Ruining Me (5 page)

“Penny for your thoughts,”
Cal
said. 

I’m not sure why, but all the sudden I beg
i
n talking about
meeting Kane. 

“So was it love at first sight?” 
Cal
’s question thr
o
w
s
me off.

“I don’t know that I believe
in that, however, I do believe in lust at first sight.  I would definitely say there was
some serious lusting going on,” I say laughingly.

Cal
must have choked on his food when I said that.
  After a couple of minutes of coughing he finally looks at me and said,
“Not sure what to say to that Jay.”
  His face was flushed and he took a large drink
of his milk.

When I
look
up
at him
I notice
he
ha
s
a milk mustache.  I caught his eye between bites of food and
winked saying
, “Milk does a body good, huh.” 
His expression was priceless and h
is face turned beet red
. 
Geez, does he think I’m hitting on him
?
  I laugh
.

“
Cal
, you have a milk mustache
.
”
 
H
e grabs
his napkin and wipe
s
his mouth
while he laughs for a second. 

“For a moment there I thought I was going to have to fight you off girl.
 
I d
idn’t know if all this lust talk was getting to you.
”  We smile at each other and continue eating. 
“Not that I would
fight
you
off you
kn
ow.”  He wagg
ed his eye
brow
s at me and we both laugh.

When
we
finished
,
I beg
i
n putting the food away and finally
Cal
spoke
again.

“So, were good huh?”
  He stood and gr
ab
bed
our plates
to
put them in the dishwasher
.  Leaning
against the counter
he crosses his arm
s
and looks at me. 

The overhead light shines on his surfer blond hair and his face still has that baby look to it
. 
I
moved to stand
across
from him
as he clears
his throat.

“I just want to say one more thing before I leave.  You know that a lot of people miss you. 
Miss seeing that smiling face every morning and not ju
st students.  I know that several of the football coaches even have mentioned they missed seeing you on the sidelines. 
During football
season
,
e
ven when we lost
a game
, you kept everyone’s spirits up.
You were there all the way u
p until our
j
unior year
. 
I never played one football game, even little league, that you weren’t on the sidelines.  Hell, even Coach Branch last year told us all to keep an eye on you.  You just don’t know
,
”
Cal
stop
s
talking
as I
glare at
him
.

“What do you mean Coach Branch told you to keep an eye on me?”

Cal
looked at me and
continued
, “
He just ask
ed
the lineme
n to keep an eye on you last year.  He said he noticed that you were having a hard time.  You know how he cares about his students.
Coach B
and his wife had tw
ins this summer and he still took
his own time to
help
us
s
eniors
get ready for the college scouts. 
He just cares
what happens to all of us.  The
re
are
guys on the football and baseball team that wouldn’t be going to college if it weren’t for him helping them to get scholarships.”

“Well
,
that
is
nice, but I don’t need anyone looking out for me
. 
Please make sure
you
tell all of the guys
that I
said that
,” I replied heavy with sarcasm.  “
Look
Cal
, it’s getting late.  I’m okay, really.  I just don’t need everyo
ne up in my business.”  I smile and start to
walk out
of
the kitchen to the front door
letting him silently know that this conversation and dinner were over.
 

Cal
stops
as he walks
out
through the front door and t
urn
s
back around
. 
“I’m always going to be here.  Just know that okay?
  Thanks for dinner.
”
 
He leans in and kisses my cheek and turns to leave.

Closing the door as he leaves I hear
my phone vibrating
.  It had done that
all through dinner and
since it had been a long day I
decide
to
continue to
ignore my messages.  I turn the house alarm on and w
alk
upstairs.  It was still pretty early, but I
shower
ed and then fell asleep on my bed. 
 

Opening
my eyes
I
glance around me. 
I w
as sitting in a room with four walls and no doors. 
All the walls were white and scratched to hell. 
White
metal chairs lined the walls and in all the chairs sat women of different ages, sizes and color.  We all had on white hospital gowns and our prot
ruding bellies
were
grotesquely
round.  Almost
as if we
swallowed a basketball.  The women all had empty black sockets where their eyes should be.  Their lips were s
e
wn
shut with what
looked like twine.

I heard
a
metal chair screech as someone plopped down next to me. 
Knowing who I would see as I turn my head
,
I look at him. 
He
i
s
always so
beautiful.  Wavy black
ink
h
air and the darkest
eyes I h
ave
ever seen with thick black lashes. 
He ha
s
h
igh cheekbones and
a
square jaw.  His body
i
s trim an
d he
i
s dressed to the nines in what I would guess
i
s a
n Armani suit.  He’s
always bare foot, but even his feet are beautiful.

Smiling at me he props his
arm across the back of my seat and his voice
,
when he spoke
,
i
s deep, “Yea, they sacrificed their sons and daughter unto devils, And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canann; and the land was polluted with blood.  Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions. Pretty much sums it up doesn’t it Babe?” 
I stare back at him
.

Satan wasn’t ugly
. 
I had always
been taught in church that he
was the most beautiful Angel and even in my dreams I realized this.  The women started humming what sounded like a lullaby.  Their distorted stomachs moving with little hands stretching from the inside of their bellies.  I felt his hand start to touch my
stomach and I grab
i
t t
o push
him
away
.  He look
s
down at me and sa
ys
,
“Why James, I just want to feel our baby.  Se
e how he reaches for his Daddy?” 
I look
down
and
a little ha
n
d was pushing up from the i
nside of my stomach and I start
to scream. 

I w
a
ke with
my
scream vibrating off the wall.  Damn, I hadn’t had a nightmare in months.  Damn, damn, damn.  I lay back down.
N
ormally
I
d
o
n’t dream again once I w
a
ke up. 
My thoughts didn’t slow down for
quite
awhile, but finally I drift
back to sleep.

The next morning I stood drink
ing coffee
in
the
kitchen when
I remember
ed
all the text
from the day before
. 
I grab
my phone to check them. 
Mostly all
of them
were from Jill except the last one.  It was from
a number I didn’t recognize,
which I assumed
after reading
the text
that it
was
Kane
’s
. 

Jill – Can you please let me know what to do with HIM????  He wants your number. 

Jill – What did you do to this guy?  He will not leave me alone. 

Jill – CALL ME

569-423-1277 -
You can’t run.
Meet me at O’Malley’s tom night at 9
.  Were u going to tell me that candy rots your teeth??  Is that what they say about candy??? 
J

I actually laugh at his text.  God he’s such a jackass, but he’s a hot one. 
I
program
his number
in my phone
and
reach for my keys on
the counter and
hurry
to school. 
Running late,
I pull
in
to
the parking lot
and hurry inside
. 

The warning bell r
ings just as I walk
into the
school. 
Not looking where I’m going I run
right into Rhye
. 
He grabs
my waist and pull
s
me
toward him
.

“Slow down
Jay
.  You don’t want to get hurt.” 
One dark eye wink
s
at me
and hi
s jet black hair f
a
ll
s
across one
eye.

“
Really
Rhye
?
  Get your hands off of me.
”  I turn out of his grasp and walk
away. 
I hear his parting reply
.

“I l
ike when you play hard to get
.  It only makes me want you more.”

I didn’t even glance back and cho
o
se to ignore him.