"Well he could come as well, I mean it"s not like he couldn"t afford the air fare." Well she was right there, he did have his own private jet for starters. I decided not to tell her that part. The fact of the matter was that Draven would be fine in small one dinner circ.u.mstances but spending a week with my family wasn"t something I could imagine happening. Not only that but I wasn"t raving about the idea of putting my family in danger. After all, I was still being...hunted.
"Look, I will speak to him, but I can"t make any promises...ok?" She nodded but her smile told me that she thought this was so a done deal!
I left the kitchen to find Hilary behind the door. I could tell by her smirk that she had heard every word. I decided not to stick around and ran up the stairs to my new room. I only tripped once, which was unusual for me these days. I don"t know why but ever since I had been with Draven I had become a little less clumsy and more co-ordinated. I wondered why that was?
The week after the VIP incident went by thankfully, without a hitch. Unfortunately for me, I wasn"t allowed to bring the matter up with Hilary about her behaviour at the club, because thanks to Draven"s mind control, she was left thinking it was a quiet night. The fact that I had to swallow my hate for that heinous act was easier said than done. I couldn"t even pretend anymore.
Libby had noticed the change but I couldn"t even tell her about it. So as far as she was concerned she was left thinking I had just lost all will when it came to my cousin. The fact that she had decided to stay until the beginning of December didn"t help matters. As it turned out, me and my sister had both been deceived and deluded thinking it was only ever going to be just a week.
Once in my room, I had time to think about the whole Christmas problem. Either way I looked at it I was going to be hurting someone. If I didn"t go then I know my mum would be crushed. My dad, I think would understand but he would feel disappointment for my mother"s sensitive disposition. Libby wouldn"t let me get away with not going lightly. And no doubt there would be waterworks to contend with thanks to a bunch of baby hormones that made crying at anything, her new sport. But all of these options seemed better than the alternative. Telling Draven was not a thing I would look forward too, that was for sure. I can imagine the "NO" word would get used a lot.
I tried to look at things objectively, weighing up the pros and cons, but the deeper I looked the more I hated to admit things to myself...I was scared. I know it was an irrational response but I had grown so used to my new life here I was scared of going back to my past, even if I was only revisiting. Stupid as it was, I feared that I would be opening up old wounds by going back, while here it didn"t even feel like I ever bled. Here was new. Here was safe. Here was Draven. Ok so maybe it would be alright if he was with me, I mean he could play human for a week, couldn"t he? Thankfully the sound of Abba singing pulled me from my mental breakdown before a headache set in.
"What"s up me b.i.t.c.h!" RJ"s "I"m from the hood" greeting made me giggle. I just hoped...no, no sc.r.a.p that, more like prayed, that her next image change didn"t include gun tattoos, rap music and sayings like "Bust a cap in your a.r.s.e".
"Hey RJ, what you up to?"
"Not a whole lot which is why you"re going to help me." She said sweetly, telling me instantly that this might not be something I would want to do. I loved RJ but sweet was not in her genetic makeup.
"Ok hit me with it," I pushed.
"I need you to come on a private mission with me "cause if I don"t get out of the house now, my mum is going to make me babysit the brat and unless locking kids in cupboards is acceptable babysitting conduct, then I severely suggest we go shopping or G.o.d forbid even hiking! Anything just to get me out of this house in the next couple of minutes!" I was nearly in tears with laughter by the time she had finished her little rant and after some more over exaggerated comment about her younger sister and friends, we arranged for her to meet me here. She turned up in record time.
I ran down and was met by not one Thomas but two. Jack had also come with his sister. I gathered neither wanted to spend a Sunday babysitting. Jack nodded to me with his lips held firm in a thin line. We still hadn"t spoken, thanks to my cousin. G.o.d only knows the lies he had been told and it hurt me more than I let on that he had chosen her side over mine. I guess I had to admit it to myself sometime, that we weren"t as good friends as I once thought. I shook myself from anymore of those thoughts before I started crying.
"Cause I missed him.
Hilary came down the stairs behind me and nearly knocked me out of the way to get to Jack.
"Excuse me!" She huffed as she squeezed past me like I had been a bus standing in her way.
"You"re excused," I said bitterly and walked towards RJ trying to ignore Jack"s glare.
"Come on RJ, let"s go before we miss the movie," I said doing a vague impression of my happy self.
"Oooh, a movie, which one?" Hilary squealed as she hung on to Jack"s arm like he was a prize doll.
"I don"t know what it"s called, the one where robots kill astronauts." I said hoping that alone would put her off.
"Oh I saw the trailer for that one but it"s not out yet in the UK. What do you say Jack, are you game?" He looked down at me and then back at Hilary"s pleading eyes. Which pleading eyes would he choose? Please say no, please say no. I repeated hoping somehow it would enter his brain...it didn"t.
"Sure, why not. Killer robots sounds like a good way to spend a Sunday, very typical Sunday thing," Jack joked, I was the only one not smiling.
"Well that"s great then! Isn"t that great RJ?" I said shooting her a look to say it was anything but!
"Y..eah." She said drawing out the word and looking at me like I had gone a little crazy too.
"Right then, well let"s all go together," I said again wondering when it was my brain was going to shut down and stop talking.
"Right, off we go then," I was still saying as we all piled into Jack"s new car. I was still muttering stupid obvious comments like this until Jack said something that made my brain click into panic mode.
"Hey, I know this sounds kind of bad cop movie but I think we"re being followed." Jack"s eyes kept wandering back to the rear view mirror with masked worry. Mine weren"t even trying to hide it, it was just there plain to see. I felt my throat starting to get tighter and my mind went into warp speed at all the different possibilities. The best one of course would be that it was no body but knowing that this was me we were talking about, it was probably the Supernatural"s best a.s.sa.s.sin!
I kept looking behind us and seeing the black beast in the form of a four wheel drive behind us getting closer had me fidgeting nervously in my seat but it only seemed that me and Jack were the only ones taking any notice. Then we all screamed.
I thought I was going to see my heart in my lap as I looked down from when it burst from my chest! Thankfully I was in one piece...for now at least.
"Jeez Kizzy, are you going to answer that!" My cousin snapped impatiently. I didn"t miss the look Jack gave her and I couldn"t help but smile a little. It was like the tiniest beacon of hope that he wasn"t entirely lost to me. I was trying to retrieve my phone and lifting myself up to dig deeper into my jeans pocket when I noticed Jack"s gaze in the mirror. He looked at me like he was trying to communicate something secret to me but I was at a loss to know what. Instead I just frowned and tried to concentrate on shutting up Abba before my cousin decided to comment again.
"h.e.l.lo?" I said unsure of the number and its caller.
"Keira?" A voice I knew better than any other sound on earth sounded strained in my ear.
"What"s wrong?" Was the question that first escaped my lips as Draven never rang me and I knew if he ever did, it wouldn"t be just for a quick chat, it would be important.
"Would you like to explain to me why it is that you are in a vehicle with that boy Jack ?" His question was thick with disapproval and filled my mind with a different kind of worry. However the only question that I thought to ask was a tactless one.
"How did you...?"
"You are being followed, Keira." He said as though utterly obvious. Ah... that would be Ragnar.
"So..." he prompted as I went silent.
"Soo, I"m off to watch a movie with RJ, Hilary and Jack." I said making sure he understood the way I said Jack to emphasize that he wasn"t the only one and this was so not a date! Although it was nice to know he still got jealous. Childish I know but what could I say, I just couldn"t help myself.
"A movie?" He breathed out in relief and I smiled earning a hatful look in the mirror from Hilary. My smile deepened.
"Yes, something about killer robots in s.p.a.ce so it should be very educational." I giggled at my own joke and Draven laughed his deep throaty laugh making my legs turn to jelly.
"Well now, that does sound terrifying, but pray tell me, who will you be sitting next to for moral support?" Although his voice was teasing I could tell he was desperate to hear it would be RJ, my cousin, a stranger, anyone but Jack! I laughed again.
"Female" I answered not wanting to say any names out loud. I could now hear him grinning.
"So I will see you later Dra...Dominic." I nearly always slipped up on saying his name and whenever I did manage to say it, it never felt right coming from me. Like a false meaning. However he didn"t seem to think as I did.
"I have never loved the sound of my name before I heard it said from your lips." I knew I was now blushing because RJ had rolled her eyes at me. However it didn"t last long as my cousin decided now was the time to open her big gob!
"Oh Kizzy, I forgot to ask you, did I give you those plane tickets home your mum gave me...oops are you still on the phone, never mind, we"ll talk about our trip home for Christmas later." Only three words came to mind at precisely that moment.
"What a b.i.t.c.h!" I screamed in my head but it was soon drowned out by the profound growl that came from the other end of the phone. Ok so now I was in trouble and Hilary knew it! h.e.l.l, she had planned it, executed it, counted on it and accomplished it. When she was standing behind the kitchen door this morning, I now knew what she had been listening too and as a result, where I had three words, Draven now only had one.
"Explain!" His voice was dry and devoid of feeling which made me gulp. It took me a few moments to try and figure out how exactly to deal with this. So I decided the best option was to play it down...way, way down.
"Oh, it"s nothing really," I said in a flighty way.
"Kizzy, I don"t think your mum would be too pleased to hear you calling a family Christmas together nothing, she would be crushed!" Hilary said enlightening us all to her feelings that were completely false. She didn"t care two c.r.a.ps about my mother"s feelings, what she did care about, what she lived for, is making my life as miserable as possible and at this moment she was doing one heck of a job!
"Keira!" Draven said my name as a warning.
"Look, I"ll explain later," I whispered gently trying to get him to calm down.
"You mean you haven"t told him yet, you"ve known for weeks!" At that point I had lost my patience with my destructive cousin and I couldn"t stop my reflex motion in kicking the back of her chair. Hard.
"Ouch...excuse me!" She moaned.
"Oh sorry there, did that hurt?" I asked feeling both childish and triumphant at the same time.
"No it didn"t," Hilary huffed and crossed her arms looking like the victim here and I couldn"t help but say "Pity" under my breath which only Draven heard.
"It is indeed, such a pity that you didn"t explain these plans of yours to me sooner! I will let you go now, but Keira, you and I are going to have a little chat later." Draven sounded utterly hacked off and in some ways I couldn"t blame him. I mean, I had so many opportunities to tell him but every time I chickened out. He even asked me once what I usually did at Christmas.
It was one of those blissful mornings when we lay in bed together, entwined limbs and softly spoken words. He had asked me questions about my childhood and about holidays I had had, places in the world I had seen and where I would like to go. All these had been easy to answer but when the conversation turned to my weeks off college I had known all along that everyone but Draven expected me to be going home to England for the holidays.
"I will see you later then." I said deflated and for once, not looking forward to that later. I don"t think he actually said goodbye but only repeated "Later" And then hung up. The car was filled with an awkward silence which I was perfectly happy with enduring given the mood I was now in.
"I guess he wasn"t happy about hearing that news." RJ stated the obvious and I had to drag my glare away from the back of Hilary"s head to respond.
"Something like that." I muttered.
"Well it wasn"t my fault, you should be more honest with your boyfriends, shouldn"t she Jack?" Hilary really didn"t have a limit on the b.i.t.c.h "o" meter, it just kept getting higher and higher, until one day, my guess is that someone will kill her and her meter will be no more. I was still holding out for that day. Ok, so I wasn"t really, I wouldn"t actually want someone to murder my cousin but I could settle for a d.a.m.n good a.r.s.e kicking!
Jack didn"t respond and I was more than thankful for that. RJ made me smile as she rolled her eyes at my cousin"s statement and started talking about something my cousin couldn"t contribute too, the dreamy drummer from the band Acid Criminals. RJ continued on about how they were coming back to town and were playing at Afterlife once again but I just found myself nodding and "Oooing" and "Ahhing" at the right times.
This was all my fragile mind would allow. There wasn"t much room for anything else besides the screaming inside my head that half wanted me lash out at Hilary with a stiletto heel in hand or repeatedly keep slapping myself on the side of the head! I didn"t know who to blame the most...I mean, I know who I wanted to blame but I couldn"t. It had been my responsibility to tell Draven sooner than later and with only a week until I was supposed to leave I knew that I was cutting it fine. I guess deep down I didn"t want to admit it to myself. I didn"t want to leave Draven but I was torn between what I wanted and what I should want. I should want to go back home and be a family for Christmas. I should want a little s.p.a.ce from all the craziness my life had been enduring since I met Draven. All these thing I should want, but I didn"t.
All I wanted for Christmas was Draven.
My Draven.
Chapter 50.
New Mistakes, Old Moves.
To everyone in the theatre I had seemed like the hardest, non flinching girl in existence. I had sat through two hours of evil robots ripping the limbs of humans and mutilation so great that it sent a few people running from the movie with their hands held firmly over their mouths. Of course when you live a life seeing some of the most gruesome beings that walk the earth along the same path, it is very difficult to get skirmish at movie blood and special effects. The real thing is so very different. The smell, the sound and of course the sight your eyes take in is everlasting and unforgettable.
However these were none of the reasons that I hadn"t reacted to the scenes on screen. No, the reasons all started with the letter D. The sound of disappointment in his voice was such a regular occurrence in my case, it made me wonder if I could do anything right in his world. Well, I was soon to find out because coming out of the cinema, the first sight I saw was a shiny, sleek looking black Ferrari.
I was no car freak but even I could tell that there was a h.e.l.l of a lot of zeros parked on the side walk, and so could everyone else for that matter! Everyone coming out of the theatre was now struck down and staring at the black car like a s.p.a.ce ship had just landed! I went bright red...Ferrari red.
"Oh... My... G.o.d!" Hilary said very slowly.
"You lucky b.i.t.c.h!" RJ said elegantly and Jack...
Well Jack just whistled.
I watched on in horror as people started taking out their phones and snapping pictures. Some even rang their friends to tell them about the car they were seeing. Words like "Ferrari Enzo", "Over two hundred miles an hour" and "Carbon fibre" filled the air. There was one guy surrounded with a group of friends all listening to him reel off stats and figures, like he was Ferrari obsessed but the one figure that everyone started whistling at was the price tag, "A cool million dollars easy" he said while fishing around his bag for what was to be a digital camera.
As much as I love seeing Draven, this was one moment when I just wanted to walk away. The windows were tinted as black as the body was but that soon wasn"t going to be enough to conceal the car"s owner. The driver"s side door open upwards giving the car the appearance of having wings...which was very befitting to Draven"s character. He unfolded his body in a surprisingly graceful way considering his size. The little crowd gasped and it now gave something for the girls to gawk at in awe.
He straightened his frame to reveal grey denim covered legs, a tight black T-shirt underneath the world"s s.e.xiest jacket. It was maroon colored leather that fitted him like liquid skin. It molded to his perfect structure in the style of a biker.
Round the neck was a thin collar that curved down with the zip that was off to one side and the whole jacket was framed with a tan colored piping. The sight of his arms made me gulp down the feelings that his body was causing to my own. The leather strained over his biceps and just before the crease in his elbow was a thick line of piped maroon leather that went the other way round his arm like a band. The material went low down his arms and flared out at his wrists thanks to the zips that were loose at his forearms. Oh my G.o.d, he looked s.e.xy! I was close to hyperventilating, that is, along with every other female that was also having improper thoughts about my boyfriend.
Most striking of all was the face. Set in a honey colored stone of flawless skin was the deepest, darkest eyes anyone had ever witnessed. A strong jaw flexed when our eyes met and I knew he was angry. Draven did broody better than anyone I knew and now was no exception. I knew this was coming and that was evident while I sat un-nerved by the two hours of body mutilation without flinching. Killer Robots from s.p.a.ce had nothing on Draven"s wrath!
Draven only took a few steps before he reached us, with his long muscular legs a few strides was all it took. As habit, one look from the owner of the prestigious nightclub Afterlife, the crowd dispersed and avoided his unhappy gaze. I wished I could have joined them. Meanwhile, Hilary had pushed in front of RJ so that she was next in line for when his look returned.
"Dominic, what a surprise, Kizzy Cat didn"t say you were meeting us." The nickname I loathed made its way past her lips having an effect on me like barbed wire across a blackboard. I even winced, which Draven didn"t miss. He never did.
"I am here to pick up Keira, We have a date...don"t we?" After emphasizing my correct name, he made it very clear this was an order not a request, that I was to agree too. I first had to clear my throat before answering.
"Umm, Ye...yes, I guess we do." I couldn"t help speaking unsurely and this softened Draven"s features slightly.
"Oh, well I guess you want to get as many dates in before she leaves you!" Hilary"s acid tongue whipped out and I wanted to growl but Draven beat me too it. Everyone looked shocked and Jack took a cautious step closer to me. Draven didn"t like this one little bit.
I decided to try and defuse the situation before a real life reconstruction of the movie we just saw was to happen. I took a step closer to Draven and looked up at him with big sloppy eyes that hopefully resembled a puppy. I just hoped he liked puppies.
"Hilary, you know I haven"t yet decided anything about Christmas, I told you that earlier." Although I was speaking to my cousin this was really aimed at Draven. I didn"t really give two hoots about what my cousin thought, but h.e.l.l if she was going to use me to get closer to my man then I would do the same.
"And remember you saying that it would be nice if my parents were to finally meet my boyfriend and how Christmas would be the ideal opportunity?" I said smoothly which was amazing considering what a bad liar I was. Of course Draven would know this was lies but the others didn"t.
"Hey RJ, we gotta get going if we"re going to meet the rest of the gang but hey Kaz we will probably catch you later, at the club." Jack commented while edging his sister away who hadn"t yet spoken a word. She was still staring at Draven like a starving wolf would to a giant T-bone.
"That"s cool, I will see you later, but is it alright to give Hilary a lift home?" I said.
"It"s ok, why doesn"t Dominic give me a ride and you go with Jack?" Hilary said shamelessly flicking her hair back and I wasn"t the only one that looked utterly shocked. I turned to Jack and saw his face had numerous more lines, which looked out of place on Jack"s "happy go lucky" features. He was looking at Hilary as though he was seeing her for the first time and he didn"t like what he saw there. I couldn"t help but feel for him, I mean there was a small part of me that wanted to scream out "I told you so" but I was not the type that would have ever followed through with that impulse. It just made me hate her even more! She could hurt me all she wanted, I was close to being immune, but not Jack. Not my friend.
I was fuming but in the end it was Draven that cut her down into pieces and finally put her in her place. He leaned into her and lowered his head slightly to get to her ear. I was next to him so I heard every sharp edge to his words.
"It is only Keira that I want and I will take her now. I suggest you leave, while you still have the kindness of others that are prepared to put up with you. I doubt your degrading act will hold much longer!" She had been holding her breath in the hopes of something else a close proximity could mean but she was oh so wrong. I couldn"t help but try and hide the biggest grin I had ever felt.
For the first time since we were young children, Hilary looked like she wanted to cry and for the first time I couldn"t find any sympathy for the emotion. She deserved far worse and I think way down, on some deeply buried level, she knew it too. She huffed once and turned away to follow Jack and his sister to his truck. I couldn"t help but notice an action that looked like she was wiping a tear from her face, which stopped me smiling.
"Keira, get in the car please!" Draven"s cool tone was direct and precise. It made me shudder. I turned round to realize he was no longer next to me but by the car door waiting. I was torn between giving in or making a run for it.
"I wouldn"t even try....if you please." He finished by nodding to the low bucket seat.
"Fine!" I surrendered and stormed over to the curb. I felt like I was bending over to such a degree that I was about to sit on the floor. It was the lowest car I had ever been in and no doubt the most expensive. I think if Draven ever sold his car collection he could have bought Brazil with the funds received.
I jumped at the sound of the door slamming home and thought he had closed it with a little too much force for such an expensive car. I watched as he walked slowing around to the driver"s side which reminded me of home as it was on the UK side. He slid into the seat that was positioned further back than my own, allowing for his impressive leg span. He didn"t just start up the beast and let us go roaring off like I thought he would. He just sat there and lowered his head like he was trying to find the best way of dealing with this.
"Draven I..."