Playing With Fire (2 page)

Wow, that was pathetic; even I’m embarrassed at that answer. I glance over at her and I can see her blushing a little under her light brown hair. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as I thought.

“That was the most ridiculous line I’ve ever heard,” she said. Okay, it was as bad as I thought. We walked up to our next class and I wished we didn’t have to go in. I was enjoying talking to her and getting to know her.

. . . .

After our third class, we walked over to the cafeteria. “Do you wanna eat together?” I saw her hesitate; I hope my bad line earlier didn’t scare her off.

“Um…yea, I guess so.”

We walked through the buffet line and got our food. I’m glad to see she had food on her plate and not just an apple and a piece of lettuce. I couldn’t stand it when girls refused to eat; nothing is sexy about a stick.

I saw my two best friends at a table and they started to wave me over. Shawn, Jason and I had been inseparable since the first day of high school. We were always together and when one of us had a problem, we all helped. It was as much of a family as my dad, brother, sister and I were.

Shawn had said that any great group needed a nickname so he started referring to us as the “Three Musketeers“. Jason and I thought it was ridiculous, but we went along with it. We were all so different, but I think that is why we were all so close. Shawn was definitely the brain of the group; I swear he never even needed to study for tests. To say the least, I was jealous of him.

Jason was the asshole. He would tell you how he felt whether you wanted to hear it or not. He didn’t take shit from anyone and wasn’t scared of confrontation. They looked at me like I was crazy when they saw Maddy walking over with me. “Guys, this is Madison; Madison this is Shawn and Jason.”

We all sat and talked while we ate, and she seemed like she was starting to get comfortable. Then the guys said they needed to go to their next class, and it was just Maddy and me. We were sitting there enjoying spending time with each other when I saw Chris Johnson coming our way. I hated that guy so much. He was a pompous ass that thought daddy’s money could get him anything he wanted. When he saw me, he smirked and kept on coming.

My whole body tensed. He better not try to mess with Maddy because I’ll lay him out right here. Jesus, where did that come from? I’ve only known this girl for about three hours and I’m ready to knock someone out for her. He walked up behind Maddy and put his hand on her shoulder. Did they know each other? She turned around and I saw a look of disappointment flash across her face. What the hell was going on?

She turned back to me and the smile that I had been staring at all morning was gone. “Carter, this is my boyfriend, Chris. Chris, this is Carter; he saved me from getting lost all morning.”

Her boyfriend? What? I had never even thought to ask her if she had a boyfriend, although I don’t know why I’m surprised. “We've met before.” I couldn’t hide my sullen expression; I was disappointed. I looked up at Chris and he was loving it; he knew exactly what I had wanted. “Well, I’m gonna get going. I’ll see you on Wednesday, Maddy.”

I got up, threw my stuff away and walked out the door, away from the only girl that I have ever wanted.

Madison

Carter looked so surprised when I said Chris was my boyfriend
,
maybe I wasn’t imagining that he might be interested in me. Was it possible that Carter liked me?

Chris was still standing behind me
.
I hated feeling like his possession, his trophy. However, being someone’s trophy was much better than opening up your heart to someone and being hurt. I had been hurt and abandoned so much in my life that I didn’t want to try anymore.

Chris treated me okay and he seemed to be happy with me; that was enough right now. I knew that no matter what, Chris couldn’t break my heart because I had no intention of giving it to him.

Carter, on the other hand, scared me. I felt things in the three hours that I was with him that I have never felt before, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to run away from it. I guess, in a way, it's good that Chris came up when he did; I was getting too comfortable with Carter.

Chris sat down next to me. “What the hell where you doing having lunch with Carter James?” Shit, was he mad?

“He is in my first three classes and offered to show me where to go and stuff. You’re back early. I thought you weren’t getting in until tomorrow.” He looked at me for what seemed like forever. Could he tell that I was attracted to Carter? God, I hope not.

“Let’s go back to your room.” He stood up and held out a hand to me. This is not good. Damn, I should have just told Carter no.

The walk to my building took about half the normal time because Chris was practically pulling me with him. I could tell he was angry; his whole body was tense. I was dreading getting to my room. I was silently praying my roommate was there, but her emails said she would be getting in later tonight. We got to my door and I unlocked it. Chris pushed me in and closed the door. I had tripped and was now on the floor looking up at him.

“You are mine! That means that you don’t disrespect me by sitting there and flirting with Carter Fucking James at my school!” His foot found my side, and I bit back the scream that tried to push its way out. “You want to go be with him, Madison? You want to go be one of the many whores he fucks and never calls again?” Another kick against my thigh this time. “You will stay away from him and any other prick that comes up to you, do you understand me?” I was crying so hard all I could do was nod. He opened the door, slammed it, and left me there.

I hated that he got like this, and I hated myself for letting it happen. The first time Chris had ever hit me was our first summer together.

We were going to the beach with his family and I had just bought a new bikini. I wanted to look nice for him. We were only on the beach for about a half hour when he leaned in my ear and said we were leaving because I didn’t feel good. I felt fine and was confused by it, but I figured if he wanted to leave then we should go. We said our goodbyes to his family and drove back to his house.

He wouldn’t talk to me the whole way home and when we got there, he dragged me up to his room. As soon as he closed the door, he slapped me so hard that I fell to the floor. He called me a slut for wearing that bathing suit, and told me he could see how much I loved all the guy’s attention. That couldn’t have been farther from the truth. I hated being the center of attention. After that day, he never asked me to go to the beach again.

. . . .

When I got to class Wednesday morning, Carter was waiting for me and it brought a smile to my face. I quickly wiped it off, though, “Carter, listen, we can’t hang out again like we did on Monday.”

“What? Why? What happened? Did I do something that pissed you off?”

God, this was hard. “No, you didn’t do anything. It's just best if we don’t hang out.”

“Let me guess. Your boyfriend doesn’t want you hanging out around the lower class. You know, Madison, I thought you were better than that.” He walked into class and didn’t even look my way for the rest of the day.

Carter

Why the hell was I so upset? I barely knew the girl and she had a boyfriend. The thing was, I know that I wasn’t imagining things. There was something between us, and it had been the first real thing I that had ever felt. I know that fucker Chris was the one that was behind this. I stole a glance at her during class every chance I could get; luckily, she never caught me.

When she sat down in English, she winced like she had been hurt and I wondered what that was about. Chris had better not been putting his hands on her. That was one thing I couldn’t stand, no matter who it was. I needed to catch her outside and ask her.

I was packed up and ready to leave five minutes before the bell rang. I needed to catch Maddy and talk to her. The professor dismissed us and I raced out the door. I wanted to be waiting for her. I saw her leave and stepped up beside her. “I need to talk to you.” The look on her face was unreadable, but she seemed sad.

“Why? I thought I pretty much said everything I needed to this morning.”

Ouch. “Please? Five minutes?”

“Okay…what?”

How do I even ask this? “Are you okay? I saw you when you sat down and you seemed like you were in pain. Did something happen? You can tell me; I wanna help you.”

I could see in her eyes that something was going on. “Carter, I’m fine, but I need to go now.” I let her go, but I had never been so sure in my life that something was wrong.

. . . .

Maddy stayed away from me for the next couple months. Every time I tried to get close to her, she would run or duck into one the classrooms. I tried to go out and have fun with my friends, but I couldn’t shake this feeling. Even they noticed that something was up with me. I don’t understand why I can’t shake her from my system.

“Carter listen, we get that you like this girl, but its like November; time to move on.” Shawn was looking at me, but he just didn’t get it.

None of us were really the relationship kind. We went out, had a good time and sometimes went home with girls, but hadn’t ever been with someone long-term. It was killing me to know in my heart what is going on with her and not be able to help. The first day I met Maddy, she was smiling and had that adorable sundress on. But since then, all she wore were jeans and long sleeves, even when it was warm out. I know that that asshole is hurting her, but she won’t talk to me.

“Listen, I get what your saying, but I know something isn’t right and I’m not gonna give up on her. I know you guys don’t get it, but she is the one. I have never felt this for any girl I met. She has been ignoring me for almost two months, but I still find myself looking for her everywhere. I find excuses in class to talk to her. You know me and I’m not one to chase girls, but even that one day of being around her changed that. She's different and I feel different whenever I’m around her, even when she's ignoring me.”

Jason laughed at me. “Carter, you just met this girl! You don’t even know her that well; maybe you just need to get laid and get her out of your system.”

That is what I would have done before, but it wasn’t going to work this time. I had tried to forget Maddy. I went home with girls, but I just wasn’t interested.

I didn’t know how to explain it to them, but in the couple hours I spent with Maddy, she got to me. I had never met a girl like her, and I didn’t want to let her go. I had a feeling that she wanted me, too, but something was holding her back.

Chapter 2

Madison

Carter was killing me. He knew what was going on; I don’t know how, but he did. I was getting so tired of having to run and hide from him.

Things with Chris haven’t been any better, either. If it wasn’t the clothes I wore, it was the fact that I was looking at all the football players when he took me to the game. I was forced to wear long clothes, even if it was hot outside, so no one could see the bruises. Sometimes, I've thought about leaving him but, the truth is, I am scared of what he would do.

Its like he has this switch in him that just flips and a whole different person takes over. If I’m being honest, that person scares the hell out of me.

I’m sitting in English class right now, trying my best not to look over at Carter even though I can feel his eyes on me. The professor is talking about a project that will be due before Thanksgiving break and that we will be working in pairs.

My only thought is please don’t put me with him. God can't be that cruel. He tells us to pair off and everything happens so fast. Everybody is scrambling to get into their pairs and I’m looking around for someone to ask.

I see a guy coming up to me and I know he is going to ask me. I think his name might be Matt. Just when he reaches me and starts to ask me, he gets this fearful look on his face and asks the girl two rows over.

I glance behind me and Carter is standing there. He looks down at me and gives me that smile. Kill...me...now.

Our professor went on to talk about the details of the assignment. We have to do a study on the student body at the university. We need to come up with questions to ask, do surveys, and turn that into a ten page paper and a presentation. Carter couldn’t have possibly looked more pleased with himself.

My stomach dropped. Chris was going to flip out. He didn’t believe me that I never talked to Carter anymore. He hit me last week because he said I was looking at him when we were eating lunch, even though I wasn’t. He would never believe me when I tell him I didn’t choose to partner with Carter.

“Well, we have two weeks before this is due so when do you want to get started and plan it out?” The project was due right before Thanksgiving break, not that I would be doing anything other than sitting in my dorm during break. “If you want to come over tonight, I don’t have work.”

Come over? As in his house? Oh, hell no! I am strong, but I don’t have that much willpower. What can I say to him? Sorry, I can’t come over to your house because I’m extremely attracted to you and I don’t trust myself? Sorry, I can’t come over because my boyfriend is extremely jealous and will flip his shit?

“Okay, that sounds great!” Who just said that? Shit! That was me! What the hell was I thinking? I looked up at Carter and he was smiling at me in the way that made it hard to breathe.

“Okay, I’ll see you tonight then. Do you want to give me your number so I can text you the address?”

My number? Oh, he thinks I’m one of those normal college students and that I have a cell phone. “Sorry, I don’t have a phone.” To say that he looked shocked would be an understatement.

A cell phone required not only money, but people that you want to talk to and I had neither. Well, maybe I had one person I wanted to talk to, but that was a bad idea.

“Um…okay; well, here then.” He pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled his address on it.

“Okay…I’ll see you tonight.”

Chris was waiting for me when I walked out of English and as soon as Carter came out behind me, Chris' expression hardened. I knew I was in for it but, at this point, it couldn’t get any worse.