Sterling (2 page)

Touching the footrest with my heels, I studied my slim khaki’s and plain shirt. I was grossly overdressed for a Saturday—every woman in that bar wore nothing less than sex appeal.

After the waitress took our order, Sunny dropped her red sparkly clutch on the table. I admired her new manicure of silver nails with diamond flecks on the corners as I rubbed my thumb over my chipped polish.

“I’ve been keeping a secret,” she said, grinning like a fox.

“This should be good.” I gave a casual smile so as not to reveal my curiosity.

“Marco and I have been dating for almost two months now and it’s gotten…
exclusive
.” She lifted her plucked brows anticipating my reaction. “He’s loaded but that isn’t why I’m with him Zoë, contrary to my past liaisons,” she snorted.

“Exclusive,” I said, tasting the word and all it implied. “This means you aren’t dating
anyone
else, just him?”

Sunny was a boat on the sea and never wanted to be anchored. Never once did she lead her lovers on; I was always astounded at her candor when she told them her expectations up front.

“You’re serious?”

“As a heart attack. I never keep secrets from you but I didn’t want to jinx it since I didn’t know where it was going. Trust me I’m just as shocked as you are. But I really like him; he’s
nothing
like the guys I usually go for. He’s sophisticated. And, he stands up to me…doesn’t just do whatever I say.”

Sunny beamed.

I curled my fingers around the bottle that appeared in front of me. “So you finally decided to date a real man who has a pair?”

The men she dated were beautifully packaged, but men of substance they were not. Most of them followed her around with puppy dog eyes and a neutered expression.

“Don’t give me your sass. You just wish you had snatched him up first because he’s delish.”

She stirred the cherry in her vodka drink and pulled it out by the stem. It lingered on her bottom lip, glossing it up while her eyes scanned the room. When her tongue swept out and circled around the stem, I released a lengthy sigh.

“You’re telling me that you are in a serious relationship with one man, yet here you sit, molesting a cherry in public. Really, Sunshine? You do realize that’s an open invitation for every guy here…what would Marco say if he found you seducing other men?”

Her teeth bit down and those blue eyes narrowed. Sunny was so easy to bait. She flicked the stem at me in silent retaliation.

“Flirting,” she corrected in her usual bright tone. “I have to say that he’s very yummy in bed, too. Well, we’ve only had sex twice. He’s got this kinky thing about not touching me with his hands but damn…he touches me with
everything else
. It’s so damn sexy.” She paused. “He even asks about you.”

I came close to sucking my drink down the wrong pipe.

“Me?” I was nonplussed given I only met the man once and it was brief.

“Sure, I’ve told him
all
about you.”

“Lovely, so glad to amuse. Did you tell him all of the embarrassing stories or just the highlights?”

“That’s why I like him Zoë, he’s interested in what’s important to me and
you
are one of those things.”

Several hours later, Marco texted Sunny with a ‘sorry I can’t make it something came up’ message that kept her eyes glued to the phone all night. While she acted nonchalant about it, I could see an ugly layer of pissed off brewing below the surface.

In the middle of her story about the mechanic who screwed her out of $2400, the tiny hairs on my arms stood on end. Just like before, a terrible feeling moved through me like a swarm of bees. A quick scan around the room revealed nothing out of the ordinary. Still, I had the distinct feeling of being watched.

I was distracted by a floating tray of nachos that settled at a table to our left. I crinkled my nose in disgust at all the finger licking and double-dipping between the three men who had made obvious efforts to gawk at Sunny’s gazelle legs.

“Zoë, did you hear me? Are you feeling okay? You look pale.”

“I always look pale, I’m part Irish, remember?”

She smiled and twirled her hair between two fingers. “What’s the other part?”

“Tired.” I thinned my lips, hating to be the one to ruin the party. “It’s time for me to head out. I promise that I’ll have dinner with you and Marco another time. I need to meet the man who might put my best friend in a wedding gown.”

Her wide eyes protested and I gave her a teasing wink. Sunny was not the marrying kind, thanks to her screwed up parents.

“I’m so glad you came, Zoë girl, we need to do this more often. All my other girlfriends are a snore,” she said, waving a hand.

Sunny bounced out of her chair with a radiant grin and threw an arm around me, making sure that I knew how much I was loved.

Just then, one of the nacho guys let out a wolf whistle which caused a few other patrons to turn in our direction. When I felt Sunny’s hand slide down to my ass, I laughed out loud.

“Are you trying to torture them?”

“No,” she said with a subtle purr in her voice. “I’m just giving them something to dream about later, no harm in that.” When her neck curved in their direction, I shoved her off.

Suddenly a shiver skated across my skin. My stomach knotted as if I had swallowed a nightmare and it was growing within me—prowling and trying to claw its way out. I needed to get out of there.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” Sunny touched my arm with concern and the corners of her mouth turned down.

“I’m fine, I slept too much earlier and now I just feel…off.”

She gave me a sour look and brushed a hand through my hair in a motherly fashion. “Let’s get you home.”

***

Sunny’s car roared into the train station with an attitude. The drive to my apartment was too far so I didn’t see the point in wearing her out playing cab driver. Besides, it was pretty obvious she had undisclosed intentions of dropping in on Marco. I pitied the bastard; if he was really up to no good then hell hath no fury like what he was about to receive.

I stepped out of the car and signaled her to roll down the window as I cupped my elbows. “Call me when you get home so I know you’re safe.”

“Will do, Zoë
dahling
,” she said in her best snobby accent. “Stay away from the weirdo’s on the train!”

I nibbled on that thought with a smile; at night there was almost nobody on the train except a few late shift hospital workers.

“Hey, I
am
the weirdo on the train.”

“You got that right!”

The car eased away. “Next Friday let’s do this again but no pants allowed. Skirts only. Love you sis!”

Sunny—always the fashion bully.

I lost track of time during the short ride home thinking about her new…boyfriend? I guess that was the word. I just hoped he was a good guy.

The train reached my stop and I leapt off, listening to the click of my heels on the uneven pavement. 15
^th
Street was filled with small shops—now closed—where I spent my Sunday’s shopping and eating.

I passed the last streetlamp on the right facing a dark open field. Just on the other side I could make out the subtle glow of my apartment lights, and it was the only feasible shortcut. It took twice as long to take the road that did a completely u-turn and it was three times as scary. The creek was shadowed with trees, and living things scurried from beneath the bridge. No thanks—not a fan of getting eaten by shadow monsters.

The one risk was that summer rain often brought colonies of fire ants. They could turn an otherwise innocent stretch of land into a landmine, unleashing an assault like never imagined. It was a hard lesson learned when I first moved in and decided to grab a sandwich in my flip-flops. Since then I always brought an extra pair of sneakers if I went anywhere.

I also kept a bottle of Calamine in the medicine cabinet.

Taking my time, I walked across the fragrant field of wildflowers. I loved the heady scent in the evening.

Not that I could see a damn thing.

My hair twisted about my face when a sudden gust of wind came up from behind.

At least, I thought it was wind.

A blanket of darkness circled around, tilting me off balance so that I landed flat on my back. The wind was knocked out of me like a fist to my lungs and I grunted like some kind of an animal.

Staring up at the stars, it took a moment to get over the initial shock of the fall.

Except, those weren’t stars
.

Brilliant green eyes, alit by more than the moonlight, stared watchfully at me. They were jewels whose colors shifted from the glowing embers behind them. My body stung with an electrical charge that intensified the more the dark haired man leaned in; but I was too stunned to do anything…to say anything. Fear overwhelmed me and felt as palpable as a million dull spikes pressing against my skin.

“Hello, little girl.”

His voice was thick, accented, and colossal in power. A short bearded cheek brushed against mine and I recoiled.
Too close
.

Cruel fingers squeezed my arms forcefully until my hands were pinned over my head. His eager palm pressed into mine.

“So glad we can finally be acquainted. You must lie very still so we can get this over with. The last one died in the process and this requires careful timing.”

When I was ten, I put a 9-volt battery to my tongue on a dare. Needless to say after I felt the surprising sting of pain on my tongue, it didn’t last more than two seconds. It doesn’t mean it was the last time I ever did it—strange how you challenge yourself with pain tolerance. The sharp metal flavor was as close to that sensation as I could describe.

Energy buzzed in my fingertips and a feathery bluish light drifted between our hands like delicate cobwebs. A scream was surfacing from my lungs, but before it escaped, I snapped my head forward and struck him in the face.

There was a crack, and as soon as I felt the pain, a stream of warm blood poured all over my neck from his broken nose. Tears welled, but I refused to let them free. That clever little idea came courtesy of countless action films, but something they never went into detail about was that a headbutt hurts on both ends.

Lesson learned
.

He roared so loud that I stiffened like a dog about to be spanked for shitting on the rug.

“Get off of me! Let me go,
get off
!” Words that meant nothing to an attacker.

“You worthless female whore, I will not make this as easy on you as the rest,” he promised. His hands fell over my eyes and in a flash of pain I was temporarily blinded.

My hand sought the one place I knew I could gain the advantage. I wasn’t going to be the only one who saw blinding light so I reached down and twisted his balls with a punishing grip.

That was enough to make him jump back, so I flipped over like a coin and ran aimlessly in the dark.

I managed twelve long strides before slamming into a wall, which not only immobilized me, but wrapped itself around me like a midnight tornado.

I sat straight down, slipping through his grasp and onto my knees. Salty sweat tickled my brow and within seconds he fell on top of my back and locked his arms around my neck in a vice-like grip. I clawed at his steel arm, but he didn’t loosen his hold by even a fraction. There was no more air.

This was the moment that every mortal feared.

“Let’s finish this,” he said.

Nausea erupted as slick blood poured from his nose and smeared across my face. “We can play games later.”

When his grip tightened to an excruciating degree, tiny flashes twinkled in my view. Seconds before I lost consciousness, he pushed me back down and pulled my arms over my head once more. I never felt so helpless, so afraid…so pissed off as I lay there gasping for air.

“Mmm, I enjoy this part,” he muttered, pressing his body again mine. “Going to give you a little extra for the trouble you’ve caused.”

A current flowed between our hands and crawled through me like a living thing. The thick metallic taste of adrenaline was heavy on my tongue and I writhed beneath him—my bare heels dug in the dirt.

“Let me go! What…are you doing to me?”

His tongue ran over his bottom teeth. “Marinating.”

Life was flowing away. I was no longer able to speak, to move, and it felt as if there was no me or him, no grass below, no summer breeze.

I was becoming reacquainted with the universe as if we had been separated at birth. Death was imminent, and my soul knew it.

“Not quite, little girl,” I heard from my detached state of mind. “It’s the giving that makes the taking so much…
sweeter
. And I have perfected the taking to the nth degree.”

Motion sickness overtook me and all I could do was look into that bastard’s eyes—those green glowing eyes that looked like traffic signals.

“I can taste your fear. Want to know what it tastes like?” His tongue ran across my cheek and my body revolted; I jerked my head as far away from him as I could get. I didn’t want to look at him anymore, so I squeezed my eyes shut, blocking out that hardened face and midnight hair.