Awakened (10 page)

I grabbed my phone; I had 7
missed calls from Stefan and 3 text messages. Why was he doing
this? I quickly scanned through the text messages, not paying too
much attention. Was everything okay, why wasn't I answering; he was
getting worried.
Whatever
. If he wanted me, he would
have to chase me. No way was I going to fold in the palm of his
hand. I typed back a quick response.

*Going to Ayden's party
tonight.

Ttyl. (:*

I planned on having a good night, and
he sure in the hell wasn't going to stop me. I was smiling as I
went downstairs; Kennedy and Ayden were sitting on the couch,
cuddling and kissing. As I walked into the room, Kennedy sprung up
and held me at arm’s length, examining me.

"Shit, Jennifer, you look good! You're
going to be getting some guys tonight!" She looked back at Ayden,
waiting for him to agree.

"Uh, I thought you and my cousin were
a thing....ya know? He really likes you." Ayden stood, heading for
the door.

"We’re nothing, Ayden. I am not
looking for some control freak."

Ayden stopped in his tracks and looked
back at me, sighing. "Just give him a chance, Jennifer. He's a good
guy."

Pssh, give him a
chance?
Blowing up my cell phone with text
messages after a week of nothing, cannot be a good sign. It was a
red flag, and I was going to listen to that.

I climbed into Kennedy’s car as she
got into the driver’s seat and started the car. Ayden got into his
car; a Subaru WRX STI, it was black with red wheels and looked like
he was about to take it racing. He let me drive it once, but I
couldn't quite get the shifting part down, so I gave up and let him
show me instead. It was a fun car, but it was his baby. He adored
that car, and if anything happened to it, he would probably go
crazy.

We drove for a while until we pulled
up to Ayden’s house. I had always liked being here. It was away
from the city, and sat on a good portion of land. It used to be his
grandmother’s house, but when she passed away she left everything
she had to him, her only grandchild. He had a wealthy trust fund
and an amazing 2-story, brick home. We got out and walked inside
his house. His house was nice; you almost didn't want to touch
anything for fear you might break it. It had a country feel to it
and was still decorated to his grandmothers liking.

His parties were always huge; we hung
out inside his home but we also took full advantage of the pool and
hot tub outside. We started setting up for the party, clearing
furniture, putting up tables for beer pong and sitting out extra
chairs for everyone. It wasn't hard to focus on getting everything
ready and forget about Stefan. Before too long he was just a fog in
the back of my brain.

Once everything was set up and ready,
guests started to arrive. I looked at the clock, 10 minutes after
9. We had been setting up a lot longer that I’d thought. I grabbed
my phone out of my back pocket; one text from Stefan, sent
immediately after I told him I was coming to Ayden’s.

*
Are you okay? Well, have fun

and please be careful. If
you don't

want to talk to me
anymore, just

say so. I miss you. Call
me if you need me.*

I was happy my phone hadn't blown up
with text and missed calls, like they usually did when I didn't
answer.

*I am fine. I will call
you later.*

I was still so unsure about this, I
loved the way he possessed me, but could I handle his dominance if
we got more serious? I just wasn’t sure I could let him go; I
craved him. My phone vibrated in my hand, interrupting my
thoughts.

*Jennifer, I don't know
what's going on

But this whole being short
with me

isn’t going to fly. If
something is wrong

tell me, or stop acting
like a child.

I am getting upset about
this, and it

is taking everything I
have not to fly down there

and show you how to
respect people.

You don't want
that.*

I laughed.
Whatever! Get over yourself, Stefan!
I put my phone in my back pocket and went to the
kitchen where all the alcohol was being kept. I wasn't his little
sex slave, he wasn't going to treat me like a child.

After 2 hours of doing nothing but
drinking and hanging out, my legs were pretty much jelly. My head
was light and I felt like I was floating at times. I sat down on
the couch and listened to all the conversation around the room,
trying to steady myself. Kennedy plopped down next me to, making me
bounce in the cushion.

"What are you doing over here,
girlfriend?" Kennedy put her arm around my shoulder and gave me a
squeeze.

"Taking a break. There are a lot of
people here tonight."

Ayden appeared next to Kennedy and
grabbed her, lifting her up in the air.

"This is my favorite song, come
dance." Kennedy glanced over at me and winked before getting
carried to the make shift dance floor.

I soon became lost in the lyrics of
Heartbeat by The Fray, watching Kennedy and Ayden hold each other
and dance.

Ayden was right; this was a really
good song. I grabbed my phone outta my pocket, I think I was
finally ready to give him a taste of his own medicine.

*I don't know who you
think you are

but I am not a child. If I
was mad

I would tell
you...*

That was a lie, but he didn't need to
know that. I quickly started typing again.

*So stop acting like that.
If you want to

come down here, than come
down here.

Nobody is stopping you.
And last thing,

you're not my dad, so stop
acting like it.*

The last part was the
truth; he couldn't
teach me
how to respect people. How that was even his
place? He had some nerve. I got up and started dancing with Kennedy
when Single Ladies started playing. We had always loved this song
when it applied to us both but now Kennedy was taken, and I
was....whatever I was. I felt the phone in my pocket vibrate
several times, but I ignored it and just kept dancing with Kennedy.
After a couple of songs, I went outside to the front of the house
to grab some air; it was a little more peaceful, away from
everyone.

I pulled my phone out; my heart
dropped to my stomach.

*I'm done playing games,
Jennifer.

See you shortly.
(;*

I suddenly felt sick to my stomach.
Was he really going to drive or fly or glide or whatever he was
going to do, all the way here just because he was upset? He knew I
was at Ayden's. I needed to get home, without anyone knowing where
I was going. I sobered up within a minute after reading that text
and went inside to find Kennedy. When I found her she was cheering
on Ayden at a game of beer pong. I pulled her aside and looked at
her, she was completely gone. She wouldn't be coming home
tonight.

"Kennedy, I need to go home; I’m not
feeling so good. Are you staying here with Ayden tonight?" Stefan
had sent that text an hour again, he would be here any minute. I
couldn’t stay here any longer.

"Uh-okay. Yeah, I’m spending the night
here. Can you call a cab? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just don't feel good. Don't
worry about me." I grabbed my phone and quickly dialed the number
for a cab.

The cab arrived a few moments later
and they driver drove me home in silence. He drove a little too
fast but I didn’t complain; I just wanted to get home as soon as
possible. He pulled up to my house, I paid him cash and thanked him
as I got out and walked to my front door. I locked the door behind
me and reset the alarm. A sudden rush of safety swept over
me.

I felt my phone vibrate
again.

*Where are you? You're not
at Aydens.*

Holy crap! He was already at Ayden's
party. I was glad I left when I did. My phone vibrated again, but
this time it was Kennedy calling me.

"H-hello?" I stammered into the
phone.

"Jennifer, what's going on? Stefan is
here looking for you."

"That's weird, well I am about to go
to sleep. So tell him I will call him later, okay?"

"Is everything okay? He said he really
needs to see you."

"Yeah, I am just tired. I am going to
bed now, goodnight. Have fun!"

I hung up the phone, this was a crazy
guy! I went into my bedroom and changed clothes and replied to his
text message.

*Stefan, I am tired. I
will call you tomorrow.*

Suddenly there was a knock
at the door. Are you serious? I got up and tossed my phone on the
bed and went downstairs. Why could he not just take no for an
answer? I unarmed the alarm and opened the door ready to give him a
what for. He had no idea he had just met his match. But when I
opened the door, it wasn’t Stefan
.

Chapter Seven

I felt a hit to my head and my body
dropped to the ground. I could hear a woman's voice in my
head.

"Well well, look at the sweetie pie we
have here."

I tried to open my eyes to look at
her, but they wouldn't open. My head was throbbing and I felt like
someone had bashed my head in. I got dragged and then my hands were
tied together, and tape went over my mouth. Before too long,
everything went dark and fuzzy. I heard her talking but couldn't
make out what she was saying. I drifted asleep, thinking of the
only thing that could make me feel better-Stefan.

When I woke up, my head was
still hurting, but I could actually open my eyes. It was dark, I
was laying on a bed, tied to a head post. Suddenly the hall light
flickered on. I was in my bedroom. A girl walked into the room. She
appeared to be a little taller than me, with long, wavy hair. She
was wearing jeans and a shirt that looked like it was too big for
her. As she sat down beside me I tried to talk, but something kept
my words inside. I moved my mouth but felt the tape making it
impossible to speak.
What the hell was
going on?

"So you're Stefan's current love
fling, huh?" She looked down and stroked my hair; I could make out
her features so I committed them to memory. She had hazel eyes that
set perfectly on her tan colored skin. She wasn't too dark, but you
could see that her skin has seen the sun for a while. She had
perfectly straight, white teeth, with thin lips. I looked up at
her, and felt the tears begin to form in my eyes.

"Oh, I know you can't talk, but I
already know the answer. I've seen the report all over the
magazines." She lifted her hand up, waving it across the air like
she was reading a Broadway play headliner. "Multi-millionaire is
now taken off the market. Let me tell you something, whore, you are
nothing to him, do you hear me? He is in love with me! He is just
using you to get over me because I didn't want him, but now I do.
So let me tell you something, bitch, back off! He doesn't want you.
Just think of this as...doing you a favor. I am saving you from
heartache from him." She stood up and started pacing in front of my
bed.

"I don't know what he sees
in you anyways. It's not like you're cute, or the tiniest bit
attractive." She picked up my phone,
shit!
She was going to call Stefan.
How much time
had passed since he sent that last text? He had probably gone home
by now; figured I didn’t want to see him anymore. I closed my eyes
and pushed out those thoughts. Where was he when I really needed
him?

"Oh looky here, call after call, text
after text from Stefan." She put the phone up to her ear and tapped
her foot. I tried to loosen my hands, but they were tied so tightly
that I couldn't feel them anymore. She clicked the phone and looked
down at it with a disappointed face.

"No answer. Well, I guess that
explains everything. He's done with you baby doll; he won’t even
answer your calls." The tears were coming back. Where was he? It
was the only questions that went through my head.

She glared at me. "I know you want to
think all this stuff he is doing is special, but it's really not.
Let me guess...” She continued, walking in front of the bed and
waving her hands as she spoke. "He took you to an expensive
restaurant and made you feel like you were on top of the world,
didn't he?"

I shook my head, the tears pouring
from my eyes. What if this was all true? What if he didn't care
about me, but did this to every girl? I closed my eyes tight,
hoping when they reopened, she would be gone.

She walked over to my closet and
pulled out the red V neck dress I had worn on our first date. I
hadn't washed it yet, because it still smelled of him. She grabbed
it and held it to her nose, breathing Stefan in. I suddenly felt a
rage burning up my throat. She was so lucky my hands were tied
because I wanted to rip my dress out of her hands and punch her in
the face! I had never felt such rage coarse through my veins
before. I started wiggling; trying to get whatever was holding me
in place to loosen up.