Every Soul (7 page)

I swear if I have to say “Welcome to Starbucks” one more time, I’m going to pull my hair out. Glancing at the clock, I’ve been here for almost six hours with no break, no food, and not one goddamn cigarette.

I don’t know why, but for some God unknown reason it’s been crazy busy. I keep glancing at the front door because I know Jason will be here any minute. It feels like forever and customer after customer after customer ’til he finally arrives.
Thank God.

“Hey, how are—”

I cut him off before he can finish his sentence. “I gotta take a break before I can answer that question.”

He smirks at me. I walk away and hear both him and Sasha laughing at me. I want to tell them to get to work, because my nerves are shot and I’m fucking starving, but once I emerge outside, it’s bright and surprisingly warm, and the sun on my skin calms me. I take a seat on the curb next to the building and light a cigarette, inhaling the first drag as deep as I can, holding it before I exhale. Leaning back, I close my eyes. My thoughts are blank – dark. There’s nothing to them and that’s the way I like it.

That is ’til I sense someone staring at me. Opening my eyes, the sun shines in my face, blocking the person looking down on me. All I can see is an outline.

“You should stop smoking,” he says.

The voice sounds familiar and as he moves, I recognize him right away. It’s Bain. He sits next to me, touching my side. My heart begins to race at the closeness and I feel clammy. Suddenly I become a little mortified for what I did last night and just stare at him goggle-eyed.
Jesus, he’s fucking gorgeous
. Like, drop-dead, make-a-girl-lose-her-words gorgeous.

“How are you?” he asks.

I shrug my shoulders, resting my head in my hand and lean forward.

“Really? That good?” he asks.

Nodding my head I glance at him, he narrows his eyes at me. “So now you’re the one that’s at a loss for words. How’s it feel?”

“I’m…I’m not…I just didn’t expect to see you here, that’s all.” Finally I settle on that statement wondering what the hell is wrong with me.

“Well, you just stole my words. I was shocked when I pulled up and saw you sitting here,” he says rubbing the back of his neck leaning down. “So this is where you work?”

Again, I nod my head. Not really understanding why he has this effect on me. His presence shuts me down, which is not like me. I mean, last night I was the one in control.

“Seriously, Arion? Where’s that mouth of yours?”

“It’s here,” I whisper.

“Talk to me.”

I contemplate how to handle this. I should push him away and tell him to fuck off. He’s stirring something inside of me that I’ve kept hidden for a long time. Looking at him, my stomach flutters like it did with Nate. It makes me feel disloyal, because my heart beats like it used to when he was around. Last night when I was drunk, I felt none of this, then today it hits me like a ton of bricks. Out of nowhere, the words expel themselves from my mouth of their own accord, “I’m not looking for a relationship.”

“Whoa, don’t get ahead of yourself, girl. Who said anything about a relationship? You act like that’s what I want.”

His words cut through me, but we are ultimately on the same page, which is what I want. The door behind us opens and Sasha pokes her head out. “Oh, sorry to bug you, Arion, but the stupid espresso machine is broken again. Could you fix it?”

I stand to head in and look down at Bain, sitting on the sidewalk looking up at me. I know I should just walk away, or say good-bye…but I can’t. “You coming in?” I ask him.

Giving me a sly smile, he stands up now looking down at me and says, “You were taller last night.”

“How would you know? I was on my knees,” I tease him and walk to the struggling espresso machine.

What is it with this chick? Within five minutes of being around her, my dick is at half-mast and I have to think about basketball to keep it under control. This is something I’ve never had to deal with.

Standing inside of the Starbucks, I watch her interact with the employees and I can tell she’s the manager. I have to give her props for being able to work hard and move her way up at such a mundane job. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t find anything wrong with her working here. In fact, it intrigues me. Well, everything about her intrigues me.

Watching her, I sit in an open chair trying not to let my mind drift. That’s ’til she bends over, and fuck – I lose it. There goes all my control, everything I’ve been working at. My cock grows as my thoughts turn to more. Staring right at her sexy body, I can almost envision what she looks like: nude, apple ass, and great legs. I can’t help, but automatically imagine myself deep inside of her. God, what I’d give to bend her over and bury my cock, fucking her with deep, long, slow thrusts, giving her all of me.

She looks at me, interrupting my daydream and I turn my back, embarrassed. I should fucking leave, but I can’t. What my mind and body are saying are two totally different things. To hide my humiliation, I head for the restroom with as much speed as I can, trying not to look awkward.
Fuck, it’s locked.
I wait patiently, although it’s not an easy task.
My fucking cock is hard.
Taking my hands, I stick them in my pockets and readjust myself. Finally, the douchebag comes out and I sneak in, exhaling deeply and splashing my face with water.

Lying on my bed, my gaze is drawn to the side of the Starbucks cup where Arion wrote her phone number, followed by a tiny heart. It took me a few minutes to pull my shit together at her work today before I could face her and I’m glad I did. Man, is that girl something else. Here I was, wondering if I should ask her for her number or not, and she just gives it to me. As I concentrate on her handwriting, I can’t help but think about how nice it feels to think of something other than Kinsey for a few minutes. Recently, Kinsey’s death is all that has consumed me. I let my dreams of the NBA fucking wither away. I’ve basically pushed away all of my friends and the life I once lived.

My eyes feel heavy as I take long blinks, enjoying the cool air from the ceiling fan that is beating on my back. I feel at peace within myself. Thinking about Arion, I remember her lips, so soft and warm. I loved how she took full control and knew exactly what she wanted.
Mmm, her mouth was so tight around my cock.
I exhale, enjoying this moment.

My cell phone rings and catches me off guard. Rolling over, I glance at the screen but it’s blank. Fuck, that’s not my phone –
it’s Kinsey’s
. Shooting off of my bed, I grab it off of my dresser where it sits on the charger all the time now. The name on the screen reads “Chase.”
Who’s Chase?
I think to myself, but I don’t falter too long and risk missing out on an opportunity like this. “Hello,” I answer in a sharp tone. My blood is surging; who in the world would be calling her?

“Uhhh, is Kinsey there?”

“Who the fuck is this?” I bark back.

“Chase.”

“Why the fuck are you calling this number, Chase?”

“Kins gave it to—”

I cut him off. “Don’t fucking call her that,” I snarl. “Now answer my goddamn question, why are you calling this number?”

“I just wanted to talk to her. It’s like she fell off the face of the—”

“Dude, do you live under a motherfucking rock?”

“No, bro!”

“Well, you’re sure acting like it. How do you even fucking know her?”

“I don’t need to tell you shit, especially with how you’re acting. If you could tell her I called I would appreciate it.”

“I can’t do that – she’s fucking dead.”

“What?” he asks, shocked. “No. No. No.”

“I know. I don’t want to believe it either.” It pains me to have to say the next sentence, but he needs to know. He obviously hasn’t got a clue what’s going on. “She killed herself.”

He is silent. I feel bad, but Christ, someone needed to tell him. How in the world could he not know? It’s been all over the news and everything. It truthfully is mind boggling to me.

“Oh, God, are you serious?” he finally whispers.

“Yeah, man.”

“I…I had no idea. I’ve been doing missionary work with my church. And…”

“I’m sorry, dude.”

The line goes dead. He fucking hung up. Chase. Chase. I rack my brain trying to think of someone with that name that Kinsey talked about. I wonder who he was to her. I don’t buy it that he’s been
traveling.
He had to have known. Dammit, I should’ve asked more questions and not been such an asshole.

Hopping off my bed, I head into my dad’s office. “You got a second?” I ask him.

He’s seated behind his huge, glass, L-shaped desk. “Of course, what’s going on, son?”

“Did Kinsey ever talk about anyone named Chase?”

He twirls his pen around and around his finger, searching his brain for the name to click. “No, not that I can recall, why do you ask?”

“He just called her phone and had no clue that she was…well, that she’d passed. I find that strange, don’t you?”

“Absolutely. What else did he say?”

“He said he wanted to talk to her. I tried to ask how he knew her, but he wouldn’t tell me.”

“You should give his name and number to Detective Eldridge.”

“Fuck that. That asshole won’t do shit.”

“Come on, Bain, let’s trust the man to do his job.”

“If he was any good at it, then yes, yes, I would.”

“Just give it to him. It’s not going to hurt anything, am I right?”

I nod my head, not wanting to listen to my dad, but deep down I know he’s right. All we have is Detective Eldridge, so I have to tell him.

“Hey, while I have you here, I wanted to talk to you about your mom.”

“What now?” I grumble.

“I think we should try and do some sort of an intervention.”

“Dad, she’s not going to go for that. You should just forget about rehab and accept this is how she is.”

“Bain, listen to yourself. This is your mom we are talking about. I can’t sit back and watch her do this anymore. She’s slowly killing herself. Don’t you remember how she was before all of this? I know that woman is still inside of her, we just need to help her find her way out.”

“Dad, I love you both and I’m sorry to say this, but I think she might be a lost cause right now.”

“Fine, I’ll do it without you, Bain,” he says firmly. I can tell by the look in his eyes he’s mad at me.

“Okay, I’m sorry. Just look into Betty Ford or a place like that and let me know what you find out. I won’t let you do it alone.” A small smile comes across his face; my answer has satisfied him. Walking away, I head back to my room to call that asshole detective.

Walking into school, I’m nervous as can be and questioning my clothing already. Glancing down at my black skinny jeans and leather boots, I feel like a biker chick. What in God’s name was I thinking? I mean, for real!

Before entering Photography, I stop in the restroom to calm my nerves before I face him. But truly, I don’t know why I even care what Anthony thinks of me; he’s my teacher and that’s always a number one rule to them – never get involved with students.

Whatever, I can still look good, so I put on some powder and wash my hands. That’ll do. I leave the restroom and just as I exit, fate hits me smack in the face. Staring down at me, causing me to get instantly lost in his eyes, is Anthony. I don’t move or say a word. Christ, he’s gorgeous.