Alpha Vampire Romance: Vampire’s Mate (Paranormal Shapeshifter Alpha Demon Vampire Romance) (Coming of Age Werewolf BBW Shifter Women’s Fiction Short Stories) (34 page)

Double parked in front of the house was a fully loaded, all black Range Rover with tinted windows. The people drinking on the porch were staring at it. As I made my way down the porch steps, someone behind me exclaimed, “Damn, she got a fat ass!” I ignored it and kept it moving. Michael must have seen me coming because he hopped out of the driver’s seat, hustled around the front of the truck and opened my door for me. As I climbed into the passenger seat, I heard someone from the porch say, “Oh she like white guys”. For the umpteenth time, I rolled my eyes. I began to worry that they would get stuck up there; I rolled them so much these days. Moments later, Michael climbed back into the driver’s seat.

Michael looked really nice. He had on a black suit, with a navy blue button up and navy blue loafers that matched his eyes. He wore a grin from the moment he saw me and every time he looked at me, it grew. The only time his smile faltered was when he asked me, “You really live here?” I laughed.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Then I remembered Zion and frowned.

*****

Michael was not thrilled about going to see Zion, but he could not refuse me. I hadn’t gone into detail about what was going on with Zion, just that it was an emergency and that she needed me. Thankfully, Michael didn’t pry. I told him her address and then decided to change the subject to take our minds off of our impending mission.

“Nice truck,” I said. Michael smiled with half of his mouth.

“Thanks, but it’s not mine,” he admitted.

“Whose is it?” I asked, staring at him quizzically. Michael’s grin grew.

“My coach’s.”

I didn’t believe him. “Your coach lent you his car?” I asked skeptically.

“Yup,” he answered, driving with one hand. I sucked my teeth.

“Oh, so you got it like that, huh?” I teased.

“I got it like that,” he said. We both laughed.

“So what position do you play?” I asked, making polite conversation. I wouldn’t know what he was talking ab0ut even if he told me.

“Wide receiver,” he answered. He must’ve guessed that I had no idea what that was so he explained, with a hint of arrogance might I add. “I catch passes and make touch downs.”

“You must be fast then?” I said.

“Very,” he answered cockily. I cocked an eyebrow.

“Oh, you just the man huh?” I said. He laughed.

“Nah, I’m just confident,” he responded seriously.

“I can see that,” I told him.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you that you look absolutely stunning tonight. I’m so glad that you decided to call, to be honest,” he admitted. I smiled.

“I’m glad that I did too.”

We joked and flirted the rest of the way to Zion’s apartment. I didn’t even notice when we pulled up outside of her building. Michael parked and I texted Zion to let her know that we were outside. Before I could unbuckle my seat belt, Michael had hopped out and jogged around the truck to open the door for me. I smiled and thanked him as he held my hand while I climbed carefully out of the truck. Together, we climbed the stairs leading to Zion’s apartment. Once we got to her door, I tried the door and realizing that it was unlocked, I opened it so that we could walk in. The apartment was a mess. The TV was knocked over, dishes were strewn about, books were lying all over the floor and in the midst of it all sat Zion, cross-legged and weeping on the floor. I sat down across from her on the floor while Michael closed the door. I didn’t know what to say, so I just held Zion’s hands.

“I can’t believe she did this to me,” Zion finally said.

I paused thoughtfully before asking gently, “Did she know about you two?” Zion thought about it as though she hadn’t considered this before.

“No. You’re the only person I told that he and I had sex...but,” Zion paused to look at Michael before continuing, “in the kitchen this morning, I told you guys that I gave him head!” I thought back to this morning.

“Asha was there,” I admitted as I remembered, biting my lip.

I looked at Michael, who was still standing awkwardly by the door. He actually looked concerned. I motioned for him to sit down on the couch.

“I should have beat Paris’ bitch ass up too! He knew! He knew, and he fucked my sister anyway!” Zion snapped. The sadness quickly replaced with rage. I could almost see the heat radiating off of her, drying up her tears. “I’m going to kill him!” she screamed, balling her hands into fists, her eyes glowing with hate. Just then, the door opened and in walked the devil himself.

“Zion, I’m sorry,” Paris began, “but you can’t kick me out.” Zion leapt up and before anyone could stop her, she punched Paris in the face. But what happened next surprised us all. Paris punched Zion in the face! When I thought that I couldn’t be more surprised, Michael had leapt up off of the couch and knocked Paris smooth out. He punched Paris so hard, that he fell back out the door and lay on the ground unconscious. It all happened so fast, I was in shock. I looked from Paris, to Michael, to Zion, who was clutching her face.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

“Yeah, Paris hits like a bitch,” Zion said. I stared at her as she broke into a smile and laughed. Once Zion started laughing, Michael and I joined in. We all laughed hysterically until tears flowed down our cheeks.

Once Zion had calmed down, she began throwing all of Paris’ things off of the balcony onto the lawn below. She proposed that we throw Paris off of the balcony and I convinced her that more than enough had happened tonight without adding a homicide to the list. Zion dug in Paris’ pants pocket, found his keys and took the key to the apartment off of the key ring. Michael then slung Paris onto his back and carried his unconscious body down the stairs to lay him on the lawn.

While he was gone, Zion turned to me and simply said, “Thank you.” In response, I hugged her. When we pulled away, she said, “I need to find my sister. I’m going to call her.” I nodded and Zion took out her phone and headed into her room. I heard the door close and then I heard Zion sobbing on the phone.

When Michael returned, I opened my mouth to thank him, and instead, I wrapped my arms around his neck, closed my eyes and put my lips on his. They were small, but soft and he knew what to do with them. He wrapped his hands around my waist to pull me closer, my soft curvy body melting into his hard muscular one. I pulled away and looked into his blue eyes. “Thank you,” I whispered. Michael gave a slight nod, and then leaned down to kiss me again.

*****

It was getting late so we headed back to my apartment. Michael had practice in the morning and I had work. When we got to my street, Michael parked and turned the truck off. There were still people all over the porch so Michael insisted on walking me to my room. We got out of the truck and I led him through the crowds of people to my room door. Everyone was watching and whispering. Michael seemed unfazed by it. I unlocked my room door and stepped in. Michael remained standing on the other side of the threshold.

“Thank you for an unforgettable evening,” Michael said smiling. I smiled back, and then grew serious.

“Sorry for involving you in my drama.”

“Don’t worry about it, I had fun,” he joked. “I’m excited to see where we end up on our next date.” I laughed, happy that he intended on seeing me again. I checked the schedule on the back of my door to see when I would next be off from work.

“I’m off Thursday,” I told him.

“So, I’ll see you on Thursday?” he asked.

“Thursday it is,” I confirmed.

“Hopefully, I can top this one,” he said.

“I don’t know. Punching a jerk in the face for my friend, that’s going to be pretty hard to top,” I joked. He shrugged.

“We’ll just have to wait and see then.”

We smiled at each other. Then, as smooth as butter, Michael lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it. I could feel everyone watching us. “Goodnight beautiful.”

“Goodnight.” I said. Michael turned to go and everyone in the hall, myself included, watched him leave. When he was gone, I shut and locked my room door, then hurried to one of my windows to watch and make sure that he made it to the truck okay. Michael climbed into the truck and then moments later, the headlights came on and he was speeding off into the night. Once he was out of sight, I sat on the bed for a moment, digesting the day’s events. A lot had happened and I felt exhausted. I quickly undressed and wiped off my makeup with a baby wipe before setting my alarm for work tomorrow. As soon as I lay down and pulled my warm covers over me, I was asleep.

I woke up the next day feeling rested and recharged. Work was a blur. Michael and I texted off and on all day and before I knew it, it was 4:30 already. After I clocked out, I called Zion to check on her as I walked home.

“Hey Z!”

“Hey K!” She wasn’t her normal upbeat self, but she sounded much better than she had last night.

“You sound like you’re feeling better,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, I am. I called out of work this morning. Asha came back last night and we decided that she is going to move into Paris’ old room,” Zion informed me.

“Well, that worked out.”

“Yup, all’s well that ends well.” There was a pause. “So, was Michael mad about me ruining y’alls date?”

“Not at all. In fact, he had so much fun last night that we’re going on another date tomorrow. Hopefully, it doesn’t involve any face punching,” I joked. We both laughed.

Zion and I chatted for a few more minutes and then we got off of the phone. As soon as we hung up, Michael called me.

“You’re off,” he said as soon as I answered. I laughed.

“Yes, I am.”

“I want to see you.” The way he said it made me warm inside. I had made it to the rooming house so instead of going inside, I sat down on the porch steps.

“I just got home,” I told him.

“I’m on my way,” he said before hanging up. I jumped up off of the steps as I realized that I needed to change my clothes! I raced into the house and in my haste, almost ran smack into a man standing in the hall.

“Sorry,” I said as I tried to sidestep him but he blocked the way, looking at me up and down.

“I saw you last night,” he said. “You were with that white guy.”

I looked at him quizzically, wondering what his point was. He continued, “You like white guys, huh?” I cocked an eyebrow.

“Apparently,” I said as I again tried to go around him but again he blocked my way.

“Oh, so you one of those uppity bitches, huh? You think that you’re too good for black men?” he demanded. I didn’t like the way he said that. Fear bubbled in my belly as I sensed his hostility.

“I don’t know who you think you are calling a bitch, but you need to move out of my way,” I said, staring into his cold eyes, as I tried to mask my fear.

“Bitch, I’m talking to you and I ain’t going nowhere!” he snapped, snatching me up by my wrist. Panic set in as I realized that this man might actually hurt me, but as soon as he touched me, I started screaming and trying to pull away. He raised a hand to slap me when, a loud voice yelled out from right behind me.

“Let her go!” I didn’t need to turn around to know who that voice belonged to. The man thrust me against the wall and stepped forward.

“Or else what? What the fuck you gonna do white boy?!” Without another moment’s hesitation, Michael lunged at the man, knocking him to the ground. I scurried out of the way, as the two large men pummeled each other. I was scared for Michael. I had to help him. I frantically looked around me as the man rolled on top of Michael and began punching him. In the corner of the living room, there was a tall floor lamp with five arms. Without thinking about what I was about to do, I grabbed it, ripping it out of the wall socket. Then I lifted it as high as I could and brought it down repeatedly across the man’s back and the back of his head. I didn’t stop until he stopped moving and Michael was able to push him off of him. Michael’s lip and nose were bloody, but luckily I had stopped the man before he could do any further damage. I tossed the lamp behind me and helped Michael to his feet.

“Let’s get out of here,” I suggested as we made our way out of the building. I looked around for the black Range Rover. “Where’s the truck?” I asked. Michael wiped the blood off of his face with the back of his hand.

“I walked,” he said. I caught myself before I sucked my teeth. We started walking away from the house, heading towards the downtown area.

“Should we go to the hospital?” I asked, looking at Michael’s bruised face.

“No, I’ll be fine. It just looks worse than it really is,” he tried to assure me but Michael’s fair skin was bruising up all over. The blood had stopped flowing from his nose, but his lip was swollen. I couldn’t help myself feeling turned on as I looked at him. No one had ever fought for me before. We stopped at a corner as the light turned red and I reached up, standing on the tips of my toes, and lightly kissed Michael on his bruised cheek. Michael smiled weakly and held my hand as we crossed the street. We entered an ice cream shop and sat down at a table by the window. Michael looked at me steadily in the eyes and said, “You cannot continue to live there.”

I wasn’t expecting him to say that.

“I can’t afford to live anywhere else,” I told him.