Page 5 of Life Blood
After a hundred no’s, I walked into my house without Jen staying over. I needed this alone time, and I did feel safe in my home. I glanced up at the clock, it was literally tomorrow. Half past midnight, and what I really needed was a hot shower.
I wasted no time stripping off the clothes that were tainted by tonight’s events and the thoughts of what would have happened if the new guy at our school hadn’t rescued me.
I shivered, and as I stepped into the shower, I felt my shock from everything that had happened since I had gotten off of work start to wear off. I began sobbing in fear of how close Jackson and his friends were to assaulting me. I felt violated all over again thinking of Jackson’s lips on mine.
More tears poured out of my eyes as my nails dug into my scalp while I washed my hair. I ran my fingers aggressively over my lips, scrubbing away the disgust of what happened when he forced his lips on mine.
After I rinsed my hair, I slid down into the tub and pulled my knees tightly against my chest and let all of the pain leave me through my sobs…the pain of not having a mother comb out my hair and tell me everything would be okay tonight. The pain of her not being exactly what I needed right now so I could just be a regular teenager instead of the tough, responsible one all the time. I didn’t have her, I didn’t have anyone. I wasn’t going to burden my best friend with this, God only knew she and her family had done enough already.
I cried until my shower started to get cold. Our water heater was as mediocre as everything else in this house. I slowly pulled myself up from the tub and dried off. I brushed a towel over the fogged mirror and stared at my puffy, brown eyes. My exhaustion showed all over my face. Screw the damn essay and the biology test for now. I knew I should study, but there was no way I could have stayed awake.
I pulled on my favorite pajamas, the soft cotton hugged me and sent a soothing comfort into my aching body. I crawled onto my bed and settled into my fluffy pillow, staring over at my TV and debating if turning it on would help me fall asleep.
I almost jumped out of my skin when from out nowhere I saw two green cat eyes peering at me from my open window. It meowed at me, bringing a smile to my lips for the first time today.
“Hey there, kitty. You scared me,” I said to the curious cat who managed to climb the ivy vines that covered the entire backside of our house.
That’s all it took to encourage him into my room and leap up on my bed. “Aren’t you a brave little thing,” I laughed as it purred while I ran my hands along its silky gray and black striped fur.
His bright blue collar had the nameBootsstitched into it. “Looks like you have the wrong home, little guy.” The cat purred loudly in response. “Well, I know everyone in this neighborhood, Mr. Boots,” I scratched under his chin, “and I would know if anyone had a kitty as pretty as you. Where in the world did you come from?”
Boots sprang from where I held him back to the window. He gracefully sat down on the ledge and looked out into the darkness. He meowed softly, and directly after that, my front doorbell rang.
“Who thehellrings a doorbell at this time of night?” I whispered to myself.
Would this night ever end? The cat hopped down off with window sill and trotted out of my room as if to answer the door himself. I slipped into the first bedroom out of the three we had upstairs to peer out and see who was at the front door, ringing my doorbell at this crazy hour.
“What the hell is he doing here?” I said to myself as I watched the guy who rescued me earlier ring my doorbell again.
I slipped downstairs, the cat darting ahead of me and stretching its long legs out onto my front door.
“Yeah, I’m dialing 911. What do you want?”
“No need to call the cops unless you want me to inform them you stole my cat,” the Banner guy said with a laugh.
I opened the door hesitantly, but something about his voice made me feel like I could trust him. “This is your cat?” I asked, watching the cat leap up into his enormous biceps.
“Yes,” he said, prompting me to stop gawking at his arms. “He got out tonight, and I was lucky to be quick enough to track all the way to this neighborhood. Sorry if he bothered you and for waking you up.” He turned to leave and threw a glance over his shoulder, “Hey, next time? Don’t open the door for strangers.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, “How aboutyoudon’t ring doorbells looking for your cat after midnight?”
“I’ll take note of that.”
He stopped and turned all the way around to face me, “Hey,” he said with a sexy smile that sent a shiver up my spine. What the hell was up with my emotions, and how was this guy having such a weird effect on them? “How about you sit with my cousins and me tomorrow at lunch?”
“Sorry, I have to study.”
“We’ll help,” the smile again.
“Why?” I scrunched my face up, entirely confused.
“You know, the polite thing to do would be to accept help when it’s offered,” he laughed. “Come on. We don’t know anyone at this school, and you owe me for saving your ass earlier anyway.”
“I’ll see what my boyfriend thinks,” I said, throwing up a dumb line of defense.
He lifted his chin and grinned, “Yes, he’s welcome to join us too. Night, Elle.”
It was literally a blink—a blink—and the guy seemed to vanish into thin air.
