Runaway Love - Jodi Flanagan (best finance books of all time txt) 📗

only be cigarettes.” She looked at me with a smile, “Oh dear, it is quite alright. Damien smokes as well, although I feel otherwise. I hold on to his however, because he has school, and smoking isn’t allowed on school property.” She looked the clock behind me, “Sorry, Taya. That took longer than it should have. Go on up to your room now, Dinner is going t be soon.” I nodded and headed for the stairs, but I stopped when I heard the door bell.
I figured since I was the closest I should get it. I turned around and opened the door. There was a nice looking young man, around the same age as Damien, standing before me. We stood there for a moment just checking each other out. I spoke first, “May I help you?”He met my gaze, “Lady, there are a lot of things you can help me with…That is for sure.” I smiled and put my hand on my hip, “That is such a lame pickup line. So what or who are you here for?” Just as he opened his mouth to answer, I heard Damien’s voice behind me. “Sam, you’re late.” I looked at Sam, and caught him checking me out. He ignored Damien and looked at me, “Not bad, not bad at all. So what are you doing later?” I noticed Damien’s hand close into a fist as Sam grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it. I couldn’t hide my blush. Our gazes locked, and I realized what I was doing and took my hand back. “Not you.” I turned around and kissed Damien. I knew I caught him off guard with the kiss because he tensed for a moment. I broke off the kiss and turned back to Sam, “My name is Taya, and you’re not worth my time.” With that I turned and left.
Dinner time rolled around quicker than I anticipated. By then Sam had already left, so dinner wasn’t that awkward. We mainly talked about me, and school. My schedule for my last year would be fairly easy, mostly art classes and government and economics. They asked what I was into, my past; I barely answered any questions in that category, so it was a pretty quiet dinner.
Chapter 3
The next day at school, I was being followed by a line of hot guys; the downside was that they were all younger than me therefore off limits. It sucks being nineteen, almost everyone around me was younger than me, and I preferred older guys. Around my last period I couldn’t stand the lack of nicotine in my system, so I skipped my study hall and went underneath the bleaches to light up a cigarette. I heard someone approaching and quickly put out my cigarette and I turned and was almost nose to nose with Damien. “You scared the shit out of me!” I shrieked, grabbing my chest. Damien just looked at me, “Why don’t you date younger guys? You know that I am interested in you right?” I smiled, “I am not interested in going out with you because I live with you. Every other guy here likes me just for my looks, nothing more. That’s what all young guys care about the curves on a girl, nothing more-“ I was interrupted by Damien’s kiss. I didn’t stop the kiss, because I wanted to kiss him so badly. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and deepened our kiss. I nipped his bottom lip with my teeth and giggled when I heard him growl low in his throat. Then I heard someone else approaching, and pulled away from him.
Damien looked at me with questioned expression. I just gestured toward the shadow of a person getting closer, while I was trying to control my breathing. Someone banged on the bleacher, and Damien smiled and repeated the beats. I looked at Damien, “Sam?” Damien nodded and I fixed my clothes and hair. Sam appeared, “Moving kind of fast even for you, aren’t you Damien?” I laughed, “Jealous that I blew you off?” His glare told me that was a ‘yes’. I looked at him, “Sam, why wouldn’t I want to hang out with Damien? He is more of a man than you will ever be.” To my surprise him, he started calling me a slut among other names. I cocked back my arm and let it fly. The next moment Sam was on the ground holding his broken nose.
I crouched down, “Hold your head back, and hold this to your nose.” I handed him some tissues. “Now I am going to reset your nose, it’s going to hurt like a bitch.” He nodded; I grabbed his nose, and cracked them back into place. He grunted and tears sprang to his eyes. “That was a warning Sam. Next time I won’t hold myself back from beating your ass to a pulp.” With that I stood up, kissed Damien’s cheek and left for the busses.
Chapter 4
That night in my room, I kept seeing the same car go by and guys hanging outside the windows with flashlights aimed at the house, specifically my room. The moonlight was shining off f the car, and I instantly thought of the car I saw the night before each of the accidents. It got to the point where my heart was beating so bad that I actually went next door to Damien’s room. I walked in, and Damien was shirtless, and on his bed snoring. I smiled, he looked so comfy. I walked over to his bed, and I bent down and kissed his lips, his cheek, his neck, he started waking up, and I took the chance to bite his neck. I can’t deny that I wanted to do more than that, but I knew I shouldn’t. He looked up at me, and smiled. “Am I still dreaming, or are you actually here?” I laughed and got on him, we started kissing, and I forgot all about the car. I got distracted from kissing him by a flash of light distracted me for a moment, long enough to remember the reason why I came into his room. I sat up, still straddling him. “Damien the reason why I came in here is because someone has been checking out the house.” The flashlight shown through again, I looked down at him, knowing that he saw it too. “I think I am starting to like you Damien.” I said as I arched up, making him moan. I laughed, and then all hell broke loose.
The front door slammed open, and Katie screamed for Kim, something smashed. Damien and I looked at each other, with fear in our eyes, we started to get up, then noticed that his door was slowly started to opening. I saw a gun, and I grabbed Damien and pulled him off his bed with me, just as it went off. Damien was hit. I turned him over and saw a dart in his back, not a bullet hole. I sighed with relief then looked up at the guy who held the gun. There was something about his eyes that looked so familiar, but before I could even speak I was hit with a similar dart.
Chapter 5
I woke up on Damien’s bed, groggy as all hell. I looked around the room, and there was a guy sitting in Damien’s computer chair, just staring at me. I pulled Damien’s blanket closer to me, too afraid to speak. The guy’s stare was sending chills down my spine. He seemed familiar to me, but I couldn’t place it. A few moments passed and I was getting sick of the guy staring.”W-Where is Damien? And what the fuck did you shoot us with? Why are you staring at me like that?” I was still wearing my sports bra and short shorts, there was enough skin showing t make any straight guy stare, but this guy wasn’t looking at my body; he was looking at my face. I eventually got enough courage to stand up. I realized to soon that I stood up too fast and was too dizzy to stand up, and ended up falling back into Damien’s bed. The guy smiled, “I shot you both with a tranquilizer, it made it a lot easier and safer to get that boy away from you without harming either of you.” He came and sat on the far corner of the bed. “As for where he is, he is safe as well as his other family members.” He tried getting closer to me, but I scooted further away from him. “Who are you anyway? And what do you want?” He smiled, “My name is Michael, and I want you.” I was shocked, why did he tell me his name? “Why do you want me? I am nothing special.” Michael made a face, “You-“He stopped mid-sentence, and walked out the door. I was alone again, and my mind was racing with worry for my family, but mainly for Katie and Damien.
I woke up to the door opening, and Michael came in. Instantly I was alert. “Are you the one that killed my family? Did you kill all those foster families?” I feared his answer, but I had to ask. If he did kill all of those innocent people, then I would be more terrified, fearing for my life. Michael looked at me, and shook his head. “I am not the one that killed your family, or your foster families, but I do know who did. Those killings Is why I am here now. I am also surprised that you haven’t figured out who I am yet, or who the real killer is.” He took my hand, “Taya, do you really not recognize me? My Yaya, how can you not remember?” I shook my head, “how do you know me? How do you know my nickname?” he sighed, “I know you were young, but still. I guess I will have to be patient with your poor memory.” He got up, “Do you want something to eat, or drink?” I nodded, just as my stomach growled, and he laughed. I was starting to remember him! I jumped up from the bed, making the connection. Only three people called me Yaya. And they were all dead. My mother, my father, and Mikey, were all dead. ”N-N-NO!” I shouted, and ran to the window, “You’re dead! You can’t be here!” I felt hot tears running down my face.
Chapter 6
Michael Rawlins, the only friend that I had when I was growing up, and he died. I lived in the city as a kid, and there were occasional gunfights on the street. On my way home from school, he walked with me, but only I made it home. He got shot, and was bleeding so bad. I called for help, and while we were waiting I told him how I felt about him; that I loved him. He was always there for me. He treated me like a princess and he was taken out of my hands by the paramedics, and they wouldn’t let me ride with him. I was only ten, my eleventh birthday was in a few days, and he was thirteen. My only friend was dead, because I wanted to tell him my feelings. But he wasn’t dead; he was sitting on Damien’s bed. I got up from the bed, and walked over to the window. I looked at him and I started sobbing so bad that my stomach started hurting.
He came over to me, and hugged me. “I knew you would remember me eventually.” He kissed my forehead. “Why didn’t you let me know you were ok?” I asked, the sobbing slowly coming to stop. He held me away from him, and dried my tears with the pad of his thumb. “I tried, but my