Demon of Desire

Sloan trudged slowly, her head hung low and her eyes following the cracks along the pavement as she made her way home. She felt disappointed and sad, not knowing how long it would take before she saw Levy again. She wondered why, all of a sudden, he’d had to go away—especially after his crazy talk about their strong bond. What was it she’d missed?

“Where have you been?” her livid aunt demanded.

Sloan did not pay any attention to her. Instead, she went to her room and dove into bed. She wanted to sleep and hopefully wake up to a new reality. She had spent each day of the past few weeks with Levy and now he was gone.

A feeling of abandonment enveloped her as she rolled herself in her covers, wrapping the duvet around her like a cold burrito. She just wanted to sleep and hope she would see Levy the next morning.

Her uncle interrupted her solitude. She didn’t need to look up at him…the tone in his voice when he yelled for her told her there was trouble.

“What do you want, Edwin?” Sloan mumbled from underneath the covers.

“Get up!” Edwin pulled the covers off her, pulling Sloan with them. “I said get up!”

“What do you want from me?” Sloan pulled back the covers, and soon their exchange of words turned into a full-fledged tug of war.

“Let go of this cover!” Edwin gave it one last yank and pulled her off the bed with it. “Come with me!”

“No!” Sloan scrambled back into her bed and sat cross-legged, a glare of defiance in her eyes.

“What did you just say?” Edwin hissed, hunching over her.

Diana rushed into the room, grabbed her husband’s elbow and slowly pulled him away from the strong-willed girl. “Let’s go, honey. You can talk to her later.”

“I want to talk to her now.” Edwin reached out to grab Sloan’s elbow but she inched away. “Christy, do not try my patience.”

“Don’t call me that, you old fart!” she lashed back.

“Christy! I will call you Christy because that is your name.”

“I said—” Sloan’s words were cut short when Edwin’s open hand landed on the side of her face. At first shock, then pain clouded her mind. Rage set in as her eyes began to water from the sting.

Sloan’s palms were flat on her window as she stared outside. She was trying to get away from her uncle’s abusive hands, but what she saw caused her more pain. The sight of Levy driving away trumped the pain of leather meeting her flesh.

“Let go of me.” Sloan managed to bulldoze her way out of the room, only for Edwin to catch up to her a few paces later. “What do you want from me?”

“I want you to tell me where all the gifts came from.” Angrily, he chewed down on his lip.

“What gifts?” Sloan panicked at the thought that her uncle had found the only prized possessions she had left.

Chantal ran into the hallway holding the Tiffany bag. “These gifts—a phone, a diamond bracelet, ring and chain.” She smiled at Sloan’s shocked gaze. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Where did you get that?” Sloan tried to grab the bag, but between her uncle’s tight grasp on her hair and her cousin’s quick movements it was useless. “Those are mine.”

“Who gave them to you?” Edwin pulled her back and turned her to face him.

“Levy gave them to me.”

“And what do you give him in exchange?”

“It’s not like that.” Sloan found herself defending a relationship that even she didn’t understand, and now that he had left she would never know.

“Then why is he giving you these gifts?”

“Edwin, let go of her hair.” Diana loosened his grip and pulled his hand away. “Just calm down, maybe we could talk about this. Let’s hear her side of the story…we shouldn’t judge.”

“Mom! Why else would she have these gifts? Guys don’t give girls diamonds just because they are good company.” Chantal shook the bag before her mother’s face.

“Maybe you, but not me.” Sloan clenched her fist. “Levy gave them to me, I never asked for them.”

“Dad did you hear what she said?” Chantal whined.

“You are never to see that man again. For as long as you live in my house you are not to see that man.” Edwin grabbed her arm, shaking the point into her.

“You don’t have to worry about that, he left. He left a while ago and I don’t think he is coming back.” Those words pained her as she said them. This was a lesson. She knew better than to get attached.

“Good.”

“Can I have my things back?”

“No.” Edwin took the bag from Chantal. “I’ll keep them.”

“You can’t, they are mine,” Sloan protested, tears stinging her eyes.

“Not anymore. Go to your room. You have school tomorrow.”

Sloan went to her room and climbed into bed and, as much as she wanted to, she wouldn’t let herself cry. She felt alone and abandoned. It was her parents’ death all over again.

When morning came she was as grim as the previous night. She looked out the window and there he was—not Levy, but Gabriel. Sloan ignored him walking to school as he strode behind her. She wanted to turn around and shout at him, scream anything, but she couldn’t face him because she knew the only thing that would come out of her mouth was to ask where Levy was.

Sloan bore through classes and was anxious to see Gabriel when school was over. She found him where she had left him that morning at the school gates. Sloan didn’t bother waiting for her aunt at the curb anymore. With Gabriel behind her she was safe.

All through the week she walked back and forth from home to school without saying a word to Gabriel. But today, when she looked back at him, she noticed that she had picked up a new tail. This guy was younger and more attractive than the other.

Sloan turned back and waved, ignoring Gabriel’s disapproving glance. “Hi.”

“Hey.” He jogged up to her and shook the hand she gingerly offered. “Are we in the same class together or are you following me?”

“I’m following you.”

“Oh, so you are a stalker?”

“Yep, I am.” He chuckled. “I’m Jake, by the way.”

“Sloan. So you go to Hudson High?” Sloan was only being friendly because Gabriel’s frown was getting deeper with each second that she spent with the new guy.

“Yes, I’m kind of new. I’ve seen you around the school with that girl who is always in black.”

“Who? BB? Yep, she’s my homeroom girl. I’m sure if she could switch skin color with me she would.” Sloan decided to stretch Gabriel’s patience a bit more. She hooked her arm around Jake’s. “Jake, would you walk me home?”

“Isn’t he doing that?” He used his head to gesture at the solemn man behind them.

“He’s just a vagrant, I don’t talk to him.” Sloan flashed Gabriel a triumphant smile and childishly stuck out her tongue at him.

The next morning Sloan decided to talk to Gabriel. She berated him with one question after the other but they all went unanswered.

“Okay, answer this one and I won’t ask anything else. Why are you here?”

“Because he can’t be.” That was all Gabriel said and the rest of the walk to school was in silence.

“Great answer.” Sloan gave him a dismissive salute and walked through the school gates.

“Hey, Sloan,” Jake called out as she walked down the halls toward homeroom. This time she didn’t bother to say hi back. She walked into class without giving him a second glance.

“BB, the only sane person in my life.” She dumped her bag under her desk and settled next to her Goth friend.

“What happened, did your uncle beat you again? You know that I know some people and we can give him a good beating.”

Sloan couldn’t help but laugh. “Cool down, gangster, he didn’t beat me.”

“Oh, so it must be about Levy,” she said with a hint of concern in her voice.

“No, his pawn Gabriel…he is still following me around. I think he is supposed to keep an eye on me or something. If I only knew what Levy was thinking.”

BB put her arm around Sloan’s shoulder and squeezed as hard as she could. “I don’t do this at all, so if you ever tell anyone I did, I will deny it.” She pulled Sloan into a bear hug and released her as quickly as she could.

“Thanks, I needed that, and your secret is safe with me.” Sloan traced the sign of the cross on her chest.

“Wow, can I get one of those too?” Drew called out.

BB balled her hand into a fist and shook it at him. “You can get one of these.”

“Shut up, blue-eyed blond, or I’m going to help BB knock out the only brain cell you have,” Sloan shouted back.

“Whose brain cell are you going to knock out, Ms. Sloan?” The homeroom teacher walked in with a clipboard clutched to her chest. “If Christy and Barbra are done threatening the rest of the class, let’s get on with our lesson.”

It was lunch hour and, as usual, BB and Sloan had a corner table to themselves.

“I’m not quite sure, but I think that boy is walking toward us.” Using her plastic knife, she pointed over Sloan’s shoulder.

Sloan looked over her shoulder and quickly she turned back to her plate and threw her hood over her head.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m hiding.” Peeping over her shoulder, Sloan buried her head under arm.

“From him? Too late. He saw you a long time ago. And here he is.” Looking up, BB glared at Jake as he stood behind Sloan’s chair and bombarded him with questions. “Who are you, what do you want and, most importantly, why is she hiding from you?”

“Hi, I’m Jake.”

“Awesome.” BB gave him two thumbs up.

Pulling the hood from her head, she turned to look at him. “She is BB, and she has a sparkling personality, doesn’t she?”

“That she does. BB, how are you, could I speak to Sloan for a second?”

“Sure, speak.”

“Alone, if you don’t mind.”

“Please, BB.” Sloan covered her mouth with her hand, trying to hide the smile from Jake.

“Sure, I’ll see you in class.” Grabbing her books, she strode away from the table.

“You keep very colorful company.” Jake pulled the chair closer to Sloan and sat facing her.

“Yep, she is a gem.” Sloan slowly chewed on her lip as she nodded her head.

“What’s going on? Today you brushed me off.”

“Sorry about that. I was having a rough morning,” she apologized.

“What happened to your bodyguard?”

“He is still around but I’m planning to get rid of him soon. Do you have highlights in your hair?” Sloan was ready to try anything to veer the conversation away from Levy or anything to do with him.

“Blond highlights.” He twisted his locks with his finger.

“It looks good.” She punctured holes in her sandwich, avoiding eye contact.

“Why are you changing the subject?”

“Maybe it’s because I don’t want to talk about it,” she answered abruptly.

“You know I just want to be your friend. You can trust me with anything.”

She picked up her bag. “The only person I trust right now is BB. I’m not ready to let anyone else in. I’m done with being disappointed.”

“You need to stop following me,” Sloan said as she walked home with Gabriel dutifully on her trail.

“I can’t do that.”

“Why? Levy let you come here so that you could be at my service, right? Well I do not need you anymore.”

“Is this because of your new boyfriend? Mr. Gutierrez will not be pleased when he finds out.” Gabriel always referred to Levy formally, even when he wasn’t there.

Faking a tough, Gabriel-like voice, Sloan tucked her chin in her neck then bellowed, “I do not care what Mr. Gutierrez thinks.” She pulled her bag off her shoulder then heaved it at him. “I don’t care, the same way he doesn’t care. He drove away when my uncle was beating on me.”

“He couldn’t do anything. He wanted to help but—” Gabriel was cut off when Sloan used her hand to cover his mouth.

“What did you say?” She tiptoed and leaned her right ear toward his lips, “Are you tying to tell me that someone kept the mighty Levy Gutierrez from doing what he wanted to?”

Dropping her hand from his mouth, she picked up her bag and began walking away. “If Levy was an ordinary man I would believe that, but we both know he isn’t.”

Gabriel took the screeching phone from his pocket and lifted it to his ear. “Yes, sir. She is right here, sir.” Gabriel held out the phone to Sloan.

“Let me guess, Mr. Gutierrez. No thanks,” she said, turning away.

“Talk to him,” Gabriel insisted.

Sloan looked at the phone like an alcoholic would look at a shot of vodka. She fought the urge to grab the phone from him. She longed to hear his voice again, but she’d learned her lesson. She wasn’t making that mistake again.

“No. I want him to leave me alone. I want you to leave me alone. When he left that night I told myself that I would forget about him. Even though my heart ached for him I told myself to forget, and that is what I’m going to do.” She pushed the phone back to him.

Gabriel stared at her, stunned. “Sloan…are you in love with him?”

The question hit Sloan like a ton of bricks. Every day she had been with Levy she could feel something brewing quietly deep inside her, but hadn’t been faced with the idea of love. Gabriel openly asking her that scared her—it meant she really had to face it.

She didn’t want to. If Levy didn’t care why should she?

“No, I’m not in love with him,” Sloan whispered what she knew could be a lie. She turned and walked away.

* * * *

“I see you lost your tail.” Jake ran up beside her and insisted on carrying her books.

“I did, actually. It wasn’t that hard. So how are you?” Now that Gabriel wasn’t hanging around her she was sure that Levy was gone. And not knowing where he was or when he would be back made her feel even worse.

“You lost one tail and picked up another.” BB scowled at Jake. She didn’t like him and that was nothing unusual.

“Hey, BB, are you ready for the big test?” Sloan acted as Jake’s buffer.

“Hard to say, but I can only fail once.”

When BB disappeared into the classroom Sloan turned to face Jake. “So I’ll see you after school. What class are you having right now?”

“English. I’ll see you after school. I’ll wait for you at the gates.” He leaned in and gave Sloan a kiss on the cheek before walking away.

“See you after school.” Sloan smoothed her palm over her cheek, not knowing what to make of his affection.

Sloan thought of how normal the life of the girl sitting next to her was. She thought that she had it all—the white picket fence, a dad and a mom and probably a dog or a baby brother. She wished she could have that life, but it was obvious she never would.

Sloan had to settle for what she had now, a neurotic family with only Al and Cam as exceptions. She had BB and she used to have Levy, but now there was Jake. His spiky hair and gleaming smile were not enough to put Levy behind her, but she would try. This was her new life and she was going to make the best of it.

“Do you want to go to a movie with me?” Sloan sucked in her breath, waiting for Jake’s answer.

“You’re asking me out?” His gloating grin spread across his face.

“I guess I am. Don’t give me a hard time about it either or I am going to rescind my offer.” Sloan pushed past him.

Jake grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. Sloan lost her balance and crashed into his hard chest.

“Wow, too close.” She took a small step back.

“Ask me again.” Jake leaned toward her, putting his index finger under her chin and lifting her face to his. “Ask me again.”

Sloan felt embarrassed and somehow ashamed. She was putting herself out there and the last thing she wanted was for him to make fun of her.

“I’m done with this. I asked you and you didn’t answer so—” She pushed his finger off and pulled her arm from his grip. “I’m going home now, back to my miserable life.”

“You don’t have to. I’ll go to the movies with you.”

“I don’t want to go to the movies with you anymore.” When she saw BB walk up to them, she waited then took her arm. “I’m going with BB.”

Clueless, BB shifted her gaze between Sloan and Jake as they glared at each other.

“Where?”

“We are going to the movies.” Pulling BB along and turning her around, she led her out of the school gates.

“I am coming with you.” Jake walked up beside them.

“Who invited you?” BB asked boorishly.

“Sloan invited me.”

“I did invite him, but I disinvited him when he decided to be an ass about it.”

“Huh?” BB’s eyebrow rose in black suspicion. “Okay then, I will meet you at the mall at six.”

“Sure. Bye, dear,” Sloan teased.

“Yuck, don’t call me that.” Pointing at Jake, she said, “If you are coming, you will be paying for everything.” BB walked off.

“I’ll see you there.” Jake walked off and waved as she protested.

“No, I uninvited you, remember?” Sloan elevated her voice. “You are not invited.”

“See you at six, Sloan.”

“What’s the point?” she mumbled to herself as he walked way.

As Sloan walked away she saw Diana’s car drive down and she turned her face away. She was in too good a mood to let her extended family ruin it. She walked home alone without Jake or Gabriel.

She climbed out of the bedroom window while her family was having family time without her. Sloan was sure they weren’t going to miss her, with Chantal’s intense babbling and Edwin’s self-glorifying speeches, they were going to be too preoccupied. Sloan found BB and Jake standing at the mall entrance, BB impatiently tapping her foot on the ground.

“Sorry I’m late, guys, I had a little problem getting out of the house.”

“Here is your ticket.” Handing a stamped ticket to her, BB stared into her face. “Are you having problems with your uncle again?”

“No, I just had a problem with my exit strategy. But I am here now.”

“Are you having a problem with your family?” Jake picked up BB’s question but with more insistence.

Sloan wasn’t used to trusting more than one person at a time. BB knew everything about her and she understood her easily, but she barely knew Jake and she couldn’t trust him just yet.

“They didn’t like her ex-boyfriend, that’s all. Let’s go, Sloan.” BB came to her rescue just like every best friend should.

Sloan took her hand and leaned on her as they walked toward the theatre.

“You know you can trust me.” Jake leaned in and whispered in her ear as they rode up on the escalator.

“I know,” Sloan whispered back.

“I hope this movie doesn’t completely suck.” BB groaned.

“It’s an action movie, lots of guns and dead people,” Jake assured her.

“Awesome! I can’t stand romance.” BB shivered.

“Of course not,” Jake mumbled in mockery.

Sloan covered her mouth to hide her smile from her friend. During the movie she sat between the two, afraid the action would leap out of the big screens and into row H. After the movie Jake insisted on driving them both home, but BB preferred to go on her motorcycle. It was just Jake and Sloan in the beat-up Beetle.

As they approached the townhouse Sloan got nervous. When she had left the house she hadn’t thought of what could be waiting for her after the movie. She only thought about the before and never the after.

“What’s wrong? You look nervous.” For the first time Jake apparently saw something on Sloan’s face that he never thought was possible—fear.

“Could you pull up here?”

As soon as the car came to a halt, Sloan jumped out and stared at the house a few yards from where she stood.

“Are you all right?” Jake came up beside her and watched how she intently stared at the white house.

“How about I let you know tomorrow? I appreciate you dropping me home and paying for everything.”

“Bringing you home was my pleasure and paying was the only way the Dark Lord would let me come.”

Sloan laughed. She had never heard anyone refer to BB that way. There were definitely a couple of people who called her that behind her back, but none of them had the courage to say a bad thing to her face.

“I had a great time.”

“Maybe next time it can be just the two of us.” Jake took Sloan’s hand and held it up to his lips.

Sloan pulled her hand away. “Thanks, but I have to go.”

She made her way in the same way she came out, but when she went through the window she found Chantal and Edwin waiting for her on her bed.

“Where are you coming from?” Edwin inched his leather belt close to him.

“I went out for a movie.” Sloan clung to the wall as she calculated the distance between her and the door. She thought of how fast she would have to be to escape Edwin’s belt, and the possibility of her escaping without him catching her.

Edwin watched her and how her eyes moved from him to the door. He stood up and shut the door, but not before ushering a resisting Chantal out of the room.

Sloan felt the panic rise in her chest, and in that heartbeat all she could think about was how safe she would have been with Levy at her side.

“I won’t let you hit me again.” Sloan clenched her fists at her sides, ready to go down fighting if she had to.

“Let me?” Edwin laughed. “Do you think that you are in control of this situation?”

“My father did not ask you to take care of me so that you could beat me.” Sloan slowly slid along the wall to Chantal’s side of the room, and Edwin stalked after her.

“Your father was only interested in the cause and his duty to the good of the world. And he went down in flames with all his righteousness,” Edwin ridiculed.

“What do you mean?” Her curiosity was piqued, but she wasn’t distracted from her goal.

“It’s a shame your beautiful mother went down with him. I thought you were dead too, but when I found out you were alive I was disappointed.” He let go of one end of the belt and the buckle hit the ground.

“Did you kill my parents?” Her heart pounded with terror as she waited for his answer.

“No, I loved my brother, but he never loved me enough. I was drowning in debt and all I wanted was some help, but he never gave it to me. So now I have you—another thorn in my side but a very nice piggy bank.”

Sloan saw her chance and snatched it. She reached for a blow dryer from Chantal’s glam case and swung it at Edwin. Although she missed on the first swing she got him on the second and the third.

When Edwin crashed to the ground Sloan ran for the door. She ran past her cousins and Diana and headed for the front door. She ignored the angry yells calling out to her. She ran down the street, not knowing where she was headed.

She soon came to a deserted street with plenty of alleyways, but sdecided to walk in the middle where the streetlights shone true.

As she walked down the street she heard the light rumble of a car engine. With her arms crossed over her chest she quickened her pace. She could hear the engine roar get closer and closer, then finally it stopped.

Before Sloan could finally relax, she heard the opening and shutting of a car door followed by the sound of feet hitting the ground in a quick jog. When she felt a pair of arms vice her she began to kick and push as hard as she could.

“Sloan, chill out.”

Jake’s familiar voice echoed in her ear. Her body relaxed and she stopped struggling, but as soon as he let her go she turned and planted her fist on his jaw.

“What was that for?” Using the back of his hand to wipe the blood off his torn lip, Jake staggered back in pain.

“Are you crazy?” Sloan shrieked. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

When four robust men alighted from the same black monster truck she assumed Jake got out of, she took a step back, her arms lifted in front of her in surrender.

“I didn’t mean to hit him. He kind of freaked me out.”

“Its okay, Sloan, they aren’t going to hurt you.” Jake stood at her side.

“Are you sure? Because that big, dark guy doesn’t look too friendly.” Sloan gave him a quick salute before ducking behind Jake.

“Relax, Sloan, that’s Archer,” he pointed out.

“I guess the other two are his bodyguards.”

“Take her home,” Archer bellowed as he tossed the truck keys at him.

“I will see you guys back at the house.” Jake put his hand on Sloan’s lower back and pushed her toward the truck.

“I’m not going home,” Sloan insisted.

“You don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“I can go with you to your house.” She felt calmer in Archer’s presence, and the calmer she was the more confidence she got.

“No. You will not be coming to the house with us,” Archer bellowed, making Sloan leap behind Jake again.

“I am not going back home…my uncle wants to kill me. Please, only this one night,” she begged.

“Sloan, don’t push it. If you don’t want to go home I will take you to BB’s,” Jake proposed.

“BB doesn’t like uninvited guests—”

“Neither do we. Jake. Take her home and nowhere else.” Archer spoke decisively.

Sloan could see who was in charge of their little group. Jake seemed to be the youngest of the five and, although Archer sounded older, he looked younger than the other two. She knew there was something more to him to make the others take a back seat to him.

“Listen,” she said, taking a step forward, “I am going with Jake whether you like it or not.”

Jake pulled her up short by the back of her jacket. “Are you crazy?”

“Just about. Why are veins popping out of his neck? He looks pissed.”

“That is because he is. Now I need you to shut up and let me do the talking.”

“Be my guest.” She stepped behind him, out of Archer’s line of sight.

“Archer, let her just stay with us for the night. I think it would do both her and her uncle some good to stay away from each other.” Jake ignored Archer’s glare.

“Get in the car, and if I hear a peep out of you, I will throw you out of the window.” Archer snatched the keys out of Jake’s hand.

“I believe you. You will not even hear me breathe.” She settled in the back seat next to Jake.

“Stop talking,” Jake whispered into her ear.

As they drove up a dusty road, Sloan saw an old house materialize out of the dark. “You live here?”

“Shut up,” Jake responded.

Archer pulled up a few meters from the house but no one dared to alight from the car. Sloan squirmed in her seat, wedged in between Jake and one of the older guys. They all seemed to be waiting for something but she didn’t know what.

“Listen to me very closely, Sloan. Once Jake gets you situated in a room, under no circumstance are you to leave your room. Are we agreed?” Archer barked.

“What if I need to use the bathroom?” Sloan retorted.

“Did you understand what I said to you? Jake, make sure my instructions are followed.”

“Yes, Archer.”

Once Jake had agreed to the terms, Archer got out of the car and everyone followed. Like a lost puppy, Sloan shuffled her feet behind them, trying her best to disappear into the darkness that now mirrored how she felt.

“Archer is kind of uptight.” When Sloan set foot on the other side of the steel gates and the huge mahogany doors she was stunned. The house didn’t look like an old fortress from the outside, but it definitely did on the inside.

There were weapons hanging from wall to wall—nunchucks, axes, crossbows and shotguns. It looked more like an armory more than it did a house, let alone a home.

“What the flip is this?” Her mouth was agape as she took it all in.

“Shut up and follow me,” Jake replied harshly.

Usually Sloan would have said something rude that would drive him even closer to the edge, but the fact that he was doing her a favor humbled her.

Once they were in the confines of the four walls that seemed to be his bedroom, Sloan battered him with questions.

“Why do you live here, and what’s with all the nunchucks and axes hanging on the walls? Are you guys going to war or something?”

Jake was quiet as he made a bed on the floor and tossed a couple of blankets and pillows on the bed.

“Are you angry at me?” When she realized that he was ignoring her, she pulled a pillow from his hands. “Hey, I’m talking to you.”

“I need you to shut up and go to bed. I do not need any more problems tonight.”

“Are you saying that I am a problem to you?”

“That is exactly what I am saying. Now shut up and go to sleep. I don’t need you to piss off Archer any more tonight. He will kick both of us out and, unlike you, I have nowhere else to go.” He dropped into his makeshift bed and pulled the covers over his head.

“Jeez I’m sorry. Could I get a T-shirt or something? Jeans are not the most comfortable things to sleep in.”

“Sure,” Jake mumbled beneath the covers before throwing them off.

“Here,” he said, tossing a T-shirt at her. “I hope it will be comfortable.”

“I’m sure it will be. Could you please turn around so that I can change?”

“Sure.” Turning around, he said, “Tell me what happened between you and your uncle?”

“He tried to beat me and I hit him with a blow dryer.”

“What?” Jake chuckled and, without thinking about it, he turned back around. “I’m sorry.”

Sloan turned around and covered her chest with her arms. “If you wanted to sneak a look-see why didn’t you say so?”

“I didn’t. What happened to you?”

“I got hurt, its nothing.” Sloan spun around and tried to pull the shirt over her head but he stopped her. Her scars weren’t something she liked to discuss.

“When did this happen?”

“When I was a child…some people broke into our house. They killed my parents and I got this.”

Jake pulled her into a hug and held her as hard as he could. “No one will ever hurt you again.”

Sloan heard him promise something she knew he could never keep. No one hung around long enough to keep their promises but, as much as she wanted to pull away, she was drawn to him.

“Thank you.” she turned toward him and dropping her hands from her chest, circled them around his neck.

She knew he couldn’t keep his promise but she was going to pretend that he could. She was going to get something else from him, something Levy never tried to get from her but she knew he wanted to. What she wanted from Jake was false, all for comfort, and she was going to bask in it until it became true. With Levy she wouldn’t have to force it to be true…it just would be its true self. They both would be freely and earnestly giving, and it would bond them together, forever.

But Jake was here and Levy wasn’t.

She pulled his head down but he pulled away. “What are you doing?”

“I want to kiss you.”

“That’s not a good idea, Sloan.”

“Then why are you holding me so tightly?”

“I don’t know…maybe it’s because I want to do more than just kiss you.”

“Then do it,” she baited.

“That’s not such a good idea. Archer won’t like it.”

“Archer isn’t here. It’s just you and me. Don’t overthink everything that you do.” When his silence drew longer, she conceded. “Okay then, let’s just kiss, nothing more.”

Jake stared longingly at her before letting his instincts take over. His feathery gentle kisses turned to that of hot demand.

Sloan lay next to him as she slowly got down from her high. “Tell me about your parents. I can’t believe that your mother would let her little boy leave the house.”

Jake wanted to tell her the truth but now he had to say what Archer had coached him to.

“I live here because I had nowhere else to go. My parents also died when I was young. There was a break-in, but I don’t really know what happened. When I woke up I was in the closet.”

“It must have been a shock to find your parents dead.”

“I didn’t. Archer’s father was the officer in charge and he brought me here to live with his family. What about you?”

“I watched my parents die, but I can’t really remember everything that happened. I just remember the pain in my back and hearing my mother cry. After the funeral I went to my maternal grandmother in Kenya, but my uncle brought me back earlier this year.”

“It must have been exciting in Kenya. A different scene and environment is the best thing for healing. Why did your uncle bring you back if he doesn’t seem too happy to have you in his house?”

“He’s evil. Someone must have told him I was happy.” Sloan tried to stifle a yawn but it escaped her.

“You better go to sleep. I have to return you in the morning.”

“Return me? You make it sound like I was a pair of socks you borrowed.”

Chuckling, Jake planted a couple of kisses on her face. “You are the best thing that ever walked into my life.”

“Aren’t you sweet?”