Riveted: Drawn Series Book 1 (5 page)

Jack led me over to his Mustang and opened the door for
me. He started the engine. I buckled my seat belt and we sped down the street.

“Where are we going?” He smiled that amazingly sexy
smile.

“It’s a surprise,” he replied. God I wanted to crawl onto
his lap and just rub all over him. What in the hell was wrong with me!?? He
tapped out some unknown melody on his steering wheel as I sat there, letting
the warm breeze blow my hair around. We just rode together in silence, my
thoughts going all over the place. After a few minutes, he turned off the road
and soon, we were driving on a dirt road. Driving a few miles more, he turned
sharply and pulled over underneath a huge willow tree, turning off the engine.
Opening the door, I walked around to the front of the car and followed him down
a small grassy hill. In front of me, was a small lake surrounded by more willow
trees. It was so beautiful! There were ducks swimming lazily in the water and I
could hear the croaking of frogs. Dragonflies lazily flew around. The air
smelled sweet and a tiny breeze ruffled my hair.

“Wow,” I said with a sigh. He smiled and sat down on a
huge flat rock near the shore.  I sat down beside him, leaning back a bit.
It was so peaceful here, the sky was impossibly blue and it was just calming
peace. No pain in the brothers, adulterous exes or slutty socialites.

“When things get crappy, I come here for a few hours, and
I calm my shit down enough where I don't want to strangle someone,” he said
softly. I turned to look at him and I could see that he was studying my face.
My heart started to beat wildly.

“You are really beautiful, you know?” he said softly. To
say that I was surprised was an understatement.

“I don’t know what to say. I have not heard that from
someone in a long time,” I said softly, biting my bottom lip.

“Seriously?” he whispered, as he leaned in to me. Really?
He was going to kiss someone who he had known for only a little while? My heart
raced and I was not sure that I wanted this. But at the same time I did. A
deeper part of me wanted this so bad. I licked my lips and looked into his
eyes. That was a big mistake. Encouraged by my lip licking, he leaned in
further to kiss me and just before his lips met mine, his phone went off.
Groaning, he pulled it out of his pocket and answered. Saved by the ringtone or
something like that.  He looked at me after he hung up.

“It was Chloe. Matt called the cops about your truck;
they need to talk to you. After you file the police report, you are going to
have to call your insurance company too,” he said, disconnecting the call.
Standing up, I brushed my jeans off and followed him to the car. Things now
felt awkward. That moment we almost had was now lost. My heart hurt a little
bit, but I was relieved too at the same time. I was really fucking confused.

Lying down on the swing on my
brother’s porch, I let it sway lazily in the breeze, my leg hanging off of one
side. Axel still had not made an appearance in a few days. He was lucky,
because when I saw him, he was going to hear it from me.  Lying here in a
white a shirt and some cut off short shorts, I played over the moment that I
had with Jack at the lake the day my truck got vandalized. It confused me, and
made butterflies flutter in my stomach. Tonight I needed to get a new phone; I
had put it off until I got some money. But I just wanted to lie here and let my
thoughts drift tonight. I had filed the police report as soon as I had gotten
back that day, and contacted my insurance company. The guys at the shop had
parked my truck in one of the bays in the garage and Chloe had picked me up for
work every day since. I was still waiting to hear from my insurance company as
far as a check was concerned. Skeeter had told me not to worry about the cost,
but I was still going to try and pay him for the work he was going to do
whether he liked it or not.

“Hey girl!” said Abby, snapping me out of my thoughts. With
everything that had happened in the past couple of days, I had completely
forgotten about our shopping plans.  I sat up and smoothed my hair. She
chuckled as she walked over to me.

“Hey.”

“Well you look like hell,” she replied, sitting on the
swing next to me.

“Don’t sugarcoat it now,” I replied. After giving her a
hug, I told her all that taken place the past couple of days. Her jaw dropped
when I got to the part about the damage to my truck. And then again when I told
her about my almost kiss with Jack.

“Seriously???Holy hell!” she said, twirling a strand of
hair around her index finger.

“Yeah. What the hell is wrong with me?” Rubbing my
forehead with my hand, I could feel a headache coming on.

“Yeah, why the hell didn’t you kiss that fine looking man??!!”
she asked. Laughing, I shook my head.

“Seriously? How healthy is it to jump into something
after ending something else?” She shook her head.

“Your relationship was a shell of misery.  There was
nothing there. I hated the way you were when you were with him. You always
overthink the right things and pick jack ass things to throw caution to the
wind about. Jack is a nice guy, he has done a ton of work on Lamar and they
have even gone out for beers a few times. Besides, in my opinion, your
relationship was over the minute it started. Carl was an asshat,” she said,
patting my leg.

“Maybe I am just making more out of this than what is
really there?”

“And maybe you’re not,” she retorted.

“Why are you here?” I asked playfully. She laughed.

“I figured you forgot about our date .We are supposed to
go shopping,” she said.

“Give me a minute to get dressed,” I said, standing up
and walking into the house.

“Why? What difference is it going to make? Wait, we could
go to Walmart…I am sure you would fit RIGHT in there!” she called. I flipped
her off and walked into the house, her laughter following me.

After two hours of shopping, I was beat. Getting a new
phone was easier than I thought which put my mind at ease. We decided to get
dinner at this Italian restaurant outside of town. We had grabbed some trouser
pant style jeans, some v neck tees of various colors, and some black legging
type pants in black. She had me grab some funky v neck tees and a few men’s
style dress shirts with camisoles to wear underneath. There were three pairs of
shoes too, flats, boots that went to just under my knee and some chunky heels.
At the last place we were, I grabbed some cool jewelry and wide leather belts.

“No more holy jeans got it Bleu?” she scolded, digging in
to her ravioli. Nodding, I took a bite of my chicken parm.

“Yes Mom,” I muttered. She giggled.

“So, do you like working for Axel?”

 
“I do, but I need
to reach out to my contacts and make some money that I can put away. And after
today, with what went down, I might not be working there much longer,” I reply.
She nods.

“I talked to Lamar.  No guarantees, but he said the
school district was tossing around the idea of a website and possibly an IT
position. I told them to have the superintendent call you. Maybe you could work
something out with them?”

“Really?! That’s great, thank you! I mean, I DO have some
money saved up, but it’s not going to last forever. Anything he can toss my way
would be great!”

“Anytime. I figured you cannot work in that shop forever.
Especially with Candi tormenting you,” she said making a face like she had
swallowed something nasty.

“That’s her name? Candi? I just call her Blowjob Barbie,”
I replied. She spit her water out and grabbed a napkin to wipe off her chest.

“Yes, her name is Candi, although I like your name
better.”

“She is nasty. What do you know about her?”

“Not a whole lot. She has not lived here very long truly.
But what I do know is that apparently she comes from money. I heard that her father
ran some big investment firm in New York City and her mom inherited some heavy
duty money when her parents died. Candi lives here though, across town.”

“What in the hell does she do?”

“She owns and runs a gallery. This kind of gallery sells
very expensive artwork and caters to very exclusive clients. And she is also an
event planner, mostly for events in the city though.”

“What in the hell is she doing with my brother?”

“She’s an art whore,” she stated matter of fact. It was
my turn to choke on my water.

“What do you mean?”

“A year ago, your brother painted a bunch of amazing
paintings. Her gallery held a show for him. Your brother put away some cash
that allowed him to buy his house and pay off the debts on the shop. They
became an item, the rest is history.” She shrugged as if it was nothing and
then smiled.

“My brother? But Axel doesn’t date, at all,”I said,
perplexed. She nodded. Again, as if it was nothing to her.

“Well he broke it off a while ago, but she chases him
around like a bitch in heat,” she said.

“He seems like he is afraid of her. He seems like
he
is the one chasing
her
. He is not himself around her,” I
explained. She nodded.

“Like you were when you were with Carl?”

“Worse. A lot worse. My brother is a faded version of
himself. He is acting like she owns him,” I replied shaking my head.

“You think she has something on him?”

“You read my mind. I just hope that he does not owe her
heavy duty or something and she is forcing him into a difficult situation,” I
worried. She patted my hand.

“Bleu, you have looked out for him since your mom was
killed. Let him handle his shit. If he got himself into it, he can surely get
himself out of it,” she said. I nodded.

“You are probably right. It’s just hard to let old habits
die,” I replied. She shook her head and laughed, knowing that it was virtually
impossible for me to stop worrying about my brother.

“What’s going to happen with your truck?”

“I am waiting to hear from the insurance company. Right
now, it’s sitting in the garage at work. There was damage done to the engine as
well as the exterior. So the guys are going to fix it for me. Skeeter let me
use a rental car that the shop had, so I am not without transportation. They
won’t let me pay them, but I am going to have to find some way to pay them back,”
I replied. She nodded.

“Yeah last summer, Lamar’s SUV got broken into and
whoever broke into it, stole a bunch of sports equipment out of the back. This
town is getting shady,” she replied.

“We are spoiled Abs. We grew up in this perfect little place
where no one had to lock their doors and everyone watched everyone else’s kids
when they were outside. We could not really expect it to stay that way forever
you know?”

“One can hope my dear, one can hope,” she replied with a
smile.

After dinner, Abby drove me back home. We promised to
talk after the weekend, especially since I had a phone now. I waved as she
drove away and then turned to find Jack sitting on my brother’s porch smoking a
cigarette.

“Hey there stranger!” he called. He eyed my bags and he
raised an eyebrow. I just shook my head.

“Busy night?” he asked. I nodded.

“Abby took me shopping. “ He stood up, putting his hands
in his pockets. Putting the bags down, I studied his face. He looked like he
had a lot on his mind.

“What’s up?”

“I am sorry about at the lake. I should not have taken
advantage of you Bleu. You are just getting out of a relationship. You barely
know me.” He fiddled with his keys and looked down at the ground and then back
up at me.

“Jack. I am a big girl. I can make my own decisions. I
just don’t want to make any more mistakes, not that I would consider you a
mistake.”  He moved closer to me. My breath caught in my chest. Breathe
dammit.

“I still want to kiss you,” he whispered, coming even
closer and tangling his hands in my hair as his lips touched mine. Holy shit! I
felt this incredible rushing shock swell over me. Heat, fire, electricity
coursed through my body and it was all from one simple kiss. I could not
breathe and honestly I did not want to.
 
Putting my hand on his chest, I ended the kiss. He gave me a puzzled
look, his chest rising and falling rapidly. He felt it too.

“Did I do something wrong?” His voice was soft and he
sounded like he was in pain.

“No. The thing is I just met you. I mean, I hear what a
great guy you are and believe me you get bonus points for being there for me
when my own family was not. And you make me want to kiss you until I cannot
breathe, but I don’t want to rush into something and have it blow up in my
face. This town is not that big! Also, I have the bad habit of overthinking
things.”

He grinned and I had to hold myself back from kissing
him.

“You want to kiss me?” he asked with a laugh.

“Out of all that I just said, that was what you got out
of it?” He nodded and I nudged him playfully with my elbow.