The Beast and the Homecoming Queen (4 page)

Chapter Three

Prince Charming

Before she knows it she has her phone in her hands and it's ringing with his number on it.
Her heart beating so loudly she hears it in her ears, she has never been this nervous before. The phone only rings twice before he picks up.

“Quinn?” She smiles when he says her name. “You called me.”
Kaden sounds surprise that she actually called him.

“Y
es, you said you wanted to talk,” she says and sits down on the barstool.

Kaden
laughs and that sound makes her chest hurt, and get weak in the knees. “Can I come over?”

Quinn glances at the time and frowns, it’s late
but she wanted to see him again. She wants to feel like there is more to life besides the death and silent. “Why?”

“Please I want to talk to you, and what I have to say I want to say in person.”

Quinn glances at the clock on the wall again, and sighs. “Yeah whatever.”

Kaden chuckles and she narrows her eyes.
“It’s good you said yes because I'm at your door.”

Quinn narrows her eyes
and turns towards the front door. “You were that sure I would have said yes?”

He laughs again and it makes her shudder.
“No sweetheart, it was all hopeful thinking.” He pauses and she smiles. He called her sweetheart, and that makes her cheeks burn. “Please open the door, I have food.”

Quinn
stands up, and starts walking over to the door. “What kind of food?”

He chuckles. “Chinese.” She grins when she opens the door. “Hey.” His smile gives her tingles.

“Hey,” she says, and puts her phone in her back pocket.

Kaden’s
low chuckle, wraps around her, and enchants her. “Quinn?” She forces her eyes to look away from his mouth, and into his dark blue eyes. “Can I come in now?” He arches a dark eyebrow at her and waves the food in her face.

She looks down and nods. Quinn has never acted like this before, she moves out of the doorway to let him in. As he passes her, his hand brushes against her hand, and she feels sparks. Kaden looks over his shoulder and grins, like he knows something.

Quinn walks pass him and into the kitchen. He is behind her, and she knows he is watching her every move. “Let me get some plates, you can put the food on the table.”

“Yes ma'am,
” Kaden says with a southern accent, and she shakes her head.

When she gets to the table he has all the white boxes set out, and she sets the two plates next to him. He moves his eyes up to her
s, and his black hair curtains his perfect face. “Thank you for this.”

He smiles, and stands up straight
; he brushes his hair out of his eyes, and his square face and perfect straight nose takes her breath away. “I don’t want you to eat alone, and I don’t mind.” She sits down and grabs some food. Kaden sits next to her; they don’t say anything for what seems like forever.

After she has finished her food, she stares at him. “Are you going to tell me what's going on?”

Kaden takes a drink and smiles. “Yes.” That is all he says, then he gets up and grabs their plates.

Quinn glares at his back, as he washes their dishes, and turns to face her. He crosses his arms against his chest. “Well?”
she asks a slow grin appears on his flawless face, and she knows he is having too much fun teasing her.

“
Let’s go sit in the living room.” She stands and walks away. She doesn’t care where he tells her, but she has a feeling he won't give in. She sits in the large new black plush chair, and Kaden sits across from her. “I need to tell you something.”

“Like what you don’t
like is Justin. Yeah I got that,” she says.

“No I don’t like him, and it doesn’t have anything to do with you. He isn’t good like you think, he is evil.” He stands up and kneels in front of her. “There is something dark about him, and I don’t
want him to smother your light,” Kaden says, and she rolls her eyes.

Quinn shakes her head. “You are just jealous.”

Kaden nods. “I am, but that isn’t the point. I just want you to be safe and he will hurt you. You are the moth that is too close to his flame.” He puts a hand on each leg, her heart and her mind race along with her heart.

“You--” She has to shake her head to clear it. He is too close to her for her to think. “You don’t know him.” He smiles and looks down. He starts to rub her knees and she feels like she might pass out.

“That is where you are wrong sweetheart, I know him very well.” He brings his dark blue eyes up to meet hers. “I want to make sure you are happy.”

Quinn's mind thinks how lonely she has been. How she has hated living her alone, and how the quiet is about to make her go crazy.

“Why aren’t you staying with family or Breanna?” Kaden asks and it takes a minute for her to realize what he asked.

Quinn clears her throat. “I didn’t want to move my senior year of high school, and I didn’t want to cause trouble for Breanna and her family.
Plus this in my home, and I won’t leave.”

“But you aren’t
happy; I can see it in your eyes.” Quinn looks down; she doesn’t want to talk about this. She hasn’t been happy for a long time, not since she lost her dad and her stepmother took her sister away. Quinn needs to change the subject, and the first thing that pops into her head is Jenna.

“Y
ou know Jenna is really jealous,” Quinn says, and wants to punch him.

He chuckles, and takes her hand in his. “Sweetheart, I think you are the one that is jealous.” Her only responds is arching her blond eyebrow, and he laughs harder. “I am only going with her because she asked me, and I knew you were going with Justin.”

Quinn’s mouth drops open, she thought he asked her. That is what her best friend told her. “I thought you asked her.” He shakes his head.

“Nope, she asked me. She said that the slime ball was going to ask you, so I should go with her. I told her maybe, but I never told her yes.” He pauses and looks back down at their hands, they fit together almost perfect. “I don’t think you should be with me either. You should be with someone good, someone that
will be your prince charming.” Kaden brings is eyes back to her, and he looks sad. “In our fairy tale, I'm not the prince charming of your dreams, I am the beast of your nightmares.”

Quinn shakes her head; she doesn’t know what he is talking about but she doesn’t want prince charming to come and save her she wants him for some reason.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Kaden stares at her for a minute, and then he stands up.

She quickly follows him, and puts her han
d on his shoulder. “Wait, Kaden please.” He stops and drops his head. “Please tell me what you mean?” she asks. Quinn knows he is keeping something.

“That's the thing, I can't. You are not to be touch
ed, and I shouldn’t be here. But I needed to know how you were doing. I can tell you Justin isn’t your prince of your dreams.” He turns around and puts his large hand against her cheek. She leans into his hand.

Quinn has never felt so whole and safe before, she doesn’t want him to take his warmth away.
“What if I don’t want prince charming, what if I want the beast?” Kaden closes his eyes, and shakes his head. He frames her face with his hands.

“No sweetheart, we can't be together.” He moves his hands so his fingers are entangled in her hair.

He puts his forehead against hers. “No matter how much we want to be.” Quinn stares into his dark blue eyes, and she feels drawn to him.

Quinn wraps her arms around his neck, and holds him to her. “Why?”

“Because sweetheart, I am not good for you.” Quinn tries to move her lips closer to his, but he holds on to her hair to stop her. “If I kiss you I know I will never get you out of me. I will have your taste in me forever, and no one else will compare to you. It's going to be hard now to get you out of my head.”

Kaden moves his lips closer to hers, and Quinn feels her heart speed up. The kiss is going to happen and she can't wait.

“God help me, I don’t think I can stop myself. I need one sweet kiss from you.” She smiles and feels his lips brush against hers, and it makes her blood boil. She closes her eyes, as soon as she feels his lips crash down on hers. He tastes like vanilla and she pulls him closer to her so she can get more of his sweet taste. Quinn never wants to be out of this amazing kiss or out of his arms. He moves his hands to wrap around her back to deepen the kiss, and she moves her hands to his long black hair; she tangles her fingers in his silky hair.

Kaden moves his hands back to her cheeks to hold her face, and she swears he growls. He quickly pulls away from her, and when he looks down at her his eyes are darker. Quinn take
s her hands out of his hair, but he doesn’t move. He just stares at her.

“We
really shouldn’t have done that,” he says, but his eyes are saying he isn’t sorry, they are telling her he wants more.

“I am happy we did.” She smiles up at him, and he returns a sweet smile.

“God now I can't stay away, what the hell am I going to do?” He closes his eyes again, but keeps his smile on his perfect face. This close to him she can see light freckles along his nose and slightly on his cheeks. “I should go.”

“Yeah you should,” s
he says, and he opens his dark blue eyes. “Or you can stay with me, and hold me. Maybe then I can sleep through the night.” She hasn’t had more than three hours of sleep a night since her dad died. She knows that look on his face, he is about to say no. “Please Kaden, I need you.” She sees her dad's dead body, and all of the bite marks. The police told her that it was from an animal, but she has a feeling that is wrong; she can feel her tears burning her eyes with her mind taking her to her father’s headless body and his blood that covered this whole living room.

“Fine,” h
e says and wipes a few tears away from her cheeks. Quinn closed her eyes to keep the rest of her treacherous tears.

She feels warm lips kiss her brow, and she
opens her eyes to see Kaden’s dark blue eyes staring into hers. “Go up to your room and lay down. I’m going to pick up the kitchen.”

He slowly moves away from her, and she nods. “Okay, thank you Kaden.” He smiles and she heads up stairs.

Ten minutes later Quinn watches Kaden walks into her bedroom. He smiles and takes off his shirt, and her mouth falls open. He is abdomen is impressive and looks like it was made out of stone. She grins as she takes in his freaking six-pack.

“You know it's r
ude to stare,” he says and winks; Kaden Webb knows how good he looks and is using it again her. He walks over to her and the bed; she swears the room must be on fire. She is sweating, and has to rub her face.

He
lies down on his back and arches a perfect black eyebrow at her. Kaden pats his chest for her to lay her head. She does and he runs his fingers through her hair. “Good night Quinn.” He kisses the top of her head.

She smiles against his
scorching bare chest. “Good night my sweet Kaden.” Quinn closes her eyes, and Kaden's smell wraps around her as she falls asleep.

Chapter Four

The Spark

Quinn wakes up on her side with a warn arm around her waist. She looks down at the hand, and smiles thinking of its owner. Kaden stayed all night with her, and it was the first night in months that she slept.

She takes her fingers and runs the tips along his arm, and Kaden tightens around her. “Good morning sweetheart.”

“Morning,” s
he says, and smiles.

Quinn feels the warmth from Kaden's arm disappear, and she feels the bed move. She turns around and props her head up with her hands. She watches him put his shirt on,
and then he turns to face her. She can tell he is regretting being here with her, and Quinn can feel her heart breaking.

“Quinn--” Kaden's voice is dripping with regret, and she sits up and shakes her head.

“Don't you dare tell me that it was a mistake! I see the way you look at me, and feel something here.” She places her hand on her heart, her tears are threatening to break free and a lump is forming in the back of her throat.

Kaden walks over to her, and takes her hands in his. “I don’t regret this, and being with you.” He brings his forehead to her. “I never want to leave this room, never want to be without you.” He closes his eyes.