The Heir (2 page)

Oh God please don’t really die; Jessica
silently begged her bike right before killing the motor and jumping
off of it. She landed awkwardly on her ankle and felt it snap. She
bit her lip to keep herself from screaming from the pain.

With eyes stinging from the pain, she watched
her bike, now on its side, slide across the yard until it was
stopped by some bushes. Jessica, ignoring her injury, jumped up,
took of her helmet and back pack, tossed them on the ground and ran
to pick up her baby before any long lasting damage occurred. She'd
just set it back on its stand when a pair of hands landed on her
shoulder and snapped her around.

"Are you insane!!?" The driver of the car
yelled at her, shaking her like a ragged doll.

Jessica felt like one.

She looked up at the hazel eyed stranger in
shock. Silently berating herself for letting someone sneak up on
her, she was definitely not on point. She'd let her guard down,
even if it was for a second, and that roused her anger.

"What were you thinking?!" He demanded,
punctuating his question by shaking her once more.

Jessica raised her arms in front of her and
pushed his arms off of her. Once he was no longer touching her she
put her hands on his chest and pushed. She was glad to see shock
register on his face right before he started going down.

Satisfied to have caught him off guard she
took a step back, avoiding his flailing arms. He landed on his butt
and Jessica with arms crossed over her chest; feet spread apart,
smirked.

"I was trying to stay alive" She answered,
looking down at him, and taking another step back when he started
to get up.

"And what the hell was that for?" he asked
gesturing to the ground with one hand and dusting off his rear end
with the other.

"I figured it was a nice way of evening the
score." Still facing him, Jessica stepped back until she could put
her bike in between them.

He hadn't noticed the awkward way one of her
ankles was twisted, and it would stay that way if she could help
it. Looking like she had no care in the world, she leaned on her
bike with her hands on the seat and she raised her injured foot to
relieve some of the pressure.

Just because she started to heal as soon as
she was injured didn't mean that there was no pain involved. Her
adrenaline rush was ebbing and the pain was increasing. It'd taken
everything in her to run to her bike, pick it up and then confront
the guy. Her energy was running low she wasn't sure how much longer
she could keep up pretenses.

"My fault? You’re the one that came barreling
down the street, this isn't a race track."

"I know what a race track looks like," she
informed him coolly, "and are you kidding me? You’re the one
driving down the middle of the road! What, you think you own it or
something?" Standing back up, she wiped the sweat forming on her
forehead with the sleeve of her sweater. Swaying lightly she
reached for her bike again and closed her eyes.

"Whoa, are you okay?” He asked reaching for.
“Maybe we should get you some help."

She swatted his arms away, "First you attack
me and now you're worried about me?" Not giving him a chance to
answer she continued "fortunately for you, I'm fine"

"fortunately for me!?” he asked incredulously
“you're crazier than I thought if you think I'm the one to
blame"

"Yes you are and thank you for the
compliment" Jessica interjected proudly. To be fair, she later
admitted to herself that she was more than partially responsible
for the accident. But at the moment she chose to take the high
ground.

"It wasn't a compliment" the guy said through
clenched teeth.

Jessica shrugged, it was hard to care when
she felt like her ankle was going to explode.

"Well do you want to exchange insurance
information or whatever?" The guy asked her, giving her something
else to concentrate on instead of her pain.

"I don’t think you could afford a rate
increase" she told him sarcastically "besides nothing
happened."

"Well what about the yard" he asked.

"No I don’t think you could afford to pay for
that either" Jessica answered, deliberately misunderstanding him.
No one was getting her information, not him and not the home
owners.

Jessica unzipped her sweater and reached for
one of the three hidden pockets inside of it. She took out a piece
of paper, pen and some of the extra cash she carried for
emergencies and hastily penned an apology on the piece of paper.
Taking a deep breath she turned and ran for the front door.

It took everything in her to keep from
grimacing, flinching, hopping on one foot or falling to the ground
crying in pain but she reached the door without giving herself
away. Taking the hair tie from her wrist she wrapped it around the
bills and the note. She crouched down, slipped them in through the
mail slot and hoped there were no paper eating pets inside.

Getting back up she took a deep breath and
promised herself twenty-four hours of sleep and all the chocolate
cake she could eat if she made it back to the bike without making a
complete idiot of herself.

She managed to make it to her bike, picking
up her helmet and back pack on way, and hopped on it because she
couldn't trust her legs to keep her upright another minute.

"Are you sure you're okay?" The guy asked,
putting a hand on her shoulder.

She could feel the heat of his touch even
through the layers of her clothing and it embarrassed her to admit,
even to herself, that she liked it. Trying to hide her reaction
from him, she looked down at his hand in distaste and shrugged it
off of her.

It was the second time he'd managed to catch
her unaware.

"Ever heard of keeping your hands to
yourself?"

The guy shrugged and smiled, completely
frustrating Jessica. He had no right to look so good when she was
sure she looked like crap. She pulled on her helmet and slid the
visor down. With her eyes hidden, Jessica gave in and took a good
look at him.

He was tall, but then when you're 5'2, 5'3 on
a good day, everyone was tall. He looked fit, his shirt did little
to conceal his muscular form but he didn’t look like a professional
weight lifter. But it wasn’t his body that attracted her like a
honey a bear, it was his eyes. She couldn’t make up her mind
whether they were greener than brown or the other way.

And then he smiled, drawing her eyes down to
his lips and Jessica had to force herself to not fall at his feet
and beg him to do with her what he will.

Smiles like his should come with warnings,
Jessica thought.

He chuckled and shook his head, letting her
know that he’d notice her perusal.

Jessica lifted her visor and glared at him.
"I'd say that it was a pleasure meeting you, but then I would be
lying"

"Well how about you let me rectify that by
going to dinner with me?"

For a second she thought about saying yes,
have him waste some of his money but then a new shock of pain shot
up her leg reminding her of her predicament. "I don’t think so"
Jessica answered and started her bike.

"Please, you could even pick the place" He
continued, his hands in his back pockets and rocking on his
heels.

Adding an extra dose of charm, Jessica
thought. I'm probably the first girl he's ever met that wasn't
throwing herself at him-but she wanted to and that annoyed her.

When she didn't answer he added "I just want
to make sure you're alright"

"Sorry but I don’t think you could afford it"
She replied with thinly veiled contempt, more towards herself than
at him, and took off before he could reply.

“I’m Nick by the way.” He told her retreating
back but she never heard him.

Chapter 2

Too busy cursing her luck; meeting an
attractive guy when she was at her worse, Jessica almost missed the
street she was looking for. She took a sharp left and slowed down,
hitting the brakes when she almost passed the house with the
address that she had memorized by heart.

Looking around, Jessica’s hands grew sweaty
when she realized that it was an upper class neighborhood. Multiple
car garages, custom built homes all around her.

Jessica suddenly felt like a fish out of
water.

No one noticed my arrival I could just turn
my bike around and go, Jessica thought as she removed her helmet,
biting her lip and looking around.

Parking by the sidewalk, Jessica jumped off
and took off her helmet. Running her hands through her black hair
and re-adjusting her back pack she turned around and looked up at
the house with trepidation.

After taking a deep breath to compose herself
Jessica started up the driveway, grimacing every time her ankle was
jostled and growing more nervous with every step. Once she reached
the front door she wiped her damp hands on the front of her jeans
and ordered them to stop shaking

It took her a couple of moments to work up
the nerve to knock on the door and it was opened by a guy that
looked like her, same blue eyes, same nose and the same coal black
hair.

“Can I help you?" the guy, who looked to be a
year or two younger than her, asked her.

"Yeah, are your parents’ home? Mr. and Mrs.
Robertson, If they are I'd like to speak to them," she asked
him.

"And who do I tell them is calling?"

"Jessica,” She cleared her throat. “Jessica
Smith."

"OK I'll be right back"

He closed the door and Jessica turned to face
the street. She took a deep breath in a futile attempt to settle
the butterflies in her stomach.

She had a brother! If nothing else, finding
out she had a sibling made the trip worth it. The day she had asked
her mother for a little sister was the day she found out that she
was adopted. That was the day everything changed for her.

Her mom, Layla, told her that in reality she
was her godmother. Circumstances had forced her real parents to
give their baby over to the person they knew would keep her safe,
her. She was told that her parents had to adopt another baby to
cover up her disappearance.

They replaced her.

Jessica could still remember the shock, anger
and pain from such a revelation, in truth the feelings never went
away. She just learned to hide them deep-way deep-inside. Her mom
constantly spoke about her parents, but it'd been 17 years since
the last time they had talked and people changed. She only hoped
that, in this case, they changed for the better.

Suddenly she heard the door being opened,
pulling her back from her reverie. She turned back to face the door
and came face to face with a man and an older version of herself.
Jessica held her breath; uncertain of the reception she would
receive, hopeful that it was a welcoming one.

“Oh God it’s you, it’s really you!” Cried the
woman who, Jessica deduced, was her birth mother. Lauren, she
remembered being told that her real mothers name was Lauren and her
father’s name was James.

“Mom, who is she? What’s going on?"” Riley
suddenly asked from behind them, clearly concerned.

Startled by his intrusion, everyone turned to
look at him. The woman gave him a watery smile, trying to assure
him, while wiping away the tears streaking down her face.

"Riley, son, can you go get your sister and
wait for us in the family room? We all need to talk. Let’s go into
the family room" She said and ushered Jessica into the house.

Jessica took a step forward and bit her lip
to keep herself from screaming in pain. Her ankle was throbbing; it
was healing improperly, she could feel it. That meant she was going
to have to re-brake it herself, so it could re-heal the right
way.

“That's going to hurt!" She thought. Bones
were made of hard stuff and breaking your own wasn't easy. She
might heal superfast but that didn’t mean that she was immune to
the pain.

They had just taken a couple of steps when
Lauren stopped and turned to look back at the front door. "How did
you get here? Is Layla waiting outside? I'll go ask her to come
in."

Jessica balanced her weight on her uninjured
foot. "No I came here alone"

"What do you mean you came here alone?"
Lauren asked incredulously.

"I mean, one bike two people and interstate
driving isn't my cup of tea." Jessica quipped, unsuccessfully
trying to make light of it.

"A bike, you mean a motorcycle? You came
riding on a motorcycle and alone?" Lauren didn't bother to hide her
shock.

The show of concern had Jessica’s hackles
rising. The last time she had checked, they weren't the ones to
raise her, Jessica thought. In her book they had no say on what she
did and didn't do.

But she wasn't about to tell them that. After
taking a deep breath to calm herself she explained. "I know I'm not
of age yet, but I graduated early from high school and mom let me
buy myself a bike because that's all I ever really wanted."

"But -" Lauren tried to interject but Jessica
cut her off.

"I took riding classes and I know how to fix
just about anything that could get broken on it. As for me being
alone, mom said that it had to be this way. But it’s okay because I
know how to fend for myself."

Lauren looked at her dubiously and Jessica
grew more uncomfortable. It was obvious that her "mom" had a
problem with her preferred mode of transportation. Yet, Jessica was
stubborn and prideful and she hated being told what to do or what
was right or wrong.

Fortunately for everyone, she didn't think
that getting into an argument with her mother five minutes after
meeting her was a good idea.

"How about we continue this discussion after
we reacquaint ourselves?" James intervened before Lauren could say
anything else and he led them towards the living room. "Besides we
have a bigger problem to deal with."