Missing Pieces (The Pieces Series Book 1) (5 page)

Neeko

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T
ears begin to fall from her face and she starts screaming, “No, Lee...please, no! I’ll stay home. I promise! Please, no more.”

I let her hands go and jump off of her. “What’s wrong?! Who is Lee?!”

She brings her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them. She lays her head down on her knees and hides her face. I grab my pants and slip them on, then sit back down on the bed. I grab her chin and make her look at me. “You need to tell me what’s going on so I know what triggers these attacks you have. I don’t want to hurt you. I have this need to protect you. I can’t do that if I am the one causing you pain.” 

She visibly relaxes and something in her eyes tells me she is going to tell me everything I need to know. She lets out a breath she had been holding. She shakes her head and starts to tell me everything. I listen and I know my eyes must be black. I sit with my body so still that it’s like I have turned to stone. She finishes and waits for me to respond. I get up and pace, then sit back down and grab her hands. I wipe away the tears that began to flow down her cheeks, and gently place a kiss where they just were. With my eyes closed, I linger inches away from her face, inhaling her scent. I am so glad she stopped me. What was I thinking? I could have hurt her. A weaker Immortal can be with a human, but not a king or a leader like me.

I sit back and open my eyes to look in hers. “I will do anything to take your pain away if you’ll give me the chance.” I pick up her hands, interlocking our fingers. “Please, just let me try.”

She looks at me and I know she can see that
her
pain causes
me
pain. “I can’t promise you that, but I will try to let you. I may be in too many pieces to be fixed.”  She lets out a breath.

“Sometimes it just takes the right amount of love and patience to fit all the pieces back together. Like a bent puzzle piece, you just have to tenderly put it back straight to make the picture whole. So if you can give me all your broken, bent, even torn pieces, I will slowly put you back together.”

Tears begin to flow down her face again and I start kissing them away. “I have an idea. Trust me?” I look at her with excitement.

“I guess I kind of have to.”

“Write down seven places you would like to go.” I hand her a pencil and paper from the side table.

“Why?” She looks curious.

“That is where the trust part comes in.”  I grin.

“Ok...but can I take a shower first?”

“I can do that. Why don’t you go ahead and get in the shower. I’ll be in a meeting so if you need anything, Derrick...my right-hand man...will assist you. He will be right outside the door. All you have to do is call his name.”

As I close the door, I tell Derrick to keep an eye on things.

Gabby

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A
fter I shower and dry my hair, I look at myself in the mirror and roll my eyes. I walk back into the bedroom and stop short. On the bed is a pair of jeans. Wait! Those are
my
jeans. Underneath the jeans is one of my favorite t-shirts, along with my black matching bra and panty set. How did they get here? They must have broken into my apartment. Visions of him looking through my panty drawer flash in my head and it makes me laugh. A big man like him in a girl’s panty drawer? I am just about rolling on the floor with laughter when Derrick peeks in. I instantly stop. “Do you need anything?”

I just shake my head. I got caught looking insane. Brilliant. I settle on the bed and just think. What could he want with me? What is with this list? Laying there, I doze off, only to dream of Lee. All this stress has brought the memories back to the forefront of my brain.

I wake up sweating and nauseous. I call to Derrick, hoping he is still there. He opens the door. “Yes?”

“Can you get me some crackers and Sprite please?”

“Yes. Is there something the matter? Do I need to get Neeko?”

“No!” I shout. “I mean...no, I don’t need him. My stomach is just a little queasy. Crackers and Sprite are all I need.”

It takes no time at all for Neeko to come running into the room. “Are you alright? Do I need to get a doctor?”

“No, I’m fine. I told Derrick that already,” I say, a little louder than I mean to. He looks a little stunned at my outburst.

Derrick walks in with a tray and sets it on the bed beside me. It is soup and crackers with a sprite.

“Am I captive to this bedroom? I would really like to eat at a table instead of spilling it all over myself trying to eat it on this bed.”

Neeko and Derrick look at each other and then at me like I am about to blow. I am just really tired of being a victim. Why did he have to go tell Neeko? I just wanted crackers, for crying out loud! Neeko begins to speak, but I cut him off by throwing the tray at them. The soup hits the floor and splashes on Derrick’s jeans. Shit, can’t back down now.

“I don’t care to hear your excuses about me being here. You can just get out if that is all you have to say. I have been stuck in this room for far too long and I want out!”

Pissed, Derrick stomps out of the room. Oh well, maybe if I am a bad hostage, they will let me go. I’m done with the crying shit. I have never been one to be a cry baby. Well, not until Lee, but I’m so over it. It takes Neeko five minutes to speak after Derrick left.  He looks at the mess on the floor and shakes his head. “Was that really necessary?” he says, gesturing to the mess.

I cross my arms over my chest. “I can’t take this room anymore! The walls are closing in on me. I feel like I have been stuck in here for years. I want to go home. I need to be looking for a job.”

“You don’t need a job. I will supply you with everything you need.”

“Fine. If you won’t let me go home, at least give me free rein of this house, or compound, or whatever the hell it is.”

“Will you stop throwing things if I let you out? And promise not to try and run away again? The nearest neighbor is thousands of miles away. If you were to run and get lost in the woods, you could die.”

“Ok, but no more treating me like I am your prisoner.”

He walks up and grabs me, tilting my head to look up at him. “If anybody is a prisoner, it’s me. I am a prisoner of this power you hold over me. You took my heart in that alleyway, and I never want it back. I just want you to quit fighting me because it turns me on too much.”

“Isn’t it a little too fast to be confessing love? We’ve only known each other a little while. I feel a connection to you, but I can’t say if it’s just physical or more. I just don’t know.”

“You may have only known me for a little while, but I have known you a lifetime. You have the other half to my soul. My half recognized you instantly. Yours is just taking its time.”

His confession takes me by surprise. Soul mates? No way. “You may believe that, but I don’t believe in soul mates.”

“You would if you would just let me in. Give us a try. Why are you so scared to admit you have strong feelings for me?”

“We haven’t known each other long enough for me to trust you with my heart. Lee made it really hard for me to trust. I loved him and would have married him, but he flipped. How can I be sure you won’t do the same? I’m as good as dead if you decide to try and kill me. I am too tired to even try and fight you.”

“Don’t worry about how long it has been. You are mine and I am yours. That’s all that matters. Give me time to show you that I can never harm you without harming myself. Stop fighting your feelings, and all the pieces will fall together.”

“I can’t promise you anything. I need time to think.”

“I can give you that.”

At this point, I am exhausted and have lost my appetite. I can’t love again. I just can’t take any more pain. Love only brings disappointment and hurt. “I just want to go to bed. Did you happen to get me anything to sleep in when you were getting my other clothes yesterday? How the hell did you know where I lived anyway?”

He heads over to his dresser and flings me one of his t-shirts. “I had someone look it up,” he says, like it is no big deal. Before I can even reply, he says, “I’ll let you change.”

After he softly shuts the door behind himself, I turn around and undress, slipping his shirt over my head. It is so big, it goes to my knees. I take a deep breath. It smells like him. I climb into bed and slip the covers up over me. After a few minutes, he walks back in. I figure he will turn the lights off and then leave so I close my eyes and snuggle into the soft covers. I am just dozing off when the lights go out. I can finally relax. Then the bed dips. What the...?

“What are you doing?”

“Going to bed.”

“With me?”

He chuckles. “Yes. This is my bed. I promise to stay on my side. Are you scared you’ll jump into my arms and beg me to take you?”

Gabby

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I
wake up feeling better and have a clearer head than I have had in days. I am going to take things slow with Neeko, let things fall where they are supposed to. It has been a few days since he asked for the list and everything has been going good. I don’t feel like a prisoner anymore. I sit down in one of the lounge chairs by the window and think,
Hmmm, seven places...

It takes me a whole hour to figure it out: 

1. Home

2. Beach where the water is crystal clear

3. Paris, France

4. Picnic in Ireland

5. A Water Park

6. Home

7. Shopping somewhere fancy

As I finish, Neeko comes strutting in. I swear that man can make my heart rate accelerate just by being in the same room. “Have you decided on the places?” he says with a sexy smile.

“Yeah. I’m finishing up now.” I hand him the paper.

He puts on his thinking face, biting the inside of his cheek. His eyes twinkle with mischief when he looks back up at me.

“Some of these will do, like the beach and water park. I can take you to Paris, but not for our first.”

“Our first what?”

“I am going to take you on seven dates so we can get to know each other better. Maybe you’ll finally admit you like me. I have a great idea for our first date. Dress in something comfortable. I will be by to pick you up at 5.” He winks and walks out the door. What have I gotten myself into?

I spend the rest of the day just watching TV. I need to remember to ask Neeko if he can send someone to get my iPod and kindle. I also need my workout clothes. Running always helps clear my head.

At 3, I start getting ready. Like any girl, it will take me forever to get everything perfect. I jump in the shower and soak up the hot water. When I’m nice and pruned, I get out. Neeko had brought me a few clothes from my apartment, which I hung in his massive walk-in closet. I love that the door to the closet is in the bathroom. I walk in and pick out a silver-blue summer dress and my silver flip flops. I love flip flops. I would rather go barefoot, but when I can’t, I wear my flip flops. I grew up in a small town in Alabama so it was the norm to go barefoot in the yard. Alabama weather never got cold enough not to wear my flops.

I moved to Atlanta to get a better job and further prove my rebellion to my parents. Well, my adoptive parents. Apparently, I was dropped off at a church when I was a few days old, and a couple from the church adopted me. I couldn’t have asked for better parents. Even when I was rebelling, my mom would cheer me on. I think back and laugh at myself now. I never could get my mother to get mad at me. She’d say that she was too proud of the person I was going to become. I think about all the good times with my parents before they passed away. They were old when they adopted me, so it was just normal circumstances that took them from me. It still makes me sad that they won’t get to see me become that person they wanted me to be. Oh well, enough on my past. It’s time to get me pretty.

At 4:30, I am ready and waiting. I wonder where he is taking me. He opens the door right at 5. He is wearing khaki shorts that show off his tanned, sculpted legs, but no shirt. Wow, can I fall to pieces now? I blush. “Ah, that is your color. Ready?”

Where can we be going with him dressed like that? I twirl playfully and he laughs deeply. It vibrates through my body, giving me chills. He grabs my hand and leads me out the door. I look out and stop. All the lights are off and candles light our path down the hallway. I grin and blush. He really has put a lot of thought into this date. The candles go all the way to the front door. He opens it and even bigger candles light a new path, which we follow until we come to a lake. There is a blanket laid out on the ground, torches surrounding it to keep away the bugs. I am glad I wore my short summer dress because the air is just right. He motions for me to sit, plopping down beside me. It’s not graceful, but it breaks the tension and I laugh. He grins his goofy grin, which makes him look so young and carefree. Come to think of it, every time I see him, his face looks like he is trying to hide his worries. My thoughts are broken by a pair of lips touching mine. I am surrounded by the smell of cinnamon. There is a small breeze caressing our bodies. We are in our own little word for a few minutes.