A Forbidden Love (The Forbidden Series) (12 page)

“Why
can’t I?”

“Because
it’s not healthy, when’s the last time you’ve had an actual home cooked meal
anyway?”

“I
don’t feel like eating, Nik.” She left my room and came back with a plate
covered in aluminum foil.

“What’s
this?”

“Lasagna
and I’m not leaving until you eat every bite.”

Peeling
back the foil I uncovered a mountain of cheese, noodles, several different
types of meat and sauce. The smell was intoxicating and I completely devoured
the meal.

“That
was delicious Nik. I really appreciate you taking care of me.”

“You’re
welcome. Now, maybe you should go take a shower and change out of that raggedy
shirt and stained sweat pants.”

“Maybe,
later.”

“Alright,
well, I have to go Leci. Call me later okay?”

“I
will. Thanks, again!”

My
depression fell so deeply that I hadn’t been to work in over three weeks. No
one at my job knows what happened and I couldn’t bring myself to share it with
them. I’ve also been on school vacation for the past two weeks, but I’ve made
sure all of my assignments were finished. My homework was the only thing
keeping me going at this point.

I
tried calling Allan again for the millionth time, but as usual it went straight
to his voicemail.
“Hey, you know who you’ve reached, leave one.”
I
stopped leaving messages after the first couple of weeks because it was clear
he didn’t want to talk to me.

I
sat down on the edge of the bed, clutching the sides of my phone with my hand,
while starring at the photo I saved of us as my wallpaper. A sudden tightness
formed in my chest, making it difficult to breath, and my chin trembled as
tears poured out of my eyes.

I
missed him so much, he had only been gone two months but it felt like two
years. I had given that man everything, all of me, and he just up and left like
he didn’t even care. The only thing that could get me out of this funk was my
art. After every horrible breakup I experienced in the past it’s what I did to
cope and heal. Allan and I had had a completely different relationship then
I’ve ever had with anyone else but I figured it was worth a shot.

Grabbing
my sketch pad and charcoal pencils out of my nightstand, I scooted to the
middle of my bed with my feet crossed and rested the 9x12 pad on my thigh. I
cleared my mind and let my fingers do all the work.

Several
hours passed and I smudged the last bit of black soot around the bottom of the
page and it was finished! I laid the pad down on the bed and was shocked at
what I’d drawn.

It
was of a young girl with her face buried against her knees, tightly wrapping
her arms around the front of her legs with a black heart being ripped apart by
two separate hands underneath her. I’ve never drawn anything this dark before
but it felt good to let my emotions out.

Chapter 9
:
Hope

Another
month had gone by and school vacation was over. I buried myself in my studies
to keep him off my mind. I also spoke to my boss and she allowed me to come
back to work on the conditions that I never disappear like that again. I was
one of her hardest workers and she understood that I had some ‘personal’
problems to deal with. I never went into depth about my problems to Cindy, but
she still accepted my apology.

I
was finally coming to terms that Allan and I were no more and that I needed to
move on with my life. It hurt like hell but I tried to have an active social
life again. Nikki wanted me to go to the club with her tonight so I could drink
and dance my sorrows away, I accepted her offer but only if she bought me a new
outfit.

She
showed up at my house that night with a royal blue, strapless maxi dress, and
black flats.

“If
you’re going out with me, you need to be comfortable, because I like to dance
all night long!”

“I
know and as long as I have alcohol in my system, I can keep up with you.”

We
drove to the club in her old black Toyota. The name of the place was called
‘Venue’ and it was ‘90s night. Techno and house music were pulsating through
the air as we found our way to the entrance.

There
were two vacant stools in front of the bar and she dragged me over to one,
forcing me to have a seat. She ordered us two Long Island Iced Tea’s to help
loosen me up. As I quickly guzzled the drink, I saw a cute guy staring at me
from across the bar. He winked at me and came by with a friend to introduce
himself to us.

“My
name’s Lance and this here is Rico. Which one of you is the better dancer?”

“Nikki
is for sure.”

“I’ll
be the judge of that,” said Rico. He took Nikki’s hand and went straight to the
middle of the dance floor.

Lance
was your typical jock type. He had sultry crystal blue eyes, huge bulky muscles
that indented his all black three-piece suit, a strong chiseled scruffy jaw and
short dirty blonde hair.

“Would
you like another drink, Miss?”

“Sure.”
He picked up my empty glass and ordered the bartended to make me another Long
Island.

“There
will be plenty more where that came from.”

“Thanks,
I’ll need them to cheer me up anyway.”

“So
what’s your name?”

“Alecia.”

“That’s
a beautiful name to suit a beautiful lady.”

“Cheesy
pick-up lines don’t work on me Lance, but thanks, I do appreciate the gesture.”

“Oh,
you’re a tough cookie, I like that.”

The
bartender puts a small white napkin down in front of me and places my drink on
top of it. Just like the previous one, I quickly choke this drink back, too.

“Don’t
hurt yourself Alecia.”

“I’ll
be fine. I’m not even close to my usual limit.” Lance grabs my hand and leads
me to the dance floor. I didn’t realize how tall he was until he wrapped his
huge forearms around me. He was way taller than Al and beefier too.

“I’m
not a very good dancer, Alecia. So I hope you’ll make me look good.”

“I
can try. No promises, though.”

We
laughed and danced until the club shut down at 2:30 in the morning.

Lance
handed me a business card with his number on it. “Call me when you’re ready, no
pressure.”

“Looks
like someone had a good time tonight.” Nikki said nudging me with her elbow.

“Maybe.”

I
kept flipping Lance’s card over and over in my hand. Staring at the beautiful
golden scale of justice printed on the top with the words Lance Doherty,
Attorney and Counselor at Law branded underneath.

“Nik,
he’s a lawyer.”

“Really,
are you gonna call him?”

“I
don’t know, I don’t think I’m cut out for this again. After Al, it’s going to
be real hard for me to get close to someone. I’m afraid once we bond they’ll
leave, just like he did.”

“Leci,
this will be different, I promise you.”

“Let
me sleep on it.” Nikki dropped me off in front of my apartment building and
sped off once I was safely inside the door. I stumbled inside my apartment and
felt my way to my bedroom. I placed Lance’s card on my nightstand and crawled
right into bed. I decided to give it a few days and maybe I’d call him. He
seemed like a nice enough
guy
to be around.

The
next morning I felt like complete shit. My skull was pounding, I was sweating
profusely, and my stomach was in knots. I was hung-over and there was no doubt
about it. My shift started at ten and I was determined to make it to work. I
tried to take a shower, but it hurt so much to stand up that I flopped down in
the tub and let the hot water rinse the stench of alcohol and sweat down the
drain.

Apparently
I didn’t do a good job hiding my ‘sickness’ when I got to work because Cindy
noticed my performance wasn’t up to par ten minutes into my shift.

“Alecia,
you look like hell. I don’t know what’s going on but I think you should go home
and get some rest.”

“Thanks.”

My
hard night of partying definitely caught up to me. I passed out as soon as my
head hit the pillow and slept the rest of the day away. My eyes didn’t re-open
again until ten o’clock that night. I still felt horrible but I was starving
and craved for something deep fried and full of grease. I drove to the nearest
burger joint and ordered a couple of bacon burgers, fries, and a chocolate
shake.

I
drove back to my apartment, sat on my bed and stuffed my face until I couldn’t
stand to take another bite. I dropped the empty wrappers on my nightstand and
saw Lance’s card sitting there.

Meeting
him must have happened for a reason, so maybe I’ll give him a call. I let his
ten digits sit on my screen for a while before I got the courage to hit call.

“Hello?”

It
took me a minute to say something back because I wasn’t expecting him to
actually answer the phone. I was prepared to leave a message and that was it.

“Is
this Lance?”

“Yes,
how can I help you?”

“It’s
Alecia,
we met at the club last night.”

“Hey!
I wasn’t sure if you’d actually call or not but it’s refreshing to hear your
voice.”

“I
honestly never thought I would.”

“Well,
you did and that’s all that matters. What are you up to on Friday?”

“Nothing,
as far as I know.”

“I’d
like to take you out for lunch and get to know you a little better.”

“That
sounds
great,
I’ll text you my address.”

“Alright,
well it’s late, so make sure you get some rest and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight.”

Wow
I guess Nikki was right, I don’t have anything to worry about. He seemed very
sweet, and I could definitely use the company right now.

I
rolled out of bed a few hours later to discover a beautiful crisp fall morning.
The foliage resembled a painted portrait and looked absolutely breathtaking
through my window. The sun was shining bright and the leaves were vibrant
shades of yellow, orange, and red. Today was the day Lance and I had our first
official ‘outing’ together and I was very excited. Allan was becoming a
definite thing of the past and Lance may be my new future. I braided my hair
into a single French braid and tied a small blue ribbon at the end of it. I
slipped into a multi-striped ballerina neck sweater, a pair of black boot cut
jeans, and my tan riding boots. Lance called and told me he’d be here in about
twenty minutes. I couldn’t help but stare out the window and imagine what kind
of car he drove. It was probably something cliché like a BMW or Corvette.

A
bright yellow Porsche screeched through the parking lot and I watched as Lance
stepped out of it in a full black and white pinstripe suit. He started walking
towards my front door so I quickly zipped my leather jacket and met him
outside.

“Good
afternoon, Ms. Alecia.”

“Good
afternoon.”

He
escorted me around the back of his Cayman S and opened the passenger door for
me.

“Thank
you.”

“You’re
welcome.” He brought us to a fancy Italian restaurant for lunch.

“This
place seems kind of fancy.”

“Don’t
be fooled by all the faux expensive looking decorations they have. We’re just
here for some great food, hope you’re hungry.” The light reflected beautifully
off his crystal blue eyes as he looked at me. He was definitely a great catch
and any lady would be lucky to have him.

The
hostess came over and brought us to a private booth in the back of the dining
area. She offered us a free House Wine sample and we both ordered entirely different
seafood and pasta dishes. He ordered the shrimp scampi with linguini and I
ordered the baked lobster tail with butterfly shrimp and angel hair pasta.

“So,
what made you become a Lawyer?”

“All
my life, I’ve always helped people and been the voice of reason for the
defenseless.”

“I
bet a lot of people are very intimidated by you, huh?”

“By
my appearance definitely, when people see me approaching the bench they assume
I’m the defendant not the Lawyer,” he laughed.