My Soul Keeper (5 page)

“Jacob, how much have you had to drink? It’s still really early.”

“I’m sorry. The guys got here… early.”

“Sorry, Simone. James brought tequila. They had a shot contest with Jacob; he’s wasted.” Liam puts an arm around him and guides him towards the stairs, despite his protest. “I’m taking him to crash for a bit, see if I can sober him up.”

“Wow, you got out of dropping your panties tonight, Simone.” Leah laughs. I gasp, slapping her arm.

I sense eyes on me. I scan the room; dark brown eyes find me through the crowd from the other side of the room.

“Holy shit, who’s the dark and mysterious stud eye-fucking you?”

“Leah, do you have to be so crude?” Gabrielle tuts, coming to stand next to me. She traces our gaze and I hear her inhale. “God, he’s gorgeous. Go talk to him.”

I immediately break my observation of him and turn to her. “Excuse me? Who are you and what have you done with my friend?”

“Yeah, seriously, Prim. What the fuck? You hate every guy.”

“That’s not true. I just have good taste and he is gorgeous, Simone.
And
he wants you.”

“Holy fuck. I really thought
you
wanted her, Prim. I’m shocked.”

We both snap our attention to Leah. “What? She never wants you to have fun and she hates men. It’s an easy assumption to make.” She shrugs tipping her drink to her lips.

“You actually thought I was into Simone in more than a friend capacity?”

Leah nods her head. “Yeah she’s hot, if I swung that way I would totally crush on her too.”

“I don’t swing that way,” Gabrielle corrects her.

Liam appears at the top of the stairs, interrupting our insane conversation on Prim’s sexuality. “He’s out for the night, Simone,” he calls down to me.

“Oh well. Let’s go get a drink.” Leah points toward the guy staring at us. Gabrielle grabs my hand and pulls me through the crowd, stopping directly in front of him.

“Hey,” he says in a deep baritone rumbling from his chest. I know Leah is squeezing her thighs together, that girl is always horny and he even made me tingle.

Gabrielle makes excuses to go get drinks, pushing Leah away from us, and I’m left blushing from his eye assault. I can feel my chest rising and falling as my breathing becomes deep.

“I’m Lucas.” He’s so seductive as he speaks, like he’s studied the art of seduction in speech and got a master’s degree.

“Simone,” I reply.

I find myself biting on my lip. He grins knowingly, making me blush. I’m searching my brain for something to say when a hand gropes my ass and I’m pulled backward by force against a body. My purse falls to the floor.

“Simone, you look so fuckable tonight,” someone growls in my ear.

“Get your fucking hands off her, Stevens. Are you out of your mind? Jacob will kick your ass,” Liam shouts coming towards us. God, Stevens was a guy from school, a friend and team player of Jacob’s. He also had a crush on me and would eye rape me whenever our paths crossed. His hands would always find a way to touch me. He made my skin crawl.

“Come on, Simone. Stop wasting time on Jake. Let me show you a good time before we go off to college and I don’t get a chance.”

He reaches around and gropes my breast and slips his other hand down the front of my jeans so quickly I’m unable to stop him. I’m tugged forward by Liam while Stevens is shoved away from me by Chris, one of Liam and Jacob’s friends. Liam ushers me into the kitchen. I want to cry. I want to shower his grubby touch off me.

“Are you okay, Simone? He was well out of line in there.”

I swipe away the tears that brim my eyes and smile. “I’m fine,” I lie. I feel violated. His hand had gone into my panties, brushed against me.

“You sure?”

I’m grateful that Liam is such a good friend to me and Jacob. I nod my head yes.

“We chucked him out,” Jason tells Liam, coming into the kitchen.

“With a fat lip,” Chris adds.

I search the crowd but don’t see Lucas anywhere. “I’m going to use the bathroom,” I murmur.

Making my way to the front of the house, checking to make sure Liam’s not watching. I go out the front door and into the street to walk for a little while, to catch my breath and embrace the night sky. I walk just until the music fades and let the tears fall to my cheeks. I take a few deep breaths. There’s a rustling behind me. Nerves attack the pit of my stomach as a shadow appears from the bushes. Panic surges through me and adrenaline moves my feet forward. Whoever it is, their steps follow behind mine. My mind screams at me for being so stupid, for leaving a party at night alone.

I can’t help myself. I’ll just walk past the house, maybe scope out the backyard. God, why can’t I keep away from her?

I scold myself.

A couple of girls walk past me and giggle. They’re clearly intoxicated; the smell of alcohol and the way they cling to each other, trying to hold each other up indicates they’ve had a little too much to drink.

“Oh my God, how sexy was he?”

I laugh to myself; the human females love a pretty face. I look behind me to see them fade from view. As I turn back, someone collides into me, arms wrap around my neck, and a female body is pushed into my chest. I immediately catch her as a reflex; her sweet scent fills my nose and her silk hair lies over my arm.

“Please pretend you know me. I’m being followed.”

Her sweet angelic voice breathes against my ear, making my whole body stand to attention. I embrace her and stroke down her back. Behind her, two shadows move and then vanish into nothing.

“There’s no one there,” I breathe into her ear.

Her breath stutters against the panic taking over her body. “Thank you.”

Wet drops hit my neck. I slide her from my body gently. I inhale sharply when her blue eyes bore into me; her perfect red lips pout into an O shape. She tilts her head and the tears in her eyes make them sparkle like stars. She swipes her tongue over her bottom lip and I have to close my eyes to calm myself, to stop from kissing her.

“It’s you,” she says in her broken, delicate voice. I open my eyes and a small smile lifts her lips. “You know my friend. You were speaking to her earlier outside my house.”

My brows furrow. “Oh, you mean Gabrielle?” I quickly recover.

She smiles brighter with a slight nod of her head. “She introduced herself when I asked for directions and invited me to a party.”

She looks behind her. “That’s where I came from.”

“That bad, huh?” I laugh.

She shakes her head lightly. “My boyfriend drank too much and some jerk got out of hand and thought he could grope me, and then I was sure someone followed me. I guess my nerves were just a little frayed.” She shrugs.

I have to swallow the pure rage boiling inside me at someone putting his unwanted hands on her.

“The groper creep, is that who was following you?” I hear the aggression in my own voice, and she steps back, wary of my tone.

“Erm, yeah, I think so, but…” She looks behind her again. “I think he’s gone.”

“Would you like me to walk you home?”

She relaxes her tense stance as I gaze into her eyes. “No, thank you. My car’s back there but thanks for pretending to know me. I guess, I may have overreacted, it’s been a crappy night.”

She looks down, embarrassed, and it makes me want to rip the soul from the asshole who made her feel this way.

I reach for her, tipping her chin up with my finger, I absorb every detail of her face as I look into her eyes. “Don’t put your head down, ever. You should only show your face to the heavens. No one has the right to touch you or follow you, to intimidate you. It’s not overreacting to be cautious after someone got over familiar.”

She studies my face and I have to remind myself that I can’t kiss her. I want to taste her so badly, but what would make me different from the creep that touched her without her permission? She doesn’t know I have spent weeks in her presence, learning more endearing things about her.

“You have the most amazing eyes I’ve ever seen. They’re like the colour of the Mediterranean,” she murmurs in a daze.

I nearly combust. I bring my thumb to her mouth and stroke over her bottom lip, forcing her to release it from her teeth. The contact sends an electric pulse throughout my body. She inhales sharply, looking to my lips then my eyes, making me ache to crush my mouth to hers. I sense a soul of someone walking toward us.

“There you are. I was worried sick. Oh, hi,” I recognise her friend Leah.

Simone pulls back, forcing my hand to drop. She shakes her head as if to clear it. “Hey.” I smile at her friend.

“Wow, Simone, you’re like a hot guy magnet. Who’s this one?”

I laugh at her boisterous friend. “I’m just someone pretending to know her.”

“Mmm, you sure you don’t want to know us so you don’t have to pretend? Simone has a boyfriend but I’m free.”

My eyes trail between the two, noticing Simone has a flushed rosy glow. I reach out to stroke down Simone’s cheek with the back of my fingers. Her eyes snap to mine questioning my intimate gesture; the heat from her flush ignites my desire again. I close my eyes and walk away from them.

Staying out of view, I watch her go back inside and I follow, in my concealed form.

Simone finds a room, locks the door, and curls up on the bed. I hear Gabrielle’s voice carrying across the hall. I follow it to a room; she’s inside speaking in whispered tone.

“It was supposed to be tonight. He got wasted.” A male voice speaks to her with a commanding tone of authority. “You’ll have to do it yourself. It needs to happen now. She’s getting too vulnerable around him. Don’t disappoint me. We’re too close now,” he warns her.

“I won’t, my Lord, I promise.”

I return to Simone. She’s asleep, huddled under a cover. I switch off the light and check that the door’s locked. Simone’s breathing is even, her hair splayed over the pillow; she is peaceful. My mind tries to decipher the conversation I overheard.
My Lord.
Who was she talking to?

Hours pass and she doesn’t move. Only her chest rises and falls. The door unlocks and swings open. I stand but I’m too late to hold the door shut. Jacob fills the doorway. He rubs his face and goes to the dresser, opening a drawer and pulling out a t-shirt. He hasn’t noticed Simone asleep in his bed. He lifts his shirt up over his head and chucks it on the floor as Gabrielle tiptoes into the room behind him wearing nothing. She’s completely naked. I want to avert my eyes. I have seen many naked women, but it’s different when you know the person.

Jacob rubs his face again, as if he’s not sure what he’s seeing. I don’t blame him; I’m also not sure this is happening.

“Gabrielle, you’re naked,” he stutters.

She walks up to him and leans her small perky breasts against his chest. His breathing becomes heavy. She licks his bottom lip like a cat tasting cream. Holding her back he looks down at her breasts. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t want to go to college a virgin, Jacob. Do you?”

“I love Simone. We’re planning…”

She holds a finger to his lips and doesn’t let him finish. “Shhh, Simone told me she doesn’t plan on sleeping with you. She’s not ready. But I am. She doesn’t have to know.”

She reaches for his jeans unbuttoning them, dropping them to his ankles.

“Gabrielle, I can’t…” he begins, but before he can finish, she drops to her knees and takes him into her mouth.

“Oh, fuck!” he moans loudly into the room. I turn away not wanting to witness whatever the hell this is.

I look to Simone, who stirs and sits up directly in sight of Jacob and the back of Gabrielle’s head bobbing like a dashboard hula girl.

“Oh my God, Jacob,” she whispers.

Jacobs’s eyes snap up to hers. He pushes Gabrielle away and pulls up his jeans, hurried and unsteady.

“Shit, Simone, she just did it. I didn’t…” He fumbles for word, trying to explain his actions.

“Gabrielle, how could you?” Simone cries out, jumping from the bed, throwing the covers behind her and running for the door.

He follows after her. “Please, Simone, wait. It didn’t mean anything. She seduced me. I didn’t want-”

“Don’t! Just don’t,” she seethes.

“What the fuck is going on?” Leah asks, stepping from another room to investigate the commotion.

“Ask Gabrielle. There was a guy she liked after all.”

Leah looks puzzled until she glimpses into Jacob’s room to see Gabrielle naked.

“No fucking way,” she shouts.

“I can’t be here,” Simone’s pained voice whispers before she flees down the stairs.