Desires Unleashed (23 page)

***

Natasha woke up and noticed the TV was on. Her roommate seemed to be enjoying a sitcom she didn't recognize. She wiped her eyes and tried to focus on her surroundings. She noticed two chairs in the room, she knew where the bathroom was. She sat up and looked at the clock. The time was 7:30 P.M. She had only gotten about five hours sleep since the last time she was awake. Her parents had come barging into the room, so happy to hear their “baby girl” was alive and well. They had stayed and talked to her and listen patiently while their daughter talked about her new job and the nightclub she went to the night before. Even though she was happy her parents had visited her, she was glad when they left. She wanted to be able to get some sleep. Whatever drug they had given her to dull the pain was knocking her out. When she woke up for the second time, she was surprised how much time had gone by. She was happy she didn't feel as wiped out as she had earlier. She climbed out of bed and felt the stiffness in her muscles but it wasn't as bad as it was before. She grabbed hold of her IV stand and made her way to the little bathroom.

She took care of her daily needs, washed her hands, found the toothbrush, and proceeded to brush her teeth. She couldn't stand having a mucky mouth. She looked at her hair in the mirror, it was a mess. Her curling locks were tangled and matted, sitting on the top of her head resembling a bird's nest, in Natasha's opinion. There was a bruise on her left cheek and she had two bandages covering two stinging wounds on the right and left side of her forehead. Her eyes had dark circles under them. For lack of a better choice of words, she looked positively dreadful, like death warmed over.

“Damn, girl! Look at you! The 'undead' ain't got nothing on you,” she said jokingly to her reflection. She turned off the bathroom light as she walked out of the little room. She was picking up the telephone to call the front desk to ask for her friend's room number when she heard the news anchorwoman reporting about the deadly crash that had happened the night before on the corner of Roosevelt and Clark which had ended with the deaths of both drivers and the hospitalization of two passengers. The anchorwoman relayed what the doctors had said, that both passengers were in healthy and stable condition, with only minor injuries. The doctor stated that the one passenger did withstand a broken arm. The camera flipped back to the pretty blonde anchorwoman who mentioned the fact that the driver of the car that caused the accident, was driving on a suspended license and DUI, with an alcohol level extremely high above the legally drunk standard. Well, Natasha thought, that answered her question about what happened to the two drivers. It also made her sad. But she was even more relieved to find that her friend was truly safe. She picked up the handset and dialed '0' for the operator. The phone rang twice before a female voice answered.

“Operator, how may I help you?” the soft, friendly voice asked.

“Hello, I'm a patient here in the hospital and I would like the room number of my friend Annette Balfour. We came in together last night,” she said, waiting for the operator to look up the name.

“She is in room 314,” the operator said.

“Thank you,” Natasha replied before she hung up the telephone. She grabbed her IV stand, thankful that it was on wheels, then walked out of her room. Her left hand held the back of her gown closed. She hated these hospital gowns. She was going to ask for a second gown to use as a robe when she got back to her room. She walked down the hallway, grateful that she didn't have to do that much traveling. She stopped in front of the door and knocked.

“Who is it?” Annette called.

“Girl, it's me, Natasha!” she answered through the other side of the thick door. “Damn, can I come in?” she asked, slightly annoyed. She heard Annette tell her to enter. She turned the knob then walked into the room. The first thing she noticed was a gorgeously handsome man rise to his full height of six-feet-two inches as she entered. He stepped aside to offer her the chair. But she waved her hand dismissively. If this was one of Annette boyfriends, she didn't want to intrude. She had just wanted to check in on her, although it was quite obvious that Annette was alive and well. She looked over the man again, taken aback by his beauty. She had seen beautiful men before, but usually in a magazine or on a TV screen. He looked like a model, his clothes fit him like a model's, better than a model! He continued to stand beside the chair, refusing to sit if Natasha would not. He was so alluring to her as he smiled at her charmingly. His smile could brighten a room. It most certainly did brighten this one. She stared into his soft grey eyes, watching her with a keen interest.

“I don't want to intrude,” Natasha said. “I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. Are you? I mean, I see you're as much of a mess as I am, but I just wanted to check in on you.” Natasha walked closer to the bed, gripping the back opening of her gown tightly, not wanting to give Xavier a peek. She gave her friend a one armed embrace. Her body was still sore, but not nearly as much as before. The two women hugged each other lightly.

“Oh my God, we are so lucky to be alive, Annette! I saw on the news that the driver of the car and the cab driver died in the crash, instantly!” Natasha said, obviously still in shock. Annette nodded, she had heard the unfortunate news. Her mother had brought a newspaper in when she came to visit as proof of how God had blessed her and her friend.

“Yes I know, I read about it earlier. The newspaper article said that we were both unconscious when medical help arrived. Considering what happened, we're lucky. I thought we'd be in worse shape since we were in the back seat,” she said, analyzing the situation. Natasha nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.

“There's no doubt about it,” she agreed softly, distractedly, her gaze slowly moved toward Xavier. He stood there quietly, letting the two women reunite after their ordeal. He watched them praise God for their lives. He never thanked God for anything, perhaps he could thank him for bringing Darian to him but considering the nature of their existence, he thought it might be blasphemous in some manner of speaking. Annette noticed the wandering eyes of Natasha, remembering her long forgotten manners, she introduced Xavier.

“Natasha, this is Xavier Richards. Xavier, this is my best friend, Natasha Hemingway,” she said. As she struggled to sit up in the little narrow bed, Xavier reached over, and helped prop her up comfortably without any effort at all. He smiled at Annette then turned his head toward Natasha. He took two manly strides and held his hand out. She smiled, put her hand in his expecting to simply shake hands. Instead, Xavier bent forward and pressed the warm softness of his full lips onto the back of the tender flesh of her hand. His grey eyes never leaving hers as he poured on the charm.

“Charmed,” he said as he straightened himself. Natasha's heart raced for a few beats when he kissed her hand. She had never been this up close and personal with a man this beautiful. She didn't want to blush, but still felt the blood rushing to her face, reddening her cheeks. She wanted to place her hand daintily on her chest and bat her eyes at him. She wanted to flirt insanely. She looked to Annette questioningly, wondering if he was a boyfriend of hers that she never knew about. If so, Annette had some confessing to do, girl talk. What was he like in bed? How big is it? The usual. She searched her mind for the right words to ask such a delicate question. She didn't want to come on too strong if this beautiful man
was
Annette's boyfriend.

“So,” she started, looking from Xavier to Annette. “Are you two together?” she asked, hoping it was subtle enough, not too embarrassing.

Annette laughed softly. “No, no, we're not. Xavier, here is my boss. Well, he's like the second in command at
Desires Unleashed”
she informed her. Xavier glanced at Annette and smiled before his gaze returned to Natasha. He felt sorry for the fact that they were both injured. He could still see their beauty underneath all of the bandages and bruises. As he looked at Natasha, he peeked into her mind. He wanted to find out about her, wanted to use that information to seduce her. He had been immediately intrigued the moment he laid eyes on her. He wanted to fold her into his embrace, gaze into her eyes and make her moan in pleasure, absolute pleasure.

When Annette revealed that Xavier was her boss at the club where she worked, that instantly set off warning sirens in Natasha's mind. The fact that he was her boss let Natasha know he was a vampire, or at least not human. She had never been eye to eye with a vampire before, at least not one that she
knew
was a vampire. All of a sudden, she began to panic. Her heart raced, but in a different sort of pattern. She had the urge to run back to her room and lock the door. She set nervous eyes on Annette, who didn't seem to be frightened at all. This beautiful man standing before her, was deadlier than anything Natasha had ever known or seen.
He was a killing machine, like any predator in the wild. He hunted his prey then ate them alive.
She felt herself backing away. Now was the best time to leave. She felt that if
Annette wasn't worried about the bogeyman, then she was on her own.

“Alrighty then, Annette, I'm going back to my room now, I'll see you later,” she said in a rush, as she turned to leave.

“Wait,” said a rich, mellow, sexy voice. It stopped Natasha dead in her tracks. Xavier walked up beside her. He took her hand in his. He had spied her rampant thoughts about what he was, now he fought the urge to laugh out loud. He thought her description was correct, Darian would be impressed. He wanted to reassure her that she was not in harm's way. He looked into her frightened eyes and using a trick that Darian taught him, he projected calmness onto her without using hypnotism. He slowly led her away from the door. He sat her into the chair. Kneeling down in front of her, he looked into her battered, still beautiful face, then smiled his million dollar smile again, exposing his pearly whites, no fangs.

“I realize that you may be frightened of me but you have no need. I would never hurt you or Annette,” he said as he gestured towards her friend sitting up on the bed. Annette seemed to be caught in a trance, staring at the two of them, eyes darting from one to the other.

“Natasha, you never need to be afraid of me. But if you simply must go back to your room, please allow me to escort you,” he said gently. He stood up and held his hand out, palm upward, in front of Natasha. She placed her slender hand into his and he held it as he guided her out of the chair.

“Well, I am still tired. I was trying to get some sleep earlier but my parents had visited me and kept me awake for about four hours,” Natasha said as they walked toward the door. Xavier was pleased she wanted to go to her room, it would allow him a little private time with her. She looked back over her shoulder to say goodbye to her friend, who waved. Xavier smiled at Annette as he closed the door behind them.

“So, where's your room?” he asked as they walked down the white corridor with the polished and sanitized cement floors.

“It's just down the hall here,” she said as she pointed down the hallway. Xavier nodded and walked her to her room. She opened the door and he followed her, closing the door behind him. Natasha was a little nervous having Xavier in her room, but he did say that he would never hurt her. She looked at the clock on the wall, seeing that the time was 8:32 P.M. She knew full well that the visiting hours for the hospital had long since passed. Why was he still here?

“So, you must have someplace to go. I want to thank you for walking me to my room,” she said politely, trying to give herself a clean, easy way to be rid of him. He still made her nervous, even as his pearly white smile brightened the room while his gray eyes kept her blushing. She wanted to run her fingers through his soft, lovely, dark brown hair, but dare not try.

“Actually, I must admit, I wanted to get you alone. I wanted to talk with you on a more intimate level. Natasha, I think you are an extremely beautiful woman. I would love to get to know you better.” He stood in front of her, holding both hands up, palms exposed. “No tricks, no games, just you and I talking, the way two people do when they're interested in each other.”

Natasha looked at him, was he going to ask her on a date? She couldn't believe her ears. He was a vampire, most certainly, he could have any person he wanted and he was interested in her. Why not Annette, who was obviously interested in him? Everyone looked at Annette. But now, in her little hospital room she gets hit on by the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. She couldn't help but blush. She lowered her head. Still unnerved by him, she supposed if he wanted to kill her, she doubted she could ever stop him. He did seem genuinely interested though, she mused as she considered his statement.

“Why me?” she asked. “I mean Annette likes you, I think we can both tell that.”

He looked at her, his head slightly cocked to the side. An expression of amazement was on his face. His lips parted in a smile.

Natasha felt her face grow hotter, more blood had rushed to her cheeks. She was sure by now, even her forehead was turning red.