Speed of My Heart (6 page)

By the time we pulled up to my house, we were laughing hysterically over Cole's retelling of the time Jack locked himself out of his hotel room after having slept walked outside in nothing but his birthday suit. Cole had been woken by the sound of Jack pounding on his door in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, it had also woke the rest of the hall. Thoughts of the diner incident were all but banished from my mind. That was evidence of just how much I liked Cole. He had a way of making me feel so lighthearted and carefree. He also had a way of monopolizing my thoughts when I was with him. And when I wasn't.

Cole put the jeep in park and turned to me. "Despite your idiot ex," he joked, "I had a really good time with you tonight."

I grinned back. "Yeah, me too. Thanks for making me laugh all the way home."

Cole shrugged a shoulder. "That was for my benefit as well as yours. You look incredibly sexy when you laugh."

When I raised an eyebrow in disbelief, he smiled. "Seriously. Your eyes sparkle, you have that cute dimple in your right cheek, and the sound of you laughing makes me want to kiss you senseless."

Our eyes locked and held, causing my heart to skip a beat.

"By all means," I told him, my heart suddenly pounding in my chest. "Feel free to kiss me senseless whenever you want."

I saw something light in Cole's eyes and I knew, before he made a move, exactly what he was going to do.

He slid his hand under my hair at the base of my neck, cupping the back of my head and gently pulling my lips against his. The kiss started out slowly, tender almost, but quickly built into something that was well on its way to being more than what we needed to be doing while sitting in front of my grandparents house.

When the kiss ended and we pulled away from each other, Cole ran his hand through his hair, looking unsettled.

"I think I better let you go inside,” he said reluctantly. “You've been through a lot tonight."

"Okay," I agreed, even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. "Goodnight, Cole."

So this is what it felt like to be so irrevocably into someone that you could hardly breathe? I grabbed my pocketbook and slid out, walking to the front door of my house and slipping inside. Once the door was closed behind me, I heard Cole pull off and let my breath out in a swoosh. I leaned against the door for support. Even my knees felt weak. I had always thought that was just a saying, but apparently it really did happen.

 It had been one rollercoaster of a night, but, even so, it had been worth it. I wouldn‘t have traded those moments with Cole for anything. And not only had he been the balm that soothed my reopened wounds, he'd introduced me to a whole new quality of man than what I was used to dating. It made me wonder, why had I always picked such slime balls?

I was startled out of my thoughts by my grandfather clearing his throat in the kitchen doorway. From the look on his face, he meant business.

"Mara, I just got off the phone with Sam,” he informed me gravely. His voice was grim.

Oh great. I'm sure he'd gotten a detailed account of the whole diner incident from numerous sources around town: including Sam. News around here could beat you home —and apparently it had.

I sighed heavily and walked into the kitchen, plopping down at the table. "I guess you know Marcus is back in town then, huh?"

"And giving you a hard time from the sounds of it," my grandpa added. He walked over and sat down at the table across from me, giving me the look he reserved for only the most serious of conversations. "Look, Mara. Marcus is bad news. I want you to stay as far away from him as possible. If he bothers you again, you let me know. Sam's already promised to keep an eye on you."

I decided not to mention the way Marcus seemed to be stalking me around town. I wasn't sure it would do any good, and it would only worry my grandparents. Perhaps to the point they'd feel the need to keep me under lock and key, and I couldn't have that.

"You don't have to worry about anything Grandpa," I assured him. "I want nothing more than to stay as far away from him as possible." I studied my fingernails, marveling at the fact that I hadn't picked any of my polish off yet; especially as nerve wracking as tonight had been. Another benefit of having had Cole by my side; he seemed to suck the anxiety right out of me.

"Good. Now let me tell you —I do believe I like the boy that took you out tonight."

I bit my lip to keep from giggling at my grandpa's tendency to call any man under the age of fifty a boy.

"I like him too, Grandpa. But don't get too attached," I warned. "He's only here for a month visiting family."

He reached over and patted my hand. "Doesn't mean you can't have a good time while he's here.”

The next day Sadie and I had plans to hang out at the lake behind her house. Jack was working during the day at his parent's car dealership, and I had no idea what Cole was doing. Even though I was dying to, I hadn't asked. I didn't want to seem too pushy, but I did hope that calling me would be on his itinerary.

Sadie was lying on her stomach on a towel next to me, propped up on her elbows and flipping through a magazine. I was lying on my back, enjoying the caress of sun on my skin and the relative serenity around us. The lake backed up to Sadie's parent's property; and besides the occasional boat going by, we had this portion of the beach all to ourselves. It had been a great location over the years to have parties, bonfires, and sunbathe. In fact, it had been
the
spot for most of those things during our high school years.

"What do you think about throwing a party out here next weekend?" Sadie asked me. "One last sha-bang before people starting heading off to college in the next month or so?"

I shrugged. "If you want. It doesn't matter to me."

Sadie let out an exasperated sigh. "Come on, Mara. It'll be fun. Besides, it'll give you a chance to hang out with Cole."

I shaded my eyes, rolling my head to the side to look at her. As predicted she was wiggling her eyebrows at me suggestively. I burst out laughing.

"Really, Sadie. What do you think we're going to do? Lay down in the woods over there and seal the deal?" I asked sarcastically.

She pursed her lips as if considering. "Hmm. No, I'm thinking the flatbed of a truck might work better," she suggested with a wink.

I flipped onto my stomach. "God, Sadie. You're insatiable."

"No, I'm just happy to see you showing interest in a decent guy for once. Besides, he is ridiculously hot. And did I mention famous and loaded?"

I rolled my eyes. "He's not that famous, Sadie. I didn't even know who he was."

"Yeah, because you know nothing about NASCAR. But if you did, you'd be impressed."

I propped my chin up on my hand. "I'm impressed anyway."

Sadie looked at me with interest. "Speaking of impressive, I'm dying to know, is he a good kisser?" she asked, with school girl excitement. She really got way too excited about these kinds of things.

I smiled over at her. "The best."

Sadie opened her mouth to respond, but our attention was drawn to the sound of a truck driving toward us.

I looked at Sadie questioningly. "Who could that be?" No one came out here unless they were invited. It was private property, after all.

My eyes widened when I saw Marcus' navy truck barreling down the path toward us.

Sadie jumped up, letting an expletive out while throwing her towel around her waist.

Not feeling like confronting Marcus in nothing but a bikini, I rummaged through my bag, desperately searching for my cover up. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough and Marcus was standing a few feet in front of us in record time.

Sadie stood with her hands on her hips. "Marcus, get the hell off my property. Nobody invited you."

I looked up to see Marcus' eyes on me. Damn where was that cover up?

"Well, well, well, if this isn't just like old times. You half naked and on your..." His eyes raked over me suggestively, making me feel gross.

"Fuck off, Marcus," Sadie interjected.

Marcus didn't even spare her a glance. "Mara, what do you say we go to that lake house over there and you know... for old time’s sake?"

Feeling nauseous, I stood up. Giving up on finding my cover-up, I snatched my towel off the ground instead and wrapped it around me. "Marcus, what do I have to say to you to get you to leave me alone? I want you to stay the hell away from me." I glared at him furiously, but he just laughed.

"I don't think you know what you want. Because surely you don't want that douche you were with at the diner the other night. Not when I'm back." His voice was full of misplaced confidence.

Good God, this had to be the densest guy to walk the earth. How had I
ever
been such an idiot to date him for almost a year? But I knew the answer to my own question. He'd done an excellent job of reeling me in first. It had taken several months before the true him emerged and even longer for me to realize it and step out from under the control he had over me.

Now, the only thing I felt for him was disgust.

Unfortunately, he was proving hard to shake.

"Isn't there some other girl you can go harass? Cause I'm over it already. Let's go, Sadie." I started to walk past him, hell bent on making it to Sadie’s car and leaving him in the dust, but he grabbed my arm with that biting grip of his, and snatched me back.

"Mara," Marcus pleaded desperately. "Come on, you know what we had together was good. Really good. Just give us another chance and I can prove it to you."

Before I knew what he was doing, he smashed his lips down on mine, his tongue fighting for entrance into my mouth. I kicked him as hard as I could in his shin, and took the first opportunity to slip from his grip.

Sadie was already grabbing my hand and running for her car. We got in and took off, leaving Marcus limping to his car and shouting obscenities at us. Sadie bypassed her house altogether, assumingly to prevent him from following us. Once we were on the road and several miles away with no sign of Marcus, Sadie looked at me with determination.

"This has got to stop. You need to call Sam and tell him that Marcus is stalking you. There is no telling what he would've done if we hadn't gotten away. He literally attacked you back there."

I massaged my temples in an attempt to stave off the splitting headache I felt starting. "This is a nightmare; him coming back and doing this to me."

"Mara, as your friend, I'm not giving you a choice. Pick up your phone right now and call Sam, or I will." Sadie's jaw was locked stubbornly and I knew she meant business. Which was fine. I had planned on doing it anyway, because quite honestly, for a split second back there, I had been scared for my safety.

I picked up my phone and called Sam's personal cell. He answered after the first ring, and I wasted no time recounting exactly what had happened. Before I knew it, Sam had me telling him detailed accounts of every time Marcus had contacted me since his return. 

By the following afternoon, Sam had accompanied me to the magistrate to get a restraining order against Marcus. The instant I stepped out of the courthouse knowing that there was an order to protect me from Marcus in place, I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders. The sky seemed bluer, the grass seemed greener, and I felt a freeness that I hadn't known I was missing. As Sam waited for me to climb into my car, I paused before closing the door.

"Sam, I can't thank you enough for helping me with this. I probably should have done something sooner." The line bordering acceptable and wrong seemed blurred to me where Marcus was concerned. Maybe because he wasn't some random man harassing me. I knew him; had once trusted him, though I questioned my sanity at having ever gotten involved with him.

But, I wouldn't beat myself up about what I should and shouldn't have done in the past. The important thing was that I was making the right decisions now and had a great support system of family and friends.

Sam kneeled down so that we were at eye level. "Mara, I want you to remember what I'm saying right now. Do not ever hesitate to call me or anyone on the sheriff's department if you have any suspicions that Marcus is still following you, or even if you just have a feeling something isn't right. I've seen some tragic endings to domestic violence cases and the thought of something happening to you kills me."

Sam was in serious mode now. There was none of the joking around and playfulness that was at the backbone of our relationship. His grandparents and mine were lifelong friends and I had spent many a day tagging along behind Sam and his buddies growing up. At five years younger than Sam, I was treated like the kid sister he never had. That hadn't changed at all over the years.

I gave him a reassuring smile. "You have my word, Sam."