Save Me From the Dark (13 page)

Her eyes widen even as tears fall down her cheeks. “I’m… I’m so sorry, AJ. What you had to have gone through… It hurts me that you have ever had to experience any of that pain. If I could, I’d take it all away from you, I…”

A sad laugh comes out of me before I can stop it. Her sad look turns to one of confusion and a little hurt.

“Baby, I’ve been thinking the same thing about you. I only had that happen to me a few times. You have had to endure it for years. Years that you should have long ago been saved from. I’ll do whatever I can to help you, to save you,” I end on a whisper.

She moves to her knees in front of me, cupping my face in her hands. “There were times in life that she wished were made right … So many times when she feared the monsters of the night … No place to turn, no help to be found … She lay face down on the ground … Lifting her head she cried out loud … To the stars above and even the clouds … Save me. Save me from the dark … Save me from all the painful marks … Oh, won’t you save me, Moon,” Bella sings softly, the very song that killed me to write.

She sings beautifully. Who knew that when I wrote this song that it would fit the woman that holds my heart? If the regret and pain that came along with that song is what brought me to this point, I’d endure it all again. No questions asked.

“God, I love you,” I breathe a second before I pull her mouth up to mine.

Kissing her has become as necessary as breathing. Gary always asks me when I’m going to find someone to settle down with, to take away the lonely nights. I’ve done the dating scene before and never cared to do it again.

Then I meet Bella and my heart changed my mind. I’ll never let her go. She’s mine and I plan on keeping her for as long as humanly possible.

“Um, uh, how about we start to enjoy the night again?” Jarrett says sounding uncomfortable.

Bella starts to laugh, pulling away, and wiping her tears. “What are we going to do?”

“Well since going out right now is not an option, why don’t we figure out something to do here?”

Dawn walks over and turns on the stereo, turning up the volume. She walks towards Jare smiling. “Just because we couldn’t go to the club, doesn’t mean we can’t dance our socks off here.”

Standing up, I pull Bella into my arms as I start to sway my hips with the beat of the music.

“I don’t know how to dance, Ace.”

Moaning as her hips slide against me, I lick my lips. “You are doing just fine to me.”

“Am I?”

“Yes, can’t you feel it?” I joke.

“That’s because I’m dancing well?” She blinks up at me.

Stopping the dancing for a minute, I look at her. “Are you serious?”

She laughs. “No. I may be a virgin, but I’m not stupid.”

We continue to dance for a while. Our bodies rubbing against each other, it is like sex with clothes on. I’m desperate for her, but it’s not the time. So when we break, I pull her on my lap and kiss her tenderly.

“You are not allowed to dance with anyone other than me. Okay?”

“Not like I would, but now you’ve got me curious as to why.”

“Because this man doesn’t want any other man getting as turned on as he is right now and him taking advantage,” Jarrett comments bluntly.

Her face pales. “Oh.”

Turning her head, I kiss her passionately in hopes to get her mind off the thoughts that were now there. After a few minutes of just sitting around bullshitting, we decide dancing needs to be over with. So we all argue about what to do next.

Before I know it, Jarrett pulls out the
Wii
and it is a war of games. All the while music blares on the radio.

“No, dude, wait a minute. That didn’t count!”

“To hell it didn’t. I made that shot,” I tease Jarrett.

“Only because Dawn was giving me a kiss,” he protests.

Hitting him in the arm, I laugh. “Should have been paying attention, bro.”

“If Bella here came up to kiss you, are you telling me you’d pass it up?” Jarrett counters.

I look at Bella and she smiles.

“When you’re playing a game, you have to focus dude.” I wink at Bella. “I’m sorry dude, you lost.”

He glares at me and I laugh. Jarrett knows damn well, I’d throw the game if Bella was to walk over and kiss me. As of yet, the only time she’s really kissed me has been on the cheek, not passionately on the mouth. It’s me kissing her, but I think she’s still unsure of what is going on between us. Looking over at Bella, she is laughing and nodding at something Dawn is telling her.

“Come on,
brother
,” Jarrett taunts. “We’ve got a score to settle, you cheater.”

The look in my friend’s eyes had me turning my attention back to the
Wii
a little more nervously.

Bella

This has to be one of the best nights of my life. I’ve laughed more tonight than I have since before I lost my mom. Watching them all joke and poke fun at each other, it makes me wish I could be carefree like them. Sadly, my life doesn’t allow me to do that.

Dawn is trying to keep me included in all the activities, but I’m not used to being around others. This is scaring me, but I don’t want to exit this dream either. For the first time, I am being seen as something other than a punching bag.

My heart stops beating in my chest as Ace looks down at me and smiles. He’s working Jarrett up and I can’t help, but get caught up in the laughter.

“Will you do something for us?” Dawn says as she pulls me to the side.

“Um, I can try,” I answer nervously.

“There’s nothing I love more than to get AJ’s goat. Would you be willing to distract AJ while they are playing? I don’t care how you do it, just so long as Jare can get even,” she smiles devilishly.

Honestly, I can’t help but laugh. What shocks me even more is I nod my head in agreement.
How am I going to do this? How can I, little miss invisible, distract someone?

The game ensues and the boys seem focused and determined as they play another round of tennis. After a while, Dawn nods at me. That’s my signal. Butterflies fill my stomach as I wrack my brain trying to figure out how to distract him.

Looking over at him, I watch as he licks his lips and my body heats. Nerves forgotten, I walk over to him. Placing my hand on his arm, he turns his head toward me. Time seems to freeze as our eyes meet. Rising slowly on my toes, I hear his small intake of breath.

One hand rests on his chest as I place the other behind his head and pull him down to my mouth. Our lips touch in an electrifying moment. A growl fills my ears as his arms wrap around me, pulling me tighter against him. My heart is racing and the initial reason I walked over here is forgotten. All that matters to me right now is how he is making me feel in this moment.

For a moment, I can believe that I’m someone worth loving. Right now, I’m human and it’s a feeling that I’m afraid to both hold on to and let go of.

“Yes, I’m the winner,” Jarrett yells, breaking into our moment.

Ace pulls away and looks at me with heavy lidded eyes. My heart skips in my chest for the second time since I kissed him.

“I don’t see it that way,” he breathes, his voice shaking.

We remain stuck in each other’s eyes. AJ reaches up and brushes his hand down my face. “I can’t tell you what that meant for you to kiss me, even if it was to help Jarrett win,” he smirks.

Looking down at my hands, I start playing with my nails. Just for a second, I could feel what it was like to be the girl that people saw. Now, the real me floods back and the pain it brings with it, leaves me breathless.

“Can you excuse me please?” I mumble before walking off to the bathroom and locking the door.

Sitting in the corner, I wring my hands together. My hands are shaking badly. My brain is telling me to run as far and as fast as I can, but my heart is screaming at me to stay. Taking a few deep breaths, I try to calm myself down.

Just as I stand up, there’s a knock at the door. His deep, soft, sexy voice flows through the door.

“Bella? Are you okay?”

Opening the door, I’m immediately caught in his gorgeous eyes. “I’m… I’m fine. Do you want to go back to the fun?”

“They went home. They want to come with us Monday to drop you off at school.”

“Oh,” I say, disappointed. Not in the fact that they are gone, but that I had to go back to reality soon.

Cupping my face in his hands, he looks at me, the sadness thick in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I blurt out.

His head jerks back slightly. “For what?”

“For making you sad. For messing up your life. For leaving soon… The list is endless.”

Pulling me into his chest, Ace holds me tightly against him. “There is nothing I regret. I’m in love with an amazingly, incredibly, strong woman. The only thing that could make me happier is never having to let you go.”

Sadly, him letting me go is the only thing that can happen. My father will not back off easily and I’m not about to have Ace or any of the others get hurt because of me. They are the closest things I have to a true family. Because of that fact, I will not stay here even though I desperately want to stay.

Nothing, no matter how much I search, will come out of my mouth as a response to that. He’s so open and honest with me. The one thing I wish right now is that I can be the same way with him, but it’s too risky.

“We need to clean up the mess,” I say to get off the subject that I’m just not ready to delve into.

Yawning, I pull away from him and head out to clean up the mess from tonight. We work silently next to each other cleaning everything up. Just as I put away the last thing, music starts to play.

“May I have this dance?” Ace asks as I turn around to look at him.

“I, uh, I don’t know how to slow dance.”

“You also said you couldn’t dance earlier and you did amazing.”

“Only because you are horny as hell and my body was touching you,” I say nervously.

“Not it at all.” Taking my hand, he leads me away from the coffee table and pulls me into his arms. “Besides, you don’t need to when you’re with the right person,” he whispers.

Following his lead the best I can, we start to sway to the softly playing music. He lowers his head down, kissing me softly, but passionately. Breaking away, his eyes tell me what he’s thinking and I don’t want to talk about it right now. So, in an effort to stay in this happy place, I rest my head on his shoulder and close my eyes.

Soon, he buries his face in my neck as we continue to sway to the music. The music fades away and all I hear is the rhythm of our hearts. They almost seem to beat as one. No matter what happens after tonight, I’ll never forget him. I’ll never forget this moment.

Ace

Holding her like this fills me with so much happiness, but there’s sadness as well. Knowing that in one short day, I’m going to have to let her go. It kills me. My heart starts to crack at just the thought of being without her.

In the back of my mind, there’s a small voice saying once I let her go, I’ll never see her again. For now – while she’s with me – , I push all negative thoughts from my mind and focus on the woman before me. There’s no way that I’m letting more negative taint my time with her.

“Ace?” Her voice sounds shaky.

Pulling back, I look down at her. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m really tired and my head is starting to hurt…”

I couldn’t hide my disappointment. “Oh, okay. Let’s go to bed then.”

Leading her up the stairs and down the hall to our room, the effort I put into pushing all the negative away broke and it all comes flooding back.

As we walk into the room, Bella sits on the edge of the bed to remove her shoes. All I can do is watch her. She drops her shoes to the floor and sighs heavily.

“Ace?”

“Yes,” my voice cracks as I walk over to her and kneel in front of her.

She meets my eyes and I can see tears shimmering in their beautiful depths.

“What’s wrong, beautiful?”

“I don’t want to leave, but I have to,” she chokes out.

“I know,” I wrap her in my arms. “I don’t want you to leave either, but we still have another whole day and night together.” Trying desperately to find a good thing to focus on, if only for her, I will.

“Can you give me another moment to remember before I leave?”

Cupping her face in my hands, I breathe, “Anything at all for you. We can do anything you want at all. Now, tomorrow, tomorrow night, you name it and I’ll do my best to get it done.”

She pulls away from me, stands from the bed. Reaching up, she slowly lowers the zipper to her dress and lets it drop around her ankles. Walking over to the bed, she lays down.

“Will you hold me?”

My mind over works to forget the image of her standing there in nothing but her bra and panties, but I can’t. It is the sexiest damn sight I’ve ever seen.

“You don’t even have to ask,” my voice cracks and even I can hear the want in it.

Pulling my shirt over my head, I throw it in a chair. When my hands reach for my pants, I watch her swallow hard. Unbuttoning them, I lower them down and kick them off with my shoes. Walking to the bed, we never take our eyes off each other.

Sliding in next to her, I lift my arm up and motion for her to come closer. Once again, she swallows hard, but moves closer to me. She doesn’t see it, but her bravery astounds me.

The feel of her head and hand on my bare chest sends an electrical current through me that fuels my heart and makes it race. I knew when I saw her profile online that she was different. Gary deserves a special gift for this. I’ll never be able to repay him for making me post that stupid ad.

In a shaky whisper, Bella says, “Will you kiss me?”

“Baby, I love you and I love kissing you, but…”

She starts to pull away. “I’m sorry,” she mumbles, sadly.

“But,” I say tightening my arms around her. “If I start, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop with you in my bed half naked.”

She looks down for a moment then back up into my eyes. “I may not want you to,” she breathes.

My heart stops in my chest. Suddenly the ability to speak evades me and all I can do is stare at her in shock.

Bravely she asks again. “Will you kiss me?”

Rational thoughts left my mind as I lower my head to kiss her. It was passionate and hungry, but also tender. That kiss we shared earlier still fresh on my mind.

A few moments later, I almost choke on my own tongue when her hands make contact with my bare ass.

She’s making the first move. What’s going on here?

Reluctantly, I pull away from her. “Whoa, baby, believe me when I say that this is killing me to do. But I need to know what’s going on.”

She pulls away and pulls the blankets up to her chin. “What do you mean?”

“Baby, you’ve been skittish since we met and I understand why, but why are you all of a sudden ready to go all the way?”

A tear slides down to her temple before she looks at me. “Because if I never see you again, I want this to remember. I want this connection with you. This first. This only.”

“Baby,” I pull her into my arms. “I want to make love to you more than anything, but I don’t want to be something to remember when you leave. When our time comes, I want it to be because you love me as much as I love you and just want to express that love. You have never been a just in case for me, please don’t make me one for you.”

She sits up suddenly. “You’ve never been a just in case. Nor would this moment have been. I just…”

“You just wanted to experience it
just in case
we never see each other again,” I question.

She nods her head. “Yes, I guess you’re right.”

“I want to make love to you. More than anything, but if you are doing this with the anticipation of never seeing me again, there is the chance of regret to follow when we do. I never want you to regret a single thing with me. That would kill me.”