KISS (11 page)

“
Who is the lucky guy?” her
dad asked with a gleam in is eyes. Iris backed away from both
parents. They were both crazy. She hoped craziness skipped a
generation because she wanted no part in it. Shaking her head, she
backed away from her parents as they closed in on her. Her dad had
an evil glint in his eye and her mom, the clown smile stretched
across her face, reminded her why she hated them so much. She
backed right into another problem.

“
You all are noisy tonight.
What’s going?” Chester asked as Iris’s back connected with his
chest. She immediately relaxed. Chester always made her feel
better.

“
Iris I want to know who
the lucky guy is?” her mother whined stomping her foot while her
father chuckled at her antics. This was all becoming too much for
one girl to handle. She felt like she was out of her
element.

And what was her
element…fire?!

“
Why I’m the lucky guy!”
Chester said grinning at her parents and wrapping his arms around
her.

Thump!

The chemicals reacted and the planets
aligned, their vividness apparent to all who happened to witness
their beauty. Her body trembled at his nearness. She remembered
their earlier time together when he kissed her. She turned to putty
and was a pile of nothingness on the floor. Cheese chuckled at her
and planted a kiss on her forehead before leaving. Iris
hiccupped.

Don’t go. Please don’t
leave me with these people!

“
So, missy when were you
going to tell me about little Chester?”

“
Mom? Please. Not now,” she
begged. Was it possible to combust? The particles in her body were
going haywire.

“
Dear let’s give her a
break. I’m sure you can have your girl time with her later.” Iris
jumped for joy and bowed down before her magnificent King, her
savior, her everything. She stopped midstride when a sinister look
crossed his face and he smiled down indulgently at her.

“
I’m sure Chester and I
will be having a talk real soon.”

It wasn’t fair! Her revered King
turned out to be a devil in disguise. A demon that sought out the
dark souls in this world and feast on the blood of those who posed
a threat to its treasure.

“
But daddy,” she
whined.

She stopped as the demon stalked
through the eerily quiet forest. The moon was high and the monsters
that lurked in the shadows came out to play. When he turned his
gaze upon her she stilled. She gulped loudly and wished the best of
luck to Chester before fleeing to her room.

***

He was happy. He couldn’t wait to tell
her the truth. He crept silently into the house. He didn’t feel
like dealing with his father of the year at the moment. He just
wanted to savior moment. She was a beautiful girl and she was quite
different from the others.

“
Look, I don’t know how
were going to afford this. I’m being buried in medical bills and
Axel’s graduation is coming up. There’s no guarantee that he would
get picked up by a school. They’ll want to take a closer look at
him. I can’t have them finding out about his condition.”

He lingered outside the den listening
to his father conversation. What was he going to do about his
mom?

“
I don’t know. We can’t
afford a world class heart surgeon. I don’t want to pay for
something and then have the procedure fail!” He looked up when he
spotted his younger brother on the stairs. He moved towards
him.

“
Jay what are you doing
here?”

“
Shouldn’t I be asking you
that question?” he said smirking at his little brother. They walked
quietly to his room. Jay was taken by surprise when his brother
launched himself into his arms.

“
I’m so glad that you’ve
been around lately.”

“
No tears kid, I plan on
sticking around this time.”

They would get through this
together.

14

Falling for the Wrong Guy

Iris sat in her room thinking. She
wanted to save Jay, the only problem was…she didn’t know what she
was rescuing him from. Her feelings were all mashed up. She knew
she felt safe with Cheese but Jay was something different, foreign,
an elusive piece of art. She had to have him. She was grateful for
the reprieve she got from her parents. Confused she ran her fingers
through her hair.

Was she ready for the rest of the
world to know about her and Cheese. She fought so hard to live as
close to a normal life as possible. Would everyone turn their back
on her if they found out she was rich and in some ways a prodigy?
She sighed at the daunting thought. Tonight would be the night she
discover everything about Jay. She would find out why he prefers
Jay over Axel. She rolled over reaching for her cellphone—it was
Natasha.

“
Hey whatcha
doing?”

“
Nothing.
Reading.”

“
You want to hang out, see
a movie or something. I’m trying to escape the little brat that’s
clawing my leg.” Iris giggled hearing Natasha’s younger sister in
the background.

“
I can’t I got
plans.”

“
Do you have a hot date
with Axel?”

“
No, I have one with Jay,”
Iris answered. She smiled thinking of him. He was such a
mystery.

Natasha stared at the phone in her
hand. It was impossible. Jay belonged to her. Did he forget? Did he
forget their promises?

“
That’s great!” she said
enthused. She really didn’t know if she was doing this for Iris or
for her own selfishness.

“
Look, Iris be careful. He
dangerous.”

“
In what way? Everyone says
that but I’m sick of it.”

“
Look I was just trying to
help you out. My mom is his psychologist.” Natasha said into the
phone. She realized her mistake a little too late. She slapped her
hand over her mouth and hung up.

“
Mom!” Natasha screamed
searching for her mother. She flew into her arms when she spotted
her in the family room watching TV. “What’s the matter
dear?”

Natasha kept her face buried in her
mother’s lap. She had held on to this secret for so long but she
wanted him. He belonged to her. Why should she keep her promise
when he broke his?

***

Iris screamed into her pillow in
frustration. Why would Natasha keep such important information from
away from her? If it was such a big secret why tell her now? Did
something tragic happened to Axel? Was that the reasoning behind
his need for a psychiatrist? Maybe, his mother’s illness was taking
its toll on him? She was so confused. If Axel, err Jay as he
preferred it was so dangerous, why wouldn’t anyone just come out
and tell her why it was so detrimental to her health to be around
him? He was so different from what she’d imagine. Iris groaned as
her mother’s calls for her reached her.

“
Coming mom!” she thundered
down the stairs aggravated. She wanted to know what the fuss was
about. Cheese had gone to the studio and she was anxious about
sneaking out to see Jay tonight. It wouldn’t be really sneaking
out. She was a responsible young adult. She just didn’t want her
parents all in her business, and she was still confused.

She stopped on the last stair when she
saw Jean-Pierre. What was he doing here? Her heart when into
overdrive. She was supposed to be avoiding him. She didn’t want
anything to do with him. Her heart was going to launch itself out
of her chest and fly to the heavens.

“
Where’s my mother?” she
asked. She held her breath when he reached for her grabbing her
around the wrist and leading her to the formal sitting
area.

“
What are you doing here?”
she fired off another question. Her breath left her as his hand
closed around her wrist and he silenced her with a kiss. This kiss
was different from Chester and Jay. This kiss was punishing, hard
and sensual. It was on another level and her body came alive like
livewire. Iris didn’t understand this. She couldn’t fathom why her
heart was racing in her chest or why he made her so nervous. This
wasn’t supposed to happen. She didn’t want him. When his hands came
down on her waist she realized things were getting dangerous.
Breaking this kiss she gasped out.

“
Jean I can’t. I’m sorry.
No. No this is not happening.” She said backing away from him. She
had enough troubles with Jay and Chester, she didn’t not need
Jean-Pierre adding to the mix.

“
But it is! Stop ignoring
me!” he roared at her. It’s been awhile since someone sent his
blood boiling and this wisp of a seventeen year old girl managed to
do so. He didn’t understand why he was drawn to her. This could
only mean trouble for him. Why did the girl have the power to push
him over the edge?

“
Oh hey, this is where you
two are hiding,” Giselle said to her daughter. “Honey Jean-Pierre
stopped by the house to get your measurements. I wanted him to
design something for you.”

“
Mom, I have enough
gowns.”

“
But I want you to have
something original,” her mother pouted with those large beautiful
brown eyes.

“
Fine, but hurry up.” She
griped completely fed up with the both of them. “What’s with you?
You going somewhere tonight?” her mother asked arching an eyebrow.
Iris immediately froze. Her mother had hit the nail on the head and
had no idea she did.

“
Of course not. You know
how I am. I’m not a dress kind of her girl,” she sighed in relief
as her mother left her alone. Iris hoped she and her father go find
an event or something to go to. She felt like everyone’s been
watching her lately. She was no longer a fly on the wall. She was a
large centipede.

“
That’s clearly a lie,”
Jean-Pierre said placing his hands on her waist. Iris squealed
backing away from him. She’d forgotten he was in the room with her.
She watched him as he sunk into one of the leather chaises. “So
where are you going?”

“
I don’t have to tell you a
thing,” she said childishly sitting across from him. Didn’t he
already have her measurements? What if this was just an excuse to
feel her up. His obsidian black eyes stared into her own attempting
to get her to divulge her secrets. She would never admit it to him,
but he was such an exotic looking man. He wore simple wrangler
jeans and a designer tee shirt. The shirt highlighted his muscular
body. God, she shouldn’t be looking anyway. Why was he after her?
She was nobody—no one important.

“
Look this isn’t going to
get anywhere. You are already have my measurements and I’m tired
and ready for bed.” She stood up dismissing him. Her eyes couldn’t
help but glance at the grandfather clock. She really needed to get
dress and figure things out with Jay.

Jean-Pierre watched her. He didn’t
like the fact that a mere seventeen year old girl was able to pull
on his heart strings so easily. It was stupid, ludicrous, and
impossible; but in the end, it was true. Something happened, he
felt a shift within her after she addressed Kimberly at the party.
When he stared down into her honey brown colored eyes he thought
she could be it. It was a silly thought coming from a man of
twenty-four years but he was still young, and sought a partner who
wouldn’t use him for publicity. Kimberly was an older woman, who
took him under her wing and showed him the ropes. The moment his
designs skyrocketed to stardom, she changed. She became vindictive,
mean and spiteful. She wasn’t beautiful anymore, so the second an
opportunity came along he fled and never looked back.

The girl sitting in front of him was
different. She’d yet to be corrupted by the industry although her
family was part of a very prestigious circle. She was known among
the elite because of her upbringing; however, she didn’t attend a
lot of social events or parties. Regardless, she was up to
something and he wanted in on the action. He’d been keeping an eye
on her.

“
Very well. I’ll go but
this isn’t the last time you’ll be seeing me,” he said blowing her
a kiss. Iris held her breath and watched him leave. She couldn’t be
bothered by Jean-Pierre despite the fact her erratic heart said
otherwise. It was time to go meet Jay.

15

Rendezvous at Midnight…It’s a
Promise

Iris didn’t know quite how to feel.
She had made Ryan swear he would keep her visit with Jay a secret,
and the only way he would keep her secret is if she promised to be
back in an hour, that didn’t leave her much time. She shooed
Ryan—her driver away as she sat on the library steps. She
understood why he had some reservations. What decent young lady
would be found sitting outside at night on the stairs of a library?
This was not another teen movie. At least there was a beautiful
crescent shape moon in the sky that provided additional light. She
did feel a lot better knowing Ryan was close.