True Love:Follow Your Heart

by Melissa Heagerty

  That following afternoon he waited for her to get out of her next class.

  “Hey!” Eileen felt someone pull by behind as she calmed herself down to realize she was in a small dark room. “What is your problem?” The light switch came on as Eileen spotted her alleged kidnapper. Her eyes noticed the familiar football jacket. “E—Ethan?” Unless it was one of her brothers or Avery, that played a cruel trick on her.

  Ethan sheepishly turned around. “Sorry about this, but it was the only way I can talk to you.” Ethan wanted to confront her for answers.

  She knew what he was going to ask. It was still the non-stop talk of the school, which made his stomach churn every time. Eileen started to get impatient here as she folded her arms across her chest. “What?” She was playing dumb, Ethan heard the irritable tone, his brows knitted at her.

  He scoffs in disbelief. “You and him?” Ugh, even he couldn't say it with a straight face.

  Her eyes tilted on the floor and stood at their shoes. Please don't do this. She wanted to blurt out. “I have my reasons for why I'm doing this, alright,” Eileen told him in an unnerved tone.

  He didn’t buy it, not for a split-second, it’s a risk to keep her here. One way or another, he wanted the truth. “You made a deal to save Michael, didn't you?” Please don't say I'm right. His eyes closed as he spotted the shocked reaction on her face.

  “H—how did you?” She wondered.

  Damn it … Ethan ran a hand through his hair. His uneasy suspicion became a reality. “I saw the way you two look at each other. I don't like this plan of yours.” Ethan feared her safety in this situation.

  She didn't approve of it either. What was she going to do? “I'm taking care of myself. I'll be fine.” Eileen became a one-hit-wonder as of late.

  His hand brushed next towards hers. “Promise me if it gets too deep,” he dreaded to finish. After she nodded her head, she heard his relieved sigh. They embraced with a hug. He released first and loathed to let her go at all.

  Eileen regained her composure and opened the door. He watches her scurried along. Shortly after, five minutes, he left the closet reunited with Michael.

  “There you are, where'd you go?” Michael’s voice snapped out of his thoughts as the two continued among their day.

  Chapter 11

  In her free period, Kate tried to focus; but all she did was procrastinate. Tiffani's voice echoed in her head. Flynn doesn't give rides to anybody. She was right about that. From all the stories she heard, he couldn't make a generous offer and did not want anything in return. Caden and Flynn were completely different in good ways. Kate glanced up at Caden, who walked inside the library. “Let me guess, your brother sent you over to talk to me?”

  A befuddled, Caden knitted his brow and he sat down next to her. “No, uh, not exactly. Why? Did something happen?”

  Kate contemplated confiding in him with her ongoing predicament. “Promise you won't mention this to your brother?” She asked, and he heard the fear in her tone.

  Caden nodded, only if she was ready to talk. "What's going on?"

  “Some girl named Tiffani ticked me off today, and I'm sorry if I'm off edge."

  Caden tries to recall where he heard that name before. “Oh, Tiffani Alistair. She went out with him a couple of months ago. Guess it was a daddy issue thing?” All he knew was it never lasted like the rest of them.

  “She said—” Kate stopped her sentence midway through when Flynn made his presence known.

  《***》

  “Here you are,” Flynn teased until he noticed the seriousness upon their faces. “Did I interrupt something?” He had a sneaking suspicion he had.

  “I'm going to let you two talk,” Caden said. He rose from his seat to let them sort their issues out in private.

  Kate’s eyes pleaded with him in her time of need.

  To no avail, Flynn plopped next to her as he felt the cold tension and tried to comprehend what was going on with her. “Okay, why do I feel like I did something wrong?” Flynn hesitated to ask.

  Tiffani’s voice haunted her head again.

  “Do you think I'm stupid?” Kate furiously asked.

  “Whoa, what the hell is your problem?” He heard that tone in her voice and watched her pack everything away. “Hey, slow down and talk to me for a second, please?” He pleaded, trying to catch up with her. She was fine one minute, and then next she snapped. He knew someone got inside her head. “Why don't you explain to me what’s happening, huh?”

  Kate felt Tiffani’s presence lurking nearby.

  Flynn only had one goal in mind—to focus on his relationship with Kate. “I wish I knew. If I have offended you in any way, I am sorry.” She walked past the students. Flynn got lost for a brief moment. Somehow, he managed to squeeze by and stayed on her tail. “Kate!” He yelled, followed behind, picking up the pace. “Talk to me, I want to fix whatever happened,” he said. What did I do? He drew blanks in his mind.

  “You assume I'd swoon for the whole 'nice guy bit'?”

  Flynn stood there puzzled unsure what to do. Kate observed how Tiffani admired her handiwork from not too far away. “What nice guy act?” He questioned.

  “You're that gullible! Preoccupied with arrogance and egotism. Girls swoon in your presence, and you don't recall them after you toy with their emotions.”

  Kate is different and special; he wasn't going to toss her to the curb. There was more to this, right? “I swear to you nothing is going on.” Whoever told her this information was wrong. He hoped that his word would be taken seriously: he was not a bad guy. Someone with a grudge set him up, and he wouldn’t rest until the person responsible was caught. “I have no idea why you lashed out at me all of a sudden, but I meant what I told you earlier.” Maybe if he showed her what kind of gentleman he is it would revamp her judgment?

  Kate knew she'd treated Flynn in an aggrieved manner. It wasn't her intention. She watched him folded his arms across his muscular chest. For a guy who didn’t play sports, he was fit and a tad good-looking, she'll give him that. She closed her eyes, to regain her composure, she found her strength to add insult to injury. “This might not work after all. I cannot work with a guy who isn't taking his education seriously. You're going to need to find a new tutor. Goodbye, Flynn!” She stormed off without looking back at him.

  Flynn did not understand the chaos that had transpired. He needed to let off some steam, and his fist collided with one of the nearby lockers.

  “What happened to you?” Caden asked his flustered brother.

  “Kate,” Flynn said in a light whisper as he sat down on the steps outside of school. The sun beamed on their bodies, and they listened to the other students making plans for the weekend.

  “What happened?” Caden raised an eyebrow.

  “Please, man, if she told you anything,” his eyes were being sincere. “Caden, come on. I want to fix this with her.”

  Caden muttered under his breath, he wished he hadn't said so much already. “Ask Tiffani, that's all I know.”

  “Kate!” Flynn's eyes spotted a glimpse of her as she scurried past him.

  Kate turned away to avoid him.

  Caden patted his brother's shoulder out of sympathy. “Did you think it was going to be that easy?” Caden asked. His brother's reputation is a touchy subject, always being in the center of attention. Part of him envied his baby brother, who didn't cave into peer pressure.

  “No, I knew it'd be a task to resist, but she has the wrong information about the kind of guy I am.” Why was this issue with Kate bothering him?

  Caden was never keen on getting into his brother’s personal affairs, but now that it involves Kate. He needs to do everything in his power to make sure she doesn’t get hurt. “I'll walk home. You need to sort this out.”

  Flynn knew Caden had never experienced this part of his life yet. He got into his car and leaned back in the seats; an exhausted sigh escaped his mouth. He rested his head against the
black seats for a moment after a long, stressful day.

  Chapter 12

  The following morning Torrie made it downstairs into the kitchen as her mind couldn't stop thinking about Kasper.

  “What the hell happened to you?” Flynn peered at her direction.

  Torrie gave Flynn an unreadable glare.

  “You look like you came from a bar fight.”

  Torrie heard his enthusiastic input to her as she breathed out a light laugh. “Yeah, actually I was in a fight,” she revealed now a bruise from her hand.

  He whistled with footsteps approached as Eileen and Caden came downstairs next. “Damn.” Flynn gawked at her bruises.

  “What happened to you?” They asked in unison.

  Torrie rolled her eyes and took a sip of her coffee.

  “Who'd pissed you off?” Flynn asked. He never did like to pry in her life unless it entertained him.

  “Travis was a perv and flirted with me until a guy Travis knew told him off. Both of them were livid, until I stopped him from making a mistake, and slugged him instead.”

  Eileen and Flynn had the same shocked expression.

  “Who was the guy?” Eileen wanted to know.

  《***》

  “You need to stay away from Torrie Rubey!” Kelli demanded.

  An irked sigh came out of Kasper's mouth. He was not in the mood to play this morning. “Good morning to you too.”

  “I'm serious, Kas. She's nothing but trouble.”

  He laughed and found it cute she could tell him what to do. “Now you're acting like you care. You've had plenty of opportunities to do so in the past. What's different now?”

  She grabbed his bagel before eating it. “First/Last warning I'm leaving you ... Stay away from her,” she growled in the nicest way possible.

  As she snatched his food from him, he grabbed it back out of her hand. “What if I don't? You never gave a damn about me growing up. Why bother now? News flash, I can hang out with whoever the hell I want.” Kasper left for school as he took his food to go.

  《***》

  “Kasper Lockhart?!” They spoke in unison.

  Torrie nodded and saw the appalled look on their faces. “Yeah. What's the big deal? He seemed friendly. From what I've heard, he and Kelli don't exactly have a bonding experience.”

  Of all people, Flynn spoke first. “Stay away from him.”

  Torrie had a vacant look upon her face. “Excuse me? You are not my father. You do not tell me who I can or can't see.” She folded her arms across her chest. Another dour contest between the two has begun.

  Caden gave his usual 'you want to walk to school look' at his cousin. Eileen knew this could go on forever.

  “You heard rumors about him, Torrie. I'm—” An uncomfortable silence between the four until Eileen spoke up. His heart was in the right place at least.

  “We want you to be careful, okay?” Eileen may have her own dilemma at the moment, but family comes first.

  Torrie muttered under her breath and headed towards the garage.

  《***》

  Torrie walks towards her locker to open it seconds later. A book for her first class that fell on the ground. Someone was nice enough to pick it up and hand it back to her. “Thanks?” Their hands brushed against one another. Her eyes lifted up to see the hand which it belonged to as a slight grin appeared on her face. “Just know this wasn't the favor.”

  Kasper laughed. “Are all the girls in a bitchy mood this morning?” He teased.

  “Depends on the ones who wake up on the wrong side of the bed. What can I do for ya?” She closed her locker and leaned against it. “You need me to punch someone else today?” She flirted back.

  A flush crept his cheek. “I wanted to check on you. My sister banned me from going within fifty feet of you.”

  Yep: sounds like Kelli, Torrie shrugged her shoulders. “She might be right. I'm not your average girl around here.”

  Kelli had a plan, which she regretted immediately.

  “Coming back for more? I still have a second hand.” Torrie growled as she immediately taunted.

  Kasper grabbed her waist with his arm and held her back the best he could. “She's here to annoy you. Don't get your panties twisted in a bunch.”

  Kelli tittered. “It's cute you two found a common thing to hate, but that's all whatever this—” She made a notion at both of them. “This—isn't going to work.”

  Torrie made eye contact conversation with Kasper and told him she'd behave. “You seem scared for some reason Kelli. Why is that? I don't know anything about him. No offense.”

  “You know who my brother is.” Oh … my … god ... is she this gullible?

  Torrie played dumb for a bit.

  Kelli raised her brow. “Kasper Lockhart, the guy who's next to you. Please tell me you told her?” Kelli turned her attention towards her brother.

  Kasper remained silent as he shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry, sis, that conversation never came up, but can you blame me? Why would I tell people I'm related to a bitch?”

  Torrie snorts out a laugh.

  “I told you once already. My life, my rules.” Kasper turned his attention towards Travis for a minute. “But this issue between us is far from over. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm helping someone to her next class.”

  Torrie didn't expect that at all before she could say something, he guided her away from the tension. “This doesn't count, not by a long shot, but thank you.” Torrie, who finally had something to say despite what transpired moments ago. As she swung her bag over her shoulder.

  Kasper nodded. “Yeah, I know how frustrated my sister can be. I'm around if you need me.”

  Torrie blinked in utter confusion as Kasper kissed her on the cheek. She smiles watching him walk away. Snap out of it, he isn't even that good-looking.

  《***》

  “Where the hell were you last night?” Avery's eyes narrowed his gaze.

  The tension rose up once Kasper arrived. “Sorry, got a bit sidetracked. Won't happen again. “

  Avery lets it slide for now. He tilted his glare at the troublemakers who stood behind him. “You two still upset at me for what went down with your sister, aren't you?”

  “We're not thrilled about it,” Christian said to him.

  Kasper racked his brain as he eavesdrops on a baffling conversation. “Something I need to know about?”

  Avery rolled his eyes in annoyance. “You would’ve known already if you showed up on time. The only situation you need to know about is this school will be ours again.”

  Kasper held the minions back for a bit as Avery saunter away. “What's going on?” Kasper wanted to know.

  An uncertain Ryder gave his brother a cagey look, Kasper hoped they could help.

  Christian caved as he took a deep breath and explained. “Avery's blackmailed our sister to stop bullying a kid she likes.”

  Kasper stared at them with a vacant dazed. “Why?” Kasper asked point-blank at them.

  “We've been picking on the new kid. Avery found out he's friends with Ryley. They both were hanging out with our sister. She made the deal to go out with him if he'll stop beating him up.”

  What the hell is going on? Kasper needed to get this sorted out. “Have you two tried—” Kasper got cut off by Ryder.

  “We've tried everything we could think of. Nothing has worked.”

  Kasper heard the doubtfulness in Ryder's voice as if he gave up hope to help her.

  “As long as we're still with him, she's safe. We have to go.” Ryder told Kasper as they didn't want to piss him off any longer.

  Welp, Kasper knew where he had to go next, to see the sister that was in trouble.

  “This has got to be some kind of record right now,” Torrie felt his arm guide her into an empty classroom. “I'm flattered you think I'm that kind of girl—” She heard the classroom door closes. She saw that he wasn't in the mood for their flirty banter at the momen
t. “Alright, what's bugging you?” Torrie saw his serious face.

  “Why didn't you tell me you're dating Avery?”

  She raised her brow in his direction. Uncertain by what transpired here. “What are you talking about?” Torrie peered her eyes up at his face. “I'm not dating, Avery.”

  Why did he feel blissful about that for a split-second? “Your brothers said their sister was—”