Everyone's favorite pervert is back, with a sequel! Follow Anne on her relationship with Travis, after being rid of his pursuer for good. But even now they can't seem to have a normal life, with a unreadable, powerful businessman controlling Travis, and a mysterious person he's dying to avoid...
Description fail. I suck at writing descriptions.
Chapter 1
I sighed, checking the time on my
watch. A quarter past three. Late. Again.
The guy didn’t know the meaning of
punctuality. And that might be literal.
I looked around, not tired of the
environment I was in. The air was clean and crisp, carrying the fresh winter
scent in it. The lake in front of me was still, devoid of the ducks that
usually kept me company. I vaguely wondered where they’d all gone, before it
hit me that they’d all migrated south for the winter.
I stared at the lake, watching the
reflection of the gray clouds. I wondered how cold the water was. Or who’d save
me if I fell in.
The park had relatively few
people, but I recognized the regulars. There was that old guy whose name I
didn’t know until three days ago–Mr. Branson, that was his name–plus that
hippy-looking guy who was probably some really rich guy who could afford to
hang around the park all day and night.
“You know, shimmering lake under bright stars and food with your loved
one.”
“Park at night? You know, people get raped there. Gangs hang out at
parks at night and do drugs.” Geez. Did that guy have a romantic bone in
his body?
My hand immediately went up to the
pendant on my necklace as an answer. It was made of overlapping rings, with a
few stones on them. You could hardly tell it was homemade.
It was the most precious thing I owned.
Every time I touched it, as I did then, I felt… love. And I mean that in the
least corny way possible.
“Hope I haven’t kept you waiting
for too long.”
The words came from right next to
my ear and I started. I relaxed right after though, and smiled. “I almost got
wrinkles waiting for you.”
Travis jumped over the backrest
and sat down beside me on the bench. “Wrinkles? You? Never.”
He leaned forward and pulled me
into a kiss. His body felt warm as I put my arms around his neck, and he
wrapped his around my waist. I finally pulled away while I still had some
breath left in me, and inspected his face.
Travis was as good-looking as
ever. That dark brown hair, those perfectly black eyes. That smirk of his– it
just made him look even better.
“Really, can’t you ever be on
time?” I sighed, shifting so that I could lean backwards into him. “We’ve been
meeting up here since forever.”
“Yeah, but I was busy,” Travis
said innocently. “The college is so far from here, and I had to walk.”
I couldn’t help but grin. “Aww,
you’re a college kid now.”
“I know, right?” I could hear the
grin in his voice. “Never thought it’d happen.”
“What, expected to just roam
around all your life, stealing stuff and then giving it back?”
“Pretty much,” Travis said, and I
could feel him shrug against me. “I never expected… this.” He paused. “I’m glad
for it, though.”
“Me too.” I snuggled into him.
His arms went around me, and in
the cold winter breeze everything felt perfect. Travis was so close to me, the
presence his arms creating this warm sensation in my heart. One of his hands
was on my waist, and the other…
“Hey,” I said, trying to keep the
grin out of my voice. “Are you trying to feel me up?”
“No,” Travis lied obviously.
“Well, stop,” I said. “We’re in
public.”
“Oh, come on, there’s hardly
anybody here,” he said, and I could hear from his voice that he was smiling. “The
old guy’s gone off on his walk, and there’s just that hippy guy.” He paused.
“He probably comes here at night to–”
“Do drugs?” I finished for him
with a laugh.
“No,” he said seriously. “To have
a romantic meal with his girlfriend with the shimmering lake and… uh… what was
it?”
“Bright stars,” I said, grinning. “Shimmering
lake and bright stars.”
“Ah,” Travis said. There was a
pause, and I could almost hear him thinking. “Do you want me to do that? Y’know,
pack a… picnic basket or something? You’d actually have to sneak out of your
house.”
“No, not really,” I said. “But
it’s sweet of you to offer.”
“Hey, you baked cookies for me,”
Travis said. “The least I could do is make you a couple of sandwiches.”
“You didn’t eat any of the cookies
I baked for you,” I pointed out.
“I value my health and sanity.”
“That’s not very nice,” I pouted.
“I worked hard on those.”
“Oh, come on Anne, face it,” he
said. “Those things were torture devices for the tongue. My body had already
been through too much.”
I felt my heart buckle under some
sudden new pressure. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” Travis said, and he
sounded perfectly genuine. “The injuries weren’t deep. He didn’t want me to
die. I’m more worried about you right now.” His hand moved up to my cheek.
“It was just one cut,” I brushed
off.
“But he got your face,” Travis
said quietly, in the grimmest voice humanly possible.
“Yeah? I’m not attractive to you
anymore?”
I meant it jokingly, but Travis
took it seriously and hurriedly said, “No, of course not. I mean, uh– of course
you are. Attractive. Not unattractive. You are attractive.”
I had to laugh at his frantic
reply. “I didn’t mean that. I mean, your chest is all hard and slashed. I still
find you attractive.”
“Yeah, because I’m a guy,” Travis
said. “Scars on guys are hot. And it’s not on my face. Thank goodness.”
“Thank goodness,” I said, rolling
my eyes. “It’d be shame if your pretty face were to get scratched.”
“Pretty is not a compliment for
guys,” Travis said. “And you should’ve seen the guy Ackerman sent to talk to me.
He was pretty.”
There. There was that unease. It
came in once in a while, like a snake, slithering up me, threatening to eat me
from the inside. The snake seemed drawn by this Ackerman guy’s name. Every time
I heard it, the creature raised its head, ready.
“Travis, what exactly do you know
about this Ackerman guy?” I asked.
“Not much,” he shrugged. “I think
that’s just about all I’m supposed to know.”
“I don’t like this,” I said,
shifting uneasily. “You’re putting so much on a guy you know nothing about.”
“I don’t see any other option,
Anne,” Travis said. “Really, it’s too late now. Mr. Ackerman’s done a lot for
me. I just have to wait until I can do something for him.”
“Like this,” I said. “What exactly
do you have to do for him?”
“I don’t know.”
I could tell from his tone that
Travis didn’t want to talk about it, but how could I let it go? I was worried. He’d
already been through so much. Travis kept talking about how much influence this
Ackerman guy had. That meant he was plenty dangerous too.
“I really think you should find
out more about him,” I said. “Really, I mean–”
“Anne, I can’t,” Travis said
shortly.
I pulled away from him to look at
his face. “And why not?”
“I just can’t,” he sighed. “I’ve
never met him, only heard of him. The only contact I’ve had with him has been
through that pretty guy who found me. He was really pretty. I’m kind of
jealous.” He paused. “Looks like ‘pretty’ is
a compliment for guys.”
“I can tell you’re trying to
change the subject,” I said.
“Is it working? Is your curiosity
piqued?” he gave be a devilish grin. “Do you want to see the guy who actually
made me envious?”
I was curious. But I wasn’t letting this get away. “You should ask
him about Ackerman,” I said.
“I don’t think he’ll tell me
anything,” Travis said. “And he was actually kind of scary.”
“Stop trying to change the subject
to the scary, pretty guy,” I said.
“Alright, fine,” he sighed. “I’ll
talk to the scary, pretty guy, okay? Happy?”
“Yes,” I said brightly, and I
snuggled into him again. “Now, how was he pretty?”
“You were curious!” Travis said triumphantly. “I win!”
I laughed. “Making me curious was
your big challenge? I’m a pretty curious person.”
“Which ensures I always win,” he
said, and I could hear the obvious grin. “Seriously. I don’t understand– oh,
fuck.”
“what? What is it?” I pulled away
from him and looked around, worried. My first thought was that Lex had somehow
returned from the dead and was now some ghost ready to torture us. Wouldn’t put
it past him.
Guy was crazy. If anyone could
come back as a ghost, it’d be him.
“Nothing,” Travis said, but his
voice was quick and panicked. “Let’s go.”
He suddenly got up and yanked me
up as well. Before I could even absorb what was happening, he was pulling
through the park.
“Hey, what’s up?” I asked, my feet
struggling to keep up with him. Any faster and I’d be running.
“Nothing,” he said, and his voice
sounded so genuine I would’ve believed him. If he wasn’t walking like he was
trying to break the sound barrier.
I let him pull me out of the park,
and once we were back out by the street I yanked my hand away. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Travis repeated, and
this one sounded perfectly innocent.
“‘Nothing’ wouldn’t make you drag
me out of there like there were hellhounds at our heels,” I said. “What was it?
Did you see something–?”
“It was nothing,” Travis said
warmly, putting his hands on my shoulders. “I was just getting a little cramped
sitting there. I like to move around, y’know.”
“You like to move around?” I said
in disbelief. There had been times when I’d left for school in the morning and
come back eight hours later to find him in the same place. And not just a few
times. Many times.
“Recently,” Travis said, smiling
at my sharp look. “Now, come on. Your brother shouldn’t be home.”
“Back to my house?” I raised an
eyebrow. “And I thought you’d become at least half-normal.”
“Me? Never,” he gave a mischievous
grin that bordered on perfect. “Now, did Keith bake more cookies?”
“No,” I said. So Travis still
liked Keith’s baking. Damn them both.
“Aww,” Travis whined like a
disappointed little kid.
“He made a cake,” I sighed. Keith
had baked a flourless orange cake. I don’t understand how you can have a cake
without flour. It’s unnatural. It’s also the most amazing thing I had ever
tasted.
Did I already say Keith should be
damned? Yeah.
If Travis was any more excited
he’d be jumping up and down and clapping his hands. “Let’s go,” he said, and he
grabbed my hand.
I could feel him bubbling with
anticipation as we walked, but that snake was writhing around inside me again. What
had made Travis hurry us out of the park? What had he seen? Was it someone like
Lex again? Or could it be one of Ackerman’s agents?
I held Travis’s hand tighter and glanced
sideways at his handsome face. Would he ever have a normal, peaceful life?
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| Anne |
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| Travis |
Pictures of all my characters available at my PhotoBucket.
Thanks for reading!
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Also, check out my new story's first chapter: Living with the Boys (with character images here)
