A Beauty Dark & Deadly (A Dark & Deadly Series Book 1) (3 page)

“I love you too, Papa,” she told him and waited until she heard the click of the phone on the other line.

Emmy released a deep breath before hanging up.  She pushed herself up from her sitting position and glanced out the window.  It surprised her how dark the night looked, and she decided that now was as good as ever to begin cooking dinner.  The young woman padded into the kitchen as she blinked away the tears that had accumulated while speaking with her grandfather, and stopped when she reached the fridge.  Upon inspecting the food receptacle, she concluded that it contrasted heavily with the nearby sink due to the fact that the refrigerator was remarkably empty while the sink held numerous dishes.  Emmy idly wondered just how long those dishes were sitting there, but figured she would have to wash them sooner or later.

Once the dishes were in the dishwasher and Emmy had thoroughly washed her hands, she opened the door to the refrigerator once again.  After another brief inspection, Emmy decided that eggs were the best and decidedly only option for dinner.  She grabbed four of them and carefully rested them on the counter before rummaging through an assortment of cabinets, looking for a frying pan and a spatula.  Once everything had been found, she cracked the eggs into the pan and disposed of the white shells in the nearby trashcan.  Scrambled eggs had always been a favorite of Emmy’s, and if there had been cheese, she would have sprinkled some on the finished product.  Alas, she knew that she would tire of eggs if she would have to eat them constantly.

“No,” she muttered under her breath as she grabbed two plates from the top cabinets.  “I’ll have to go to the store tomorrow.”

But for now, dinner was served.     

Chapter 2

Dinner went as well as anybody could expect.  It was silent, something Emmy was rather thankful for.  Jason Belmont seemed surprised that Emmy made him dinner in the first place, and for the first few moments, he did nothing, really, except stare at his food and then ramble a string of ‘thank yous’ together.  Despite the fact that Emmy was afraid of him, the man was beginning to fascinate her with the little things he did.  During dinner, instead of focusing on the plate in front of her, the young woman watched intently as Jason Belmont ate his dinner in a rather peculiar way.  His fork was held with the fingertips of his right hand, and he would raise the eggs level to his mouth.  However, instead of moving the fork to his mouth and placing the food on his tongue, he would move his head a few inches to the fork, and then dab the food with his tongue, as though he was checking its temperature, before placing it in his mouth.  A couple of times he caught her staring at him, and immediately she would look away, blushing as she picked at her food.  He never did call her on it, though, and for that, she was thankful.

It was hard for her to get to sleep that night.  The most physical reason for this was because she wasn’t sleeping in her own bed.  This bed was stiff and crisp, although not entirely uncomfortable.  She kept tossing and turning, trying to find the perfect position to fall asleep in when, for whatever reason, she grew uncomfortable and had to shift.  It also didn’t help that the bugs outdoors were rather obnoxious when it came to making noises.  Even as she thought about it, she knew it sounded silly, but the squeak of the crickets and the buzzing of the flies seemed much noisier to her than the soft hums of vehicles as they drove by.  Yes, she was definitely much more used to the city than… here.  And then finally, somewhere deep, down inside of her, she was afraid Jason might slip into her bedroom and do something to her.  Suffice to say she did not get much sleep that night.

When she woke, she woke up tired and sore.  She quickly threw on some clothes before quietly heading downstairs.  It was deathly silent; not even the bugs outside seemed to be up.  No matter; all Emmy was planning on doing was going to the store.  She had already spoken to Jason about it, and he had promised he would leave some cash on the sink.  Before she left, she quickly fixed up some coffee and poured it into a thermal cup so she could take it along with her.  She placed the pot back in the machine and contemplated for a moment whether to turn it off and let it get cold, or keep it on, assuming Jason would wake up sometime soon.  Finally, she decided that he might like some coffee and ultimately left it on.

After grabbing a hoodie and slipping it on, she pocketed the cash Jason had left her, grabbed a purse, her wallet, and her coffee, before heading out into the morning.  The cold surprised her; it was much brisker than she had originally anticipated.  The cold pinched at her skin so hard that her cheeks reddened, and she quickly placed her lips on the thermal cup and took a long sip, selfishly downing the hot liquid in hopes to warm her insides.  While it worked initially, the feeling was temporary, and Emmy had to make do with walking the mile to the main road rather quickly.  Once the first ten minutes had passed, she began to get used to the temperature and even found herself enjoying the walk.

Once Emmy hit the main road, the young woman turned right and headed down the side of the street until she found the next trolley stop.  She glanced at the times listed and then pulled out her cell phone to compare.  She had a good twenty minutes until it would show.  She sighed and took another sip of the coffee; it had grown lukewarm during her walk, but she didn’t want to drink it all while it was hot.
Oh well.  She didn’t necessarily mind lukewarm coffee anyways.

The trolley came a few minutes late, and Emmy made a mental note to bring her iPod and some sort of book the next time she decided to venture into town.  She took a seat in the middle and yawned as the trolley began to ascend up the curve of a hill.  Tahoe had many different hills and mountains, and while one could argue the adventure of traveling up and down these hills, Emmy was somewhat paranoid about it.  Some of the mountain roads were rather high, some of the turns were rather sharp, and some streets had little to no guardrails, allowing for the opportunity of driving off the road.  Emmy swallowed as she glanced out of the trolley and at the scenery.  The fact that she was on an open trolley really wasn’t helping either; she could feel the wind in her face, blowing through her hair just as it blew through the leaves of the trees.

Just don’t look down…

To keep from doing such a thing, Emmy straightened up and began to focus on the occupants of the trolley.  One could easily spot a tourist in Tahoe; they were always wearing bathing suits under their clothing, either flip flops or hiking shoes, and there would be at least one person in a party who wore a ridiculous hat.  They were always loud when discussing plans, would hold their cell phones out rather obnoxiously looking for service that wasn’t there, and reek of sunscreen.  Most were also burned because they were unfamiliar with the fact that because they were in the mountains, they were actually closer to the sun.  Tourists usually annoyed Emmy whether they were in Tahoe or Frisco, but they served their purpose as a good distraction from her paranoia until she reached her intended destination: Raley’s. 

When she walked into the supermarket, the first thing Emmy noticed was the Halloween decorations.  She pursed her lips in a tiny frown at the thought; it was only mid-September and already they were thinking about Halloween?  Her grandfather, on the other hand, would wait until Halloween day to buy to buy his candy, and still used the same outdated Halloween decorations he had bought back in the late eighties.  The thought cheered her up a bit and caused her to chuckle, and she grabbed a basket before heading into the heart of the store.

Now, what was she looking for?  What did he like, exactly?  Maybe she should have asked for his input about what he wanted.  It was, after all, his residence, and she was supposed to be cooking for him.  She stopped in the middle of the cereal aisle and pulled out her phone.  Should she call and ask?  Would he even be up?  Did she want to wake him up?  Who knew how he would react if he felt that he didn’t get enough sleep.  Plus, she quickly remembered, that she didn’t yet have the number to his home.  Okay… then she would have to use her best judgment and hope that she was correct.

There were a couple of other women in the cereal aisle, and as Emmy silently made her way down, her eyes skimmed over the brand and store names of the cereal.  Would he get upset if she bought brand name, and thus, more expensive cereal, or did he actually prefer the cheap store knockoffs?  Her head was swimming with unanswered questions, causing a very soft but very noticeable pulsing in the temples of her head.  Great, she was going to have a headache on top of all top of things.  She stopped finally and decided to get some Raisin Bran.  Raisin Bran was always good; it was one of her favorite cereals.

This isn’t about you, Emm
y
, a little voice reminded herself and she frowned once again.

Okay, so then what would Jason Belmont want?  Cinnamon Toast Crunch?  Cheerios?  Everyone loves Cheerios.  What about Honeynut Cheerios?  She began to tap her index finger on her chin and decided that she would grab a box of Honeynut Cheerios as well.  As she began to walk down the aisle, she began to feel an impending stare burn in her back.  She continued to walk, this time more slowly, to make sure that her paranoia concerning her new living arrangements wasn’t merging over to other aspects of her life, such as simply shopping for food.  But the feeling continued to follow her until she reached the very end of the aisle.  One glance wouldn’t kill her…  She physically stopped in her tracks, and then, very slowly, she arched her neck so that she could glance behind her.  Sure enough, the two old women sharing the aisle with her were staring intently, and when Emmy caught them, they immediately looked away and started chatting, as though nothing happened.

Furrowing her brow, Emmy continued to head to the milk.  Well, that was odd.  She knew that many of the residents here could spot tourists just as easily as she could, and figured they must think of her as just another tourist.  However, she had been to Tahoe enough times with her grandfather early in her life to know that the locals didn’t stare at tourists.  If they were going to gossip about tourists, they would do it when said tourists weren’t around.  No; this was blatant staring and Emmy had no idea as to why.

When she reached the milk, she grabbed two cartons of 2% before deciding to head down the pasta aisle.  Pasta was one of her favorite foods, whether it was with red tomato sauce or white alfredo sauce.  She grabbed a few packs of different pasta (such as noodles, shells, and bowties) and both types of sauce.  Now, what?  Maybe she should pick up some bacon and sausage.  They still had eggs… would he want eggs again, after just having them for dinner?  She placed the heavy basket on the floor and thought intently for a minute.  What about pancakes instead?  A smile eclipsed her face as the idea popped into her head.  She loved pancakes and had not had them in so long.

When she turned to head down the adjacent aisle, she realized three other people staring at her.  Subconsciously, Emmy glanced down.  There was nothing on her clothes.  She touched her face; she doubted anything was on her face… What was wrong with her?  Why, exactly, was she attracting all these stares?  Hurriedly, the young woman spun around and headed down the next aisle, searching for Bisquick and syrup in hopes to get out of the store as quickly as possible.

Emmy grabbed the Bisquick, making absolutely sure that it wasn’t the kind where one merely added water but needed eggs and milk as well.  The syrup, thankfully, was near the Bisquick and she grabbed a bottle.  She stood up and did a quick, mental checklist before deciding that she was finished.  It struck her odd as though, that she was actually looking forward to heading back to Belmont’s residence, but at least there, he wouldn’t stare at her.  In fact, it would seem he avoided her, which was fine by her.

“Emmy?”

The familiar voice caused all hope of escaping unscathed to shatter into a million pieces.  Emmy struggled to refrain her shoulders from slumping forward, and she surprised herself by being able to hold her rigid posture.

“Emmy Atler?”

It took Emmy a couple of times before she successfully plastered a very tight and very fake smile on her face.  Once she did so, she sharply turned around to face one of her college acquaintances, a term she used very, very loosely.

During her freshmen year, Linda Carson was referred by the student body as one of the ‘Plastic Girls,’ not because she was fake, but because she had access to her own credit cards.  She didn’t just have one either, she had about three or four, all lined up for her disposal.  It didn’t help that she was also incredibly beautiful.  Linda was five foot nine, with the legs to prove it.  Her face was evenly structured, and with big, blue eyes and rich, chestnut brown hair that went just past her shoulders, she looked like an angel.  She was also incredibly fashion-forward.  Because she had numerous credit cards burning a hole in her Louis Vuitton wallet, she was always out shopping for the latest trends no matter what the cost.  Boys had constantly thrown themselves at Linda’s perfectly pedicured feet, and despite the fact that her boyfriends did not have a good survival rate.  Oddly enough, Linda had befriended Emmy, and the two remained friends throughout freshmen year.  They really didn’t talk about anything with substance; mainly just boys and clothes, but Emmy had never been happier.  She actually trusted Linda with everything, including her crush-to-end-all-crushes, Cody Finch.  That was when she heard Linda had asked him to go to home coming with her during their sophomore year.  It was then that she realized that Linda had personally befriended Emmy on the obvious fact that Emmy was less than she was.  While Linda’s hair was either incredibly straight or perfectly curly, Emmy’s hair had somewhat frizzy waves she had never been able to tame.  While Linda’s face had makeup that enhanced the best features from her face, Emmy preferred not wear any such makeup; instead, she would sleep in until she absolutely had to get up.  While Linda had the most expensive, trendiest, and newest clothes in time for every season, Emmy continued to wear the same general outfit throughout the year – a t-shirt with a hoodie over it, jeans, and converses.  While Linda’s body was tight and toned, Emmy’s was slender and soft.  When Emmy found out about Linda’s façade and had seen her with Emmy’s crush-to-end-all-crushes, she refused to speak to Linda again.  She hated to admit it, but in a way, she was glad to have an excuse to come up to Tahoe.

And yet, despite her best efforts, Linda was standing in front of Emmy, with that same smirk she had been known for.  As always, she was dressed incredibly well, even though it didn’t go well with her surroundings.  Wearing a cropped jean jacket, a black, spaghetti-strapped tank top that revealed a wonderful pair of assets, and a mini skirt over black tights, she looked completely out of place.  On her feet, she wore four-inch stiletto boots, making Emmy subconsciously wince in pain.  However, the irony that came out of this situation was the locals were staring at her and not Linda.