to anyone in particular. I think being the kid whose parents disappeared so mysteriously kinda makes other kids wary of me. The Hatchett twins are the only ones who’ve had that kind of stigma, too, despite being so obscenely rich.”

  “The plague,” I repeated with a sarcastic arch of my brow. “Who knew being rich could prove so problematic.” I’d watched my parents struggle to make house payments, juggle grocery bills with electric bills, even buy me second hand clothes when Mom was between jobs. I couldn’t muster up much empathy for the boy who had it so easy.

  Braxton’s glare told me he didn’t see it that way. He threw himself into the chair beside me and clasped his hands together over his belly.

  “Sorry, Brax, but both my parents work their butts off in order to be able to pay for a modest house that could comfortably sit in your living room. They can only afford payments on one car. My Mom doesn’t go to work in an Escalade, she takes public transit. I don’t come home to an impossible view of the bay, I’m lucky if I can glimpse it over the neighboring rooftops.”

  “At least you have both your parents to come home to.” Solemn and pain ridden, his statement hung in the air, silencing me.

  I reached out to thread my fingers between his, silently apologizing for being so insensitive. “I’m sorry, Brax, I didn’t mean to be so insensitive. I guess from the outside you look like you have the perfect life…”

  “Nobody seems to believe it when they hear that money doesn’t buy happiness. They all think that if you throw enough money into a problem, everything will be all right. Well, it’s not all right.”

  I wanted to reach out to him, to caress the sad line of his lips away, but I simply squeezed his hand then sat back.

  “Being the new girl at school I thought you’d understand; understand what it’s like to have people make unjust judgments about you. How do you feel knowing people think you're something you're not?”

  “Like…?” I had a vague idea what people might think, but wanted to hear it from him.

  A slow and reluctant grin softened his face. “Like your mysterious past, where you come from, why you were transferred here, and how, on your parents’ admittedly small income manage to get into a school like St. James. Like the bad girl attitude you give off, like the hot and sexy way you have in making that dreary school uniform look like high fashion.” He pulled me closer. “Like th
e beautiful face that is so captivating, yet so withdrawn and inaccessible.”

  “Well, maybe that is who I am.” I flashed him a cocky smirk.

  “Seriously?” He sat up and propped an elbow on the table as he turned to look intently at me. “I mean, I know you're beautiful, anybody can see that, but… mysterious, bad girl, the attitude?”

  “Well, I do like to keep my private life private. If some people want to call that mysterious, that’s fine with me. As for the bad girl, I don’t know. I don’t really like to take crap from anyone. Don’t push me and I won’t push you back. Could also be that I’ve never been the girly girl type. I hate doing my nails, I can’t stand wasting time on my hair and getting into a dress…” I flared out the skirt of my uniform. “You have no idea how uncomfortable this is to me. I guess some people see something wrong with all that.”

  “And the attitude?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe it’s just a defense mechanism… you know, shun them before they shun you.”

  “You’re amazing, you know that?” He reached out, as though to caress my face, but he stopped, bit the corner of his lower lip and withdrew his hand. “I’ve never met anyone like you; not at St. James, or anywhere for that matter.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.” I pulled my science book out of my bag and opened it. “Now, are you going to help me understand all this, or what?”

  He laughed and we got down to some serious studying. It was two hours and dinner time when we took a break.

  “I feel like my brain has spent a week in a beaker flaming over a Bunsen and is now ready for the Petri dish.”

  “How about a bite to eat?” Brax offered.

  “Hmmm, maybe coffee would be good.”

  He rose. “Coffee it is.”

  I followed him inside to the large gourmet kitchen. The cool chill immediately settled on my shoulders again, despite the warm rays of sunshine beaming through the arched windows.

  As I leaned back against the dark granite counter, my hands playing over the cool, smooth surface, Braxton prepared a blend of coffee I’d never even heard of before, filled the machine with pricy bottled water and clicked the on button. “You’ll have the perfect cup of world class java in a minute,” he said.

  “I have to admit, I didn’t think you’d be so handy in the kitchen.”

  “Anyone can make coffee.” He came to stand directly in front of me, his beautiful hazel eyes filled with hunger and tenderness.

  “Hmm, tell that to my dad. He’s still trying to get my mom to understand the coffee water ratio.”

  I could feel the heat coming from his body, crushing the perpetual cold the house seemed to embody. His breath came to my nostrils, lightly scented with cinnamon, sweet and too appealing. He was a good guy, the kind of guy any girl would love to marry. Attentive, generous and sensitive, all the things I’d thought men were incapable of.

  Don’t forget delectably adorable, a little voice whispered from deep within my body. Yes, definitely adorable, I thought. He often kept his blond tresses in order, sleeking them back in a way that gave him a haughtier look than he should, but now… now his hair framed his face, giving him an angelic appeal.

  Contradicting that angelic appeal were his lips, sultry and full, just waiting to be kissed. When he parted them, I knew I wanted to feel the press of his mouth against mine. I wanted to lose myself in his embrace.

  I closed my eyes, willing him to come closer. When he didn’t, I reluctantly opened my eyes to find him staring at me in wonder, his hand, cupped and reaching for my chin, frozen in midair.

  “I don’t want to scare you off. I don’t want to go too fast and have you think I’m just playing games, but…” He tongue came to play along the edge of his teeth as he paused and nodded thoughtfully. With great hesitation, he went on. “I’d like you to come to the St. James formal with me.”

  A spontaneous harrumph escaped me, but I quickly recovered. “I’d love to go with you, Brax, but you know how I hate that sort of thing. It was all I could do to drag my butt over here last night. I truly had no intention of going.”

  Reaching back to take my hands, he brought them together and kissed my fingers. “Look, think about it. I have to go on account of my uncle, and I’d really like it if you could be there with me. It’ll sure be a lot more fun if you’re there, and I promise I’ll do all I can to make sure you have a good time, too.”

  His lips continued to play over my fingers, making me dizzy with the desire to please him. How could I say no? I said “yes,” and his lips left my fingers, and found their way to my lips. The kiss was sweet and soft, and when I pressed closer to him, his arms came around me, pulling me closer. “Lux,” he said breathlessly. “I’m so glad you found me.”

  He kissed me again, and all I knew was that his kiss made me feel so warm and wonderful, I said, “Me, too, Brax. Me, too.”

  Chapter 10

  Braxton dropped me off at home and I was relieved to find I’d arrived before my parents. Though they were cool about what I did with my free time, I simply didn’t want to get into it.

  Once inside I went to the phone to erase the message I’d left, but found there was another message beside my own.

  “Hi Lux, Shayne here. Didn’t see you all day, so I was wondering if you’d found the note I left in your locker. I really did have a good time and hope we can get together, a girly get together. You know the formal is coming up soon and I thought maybe we could check out some possible fashion choices. Anyway, I’m free all week, so just let me know and you can come over… you’re welcome to go through my closet if you don’t have anything suitable.”

  I clicked the erase button.

  If I don’t have anything suitable… what kind of a stuck up, ballsy, snooty-nosed comment was that. I’d already decided to wear the dress I’d worn at Kingsley’s. Then again, the sexy little vixen inside me whispered, something new and really hot would be nice.

  Forgetting to fix something for dinner, I headed upstairs to change out of my uniform. Standing in my black undies and lacy bra, I examined myself in the full length mirror. I was toned without being overly muscular, fit without being boxy or boyish. Turning around I looked at my booty and wondered what kind of dress would best put all this to the best advantage.

  Cut down low to show off my cleavage? Tight and clingy to emphasize my derriere? Slip up to there for a little vavavoom. Now that Brax had kissed me, and we were going to the formal together, I wanted to dress up to see his beautiful hazel eyes light up when he sees me.

  Either way, I wasn’t quite ready to give Shayne a call just yet, no matter how popular she was. I doubted she’d be so generous with her extravagant and elegant wardrobe if she knew I’d accepted Braxton’s invitation to the formal. In fact, she’d probably tear whatever I did end up wearing to shreds.

  The next day, however, I had to deal with her face to face. The moment she saw me she made a beeline for me with the question I knew was coming.

  “Hey, why didn’t you call? Wasn’t my offer enticing enough?”

  “Sorry, I got home a little later than usual.” Not a total lie. “Besides, I’m not really sure it’s such a great idea to borrow your clothes. I was thinking of wearing what I had at the Kingsley.”

  “Honey,” she said, a cautionary hand coming out to pat my arm. “This is a formal. Minis are frowned upon, and even a cocktail dress won’t do. You have to pull out all the stops. Full-length gown, jewels, updo, the whole thing.

  Full-length gown. Mom had already invested more than she should in the mini I’d worn. I couldn’t possibly ask her to splurge for a gown. Perhaps it was an omen. I didn’t belong at that kind of function. “I really appreciate the offer, Shayne, but, I don’t know.”

  “Because of Brax?”

  I almost dropped my cinder block novel. How had she found out so quickly?

  “I don’t really care that he asked you to go with him instead of me. I mean, he’s cute and all, but, hell, there are plenty of other
great guys here. I think I can handle just being good friends with him. Besides you two make such a cute couple.”

  A brief moment of relief allowed me to accept her invitation, but it was followed by a longer moment of suspicion. Somehow I found it difficult to believe she could be so ardent one day and so passive the next.

  “I have the perfect Randi Rahm gown that would be ideal with your color and build. You’ll be the belle of the ball.”

  I had no doubt she would reserve the opportunity to wear that honor for herself.

  “How about tonight?”

  “No, not for a week or two. I’m absolutely drowning in catch up work.”

  She pulled out her phone to check her calendar. “Okay, I scratch you in for November 13, two weeks from now.”

  She flashed me a dazzling smile as she spun around, her hair flouncing about her, and sauntered off.

  *****

  The next two weeks were a flurry of science, math, English and chemistry, and while Brax was a patient and diligent tutor, he could also prove to be quite a distraction. Ever since the first kiss, Brax was unabashed about finding moments when he would kiss me again. They were always sweet and soft, as though he was holding back…

  However, every afternoon brought us closer and closer as we studied, exchanged ideas, spoke of our hopes and dreams for a future and chatted over the little nothings in life. The waterfront terrace was the perfect venue for opening up, exploring one another and getting some true studying done. We would talk about everything and anything. All except my closely-guarded secret…that I was a demon slayer.

  As we sat on the bench facing the water, one breezy, cool afternoon, the length of our thighs pressed together, he turned to me, his fingers instantly coming to calm the wayward tresses that played on the wind. His eyes smoldered and my intense desire to get closer to him became excruciating.

  “The formal is coming up soon,” he said. “Are you ready yet?”

  I shook my head. “Not yet. I’m supposed to go to Shayne’s tomorrow to see what she has.”