Falling for the Ghost of You (26 page)

Why are you telling me this?  “That’s nice,” I mutter lamely. 

I don’t like the way his eyes keep drifting down my body, so I start angling myself back towards the building.

“So I didn’t catch
your
name.”  Sean says, stepping closer to me, cutting of my subtle retreat.

“Violet.”  Maybe if I resort to one word answers, he’ll take the hint and go away.

“Violet,” he repeats.  “That’s pretty.  Can I just tell you…I have been stari
ng at you all day.  You are so
gorgeous, and your body is
incredible
.”

Okay, then.  I start walking, but he follows closely behind.

“Hey, where you going?”  He reaches out to grab my arm, halting me.  “What’s the matter?  Can’t take a compliment?”

I glare at him, pushing his hand off of me.  “A compliment, yes.  An eye rape?  No, thank you.”

Sean chuckles, like he can’t see the laser beams shooting out of my eye
s
.  “Oh, don’t be like that, honey.  I’d really like to take you out for a drink, sometime.  Maybe some shopping—I’ll buy you anything you want.”

Seriously.  “I’m seventeen,” I snap.  “Not a hooker.”

Sean’s eyes widen in glazed surprise.  “You’re seventeen?  Wow, you look older.  Must be that
smokin
’ hot body of yours.”  His eyes crawl up and down me.

“Ew.”  I shudder in disgust.  “Look, just go away.  You don’t have me cornered in a dark alley,
you know.  There are a lot of people around—and most of them are my relatives.  If you try anything, I will punch you in the junk, and then I’ll scream for help.”

Sean is oblivious.  “Oh, yeah, I’ll make you scream, you hot little bitch…”

I hate when random perverts talk to me like this.  And he actually tries to grab at my chest!

But he never makes contact.  Sean is jerked violently backwards by the collar of his shirt.

You know what would be so awesome?  If it was Grandma standing there, dangling the pervert like a worm on a hook.

It's not.  It's Zane.  Of course it's Zane.

Zane's grip seems to tighten—i
f the mottled color Sean is turning is any indication.  "What
were you saying to her?" he asks
in a deadly quiet voice.

"S-sorry!  I'm sorry!" Sean gasps, trying to wiggle free.

Zane looks at me, eyebrows raised, silently asking me if I accept his apology.

I shrug sullenly.  "You're lucky he came along,"  I mutter
to the creep
.

For a second, it looks like Zane might not let Sean go.  He appears to be thinking while the pervert's movements become more and more panicked.  The sounds of choking fill the night.  People are starting to head towards our direction.

Finally, Zane gains control of himself.  He releases Sean, then shoves him hard enough to drive him to his knees.  "Don't even look at her again," he says tonelessly.

I watch Sean scramble away like a cockroach.  Man, I wish I could say something to a guy like that to make him feel as cheap and sleazy as he made me feel.  But every insult I can think of would probably only turn him on.  Stupid perverts.

"I can't leave you alone for a minute," Zane says with a wry smile.  "You okay?"

"I'm fine," I say quickly.  "I had everything under control, actually.  You can go back to having fun with Taylor."

Zane stares briefly up at the dark sky.  "We're not doing this again," he groans.

"Doing what?" I snap.  "If you want to hang out with my cousin every time my back is turned, be my guest!  I just came outside to do my own thing."

"Yeah, does doing your own thing include getting groped by some asshole?"

"Apparently!"  I shriek, throwing my hands up.

Zane shakes his head.  Why does he look like he wants to laugh?  "We're not doing this again," he repeats tiredly.

"Yeah,
we
aren't!  So go back to flirting
with your little girlfriends—I
don't give a damn."

"Violet," he sighs.  "What can I do to convince you that I won't cheat on you?"

I run a hand throu
gh my wild hair.  "I don't know!
  Every time  I turn around, you're talking to another girl.  And they're always pretty.  Why can't they ever be fat?  Really fat?"

Zane just laughs.  "Talking doesn't mean cheating.  You know that, right?"

"Tell that to my dad and Matt," I say bitterly.

"Yeah, well, I'm not them.  I don't cheat.   Alright?"  He leans down to look me in the eye.

"But you're hiding something," I whisper.

"It's not what you think.
I
will
tell you, just not..
."

"Just
not now."  I turn my back to him.  "That's part of why I can't trust you."

Zane is silent for a moment.  "So what do you want to do?"  he asks finally.

"I don't want to fight," I say.

"What do you want to do?" he repeats.

I lean back against him.  His arms go around my waist, pulling me aga
inst his warmth.  "I want to feel
how soft your bed is," I say quietly.

"Let's go."

Zane takes my hand and we practically run towards the valet.  While we're waiting for them to get his car, someone screams hideously. 

I slip my phone out of the little pocket in my dress and reluctantly answer.  "Mom?"

"Please tell me you're somewhere close by," she says in a rush.  "Great Grandma Frances is throwing a huge fit, and you're the only one that can calm her down."

I glance at Zane.  He's watching me intently.  "I'll be right there," I groan.

"Hurry, Violet!"

"Great Grandma emergency," I tell him after I've hung up.  "She's going nuts in there, and I'm the only one she responds to."

Zane lets his head fall forward.  “When you and I finally I happen, I may not survive it,” he mutters, staring down at the ground.

“I, uh, I’ll talk to you later, I guess?” 

I start forward to kiss him, but he quickly backs off.  “Nope.  Don’t touch me right now.”   

“What?  Why not?”  I frown at him.

A little self-deprecating smile plays about his beautifully-made mouth.  “Trust me, it would be a
bad idea.  I’ll call you later, okay?”

Zane’s car appears like magic.  A valet hops out of the driver’s seat, looking thrilled
to have been behind the wheel of such an awesome car
. 

“Okay,” I say in a dazed voice.  I don’t know what to do with my hands, so I wave awkwardly.  “See you later?”

He stops to look at me before getting into the Aston Martin.  “Definitely.”

How does this keep happening?  I look to the heavens for an answer, and do you know what I get?

A raindrop in the eye.

But the real treat is waiting for me in the ballroom, where Great Grandma is in the process of removing every last stitch of her clothing.  It's time for her bath, she says.

Wow.  Naked old woman flesh kills the mood.  Kills it real good.

I may never have sex.

******

Chapter 25

The next time I see Damon at school, I shoot him an evil glare.  He looks away guiltily.  This confirms my suspicions of him being an impregnator.

"Do the right thing," I mutter to him as we pass each other in the hall.

He stares at me, wide-eyed, then hurries away.

Really, Lauren, how could you have gotten involved with someone like him?
He's cute, but there's not much going on back there.

So I've decided to start writing again.  I update all my web pages, answer as much fans’ questions as I can, and sit at my computer, waiting for some ideas to hit. 

Nothing comes to mind.  I didn’t anticipate how hard it would be to get back into my characters’ world after months of not thinking about them at all.  And I keep getting distracted.  While I
should be thinking of plot lines, I find myself surfing the web for funny cat videos.  Then Mom calls me down to help her with the Christmas decorations. 

Ugh, Christmas!  What am I going to get everyone?  I still don't know about my present for Zane.  We wandered into a local gallery in some tiny town once, and Zane had pointed out an exquisite sculpture of a beautiful mermaid sitting on a rock.  It had reminded him of a painting he used to be fascinated with as a kid.  He even joked that the mermaid looked like me.

The next day, I drove back to the town and bought it for him.  I have no idea if he'll like it.
I also got a him a mini model of a Stirling engine, though I’m  having second doubts about that one, too.
Rich people are so hard to shop for.

Ugh, so much for getting any writing today.  I'll start tomorrow for sure.

"Go ahead, just get it all out."

"How could you have told me?  When did it start?  Did it hurt?  I can't believe you did it before me! 
Where
did you do it?"

I have to pause to take a breath.  Lauren just stares at me wearily.  I doubt she'll answer most of my burning questions, but I so needed to get them out of my system.  I've been repressing them so far, not wanting to add to her stress.

There are dark circles under Lauren's eyes.  She hasn't puked yet, but she looks exhausted. 

"I told you, I'll tell you everything after I talk to the father.  Sorry, V.  It's such a mess."

All I can do is nod sympathetically.  Anyone can see the embarrassment on Lauren's face to be sitting in the waiting room of a women's clinic, waiting to have her pregnancy confirmed on paper so she can apply for government assistance.  Her pride almost wouldn't let her, and I had to remind her it was for the baby.

"It did hurt," she
says out of the blue.  "In the beginning.  But then, it didn't.  It was...I thought I would regret it after th
e first time, but then I felt—I don't know—I
wanted to do it again."

I'm speechless for a moment.  This is
Lauren
.  She doesn’t even like it when people brush against her in the hall.  Did she turn
into a nympho before my eyes?

"Do you love him?" I blurt out.

Lauren appears startled, as if she's never considered the question before.  "I don't know," she admits softly, staring down at her hands in her lap.  "It's weird to say, but I think it might depend on his reaction."

I scowl, remembering Damon's cowardly cringe.  "He'd better act right
. Or, I don't care what you say.
I'll
stomp
him.  I'll go all Fat Violet on his ass."

That makes her
snicker a little.  "Thanks, V."

"I'm serious, Lauren."  I look her in the eye.  "He'd better treat you right."

She just shrugs and shifts uncomfortably in the hard plastic chair.

We are quiet for a while.  Someone named Sidney is called back and a scared-looking
girl who couldn't have been much
older than the twins, stands up with a scowling woman.  The pair make their way grimly into the back room.

"Violet?" Lauren says suddenly, diverting my attention.

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever talked to Zane about...well, you said he's been with a lot of people...?"

I grimace at the reminder, but I know what she's getting at.  "He gets tested regularly, and he always wears a condom.  We talked about that before, when he asked if I was going to go on the pill."

"Are you going to?"

"I know I should, but—ugh—i
t's so embarrassing!"

Lauren looks around pointedly.  "More embarrassing than this?"

"Good point."

Her name is called then.  I try to go back with her, but she tells me I'm not going to watch her go pee.  So I sit back down, left with my thoughts.

I want to be thinking about Lauren and her predicament, but my mind keeps turning back to Zane.

Should we wait
to have sex
?  There were so many times we were so close, only to be cruelly thwarted.  Is that a sign that I'm not ready yet?

Physically, I am
so
there.  Really, just thinking about Zane, looking into those amazing dark eyes...I would do anything he asked.

And maybe that
's
the problem.

Ugh, why does it have to be so complicated?  It's just sex, right?
  Lots of people do it, and it’s fine.

Right.

******