Playing With Fire (Guarded Hearts) (2 page)

We walked up to one of the buildings that looked like a huge castle. I guessed this was Branson Hall. I followed Carter to our class, but he didn't say anything else. I must have scared him off. Maybe I came off too cold when he mentioned his mom?

"Well, here we are." He opened the door and held it for me while I walked in. Luckily, the door was at the back of the classroom so it was easier to sneak in unnoticed. The class wasn't even that full and there were tons of open seats. I found myself hoping Carter would sit next to me. I picked a seat somewhere in the middle and sat down. As I was unpacking my books, I looked to my right and he'd sat down next to me.

The teacher did most of the boring "first day of class" activities, going over the syllabus and making the students participate in icebreakers. It went by fast and before I knew it, we were being dismissed. Great, now I had to try not to get lost again. I was walking down the hallway trying to find my roster, when I felt someone come up beside me.

"Hey, I realized I still had this in my pocket. I must've forgotten to hand it to you." Carter held out my roster for me. "We have the next two classes together, if you wanna go with me. I have a break after that so I can even show you where the cafeteria is." He shot me one of those heart-melting smiles, and I couldn't say no.

"That sounds good, although I already know where the cafeteria is. I've been living on campus for a week now."

He looked surprised, which didn't shock me. I was one of only a handful of students who chose to come early. Although, for me, it wasn't really a choice. More like a necessity.

Even Chris had gone on vacation the week before school had started. I'd secretly hoped he'd ask me to come with him, but he'd mentioned it was mostly family and he wanted to be free to have a good time and not babysit me.

"Okay, then let's go. You're mine for the morning." For a second, I wished I could be his for longer than the morning, but a guy like Carter would never want me. I had Chris and he liked me enough. He told me he loved me before but, the truth was, I never really believed him.

However, he was all I had and I needed to make it work. I knew he didn't treat me that great, but it was better than being alone. Chris was really jealous and hated it when I even so much as looked at another guy, so I knew what I was doing with Carter wasn't very smart.

Carter

I didn't know what it was about this girl but, from the minute she ran me over, I couldn't get enough of her. She seemed so real, honest and, not to mention, she was gorgeous, which I didn't think she even realized. Her hair was this beautiful shade of light brown, and her eyes were a stunning hazel color. She had a nice body and was tall enough that I knew she'd fit perfectly against me. What the hell was I thinking?

When I told her about my mom, I braced myself for the normal "I'm so sorry" pity look and the awkward silence. But she didn't give me anything like that. She addressed it and moved on,
(
which only
)
made me want to get to know her more. She had a story and I was dying to find out what it was. We had the same morning schedule this semester and I was going to take full advantage of getting to know her.

"So, where are you from?" I wanted to play twenty questions with her and find out everything. What the hell was wrong with me? I never got like
this
over girls, never even had a relationship past a couple of dates with a girl.

"Um…I moved around a lot." There was something she wasn't telling me, and I didn't think she was going to at this point. "Where are you from?"

"I was born in California, but my family moved to North Carolina when I started my freshman year of high school. My father went to USC and wanted me to go there too, but I wanted to stay close to home." She just smiled and let out a little laugh. I thought my heart may have stopped for a minute. "What's so funny?"

"I was trying to figure out why you had a USC shirt on at Duke."

"Well, if you must know, USC sent me here as a spy. It's very hush-hush, though."

There was that giggle again. "Oh, really, and what are you supposed to be finding out?"

"I was supposed to see if the girls at Duke University are better than the ones at USC and, after this morning, I think my mission is over."

Wow, that was pathetic. Even I was embarrassed at that answer. I glanced over at her and I could 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 hoped 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 was 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. There was nothing 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 thought that was 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'd 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 who 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 I'd 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'd never even thought to ask her if she had a boyfriend, although I didn't know why I was 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'd 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 I'd 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'd 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 I was with him that I'd never felt before, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to run away from it. I guessed, in a way, it was 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 hoped not.

"Let's go back to your room." He stood up and held out a hand to me. This was 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'd be getting in later tonight. We got to my door and I unlocked it. Chris pushed me in and closed the door. I'd tripped and was now on the floor, looking up at him.

"You are mine! That means 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'd 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 guys' 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.

Carter

Why the hell was I so upset? I barely knew the girl and she had a boyfriend. The thing was, I knew I wasn't imagining things. There was something between us, and it had been the first real thing I'd had ever felt. I knew that fucker Chris was the one who 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'd 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'd 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'd run or duck into one of 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 didn't understand why I couldn't shake her from my system.