Shadowed Strength: Shadowed Series Book One (7 page)

They parted
quickly and Melanie felt like she jumped three feet into the air. Mrs. Fisher,
the librarian, was a rotund lady with salt and pepper hair and sharp blue eyes.

“Hi Mrs. Fisher,”
she said shakily.

“You two get to
class now. The late bell is going to ring in one minute.” With that, she turned
and shuffled away, not saying a word about what she witnessed.

Melanie and Jeremy
both started laughing and he stood up. Melanie’s laughter died when he looked at
her earnestly and held out his hand. She slowly stretched her arm out and
placed her hand in his. He twined his fingers through hers, pulled her off the
love seat and close to his side, and reached down to grab both of their
backpacks.

“See,” he said, swinging
her backpack over his right shoulder, “I
am
a gentleman.”

Melanie, who was
still staring at their entwined fingers, looked up at his face and smiled.
“Yes, you are.”

“Okay, spill. Now.
Tell me everything. Don’t leave anything out. Not a single detail. Why aren’t
you talking yet?”

Melanie rolled her
eyes at Tara and replied, “Maybe because I can’t get a word in edgewise?”

“Don’t get smart
with me, young lady! Talk. Now.”

Melanie grinned
and asked innocently, “What do you want to know?”

They were sitting
in Tara’s car, which was parked in Melanie’s driveway. Melanie had been
refusing to answer Tara’s needling questions all the way home from school. Tara
growled and pushed at Melanie’s leg.

“I swear I’m gonna
go crazy if you don’t tell me what happened between you and Jeremy, like, right
this instant. Seriously. Tell me now.”

Melanie laughed
and gave in. “Okay, okay. I’ll tell you everything.”

When she finished,
they both sat in stunned silence. Melanie still couldn’t believe all of it had
actually happened. What if she misinterpreted it? What if he was just being
really
friendly because he felt sorry for her?

“Stop it. Just
stop it right now.”

“Huh?” Melanie
looked back up at Tara in confusion.

“I can see the
wheels turning in your head, Mel. You cannot explain this away to yourself as a
friendly gesture. Buddies do not kiss, not on the mouth anyway. Friends do not
say things like ‘I really like you’ and ‘I want to be with you.’ So just stop
trying to rationalize it. Just believe it and be happy. Jeremy likes you and
wants to be your boyfriend. Accept it.”

“Wait. He never
said the word ‘boyfriend.’ I can’t just jump to conclusions and… Oh My God!”

“What? What is
it?”

“Look behind us.”

Tara turned around
and a huge smile lit up her face. “Told you. Get out of my car. I am out of
here, but you better call me as soon as he leaves. As in, immediately after he
leaves.”

“Ok sir, yes sir,”
Mel joked.

She got out of the
car as Jeremy made it to the top of her driveway. Tara waved and backed out
after they stepped to the side, and sped off, gunning her engine.

“Did you walk
here?” Melanie asked. It was at least three miles from her house to school.

“I ran.”

“You don’t even
look winded. Your body must be in really good shape. I mean, er, as in physical
fitness. Oh, God, I’m shutting up now.”

Jeremy smiled and
pulled her in for a quick hug. “Is your mom home?”

“No, she works
until six every night.”

“Can I come in?”

“Umm, sure? I
mean, yes. Definitely yes.”

She unlocked the
door and led him inside. She was freaking out, wondering what she’d do if he
asked to see her bedroom. She’d never had a kiss, like a real kiss, much less
had a boy in her bedroom. But Jeremy went straight into the living room and sat
down on the couch.

Melanie dropped
her backpack on the floor and closed the front door.

“Do you want
something to drink? Maybe some food? I could make you a sandwich. You want a
soda?”

Oh, God I’m
rambling again
.

He gave her a
small smile and shook his head. “No, thanks. Come sit with me. I think we need
to finish our conversation from earlier.”

Oh no. He’s
gonna take it all back. I knew it. I was right. He couldn’t possibly like me
like that, no matter what Tara says.
All this went
through her head and she didn’t move a muscle.

“Mel? You ok? You
don’t want to sit next to me?”

He looked
disappointed and Melanie never wanted to see that look on his face again. She
ran over and threw herself onto the couch next to him. He turned to face her
with a serious look on his face.

“Listen, Mel…”

“It’s okay,
Jeremy. I get it. If you just want to be friends, that’s fine…”

“Wait. What? What
are you talking about?”

“Well, uh, you
looked all serious like I wasn’t going to like what you had to say and I just
assum-”

“Don’t assume
anything with me, Mel,” he interrupted. “You can talk to me about anything. Ask
me anything. Ask me
for
anything. You don’t have to be shy or
embarrassed around me. I like everything about you, and I was most definitely
not
going to take back what I said earlier today.”

Melanie was
speechless. She stared at him in wide-eyed wonder as he stared back earnestly.
This was not how she expected this conversation to go.

“What I wanted to
say was this,” he continued after a moment. “Will you be my girlfriend?”

Melanie almost
fainted. Dropping her head, she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her
nose. There was no way she could explain this away in her mind. No more
denials, no more rationalizations. Jeremy wanted her. Like, for real.

“Oh, God, you’re
killing me, Mel. Can you please answer me?”

She looked back up
at him quickly with a smile on her face. “Yes,” she answered. “Definitely, yes.
Yes, yes, yes.”

He smiled the
brightest smile she’d ever seen on him and reached over and pulled her close.
He leaned his face in close to her and she smelled his scent: like boy and pine
trees and something spicy. He smiled that special smile again and closed the
distance to touch his lips to hers. Her eyelids slammed down as his lips
lingered. He tilted his head to get a better angle and his tongue darted out to
meet the seam of her lips.

Her mouth opened
in shock, and he took that opportunity to taste the inside of it, rubbing his
tongue lightly against hers. She was so surprised, she nearly clamped her teeth
down. She stopped herself just in time, but Jeremy must have sensed something
was wrong because he ended the kiss and pulled back.

“Are you ok? I
mean, with this? Do you like it? Because we can stop, if you want. Just say
when.”

Oh my God,
she thought,
I’m seriously gonna die now. I have to tell him, or
he’s going to think I don’t like kissing him. God, I am such a loser,
she
thought, her gaze dropping to her hands.

“
Mel?”

She looked back up
at his face. She stared at his beautiful lips for a second and then met his
eyes. Then she blurted it out.

“That was my first
real kiss and I wasn’t sure if I was doing it right.”

He stared at her
with a blank look on his face. She looked back down at her lap and covered her
face with her hands in embarrassment. A few seconds (minutes? hours?) later she
felt his weight shift and his hands grabbed her wrists. He gently pulled her
hands away from her face and when she looked up, she saw a big goofy grin on
his face.

“Oh, God,” she
whispered, “please, please don’t laugh at me now.” She felt the backs of her
eyes burning, old memories of Jason Dawkins resurfacing.

His grin
disappeared and was replaced by a serious expression. “Melanie, I would never
laugh at you or your honesty. I was smiling because, well, nothing could make
me happier right now than finding out that I’m your first real kiss. Just
knowing how special this is to you, how special it is for both of us, makes
this moment, right now, the best moment of my life.”

A tear escaped her
lashes and he released her wrist to catch it on his finger. Then he ran that
hand behind her head and pulled her close.

“You,” he
whispered, his face close to hers, “are perfect. That kiss was perfect. And all
I want right now is to kiss you again.”

And he did.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~

“Shut up!”

“No, really, he
asked me to be his girlfriend, officially.”

“Shut up!”

“Tara, if you want
me to tell you the rest of it, you’re going to have to stop screaming ‘shut up’
at me.”

“Oh my God, Mel,
this is fan-freaking-tastic!”

Melanie pulled her
phone a couple of inches from her face so Tara wouldn’t bust her eardrum with
all the screaming. Melanie was lying on her bed after dinner. She had been
trying to study, but she couldn’t concentrate so she called Tara instead.

“And then he
kissed me.”

“Hallelujah!
Finally! Well? Spill. How was it? Amazing? Earth moving? Cataclysmic?”

“I almost bit his
tongue.”

Tara’s laughter
pealed through the phone. “No, you didn’t. Please tell me he didn’t notice.”

“He did. And he
stopped the kiss and asked me what was wrong.”

“What did you tell
him?”

“The truth. Oh,
God, Tara I seriously thought he was going to laugh at me when he found out I’d
never French-kissed before.”

“What? You do
realize we are talking about Jeremy here, right? I’ve been telling you for
months that he’d never laugh at you. Wait, he didn’t, right?”

“No, he didn’t. In
fact, he said the most wonderful things anyone has ever said to me in my life,
then kissed me again and again.” Melanie sighed. “Okay, go ahead.”

“I told you so! I
told you so!” Tara laughed for a minute, then calmed down. “Okay, I‘m done.
Really. Seriously though, Mel, I am so happy for you. You totally deserve this
and I can’t wait to see you tomorrow so I can hug you!”

“Thanks Tara. I
love you too.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

He sat in his car,
surveying the area. He had arrived early this morning to make sure he didn’t
miss her walking through the parking lot. He was still having trouble
containing himself around her. A mixture of guilt, anger, and lust drove him
mad every time he clapped eyes on her, which was nearly every day.

He was angry, so
angry that she had gotten away from him before he made her submit. He had been
so ready to take her, so stimulated, and he was right on the verge of complete
control when that damn stupid dog attacked him.

He remembered the
feel of her beneath him, all soft and curvy, no bones digging into his skin. He
knew she’d feel like heaven on Earth. That was where the guilt came in. Because
unlike the last time, in the last town, this was not a spur of the moment
decision.

He had been
fantasizing about her since the day they met. He made all sorts of plans in his
head, then put them down on paper. Before he knew it, he was executing those
plans and had her on the ground.

He couldn’t excuse
his actions as a crime of passion, a flare of insanity brought on by lust. No,
this was premeditated and planned to perfection. He had just needed the
opportunity, and he knew he had it when she went to that party. He waited, and
watched and couldn’t have been more pleased when Jeremy had shown up with that
little bitch Stephanie. He knew that would set Melanie off. It was obvious to
everyone, except maybe Jeremy, that she was hot for him.

He needed Melanie
to be hot for
him,
not that little bastard Jeremy. She would have been,
too, if not for that stupid dog! He punched the dash of his car over and over
until his fist went numb. Then he looked up.

“Ah,” he whispered
to himself, “there she is. So rounded. So soft. So, so sexy.” He groaned as he
felt himself getting aroused. “Can’t wait. Can’t wait. Can’t wait.”

The he froze as he
saw strong arms wrap around her waist from behind. “What the hell?” he raged.

He looked up from
her waist and saw him, Jeremy, kiss her neck as she willingly tilted her head
and bared it for his lips. She turned in his embrace and kissed him on the
mouth, then stepped out of his arms, took his hand in hers and started walking
toward the school entrance.

He gripped the
steering wheel with white-knuckled force, then mumbled to himself, “Melanie.
Melanie. Melanie. You are mine. All mine. I’ll prove it to you over and over
again and you’ll forget he even exists. Just wait.”

Then he got out of
his car and headed inside.

Melanie sat in
first period English, trying to concentrate on Mr. Hughes’ lecture, but failing
miserably. Jeremy was in his usual seat behind her, but not acting in the usual
way.

When no one was
looking, he’d reach forward and wrap a lock of her hair around his finger and
give it a slight tug, run his index finger down her spine, or touch her in some
other intimate way. She hoped he was at least taking some good notes, because
she was going to need to borrow them tonight. Nothing Mr. Hughes said was
registering.

“Melanie.”

“Huh? I mean, yes,
Mr. Hughes?”

“Do I need to move
you to the front of the class so you will
have
to pay attention?”

“No, Mr. Hughes.
Sorry.”

“Apology accepted.
Please focus.”

His words sounded
polite and professional, but the look on his face made him seem like he was
disgusted with her. Jeremy stopped distracting her after that, for which she
was only partially thankful, and she managed to make it through the rest of
class without making a spectacle of herself.

After class,
Jeremy walked her to her locker to get her math book. “Sorry, Mel. I didn’t
mean to get you in trouble.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

She squeezed back
and said, “No, it’s okay. I was just too obvious in my distraction, I guess.
You and your hands are much more interesting than
To Kill a Mockingbird
.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes, really,” she
replied as he pulled her arm and backed her into her locker.

“These hands?” he
asked as he released her and held them up in the air in front of her.

“Yes, those.”

He placed them on
her cheeks. “What about my mouth? Is that distracting too?” He leaned in
closer, almost nose to nose.

She swallowed hard
and nodded. Just as his lips were about to touch hers, a throat cleared nearby
and he took a quick step back. Mrs. Fisher shook her head and continued down
the hall, and they both burst into laughter.

“That woman,” he
said, “is trying to destroy every chance I get to kiss you, I swear.”

Melanie took a
quick step forward and pecked him on the lips. “There,” she said. “Now you got
your kiss.” She spun around quickly and started turning the combination lock on
her locker.

She heard a light
growl in her ear as hands clamped down on her sides. She jumped with a squeal
and the hands released her immediately and she heard him groan. She turned back
around.

“Oh, God, Mel, I’m
sorry.”

“For what?”

“I totally forgot
you don’t like to be tickled on your sides. I’m sorry.”

Melanie squeezed
her eyes shut and it was her turn to groan. She dropped her head and took a few
deep breaths. She was going to have to be honest. She couldn’t lie to Jeremy,
especially now that they were together. Regardless of how silly it was, she
wanted complete honesty between them.

“Mel, please, look
at me. Tell me you’re not mad.”

“Jeremy, I’m not
mad,” she said as she opened her eyes and looked into his. The worry in his
eyes lessened slightly at her words.

“You sure? I’m
sorry I forgot. It won’t happen again.”

“Jeremy stop.
Please, stop apologizing. In fact, I need to apologize to you. Right now.”

He looked
confused. “For what?”

“For lying.”

His eyes widened.
“About what?” He sounded leery.

“I’m not really ticklish.
No wait. That’s not right. I am ticklish, but that’s not why I freaked out on
you the other day. I don’t hate being tickled.”

“Wait, I’m
confused. If it’s not that, then why did you get mad? You didn’t want me to
touch you?”

The hurt look on
his face almost made her cry. She needed to make him understand. She grabbed
his hands and squeezed.

“Of course I
wanted you to. I was just…embarrassed.”

“Embarrassed?
About what?”

She wanted to look
down again, but resisted. She looked him straight in the eye and said it out
loud, for the first time, to someone besides Tara.

“I was embarrassed
by my fat rolls and I didn’t want you to feel them when you squeezed my sides.”

She looked down
and closed her eyes tight, trying to keep the tears in. When he released her
hands, her head shot up. She saw disgust in his eyes and was shocked. She
disgusted him now?

Oh God. Can’t
breathe,
she thought and tried to turn back around to
face her locker.

Jeremy wasn’t
having it, though. He grabbed her hips and turned her back to face him. Then he
slipped both hands behind her and pulled her forward for a hug. “I’m going to
kill her,” he whispered.

Melanie reared her
head back to look into his eyes, which were filled with heated anger. “Kill
who?”

“Sissy,” he said
with contempt. “I know this insecurity is mostly due to her and her stupid
name-calling.” He took a deep breath.

“Melanie, you are
not fat. You are beautiful.”

She inhaled a
sharp breath. “And,” he continued, “there is nothing about you that I don’t
adore, from the top of your beautiful head to the tips of your beautiful toes.”

Her smile was so
brilliant, it took his breath away. She kissed him quickly and pulled back to
peer at him.

“So you’re not mad
at me?” she asked.

“For what? Lying to
me about being ticklish?”

“Yeah.”

“Nah. I forgive
you,” he said with a roguish grin and tickled her sides.

She jumped and
slapped his hands away. He laughed as she turned to open her locker and grab
her math book. When she swung the locker door open, a folded piece of paper
fluttered to the floor. She reached down, picked it up, unfolded it and read
it.

“What is that,”
Jeremy asked in a teasing tone, “a love letter from a secret admirer?”

Melanie shook her
head fast without responding. Tears filled her eyes as she finished reading.

“Melanie,” he said
when he saw terror grip her, “what is it?”

Her hand shook
furiously as she held the paper out to him. He took it in one hand and grasped
her quivering hand with the other. He looked into her eyes for a moment, then
looked down and read the note.

“Hello, Little Girl. I haven’t forgotten
you. I will finish what I started. Wait for me. I’ll find you.

Sincerely, Your Perfect Match”

Jeremy looked back
up at her face for barely a second before he reached behind her with his free
hand, slammed her locker shut and dragged her down the hall. He led her to the
front of the school, out the doors and straight to his truck. Jeremy opened the
passenger door for Melanie and gently helped her in. He ran around to the
driver’s side, hopped in and cranked the engine.

Jeremy didn’t say
a word, but held onto her hand as they drove around aimlessly. Finally, he
pulled into the mall parking lot and found a spot under a tree with no one else
parked nearby.

After a few quiet
moments, he spoke. “Melanie, it’s just some sick freak playing a joke on you.
It’s probably Sissy or one of her clone friends.”

She shook her head
vigorously. “No, Jeremy. It’s him. I know it is.”

“How do you know?”

She pulled the
note out of the center console where he’d shoved it and pointed at the words.

“Right here. See
this? ‘Little Girl.’ That’s what he called me. He also said that he loved my
pudginess. That it made him…hard. And that it was like I was his perfect match.
Right here. ‘Your Perfect Match.’ It’s him.”

She started to
hyperventilate and put her head between her knees. “How did he get that note
into my locker? I mean, I know he could slip it in through the slats, but how
did he know which one was mine? How did he get into the school without a badge
to begin with? Oh, God, Jeremy. It’s someone from school! It has to be.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lying in her bed
later that evening, Melanie reread the note at least a hundred times. She was
supposed to be studying. That’s what she told her mom she was doing locked up
in her room for two hours. But she couldn’t concentrate on schoolwork. She read
the note again.

Jeremy had tried
to convince her to take the note to the police, but she refused. She didn’t
want to look stupid or delusional to the cops again. They already thought she
was crazy, going on and on about some mystery dog.

Plus, she didn’t
have any proof that the note was not a prank from a fellow student. That’s what
the police would say. It was just a prank and she should stop being so
paranoid.

But there was no
doubt in Melanie’s mind that this was
not
a prank. This was not some
genius plan cooked up in the devious mind of Sissy Woods. It was him. He said
he was coming for her and he would. She needed some way to protect herself.

If only she could find
her dog and keep him by her side! She had not seen him since Monday night and
again early Tuesday morning. She wasn’t even sure if he was still watching over
her.

Melanie was
reading the note for the hundred and third time when her phone chimed an incoming
text. She picked it up and smiled as she read the name on the screen. She
tapped it and read Jeremy’s text.

“Hey, gorgeous.
How r u? Just checking in.”

Her fingertips
flew over the touchscreen as she responded.
“Good. Studying. You?”

“Liar. I know u
r just staring at that note. Want me 2 come see u?”

“I’d love it.
But Mom would be mad. School night and all.”

“Ok. Please try
2 be calm. Won’t let anything happen 2 u, k?”

She melted a
little.
“Ok, thank u. What are u doing tonight?”

“Moving.”

“???”

“My parents are
going out of town for a few weeks, so I am going to stay w/ Chris. Cool,
right?”

Melanie’s heart
skipped a beat. Jeremy staying with Chris? With no parental supervision?
Cool,
right? Oh, God,
she thought.

“Mel? U still
there?”

“Yeah, sorry.
That is cool.”

“He’s having a
party Saturday night…”

“I know. Tara
told me a couple of days ago.”

“R u going?”

“I told Tara
no, but…”

“But?”

“Well,”
Her fingers paused. How was she supposed to ask him if he wanted her to
come to the party? She still had a hard time accepting the fact that he liked
her, much less the fact that he wanted to be seen with her in public. Her phone
dinged again while she contemplated.

“Please come.
I’ll be so sad and lonely without u. Please?”

That made her smile
so big her cheeks hurt a little. She responded,
“Ok. Ok. I’ll be there, but
u owe me 1.”

“Anything.
Anytime. All u have to do is ask. Go study. I’ll see you 2morrow morning.”

“Bye.”

“Good night.
Sweet dreams.”