Melody's Crush: (Book One) Read online

  “Be at my house by nine or I will lock your ass out and you can sleep on the frickin’ lawn for all I care. But so help me God, if you do not show up, I will make sure you get kicked off the team and I will not lose one bit of sleep over it. Got it?”

  His eyes widened and he only shook his head once in agreement.

  I gestured my head to the left toward his locker door at the post it note. “That is my address.” I put a finger in his face. “I’m warning you, don’t be late!”

  I looked at the rest of the guys surrounding him with all their jaws slackened, daring them to make a peep. It was the second time this had happened in a few weeks. I was beginning to like it. I let out an exasperated sigh and headed toward my locker.

  I could hear comments like, “Crazy bitch,” or “Man, I feel sorry for your ass,” and my favorite, “Psycho much?”

  They had no idea who they were messing with. I’ve kept quiet in my little corner happily for four years. I never gave anyone a reason to give me trouble up until now. I wasn’t about to let some jerk of a jock ruin my four point oh! I worked too hard to get the Valedictorian award and I wasn’t about to let this punk ass oversized meat-head ruin it for me.

  Back at home, I was pacing back and forth in my bedroom. I was nervous enough about Kyle showing up at my door, but I was even more nervous about how he was going to treat me after what I had done to him at school. I realized that my fear of failing the grade provided me with false courage and now I regretted over and over how I handled the situation. But I was completely serious about it too. There was no reason I had to put up with his lack of interest in the program or his lack of interest in me, period.

  Looking at my watch, the face read five minutes to nine. He was obviously going to spite me to prove a point.

  Argh. I wanted to kick him so hard!

  I picked up the pillow and blanket that my mother left out for him and waited next to the front door watching the clock. At exactly nine o’clock, I saw headlights pull up in the drive. I waited until about a minute after nine and then opened the front door. Kyle was sauntering lazily up the path toward the house. He stopped and held his mouth open in disbelief as I took the pillow and blankets and threw them out on the porch. I slammed the door and locked it.

  Within a few short seconds, he began pounding on the door demanding that I open it. I waited until he finally stopped pounding and the obscenities ceased. Placing the chain on the door, I cracked it open slightly. Immediately he pushed against it, scaring the crap out of me. However, the chain held… thank God.

  “Let me in!” he demanded.

  “When I say nine o’clock or else, I mean nine o’clock or else!”

  Pushing away from the door, he growled and then kicked the blanket and pillow out onto the pristine lawn. Marching back and forth on the porch like a caged tiger, he cursed out loud with every possible obscenity in the book.

  “There is a hammock to the right of the porch,” I thumbed through the crack. “You can sleep there tonight.” Then I slammed the door shut locking the deadbolt.

  “Argh!” he screamed and slammed his fists on the door. “I won’t forget this.” His voice muffled through the wood.

  “Good. It was meant for you not to forget,” I yelled equally as loud at the door. “Every night, the door will be locked at nine o’clock. If you are not here, you will sleep in the hammock.” I waited. He did not respond. “Do you think your peon brain can remember this? Or has your head been hit one too many times for you to comprehend?” I smiled to myself at the small victory. “Growl once if you understand.”

  I could swear I heard a growl.

  Okay, now I was trying my best not to double over in laughter.

  Using my body weight to lean a shoulder against the door, I calmed my nerves and then quietly, I removed the chain so that my mother could get in later. Maybe she would take pity on him and let him in when she got home.

  I headed toward my room and undressed to take a shower. I was feeling pretty good about myself after I put on a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top. I let my hair down to air dry and was putting lotion on my hands when the baby started crying. Finding the key, I placed it in the baby’s side and checked to see if changing the diaper made a difference, but it was still crying.

  Finding the fake bottle, I placed the nipple in its mouth and it started making a sucking sound. I remembered that the manual said the baby liked to be burped every five minutes during feeding and they liked to be fed for twenty minutes. So, I went to the kitchen and grabbed the timer off the refrigerator and headed back to my room. I set it to go off in five minutes. Four burps and thirty minutes later, I was able to get the baby to coo and then I laid it down in a makeshift bed next to mine. Satisfied, I headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

  Looking at the girl in the mirror, I stared at her hard, squinting. She looked back at me, mimicking my movements, my expressions and I could tell what she was thinking. Her eyes read intelligence and yet, there was a hint of sadness. A gentle cloud of unhappy emotions seemed to show up more often of late. I wondered why she couldn’t snap out of it. She has a bright future ahead of her. She was a shoe in for acceptance to any college of her choice which meant she could go to the east coast, far away from her classmates, far away from the too perfect people of Los Angeles and far, far away from Jake.

  After graduation, she would finally be able to let go of her one sided crush and look to a future with someone more like her. Someone who had a grasp on what he wanted to be when he grew up and had a definitive plan on how to get there. Most likely, she would meet him in class or somewhere on campus or possibly at a sports bar during a football game. It didn’t matter where she met him. The only important thing was that he would help her forget her first love.

  Smiling weakly, I reached for the light switch and then headed back to my room.

  Upon entering, air bombarded my lungs as I heard an unnatural gasp come from my throat. The rhythm of my heart took up a staccato I had never felt before causing blood to rush to my head.

  It was truly alarming.

  Kyle was standing next to my bed, furious as I had ever seen him. For a second, it seemed like he didn’t recognize me but my voice seemed to bring him back to reality.

  “How the hell did you get into my…?” I noticed that the window was still slightly open. “You bastard.” I went to open the window to demand he leave the same way he came in, but he grabbed both of my wrists and swung me around so quickly that I lost my balance and fell back onto the bed taking him along with me.

  His well-muscled body was very heavy and I pushed with my wrists against his hands as hard as I could to get him off of me. He pinned my wrists on either side of my shoulders and rose up. I took in a much needed breath while at the same time struggling to free my hands. The musky scent of his skin slapped my senses and my heart started to race. His icy blue eyes bore into mine and he seemed to be just barely holding back his fury. He took in deep breaths as if to calm himself.

  Finally, I stilled when I realized he wasn’t going to budge.

  I exhaled sharply pushing air toward my forehead in order to knock a curl out of my eyes. But it just landed back on my lashes causing me to wince with irritation. I jerked my head slightly and the curl finally fell to the side.

  Something in his demeanor changed and his eyes were no longer irritated rather more startled. The place between his eyebrows creased and his eyes raked across my face as if he were seeing me for the first time.

  I blinked a few times feeling a bit uncomfortable at his scrutiny. I lifted both of my eyebrows and asked, “Can you get up now?”

  I guess hearing my voice was all he needed to confirm I was indeed his arched enemy. His voice was a bit calmer this time when he spoke. “Don’t ever… EV-ER lock me out like that again or so help me God I’ll…”

  “Or what?” I interrupted.

  I just had to egg him on.

  Once my hands were free, I would definitely pop my mouth! />
  His hands squeezed around my wrists causing me to wince. He must have noticed because he immediately lightened his grip. Refusing to give in, my eyes shot out daggers, my gaze just as intense as his. But he didn’t budge. Instead, he just stayed like that for what felt like a lifetime staring down into my eyes. The mood was shattered when we both heard a woman’s voice calling from the front of the house.

  “Mom!”

  Squirming, I bucked and pushed as hard as I could while chanting under my breath, “Please get off me! Please get off me,” in hopes the panic in my words would get through to him.

  For a second, he shifted his weight just enough for me to roll him over to where my body was pressed down against his and now I had his hands pinned. My hair fell across the side of his face and I could feel his breath on my lips.

  My ears were deafened by the fear of my mother finding us like this. She would definitely freak out and I would most likely be carted off to private school.

  I pulled with all my might upward and Kyle came along with me. I instinctively reached down for the baby and put her over my shoulder pretending to make her burp.

  “There, there,” I said, bouncing the baby a little too hurriedly. Kyle had an expression of disbelief as my mother walked through the door.

  She smiled for only a second until she caught sight of Kyle standing next to me. Her expression went from friendly to protective mama bear in less than a nanosecond.

  “Who the hell is this?” She pointed at Kyle, her eyes not leaving his.

  It was obvious Kyle was shocked at my mother’s blunt use of language. I almost pissed myself trying to hold the laughter in. Mother’s facial expressions slightly softened when she saw the look on Kyle’s face.

  “I’m sorry. The only other person who I ever allow in this room is Jake,” she said more to me than him, even though her eyes didn’t leave his for a second.

  I could have killed her. I bared my teeth and slashed my hand across my neck giving her the ‘knock it off’ sign. But, of course, she didn’t speak mime and I could only close my eyes and bare it.

  “So, it is obvious that you are not the husband my daughter intended to marry.” She smiled sweetly and Kyle furrowed his eyes in question thereby unknowingly giving my mother permission to continue. “Jake Kensington, you know? The tall protective type who is like her brother? He was supposed to be Melody’s husband for this project. So why are you standing here instead of Jake?” Her finger pointing to the floor in front of him.

  “Mom, stop it!” Putting a hand on her shoulder, I pushed her backward toward my bedroom door. “You’ll have him divorcing me by morning leaving me a single parent.”

  She lifted her finger and pointed at Kyle. “You lay one finger on her and I swear I will…”

  I closed the door on her and she started pounding on it.

  She yelled a warning through the door, “He better not touch you, Melody, or I will kick his…”

  “AND that is my lovely mother,” I said loudly and then she banged the door one last time for good measure.

  I was so frustrated, I tossed him the baby and thankfully he caught it, his eyes wide with surprise.

  “You might as well sleep in here tonight because she isn’t going to leave you alone one second out there,” I said as I thumbed over my shoulder at the door.

  I could tell my mother completely caught him off guard.

  Another sweet victory.

  I crawled into bed and pulled the blanket over top of me and then reached over and turned off the lamp light. I couldn’t help smiling and covered my mouth to try and stifle my own laughter. The look on Kyle Warner’s face meeting my mother for the first time was priceless.

  A few minutes ticked by as my eyes adjusted to the dark. I could just make out the silhouette of his body still standing there. Absent mindedly, I turned over hugging my pillow.

  Suddenly, flashing images of his parted lips so close to mine had me squeezing my eyes tight. I shook my head trying desperately to delete the image from my memory.

  After what seemed like ages, I could hear him rustling about. I turned to look over my shoulder and noticed the shadow of his body moving in the dark. Amazingly, he placed the baby, to which I had completely forgotten about, into the makeshift bed and then lay down on the floor.

  Sighing, I turned over, grabbed my extra pillow and tossed it on the floor next to him. He moved to retrieve it, made his adjustments and then everything went silent.

  It really felt odd having someone other than Jake in my room.

  I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it one bit, I thought as I drifted off to sleep.

  I was awakened by an odd sound that pushed through the fog of my sleep. I couldn’t quite make it out at first but as my ears cleared, I recognized it to be a baby crying. I covered my head with my pillow trying to drown out the noise but it just wouldn’t stop. I reached for the side table and turned on the light. Rubbing my eyes, I squinted as I peeked through my lashes trying to adjust to the intrusive light.

  As I reluctantly sat up, I noticed that the crying had already stopped.

  Confused, I rubbed my eyes harder so as to focus. But I did not in a million years expect to see a half-naked Kyle Warner in all of his muscled glory cradling a baby with a bottle stuck in its mouth.

  He looked up, his hair slightly askew giving him a devilish look and to make him even more irresistible, he added a charming, sheepish smile.

  Something pounded in my chest quickly and my breath picked up an unnatural pace. For the life of me, I couldn’t seem to swallow.

  “Go back to bed. I got this,” he said, three fingers flicking at me that were attached to the hand holding the bottle.

  Surly this was a dream.

  “What?” I asked, my voice barely audible.

  “I said I got this. Go back to snoring.”

  Blinking hard, my chin lifted defiantly. “I don’t snore!”

  He chuckled.

  Did Kyle Warner just chuckle?

  And why did he have to look so adorable at two in the morning feeding a baby?

  His mocha colored hair was all tussled and his grin was slightly crooked. I blinked a few times and finally swallowed… a little too loudly.

  Looking at the clock, I realized it had already been five minutes. Flipping back the covers, I moved quickly to his side and tried to take the baby but he pushed my shoulder to keep me at arms distance. The warmth of his hand caused my skin to burn and I could feel the heat rushing throughout every one of my limbs.

  I reached for the baby again, but he twisted his well-defined torso placing it farther out of my reach.

  “Hand her here,” I demanded, although it felt like my words landed on deaf ears. “She needs to be burped every five minutes once you start feeding and she needs to be fed for at least twenty minutes.”

  “She?” he asked as he put down the bottle and then placed the baby over his shoulder. He patted the baby’s back and then rubbed it gently and then patted it again.

  I was completely in shock at his expertise. When in the hell did he ever learn how to do that?

  He must have read my thoughts because he answered, “My sister just had a baby this past Christmas. I am the favorite Uncle.” He smiled proudly.

  I mouthed the word Oooohhhh and then returned the smile.

  The baby gave a small burp and he returned her to the cradle of his arm and placed the bottle in her mouth. I felt a bit helpless just watching but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from how gentle he was being.

  “You didn’t answer me.” His voice sounded a bit strained.

  I jerked my eyes upward and looked from side to side trying to recall what he had asked me that I had forgotten so easily.

  He chuckled again, the sound was mesmerizing. “I asked why did you call it she.”

  My mouth opened but no explanation came out. So, I shrugged my shoulders instead.

  Again, he chuckled. I was really enjoying the sound of it and secretly hoped that he woul
d offer up more of those chuckles in the future.

  But then, reality hit me like a cold bucket of ice water. This was Kyle Warner I was talking about.

  I could tell he noticed a change in my mood because he was no longer smiling. He was looking at me intently and it made me feel a little uneasy.

  I could tell he was about to say something. Not really in the mood for small talk with Kyle Warner, I sat back down on the bed, looked at the talk and quickly stated, “It’s time for her to burp again.”

  Obligingly, he quietly put the bottle down, gently lifted the infant to his shoulder and then commenced to burping the baby.

  “Are you sure you don’t need any help?” I asked half-heartedly.

  Staring at me for a few seconds longer than what was comfortable, he finally nodded yes.

  Taking in a much needed deep breath, I said nonchalantly, “Okay then, I will lie back down. I’ll get the next feeding?”

  “We’ll see,” he stated and then smiled teasingly.

  I was taken aback as I had never seen this side of Kyle. In fact, I didn’t think anyone had ever seen this side of Kyle. It was a bit unnerving.

  “Do you need this on?” I asked, pointing to the lamp.

  “No,” was all he said as he turned his back to me, his fading summer tanned skin glowing in the dim light.

  Shaking my head, it would be very difficult, even with my intellectual mind, to comprehend what I just saw that night. Reaching for the lamp switch, I turned the knob and extinguished the light. After settling in once again under my blanket, I realized that his pillow and blanket were probably still outside.

  Guilt crept up my spine and slapped my conscience causing me to wince in the dark. He had every right to be angry. If I hadn’t been so anxious, I would have realized that technically he was on time. I mean, I didn’t tell him he had to be in the house at nine. Just at my house at nine and technically, he was at my house at nine. Right?

  Why on earth was I trying to defend Kyle Warner?

  Had I completely lost all my senses?

  About a half hour later, I could hear him shuffling about as he placed the baby back into bed and he settled down on the floor. I waited for about ten more minutes and then quietly got out of bed and headed for the front door.