Fractured (BBW Erotic Romance) (2 page)

“
You couldn’t tell I was
listening to that?” Heath said. Attitude tinged his voice. His
eyebrows crunched up and he sat back in his seat.

“
I texted you all last
week,” I said folding my arms together.

“
Your point?” A smug
expression wrapped around his face.

“
I’m not doing this project
alone.”

“
Did I say you
were?”

“
What’s your
deal?”

“
Nothing.” I wondered if I
would get banned from the cafeteria if I reached across the table
and yank him by his collar.

“
Has anybody ever told you
about your shitty attitude?”

“
It seems like you…” He
shuffled in his seat then buried his face in his cell phone.
“Nevermind.”

“
Do I have to tell Dr.
Samuels about this?”

He powered his phone off and slid it to the
side. “Good. Go run and tell.”

“
Look, I don’t want to be
paired up with you anymore than you want to be paired up with me.
I’m better off doing it by myself anyways. Is attending college
part of your probation?” His eyes didn’t make contact with mine
once. “You know what?” I yanked his expensive black headphones off
the table and put them in my pocket. “These are mine
now.”

I got up and left his empty table and went
back to mine to grab my things. The blood coursing in my veins felt
like battery acid.

“
That looked like a divorce
hearing,” Candace said. She shook her head and sliced a turkey link
in half.

“
It went better than I
thought. He let me borrow his headphones.” I said. “I’ll see you
later.” I grabbed my tray and went towards the dish room, gritting
my teeth the entire time.
Why did I always have to get paired up
with assholes?

I looked at Heath as I walked by him. His
face didn’t bother to meet mine. He spooned another mouthful of
flakes between his jaws like nothing ever happened.

I hoped his cereal was soggy.

***

I haven’t spent a Friday night alone – ever.
Friends, family or whatever; I always had Friday nights with
company. I guess all good things come to an end.

Candace had a hot date with Lord knows who,
so I decided to spend a night with my two best friends. A bottle of
cherry soda and kung pao chicken. I also had two slices of key lime
pie waiting in our mini fridge. I got up from the couch to grab a
few napkins when I heard my phone chime. It was a text from
Heath.

Meet me at O’Kelly’s at 9:30
.

What an asshole. Did he think I was going to
meet him after the way he treated me? What a cocky son of a bitch.
He treated me like I was invisible.

Who did he think I was? That I was just
supposed to jump when he said jump?

***

The night air was still unusually sweltering.
The heatwave had tipped the one hundred degree mark four times this
week. I sat the bar at O’Kelly’s waiting for Heath to arrive and
ordered an ice water. I pulled out my pocket mirror and added
another coat of pink lip gloss. It made my lips pop.
Wait why
was I fixing my makeup for this jerk?
Yes, he’s attractive but
that doesn’t make up for how he treated me the other morning.

O’Kelly’s was
the
happening spot
around campus. It was the place everyone went to for chicken wings,
cheap draft beers and late night hookups. A giant, wooly moose head
adorned the wall over me as Nelly’s “Hot In Here” buzzed over the
speakers. Dozens of flat screen televisions showing football
highlights draped the walls next to the jerseys of all the state’s
sports teams. The glass of water I ordered stuck to the bottom on
the cherry oak finished bar; probably from all the spilled beer and
tequila shots from the night before.

Oddly, the place was half empty. I guess most
of people were still hung over from the first home football game of
the year on Thursday night. I took a sip of my water – all of the
cubes had melted since I had been sitting there. My phone read
9:29PM.
Men. Always late.
A weary sigh escaped my mouth.

The clock struck 9:30 on the dot when the
door squealed open and Heath walked through. He stood at the
entrance and his brown eyes scanned the bar for me. He wore a
russet tank top; his chiseled arms exposed the tattoos snaked up
the entire length of his arms. The tank he wore complimented his
tanned olive skin flawlessly.

He nodded his head when we finally locked
eyes. I saw a hint of a smile on his face.

Heath walked over to me as I could feel the
eyes of all the women in the bar become glued to his frame. He had
a magnetizing presence. “Hey, Selena,” he said. His voice was
pleasant, unlike his tone from before. “Let’s sit outside.”
Was
this the same disgruntled guy from the other day?

“
Okay,” I said as he gently
steered me to the door towards the patio area. There was still a
glimmer of orange left in the sky to illuminate us on the patio. I
could hear the bass from the music inside the bar wilt to a faint
thump as he pulled out the metallic seat for me. “Thank you,” I
said sitting down. He sat down to the left of me.

I sat pensive - waiting for him to berate me
for taking his headphones the other day. And I was ready to throw
my glass of water in his face if he did. “Why were you…”

He cut me off mid sentence. “I need to
apologize for my actions over the last few days…”

“
Yea, you were
very…”

He continued and he placed his hand on top of
my knee. “It was uncalled for. You didn’t deserve that and you have
every right to tell Professor Samuels about my actions.” Heath’s
eyes did not flinch as his hand slightly moved up my thigh. His
touch was red hot. “Please forgive me. I was having a bad day. A
few bad days actually.” He sat back in his chair and rubbed his
hands together. “But those are excuses and it still doesn’t make up
for the way I treated you the other day.”

“
So why did you ask me
here?” I said. My eyebrow pulled in. A small part of me wanted him
to beg.

“
I wanted to make it up to
you.” His lips curved to a smile. “I hear they have the best
burgers in town. Consider burgers and fries an olive branch.” This
boy sure knew the ticket this girl’s heart. Hot wings would be
better but, fingers and lips covered in barbeque sauce was not the
first impression I wanted to give off to him.

“
Sounds like a deal to
me.”

He extended his hand towards my chest.
“Deal.” My hand met his. His knuckles were rugged and calloused,
but his palms were smooth as silk and comforting. I didn’t want to
let go.

“
Are you just drinking
water?” he asked.
Where did all this politeness come from? Was
he high?

“
Well, I was just waiting
for you to get here. Do you drink?” His colossal, brown eyes kissed
my skin from my arms to my face. He was trying to figure me
out.

“
I actually don’t. I’m
twenty-one, but I don’t drink.” I raised an eyebrow. He looked like
he knew his way around a bottle or two. “Not anymore. Do
you?”

“
I do. But, I’m only
nineteen. So I won’t be drinking tonight.”

“
No fake I.D. huh?” We both
laughed. Though the sun retired below the horizon, Heath’s
immensely bright smile illuminated the patio. Stop laughing Selena!
You’re supposed to be interrogating him.

I cleared my throat. “Let’s look at the menu
shall we.”

“
Good idea.”

Over the next hour we discussed both of our
struggles with adjusting to life away from home on a gigantic
college campus. I was dealing with the issues that come from living
in a dorm and he coped with not knowing anyone and living alone in
an off campus apartment. This was his second year at State College.
He worked and trained at a boxing gym on weeknights to help pay the
bills. We had more in common than I expected and to my surprise,
Heath was from in Westbrook too.

“
You’re from Westbrook? Me
too,” I said. My eyes perked up. I playfully slapped his
arm.

“
Born and raised,” he said.
“Unfortunately.” His eyes trailed off into the parking lot. By now,
we were the only two people on the patio.

“
What do you mean
unfortunately?” I said. I leaned forward and folded my hands and
fingers together.

Heath shifted in his seat and fidgeted with
the hem line of his tank top. “My childhood wasn’t a Hallmark made
for TV movie – by any means. I got into a bit of trouble.” His
voice cracked and was tinged with regret.

“
Aww that sucks. But now
you’re in college. That’s gotta count as progress.”

“
Yea, I’ve stayed out of
trouble since then.” He jutted his eyes away from me and cleared
his throat. His voice – measured and calculated. “But some days are
great; others are…well, you’ve seen firsthand how they can
be.”

“
I’ve felt your wrath
before.” I bowed my head into my lap and shook my head. “But that’s
nothing if you’ve seen me before I’ve had my morning
coffee.”

We both laughed. Heath almost snorted from
laughing so hard. “Is that right?”

“
Oh, it’s true. I’m a bitch
on wheels.”

“
I can believe it. Which
reminds me...” He leaned towards me and put his arms on the table.
“Where are my headphones?”

“
You’ll get them back...” I
folded my arms together and childishly scrunched my face up. “…If
you behave.”

He nodded up and down. “I guess deserve that.
I paid a pretty penny for them. Treat them with care.” He grabbed
the glass of cola and pursed the straw between his lips. He
swallowed, then licked his lips. He had a set of lips that were
sinful. “But I have to warn you, I’m a bit of a bad boy. I do
misbehave from time to time.”

“
Nothing wrong with a bit of
mischief.” His voice hushed to a mellow whisper.

“
It looks like you’ve ran
into more than a bit.” I looked down at his hands on the table. His
knuckles on his right hand were a tad bruised.

“
Well I like to box. Bruises
and cuts come with the territory. But it’s a great workout and I
feel alive when I’m in the ring.” His eyes widened when the subject
of boxing arisen.

“
I love to work out, but I
can’t stay committed to it. I’ll go for a week then Friday night
I’ll rent a movie and be face first in ice cream the whole
night.”

His eyes appraised my curvaceous figure,
licking his lips. “A girl like you doesn’t need to work out - at
all. I love women with curves. You don’t need to change a thing
with that body of yours. Not one thing.

“
Well thank you,” I said
batting my eyes.

“
Maybe, sometime when you’re
not busy, you should come by my gym. I’ll teach you a few
moves.”

I imagined our sizzling, sweaty bodies meshed
together in some dank, dark boxing gym. His bulging arms guiding my
curvy limbs throwing jabs and uppercuts. “That would be nice.” I
took a few stands of my hair and tucked it behind my ear, doing my
best not to blush. I couldn’t stop looking at his lips. I had to
get my mind off of what they might feel like tasting and teasing my
skin. “What happened to you when you were younger? You said you got
into trouble.”

My question made him pause abruptly. The
smirk which was just on his face disappeared. “That’s something I’d
rather not get into.” His voice was shaky and his eyes looked as if
he were safeguarding something. He fiddled with his watch. “It’s
getting kind of late. I think it’s time we head on out.”

“
I’m sorry Heath…I didn’t
mean to…” He got up from his seat, reached in his pocket and threw
thirty dollars on the table.

“
It’s not your fault.” A
blank look materialized on his face. I followed him to the
exit.

As he walked me to my car and wished me
goodnight, he and I both knew despite the fun time we had getting
to know each other, once the topic of his past came up, the mood
had changed. I knew the feeling all too well.

“
So next time we should do
more talking about coursework instead of us,” I said.

He nodded. His mouth remained closed. He
desperately avoided contact with me face.

“
I agree,” he said putting
his hands in his pockets. “Goodnight.” He cracked a small, strained
smile. His face reminded me of the person I yelled at over
breakfast the other morning. We got in our cars and drove off;
leaving the same way I came. Clueless.

It was a shade before midnight when I turned
the corner of the hallway to my dorm. I dug in my purse trying to
find my room key and felt my cell phone buzzing. I hurriedly
grabbed the phone and looked at the screen. It was a text from
Heath.

Thanks again for a great night. I’m sorry if
I ended the night on a bad note. I’ll see you on Monday. I hope you
get home safe.

I replied saying thanks for a good night.

Though my night with Heath ended on a sour
note, I still enjoyed myself. He may not have considered it a date
and I was ambivalent in calling it that, but sharing a meal, laughs
and a hint of chemistry constitutes a date in my eyes. It was my
first date. Not my first date in college, but my first date
period.

***

I smiled the entire way home. I knew Candace
would have something to say about it when I got back to my room.
Elation burst from me at the seams. Even a blind man could see
it.

“
Where are you coming from
and where’d you get that smile on your face?” Candace asked as I
walked through the door.