Awakened (15 page)

“
Goodnight!” Kennedy
hollered.

I changed into something
more comfortable and laid down. All I could think about was having
Stefan laying there with me like he had the night before.
Everything was better in his arms
.

Chapter Ten

The next morning on the way to class,
Kennedy couldn’t help but start asking questions.

“
So, you and Stefan….huh!”
She sighed.

“
How come he came back up
here?” I hadn’t told her about Nicole coming into the
house.

“
I didn’t tell you this,
because we’ve both had conflicting schedules, but Friday night
after I came home from Ayden’s party, Nicole broke into the house
and tied me up. Charles, Stefan’s bodyguard, took her
down.”

“
What the fuck, Jennifer?
You’re just now deciding to tell me this? You couldn’t have made
time earlier to tell me your boyfriend’s crazy fucking
ex-girlfriend almost killed you?” I thought she was going to go off
the road.

“
I didn’t want to make a
big deal out of this. Honestly, I just wanted to forget.” I shifted
uneasily in my seat.

“
Jennifer, that’s something
you tell your best friend. I don’t give a shit what you wanted to
forget. We tell each other everything! Why is that all of a sudden
changing? Usually, you would have called me right after it
happened. What’s going on?” Kennedy grabbed my hand.

“
Nothing, Kennedy. I just
wanted to forget about it and move on. And if Stefan wouldn’t have
been in my life, he wouldn’t have been there to save
me.”

“
If Stefan wouldn’t have
been in your life, Nicole wouldn’t have come and gone all crazy
bitch on you.”

She was right. As much as I
loved that Stefan came and saved me, I had to look at the fact that
if he wasn’t around,
she
wouldn’t have been around. Better yet, I wouldn’t
have gone home early from Ayden’s party. There were a lot of ‘well
if he wasn’t in my life’ statements but I was so thankful he was in
my life. He made everything, clearer.

“
I just want you to realize
what you’re doing, okay? I want you to think more with your head. I
don’t want you to get hurt.”
Too
late.

“
He moved here.” I blurted
out. Where did that come from? Kennedy slowly looked my direction
with her mouth open so wide.

“
What?” I looked at her, I
couldn’t help but laugh.

“
Since when?
Why?”

“
Since yesterday. He is
buying a company here in Oklahoma City and he thinks it would be
easier to stay here while he gets things up and running.” That was
the truth; well, almost the full truth.

“
Oh my gosh, Jennifer. I am
not going to be the one to tell you who you should date or
whatever, but just be careful.” She pulled into the school parking
lot.

“
That’s my middle name.” I
winked at her as we parked the car and started getting out. My
phone, in my back pocket, vibrated.

*Hey baby. Thinking
about

you this morning. Dinner
at

my place
tonight?*

I suddenly had the stupidest smile on
my face. I was pretty sure everyone at school could tell exactly
who I was talking to.

*Missing you.

Of course. What
time?*

*I will have Charles pick
you up at

6, how does that
sound?*

*I will just drive
over.

6 sounds good.*

*No, Charles will pick you
up.

Don’t trust that car of
yours (;*

*Ugh, I’ll be
ready.*

I had always gotten crap about my car,
but it was my trusty Honda and I couldn’t get rid of it. Plus, I
didn’t have enough money to get any other car. I usually rode
everywhere with Kennedy, but if I needed my car, it was nice to
know I had it available.

One thing I was unsure of was that in
itself-control. The way he dominated me, made me uneasy. The way he
dominated everything in my life. He had taken utter control over
every aspect in my life. Was that really something I could deal
with? Could I be okay with letting him consume everything in my
life? I had always thought of myself as an independent woman. I had
to be after my past, but something deep inside me wanted to explore
this with Stefan. I wanted to see the limits he could push my mind
and body too. I wanted to know what this feeling was.

After class I arrived home to a man
setting on the door, waiting. He had a huge box next to him, with a
smaller box on top of that.

“
Who are you?” Kennedy
asked as we were walking towards the front door. The man quickly
stood up. He was a larger man, probably in his early 30’s with dark
brown hair and brown eyes.

“
Oh, hello. Are
you…uh…Miss. White?” He looked down at his clipboard.

“
No.” She looked back at
me.

“
I’m Jennifer, er, Miss.
White. What can I do for you?”

“
How are you doing today?
Sign for these two packages, please.” He handed me his clipboard
with a pen.

“
Uh, sure. But who are
these from?”

“
I am not sure ma’am. I was
told to come to this address and deliver the packages to Miss.
White; if she wasn’t home, then I was told to wait until she
arrived.” He eyed me. I could tell he was ready to leave. He had
probably been waiting a while.

I signed my name and gave it back to
him. “Thank you.” I smiled at him.

Kennedy grabbed the smaller box and I
grabbed the bigger one. We went inside and I set it down in the
living room.

“
I am so jealous!” Kennedy
said waiting for me to open up the packages.

I looked at the packages they were, of
course, from Stefan.

“
Well, aren’t you going to
open it?” Kennedy looked like a kid waiting to open her present on
Christmas Day.

I lifted up the smaller box and
noticed a note on the outside.

‘
Open the bigger one
first, please.’

I set the smaller box down, and pulled
the bigger box towards me. There was another note on the larger
box.

‘
This is all for you,
baby.’

I smirked. Kennedy handed me the
scissors and I started to cut through the tape. I opened it to
white box with Apple splashed across it. I examined the box; it was
a 27-inch iMac computer. It was gorgeous; I had never seen a
computer this big. There was another note taped on that.

‘
I noticed you didn’t have
a computer for school work, and that is definitely a
must.’

I looked over at Kennedy; her mouth
had dropped.

I grabbed the little box
and tore it open. It was a small black, velvet box. My heart
immediately fell into my stomach. Kennedy grabbed my forearm with a
death grip.
No, it couldn’t be what I
thought it was.
There was no way! I flipped
the cover open, revealing a set of keys.

“
What the hell are these?”
Kennedy grabbed the keys out of the box. A note fluttered to the
ground.

‘
SL550 Roadster out
front.’

“
Mercedes,” She
mumbled.
What was he thinking?

I jumped to my feet, grabbed the keys
out of Kennedy’s hand and ran to the front door. I stopped in my
tracks when I saw the car parked in my drive way. Kennedy slammed
into my back as she tried to look outside.

“
Oh my gosh, Jen! Look at
that!” She pushed me aside and ran down the steps to the car. No
way was I accepting this. I could take the computer; it was hard,
but I could.

“
Holy shit! This is
gorgeous!” Why aren’t you down here sitting in it?” She asked,
pulling on the handle to see if it was unlocked.

“
Unlock the damn thing.”
She yelled. I looked down at the key fob, but there was no buttons
or a way to unlock it. I walked up to the car to see if it was
unlocked, and the lights blinked, unlocking it. I walked away and
it locked it.
How awesome was this?
Kennedy was sitting in the driver seat, poking
around and touching things. She pressed the start button, and the
car purred to life.

The navigation screen came on, and the
dash lit up. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket.

*No need to send
Charles.

Can I come over
now?*

“
Can we please go for a
ride Jennifer? Please, Please, Please!” Kennedy was practically
begging.

“
No. I’m returning the car
to Stefan.” I reached over to the start button and pressed it
again, powering the powerful machine down. I got up and closed my
door, walking around to her side of the car.

“
Come on, get out. I have
to get ready to go to Stefan’s and take this car back to him.” I
said, holding onto the top of the door.

“
You’re joking, Jen.
Seriously? Can you not just accept a present?” She got out and
closed the door.

“
This is not a present. A
present…not this. This...this is too much, I am taking it back.” As
we walked away from the car it locked. I would never get use to
that, nor did I have to.

My back pocket vibrated.

*Yes. I am at my new
place.

Just got everything moved
in.

I will tell the front
desk

to send you up. See ya
soon.*

He knew what was about to happen, but
he had this coming. There was no way he actually thought I was
going to accept this car. It was too much, and not for
me.

We got inside the house and I went
upstairs to change. I threw on a pair of jeans and a black V neck
shirt paired with my black chucks. When I stomped downstairs, Ayden
was seated on the couch next to Kennedy.

"Hey Jen, nice car you got out there."
He winked at me.

"Well don't get to use to seeing it in
the drive way. It's going back today." I walked out, slamming the
door behind me. Just seeing that vehicle in the drive way made me
sick to my stomach.

I got in it, and pressed the start
button. All the gauges came on and the navigation screen, as well
as the lights. I backed out of the drive way, being extra cautious.
As soon as I put the car in drive and pressed the gas pedal, I was
off. I gripped the steering wheel and quickly took my foot off the
pedal. This had a lot of power, power I wasn't use to.

As I got on the highway to go to
Stefan's apartment, I decided I would have a little fun with it
since this was my only chance. I pressed the gas until I got up to
120mph and weaved in and out of lanes. I felt like I was flying. I
pulled up to his apartments and drove down into the parking garage.
Stefan was waiting by the elevators.

"I see you got my present." He had a
huge smile on his face.

"I'm sorry to be the one to
burst your bubble, but
this
is not a present." I pointed back to the
car.

"Then what would you call it,
Jennifer?" He turned and grabbed my hand as we walked to the
elevator.

"I would call it something way too
expensive to be handing out as a gift. I can’t take it." Stefan
stopped, dead in his tracks.

"Jennifer, I bought it for you. Stop
being unreasonable." He started walking again, but quicker this
time. He was in a hurry to get out of the public so we could talk
about this in private.

"I know you did, babe, and I
appreciate that. But I don't want it, nor can I accept it. It’s way
too much." We got into the elevator and he pressed the 19th
button.

"You
are
going to accept it. I bought it
for you; I
want
you to take it." He stared at me, daring me to push this any
further.

I liked dares.

"No, Stefan, I am not taking it. I
will take the computer, thank you, but not the car. It's too much."
He looked stunned. "I don't need your money or your fancy things. I
just need you, that's it." I grabbed him around the
waist.

"Well, money and fancy
things come with me, so you're going to have to get used to it.
Plus, you are
not
driving that Honda around." He smirked as we stepped off the
elevator.

"I'll drive whatever I want, Stefan.
That Honda is very dependable."

"I'm sure it is. Look, I don't want to
fight. Just drive the Mercedes, you can pay me back," he said with
a wink.

"How am I going to pay you back? There
is no way I can pay you back for that car." We walked into his
apartment.

As he opened the door, the aroma of
Alfredo sauce hit me. I followed the smell into the kitchen. All of
his modern, dark colored furniture had been moved in to the
condo.