Foolish Games Page 5

  I Knew I loved you before I met you..

  I think I dreamed you into life...

  I knew I loved you before I met you..

  I have been waiting all my life...">>>

  Jessie had always loved this song but the way Nick sung it to her made her love it more somehow. It was as if she could literally feel every word he was singing.

  To Nick, the words of the song described exactly how he felt about Jessie and that was his way of telling her.

  Jessie knew what he was doing and was deeply touched. She finally realized that she was falling in love with him and there was no stopping her now. He was just too sweet and too darn gorgeous for his own good!

  When Nick’s head lowered to meet hers, she met him halfway and their lips met in a soft kiss, which got deeper as the seconds ticked away endlessly. The song finally ended and the strains of the last chord still hung in the air. It was Nick who pulled away. He looked at her and smiled at her flushed face. She returned the smile.

  "I think I could fall in love with you, Nick Thorne." She told him softly.

  "I already know I’m in love with you." Nick whispered in her ear. It was so easy for him to say how he felt about her because he knew.

  About twenty minutes later, Nick stopped outside Jessie’s house. He walked her to the door.

  "I had a great time tonight." Jessie said looking into his eyes. Those baby blue eyes that seemed to twinkle every time she smiled at him. "Thank you."

  "You don’t have to thank me. It was my pleasure." Nick said, pushing a stray strand away from her face and tucking it behind her ear. Jessie shivered at the contact between them.

  Nick leaned forward and kissed her then. So intense was this kiss that she had to wrap her arms around him for support. He pulled her closer, never breaking the kiss, his hands moving up and down her back. Jessie realized what she was doing and pulled away.

  "I..um.. better get inside." She stammered opening the door.

  Nick put a hand on her arm.

  "Jessie? You okay?" he asked. He hadn’t meant to kiss her like that. He didn’t want to seem too pushy but he couldn’t help it.

  "Yeah i’m fine." Jessie replied regaining control of her voice.

  "You sure?"

  "Yes."

  "Okay then. I’ll see you tomorrow?"

  "Yep."

  Nick kissed her cheek then left.

  Jessie closed the door softly and leaned against it. Her father seemed to be asleep, thank God! She needed to sort out her feelings on her own and boy was she confused!

  When she agreed to sleep with Nick, she had absolutely no intention of falling in love with him, but now it was happening! What she didn’t realize was that it was inevitable. Now what the hell was she supposed to do? She wanted to get into Phi Alpha Beta but then would mean losing Nick if he ever found out about it and she didn’t want to lose Nick. And the thought of it made her heart beat faster.

  And if she told Nick the truth then she might risk the chance of getting into Phi Alpha Beta and that she couldn’t afford to do either. Not as she was failing more than half her subjects so horribly.

  A knock on the door broke her away from her thoughts.

  Who could it be at this time of the night? Maybe it was Nick? Maybe he forgot something.

  Jessie turned to open the door and her heart stopped as she noticed who was at the door. Josh stood there smiling at her.

  "Hi baby. Guess who’s back?"

  CHAPTER 15

  Brian was driving and Erica was sitting in the seat next to him fuming, with her arms folded across her chest. They were both soaking wet, but with the tension in the car, they didn’t even care. Neither of them dared to speak with the fear of saying something wrong.

  Brian suddenly turned into a street leading away from Erica’s house. Erica noticed.

  "This is not the way to my house."

  "I know." Brian replied, his eyes still fixed on the road.

  "Then where the hell are you taking me?" Erica asked, her voice held undertone of panic. Right now the last thing she wanted was to be alone with him.

  "We’re going to my house. We need to talk and we need to do it alone." Brian stated.

  Erica knew he was right. At her house, her sister would probably be there. Erica’s sister, Emily, had a huge crush on Brian and would forever tag along with them when they were at home.

  "I thought you didn’t want to talk to me. Why this sudden change of heart?" Erica asked.

  Brian turned to look at her then.

  "I’ve been thinking and I realized that I’ve been really..harsh towards you and-"

  "That’s an understatement." Erica stated.

  "Okay, I was cruel and i’m really sorry."

  He looked sincere but Erica still wasn’t convinced. They reached Brian’s house then. By now the rain was just drizzling.

  "Come on, let’s go inside. Then we’ll talk."

  Brian switched off the car and they got out and went to the door. Brian pulled out some keys and proceeded to open the door.

  ‘After you." he said opening the door for her.

  Erica went inside and looked around.

  Brian lived alone so they were ensured privacy. The place was the same as it was when they were dating. Not that she expected it to change much since Brian was rarely at home.

  When Brian turned to look at her, he noticed that she was shivering.

  "We should get you out of those clothes." Brian said, "I mean, before you get sick or something." He added quickly when he saw her flush slightly.

  "But I didn’t bring any clothes with me." Erica told him.

  "Don’t you have clothes here?" Brian asked.

  "No I took them with me when I left." Erica said.

  It was really awkward for her to talk about this.

  "That’s okay. You can borrow something of mine." Brian said, "You used to do it when you lived here remember?"

  How could she forget?! Just being in this house brought back all the memories of them being together since they were living together at the time.

  Erica only nodded at him.

  "Come on." Brian said going to his room. Erica followed him.

  When they were in his room, he reached into a drawer and pulled out an over-sized T-shirt and handed it to her.

  "Thanks." She said taking it from him and walked towards the bathroom to change. She didn’t know why she was being so modest. I mean, it wasn’t like Brian had never seen her naked before! True, she didn’t understand why he was being so nice to her and she had to admit that it scared her a little that he was so accommodating after what she did to him. She switched on the light and looked at herself in the mirror. She hadn’t realized that the outfit she had on was now see through as it was wet and the fact that it clung to every curve of her body didn’t help either. She shook her head as if to clear it and proceeded to undress.

  "Josh?" Jessie croaked. She couldn’t believe that her ex-boyfriend, who she was trying so hard to forget, was standing in front of her.

  "What? No ‘Hi’ or ‘I missed you Josh’?" he asked pushing past her and going inside.

  "What are you doing here?" she asked ignoring him and shutting the door.

  "Can’t a guy visit his girlfriend?" he asked taking a seat in the living room.

  "Josh, I’m not your girlfriend anymore. We broke up." Jessie said. She decided to remain standing. She didn’t want to get too close to him because, if she was honest with herself, she was still afraid of him.

  "I know Jessie, but that still doesn’t change my feelings for you." Josh said. Then motioned for her to take a seat next to him. "Why don’t you have a seat and we can talk for a while?"

  "No that’s okay. Josh maybe some other time. Right now i’m kinda tired." Jessie said faking a yawn. She didn’t really lie. I mean she was tired.. OF HIM!!

  "Okay sure. I’ll be here for the next couple of days so we can arrange something." Josh said but made no move to get up, "If you need to get in touc
h with me, I’m staying at that hotel not far from here. I forgot the name."

  "That’s okay. I know what you’re talking about." Jessie lied. In fact, she didn’t really give a damn. She just wanted him out her house and fast.

  "So where have you been?" he asked her the scrutinizing her from head to toe, "I don’t think you’ve ever worn anything like that when we were going out."

  "Well it’s new and does it matter where i’ve been?" Jessie asked irritably. Why couldn’t he just get up and walk out that door and out of her life?

  "Actually it does. I’ve been waiting for you for quite some time now." Josh said finally getting up and advancing towards her.

  Jessie started stepping backwards.

  "What are you talking about?" she asked her heart beat increasing.

  "So? Who’s the guy you were with??" Josh asked still walking towards her.

  Jessie backed up against a wall and noticed that she was trapped. Josh smiled.

  "That’s a friend." She stammered.

  "Oh really? That’s not what he looked like to me. That was some ‘friendly’ kiss."

  "You saw that?"

  "Damn right I saw that." Josh said putting a hand around her throat and another over her mouth. "Just remember something Jessie. This isn’t over. You’re mine. You always will be. I don’t want to see you with that guy again."

  With that, he let her go and walked out. Jessie tried desperately to get her breathing back to normal and couldn’t. She was really scared now. Just why the hell did she let him in? And why couldn’t he just leave her the hell alone?!

  CHAPTER 16

  Erica walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where she heard the rattle of dishes. She met Brian there making two cups of tea. He only had on a pair of boxers. She couldn’t help the feeling she got every time she saw him dressed as he was, or undressed as the case might be.

  Brian looked up at her then and saw her eyes on him. Their eyes locked for a brief moment. With much effort, Erica tried to tear her gaze away and did.

  Brian sighed and picked up the two cups of tea and walking over to her, handed her one.

  "This should make you feel better." he said.

  "Thanks." Erica said then took a small sip. She closed her eyes and let the warm feeling travel down her throat to the rest of her body.

  "Now about that talk," Brian began, "Erica I know I haven’t exactly given you a chance to explain what exactly happened between us."

  "No you haven’t." Erica agreed, putting her tea cup on the table, "First of all Brian, I want to say that I loved you. I always have and I guess I always will. I don’t know what possessed me to cheat on you. I guess it was because we were moving so fast and I wasn’t ready for a serious relationship-"

  "You could have told me that instead of cheating on me." Brian said the hurt in his voice still evident.

  "I know that now. I’m sorry. I just... I dunno.. I wanted to be popular. To fit in. So I-"

  "Went with all the so-called ‘popular’ people." Brian finished for her "Like Zach."

  "Erica winced "Yes. But I regretted it after. After it was too late. After I had lost you." Erica told him. She could remember the hurt look in his eyes when he found out that she was cheating on him with Zach and it had really hurt her to see him like that. "I never meant to hurt you."

  "But you did." Brian said softly.

  "I know and maybe one day you can forgive me."

  "I already have."

  "What?" she wasn’t sure if she was hearing correctly. Did he just say that he’d forgiven her for cheating on him?

  "Erica,” Brian began putting his tea beside hers on the table and taking her hand in both of his, "When I found out you cheated on me, it hurt so bad, I wanted to actually kill you two. But I think the pain was mostly at the thought of losing you more than anything else. When we broke up and you started dating Kevin. I hated you because I thought you would eventually hurt him like you did me. I was wrong though. I saw how happy he was with you. He kept on telling me how you’d changed and that you wouldn’t do anything to hurt him but I didn’t believe him. I thought it was all an act. But now I realize that it’s not and I want to know if we can start all over again?" Brian asked with hopeful eyes. "You and Me."

  "I’d like that." Erica said with a smile then hugged him, "But why don’t we continue where we left off instead?"

  "Does that mean you’re moving back in with me?"

  "Do you want me to move back in with you?"

  "Maybe. Is that too serious for you?" Brain asked.

  "Maybe." She mimicked, "But right now, I don’t mind getting serious with you."

  "You sure?"

  "Positive." She replied and to show him that she meant it, she leaned forward and kissed him deeply. She had waited so long to do this that right now, she just wanted to savour every moment of it.

  Brian wrapped his arms tightly around her and pulled her closer to him. Erica tangled her hands in his hair. He scooped her up in his arms then.

  "Just like old times." He said with a wink as he headed to his room.

  CHAPTER 17

  Jessie was walking to her first class when Erica caught up with her.

  "Hi Jessie!" she said happily.

  "Boy, someone’s in a good mood this morning!" Jessie stated dryly.

  "Yep! You will never believe what happened last night!" Erica said. She couldn’t contain herself. She was literally glowing.

  "You and Brian got back together?" Jessie asked with a shrug of her shoulders.

  "How did you know?" Erica asked looking at her.

  "Just a wild guess." Jessie stated dismissively.

  "Okay." Erica said. It was then she noticed what Jessie was wearing, "Aren’t you hot in that thing?" she asked eyeing Jessie’s turtle neck sweater.

  "What? No. I’m fine." Jessie lied. She was boiling but she didn’t want anyone to see the marks that Josh had left on her neck last night. Jessie was one of those people who had really sensitive skin so that the slightest touch, gave them a bruise and Josh’s hands last night were anything but gentle.

  "You’re lying."

  "What? What makes you think i’m lying?" Jessie asked annoyed.

  "Jessie, you’re not a very good liar. You’ve told me so yourself and I can see it on your face. Something’s wrong. What is it?" Erica asked stopping her friend.

  Jessie sighed on answering.

  "Josh is back. He came to see me last night-"

  "OhmyGod! Did he hurt you?" Erica rushed out concerned.

  "Well actually yeah. That’s the reason i’m wearing this." Jessie said. She pulled down the neck of her sweater to reveal the bruises. Erica gasped.

  "What did he do? Try to strangle you?"

  "Ssh! Would you keep your voice down!" Jessie told her looking around to make sure that no one was watching them.

  "And yes. Something like that. You see last night after I got back from my date with Nick, he came to see me. Apparently, he saw when I got back because he told me that he’d been waiting for me to get back. But the strange thing was that I didn’t see another car or anything when I got back home. Anyway, he came inside and-"

  "Why the hell did you let him in?!" Erica asked.

  "I didn’t LET him in! He pushed me aside and came in himself!" Jessie protested, "I didn’t want to wake my dad so I just let him."

  Erica shook her head. "So how did you get those bruises?"

  "He saw Nick kiss me and-"

  "It’s about damn time!"

  "You wanna hear this or not? Stop interrupting me!"

  "Sorry. Go ahead."

  "I told him that Nick was just a friend but he didn’t believe me. He put his hand around my throat and the other over my mouth so I couldn’t scream. He told me that I was his and that it wasn’t over between us." By the time she was done she was shaking.

  "Jessie, tell your dad! He’ll get a restraining order against Josh!" Erica told her.

  "It’s not that easy! I know Josh. A res
training order is not going to stop him." Jessie said.

  "But you have to do something! You can’t just sit back and let him kill you!"

  "Josh won’t kill me."