Someone to Love (34 page)

“Cruise?” A female voice scratches the
air.

My blood runs cold before I turn around.

I recognize that sharp tone, that curt
inflection. Blair. She never did say my name with an ounce of
respect.

My shoes dig in as I spin in my seat. I knew
this was coming. Deep down inside, I never wanted to see her again,
but her persistence, her stalker-like abilities ensured
otherwise.

“Can I help you?” I look right at her. Her
bright red coat glares at me like some damn alarm that I wish I
would have ran from all those years ago—her lying lips, those
deceptive eyes. Now that I see her again in this new light called
reality, she’s plain compared to Kenny—downright skeletal in
contrast to my future bride’s well-placed curves. For sure she’s
hideous on the inside where it counts.

“What the hell do you want?” I say it low, to
not stir the professors in their microcosms around me.

“You’re to the point.” She slinks in and
closes the door behind her.

She thinks she’s caged me in, but I’m not
above leaving.

“Heard you put a ring on it.” She pulls her
shoulders to her ears before taking a seat on the desk right next
to me.

It feels uncomfortable being this close to
her, smelling that familiar perfume that unloads a truck full of
bad memories.

“Listen”—she pulls her head back—“I’m just
here as a friend. I don’t know how it happened, but I sit next to
her in art, call it kismet, fate, whatever the hell you want, but
she tells me these wild things about other guys and I thought you
should know.”

“Really.” I used to buy whatever Blair sold
by the gallon, but I stopped scooping her shit down my throat like
ice cream once I discovered she was spoon-feeding me lies.

“Yeah, really. She said she’s in training to
be the town whore and that she’s ‘playing the player.’ Trying to
get him to believe he’s actually
falling in love
.”

My stomach bottoms out.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, nor
do I want to. Why don’t you go back to Dartmouth, or didn’t they
want you there either?” I didn’t need to say it. I could have
picked up my briefcase and bolted for the door, but a part of me
wanted to push in the dig to let her know I didn’t appreciate what
she did. Although, in the end, I’m glad it happened. I don’t know
what I would have done if Kenny walked into my life, and I was
still serving time with Blair.

“I’ve come back to you.” Her eyes widen like
cesspools filled with malice and loathing. “I came back for
us.
We spent four years as a couple.”

“Four years I’ll never get back.” I shut my
laptop and slip it into my briefcase.

“We had good times, Cruise. It doesn’t have
to end like this. We could forget all about that guy and all about
this silly girl. We could be Cruise and Blair again and spend the
rest of our lives together. I won’t ever bring her up, I
swear.”

Blair spins her fantasies like a witch trying
to cast an impotent spell, and a laugh gets caught in my throat.
“You won’t bring up my fiancée because you won’t be around to do
it. Kenny and I belong together, not you and me.” I stand, towering
above her. “Sorry things didn’t work out for you and that, what was
it? Basketball player?” I head to the door and turn around. “Heard
you cheated on him just like you cheated on me. Looks like we both
get what we deserve. I get true love, and you get screwed.” I head
out of the building so fast my heart tries to detonate out of my
chest.

That felt good.

Damn good.

Kendall

Chain Reaction

Lauren was kind enough to pick up a pizza for
Cruise and me, so we don’t need to worry about dinner. She thought
it was awful what Blair did. She went as far as saying she was
going to lay into her the next time she saw her. Of course I
protested for like a second, but if Lauren is determined to kick
some “white trash ass,” then who am I to stop her?

After a quick shower, I wrap myself in my
fuzzy Hello Kitty robe then reapply the mascara I cried off at the
thought of Cruise ever wanting to marry someone as vindictive as
Blair. At least he had the good sense to break it off with her. It
doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out she’s driving the
entire fucking crazy train.

I try to hide the red patches all over my
face with foundation in the event Cruise asks what’s wrong. That
run-in with his ex is the last thing I want to talk about. I’m just
not ready to go there. I’m too afraid that Cruise is keeping her
under the cuff because maybe deep down inside he still has feelings
for her. Anyway, Cruise isn’t a cheat. I can tell by the way he
loves me.

By the time I make my way back to the
kitchen, the pizza is cold, so I heat up a slice. My foot snags on
something under the microwave stand, and I pull out the human leash
I spotted the first morning I was here.

A dull laugh rattles through me at the sight
of the kinky cord.

I pluck the dust bunnies off and examine it.
Long red and purple straps are interwoven throughout the chain. It
looks strong enough to walk an elephant.

Lavender feathers and spikes decorate the
three cuffs that dangle from it. The steel collar flexes in my hand
as if daring me to try it on for size.

I look into my reflection in the black glass
of the window and snap it over my neck until it clicks in the
back.

I guess it looks sexy, even if it does have
bondage and discipline written all over it. I pluck at the collar
to take it off and the latch jams. I head over to a mirror and
twist it around and the buckle doesn’t seem to have release
mechanism.

“Crap,” I whimper. Surely there’s a key for
this satanic contraption. I’m not going to wander through life with
a leash dangling from my person. Am I? I’ll get wire cutters if I
have to. People get jewelry sawed off their bodies all the time.
Although, this is one solid sheet of steel, and it sort of looks
impervious to getting hacked off without taking my head along as a
causality.

My phone vibrates, and I pick it up. It’s a
text from Mom.

At the airport. Andrew is picking me up.
Will head straight to the bed and breakfast. See you in a little
while. Can’t wait!

My mother? I give the collar a hard yank, and
it doesn’t loosen. In fact—it just cinched a little tighter, and
now it’s getting difficult to breathe.

Oh my God, I’m going to asphyxiate myself.
Cruise will find my body, wearing nothing but this stupid
contraption and my Hello Kitty robe. Then, of course, my mother
will show up in time to see that I’ve strangled myself with a sex
toy. Just perfect.

A pair of familiar headlights flood the
living room.

Cruise!

Reflexively, I jump on the couch and pull his
grandmother’s afghan clear up to my nose. I’m pretty sure she
didn’t anticipate her grandson’s incompetent girlfriend needing it
to hide sexual accessories.

God—Cruise is going to think I’m such an
idiot. He’ll probably trade me in for Blair by midnight.

“Hey, beautiful.” He bursts through the door
with his right hand cleverly hidden behind his back and bolts on
over. An iced tail of wind follows him through the opened door.
“Surprise.” He reveals a giant bouquet of long-stemmed roses. They
bring the entire room to life with their gorgeous tongues of
crimson fire.

“Oh—I love them!” I beam with the blanket
still snug to my ears. “They’re perfect. Really, you shouldn’t
have.” And I’m betting in less than a minute he’ll more than
agree.

He cocks his head to the side and examines me
in this impractical semi-fetal position. Cruise looks resplendent
with his dark coat, his pale blue shirt glowing from beneath.

“You feeling okay?” His dimples depress with
concern. He looks amazingly tall from this vantage point and
impossibly gorgeous, per usual.

“I feel great.” And lying to Cruise makes me
feel like shit. “Well, not really great.” I hate this part because
I’m totally going to have to do the big leash-thingy reveal.

He backtracks and shuts the door.

Cruise makes his way back, smoldering into me
with a sexy as hell, rather stern expression. His chin dips. He’s
hedging a maniacal smile like he suspects something is up, so I
play along and pull down the blanket with a false air of
confidence.

“Holy shit, you started without me.” His eyes
grow in amazement at my sexual misadventure. And, strangely, I
think I’ve managed to arouse him in ways I’ve never imagined.

“That’s right.” I swing the butter soft
leather like I meant it all along. “Just waiting for you to catch
up.”

Cruise grabs a hold of the chain and gently
lifts me off the couch. He reels me in and growls a laugh that
echoes right down to my belly. “You do realize I have no idea where
the key is.” His stomach vibrates against mine as he says it.

“No idea?” I swallow hard at the thought of
spending the rest of my days embellished with purple feathers.

He dips his gaze. “I see you’re wearing a
robe. How perceptive of you. Otherwise I’d have to cut your shirt
off to undress you.”

“No cutting.” It speeds from me in a
flurry.

Cruise licks his lips. He peels off my ode to
Sanrio, leaving me naked and vulnerable, and suddenly all too aware
of those cruel watts of electricity glaring down from the
kitchen.

Cruise leads me across the room with the
leash—slow—never taking his magnetic gaze off me. He brazenly
washes over my body with his eyes as though he were a cartographer
mapping out the lay of the land.

Heat rises to my face as he gives the hint of
a smile. His eyes burn like gas flames, blue as the ocean. Cruise
reels me in and turns me around. His warm fingers press into my
waist like he were the potter and I were the clay—the perfect
medium for him to indulge in, create whatever he liked out of
me.

With my luck my mother will magically burst
through the door. I’m sure finding her only daughter naked, in a
strange man’s living room, with a chain dangling from her neck is
not what she’s expecting. She’ll most likely think I’m being held
as a sex slave and call the police. The feds will haul Cruise out
to a prison for the criminally insane. More like, insanely
gorgeous. Regardless, I don’t want to think about my mother, nor do
I want to think about bitchy ex-girlfriends. Right now, Cruise
Elton is doing an incredible job of arousing the hell out of me
without so much as laying a finger on my flesh.

He takes up my wrists behind my back and
binds them with one of the stray leather straps. I guess he’s
forgoing the cuffs since we’re one key away from confining me to
permanent restraints.

“You like this, Kenny, don’t you?” It comes
out low, almost chastising, and my insides throb at the sound of
his voice.

He double wraps the leash around his hand
before giving a swift tug.

Cruise leads me to the bedroom, and I don’t
resist.

It’s exhilarating like this, following my
scorching hot boyfriend through the dimly lit hall, my hands
tethered behind my back while at his complete sexual mercy.

Cruise flips on the lights to the bedroom
with a demonic grin blooming on his face.

“No lights.” I have a feeling it could never
be dark enough for what Cruise is about to do to me—and with my
wrists bound together, I can only hope he’ll listen.

“Lights.” He kisses the nape of my neck, and
my body trembles for more.

“Is it your birthday?” I slather on the
sarcasm. “Because unless it’s your birthday, or a red-letter
holiday, I’m pretty sure I’m not entertaining you with my pale
ass.” There, I said it.

He pushes a gentle laugh into the back of my
neck. “You have the body of a goddess. I want to look at you.” He
leans in close to my ear, and I can feel his erratic breathing as
it creates a fire line down my back. “You’re the one being
dominated, Kenny. You don’t have a choice.” He cinches the leashes
until my hands are drawn tight and walks me to the bed. I try to
take a seat, but he’s quick to lift me to my feet.