3 comments/ 21857 views/ 6 favorites Another Morning Ch. 01 By: knitedreams This is not a stroke story. It's a story that builds with each chapter submitted. If you want to get your rocks off, go somewhere else. I hope you enjoy the first chapter. --~~-- The alarm went off, pounding through my sleep fogged brain, ending a delicious dream I was having. I rolled onto my right side and opened one eye and glared at the offending object. My hand snaked out from the covers to slap the off button on the top of the clock. It was just another day like any other, another glaring morning that affronted my sleep laden eyes. My morning ritual was the same Monday through Friday. First I contemplated doing serious damage to my clock while I dragged myself into the shower. Then I dressed the bottom half of myself, took five minutes to style my short hair, dressed the upper half of myself, made sure the cat was fed, and ran out of my house with my jacket half on while tangled within the straps of my book bag. Traffic was always a bitch to drive. So many people buy showy V8 engine sports cars, but do not know how to drive them. Twenty minutes of yelling at people to push the gas peddle, I arrived on campus. As I jogged the half mile to get from the parking lot to campus, I called my best friend, Tabitha. "Good morning, Alex!" Her cheerful voice made my teeth grind in annoyance. "How many times do I have to tell you? Mornings are never good. There's nothing good about them, never will be. Now, I'm just crossing the road to get to campus, what do you want from the coffee house?" It was the same ritual we had every morning. We started it at the beginning of the semester and coordinated our schedules for the next semester so we could continue it. My best friend was thirty-years-old finishing up her degree in Art History. She was single with the hots for one of her past classmates. They talked everyday, but she never had the guts to tell him what was on her mind. She was a cute woman of average height. The few extra pounds had only made her look more adorable. Her chocolate brown eyes could sweeten any man's disposition and her pouty lips could sweet talk a cop out of a speeding ticket. The color of her hair changed with the weather, but she had it cut to her shoulder blades and it fell around her face in soft natural curls. Her personality was always cheerful yet she was fast to worry about the minor trivialities of life. With all her bravado and out-going ways, she was always timid with men she had a sexual interest in. Even with her sunny mood in the mornings, I thought of her as my sister, and swore to lay down my life for her. I knew how hard it was to find true friends in a world where deceit was common. On the other end of the spectrum was me. I was taller than most women with a few extra pounds of my own. The combination made it a nightmare to find suitable clothing. My green eyes were hidden behind slightly tinted glasses. Their purpose was not only to help me see better, but to diminish the damaging effects from long-term computer use. My short cropped dark brown hair was always arranged in a civilized mess. The civilized mess was not of my choosing, but was a direct result of my constant nervous habit of finger combing. My lips were elegant with the upper lip being slightly thinner than the bottom lip. They had a fondness for frowning. I had a sarcastic and cynical way about me. Most of the time, I preferred books to humans, Tabitha was the only exception. Because of my overwhelming passion for books, I chose English Literature as my major. After several years of finding myself in college, I settled for passion over money at the age of twenty-six. Being the cynic that I was, I loved my single status. Men had no room in my life and would only hold me back. The University coffee house was packed with sleep deprived students craving their daily IV of coffee to get them through another day of classes. The line always ended out the door, which was why I always allowed a half hour of extra time before classes started. The usual people stood in the line: classmates moaned about an upcoming test, girls who barely qualified as adults giggled about the awkward girl that stood in front of them, couples held hands, and a group of boys boisterously commented on the highlights of last night's party. The pattern of where these people stood changed with every morning; I had the misfortune of waiting behind three boisterous boys. I stood a good distance away from them as they acted out their favorite parts of their night using exuberant gestures. Even my cautious thoughtfulness to let them have their fun, earned me an accidental whack from these gestures every so often. The tallest one of the group was always vigilant when his friends whacked me. He constantly apologized and subtly reprimand his friends. That was a change from other mornings when I would stand behind a group of such boys. In the past, I got angry to where I would glare at them and make them gradually uncomfortable with my silent wrath. It was amazing what a heartfelt apology had on my normal character. The line was steady moving and I ordered Tabitha's drink, the workers had memorized my usual drink a few semesters ago. It took little time to procure the hot drinks and grab what I needed from the prep station. When I turned to leave, a stray hand from one of the boisterous boys hit the drink in my left hand. It splattered the front of my shirt, managed to miss my pants, and the rest landed on my shoes. The breath rushed out of my lungs as the hot beverage saturated the worn cotton of my t-shirt; all I managed was a squeak of surprise. The entire population of the coffee house seemed to freeze for that split second in time before peels of mirth and unwanted snide comments spewed forth. Two of the boisterous boys joined in the fun. In my embarrassment, I was angry to see that the culprit was one of the fun seekers. The tall, apologetic boy was mortified. He was able to snap out of his momentary stupefaction and jumped to my rescue. I was happy that someone came to my rescue because I was frozen in embarrassment, unable to fully take in what just happened. His assurances calmed my discomfiture bit by bit. I was happy that someone was not laughing at me and trying to help me out. He led me to the woman's restroom and handed me his own t-shirt that he dug out of the gym bag he was carrying. Before I went in to change my shirt, he took everything that I was carrying and promised that he would look after my stuff while I changed. Without a word, without a question, without one of my usual sarcastic comments, I went into the bathroom. The women in the bathroom surreptitiously glanced my way while fixing their hair or washing their hands, I paid them little attention. My brain was struggling to assimilate everything that had happened to me in a short span of time. What tripped up my well-oiled mind was the tall apologetic boy that came to my aid. Niceties, especially coming from men, were few and far between. They usually seemed to have a motive for being nice; they either had a greedy purpose or the woman was just too hot to pass up. I had neither money nor current fashionable visage. The wet t-shirt peeled off me without much effort. I thanked a higher power that it was not white which would have been an added embarrassment. As my emotions and thoughts calmed, my mind wandered to my "knight in shinning armor." It was automatic that I called him "boy." Not many people in college were as old, if not older, than I was unless they were a graduate student. He was a man; there was nothing boyish about his physique. The features of his face held the maturity of a full grown adult, not a young adult fresh out of high school. He was lean with some musculature and well groomed. The most striking feature that caught my attention were his eyes. For years, I had believed the eyes were windows to the soul. His were deep pools of blue with a shimmer of life experience. I guessed that he had some military experience by the way he carried himself. That would explain the military cut of his dirty blond hair. I sighed and left the bathroom stall. As I passed the mirror, I looked at myself. A reluctant smile peaked through my frown as I caught my first sight of the shirt he lent me. It was military green with the word "Army" spelled out in big capital letters. The shirt seemed somehow fitting; a present day reminder of my small history, an army brat that would never serve her country, always claiming that she was a lover not a fighter. The saying was not really a lie. I was a lover...a lover of good food and good books. With my soggy, tea stained shirt in hand, I gathered my courage and stepped out of the bathroom. The apologetic man was leaning negligently against the exposed red bricks of the wall. He turned as I walked towards him and he smiled at me. "You look much better." His voice was deep and soothing. "It must be the cut of the shirt because I don't feel better." It was true; I did not feel better about my situation. Because of circumstances beyond my control, I would forever be known as the woman who had a hot beverage spilled on her. As he handed me my stuff and I stowed the shirt in my book bag, I realized that we had not been introduced, understandable given the circumstances surrounding our meeting. I looked up into his wonderful blue eyes. "What's your name? If I'm going to be wearing man's shirt, I should know his name." He flashed me a charming smile. "Kaden Miles at your service, my friends call me Kay. Any woman wearing one of my shirts has the right to call me Kay too." "I like Kaden better. Do you mind?" He looked surprised. "Not at all, I answer to both. May I have your name?" "Alex Kelly, but in all fairness you may have the option of calling me Alexandra." I held out my hand for a handshake. It was a form of friendship on my part. I only shook hands if I liked the person after a brief exchange of words. There was no question that I liked Kaden after what he did for me. He had a thoughtful expression on his face. His eyes looked me up and down, seeming to size me up in a nonthreatening manner. "I'll call you Alex. It suits you perfectly." I glowed on the inside. My mother and family never liked the shortened version of my name and insisted on calling me Alexandra. Personally, I never had a problem with the elongated version. It felt a little too classy, too royal for someone as tomboyish as I was. My elation to his preference triggered my shyness. I mumbled a "thank you" and started to blush. Kaden did not seem to by shy or nervous as I was, he just smiled contentedly at me. I wondered what was going through his mind. "How about I replace that drink my friend spilled?" His suggestion snapped me out of my momentary girlish laps. I focused on the matter at hand. The drink that was spilled on me was mine. Tabitha's drink was still in one piece. I pulled out my cell phone and checked the clock on it. Because I was never without my cell phone, I never kept a watch. My eyes widened at the time, and my cell phone started to ring. "Shit!" I gritted out the curse word in agitation. My time was up and class was starting. Tabitha was calling me wondering where I was. I answered the phone. "I'm coming" was all I said as I quickly hung up. To Kaden, "Sorry, but I have to go. Don't worry about the drink." I started past him with the single-mindedness of getting to class. His hand shot out and snagged my right elbow. "What about lunch? I'll buy you lunch." "Don't worry about it." I started off again, but his hand tightened a little. "When and where do you normally have lunch?" My truthful answer was just to get him off my case so I could book it to class and get Tabitha her tea. "I always eat at the University Restaurant on the second floor at 12:30." He released me without another word and I ran to class. Another Morning Ch. 02 I should have known that the tardiness of my instructor would rival my own. I was only ten minutes late to class. He would late by fifteen. Tabitha greeted me in the hallway, taking the tea from my hand, and taking a savoring sip of it. Her eyes were closed in bliss and I swore that I saw healthy color come back to her ashen face while she basked in the goodness of the tea. When she opened her eyes, she looked at me. "Where's your tea?" She cocked her head to the side, worry lines creased her brow. "There was an accident. I wasn't able to get another one in time so I'm going to have to suffer." My heart dropped at the thought of not enjoying my morning beverage. Tabitha started to pace in front of me, becoming more agitated with each step. "This isn't good. This isn't good at all. I don't want to visit you in jail." She stopped and seemed to plead using her eyes. Nervously, she began to chew her bottom lip. I was use to seeing her worry. She did it everyday, but the cryptic remark made me wonder. "You switched topics on me. What are we talking about now?" She moved closer to me, leaning in as if we were conspirators. "SHE is here today." I jerked away from her, growling a few creative curse words. SHE referred to Amanda Jane. The girl was so dim that she had problems remembering which of her names was her first name, Amanda or Jane. Somehow she had followed Tabitha and me through all three semesters of Chinese Language. At the beginning of each semester, we prayed and hoped that our instructor failed her or she would lose interest. Our prayers were left unanswered. In the beginning of the fourth and last semester, we felt sure that our instructor would not advance her. Her language skills were worse than the last and it got to the point where she did not know how to say the simplest greeting, something we learned way back in the first semester. Her utter stupidity was not enough to annoy us. If it was just her stupidity she brought to class, we could have easily ignored her. While she never contributed in class with her linguistic wit, she forcedly grabbed the spotlight in another way. If a person paid attention to her in class, they would see her flip her hair before she butted into the language lesson with some brainless gossip. As if her gossip was not bad enough, she always asked at least five stupid questions in a single class period. The fact that she only attended half the classes in a semester was Amanda Jane's only saving grace. I gave a long sigh of resignation. This morning could not get any worse. "I'll just have to control myself and hope that her empty head falls off when she flicks her hair." I resolutely marched into the classroom with Tabitha trailing behind me. My eyes stealthily glanced at Amanda Jane. She looked like hell. Her hand desperately clutched her coffee as if it were her lifeline. There were bags under her dull green eyes. Her light blond hair was pulled back in an untidy ponytail. Amanda had a short petite body with the hard angles of her skeletal structure showing. I had seen the men flock to her before class and call her beautiful, but I honestly could not see it. Even when she looked like hell, as she did that day, they would shine praise on her thinness. It was obvious that she had been partying the night before. I was secure in the knowledge that she was not going to say anything that would force me to jump two rows of desks to kill her. --~~-- The waitress seated me at my usual table. I made it a point to eat at the University Restaurant on the days that I had classes. The cafeteria was far more expensive and fattening than what the Restaurant had. The only reason why the cafeteria had any customers was because they were faster; they sported two international fast food chains, and were open from breakfast to dinner. The restaurant often had a line for a table and was only open three hours during the weekdays for lunch. My waitress brought my usual drink with a smile. Unlike some of the other patrons, I did not demand nor rush and I always had a smile in return. "You alone today or are you going to have a friend eat with you?" Once in a while Tabitha or Stan, my male friend who accompanied me when the mood struck, joined me for lunch a half an hour after I arrived. I was positive that they would not be joining me this particular day. Stan normally informed me in our language class that he was eating lunch with me. Tabitha, the day before, mentioned that she had the burning need to catch a glimpse of her love interest and would not be joining me. Just as I was about to answer, Kaden meandered up to my table looking like a better choice for my dinning experience than anything the menu could offer. "Hello, ladies. Is this seat taken?" He indicated the vacant chair across from me. I was spellbound by him, my mind stuttering to a halt. Panic started to overwhelm me as to how I should respond. I looked at the waitress for help, any help. She gave me a knowing smile and flashed a bigger smile to my unexpected guest. "Looks like it's all yours today. What can I get you to drink? Do you know what you want to eat?" He ordered as he sat down, my brain was still having problems assessing the situation. I realized that they were both looking expectantly at me. The waitress took pity on me, gave me a sympathetic look. "The usual, Alex?" Unable to speak, I just nodded. It was disconcerting knowing that my morning grumpiness lent me a sense of bravado to talk to a handsome man. Any other time of the day I was struck dumb. Kaden kept looking at me as if expecting me to burst into a fountain of small talk. I had no idea where to begin. I did not even know if my voice would ever come back to me. He fidgeted in his chair a little. My silence making him nervous. "I'm sorry to burst in on you like this, but after what my friends did...I at least owe you lunch since you wouldn't let me replace your drink." His nervousness and his apology had a strange calming effect on me. I was still a little tense, a tenseness that came from habit. When meeting a new person I was always ready to defend, attack, or retreat if the situation called for action. "I have your shirt. It's more than what most people would do. In fact, most people would have just sat there and laughed. Oh wait...they did that. Besides, lunch is more expensive than a simple drink" Kaden shook his head in disgust. "I kept telling them to stop, but they're young. The world evolves around them. They shouldn't look out for people; people should look out for them. They'll mature out of it. Lunch is the least I can do. I insist." I snorted in derision either at his insistence or his statement that his so-called friends would mature. I had no clue which. To take his attention off my rude and unladylike manner I latched onto something he said. "It's funny that you should call them young when you're young yourself." He smiled, "I imagine that I'm older than most people here. I started college late." He leaned over, flashing me his bedroom eyes. "I'm probably older than you are." "You have a thing for younger women." I rolled my eyes. "That's just like a man. You're barking up the wrong tree, Casanova. I'm out of your age bracket." "What makes you say that?" "I may not have started college late like you, but I've definitely been in college a long, long time." Feelings washed over me when I thought of all the years I spent in college. Only one more semester and I was done with my bachelor's degree. Then my thoughts flashed to the graduate application that I turned in a few weeks ago. College taught me a few things. It taught me to pursue my passion instead of money and it taught me that the academic world was the only place that I would ever be comfortable. "Will you indulge me in something?" He sat back as the waitress brought his drink. In a smooth turn, she winked at me behind her order book and went to help another table. "After everything you've done for me so far? I think I can allow you a few indulgences." I took another sip of my drink wondering what question would come out of his mouth. "How old are you?" For some reason beyond my comprehension he was slightly interested in me. I imagined that interest would soon end when I tell him. He would get up, pay for his part of the check, and tell me where to send his shirt. "I'm twenty-six. I'll be twenty-seven next month." Kaden's eyes widened. "You are not twenty-six." The man was odd, I gave him that. "I'll show you my driver's license if you want, but I would rather not. I don't like the picture." His disbelief slowly turned into a grin. "I have no problems with your age. I'm twenty-four." I blinked at him. The line came from left field. What was he talking about? "How was my age going to be a problem?" "Your age wasn't going to be a problem with me. I'm not picky about the age of the women I go out with. I was a little worried that you wouldn't want to go out with me if there was too big a difference in our ages." "Go out? Where was I when we decided this?" I had to hand it to the guy. Not many people had the ability to floor me. He managed to flatten me like a pancake. "We didn't, but I thought if I gave you a choice, you would say no. Telling you gives me better results." Our food came just then. After the waitress set the food down, she smiled a little too sweetly. "Anything else I can get you?" The words were a little too surgery. Had the world gone insane? "No, we're good." I turned back to Kaden. "Telling me won't give you better results. I'm a woman not a dog." I was starting to get irritated, but I took a deep breath reminding myself that communication was key when it came to avoiding misunderstandings. In other words, I needed a better reason to get angry and explode. I gave a strained laugh and said, "I think before we get into a misunderstanding I should ask if you're serious about going out with me." He frowned at that. I could easily see that he was having trouble figuring out what to do next. He was not dealing with the average female. "Yes I am serious about going out with you." My brain stalled again. It was doing that a lot that day and it all started when I met Kaden. A man, especially a man as handsome and smooth as Kaden, did not ask a woman like me out. Men did not want to go out with women who were different. They wanted a woman who was predictable, a woman that fit into the type of category they liked: smart and successful, unbelievably beautiful and stupid, sexy and promiscuous. I was smart and that was it. "Don't you have anything to say?" The sorry truth was that I did not have anything to say. I could not think of one thing. "The food looks good today. I think we should enjoy it." "You're not going to answer my question?" "You asked a question?" It was the truth, but it still sounded dumb. Most people would have given up. This man seemed tenacious. I started to eat my lunch with a manner that suggested we were discussing something mundane like the weather. On the inside, my heart was beating a mile a minutes. He smirked, "No I didn't ask you. I will put my statement in the form of a question if you would like. I'm not going to stop until you say yes." There was no breath in my lungs. "Why?" I asked the one question that was repeating over and over again in my head. His friend spilled a hot drink on me, he righted a wrong, and he felt that the offer of his shirt was not enough. It was the only conclusion that I could come up with, but it did not seem right. The only way I was going to get my answer was from him. He thought it over, obviously not sure himself. My past boyfriends never really knew why they went out with me. I asked the same question, at least once, to every one of them. The only answer they could come up with was "I don't know." If Kaden gave me the same answer, I would have to turn him down. A person should know why they ask another on a date. "You're different," he finally answered. "I didn't come here expecting to ask you out, but I saw you sitting here alone. I watched you for a while before the waitress came, waiting for someone to join you. The reason I came here was just to pay for your lunch and be on my way, but you were alone. No one came to join you. Instead of being nervous about it you pulled out a book and started reading, completely comfortable with your surroundings. You don't act like any women I know. I need to get to know you." He seemed confused by his answer. I was not only confused by his answer, but also thrilled yet saddened by it. "I'm a mystery to you. Once you solve it, you'll leave." Kaden had been in the middle of taking a bite out of his food, but he stopped. A strange look came into his lovely blue eyes. It seemed like he was looking off into the future, seeing every possible situation play out in his head. A shiver of excitement went up my spine. "No," he said slowly, "I don't think I'll ever solve your mystery. I have this strange feeling that you'll constantly surprise me. That'll be a welcome change." I pulled out my cell phone and checked the clock. We had been there for a half an hour so far. I had an hour before class. The man had a story to tell, I thought to myself. He might not have came here looking for someone to listen to him, but I felt that I had triggered a change in him. He needed someone as a sounding board to make sense of it all. Lucky for him, I was a good listener and patient. "You have a story. Why don't you tell me? It'll give me a chance to get to know you a little before our date." The first moment I saw Kaden I knew that he was a player. His smiles were too practiced, his looks too good. There was one thing that tripped up my assessment of him: He thought about what he said. Observing from a distance, I found that most players had lines readily available in a hidden arsenal somewhere, they talked smooth and fast without a pause in between responses. It was as if they had memorized a script for a movie. Usually I did not give players the time of day when they practiced their craft on me. I am not into one-night-stands. The soul reason why I was not walking out on Kaden, leaving him with the check, was simply because he thought before he spoke. --~~-- Kaden had a long-term girlfriend in high school. They had been together for six years. On graduation day, he discovered that she had been cheating on him with his best friend. After the ceremony, Kaden snuck off to the locker room to get some items that he left behind. That was where he found them, humping like rabbits against the lockers. His girlfriend bent in half, hands against the low bench, her graduation gown flipped over her head and her skirt flipped up. The best friend had his pants down around his ankles pumping in and out of her at a rapid rate. Kaden identified his girlfriend by a distinctive birthmark she had behind her left knee. He was devastated at their duplicity, leaving as silently as he had entered. The moans of his best friend and the satisfied screams of his girlfriend chasing him down the hallway. He joined the army and was dispatched to boot camp shortly after. Kaden told no one what he saw, not even his parents. They did not understand why he decided to go into the military, why he was in a hurry to leave. She wrote him many letters. Some wondered why he left without telling her, others pleading for a response. She managed to corner him when he was home on leave. His girlfriend was confused and angered by his actions. When she asked him, "what has gotten into you?" Kaden told her in graphic detail of his witness of her duplicity. With months to replay the scene over and over in his head, he felt nothing with the retelling. She cried pretty little tears afterwards, and pleaded for forgiveness. Excuses poured from her, then actuations, then angry words. He felt nothing for her, nothing about anything. It was like his feelings switched off and he was running on automatic. Kaden spent his army years being a good soldier and bedding women when the need struck. He left the army and went into college for a degree in Computer Science. There was no lack of female companionship in college. He found that they liked older men due to the experience they tended to have. Shortly after, he entered the party scene. Admittedly he picked up women more than he drank at the parties. Lately, he had been giving rides to his drunken friends instead of enjoying the parties. Last night, after he had sex with a woman he had been seeing for a few weeks, the longest relationship he had since his high school girlfriend, he started to feel again. He was starting to feel discontent with his life. Bedding women was great, but he was starting to crave something deeper. It was obvious that he was not going to get what he needed from the woman beside him. --~~-- I leaned back in my seat and stared at the small bubbles in my soda, a little amazed at his tale. His story was cliché, something I had heard several times before. It still had the same impact on me. As a woman, I had urges, wants, and needs, but I denied them by telling myself that men were just not worth it. They were unfeeling creatures that think with their dicks than the heads on their shoulders. Telling myself a generalized lie like that over the years, I started to believe it. Only once in a while a man comes along willing to tell me his story and I am reminded that there is a lot more to a man than what I have observed. "You were ready for a change." I mumbled it to myself, but he still heard me. "Yes I was. That drink spilled on you and you didn't react like any of the girls I've been with, not even my high school ex. They would have screamed and run out of there. You didn't scream or make a big deal out of it." Kaden smiled to himself in memory. "You looked more annoyed then anything." I chuckled and looked at him again. "I don't like it when my routine gets interrupted with complications." With a breath, I pulled out my cell phone again and looked at it. Twenty minutes till two and I still needed to talk with Tabitha. As a concerned friend, she required a detailed account of what happened to me before I got to class. "I don't really date because I have no clue what to do. It seems so uncomfortable, like a job interview. We'll have a dinner as friends." "How's that different from dating?" "It's not, but if we call it something else, it makes me less nervous. Call it a change of perspective. The act might be the same no matter what you name it, but one makes you nervous as hell and the other makes you a little nervous and very excited." I packed up my stuff and got up from the table. He flashed a bright smile at me. Not a practice smile, a smile a guy would practice in front of a mirror over and over again to get it perfect. This smile was real reaching from his mouth all the way to those eyes I was fast coming to adore. I sauntered...actually sauntered next to his chair like a sexy courtesan practiced in the art of driving a man wild. Kaden was still facing the table; I was facing away from it. My hand found its way to his should. I leaned down, my mouth almost touching his ear. "China Town restaurant on route 171. Do you know where that is?" He nodded his head, his soft hair brushing my cheek. I shivered slightly. "Be there Saturday at seven. Don't be late." I walked away without looking back, a smile on my face, my heart dancing out of my chest. The waitress was conversing with the cashier and looked at me. She gave me a thumbs up with a questioning look. I returned with a wide joyful smile and a little happy skip in my step. She wrote a note really fast just before I left out the double wide glass doors, the note read: "Details Thursday?!" I nodded to her and walked out. --~~-- Another Morning Ch. 02 Tabitha was sitting at a table in the common area of Jenkins's Hall. Her laptop was out and open. To any passerby she looked as if she were absorbed in whatever her laptop was showing her. I knew differently. In reality, she was strategically situated so she had the perfect view of her romantic interest. Her moon eyes were viewing him at half-mast and she let out a faint sigh every so often. I walked straight to the table and sat myself down. Tabitha's head snapped up as if she were a thief caught stealing. "Damn it, Alex. Did you have to sneak up to the table like that?" "I didn't sneak up to the table. With my tall frame and the way I walk? I couldn't sneak up on deaf person. You were too absorbed in the subject you're studying." I plopped my book bag in the empty seat next to me. I had eighteen minutes to have a chat with Tabitha before going to my last class of the day. Skipping the class briefly crossed my mind. It was a Psychology class I was not interested in. I was only taking it because my major required some type of a minor. "Forget about my subject. Tell me about what happened to you this morning." My eyes rolled at Tabitha's not so subtle change of topic. The story was short. My embarrassment and panic made the situation seem like it took a week to play out. After I finished the tale of my morning drama, her eyes were wide and her mouth was open. "I don't know if I should be mortified for you or happy," she slowly breathed out. It was a tough call; I had to hand it to her. "Why don't you be happy for me? Let's not dwell on such unpleasant things." "Okay," she drew the word out as if considering her next words carefully. "You'll be reminded about the situation every time you walk into the coffee shop. Do you want me to get the drinks for a few months, until everyone forgets the incident?" Her offer was tempting, but I had to decline. You should always face your problems. "That's fine. I'll do it. If I cared what others thought of me, I would be anorexic and in credit card debt due to an undeniable need to constantly shop for the 'latest fashion.'" Tabitha sighed dramatically, placing clasped hands next to her right cheek, shooting a fake adoring look my way. "You're my hero." She said in a sing-song voice. "I know. I'm the perfect hero because I'm just so damn cool." Her eyes darted from me to something just behind me. They turned flat and Tabitha lost her playful nature. "Who's that?" I turned to see what was happening. The sight that greeted me was something that angered me on my friend's behalf. Her loverboy was cheating on her with another woman. Granted, he had absolutely no idea that she was head over heals for him, but my friend was affronted which meant I was too. I could easily see why Tabitha was so enamored of the young stud; it was the reason why I did not say a negative word against her silent affections. He was my height, kind of thin with a scholarly look about him. His dark brown hair was slightly long to where it curled around the lobs of his ears, shaggy in a way that a brush could not tame. The defining feature that had captured Tabitha and made her his willing, yet unknowing, prisoner was his sea green eyes. I smiled ruefully at the thought. Men should not have such nice eyes; they were a detriment to the sanity of women. The woman in his company tried to suction cup herself to his right side. Her finely manicured hand played with his unkempt hair while her other hand was under the table doing god-knows-what. She was a sassy looking redhead with curls cascading down her back. Her figure was slim and her boobs were huge. The blouse she wore just barely covered the nipples of her breasts and she made sure to try and direct loverboy's attention from his book to the obscene sight. I snapped my head back to my friend. "Quick, Tabitha! Find some black pepper. I want to see if those boobs fall out when she sneezes." She burst out laughing albeit reluctantly. "Alex you sounded like such a guy!" "Not a guy, just someone in desperate need of entertainment. It would be interesting to see how she would deal with the hypothetical situation of her boobs popping out." I turned to view loverboy with the tart. She whispered something in his ear and he grimaced. I squinted at them. For a guy with a hot red head, he was not acting too interested. She was definitely doing something with the hand under the table which had loverboy squirming to get away from her. His scowl was more pronounced. I looked at Tabitha to get her reaction, if she was reading the same thing I was. Unfortunately she was obsessed with the sight of another woman touching her living sexual fantasy. "He's not capitulating to the red head. I think he needs saving." I could see her focusing more on the situation rather than the scene. Understanding dawned when she noticed loverboy's aggravated body language. "You're right. He's really not wanting her hands on him." "So go in and be his hero. Why not swoop in and extract him from her while keeping his manly ego from fracturing?" Tabitha looked scandalized at my suggestion. "I can't do that!" We glared at each other for an undefined amount of time until I noticed the amount of students surging through the common area. I checked the clock on my cell phone. "Damn it all! Late again!" I grabbed my bag, with a brief glimpse at loverboy's table. The red head was sitting alone looking a little pissed. "You missed your golden opportunity, dear. He saved himself." Tabitha rolled her eyes and shoved me towards the stairs. "Go before you make a habit out of being late." --~~-- Thank you for your comments from the first chapter. I hope that chapter two gave you a few laughs. There are two "bad guys" added into the story so it's starting to pick up speed. With luck, Chapter three will be out shortly. Comments and voting are always welcome. Another Morning Ch. 03 I was wandering in a sea of self-doubt, contemplating everything that could go wrong with the "friendly outing." Fear was a real entity within me. It had been four years since I had a romantic relationship, two and a half years since I had a date. My last dating experience ended on a bad note resulting in the man's unwillingness to call or pick up my phone calls to him. I grimaced in remembrance. It was a bitch reliving old painful memories. I laid on my bed, letting my mind drift through my brief history, listening to the soft purring of my cat next to my right ear, and being hypnotized by the ceiling fan. My eyes closed in defeat; I had decided to not go. It was a big school. The chance of our meeting again was slim. All I had to do was not go to the coffee shop, leaving that particular task to Tabitha. He did not have my number so I did not need to worry that he would call. What a coward I was. I always prided myself with facing my fears now I was running away from a man. My cell phone started to go off. It was Tabitha. I answered with a need to hear that comforting voice of someone I trusted. "Hey there." "Hey yourself. So are you ready to go?" She sounded excited. I wish I felt excited. "I'm not ready. My hair's not done, I'm not dressed, and I'm not going." "Are you ill? Did you call him and reschedule?" Her voice was filled with worry and more than a little confusion. I turned my head to look at my cat. He was curled up looking like a big fluffy white ball without a care in the world to plague his slumber. He relied on me to feed him, keep his litter box sanitary, and to keep him company. The boy had nothing to worry about. At that moment in time, I wished we could trade places. "I don't have his number, he doesn't have mine. I'm going to stand him up." There was silence on the other line. The silence chilled me, filled me with dread. Tabitha had an opinion about everything. I never knew her to be silent in the two years we had known each other. "Get your ass dressed and ready. You're going to that dinner." Her voice was low and deadly. My eyes widened in shock. It was a tone I had never heard from her. "What possible reason do I have to go? He's a player; it's no skin off his nose if I don't show up." Was that a whinny pitch in my voice? "Because I know you're going to regret it. The whole time I've known you, you haven't gone on a date and you've barely showed interest in a man...any man! Live a little. So there's a possibility that this might not last, but you could at least enjoy it while you can." Tabitha was more than a little disgruntled with me. She went from being forceful, to flabbergasted, to frustration all in one breath. I hated to admit to myself that she had a point. Leave it to Tabitha to rip the fear right out of me and replace it with reason. I temporarily hoped that she did not say "I told you so" later in the week. "Fine, but I'm not dressing up." It was in my nature to defy her at some point. "Okay, you'll wear jeans, that dark blue halter top with lace that ends just above your bellybutton and the sexy red mandarin collar blouse over the top." A frown creased my brow. "Not the red blouse. That dresses everything up. Even jeans look like evening wear with it." "You're wearing it and you're wearing make-up. I'm doing this for your own good. You'll thank me later." There was no use arguing with her so I yielded to her undeniably great fashion sense, especially since I was not "girlie" enough to dress myself for a date...no...a "friendly outing." "Sure." Was all I said. "Great! Get going because you're already going to be late." The line went dead at the other end. I looked at the phone in consternation. She really wanted the last word on the topic. It was the first time she had ever been so forceful. In the past, she gently whittled away at my defiance to get her way. I was the one who was always forceful. That did not say much since my forcefulness got me nowhere most of the time. I shrugged and started to get ready, my worries gone from my mind. As the French would say, "C'est la vie." That's life, baby. --~~-- Grim determination, I held onto it with a desperate grip. I marched to the door of the restaurant, never pausing in my movements. If I paused, I would run and I did not want to run. Besides, it would be a shame to waste gas. My false bravado did nothing to quiet the butterflies in neither my stomach nor all the negative thoughts bouncing around in my brain. Those little "what if's" that drove a person mad would not leave me alone. I was five minutes late. Maybe he left and I would be off the hook. Kaden was sitting there in all his handsome splendor. He was dressed casually favoring a rich purple buttoned up shirt tucked into his jeans. His eyes spotted me as I walked toward him. I could tell he had been scowling. Was he worried that I would not show up? A friendly smile adorned his face. It was a smile of welcome to reassure me that this dinner meant more to him than just a quick tumble between the sheets. He pushed out his chair and stood as I approached. The table was set for a pleasant evening meal, utensils were set in their correct spots, cloth napkins were neatly folded into a fan, and a single rose colored candle was cheerfully lit with a dancing flame. Kaden walked around the table to pull out my chair. It was a gentlemanly gesture that gave me shivers of pleasure. After he was seated again he handed me a menu. "You look lovely." Not cute, beautiful, or gorgeous. His choice of words suggested that I looked classy, at least that was the way I interpreted it. "Thank you. You look handsome. Have you been waiting long?" I knew I was late, but it was only polite to ask, right? "No, I haven't." He looked down and scratched is upper lip. "For a second, I thought you would bail." Lying was never one of my strong points. Often, I considered myself a person who told the truth no matter the consequences. "I almost did. My best friend talked sense into me." A nervous laugh managed to escape. "I'll have to thank her." We took time to look through our menus. The waiter came by and asked for my drink preference, also our order if we were ready. He was gone as fast as he appeared, carrying our orders to the cook and taking our menus away. We were alone again. I was still nervous and Kaden stared thoughtfully at me. Suddenly he asked, "What's your story?" The question startled me, it was unexpected. "Which story do you prefer?" People usually hated it when I asked for clarification of their general questions. His eyes wandered to some point beyond my shoulder, lost in his thoughts. He came back to himself and looked at me in all seriousness. "How about an eye for an eye? I told you a story about my ex, how about a story about one of yours?" The mention of ex's brought to mind only one. My mood changed like the weather. I was nervous one minute and gloomy the next. There was a time when I lived in my past, I had since learned to shake off the shackles of long-ago and live in the present. Every so often the past comes back to haunt me, turning my mood black. This was no different. I did not want to tell THAT story, but it was the only thing I had that matched the severity of his. It was only fair and I strove to be fair. My gaze had wandered from his; I stared at the napkin fan placed trimly in front of me. I took a breath and looked back at him. --~~-- Justin Beaumont had not been much to look out. He was lanky with little muscles, black hair, green eyes with glasses, and preferred the James Dean look. Aside from the physique, he was no geek. Justin reeked of experience and danger. The combination attracted me. Before I could blink, we were dating. My gut told me it was a bad idea; I had just left a relationship with a man a month before and I was still hurting. Dating Justin was my attempt to erase that hurt. It was not long till we moved in together. I worked part-time and went to college full-time. He pretended to work, jumping from one job to another eventually becoming unemployed. All the signs were there, but I refused to see them. I would go off to work and after work attend college, not coming home till late into the night. Everyone knew what he was doing; gaining a free ride and cheating on me while I was dumb enough to turn a blind eye. One day, Justin tired of his life of leisure and unfaithfulness. He decided that becoming a chef was his destiny. Utilizing the internet, he found a decent culinary school in California. I paid for his plane ticket, giving him what little money I had for food until he could find a part-time job. For four months I supported him, barely having money to support myself. The rent was late, the bills were past due, my car never had a full tank of gas, and I went hungry most of the time. Near the end of the fourth supportive month, his mistress confronted me. She told me the promises he made to her. He was going to marry her when he got back and he was using me because I was stupid enough to give him money. She relished describing in great detail their many sexual affairs. I stood in my doorway listening with a vacant expression on my face. After she was done, she stood there waiting for me to say something. At that point I realized I needed to stop my life from the downward spiral of destruction. I looked at the woman before me and started to laugh hysterically. She was speechless, not expecting my reaction. Before I closed the door in her face, I told her that she could keep him. I stopped sending money. I stopped answering his calls. I severed all connection to him. To make sure he did not find me, I transferred to a college closer to home. My mom came with a moving van and helped move me back into my old room. She took care of all the bills, a task that she could barely manage with her finances. I did not feel any guilt, nothing negative with my choices. Instead I felt this overwhelming sense of relief. This was a step in the right direction on the path to rebuilding my life. --~~-- "Life taught you a hard lesson." Kaden whispered. I kept staring at that damn napkin. The waiter came in the middle of my story to set down our food. Then I was staring at my overflowing plate. I could not look at him while I told tale of idiocy. That mistake shamed me. I did not want to see his look change from companionate interest to hard accusation, the accusation that I should have known better than to let a man walk all over me. He could be looking at me as if I were an easy target, a woman easily tricked into bed. Gathering what little courage I scraped together, I looked up. It was not what I thought at all. He was glaring at his food, fork held tightly in his hand, as if it had wronged him. I was sure that if his food had still been moving, he would have savagely killed it with his fork in vengeful rage. Tentatively I asked, "Are you okay?" Kaden turned his glare on me; I could not help shrinking back in my seat slightly. "I wish he was here." "Who?" It was a stupid question, but I could not fathom him wanting to avenge me. "Your ex, Justin. If he were here, police would have a hard time pulling me off of him. He shouldn't have taken advantage of you. I assume he knew that you were trying to recover from a painful break-up." Momentarily, I forgot my food. "Yes. I told him of the break-up, even pointed out the guy. Justin didn't seem to care. He didn't seem to care about a lot." Kaden viciously stabbed at the beef on his plate. "I don't think I want to hear anymore. I already want to kill the guy." How flattering it was to have another man outraged over the wrongs done to me. My heart did a little flip. "Why don't we forget the past and enjoy our food? Do you see our waiter? I can't eat Chinese food without chopsticks. It doesn't seem right to use a fork." The evening went by enjoyably. I managed to settle my nerves and began to relax in his presence. Conversation jumped around from cars to favorite movies. There was no end to discussion topics between us. The hours slipped by and my fondness for him grew. The time went by fast and the restaurant was preparing to close. Kaden walked me to my car, we were still laughing over funny stories regarding our pets. "I guess this is it." I stated uneasily as we reached the drivers side of my car. He leaned in close, scant inches from me. "I was hoping that we could top the evening off with a kiss." I blushed at the suggestion. What was I going to do? I did not know the first rule of kissing. The words of past boyfriends filled my mind, all of them telling me that I did not know how to kiss. "It's a friendly outing. You don't kiss on friendly outings." The excuse was childish at best, but I could not let him kiss me. "Then let's change the perspective and call it a date." Kaden moved a little more. He was so close that I could smell him. His scent threatened to intoxicate me. Fighting for control was not easy, but I managed to keep my head. I was about to say something when he swooped in with a kiss and caught me off guard. He took full advantage of my open mouth with his tongue. My body seemed to slowly melt and I could not think. His tongue touched mine and my knees gave out. Kaden increased the passion of the kiss, pushing me roughly up against my car. I held onto him like my life depended on it, my hands desperately clutching the soft cloth of his shirt. Parts of me started to come alive, parts that only tingled when I read a good romance novel, parts that never tingled with any other man's touch let alone his kiss. The breath was leaving my lungs in short pants. The affect he was having on me scared me, but his kiss made it hard to analyze my current situation. Kaden ended the kiss slowly, reluctantly drawing out the feeling till the very last instant. Even when the kiss ended he still held me close as if he never wanted to let me go. He came to his senses while I was still in a dream state that only he could put me in. His ability to recover from such a kiss faster than me would later annoy me. He slowly drew away from me. After gently kissing me on my nose he said, "I think I'll keep you." His husky whisper caressed my cheek. "May I have your number so I can call you?" Staying close to me, he fished his cell phone out of his pocket. In my dreamy haze, I repeated the numbers automatically not fully realizing what was going on. He kissed my forehead and started to back away. How I stayed upright was a mystery. "I'll call you tomorrow, sexy." Then Kaden turned and walked away. My mind slowly began to function again as I stared at his back. Belatedly, I went over what he said and started to get slightly incensed. I glared at his retreating form. He thought he was going to keep me! The nerve of that man! I would just have to lay into him...if he ever got around to calling. It had been my experience that the line "I'll call you" really meant "maybe I'll call you if someone else doesn't grab my attention in the meantime." Then I thought of the kiss we shared. I let out a long sigh. My wrath saved for another day. I had let him off the hook. After a last admiring glance of his backside, I entered my car and drove away. Half way home I realized that I still had his shirt. --~~-- Thank you for sticking wtih the story. Chapter 4 is being written. People will start to put a strain on the budding relationship of Alex and Kaden. I hope they can handle it. Comments and voting are welcome and appreciated! Another Morning Ch. 04 Tuesday morning I woke up with a big smile one my face. It had been two weeks since the "Tea Accident" resulting in the handsome Kaden coming to my rescue. After the success of our first date, Kaden and I steadily drew closer to each other with each passing day. I picked up my alarm clock and turned it off, noticing that I woke up a half hour early. Who knew a little infatuation could make mornings bearable? I went through my morning routine at a sedate pace, whistling contentedly as I looked forward to the day. The drive to school was effortless, less of a hassle than most days. I strolled from the parking lot to campus, calling my friend to get her morning tea order. The line to the coffee house was still long, but there were no boisterous boys about. I briefly speculated that the parties had lessened since the end of the semester was fast approaching. Usually this was my time to be overly stressed, thinking of everything that I had to get done, everything that had to be perfect before the semester ended. It was hard trying to be brilliant when you found that your time had almost run out. Things were different this semester. While my mind went over everything that had to be done, I did not stress. In the past, I always had my work done and in on-time. It was always brilliant. I decided to believe in myself this time. I was standing in the doorway of the coffee house, about ten minutes more and I would be ordering pure heaven in tea form. Arms snuck around my waist, clasping me to a hard body. Soft kisses rained on the right side of my neck complete with a little nuzzle. I shivered with the contact and the secret knowledge that my neck was one of my more sensitive spots. A sly smile spread across my face as I leaned back into the body of Kaden. "You're wearing a white t-shirt," he whispered in my ear. I looked down at the t-shirt depicting the logo of my favorite baseball team. "An astute observation." "I don't think you'd consider involuntarily spilling tea on it? Not only do I get to save you from more humiliation, but I also get a nice view of the type of bra you're wearing. Everyone wins." We made it to the counter as he finished his sentence. The efficient cashier typed in my drink before I could tell her what I wanted. "What's your mystery friend want?" The cashier asked me as she ogled Kaden who still had me firmly clasped within his embrace. "Tabitha requested 'Alert' today." I pointed to the tea dispenser behind the cashier filled with multicolored tea packages. The cashier handed me two packages of the little tea envelopes and a cup of hot water. Then she looked expectantly at Kaden. "I'll have a black coffee." He requested. Kaden paid for all the drinks waving away my protests. He eyed the drinks in my hands and my white t-shirt expectantly. "I'm not spilling a drink on me so you can have your jollies." I rolled my eyes and started to walk away. He chuckled, gently stopping my retreating form. "How about I carry the extra drink for you? If I can't have my jollies then I could at least prevent an accident." Taking Tabitha's drink from me, he stuck out his elbow in the time old gesture of escorting a lady to her destination. Elation coursed through me as I took his offered elbow and we left the coffee house. In the two weeks we had been spending together, he had found little ways to flatter and surprise me. He bought me little inexpensive gifts that reminded him of a previous comment I made, we talked about our pasts no matter how painful, and he let me be myself. Kaden never told me that I should lose weight, wear my hair in a certain way, or act a different way. I did not try to change him either. We accepted each other just the way we were both good and bad qualities. It was one of the few sunny days in April when it was not raining. For the first time since I could remember, the overly cheerful weather did not bother me. I was too occupied with the company gallantly escorting me to my class. Tabitha and Kaden had not met each other yet. The last month of the semester did not leave people much time for socializing. I was lucky enough to have a schedule that overlapped with theirs while their schedules collided with each others. With that thought in mind, a question started to form. We had reached Jenkin's Hall. I opened the door for him since his hands were full and I had one free. "Why are you escorting me to class today? I thought you had a class starting at the same time in the opposite direction." He kissed my cheek as he passed by. It was an elegant move that did not threaten to spill the drinks he was carrying. "My class was canceled today. The instructor e-mailed us this morning. I should be using this time to get a few projects done, but I thought I could take some time to meet the infamous Tabitha." We walked down the hall at a normal pace. My tea threatened to splash out of the little opening of the insulated cup and spill over onto my hand. "Infamous? Do I really talk about her that much?" It was not unheard of for me to talk so much about family and friends, but it had been a while since I had meaningful discussions with someone other than Tabitha. He flashed a warm smile my way. "Of course you do, Alex. It just means that she's an important part of your life. Because she's important to you, means that I should be on my best behavior." I quirked my eyebrow. "Why's that?" He did not bat an eye, did not think about it when he said, "We're in a relationship and it would be great that I get along with your friends." I paused on the stairwell. "We're in a relationship?" My heart beat wildly, another idiosyncrasy I was fast becoming use to in Kaden's presence. He had a way of making statements that caught me off guard. He was a step below me, which made our eyes level. A look of desire flashed across his face. "That telling you business just doesn't work, does it? What I really meant was: I hope we're in a relationship." Drowning, I was drowning in his eyes. A little sigh escaped me, a blush spreading across my cheeks. "We might be. It's been a while since I've been in a relationship; I've forgotten what one feels like." He kissed me then. Nothing long and drawn out, but something short and sweet. The type of kiss that would stick with me through both of my classes until I saw him again, it was like a very addicting drug. "Yeah, this is a relationship." He chuckled, nuzzled my nose with his. We continued up the stairs until we reached the second level. Tabitha was waiting just outside the classroom. She took a cursory full body visual; an approving look entered her eyes. Pointing a finger at him she looks at me. "Is this him?" Kaden turned to me with raised eyebrows. "I take it you come to class often on the elbow of a man?" I rolled my eyes at both of them. "No I don't come to class escorted." To Tabitha, "Of course it's him and be nice. He has your tea." Kaden offered Tabitha her drink. A smile spread across her face at the sight of the cup. "This is a good start," she said, "but I'll be watching you." He bent towards my ear. "Is she serious?" I squinted at her. There was a good possibility that she was, but I was not about to tell him that. I did not want him scared away. If we introduce our eccentric quirks to him gradually, there was a better chance that he would get use to them and stick around. I just shrugged my shoulders and mumbled "I don't know." A high pitched squeal rent the air causing me to wince in pain. All three of us looked towards the classroom as a speeding blur of blond hair ran out the door and right into the arms of Kaden. His coffee spilled upon impact. Amanda Jane's arms were wrapped around his neck and her legs were wrapped around his waist. "I knew you couldn't stay away from me for long, lover! You needed a few weeks to recover from the mind-blowing sex we had, didn't you?" Her high tone interrupted several classes that were in session nearby. She kissed him then. I could see her shoving her tongue into his mouth and the surprised look on his face. What I did not see was him struggling to yank her off or to avoid her kiss. He just stood there with his arms around her. The bottom fell from my stomach. My eyes were wide, taking in the whole scene. Everything in my mind shut off and my body was placed into automatic. I turned to Tabitha, the beginning of a headache pounding slowly through my brain. "I'll see you in class." I told her tonelessly. Without another word I turned and walked away. Tabitha was speechless as she watched me walk through the door. She looked back at Kaden just in time to see Amanda Jane unhook herself from him. "My class is about to start, but call me later." She closed her eyes and basked in the feel of him. It was like she was savoring a particularly good spoonful of rich chocolate ice cream. "I can't wait to get you back into bed!" She squeezed him through his pants once before turning and walking away. Suddenly Tabitha jerked out of her stupor. Her eyes turned dark and her sweet demeanor changed to that of an avenging angel. "Ass!" She gritted out before she decked him. It was not enough to make him crumble, but it was strong enough to make him take a step back. She marched into the classroom and shut the door. --~~-- The room was dark except for the flashing pixels of my TV. Tabitha had taken me out earlier to a karaoke bar. I did not want to go, but she insisted, promising that I would feel better about the whole situation if I just sang my heart out. It did not help as well as she had foretold because in the middle of a you-broke-my-heart-you're-a-jerk song I started crying. It had been the continuation of a pattern I had adopted for the past two days. Two days of digesting what had happened. Two days with torrents of strong feelings washing over me. My automaton nature, usually reserved for mornings, had crossed over to my afternoons and evenings. When I was not in class, I was at home crying. Instead of working on projects that were due in the next two weeks, I lost myself in fantasy watching romantic DVD's. The TV showed me a romantic world, a world where I knew the outcome, the happy-ending I wanted. It was an old trick that I had learned at an early age. A trick I used because I use to be discontent with my own life. I often wished that I was someone else, somewhere else. Books, movies, and TV were useful tools to facilitate my fantasies. Often in movies, I would place myself in the action. I was the heroine who overcame adversity and ended up with fame, fortune, and the guy. Over the years I sought counseling for my low self-esteem. Despite what some people might say, it helped me a lot. I just needed someone to listen to me, someone I could use as a sounding board to try and figure things out. With that help, I was resolute to transform myself into the person I wanted to be. What I found lacking in myself, personality wise, I changed. Slowly, that person I could not stand to look at in the mirror became a person I admired and adored. I feared that one man had undone all that work. My mind desperately tried to reason with me, tried to make everything better. It chided me on my depression. Things like, "You knew he would not give up his debauching ways for one woman," and "You only knew him for only two weeks" tumbled through my brain. I could not seem to lift myself from the oubliette where I had fallen. My heart trapped me in a media fantasy world where all the leading men looked like Kaden. Tears leaked down my cheeks unheeded as my hand found it's way to the bowl of chocolate candy. My cell phone went off, disrupting my movie. I glared at the offending object for a second; it had been ringing off the hook for two days. There were two reasons for that. One reason was Tabitha. She was worried about me and constantly called to see if I had gotten better or worse. The other reason was Kaden. Each time he called, I had pressed the little red button on my phone forwarding his call to voicemail. This time it was Kaden. I picked up my phone and transferred his call to my voicemail. The man was tenacious in his quest. He most likely had never failed in his challenge to bed a woman of his choosing. I was determined that he would fail now. How could he possibly think that I would want to talk to him after that offending display? From a distance I heard someone singing. It did not register at first, but as the voice gradually grew louder, I started to notice. I put the DVD on pause, my brow wrinkled in thought. It did not take me long to identify the song as Paul McCartney's Silly Love Songs. I also realized that the song was coming from my front porch. Grateful for any diversion from my warring thoughts and feelings, I got up to investigate the strange phenomena. I looked though the peephole in my door and my eyes widened. Kaden was standing on my front porch serenading me. At first I had no clue what to do, but his rising voice spurred me into action. I yanked open the door and glared at him. He stopped singing immediately. "Are you crazy? This community has rules and they would throw me out in a heartbeat for breaking them. Is a conquest so important to you that you don't care if I'm homeless or not?" I questioned him in an agitated whisper. He stepped close, glowering at me. "I needed to get your attention somehow. You've been ignoring my phone calls, avoiding me in the halls, and changing your habits for the last few days. Tabitha won't even give me the time of day, stubborn woman. Now I'm not going to leave until we straighten this out." I cursed myself for a fool when I stepped aside to let him in. My broken heart made me vulnerable to any persuasion he would come up with. I tried to fortify myself, reminded myself to say "no" to him. The only way I could defend myself was through anger. "Spit out whatever you have to say and then get out." "I'm not going to 'spit out' anything. We're going to have ourselves a conversation. I have some questions I want answers to. I think I deserve that much." Kaden started to pace from my living room to my dining room without stopping. My frustration grew. I wanted him out of the house so I could get on with my grieving and my life. It would be a fast process since the relationship did not last that long, and I wanted to get it over with. Once I got to the part where I hated men, I could function like a successful student with a bright future again. It seemed that Kaden refused to play fair. "Why can't you just leave me alone?" I groaned. "Because I can't!" His voice rose again, but we were inside the house so I did not have to worry about the neighbors hearing. "I have these strong feelings for you, this fascination with you. Deep down I know that I'm starting to fall in love with you, even though it's clear you don't trust me. Didn't you say to me in these two weeks that communication is key to any relationship?" I thought about the two weeks we spent together, and I could not review everything that I had said to him. "It sounds like something I'd say. What's there to communicate? The scene I saw was pretty self-explanatory." "Sure it was, but it depends on your perspective." He was starting to throw my own words back at me, effectively using my own logic to argue his point. "You didn't exactly push her off. You didn't refuse her kiss either." Kaden stopped his pacing and took a defensive stance. "Everything happened fast. I was in momentary shock. Not to mention the woman shoved her tongue down my throat. I was in the process of being asphyxiated." "Tabitha told me what Amanda Jane did to you after I went into the classroom." "The crazy woman mauled me. Then before I had a chance to say anything, your friend punched me." He briefly touched his cheek in remembrance. "I thought women were supposed to slap men, not punch them." Flabbergasted I said, "I'm not a normal woman. Do you think I would have normal friends?" He glanced at me sheepishly. "I guess not." I was melting, I could feel it. All he had to do was flash me a look and I was lost, but I could not be weak. He had a plausible excuse for the way he acted. What about his fidelity in the future? Could I trust a man who had so many notches on his bedpost that it was practically whittled away to nothing? "I don't know what to do." The words escaped without my notice. Kaden sighed, grasping my shoulders in both his hands, trailing them down to my elbows and back up again. It was a gesture to soothe my frayed nerves. "Why not try to trust me not to hurt you?" My heart constricted at the suggestion. He was asking me for the impossible. After three intimate boyfriends that put me through the ringer and back, I was not sure I would be able to trust another man, player or not. There was a time, after I had pulled my life together and gained the confidence that I lacked, I thought that my fears would never get the better of me again. How wrong could I have possibly been? I should face this fear head on, a strategy that had always worked in the past. A sigh escaped me, a sigh that told a story of my weariness and reluctance in the face of another fight. The problem was this fear went deeper than the others. "Trust is a tall order. I'm not sure I can do that." He was still holding onto me. I thought he would give up in defeat after that, I should have known better. "I know there are a lot of walls that I need to break down. If you're willing to try in this relationship, to break down your walls, then I'll be more than happy to help you. I'd be an idiot to let you go so easily." He hugged me then, one of those big comforting bear hugs that I loved so much. I looked up into his eyes and smiled. "This'll be a big fight. Do you think we can do it?" My chin rested on Kaden's shoulder as he held me tightly to him. "Of course we can do it. Someone has to be the optimist in this relationship." Laughing, I hugged him tightly. "I'm not much of a pessimist. Besides, how could I say no to a guy who serenaded me with Paul McCartney?" Kaden and I held each other long into the night. We were ready to face anything, but I did not think we expected the drama of the next day. --~~-- I really have enjoyed everyone's comments over this story. Chapter five is in production, but not completed. Sorry for any errors that you have found in the chapters. That's what I get for editing in the middle of the night. Please take the time to comment and/or vote. Thank you! Another Morning Ch. 05 It was storming the next morning. I woke to a hard clash of thunder, the vibrations seemed to shake the house and rumble through my body. A hand inched under my shirt, rubbing absently at my bare abdomen. Contentment flowed through me and I closed my eyes again. Last night Kaden did not leave my house. The storm started shortly after our small argument. We were so intent on each other that neither of us noticed until Kaden, in all propriety, reluctantly stated that he should go before it was too late. When I opened up the door, we saw a veritable curtain of rain pouring down past my balcony. Maybe I offered a place to stay because it would have been hard for him to see through the rain, or maybe I offered because I wanted him to stay and used the rain as my excuse. Whatever the reason, he took me up on my offer. I gave him the choice of either of the two guest bedrooms, assuming that he would take the bedroom with it's own bathroom. He surprised me when he said that he wanted to sleep with me in my bed because he was afraid of thunder. I laughed at his pitiful excuse and refused him. Hours earlier I had promised to trust him, but I was still not prepared for anything truly intimate between us outside of kissing and light petting. Kaden crossed his heart with the index finger of his right hand, promised there would be no hanky panky, and offered up one last excuse. He told me that it would get me use to the type of contact that was more personal. It was too late at night and I was too tired to put up much of a resistance. He stripped off his clothes, leaving his boxers, and crawled into my bed while I was in the bathroom changing. It was hard to miss the look of disappointment that crossed his eyes when he caught sight of my pajamas. They were a lot like my day clothes, covering me from the neck down. At least my feet were bare. I joined him in bed, a little nervous at first. It had been four years since I shared a bed with a man other than my cat. Kaden gathered me close to him and placed my head on his chest. I promptly fell asleep. A smile played at the corner of my mouth as thought of being so comfortable with Kaden that I would pass out with no hesitation. My thoughts wandered a little as I tried to reenter the dream world, instinctively knowing that it was still hours before I had to get up and start the day. The hand started to inch up my body heading towards my breasts. I put my hand over the mound it made in my shirt and flattened it to my body, effectively stopping any advancement. "You promised." My voice was husky from sleep. "Would you believe that it's all part of your training: Getting use to various forms of sexual contact?" His breath frolicked over the back of my neck, a pleasant breeze while chaos raged outside the walls of my house. "Not in a million years. Men are predictable creatures when it comes to this type of contact." I gave him the benefit of the doubt and released his hand, trusting him not to move it any further. His hand was warm and comforting. I would have been lying if I said that I did not enjoy the contact; that I did not get a little curious at how far he would have taken it if I had not stopped him. Kaden sighed heavily. "I'm sensing another wall. Would you care to talk about it?" I rolled over in his arms to face him. His eyes were still closed, but I knew he was still awake. "That's a serious topic for early morning." He hugged me closer to him. "The sooner I understand what I'm up against, the sooner I can break it down and we can bump uglies." His eyebrows wiggled while his eyes were still closed. I could not help but to chuckle at the goofy scene he made. "I lightened the mood a little, so dish." I was not ready to tell this story and I knew that things would not be able to advance without me telling him. Stalling was only a temporary option. Sooner or later he would press for the story and I would have to give in. From my observations and readings, I knew a good relationship was built on three things: trust, communication, and sex. "Some other time, handsome. We'll need more sleep if we want to get through the day." "That was blatantly evasive. You won't be able to hide from me on this one." The hand that once was on my abdomen was now rubbing my back in a soothing gesture. I knew that my reluctance was frustrating him. He was a man that was use to having sex often, but I could also feel his determination to wait. The night before he told me that he was starting for fall in love with me. That morning, intuiting his frustration, I started to fall in love with him too. I was resolute to gather my courage and tell him yet another one of my major fears later that day. A few hours later we got up to the sound of my alarm clock. This time Kaden slapped the off button on the object of my daily torment. I asked him if he would leave my place early to get a fresh change of clothes over at his apartment. He just gave me a cheesy grin and informed me that he always had an emergency suitcase in his car. I took a look inside his suitcase after Kaden went outside to fetch it from the trunk of his car. It had all the essentials for travel and, not only, one change of clothes but two. I flashed him a suspicious look and called him a "rake." He gave me a questioning look. "What exactly does that mean?" "It's an old English version of a player." Kaden burst out laughing and gave me a sound playful kiss on the lips. "I can't be called a," he paused thinking of the word I just taught him, "rake anymore since I'm leaving my suitcase here. This is the only place I plan to sleep at other than my own apartment. How does that sound?" "It sounds like my cat's going to have to fight for a spot on my comfortable bed." --~~-- Much to the shock of Tabitha, I was in class ten minutes earlier than normal. I did not tell her the reason; she barely absolved me for forgiving Kaden. What would she think if I told her he spent the night at my house while she was still a little miffed? With her threat of beating me and Kaden to hell and back if he ever hurt me again echoing in my ears, I calmly read the school newspaper. I had no clue why I insisted on reading the school newspaper. There was nothing in it that ever made me happy, nor interested me beyond the front page news and editorials. Yet I always picked up the latest addition. While I was reading an article convincing me that the student government members were a lot like real politicians, corrupt, Amanda Jane was sitting on her side of the classroom babbling. The subject of her latest gossip eluded me since I was not listening. Maybe it was something she said, I could not be sure, but I found myself tuning into her words. I was now fake reading the school newspaper in favor of listening to one of Amanda Jane's ridiculous fabrications. Out of the corner of my eye I watched Amanda Jane flick her hair in preparation to tell another one of her stories. "I had an interview with Jetways this morning." Jetways was the huge company in town that built airplanes used all over the world. "On my resume I wrote that I could speak Chinese, because I'm taking Chinese classes and all. They actually brought someone in who spoke Chinese to test me! The nerve! They actually expected me to speak Chinese. Anyway, the job would require me to travel out of the country every six months. If they liked me after six months, then I would have to travel every two months. I would be living out of a suitcase! Can you imagine? That wouldn't leave much time to start a family. I wanted to be married and on my way to having two and a half kids when I turned twenty-four." "I wouldn't worry about that, Amanda Jane. I don't think the company will take you on as an employee so you're safe." Tabitha chimed in using an oversweet voice. I snickered behind my paper. "Well," Amanda Jane huffed, "there are plenty of companies out there that would be more than happy to have me and demand less of me. You know, give me time to start my family with," dramatic pause, "Kaaaaaaadeeeeeeen." She drew his name out in a sing-song voice that grated on my nerves. I let the statement slide. What need did I have to pick a fight with Amanda Jane when I already had Kaden? It would take more than a little name dropping to make me angry. I calmly folded my paper, laid it down on my desk, and flashed a glance to Tabitha. She was frowning fiercely, but she waited to see if I would do anything. I just faced forward, staring at the chalkboard, and waited for our instructor to join us. "I know you heard me, Alex. Kaden's just amusing himself with you. Do you actually think that he would want someone like you when he could have a hottie like me?" I rolled my eyes at Amanda Jane's attempt at getting a rise out of me. It was becoming obvious that my indifference was angering her. "I can't believe you actually think you have a shot with him. He's so much better than you are. You're geeky, weird, and FAT!" My breath stilled in my lungs. She said the one word that was sure to royally piss off Tabitha. Amanda Jane's words were nothing to me. I was secure in the knowledge that Kaden would not play me. Tabitha, however, took great offence to anyone who called another person fat. I turned to Tabitha and watched as she slowly got up from her desk. She had a vicious look in her eye and a snarl on her lips. "You pretentious shallow little slut! You think you're better than everyone because your mommy and daddy have money. The only reason why you're passing your classes is because your daddy donated the money for the new Engineering building to the school. Without the money backing you up you'd be nothing, stupid anorexic freak!" The eyes of everyone in the class were twice the size they normally were, including my own. Stillness permeated the environment of the classroom and Amanda Jane's face was starting to turn a bright shade of red. Some people were staring at Tabitha in shocked awe and others were looking at Amanda Jane with smirks. I was looking straight ahead, trying not to break into laughter. Of course I lost my battle, the silence was broken with a few of my chuckles, then my laughter. Soon others joined in laughing, even Tabitha. Amanda Jane turned from red to purple; I wondered, briefly, if she was breathing. That was how our instructor found us when he finally came to class. --~~-- By lunchtime Tabitha was back to her sweet self. I would not have her any other way. She was laughing at her own anger, but mostly she was laughing at Amanda Jane's ability to change color. Kaden and Stan were accompanying us. I took a look at everyone at the table and felt a profound contentment. The old Alex would not be surrounded with laughing friends, but the new Alex almost always had someone at her table. Stan was not laughing so much as chuckling. He was a severely laid back type of man. His strawberry blond hair looked as if it had not been combed in forever, his brown eyes looked as if they were perpetually sleepy, and he had an athletic build from constantly walking all over town. Stan was my height and always dressed himself like a California beach bum. On days that were fifty degrees and above, he would wear shorts. On days below fifty, he would wear breezy white cotton pants and the occasional long sleeved shirt. Tabitha and I marveled at his ability not to catch a cold in the middle of winter. Despite his charm with the ladies, they had the annoying ability to blink rapidly and coo like birds as he walked by, he was smart. It was his intelligence and his weird quarks that bid us to welcome him into our circle. Where there once was two, then there was three. Kaden was fast becoming four. Tabitha was in the process of mimicking her tirade at Amanda Jane, with a little help from Stan who was filling in the details, when Kaden's cell phone went off. He looked at the caller ID and groaned. "Guess who it is." He announced to the table. Tabitha, Stan, and I raised our eyebrows in surprise. If I had not been absorbed in the moment, I would have found our reaction comical. "Why don't you answer it?" Tabitha questioned. Kaden placed his ringing cell phone on the table and looked at it. "Well I was hoping that she would get the hint when I never answer her calls." Tabitha and I looked at each other across the table while Stan was shaking his head in agreement with Kaden. I took Kaden's hand, sitting next to his noisy cell phone, and squeezed it. "Kaden, sweetheart, that's not a nice thing to do to a woman. I think that it would show amazingly good character if you picked up and told her that you didn't want to see her again." The cell phone stopped ringing, but it did not stop our conversation on the matter. "Why would he want to do that? It would be so much easier on him if he just ignored her." Said Stan as he was looking at the piece of chicken speared upon his fork. Tabitha glowered at Stan. "Sure it would be easier on him, but what about all the people his decision would effect? Amanda Jane would not get any type of closure. In fact, she would come up with all manner of excuses why he wasn't picking up the phone or calling her, successfully keeping hope alive that he will pick-up or call one of these days. Meanwhile, she would make Alex's life a living hell because she's the enemy in this little game. Currently, Alex holds your affections and, in Amanda Jane's mind, she must be dealt with." I was amazed at Tabitha's wisdom. The only reason I advised Kaden to call and tell Amanda Jane it was over was because I remembered my own experiences. It hurt when a guy just ignored me and the situation would have been far better if he just flat out told me he did not want to see me anymore. I would have closure and I would have been able to move on with my life quickly. Resolutely, Kaden picked up the phone and dialed her number. Everyone at the table was quiet as he did what he had to do. It did not take too long. Kaden told Amanda Jane why he called, she screamed profanities through the phone, and everyone at the table clearly heard her. Then it was over. --~~-- I had a mixture of relief and regret as Kaden turned into my subdivision. He did not know about my promise to myself to tell him why I had a problem with sex when we reached my house that evening. As he pulled into my drive, we could see a figure sitting on one of the white wicker chairs I had on my porch. "Do you know who that is?" Kaden asked me as he turned off the ignition to his car. I shrugged my shoulders. "No clue, but I guess we're going to find out." We held hands as we rounded the corner of my house. Walking closer to my porch, it became obvious who it was. The person had a face I would never forget as long as I lived. All the old feelings and insecurities came back to me, the feelings of worthlessness that always resided within me when I was around him. Justin Beaumont had found me. --~~-- To be honest, Chapter 6 isn't even started even though I know what will happen. I wrote on Chapter 5 off and on during breaks in between studying, but, after my last final, I will diligently work on finishing the story. We're nearing the end right now. I hope you look forward to Chapter 6 where we'll find out what Justin wants from Alex. Comments and/or votes are greatly appreciated and wanted! Another Morning Ch. 06 When it rains, it pours. There had never been a cliché that had described my life so aptly. It was both a curse and a blessing. Everything bad that was going to happen in a certain period of my life happened all at once. On the good side, my pain would be dealt with swiftly. On the negative side, it meant people I loved would also be gone just as swiftly. In this case, I would have rather dealt with the pain of old memories than the pain of losing Kaden. I feared that whatever Justin revealed, that I had not revealed myself, would drive Kaden from my side. My memory of Justin was more flattering than real life. He was an inch taller than me, which was the only detail I had accurately remembered. His black hair was too greasy, his physique too skinny, and his smile too smarmy. He still looked like the bad boy James Dean, only with an evil, malicious intent on his mind rather than the depressed and tortured soul James Dean presented in his films. I was disgusted with the remembrance of his touch, and my mind screamed "What the hell were you thinking?" Glancing at Kaden, it was obvious he was wondering what I had been thinking as well. It became clear that depression and desperation helped me to view Justin in a favorable light. Justin eyed me from head to toe, barely able to conceal a sneer at he noted my slight weight gain from when last he saw me. To any casual observer, it would only look as if his face had an odd twitch. "It seems you're doing well." He indicated my house and the front yard in a sweeping gesture. "Amazing what one person can do when they cut off the one thing draining their finances." For once, my sarcasm was not light-hearted, but vicious. Justin tisked at me while he took a few steps forward, "I've forgiven you for that. It really wasn't nice of you to leave me in the lurch the way you did." I stepped closer to Kaden, my only safe haven from a demonic leach such as my ex-boyfriend. "You had a year to find a part-time job and establish yourself. I told you that my resources were severely limited. All you wanted was a free ride. I did what I had to do to save myself." Why was I defending myself to him? Kaden was fast becoming tired of the whole situation. He stepped ahead of me, efficiently placing me behind him. A protective gesture that made me feel valued, effectively stopping the free fall of my fragile self-worth. "Why don't you say what you have to say and leave?" Justin lifted the right side of his upper lip in a silent snarl. The hands at his side clenched into tight fists. "I came to patch things up with her, to continue our old, happy life." He turned a tame, entreated look towards me. "You were happy, weren't you, baby? We were very happy before I left." "Are you lying to yourself or just trying to convince me?" I was incredulous at his statement. He had often told me how unhappy I looked. When I burst into tears seemingly without reason, he would get disgusted and walk out of the room. Was he trying to convince me that my tearful episodes were tears of joy; my constant depression was an expression of being unworthy of being near him? The likely explanation: He was desperate for another free ride. "We had a good thing!" Justin's voice started to rise. I stepped from behind Kaden, my anger giving me the courage to face my tormentor. Yet Kaden still kept a hand on my upper left arm just in case. "You had a good thing through my servitude and suffering! I did all the work. You just pretended to be responsible and fucked the girl down the hall while I was trying to pay the bills." His face got close to mine. I could smell his putrid breath and nearly gagged. "I treated you better than any useless whore should be treated!" There was a blur of movement. My eyes only caught a glimpse from the corner of my glasses. It was like a cut scene in a movie. One moment in time, Justine's face was within inches of mine. The next, he was flat on his back, nose bloodied with Kaden's fist extended past my face. "Say something negative to the lady again and I put you in the hospital." Kaden's voice was quiet and calm. I could hear the torrents of hostility carefully hidden beneath. It was hard to hide a triumphant smile as I looked down my nose at Justin. "You have definitely out stayed your welcome. If you're not off my porch in five seconds, I'll call the cops." Kaden and I entered my home, and then we watched discreetly from my living room window as Justin picked himself up and left. I prayed that we had seen the last of him. Seeing Justin on my porch had been a nightmare. In the past, in a dark corner of my mind, I had thought of different scenarios where we would meet after I had plucked myself out of the pits of depression. Each scenario was more horrific than the next. Instead of being weak and bendable as I was in every imaginative circumstance, I was resilient in the face of my personal monster. It helped to have the support of Kaden. His hand squeezed my left shoulder, a tender reminder to return from my thoughts. "I think we better have that talk now." I sighed heavily and turned to look at him. "You're right. It's something that I can't procrastinate on since you met my dark secret. Although, he wasn't completely to blame for my problems, he just helped them to fester and created a few new ones." "Such as your problems with sex?" Kaden cut right to the point. --~~-- Adam Jamison, my first love, had dumped me to become a Mormon missionary in a third world country. If that was what he actually did, I had no idea. The only thing I knew for sure was I fell for him hard and acutely felt the pain when he did not want me anymore. It had barely been a month since I had been dumped when Justin glided into my life like a vulture. Justin managed to insert himself into my daily routine with an efficiency any multimillion dollar company would have been envious of. Three weeks into the relationship, he started to pressure me for sex. His favorite line, "Don't you think you're a little too old to still be a virgin," always managed to make me feel as if no one had wanted me through out my short life. A week before my twentieth birthday, I surrendered to his wishes. There were no sweet words, no tender kisses, not even a "hang on, this is going to hurt like hell." His entrance into my tight canal was very painful. It took him a while to finally break through my virgin barrier. I asked if he could hold still for just a moment so I could get use to him. He laughed at me, a sound that had a hint of cruelty in it, and continued on as if I never made the request. It seemed like forever before he finally finished. I was in pain the whole time. When it was done, he smacked my hip and went into the bathroom to dispose of the condom. I guess I should have been grateful that he was considerate enough to think of protection. Sex was never easy after that, at least for me. Whenever he would initiate sex, it was with no foreplay. He did not care if I had little to no natural lubrication, jamming away until he was fully seated within me. There was almost always bleeding afterwards. When I would confront him with my discomfort, he would snort at me and tell me that it was my fault if I got hurt in the act. The day Justin came to me with his revelation, his mission to become a chef, I did not argue. I was almost too happy to buy him the ticket that would take him away from me. --~~-- Kaden held my hand in both of his and he was squeezing it almost painfully. I tugged on my hand slightly, a signal for him to loosen his grip. Instead, he pulled me closer to him and held me in a fierce hug. "I wonder how you can even stand the touch of another man after all that." His words were mumbled into my hair. "There were two more lovers after him. One had a problem with premature ejaculation and had a small dick. The last one was almost as bad as Justin, but at least he used lubrication. I gave sex three good tries before I finally decided that it wasn't as great as people said it was, or my body just wasn't equipped to enjoy sex." I chuckled in a self-depreciating way. "I don't have a clue how to masturbate. I've tried it several times, but quickly got bored with it. Sure there are times when I get hot and bothered. Those are the times when I remember what sex was like for me, and the memory effectively kills my arousal." Kaden sighed heavily. "It pisses me off that men can be that careless. I might have been a player, but at least I made sure the women got as much satisfaction as I did." "They told me the stuff that I read in romance novels could never happen. The depth of feeling and love was just a myth." I sounded so forlorn even to my own ears. "I wasn't looking for a great romance, but a guy that would help me explore my sexuality." He gave me a sexy smile and flashed me a roguish wink. "I'm your man. You want to explore your sexuality, I would be more than happy to do it with you." His mouth lightly touched my ear. "I'll be the only man you explore your sexuality with." I playfully smacked his shoulder. "That's awfully presumptuous of you." With a boyish shake to his head, he picked me up and twirled me around. "Honey, I'm going to satisfy you so well and send you into a constant world of bliss that you won't be craving any other man." He scared me when he picked me up. I was not light by any stretch of the imagination and anytime anyone picked me up, or tried to pick me up, it sent me into a state of panic. It would have been horribly embarrassing if I had unintentionally hurt someone. "I don't doubt your prowess in bed, dear, but put me down! You'll hurt your back if you keep doing this." Kaden started walking, with me as his burden, towards the bedroom. "Alex, honey, don't forget who you're talking too. I was in the army. This means the body with which I am picking you up, is an army brat carrying machine. I couldn't get hurt carrying you even if I tried. Speaking of the army, where's my shirt I lent you?" I giggled at his antics. "I bronzed it and put it on my mantle." "That was my favorite shirt, you imp!" Kaden's fake rage scared my cat. The poor guy scurried under my dining room table. We arrived in my bedroom and he put me down. Then he started to unbutton my shirt. "What are you doing?" The nervousness in my voice came from the ambiguity of showing my body to him. He flashed me a reassuring grin. "Don't worry, I won't ravish you tonight. We're just going to get comfortable for what I have in store for you." I still was not satisfied, if anything, I was more nervous. "That's not the problem; I welcome everything you have planned for me. It's just that...I'm body conscious. I don't look like anyone you've been to bed with." His right eyebrow lifted as he helped me off with my shirt and started on my shoes. "I hope you don't look like anyone I've been to bed with, because I like you just the way I see you." I rolled my eyes in frustration; he was not making this easy. My heart thumped heavily with anxiety. I was unsure where to put my arms. If I crossed them, the top half of my arms would bulge with flab. Maybe I should have crossed my arms over the swell of my stomach, I did not look pregnant, but it did look unsightly. Why was I just letting him take off my clothes, revealing my unprepossessing body in the process? Giving up the battle with the placement of my arms, I stuck them to my sides and balled my hands into very tight fists. "That's not what I meant, you know." Kaden had my pants down at this point. He glanced up at me from his crouched position and noticed my terror. Standing up to his full height, I could feel his hands reaching for my rigid ones. My whole body was as stiff as a board. If I had not been breathing, I would have sworn rigor mortis had set in. "You're going to have to tell me what's wrong. I don't understand unless you tell me." His voice was laced with concern for my comfort. I found it rather sweet of him. "I don't look like the type of woman you're use to having. You can't wrap your arms around me twice." There was a time when I did not look in the mirror to criticize myself. I was able to check myself over and thought of myself as a classic beauty with short hair. My opinions changed rapidly when Kaden started to take off my clothes. I stood there in my bra and panties, despite what little covering I had, I felt naked. My eyes were closed as I waited for his verdict, my mind trying to instill faith and trust into my tattered heart. He did not make me wait long. I felt him embrace me, gently squeezing me every so often. Looking up, I saw the thoughtful expression on his face. It was that thoughtful expression and the squeezing that made me think he was attempting to judge my ripeness as one would judge the ripeness of a tomato. "What are you doing?" I finally whispered. One more squeeze and he met my eyes. "You're right. I can only wrap my arms around you once. It seems more comfortable this way. You're probably a dream to cuddle with on the couch while watching movies." He touched his nose to mine. "I already know you're great to cuddle with in bed. The best part - huge bonus out of all the positives - is that no bones are poking out at me. I'm supposed to do the poking." The hard bulge in his pants nudged near the region of my scantly clad genitals. Fire raced from the spot and traveled wildly through the rest of my body, driving my temperature up a few notches. "Now what do you have in mind?" There was a hopeful note in my voice where, before, there had been only fear. Kaden drew me closer, if that was even possible, and started kissing me. He turned the small flame already heating my blood into something a little bigger. "How are you feeling now?" "Hot. I'm sure it's going to be scalding in a second." I went in for another kiss, but he moved away. Was it something I said? That last line was rather bad. "Do you doubt my abilities?" I shook my head 'no.' "Lay on the bed." Kaden stripped off his t-shirt and tossed it in the vicinity of my hamper. I sat on my bed wondering what he was up to as I watched him disrobe but left his boxers on. There was an urge within me to ask what was going on, but I released it. Trusting him, I laid back on the bed thinking that it was sometimes nice to be surprised. Just looking at his lightly muscled body had me tingling in anticipation. Misgivings tried to surface again, but, like in the past with my sexual urges, I brutally squashed them. This fine specimen of a man wanted me and that was the end of it. With my resolution firmly in place, I smiled warmly in greeting as he crawled into bed with me. Kaden situated us so that we were laying on our sides facing each other. "I have an idea," he stated I snuggled a little closer to him. "What would that be?" "Since I've known you, I've been trying to figure out how I can give you an orgasm." He brushed a few strands of hair out of my eyes. A sigh escaped me. An orgasm was something I constantly hoped to one day feel. All those times I wanted to force my inept lovers to help me, but never did. The times when I tried to help myself only ended in disappointment and boredom. With Kaden I wanted to feel more, the hope just was not there. Subduing hope came from practice and I had a lot of practice. I was a master at subduing my urges. The thought came to me in a sad epiphany. Yes, I had the single-minded need to be ravished by Kaden since the moment I met him. It was simply a matter of wanting to satisfy him and possibly grasp at any fleeting pleasure I might feel along the way. An orgasm, for me, was an unattainable reality. "That's not necessary," I finally responded, "what matters to me is that you get your satisfaction." My hand stroked his cheek lovingly. He brought it to his lips and kissed it. His luminescent eyes took on an adoring demeanor. "It's important to me. I'm one of those guys who gets his pleasure by pleasing his partner." I closed my eyes in pain. "You'll be disappointed with me." "There was something that happened last night. It was one of the hottest things I had ever witnessed." Surely not in my bed. "What was that?" "You had a wet dream. As I watched, I had this wish that you were wiggling and moving like that under me." His voice was far off as if in a daydream. I closed my eyes, the scene he was starting to paint danced behind my eyelids. All I could do was lay there on my side and listen to him as he created an erotic scene with his hypnotic tone. "Your head was thrown carelessly to the side as if someone was kissing your neck, slowly working their way down to your breasts." His fingers lightly caressed my neck, it was a whisper of a touch that made me shiver, created a sensation that made my pussy clench in anticipation. It was a reaction I never had with any other man. "I could imagine myself sucking on your nipples, lightly pinching one while lovingly attending to the other as your back arched off the bed. You wanted more of my touch. I couldn't deny you, especially since you were so responsive. My free hand inched down your body." Imagination mixed with reality as he described a fabricated scenario of my wet dream, placing himself in the lead role of my delight. It muddled my senses so much that I could not tell if it actually was his hand inching down my body or a phantom touch, lost remnant of a suppressed dream. "My pesky hand just couldn't resist teasing you though. It's journey stopped right at your soft curls, just above your clit, but not touching it. Can you feel it? Can you feel how close my hand is?" Kaden whispered the questions as if they were forbidden, as if we were doing something illegal, like a kid stealing a candy bar from a store. The questions had to be rhetorical, because verbal communication was beyond my abilities at the time. I moaned my response and desperately lifted my hips from the bed; I wanted his touch so badly. "I was chuckling at your eager response to my touch. A sound of surprise that you would want me so desperately. My finger gently stroked the folds of your femininity, refusing to touch your clit until I was ready. I wanted you to squirm more for me." Oh god! Was that his hand I felt? Was my underwear allowing his hand to touch the place it shielded? I moved closer to Kaden, trapping his arm between our bodies. Although, in my state of mind, it could have all been a fantasy and that he was not actually touching me. Either way, I started to break out into a sweat, the room was getting far too warm, my breathing was becoming far too short, and my body was becoming far too frantic for more. "My finger entered your warm canal and started a slow rhythm. All the while I was trying to find that one spot, other than your clit, that would drive you wild." I gave a little cry and my hips started a frenzied rhythm that Kaden had set. "It seemed that I was successful in finding your g-spot." He stated in a husky voice. "I added another finger to your dripping cunt, hitting that little magical spot with an increased rhythm. Meanwhile, your hand was trying to find something to hold onto. What do you suppose that was?" Kaden was right. My hand was clasping the sheets, trying to find something more substantial to hold onto. "You, I want to hold onto you." I frantically drew my hand down his torso, straight into his boxers, and grabbed his hard cock. His shaft was soft to the touch like velvet, yet the mushroom tip was smooth like silk. I heard him groan as my fingers explored the underside of his tip. His voice was a little choppy as he continued. "I added yet another finger into your hungry little pussy and my thumb was playing with your clit." I cried out at his sensual assault. Something started to build within me. My hand went from exploring his dick to stroking it. I did not know what to do as I matched the movements of my hand to his, adding my other hand to massage his balls. Another Morning Ch. 06 "Oh yes!" He desperately whispered. A few seconds later, he erupted in my hands. His cum spurted onto his belly and the rest spilled onto my sheets. It was not long after I followed. My body tensed, I could barely move in my bliss while my cunt exploded into spasms around his marauding fingers. Kaden held me tightly to him with his free hand until I calmed down. I could not believe that he actually did what no one, not even myself, could do. My body had come apart in his arms. He helped me achieve the allusive orgasm. "I can't believe you did that." I said after a while. He hugged me a little tighter to him. "After I saw you have an orgasm while you were dreaming, it made me think. I know you have an active imagination and I thought I could use it to our advantage. Does that make any sense?" "Yes, it does. I always suspected that the most sensual part of me was my brain. It's just that I could never stimulate my brain enough on my own to do much of anything." I opened my eyes and smiled at him. "It makes sense that I needed someone to help me out." Kaden's eyes drooped in exhaustion. It had been a very rough day and we both needed rest. I kissed him one last time, a sweet peck on the lips, and settled in to bed. --~~-- This was a hard chapter to write. I hope everyone enjoyed it. Sorry if there are mistakes, I was in a hurry to get it submitted. I'm anticipating no more writer's block for the rest of the story. Thank you for reading my work. Please take a few seconds to comment and/or vote. Another Morning Ch. 07 The alarm had the capacity to be particularly loud on days when I did not have to be at school. That morning was no different. I growled a long line of choice curses that would make the most hardened criminal blush, as I flipped over with lightening speed to brutally hit the off button. Afterwards, I turned back into my previous position to snuggle closer to Kaden. His arms closed around me and I tucked my head under his chin, nestling my nose in his neck. "Remind me never to make you angry. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of one of your tongue lashings, unless you're doing something with it other than cursing me." He sleepily mumbled into my hair. I slipped my hand from his back into his boxers and rested it there after giving one tight butt cheek a brief squeeze. "That damn alarm clock must have a mind of it's own. I swore I turned it off before we settled in for the night." His hard member pressed into my stomach, a blatant reminder of our actions the night before. "I turned it back on. You may not have classes on Friday, that doesn't mean I don't." With a little kiss on his chest, I sighed. "Skip today. Let's spend the whole day in bed as either lazy bums or rambunctious rabbits." "Tempting vixen, you know I can't miss a single class, especially since next week is the last full week of classes." Kaden ran his hand through my short, messy hair almost reverently. "Well then, I better make breakfast. Army boys need fuel to get them through the day." I gave him a long passionate kiss, a kiss designed to make him change his mind even though I knew he would not. After I got out of bed, I turned and looked at him expectantly. He turned onto his back, giving my body a long leisurely look. "You don't have to get up. I know how much you despise mornings and love your sleep." I shrugged at his observation. "There's always time for a nap later." Kaden stayed where he was, not moving, but staring at me. I wondered what he found so fascinating. "You're sorely tempting me to stay," he finally whispered, lust shinning in his eyes. My brow creased in confusion. "I didn't say anything." "No, but you're giving me a great view." His finger pointed from the top of my head, to my toes, and back again with a quick flick of his wrist. The deed caused me to look down and gasp. In my morning fog, I completely forgot that I was wearing nothing but my panties. Embarrassment hit me like a rock, I scrambled for my rob hanging on the back of my bedroom door. He laughed at my modesty as I headed for the kitchen, a blush adorning my face. We shared a special moment the other night. Kaden gave me a gift that I would forever treasure. People might think me fanciful. After all, he gave me an orgasm which is no big deal to most, but to me it was a big deal. I thought I did not have the capability for sexual gratification. Kaden proved me wrong and I would never take it, or him, for granted. Once in the kitchen, I gathered all the materials I needed for chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. My cat sauntered into the room, tail twitching. He jumped onto the kitchen table and tried to beg me for food. When it was obvious I was not going to give in and feed him early, he simply sat there and supervised my cooking. Just as the pancakes were done and the bacon was almost finished, Kaden walked into the kitchen fully dressed and quaffed. He poured himself orange juice from the fridge, and then sat down placing his clasped hands next to my cat. Both men looked at me with expectant, hungry expressions. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. The three of us ate breakfast. I sat there staring at Kaden. He wolfed down everything like someone who had never eaten, even asking for seconds. When we were finished, he insisted on gathering the dishes and washing them for me. It was the least he could do after I cooked a scrumptious breakfast. Collecting his book bag from beside the door, he announced that he was leaving. "I'll walk you to your car." I ran back to my room and threw on jeans and a t-shirt, hurriedly slipped into my house slippers while rushing to the front door. Kaden gave me a warm smile, took my hand, and we walked out the door. He was looking at me funny; I could feel his eyes on me as we strolled to the side of the house where the car port was located. I was about to ask him what was on his mind when my neighbor called out to us. She was wheezing from the exertion of carrying in her groceries. "Alex, dear, could your young man help an old lady?" "No, Mrs. Newton. He'll be late to class. If you could wait a moment, I'll give you a hand." Kaden let go of my hand to take off his book bag. "I can stand to be a few minutes late." He held his bag to me. "Please?" I smiled and accepted it. He was off to Mrs. Newton's car, taking in two bags. Meanwhile, Mrs. Newton walked over to me. "He's very handsome, dear. I was wondering when one of those boys at your school would wise up. You've been single for too long." She gave my shoulder a motherly pat. Lifting a sardonic eyebrow, I wondered how many groceries one little old lady needed as my "young man" kept hauling in bags. "Kaden didn't exactly 'wise up.' His friend spilled a drink on me and he came to my rescue." Mrs. Newton chuckled, "Whatever it takes to get the attention of a divine man like him." There was a devilish gleam in her eye as she watched Kaden. If I did not know any better, I would think the eighty-something woman was eyeing his butt. She blinked rapidly as if coming out of her personal musings. "I'm glad I caught you this morning. Last night I heard some yelling coming from your house. Is everything okay?" I grimaced, sorry that my inconsiderate mistake in the form of an odious man disturbed my kind elderly neighbor. "An old ex-boyfriend looking to rekindle a flame that's long dead, dismembered, and buried on four different continents." "The man made a nuisance of himself." Kaden, done with the chore, came up to us. "I'm glad I was there with you. If things were different, if he had hurt you, I would have done a lot more than punch his nose." He kissed me on the cheek, not giving me the passionate kiss we both craved out of respect for Mrs. Newton. "I'll give you a call after class." Then he was gone. Mrs. Newton's demeanor changed as if she took off a mask. "Is that rude young man from last night going to cause you any more problems?" I marveled at her serious tone. All our past conversations had been light and airy. "I honestly don't know. It's a conundrum that he found me in the first place." She put her hand on my shoulder, her grip surprisingly strong. Her eyes bore into mine as if she was trying to imprint her next words onto my brain. "If you need any help, come straight to me, or your family. I know you haven't seen much of them after your mom and grandparents passed, but they would still bend over backwards for you." --~~-- Something started to nag at me after my disturbing chat with my neighbor. The morning started off well, continuing the relaxed sex charged atmosphere from the night before. In the afternoon, alone in the eerie stillness of my house; something felt very wrong. My cell phone cut through the tension in my soul, scaring away old specters. I picked it up, seeing that it was Kaden was calling, and answered it with great relief. "Tell me you miss me because I really miss you." His voice was a welcome comfort to my frazzled nerves. "Of course I miss you. When will you be coming back?" "I'm leaving campus now. First, I'm stopping by my apartment to pick up some clean cloths and school work. Although I should just stay at my apartment to get my major projects done this weekend. You're far to tempting, I don't think I'll be able to keep my hands off you let alone concentrate." I bit my lower lip. He did need to get things done, I did not want to get in the way of his grades, but I did not want to spend the night alone in my bed. With the two nights he spent at my house, I was already use to sleeping comfortably within his embrace. "Stay home if it would help. Your grades are important. I'll still be here after this weekend." There was silence on the other end of the phone. "Are you tired of me already?" He said it like it was a standard joke, but I could hear the underlying apprehension in the question. "No, Kaden. I want more than anything for you to come back home, but I'm trying to think practically. We need this time to finish our projects because next week is our last week of classes. After last night, we're not going to be able to keep our hands off each other, especially me. Now that I know what you can do to me, I don't think I would be able to leave you alone." I was known for my brutal honesty, but it had never sounded so good or so flattering coming from me before. There was a sigh of resignation on the other end of the line. He was thinking over my words, knowing that I was right. "I like the way said that, 'come back home.' You're right, of course, but I don't think I can sleep comfortably away from you. I've grown use to having you next to me in bed. Isn't that nuts?" A serene smile spread across my face. "That's not nuts. I was just thinking the same thing...coupled with the possibility of having great sex." "We won't be having sex. We'll make love, because it'll me more than just simple gratification for me." My heart melted; an entirely new sensation when it came to Kaden. It was probably something that I should add to the list of things I needed to get used to feeling around him. I had a response to his confession. The perfect response, but I froze. He was being sweet and I could not muster up the will to tell him my feelings. The big three words that I never thought I would say to a man after Adam Jamison. Instead I said, "You going girlie on me, handsome? Were you dipping into my stash of romance novels?" There was a pause. It was not what he wanted to hear from me and I knew it. Why did he stay with me? At times like that one, I thought of myself as more of a burden, a chore, than his girlfriend. Then I heard a depreciating chuckle. "Maybe I'm going girlie in my old age. You tell my friends and I deny the whole thing." I laughed, simultaneously guilty and relieved that he was willing to joke about the situation to make me comfortable. "So you coming back? I need to know so I can lock myself in my study...which just so happens to be the third bedroom." My eyes rolled at my forgetfulness. "That's going to be hard locking me in since the third bedroom doesn't have a door handle that locks." "Don't worry. I'll stay at my apartment. Out of necessity. Not because I want too. Be warned: as soon as finals are over, bunnies will pale in comparison to us." A shiver wracked my body at his promise. "I'm looking forward to it." --~~-- The house seemed ominous with just me and my cat inhabiting it. I could not understand why. The last time it felt that way was when I heard news that my mother and my grandparents killed in a car accident. Just like it was warning me, or preparing me, for imminent trouble. Something that you would hear about old turn of the century houses or older, except my house was only fifteen years old. I pushed the thought aside and immersed myself in the fantasy of television. The evening and the night was the only free time I would have before I started finishing my projects for the following week. Aside from the doom and gloom senses that could have only been caused by separation anxiety from Kaden, everything else was relaxing. There were no lights on in the house accept for the luminosity of the TV. My cat was contentedly sleeping on my stomach, lightly purring his happiness. I had warm green tea at the ready on the stand beside the couch, and my cell phone next to it just in case I received a phone call. While I convinced myself that I was overreacting, my scene of tranquility was overshadowed by that damn portentous feeling. It was shortly after nine at night, I received the phone call that would shake up the chaos that had slowly settled into order. The number was one that was not recognized by my cell phone, but I picked it up anyway. "Hello?" I sounded groggy, as if I had not spoken in years. "Alex! Thank God you answered the phone!" There was a relieved quality to Kaden's words. "Of course I would pick up my own cell phone. You know the rules. The only reason why I wouldn't is if I was in class or a meeting. It's Friday night." My heart kicked up it's pace. He had not said much to me, but I already did not like where the conversation was going. There was something funny about his call. I could hear familiar noises in the background, while I could not place them, they sent dread through me. "Are your doors unlocked? Your windows open?" Looking around the darkened room, my mind brought to mind phantom images where I was being watched. "No, you know I live in a great neighborhood. I could keep the house entirely open if I wanted and wouldn't have to worry." His breathing sped up. "Start worrying, Alex. Shortly after our conversation earlier I spotted the police waiting for me outside my apartment as I pulled into the parking lot. They arrested me for assault and battery." "What?!" At first, I thought my ears had malfunctioned. Kaden and I had already known each other for three weeks, but that was plenty of time for me to know that he would never do what the police were charging him for. "Who did they say that you assaulted?" "I'll give you one good guess. They pretty much told me that I beat the crap out of Justin and put him in the hospital. I'm afraid that this is all a way of getting me out of the picture while he comes after you. Go through the house; lock all the doors and windows. You hear one little noise, no matter how significant, you call the cops." My stomach was doing a free fall into a void, one that did not have an end to it. "I'll be there shortly to bail you out." I had no clue how to bail a person out of jail, and could only hope that the police were polite enough to help walk me through it. "No, Alex. The bail is too much money and I know you're living off a limited budget. You concentrate on taking care of yourself until I get there. I'll find another way out of jail." "It's my fault you're in there. Let me worry about my own money." I hung up before he could say anything. Running through the house, I picked up everything I would need to get to Kaden: my wallet, my keys, and my phone. In my haste, I almost stepped on my cat that was lying on his back in the middle of the hallway. It was not until I was outside, on my way to my car, when I spotted my neighbor's house. The lights were on, giving it a flush of welcome. Clarity cut through my churning emotions and I started to remember things. My aunt's husband- do to past differences I refused to call him by the name of uncle- had connections with many cops in the county Kaden was arrested in. The man spent all of his 20's and 30's trying to figure out what emergency specialist he wanted to be. He went from fire fighter to ambulance driver to cop to county coroner. I theorized he wanted a profession in the emergency services because he was allowed to break traffic laws legally and everyone had to pull over to the right side of the road so he could pass. There was never a use for him in my life, thinking him as a drain on my aunt's income. You never knew what life was going to throw at you. --~~-- The phone call was not as bad as I thought it would be. My aunt was elated to hear from me, telling me how worried she was. I was the one person in the family that took the deaths of my grandparents the hardest. It took an act of God to keep me from reminding her that my mother died along with them. I set aside the painful memories. The present was what we were dealing with and Kaden was alive. My aunt was more than surprised that I wanted to speak with her husband, Jared. He got on the line being his abrasive self as usual. When I told him, in one breath, what had happened, he was a little nicer...not by much. Because I did not grow up with a father, and because my grandfather made both my uncles promise to look after me the way a father should, Jared beleaguered me with a barrage of questions. I answered all his questions in short order, not expounding because I felt I could not afford the extra time with Kaden in jail. It was pissing me off that Jared was wasting my time, but I knew that he would be no help unless I indulged him. After he was reluctantly satisfied with his interrogation, he told me that he would put in some calls. He stressed that I should wait until he called me back and do nothing. I felt like I was in a lame movie, where the heroine could do nothing but stand around and worry while the strong men handled all the work. It was time for me to take the position of the savior. That meant that I had to confront the villain, my ex-boyfriend. I called the only hospital I knew that was in the next county. He was not there, so I called one of the two hospitals in my own county. I hit gold with the third hospital, the one that was downtown. Before I left the house, I called Tabitha. Someone needed to know where I was just in case something happened. She did not want me to go, saying that it was too dangerous. I was adamant, I needed to go, I needed to do it, and I needed to feel like I was not helpless. Maybe, I just wanted to feel worthy of Kaden. She knew that it was hopeless talking me out of it. Not only did she want to know what hospital I was going to, but she had me tell her the room number I would be in and we set a time limit. If I did not call her in an hour, she would call the police. Thanks to Tabitha, I had back up, although I thought everyone was going a little overboard with the precautions. What they were thinking about- kidnapping, murder, and rape- only happened in movies. I was often accused of being a drama queen, was everyone else taking my place when it came to overreacting? Mrs. Newton was taking out her trash when I went to my car. She waved me over, something she often did. My mother and I moved into the neighborhood a week after Mrs. Newton's husband died. Her and my mother use to talk a lot and it always seemed that Mrs. Newton was comforted by my mother. It seemed that she never felt alone with the knowledge that me and mom lived next to her. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Newton, but I don't have time to talk." "What's wrong, dear?" She was genuinely worried and I did not want to keep her guessing as to what was wrong with me. That would just be cruel. "Kaden was arrested for assault and battery. They're saying that he put my ex in the hospital." Mrs. Newton grunted at the thought. "Any young man that would be late to class to help out an old lady would never do anything so awful. Somehow I knew something bad was going to happen." "You and me both. I was just stupid enough to ignore my instincts. Sorry, Mrs. Newton, I'm on the clock. It's time for me to see what help I can be." I did not give her time to react, I just walked away. Tabitha tried to talk me out of my course of action; I knew Mrs. Newton would too. --~~-- Sorry for the delay! I finally got this chapter done and I'm working on eight now. Voting and criticism/comments are welcome! Another Morning Ch. 08 Here's an edited version of the story. Hopefully the paragraph spacing is better. Make sure to vote and comment please! Thanks for sticking with me. --~~-- The hospital was a foreboding structure that stood before me. It looked like it had a life of it's own, looking down upon me as if it wanted to do me harm. In the past, the building had never appeared so unapproachable, but the last time I was here my mother was barely holding onto her life before she gave up the fight eighteen hours after the accident. Justin's room was located on the third floor. I marched to his room with conviction and even more fear. The thought of retreating never crossed my mind. To just wait at home like Jared wanted while he took care of everything. Except that Kaden was important to me, and this was entirely my fault. As I drew closer to the lion's den, I could hear strange noises coming from the room: a few moans, some squeals, and gasps. I pressed my front up against the wall next to the doorframe. Taking a breath, I cautiously looked into the room. My jaw dropped, first in horror and then in disgust. Justin did look like he had the crap beat out of him. One eye was swollen shut and bruised and he winced every time he pulled out of the nurse and pumped back in. I straightened up and stared at the wall in front of me. Questions flitted through my mind. How did Justin get beat up? Did he do it to himself or paid someone to do it? Then an evil, yet all too fitting idea appeared in my head. I brought out my cell phone and took a few pictures. They might not be able to help the current situation, but it definitely could not hurt. Patiently I waited for the sounds of lust to come to a crescendo of sickening completion. It took a while before I heard her louder than normal scream and his drawn out groan. A grimace washed over my features seeing the two of them naked. Escaping his clutches last time, I had assumed that I would not bare witness to his nudity again. As if hearing, let alone witnessing, him have sex was bad enough to haunt my nightmares for the rest of my living days. I stepped under the doorway and leaned against the frame. Since I was the one doing the confrontation this time, I opted for the dramatic entrance. The nurse was draped on top of him. A smile upon her face and she hugged him to her just a little tighter than before. What lies did he tell this one to make her his sex slave so quickly? My clapping hands were like gunshots in the sterile room. Their disoriented eyes searched out the unfamiliar sound. His snake like gaze lit upon me first, a knowing smirk grew from his cracked lips. It was a shame that whoever did that too him did not take out a few of his teeth in the process. The nurse followed his gaze to me, she stared for a while in genuine confusion, and then she gasped in indignation and scrambled off him. To my satisfaction I heard a grunt for the jerk as the nurse's knee struck a sensitive area on his body. As she did an entertaining acrobatic act to get back into her underwear and scrubs, she shot me a superior look. "You're not supposed to be here, it's after visiting hours." I lifted a brow and looked down my nose at her. Some people have no common sense. "I'm not allowed here after hours, yet you're allowed to give patients under your care 'special treatment' while you're on duty? Maybe I should go find the head nurse to see if she approves of your methods?" Horror flitted across her face. I had to hand it to the tart; she did well to keep her composure. "You can have ten minutes to talk." She gritted the words through her teeth. I assumed that it was anger, but I saw her glance Justin's way. She flicked her eyes back to me and I understood that it was actually jealousy. With a glance at the clock on my cell phone, I had about forty minutes before Tabitha called the police. "I'll need half an hour." She was about to argue, but I cut her off. "The 'poor beat-up man' in question had the stamina to satisfy you sexually. I'm sure he has enough strength reserved for a friendly chat." Her cheeks turned red and she marched out of the room. I took it as a sign that things were going well. Now that the female she-tiger was out of the way, it was time to deal with the odious boar. Justin flashed me a toothy smile, kind enough to cover up his limp friend while nurse Barbie doll and I had our little discussion. "Are you sure you'll be happy with only a half an hour? I could last forty-five minutes tops, but if you're in a hurry..." "Shut up." My command caught him off guard and he looked at me as if I were a stranger. In our regrettable history, I had never raised my voice to him. I had been as meek as a mouse. He must have thought that I would revert to my old ways since Kaden was nowhere around. "You know why I'm here." His chuckle had an evil essence to it. "I did you a favor, Alex. The man was using you. Honestly, did you actually believe a man like him didn't want to use you? You're ugly and you know it. Any normal man doesn't have the courage to look at you directly for any length of time. That's why it was so easy for me to use you the way I did. No one else would have you" Anger lent me inhuman strength as my hand shot out and wrapped around his throat. He stopped laughing and looked at me in horror. "Drop the charges and get the hell out of my life. You come back and I'll make sure you have the prominent spot as the bitch for the entire population of the penitentiary two towns over." Justin's features reformed into a sneer. "I hold all the cards, Alex. Your thug is about to be sued for everything he's worth. This is the lawsuit capital of America, after all. Although, I'd be more than happy to make a monetary deal with you to make sure I don't do that. I suggest you let go of me or I doubt I'll be in the mood to make that deal." I let the creep go, to free my hand so I could take out my cell phone. "There won't be any deals, Justin. You definitely won't be winning any lawsuits if you decide to go that way. In fact, I'm petty sure there's some law you just broke fucking a nurse while swearing my boyfriend beat you within an inch of your life." He laughed manically. "As if your word will be anything against all my injuries. That was a bad last ditch effort, Alex." I quirked an eyebrow, an action that he use to hate and still did. "You think I don't have any proof?" I brandished my camera phone before him like a magic wand. Flipping it open, I found the pictures I had taken of his interlude and showed it to him at a safe distance. "It's called a camera phone, and I took a lot of pictures. I'm pretty sure that I have shots of your face and the nurse's face." The screen of my phone was small and I doubted he could see much, but what he did see was enough to bring my bluff across. I did not actually know if the pictures could help me. Having military and police officers in my family, I regrettably lacked their knowledge in the matters of which I spoke, but I they were well connected. There was great conviction in my heart that told me that my family would find a way to make Justin pay if he did not heed my warning. Hopefully it would not come to any of that if I could play Justin for the sucker he was. He cursed fluently and with great hostility. I was hoping it was a sign that he gave up. "As I stated, drop the charges and we can forget this whole mess, or I'll make the rest of your life a living hell." Justin scoffed at me. "Like it hasn't already been a living hell. After you stopped taking my phone calls and stopped sending money, I had to resort to drastic measures to stay alive. I didn't do all this damage to myself!" Spit came out of his mouth when he yelled the last sentence. "You may not have done the damage to yourself, but you didn't prevent it either. I gave you plenty of time to establish yourself. Instead, you squandered the money and relied on me to continue to supply your income. You can't say that I didn't warn you. Now, I'm going to call my uncle and tell him that you're dropping the charges." What I did not tell Justin was that Jared would also make sure that there was no trace of Kaden's arrest after this. If there was any chance that Kaden would be family in the future, and there was a real possibility from where I stood, then it would not do to have a blemish anywhere near the family. That was the way we did things. "Fucking bitch! Call your damn uncle and lets get this over with." He glared at me and I knew he was going to make a last effort to appeal to my softer side. "Don't be surprised if your precious uncle learns that they found my dead body because of you." I punched in my uncle's cell phone number while shaking my head at Justin. "It wouldn't be because of me, it would be your own fault. The moment I met Kaden I released the guilt and responsibility I felt towards you regarding my actions." Needless to say Jared was not too happy when I told him where I was. Instead of going over to the hospital himself, he contacted some friends in the nearby department close to the hospital Justin was in. He stated that he would stay at the station where Kaden was currently locked up until word came that he was free to go. After that I called Tabitha. I had five minutes left to tell her that everything was fine and that she did not need to call the police. In fact, she was more than happy with the outcome, but still made a point to tell me how bad it could have turned out. While she was lecturing, I thought about how bad it could have turned out. If I would have let my backbone slip, if I did not have such a protective instinct when it came to Kaden, the situation could have quickly slid into dangerous ground. I guess I showed myself just how important he was to me. That meant that it was time to break down all the walls that were holding me back. It was amazing how many conclusions a person could come too while being lectured. I heard footsteps coming through the corridor and told Tabitha I would call her back tomorrow to tell her the rest of what happened. Yet, after everything that had occurred, I was surprised to meet one of the two officers that stepped into the room. My eldest cousin marched straight up to me, scowling. Why was it that all the men in my family always greeted me with a scowl instead of a smile? "He's not happy with you." Dylan said instead of a warm "hello." "I know he's not happy with me, but he's going to have to deal." I was starting to get angry at the male highhandedness. He looked down his nose at me. "That boyfriend of yours is not happy with you either. I'M not happy with you." "Like I care. I believe the man in the bed has something to say to you. You're supposed to be questioning him, not bullying me." Dylan gave a disdainful sniff and turned toward the bed. His partner, silent and standing in the corner viewed me with amusement. She had laughing eyes as they traveled back to my cousin. A question suddenly came into them as she watched her partner talk with Justin. She meandered over to me and stood beside me. "Hi!" Her voice was cheery for a police officer. Maybe a sunny disposition was her way of coping with her everyday reality? "I'm Bethany, Beth for short. I'm your cousin's partner." We shook hands and I could not help but like her. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Alex, his cousin." I smiled back at her; it was not hard. She was very easy going. "I've heard of you. He's said your name often in grumbles and only after he's talked with his mother, which he often does." She winked at me. "Really?" My eyebrows rose. I had often doubted my importance in the family. Beth nodded. Her eyes reverted back to Dylan; they had a dreamy quality to them. The feelings I read in them were plain to see. I wondered if there was anything going on between them. "It's the only time I've ever seen him remotely protective over a woman that wasn't his mother." "He's a hard ass, head full of rocks. In theory, he's a good guy though. Most of the men in the family are good men. I think if you're just as stubborn and chase him down like a dog, metaphorically speaking, you would get him." She looked at me in surprise, gave me a little smile of understanding, and looked back at him. Dylan was done with his conversation with my loathsome ex. He came back to me. "We'll see what we can do about getting that boyfriend of yours released." He stared at me as if trying to come to a decision. Then awkwardly bent down to hug me. "Call my mom in the near future. She worries about you." Beth and Dylan headed out of the room. When they found I was not following, they stopped and turned to me. "You coming?" Dylan asked in a gruff manner. "In a minute. I want to say good-bye." They headed out the door to give me some privacy; I knew they were within hearing distance if I needed help. Justin lay in his bed, a little pale. He must have been thinking over the trouble he was in when he got out of the protective environment of the hospital. Now that he had no sufficient income, legal or otherwise, the people who beat him up were probably going to kill him next. That was just what I imagined. Not that I knew what would actually happen to him...just that it was not going to be nice. "You've signed my death warrant. With no money, they'll kill me." There was pleading in his eyes. I sighed. "Justin, you're like a cockroach. There's no killing you, there's no leaving you behind, and there's no keeping you in the dark. You'll find some way to get that money. Maybe some female who was as idiotic as I use to be. I have every faith in you." His hands knotted the hospital sheets. "What makes you so sure?" "Because life isn't fair to good people. Horrible people like you nearly always come out ahead. The reason why you didn't get away with it this time is because I had help." It was a cynical view, but there was truth to it. I started walking to the door. "Don't come near me ever again. I'm going to hold onto these pictures just in case." I left the room before he could say anything more. It was like firmly shutting a door on my past. --~~-- My house was quiet when I entered. The sense of danger was gone. All that was left was the verbal greetings of my cat and a bone deep weariness that only came with the emotional rollercoaster that I had been on. It was midnight and I was a little revolted with myself. Normally I did not go to bed until late on the weekends. Maybe I was getting old. Shaking my head and smiling ruefully, I was not getting old; it was just that my life somehow changed to add the worries of another person. Worrying took a lot of energy. I stripped to my underwear, put on my pajamas, and slipped between the sheets of my heavenly bed. Kaden would probably go straight to his apartment. He had a worse day than I did. Making a mental note to call him as soon as I got up, I went to sleep and had sexual dreams with Kaden as the leading man. --~~-- A sound dragged me from my sleep, which was odd since I slept like the dead. The sound was light, something I would have missed if the house had not been completely quiet. Instinctively, I placed the rustling sound as coming from my living room. Then it moved to the hallway, I tensed now fully awake. My hand inched toward my glasses, after I soundlessly slipped them on, my hand wrapped around the handle of the baseball bat I kept close to my bed. I heard the intruder pause at the opposite side of my bed. Without another thought I flipped over using my momentum to swing the bat in a wide arch. The intruder ducked out of the way at the last second, and the bat landed on the mattress with a dull thud. A hand shot out and grabbed the tip of the bat that was over the edge of the bed. I wrestled with my would-be assailant until I heard a growl of frustration. "Damn it, Alex, stop it!" It was a command that was barely a restrained yell. I recognized the voice immediately. "Kaden? Why aren't you at your apartment passed out?" I was truly confused as to why he was in my house, and how he got in. My decision to give him a copy of the key was made a few days ago, but I forgot to give it to him. I could easily see in the dark so it was no trouble spotting the top half of his head peaking at me from the side of my bed. His glittering eyes were menacing and I had plenty of guys look at me like that to know I was in for another lecture. Most likely it would be something along the lines of: "When I tell you to stay locked safely in your house, I mean stay in the house! I don't mean waltz out of it and walk straight into danger. You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Admittedly, my heart added that last part. I did not know if he cared for me so much that the thought of me walking into possible danger would give him a heart attack. A girl could hope. He yanked the baseball bat away from me and put it safely out of my reach. Then he got off the floor and stood over the bed with his arms crossed, still glaring at me. It was then that I noticed that he was in nothing but his boxer shorts. That brought to mind some interesting potential. Maybe I could try some amateur seduction and make him forget that he was angry with me. "I needed to find out for myself to make sure that you were alright. Your uncle gave me a lift and let me in. Didn't I tell you to stay put?" He sounded a little exasperated near the end. I could not help myself, the smart-ass side of me decided to make an appearance. "Actually you told me to lock the doors and windows. I don't remember you telling me to actually stay in the house." Kaden kneeled on the bed to come closer to me. He put is hands on my shoulders and actually shook me a little. "Don't play with me, woman! You knew what I meant yet you went to that freaking hospital where that jerk was playing at being incapacitated. He could have hurt you!" Did he actually call me "woman"? "If it's any help, I did have a back-up plan. Tabitha gave me a specific time limit to call her in, and if she didn't hear from me, she was going to call the police." I shrugged off his hands. He scoffed. "He could have killed you by the time the police had arrived, or worse." I rolled my eyes to the ceiling. There was no reasoning with a man once he was fired up and angry. Guess seduction was my only option. Courtesan I was not, but could a man really say no to a woman stripping for him? I started to unbutton my shirt while Kaden ranted. His eyes looked down at my exposed breasts and I could hear some of the stutters in his speech. Biting the inside of my lip to hide my smile, I continued with my pajama bottoms. He stopped speaking after that, barely managed a gulp. "What are you doing?" Leave it to a man to ask a stupid question. With an innocent doe-eyed expression, I stopped my pajama bottoms mid-thigh. "I thought I would save time and undress now. That way we could just get down to the lovemaking after you were done with your lecture." His look went blank. I was proud of myself because this time I knocked him off guard, something he made a habit of doing to me. He closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath. "Don't kid about that. I showed amazing restraint the other night." I smiled at him, tilting my head. "That's nice to know you were thinking about me." "What happened to nice and slow, breaking down barriers, that sort of thing?" He dropped his crossed arms, fisting his hands. As I finished pulling off my pajama bottoms, I thought of when it was that I made the exact decision. I thought back on my realization in the hospital, and found that the answer was obvious. "The minute I stepped out the door of my house to confront Justin I was making a type of declaration. I would only do something like that for family or very close friends. People that I love." Another Morning Ch. 08 There went the pact I made with myself after the third jerk of a boyfriend dumped me because his friend said I was ugly in front of a whole mob of lunch-going office workers. I swore that if I were in a relationship with another man, he would be the one to tell me that he loved me first, not the other way around. Every time I declared myself without solid proof of how the other person felt, I always got hurt. I must be a masochist in disguise. Kaden did not say anything. He just stood there and stared at me. I did not know what to make of it. There was no fear, no suppressed eye roll, and no sinister intentions. It felt like I was being stalked, as if he turned into a predator and I just turned into a tasty snack. Without knowing what else to say, I whispered, "You're going to have to take me as I am, stretch marks, stubbornness, flab, and all." He yanked me off the bed so fast that my head was spinning. Next thing I knew I was standing, my back flush against his front. His breath was a light touch on my ear. "I will accept you as you are, but what you see is not what I see." His heated breath caressed my sensitive neck. A shiver wracked me. "What do you see?" It was lightly whispered, I was surprised that he heard it. I was even more surprised that I was able to get the sentence past my lips. Feeling his smile was a heady sensation, to feel his lips turn up and brush a few strands of my hair. Normally I would not have felt it, but he had me so sensitized, so tuned to his body. If I concentrated, I could have felt the blood flow through the veins in the arms that held me tightly. How could he do that to me when no other man was able to do it? Was this the full impact of true love? "Look in the mirror, I'll show you." His suggestion sent a shock through my body. Did I have the guts to look in the mirror? Curiosity won out over fear and I resolutely looked in my vanity mirror. We were nothing but two shadows with obscured details in the darkness. The only things visible of our faces were our eyes. His eyelids were lowered with intent; mine were wide open revealing a potent cocktail of emotions. I saw the outline of our bodies, his hands resting on the slight swell of my stomach, the shape of my breasts, nothing else. His hands started to move, both were caressing my stomach and moving down to snag the top of my underwear, then dragging them down, and waiting till I stepped out of them until he tossed them somewhere. He returned his right hand to the top of my thigh, near the juncture where my curls were located. The other hand started to knead my breast. "I don't see stretch marks when I look at these places. I see two perfectly shaped breasts I can barely keep my hands and lips off of. A stomach of infinitely soft skin that I would love to spend time nibbling on and a belly button that I would enjoy playing with. Two lush columns of thighs that lead to a valley I would love to plunge into." The words went straight to the pit of my stomach, creating a tingling sensation that I welcomed. His hand enflamed my arousal by plunging two fingers into my moist heat. The effect was astounding. My breath hitched and it became hard to breath, but he did not stop with his speech, each word ruthlessly kept my attention on what he was doing. "Your stubbornness is one of the many things I admire about you. It's not the stubbornness of a woman out to prove something, a woman who refuses to admit that she's wrong. You freely admit when you're wrong, which shows strength of character. Your stubbornness comes out when you're protecting people that you love: friends, family, me." The last word was choked, like he almost could not believe that I would care so much for him that I would give him my heart. His thumb touched on my clit, making my whole body shove back into his. I could easily feel his erection along my spine. He pushed back into me, a sensual move that caressed his front with my trembling back. Kaden was not done addressing my personal list of faults, the hand that was on my breast slid across my middle, till his arm was a band of steel under my breasts. He hugged me tightly to him, a gesture that was comforting and loving on his part. Warmth seemed to seep into me, traveling through every part of my body to infuse my soul. "As for your wonderful figure, this is what a woman should look like. She should be rounded in all the right places, lush enough so that her curves melt into a man's body. This is what it's suppose to be like, this is how it should be between a man and a woman who care deeply for each other." He turned me to face him and proceeded to give me a kiss that rocked me to my very core. For once in my life I could not think, I could only feel. My body had a mind of it's own, it was working without my knowledge. I was raking his back with my nails, curling one of my legs around his waist in an attempt to get closer to him, and I rubbed myself against him like a cat. Driven by his words, encouraged by his actions, I came to life. I was desperate to rip off his boxers, to just throw him down on the bed and impale myself on him. Kaden held me back. He took my hands away from him and just kept kissing me. Somehow we ended up on the bed, my hands held above me in one of his stronger hands. His mouth worked it's way to my neck, kissing, licking, and biting. It was the biting that had me rearing up off the bed; the action almost threw him off me. I tried to tug my hands out of his grip. It was maddening not being able to touch him like I wanted to, to speed along the process so I could finally feel what everyone else had already experienced. I whimpered my frustration. He was working his way down my body, placing kisses and love bites on my breasts, teasing the nipples with his tongue. When he went as far down as his hand restraining my own would let him, he came back up and placed a sweet kiss on my lips. "Calm yourself, Alex. We have all night to do this. You should savor the moment; drink it in like a fine wine. Let me explore you for as long as I can hold out." His voice was soothing; it had the effect he was looking for. My breath was still shallow, I could still feel the wetness pool down below, but I stopped struggling. This was not a fight; this was not a rutting session like I was use to with my pervious lovers. This was an exploration with a man that wanted to learn and help me learn in return. Slowly, he let my hands go, ready to capture them again if need be. I took my hands down and framed his face. My heart swelled with the certainty that my wayward declaration did not go to a shallow heartless man. I kissed him with that in mind, a kiss that he taught me: an exploration of the mouth, a slide of my tongue along his, coaxing it into my mouth, and then a slight suction to tease his tongue by trapping it. Kaden groaned with unrestrained desire. Instinctively, I knew that I was breaking down his control. It was a heady experience being able to do that to him. No unattractive academic could do that to a man like Kaden, only a confused siren in disguise, a seductress waking from an eternal sleep. With a grand effort, he broke the kiss, gathered the tattered remains of his formidable control, and began his journey down my body again. There was only on place he was interested in, I could barely believe he wanted to do that, go there. I was also intrigued by the prospect. He lapped at the folds of my sex as if he were starving, subtly teasing me with his tongue by dragging it up towards my clit, then going back down again. Repeating the stroke a few more times, enough to make sure I was out of my mind with want. Ever so gently Kaden touched his tongue to my distended nub and my body leapt off the bed in reaction. He wrestled me into submission, his devilish tongue growing more eager. I could barely handle the pleasure that ran through my body. All my focus was on what he was doing, the spirals that darted from every part of me to that one spot. Finally, I could not take it anymore and screamed my release. I was weightless, floating among the stars, lightly drifting in euphoria that was so enchanting. Everything we had done previously paled in comparison. I had no clue how he would top that. A movement on the bed brought me drifting back to myself, aware that he was up to something. Then it dawned upon my sated brain that he had not had his own orgasm, that he was still hard and hot. My eyes found his in the dark and I read the intent clearly. Nothing would slake his rampant lust other than penetrating me. A small fission of fear traveled up my spine quickly dampened by overwhelming desire. I really wanted this; I had wanted it since he touched me intimately that first time. He slid up over me, making sure his well-defined upper body caressed every part of me he could reach. His eyes were intense, riddled with concentration and need. I could feel puffs of his breath coming out rapidly upon my neck, dispelling any minor fear my desire had not taken care of. "I'm going to have you now." His normally smooth voice was rough and strained, all testaments to the struggle raging within him. My hand came up to ease the lines on his forehead; he pressed his face into the caress. "I need you," was all my brain would let pass through my lips. He bent down and gave me a lingering kiss, a distraction from what he was doing down below. I could feel a gentle prodding, the head of his penis testing my slickness. With slow, deliberate strokes, he eased himself inside to the hilt. I concentrated on breathing through the minor pain; I was so tight. "Are you alright?" Came his whispered plea. Assaulted by intensity of the situation; all I could do was nod. He started out slowly, pulling out with infinite care and then pushing back in to the hilt. His pumping started to set an easy rhythm that I could follow, my hips lifted of their own accord. Soon we started to speed up little by little. My body was working on it's own. I was mindless to the pleasure streaking through me like millions of shooting stars. It was not long till I felt the telltale coiling sensation in the pit of my stomach, the frightening sensation of surrender just before my orgasm rushed through me like a brush fire. When the sensations were upon me, I held Kaden close and kissed him desperately. I could feel his groan reverberate throughout my body, his trembling, jerking motions as he surged within me using as much force as he dared. He collapsed on me when his arms could not hold him any longer. I tightened my hold on him, determined never to let go. As I drifted back down, I realized the possibility of a future I never thought to have been within reach. This one act of love and devotion was a deed that opened a door to infinite potential, most of them good, some bad, but all I gladly welcomed. Kaden stirred sometime later. He had fallen asleep in the glow of his aftermath. I did not fault him for it. In fact, I enjoyed holding him while idly stroking his hair as my mind drifted from thought to thought. "I'm sorry." His apology rumbled from beside my ear. It gave me pause. "Why are you sorry?" Moonlight filtered through my bedroom window; he lifted up so I could easily see his facial features in the dim night. It was easy to ascertain that he was more than a little worried. "I didn't use a condom, I didn't even think of it." I lifted my brow. Apparently he still had some learning to do. "I'm protected. The day after we met I made an appointment to see the women's health doctor on campus." A smile graced his handsome lips. "Even with all those barriers of yours, you expected this?" I gave a small shrug. "Not really, I merely hoped." Kaden was serious again. "Don't do that again. Don't walk into something dangerous like that. You have to promise me." "Why?" Something all too primitive entered his eyes. "I can't explain it, but I nearly went mad learning what you had done, and knowing that, if something happened, there wouldn't have been a thing I could do to protect you. It was strange, but it was a feeling that I never want to experience again." "No, Kaden. I can't promise that. I'm sorry if I worried you, but you're just going to have to deal with it. You were in trouble and I wasn't about to stand aside just to wait and see if everything was going to be okay." He rolled to his side, taking me with him. Our heads shared the same pillow, and we were still able to look each other in the eyes, gouge each other's thoughts. "Just because your jerk of an ex landed me in jail, doesn't mean that it was your responsibility to walk into probable danger and make things right." His hand smoothed back a lock of my hair that had fallen in my eyes. I was a little disgruntled with his statement. "Idiot, of course I had to do that. My ex was my problem; hence it was my fault that you were jailed because he wanted to extort money out of me. Although I wouldn't have done anything as drastic as walking alone into his hospital room the way I did if it was simple responsibility. I understand it was a fool thing to do, and if it was just responsibility I felt, I would have thought out my plan more thoroughly. From what I understand, love makes you do crazy irresponsible things." His arms held me tighter, as if he were trying to combine us into one person. "Yeah, well, love makes you crazy irrational too." I smiled. Joy, relief, and peace flooded me. My future turned bright when I figured out what type of major truly made me happy. It was positively dazzling in it's blindness with the possibility of having a future with Kaden. "I'll be irresponsible, you be irrational, and we'll get along just fine." He dropped a kiss on my nose. "Deal."