Bad Boy Romance: Bad Marine (Bad Boy Military Romance) (Alpha Bad Boy New Adult Contemporary Male Stories) (11 page)

Paranormal Romance

By: G.P. Joyner

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Betty Steele sat Indian style in a corner of the school stage, eating lunch and staring across the quad.  She had silver-colored eyes.  Today, she opted for a pair of orange capris and a black and orange faded short sleeve shirt accompanied by black roman sandals.  She found that it was safer to be a loner the majority of the time, given her circumstances.  She hadn’t quite fit in the any of the groups or cliques that she spotted around campus.  She felt awkward being around a crowd.  Betty’s articulation astounded her peers and some of her professors.  Being a bookish individual, she had learned to become observant to those who were safe to have conversations with versus those who were too lackluster to hold her patience.

Homecoming was approaching fast. The college spirit dispersed by the different activities on campus tickled her senses.  As much as she wanted to participate in school activities, she kept a low profile.  Deciding that she needed a quick escape from reality, she disappeared into book she had picked up at garage sale a couple of blocks from her apartment complex when on the jocks from her class approached her. 

Javier Romero, who stood at 5'9" with dark hair with green eyes and a body honed from playing soccer most of his life, kept an eye on Betty.  The first time she spoke in class she had a sweet, sultry voice that made people sit up and pay attention.  It was almost hypnotic.  He sat down across from her, being careful not to invade too much of her space.  He knew she didn’t volunteer in class that often. Javier just assumed Betty was shy.

Betty scrutinized him with avid curiosity, but didn’t utter a word.  Really paying close attention, Javier noticed her eyes, which captivated him.

Feeling unnerved, she finally spoke.  "Is there something wrong?"  Her voice emerged softly and with such gentleness that the words seemed to just linger in the air, hanging like magic.

"No, I mean, I don’t mean to stare, but your eyes are so beautiful.  This is not a pick-up line either, but, man."

"Thank you, but you do know who I am, don’t you."

"Yes.  You always sit in the first row, three rows in and two seats back, which puts you two seats in front me in our English 101."

"Given the fact that you know my exact location of where I sit at, is there something in particular that you are aching to ask me, or are you here for a staring contest?"

Looking down at her watch, it was just about time for her to go to class.  She could hear the voices in her head again.  Closing her eyes, she put a barrier up to block out the thoughts.  She was already feeling awkward how it would look with her freaking out in front of him.  She had to go. Wiping her behind off from sitting in the glass and grabbing her bag, she started to depart.

"Wait, please, I am normally not a Neanderthal."  He grinned, embarrassed.  "Are you going to the Homecoming game?"

"I don’t go to those things." 
If the circumstances were different, I’d join you in a heartbeat—if I knew you wouldn’t freak out about what I am.

"Come on. I would love to see you in the stands rooting for us.  Don’t you like soccer?"

Betty smiled.  "It’s not a factor of liking soccer.  I love watching the sport.  Unlike most girls, you charm doesn’t work that well on me."

Her vertebrae began to tingle.  Shaking her head, Betty began walking away from the conversation abruptly, not realizing the pair of eyes that were watching her didn’t belong to Javier.

Dressed as a student, Drew sat on the bench in the courtyard, looking like he was texting, as Betty rushed by him.  As soon as she was out of earshot, Drew made the phone call.

“Yeah.”

“Found her.”

“Are you sure it’s her?”

“Looking at the picture you gave us, yes, it’s her.”

“Good.  Find out where she lives.  Watch her for a couple of days, and then we will decide what to do.”

“What if she changes?”

“Let’s just pray it doesn’t get to that.  The last time it happened, chaos ensued, and we end up killing the subject.  Let’s try to avoid that this time.”

“Yes, Mr. Steele.”

This only intrigued Javier more about her.  How was Betty able to block his thoughts?  No one he had ever met had the capability of completely blocking his suggestion.  Curiosity fostering his desire, he had to find out if she was like him.  He began to scurry along after a flurry of thoughts and caught a trail of ill intent towards Betty.  Javier searched the students in her general area, but just as quickly as he had felt and sensed the presence, it vanished.

The next day, he was going to ask her about it.  He had to know if she was like him.  What could be the possibility of finding someone with the same gifts as him?  His parents thought there was something wrong with him in the beginning.  Javier didn’t talk much, but he picked up on emotions of those around him and geared his intentions to them.  something about his thoughts distracted her from theirs.  He liked what he saw, and it wasn’t all about sex.  He sincerely wanted to get to know her.

Since Javier had to be on campus for practice the next day anyhow, he figured why not arrive early, in an off chance that she would be in the same spot.  After all, she was a creature of habit, so maybe she would be in the same place.  His wait paid off when he saw her.  She was spreading a small blanket down on the ground to sit and eat lunch.  He wished he could have done that for her.  Shaking his head—
where had that thought come from
—and pushing the thought aside, he watched her and waited.

Betty began to devour her food.  She ate with such gusto he wondered if she was eating properly at home.  Today, she donned a beige scoop-neck t-shirt with a matching lacy light teal one beneath it and a brown and white floral mullet skirt.  She topped it off with a wide brown leather belt.  Taking a chance that she would be in the same spot, he waited for two hours, noting the time.

She was in the middle of the chewing when he plopped down in front of her, blocking her view.  She raised an eyebrow and finished chewing.  She took another bite of her sandwich.

“Tell me how you blocked me.”

At least he was direct and straight to the point.  She looked almost panicked when he asked the question.  Betty looked around to see if any of her father’s guards were around.

Leaning over, she asked, “How do you know that about me?”

“I’m like you.  Why do you look like you are going to run?”

“If you found me, so can he.”  She stood, packing her stuff hurriedly.

Scanning, he felt that odd feeling again.  His eyes searching, he placed a hand on her arm, halting her actions.  She looked down at his hand.

“There’s someone here that intends to do you harm.”

“Fuck,” she whispered.  Closing her eyes, she opened her sense up all the way so she could sense who the threat was.  “Gotcha.”

Opening her eyes, she looked up at Javier.  “
Look, I would love to stick and around, but I have to go.  I’ve stayed here too long and have become complacent.  Now he has tracked me down.  I have to leave, and if I were you, I wouldn’t acknowledge you know me at all.
”

Betty turned to leave.  He touched her arm and whispered, “Did you…?  How did…?  When?”  Flustered for words, he grabbed the back of his neck.

“I can’t explain it.  I have to go.”  Betty took off at a clipped pace, walking quickly toward her apartment.  There were a few things she needed to get: her 'go bag' and cash.

Javier was right on her tail.  He stalked after her even when she was inside of her apartment, which seemed too small for the two of them to occupy that space.  It resembled more of a hole in the wall.

“What is this?  This isn’t an apartment.”

She turned to face him with her bag in hand.  Taking a text book that looked more like an industrial-size dictionary from the pile on the nightstand, she opened it and retrieved three stacks of money and tossed it in the bed.  She replaced the book in its proper place.

“Slow down.  What is going on here?”

She shook her head and placed a finger over her mouth.  How he envied that finger at that moment before he shut out the thought since he wasn’t sure what her abilities were.

Betty signaled for him to follow her as they moved to the back of the apartment, where the bathroom was located.  She stood on top of the tub and opened the window.  The frown on his face told her that he was puzzled.  The window was big enough for a lithe person to get in and out, but he was nowhere near lithe.  If she had an escape in place, Javier knew she was in more trouble than she let on.

Javier drew Betty in at the waist to hold her, whispering in her ear, “I need a pen and paper.  I want to give you something.”

Betty gestured to the small notebook and pen on the counter, and he tore the piece of paper out and wrote on it before folding it to give it to her along with his car keys.

“I can’t take your car.”

“Yes, you can, and you will just to put my heart at ease.  I may not have gotten to get to know you like I wanted, but at least I get the knowledge that I was able to help you in other ways.”

“Why are you doing this?” she asked him, confused.

“You are like me in many ways, yet I sense you are different on a molecular level.  The opportunities to help someone like me are far and few between.  Besides, the fact that I am seriously crushing on you at this point may have something to do with it.  But I have a feeling that you already knew that.”

“You know, I am going to have to wipe your memory.”

“You can wipe my memory, but you can’t erase what’s already settled in my heart.”

Tilting her head, she seemed to ponder what it meant.

“We don’t have much time.  Do what you need to do.  The car is parked on the side of the street of the apartment complex.”

For once, she was grateful for the companionship even for a little while.  Granting one of his fantasies, she stood face to face with him and gestured for her to bend lower to her.  To his surprise, Betty pressed a chase kiss to his lips.  Opening up for him just a little, she felt his tongue as it caressed and soothed some of the tension.  The feeling she wanted more began to build as her vertebrae began warm.  A change was beginning, and she had to pull back.

“If you are ever in trouble, use the number.  Take care of yourself, Betty Steele.”

“Thank you.”

Reaching inside herself, she pulled on her ability and touched his mind, removing traces of the last two days from his memory but leaving the classroom ones intact.  Javier stood there like a zombie as the memories began to dissolve into nothingness.  She had all of ten minutes to get out the window or it all would be useless.

Tossing her bag out the window and then climbing down herself, she opened her senses and scanned her direct area.  The only ill will she felt came from the form at the front door.  Casting the net wider, she didn’t find anything or anybody else.  She hightailed it through the college campus to the back of the school.  She wished she could have run track while in attendance at the college, but she knew it would have been a dead giveaway, as she had loved to run when she was in school.  Finishing her trek across the campus and taking the newly install ramp up, over, and down to the student apartment complex, she located Javier’s vehicle on Crocker Road, just where he had said it would be parked.

Turning the key in the ignition, she put the car in gear and sped out of dodge. 

When Javier came out of his trance, he looked around to try to piece things together.  He couldn’t remember how the hell he had gotten there let alone what his purpose was for being in the rinky-dink apartment.  He heard the knocking at the door and went to answer.

He paused, as he wasn’t too sure about the people on the other side of the door.  Finally giving in to curiosity, as he was part feline, he opened the door.

“Can I help you?”

A man in the standard charcoal grey pinstripe suit stood on the other side.  He gave Javier a once-over and felt he was adequate to answer any question he may have.

“Yes, I am looking for Betty Steele.”

Why the hell am I in Betty Steele’s house?  Please tell me I wasn’t having one of the drunken spells. 
“Well, she’s not here.  Is there something I help you with?”

The unknown gentleman stepped toward him menacingly, and Javier crossed his arms to let him know that he was going to stand his ground.

“Don’t be a fool.  Let me pass.  I want to—no, I demand to speak to my daughter.”

Playing as he if held all the answers, he said, “You must be the elusive Mr. Steele.”  His kind hated this man.  He was cruel; he constantly experimented on his family and others that he knew of, searching to make the right combination of animal and human DNA.