Vicious Love (Barrington Heights #1) (10 page)

“Impossible,” I told myself while turning back to see if it were true. But when I peered through the glass window, I saw neither Barry nor Mrs. Nugent. “Of course he’s not here,” I reconfirmed. “Barry is at work, in his patent office.” My words didn’t ease my thoughts though. I knew I’d seen him, and I knew that I’d seen him speaking with Mrs. Nugent. I wanted to go into her office and demand an answer or investigate but I didn’t. I kept walking. I didn’t even look back.

Once I was at my class, the bell rang and students began to file in. I didn’t know if I would be an effective teacher today. My mind was wandering. As I lectured, however, the students seemed to listen. That gave me the boost of confidence needed to fake my way through the day—or at least until I see Chris. I’d get my answers then.

chapter 15

chris

School, like always, was a drag. I’m not referring to boredom, but rather anxiety. I might have seen Devin and Audrey, but I couldn’t talk at all today. I was tongue-tied, completely disabled. Numbness swept across my body, and I might have had a fever. What was forcing me into this state of madness? Jennet Beaumont.

Class was over, school was over, and I should have been ecstatic to see Jennet. I’d been anxious about it all week. But now, as I stared into my phone, I only felt fear. Fear was not something I experienced often, and the feeling was alien to me, but I was acquainted with it nonetheless. For it was fear that would protect Audrey and Devin. It was a necessity. However, fear would not protect me. Neither would courage. What I needed was intervention. To push the enemy back and regain my control over the situation. And according to the text I’d just received from Tim, my intelligence guy, the enemy was linked to Jennet. Whoever had called me apparently had some relationship to Jennet. 

Legs—my legs—strode across the ground without feeling. Was I shaking? I didn’t believe so. “Breathe,” I told myself. Nothing would stop me from regaining control. Nothing would stop me from protecting my friends. Soon, though, I realized that it wasn’t fear that was making me like this. Rather, it was Jennet. I had an utter lack of intel while going into a situation that required it.

“Shit,” I breathed.

There she was, standing in the doorway, looking out. Sunlight struck her red hair and create a ruby effect. She easily, without even trying, took my breath away once again. Jennet didn’t even see me. I needed a plan, and I needed one now.

“Miss Beaumont!”
Shit. You don’t have a plan yet, Chris.
“I’m over here.”

She turned towards me and time slowed to a crawl. Jennet’s hair waved through the air and swooshed across the sky as yellow jazz played in the background. Her eyes caught a rogue ray of light and radiated an emerald sparkle that combined with her ruby hair. It was a light show, and I was the only one who could see it. Who could feel the waves of warmth sweep through the vast emptiness between us and envelop it, creating life in darkness. A performance was in front of me, as Don Quixote rang in my ears. “Dulcinea,” he whispered to me through the void.

Everything clashed and clamored within me, a race of emotions and thought throughout my body, each chasing the other, rushing towards an inevitable disaster—a calamity. Yet it all pushed me forward. Distance evaporated with reality as time resumed to its normal pace, and there we were with inches between us. Or perhaps feet? Maybe a mile. It wasn’t close enough.

“Good afternoon, Christopher.” Nothing. Her face showed nothing towards me. Panic crept up my spine, immobilizing me. “Come in and we’ll discuss the different aspects of economics that we will be going over this year. More in depth, of course, than in class.” Finally it was there. When she said, “than in class,” her eyes flickered. Jennet’s eyes flickered up and down my body as if analyzing what I had to offer. Trying to compare me to something else, maybe something she’d imagined. The simple thought of her thinking about me eliminated all panic within myself, and soon, I found my confidence returning.

I followed her into the room, quickly surveying my surroundings. The class was set up in a normal fashion; there wasn’t anything special about it. Something was weird though. I couldn’t place it until Jennet sat on her desk and turned towards me. It was the atmosphere. Her tone, specifically. It wasn’t aggressive, nor was it forceful. Her tone, the atmosphere, seemed, rather, to be determined. Jennet had something on her mind, and she had a plan. I didn’t know how I felt about that. Scared was a possibility.

“So, Christopher, what was it that you had in mind?” She paused and then resumed. “About economics, of course.” A slight blush swept across her cheeks, and Jennet took a hand and brushed a stray hair from her face, opening up her eyes to me. I couldn’t breathe.

“Honestly,” I managed to sputter out, “econ is one of my favorite subjects.” She didn’t seem surprised by that. As if she’d already known. “Which means that I would rather learn background history or—“

“Or?” she interrupted.

“Or I would rather enjoy learning more about you.” By now, all of my confidence had returned and we were looking at each other. We remained silent for what seemed like an eternity. However, it was only a few seconds while we stared at each other. Looking into each other’s eyes. Silence.

“I guess I could tell you a little about myself. It might help to teach you if you know about your professor.” She’d broken the silence. She’d lost. There is a common rule, a law if you will, when it comes to conversation: Whoever breaks the silence loses and is at the mercy of their other.

“Then, by all means,” I said while moving to sit on a desk.

“Where should I start?” she asked, clearly nervous.

“The beginning is always ideal.” I laughed.

“Well, I was born in L.A.,” Jennet responded just as I would’ve expected. She was starting from where she’d been born, a common conception for where they begin. However, my views are vastly different. I believe that people are born neutral, in that they aren’t themselves yet. Most people become who they are a little ways after birth, but Jennet wasn’t most people. Either Jennet must’ve had a definitive moment where she’d become who she was or she hadn’t discovered who she truly was yet.

“No, no, no. That’s where you were born, not necessarily where the beginning is.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand.”

I knew she didn’t understand. Maybe explaining it would do more harm than good. Then again, it might open up an entire new world to Jennet, giving me an emotional in.
Wait. Why the hell do I want an emotional in?

“That’s okay,” I laughed. “Not many people do.” Where the hell was I going with this? “A birth doesn’t necessarily sanctify the beginning of a person.”
Vague enough. Keep it up, Chris.

“But birth is when a person enters this world.” She was correct here—technically.

“In a physical sense, yes. However, an infant has a different outlook on life than an adult. Vastly different. So I categorize the beginning as when a person discovers their true outlook. That person’s true perspective.” I either sounded really intelligent, which I was, or incredibly stupid, which I also was but in a different sense.

“Fair enough, but I still don’t understand.” She spoke with such as soft voice, but I could tell it was a mask. Jennet was hiding her true tone, the tone I’d caught on to earlier. She was trying to set something up, trying to lead me in. It’s amazing what someone can spot when they’re properly trained.

“Jennet.” I used her first name and she gave me the look of death. “Yes, Jennet. What is it that you want?”

Her eyes widened—and not because I’d called her Jennet. She was caught and desperately wondering what had given her away. I could see it in both of her eyes and her body language. More specifically, how she held herself after I’d asked her. Jennet’s first reaction had been to recoil into herself. Perhaps it was a character flaw, but that was unlikely due to the timing of her reaction. She would’ve started in that position if it were due to a character flaw. It wouldn’t have been a reaction. Well, it might have been. I’m not a professional, just someone who’s trained.

“Straight to the point?” she asked, and I nodded my head.  “Very well.” She paused, tilting her head as though she was looking for the right wording.

I took the opportunity to move closer, to create minimal space between us. There was only a foot between us now, and she was forced to look into my eyes.

‘Do you know my fiancé?”

Her fiancé?
“No, I don’t.” Who the fuck was her fiancé, and why was she asking me if I knew him?

“Well, it seems that he might know you.”

My heart started beating at a rapid pace. Who in God’s name was her fiancé?

“How the hell does he know me if I don’t know who he is?” Jennet glared at me for cursing, but I continued anyway. “What’s the man’s name?”

“Barry,” she said without telling me his last name.

“Barry who?”

Jennet stood there, and I inched closer. This wasn’t a time for flirting. This Barry character could be working with Nugent. It was possible if he knew who I was. Or, worse, he could be a cop.

“Bouldore. Barry Bouldore.”

I didn’t recognize the name. “How do you know that he knows me?”

“Well—“

“Well, get on with it.” I wasn’t in any mood. Things needed to happen, and they needed to happen now. If Barry Bouldore was working for Nugent, then I had a major issue. If he wasn’t, then I still had a major issue.

“I found a book.” Jennet paused. “A small, black book. And it had your name in it.”

“What’s special about this book?” I asked.

“It was hiding.” Another pause, and I inched even closer. “In a safe.”

Now we were practically nose to nose, and I was standing above her beautiful body. The smell of her made me weak. Jasmine.

“It was with a stack of money and a gun.”

Now I was worried.

“Who the fuck is your fiancé?”

She turned away from me, and I grabbed her arm, pulling her into me. Our lips were mere inches apart, and we were eye locked.

I whispered this time, leaning in as close as I could without touching her lips with mine. “Who is he?” The man who’d called me could be her fiancé. It had to be. He was the closest person to her and my only info on the unidenti
fied caller was that they were related to Jennet somehow.

             
Jennet stumbled backwards. Not because she was trying to escape from me, but because it seemed that she was too weak. Was it because of me? Had she buckled because of me? The thought excited me. It increased my heart rate, and my breathing intensified. I felt high. So very high, and it was fabulous. This was a feeling of pure euphoria, and I couldn’t wait anymore. I needed to kiss her.               I began to move in close, leaning in to capture her lips. I had the full intention to initiate the kiss, to be a man. To take what I wanted, and I deserve it, too. Before I could manage to, however, she was on me. Her lips, soft, smashed into mine. A cavalcade of interesting events happened afterward. Jennet first kissed me, her elegant lips crushing into mine with a massive amount of force driving behind them. Enough to nearly tear me from existence. Then, as we both recoiled from what had happened, she stopped. Everything stopped. Time, existence, light, sound—it all disappeared into the void of the cosmos, leaving us alone in a confined space. Don Quixote’s famous words ran through my ears again. “Dulcinea, Dulcinea,” he spoke through the void, breaking the silence. The silence. Silence. It was so quiet.

We stood there, in our own paradise, waiting for one of us to truly break the silence. Not just my own deranged imagination speaking only to me, but real, actual words. Words that could pierce the barrier between us, between Jennet and me. I desperately searched for those words, and my mind was thrown into some sort of frenzy that would make the likes of Gary Busey jealous. Insanity is what was happening to me. Pure insanity set off by some mystical force thrust upon me, which derived from this divine creature in front of me—Jennet. This paradise, separate from the rest of the world—hell, the rest of the universe—seemed perfect to me. I had no desire to break the silence, to pierce the barrier, now. I was content; I was happy.

It couldn’t be enough though. I wanted more; I needed more.

My hand, which I felt as if I had no control of at this moment, slipped away from me and placed itself on Jennet’s cheek. She didn’t move, not even a twitch. Her eyes were locked on me, and I could see her desire. I began to pull her close, and she responded without fighting back. Jennet wanted me, and my entire body was engulfed in red-hot flames. We were mere inches away again, but this time, I was ready. I was in control. I brought her to me, and I landed a kiss on her lips.

Our mouths met and lips parted. Her hands swept across my shoulders, examining them. They traveled down my arms, settling on my biceps, and from there, they darted up towards my head, grabbing my hair and pulling me closer. Our tongues met and twirled around each other, exploring each other’s mouths. Deeper and deeper we went.

As the world was spinning around us, as we were locked in time and space, as divinity shined down upon us, I crumbled. Everything came back to reality, and there we were. Jennet, a woman of so much beauty that she resembled that of an angel, and I, a creature of evil and vice, were in the middle of a passionate kiss. I couldn’t allow it to continue. I pulled back, away from the light that brilliantly shone before me. Reality was too dark, and she couldn’t be real.

When I could finally pull myself away from her, Jennet objected. Not with words, that is. She couldn’t speak. I didn’t believe either of us could speak, but rather she objected with body movement. Once I was away, Jennet lunged back at me, and I had to push her back. I had to leave, but I didn’t know why. I turned towards the door and started to make my escape. However, temptation got the better of me; I had to have the last word.