Captivated (An Affliction Novel) (16 page)

I shook the thought out of my head and forced the food in my mouth.

“I better head to class now so I can get some of the assignment done.” Markus said as he rose up from the bench.

“I’ll walk with you,” I stated. Throwing all of my trash on my tray, I followed him. Tanya stayed behind. She didn’t like going to class early.

“So?” I asked.

“What?” Markus asked.

“Anything new? With…you know.” I asked.

“Nah. I haven’t even seen Dean these past couple of nights. I don’t think I’ll go investigate tonight either, I need to catch up on some homework.” he said. We approached his class and I quickly said bye before I continued walking.

I wasn’t looking forward to going to sixth hour knowing Dean wouldn’t be there. I kept staring at the two empty seats next to me the whole time: Dean’s and Jennifer’s. And now I couldn’t help but question if there was a connection.

I ended up getting detention for not turning in the assignment. It would have bothered me more if I had plans after school, but it gave me a chance to take my time with the assignment instead of rushing through it. They only kept me for a half hour and let us out early for good behavior. As I walked out of the building, the parking lot was empty and there was not a student in sight, except for the very few that had detention with me, but they were already practically off the campus. I told Markus that I would call him if I needed a ride home afterwards, but I felt like walking. It would only take me about twenty minutes to get home on foot.

When I turned away from the school and stepped onto the sidewalk beside the road, I ran into Dean sitting on his motorcycle. It was a powerful machine, well-suited for him. The bike was black as midnight and looked tough, like it was made for more than just the road. I wondered if it was custom-made for him because I had never seen anything like it before.

He lowered his dark glasses from his eyes and paused them at his nose, his eyes glared at me with satisfaction, like he was imagining me in a bikini or something. I looked around for…her.

“Is Jennifer with you?” I blurted out in accusation, regretting it the second it left my mouth.

His blank stare told me that she wasn’t.

“You know Jennifer, right?” I asked a little nicer, trying to make the question sound casual instead of accusing.

“I know the back of her head.” Dean said coldly.

“Well, she’s been missing…” I continued, “…someone mentioned to me that you might know something because you’ve been absent on the same days as her.” I said.

“Someone?” Dean raised his eyebrow. He knew I thought the same thing as this ‘someone’ did. I could tell by the disappointment on his face.

“Well, they asked Shane, but he said he didn’t know where she was.” I added.

“Shane? What does he have to do with this?” he angrily lashed out. “Was he with her last?” he interrogated. I could practically see rage boiling under his skin.

“We saw him with her at the lounge Friday night.” I blurted.

Dean pushed his glasses back into place and swiveled around positioning himself on the bike. “I have to go.” he said in a hurry. And without another glance at me, he drove off, leaving me in a daze of confusion.

didn’t see Dean that night when I went out for my run. I had waited by the spring with Zeke, kicking my feet in the water. The cool water was actually soothing and the birds happily chirping let me know that I was the only one there. This place wasn’t as enjoyable as when Dean was there with me. I hated feeling desperate to see him. For all I knew, he could have been the killer vampire Markus thought he was. Vampires…
pshh…
I might as well have believed in all his other theories if I was going to consider this one.

It bothered me that Dean reacted the way he did when I told him Jennifer was missing. Maybe he was with her. Jennifer was always after him. Was he worried about her? It couldn’t be. I saw him reject her. Then again…he had been rejecting me for years. Well, my friendship anyway. Maybe it was possible that he was fooling around with her. After all, it wasn’t like I knew him as well as I used to.

It was almost time for the sun to settle, so I took my feet out of the cool water and dusted the grass off of my bottom. It got to the point where I didn’t have to have the leash on Zeke anymore. I supposed he already bonded with me and now he didn’t leave my side. When we made it to my house, we didn’t go inside. The evening was too nice to be indoors, the fresh air was the kind meant for perfect camping in the woods. Or maybe I was hoping Dean would pop up and explain to me why he hadn’t been around. Zeke and I sat on the porch and blankly stared out to the forest behind the houses. It was quite a distance from my home, but I could still see the enormous trees that towered over the houses. The tall bushy silhouette that stood before the moonlight was like a painting in the sky.

The front door behind me creaked open and out stepped my mother. She was in her plaid pajamas and big tee. She smiled down at me and sat beside Zeke. I’m sure he felt loved, being in between two humans that were patting his head. He laid down in surrender as my mother rubbed his belly.

“Nice night.” she said.

“Yeah. How was your day?” I asked.

“It was okay. I spent most of it worrying about my daughter.” She tilted her head at me and peeked with the corner of her eye. “You’ve been distant lately. One day you’re happy and another…you’re different. Boy problems?” she questioned.

“When isn’t it?” I pouted.

“Anything I can help you with?” She paused, “Is it about Dean?” she asked.

I let out a sigh. “Yup.”

“What is it? Did he hurt you?” she asked.

“No…I just can’t figure him out.”
He might be a killer vampire, he might have skipped school with Jennifer, he might like Jennifer, and he might like me.

“That’s how they are unfortunately. Out of all my years of dating, I’ve found that to be the never changing problem.” She reached over and tugged lightly on my ponytail. I turned to her. I had never really paid attention to this, but she was beautiful. Her hair was dark brown with eyes to match (I got the red locks from my dad). There were only a few faint wrinkles around her eyes, but they weren’t noticeable. For a woman of forty five, you’d think she’d look her age. I couldn’t believe my dad left her. All this talk about dating made me realize that she could really get a great guy if she wanted to. “You know what?” she asked with a smile.

“What?” I asked.

She leaned in a bit and said, “They can’t figure us out either.” We both giggled with each other.

We sat there in silence for I didn’t know how long, but it was long enough for darkness to settle. We watched the deer walk around the front yards. Some yards we couldn’t see because their porch lights were turned off.

“I’m going to go inside and lay down. My heads hurting.” she said as she rose up.

“Are you going to bed?” I asked.

She gave me a grin. “Wrath is waiting.”

“Wrath? What’s Wrath?” I asked.

“It’s a new book I started reading. I can’t get my mind off it.” she nodded at herself and went inside.

A small group of deer strolled onto the front yard to eat some grass. Zeke kept his cool next to me. In fact, it seemed he was enjoying the night like I was. One small deer wondered off closer to us, not caring that we were sitting there. I tried not to move so it wouldn’t run off, but it got startled anyway. All the deer from the other yards got startled too, as if they were in sync with each other. They stampeded back to the forest and disappeared into the darkness between the trees. Zeke was growling low in his chest with his head facing far into the street. In my neighborhood, we didn’t have street lamps in front of every other house, so it was hard to see at night. I couldn’t make out what Zeke was staring at. Suddenly, he stood up and leaped in front of me with his eyes still focused on something in the distance. He stuck his chest out in front of him and flared his fangs out. Feet planted in the ground he ferociously snarled. He looked rabid. That’s when I saw the silhouette of a man. I stood up to get a better look.
Why didn’t Markus let me keep those binoculars!
I hurried inside and called Zeke to come in. He stayed put. I ran back out and cupped my hands on his thighs, pulling as hard as I could until he budged and followed me in. I locked the door and peeped out the window beside it. The figure was gone. The darkness blended with each other. Nothing stood in between. Zeke was calm, it was over. I felt ridiculous. It wasn’t like someone was coming after me or anything. It was just a person standing there. Then why was I so afraid? But then again, it looked like the same figure that I’d seen outside my window at night.

The next day was the same…no Dean and no Jennifer. Just my madness controlling my thoughts. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get my mind off of him or our kiss. Over and over I played it in my mind. Then, over and over I played his reaction to Jennifer. Something wasn’t right. I couldn’t figure it out.

“Don’t think too hard. You might hurt yourself.” Said an alluring voice. The words ran so smoothly off his tongue and into my ears. “You’ve been quiet. Is something wrong?” asked Shane.

I slightly turned to him as we took our seats in Mr. Shapiro’s class. Big mistake. My eyes locked at his perfection. Never had I seen skin so flawless. His eyes were soft and inviting. Extremely inviting. I started to feel drugged again, so I turned my head from him and shook it off.

“Ha ha.” I dryly said. “Don’t you have a mirror to go stare at?”

“Ouch.” his smile was wicked.

“Sorry.” I said. “I shouldn’t have.”

“Sorry? Are you truly sorry?” he asked.

“Umm…yeah?” I said with strange doubt.

“Then maybe you owe me. Wouldn’t you agree?” He hinted. His eyes found mine trying to convince me to do whatever they asked.

A couple of students blocked our view of each other as they found their way to their desks. As soon as they cleared, “Owe you what? What are you talking about?” I asked.

“How about a date to make up for your mockery of my confidence?” he suggested.

“A date?” I couldn’t. I shouldn’t. What about Dean? I regrettably looked down and shook my head. “No thanks.”

“No?” He paused. “Do you already have a boyfriend?” He asked as if he honestly wanted to know the answer.

I didn’t know. I knew that there were feelings for Dean, strong feelings. I knew or at least thought he felt the same way. But that was it.

“No. I don’t. It’s just that…I’m busy.” I lied.

Mr. Shapiro lowered his head in between us to cut us off from our conversation. Again, I snapped out of the trance. Everyone around us was quiet. The final bell had already rung. I didn’t know when, because I didn’t hear it. Everyone watched as Mr. Shapiro made his way to the front of the class.

After classes were almost over, I headed for my locker to grab my mace. We weren’t allowed to carry any kind of weapon around, but since I was contemplating on ditching sixth hour and walking home, I grabbed it. When I shut the metal door to the locker, I jumped a little when I saw Shane leaning against the lockers beside mine. I didn’t notice him there earlier because the door was blocking him.

I looked around to see if he was with someone, but everyone was busy running around and gossiping. No one was with Shane.
Was he here for me?
My eyes landed back on him and I couldn’t help but take him in; the way he leaned so elegantly on the lockers behind him. No, scratch that. It wasn’t elegance…it was…seductive. Like he was some sort of sex icon in a school full of amateurs. His thumbs were hanging off his pockets and he had a foot resting on the surface behind him. His body language radiated pure confidence. By the look of his smile, he could tell I was noticing him.