Twisted Desire (The Twisted Series) (13 page)

“Drop it.”

The deep, dangerous voice that rushes over her ears can’t be
mistaken for anyone else. 
Harley.

She releases the glass and tucks her hands into her
lap.  Unexpectedly, Harley downs the first shot and chases it with the
other one.  She glances over her shoulder at him.

His eyes are soft and bloodshot.  “I needed those more
than you.  They cut me off an hour ago.”

He is suddenly the only man in the room.  She is
shocked by his slurred admission and makes it her responsibility that he make
it home safely.  The last thing she needs is for him to crash and drown in
a ditch along the way.

What Aliah doesn’t realize is that the young man who had
just purchased those drinks for her is not very pleased with Harley’s selfish
swallow.  This guy is on his feet and takes a swing in a matter of
milliseconds, connecting with Harley’s face, only inches from her own.

Harley’s slowed senses kick into gear and he lays the guy
out with one upper cut.  The guy crashes onto a table behind him, knocking
a girl to the floor, splashing a full pitcher of beer on the guy next to
her.  Within seconds, the place breaks out into a full on beer soaked
brawl.

After knocking two more jocks on their asses, Harley tosses
Aliah over his shoulder like a damsel in distress and dashes toward the
door.  He exits the bar and crosses the road with her that way, even as
she slaps at his back.  He doesn’t put her down until he reaches his
motorcycle and begins to pulls his keys from his pocket.

Aliah snatches them out of his hand.  “I don’t fucking
think so.  You’re hammered.  Why don’t we catch a cab?”

“The cops are guaranteed to be here any minute.”

“Then come with me.”

“I can’t leave my bike.  You go ahead.  I’ll be
fine.”  Harley stumbles over his own two feet and laughs sardonically.

“Harley, please don’t do this.  I already feel like
shit for everything I’ve done to you.  It’s bad enough you’re going to
have a black eye in the morning.  But I couldn’t live with myself if you
died because of me.”

“I’m not leaving my bike,” he repeats, swiping a hand across
his bloody lip.  “I’d rather die a slow and painful death.”

“Then let me drive it.”

“No one drives my bike but me.”

They both turn their heads to see the flashing lights
approaching.  Aliah spins back around to face him, as he snaps up his
helmet and climbs onto his motorcycle.

“You’d rather drive it into the ground, than let me take you
home?”  She’s so very frustrated with him right now.

“I don’t sit backseat to anyone.”

Ignoring his comment, she plugs the key in and hops on in
front of him, practically sitting on his lap.  “Get over yourself.  I
promise to take good care of her.”

He can’t believe his eyes when Aliah has the bike off its
kickstand and they’re speeding toward the stop sign before the cops even make
their appearance.  She makes it two blocks away before he can even lift
his chin off her shoulder.  Then she takes a sudden left.

“My house is the other way,” he shouts over her dainty
shoulder.

The motorcycle veers down a long, dark alley and she
clutches the brake, until they’re stopped at the bottom of the incline. 
It’s a dead end, ending right at the water’s edge.  She parks the bike and
tugs off his helmet.

“What are you doing?” he asks, angered by the change of
venue.

She turns off the bike and tucks the keys into his pants
pocket, gazing up into his eyes.

He catches her chin and doesn’t let go.  “Can I ask
what the hell we’re doing?”  He says it like he’s forgotten that he had
only just asked that a second earlier.

She pries his hand off her face and walks away.  She
spins back playfully, to smirk at him.  “It’s called a park, Harley. 
What do you do at a park?”

He looks stumped.

“You play,” she informs him.

He still doesn’t get it.

“I left my wallet in my car, so I don’t have my
license.  It felt like you were going to roll us.  If you want to
kill yourself, fine.  But I’d like to get home in one piece.”

Harley can’t even deny that he’s three sheets to the
wind.  “It’s not like you’re licensed to drive a motorcycle.  There’s
a test for that, you know.”

When she turns back to goad him, he’s right there.  “No
shit.  I’ve passed the test.”  Her voice turns breathless in response
to his proximity.

Now he can’t stop smiling, licking at the fresh blood on his
lip.

She slides her hand under the collar of his shirt and back
down his chest.  “You’re too drunk to drive and I thought you were going
to pass out on me back there.  I doubt you’d like me very much if I
crashed your bike.  You need to sober up a bit before we go any
farther.”  She pats his cheek twice and then saunters toward the play
equipment.  She can feel his eyes following her.

“Are you still referring to riding, or is this more about
us
now?”  His voice is but a low growl.

She freezes in place, intrigued by that reference. 
“I’d really like you to accept my apology, if that’s what you mean.  But
I’m not going to throw myself at you to do it.”  She takes a few steps and
spins around, slouching into a black slat swing.  Her hands hang from the
chain above her head.  “So, if that’s what you’re waiting for, you’ll be
sorely disappointed.”

“You want the truth?”  His voice sounds painfully
honest, as he grasps onto the chains on either side of her hips and pushes her
backward, leaving her suspended a few feet in mid-air above his
shoulders.  “I don’t know if I can do that so soon – accept your
apology.  The wound is still gaping.”

The dangerous flicker in his eyes shows that he’s only
kidding.  Aliah reaches out to slap him, but he grabs onto her hand and
tugs her close.  She crashes against him and their gazes collide. 
His eyes are sparkling midnight, like a dark, dreamy nightmare.  She wants
to kiss him, as she slides down his body.  Gravity has her standing on
tip-toes but something else has Harley held rigid against her.

She hasn’t wanted to kiss a man in years.  But as he
eases closer, her parted lips quiver and she considers it.  With eyes
pressed closed, she turns her cheek.  He kisses her there and pauses,
absorbing the silence.

“I’m sorry,” he finally says.

“
I’m
sorry,” she interrupts.  She doesn’t know
what her problem is either.  “I’m messed up, alright?  I’m just not
ready for that kind of commitment.”

“A little harmless kiss is commitment to you?”  His
smile has butterflies battling in her lungs and tumbling in her stomach.

Aliah inhales sharply.  “It’s not the commitment I’m
afraid of.”

She instantly wishes she hadn’t shared that with him. 
He gets her talking too much.  Besides, it is only partly true.  She
has no issue with commitment herself.  It’s him she’s worried about.

“Then what are you so afraid of?”  Harley’s eyes are
squinted, as if he’s trying to sneak a peek at her soul.  His moist, warm
lips are so close she can almost taste them.  She steps away and
discreetly gasps for air, as though he has been starving her of it.

“I have my reasons, okay?  Can we just leave it at
that?”

When he steps up behind her, she doesn’t step away.  He
reaches for her right hand and grabs onto it.  “It’s okay to feel
scared.  This shit can get scary.  But do you see me running?”

The warmth of his body against hers is superficial but
soothing.  She squeezes his hand involuntarily.  “You don’t
understand.”

“Don’t I? 
You
stood
me
up tonight,
woman.”

She glances up at Harley over her shoulder.  “Look…
I’ve been hurt, okay?”  Her pale eyes share her hesitation.  “I’ve
battled for love and lost.  I’m not looking to have my heart trampled on
like that again any time in the near future.”

He squeezes onto her hand.  “I didn’t realize how fresh
it was.”

Aliah turns away and glances at the ground.  “It’s not
fresh.  It was two years and three months ago.”

“You’re counting.”

“Wouldn’t you?”

“No,” he answers frankly.

Aliah’s voice is soft and careful.  “You act like you
know.  But how could you?”

“You’re right.  I couldn’t.”

Aliah really wants nothing more than to run away from this
conversation right now, but she senses his sarcasm and knows it has to happen
if they are ever going to get past this night.  “Why…”  She sighs,
not even knowing what she’s trying to say.  “How do you know?”

“Are you sure you want to hear that answer?”

She really does, but she catches herself
backpedalling.  “You know?  You’re right.  You’re drunk and
you’ll probably regret this whole conversation tomorrow.  Maybe we should
lighten up and save it for another day.  Maybe after our first date.”

Harley’s laugh echoes through the dark night.  “Are you
calling this our first date?”

She tries to tug her hand away, but he won’t let it
go.  “No!” she screeches, like she’s horrified.

“You just did.”

“I did no such thing!”  The higher her voice rings, the
more he laughs.

After the echoes of laughter drift into the night, Harley
nuzzles his nose next to her ear.  “You need to let him go, if you’re ever
going to move on.”  He releases Aliah’s hand and she walks away from him,
to look out over the calm water.

Aliah has always found it easier to get her thinking done at
night time.  She likes it when she’s alone.  She has spent many a
nights at that very same park, expressing herself to the wind.  The only
thing missing tonight is her can of mace.  She had forgotten that in her
car, in a rush to drown her troubles.

She stands there wondering why so much time has passed and
yet she’s still clinging to the short-lived love affair that happened between
her and Hunter Wight.  He was sweet, gentle, kind.  But then he’d
cheated on her.  Harley was right.  She’d never gotten past the sting
of that deed.  It had nothing to do with love.  They’d kissed and
made up, but it was never quite the same.

Aliah had fallen out of love with him over time.  She’d
been more married to the idea of love, then to its relation to Hunter. 
She’d only refused to admit it to herself then.  Apparently it only takes
a surprisingly sweet, hulking drunkard to teach her that.

She seethes near the water, wondering what this means for
her.  She certainly isn’t ready to throw another two years away on a man
who doesn’t want her.  It is then when she realizes that Harley is
standing behind her again, and she wonders how long he’s been waiting,
listening to her thoughts.

She glances at him over her shoulder and smiles.  He
tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and traces the length of her jaw with his index
finger.  She closes her eyes, shivering from the intimacy of his touch.

Harley reaches his arms around her tiny waist and inhales
the sweet scent emanating from her neck, then he presses his lips there. 
“Do you want to talk about it?”  His lips move softly over her sensitive
flesh.

“I don’t know if I’m ready.”

Harley laces his fingers with hers.  “I’ve got all
night.”

Aliah smiles softly and tugs on his hand to put them in
motion.  They slowly traverse the gravel path that winds next to the
water’s edge.  Neither of them speak.  They just listen to the summer
night.  The crickets.  The rustling leaves.  The soft water
flowing next to them.

The moon makes the swelling water sparkle, and the serene
feeling envelopes her, as she walks hand in hand with this ethereal beast,
dressed in a suit.

Aliah smiles up at him, as they grow closer to his bike,
having walked the entire park circulation, her eyes glittering with acceptance.

“You should smile more often.  It looks good on you.”

She bites down on her lower lip.  She tries to stop
herself from smiling like a fool, but loses the battle.

Aliah’s eyes flutter to the ground.  “It wasn’t all
good.”

He squints at her, having not read her thoughts.  “What
wasn’t?”

“Love.  It hurt more often than not.  I’m not really
sure what the excitement is all about.”

Harley tilts his head to capture her gaze.  “I wouldn’t
know.”

Aliah drops her chin and looks up at him,
incredulously.  “You’ve never been in love?”  Her voice echoes down
the long driveway, as she props her rear-end on a chipped, old picnic table.

He releases her hand and grips onto her waist to help her
up.  “Not that I know of,” he admits, sounding completely serious.

Aliah smiles softly.  “If you have to think about it,
then you definitely haven’t.  It’s not a feeling you forget too
quickly.”  Her voice floats over them like a whimsical cloud of dreams.

Harley nods slowly.  “You’re still in love with
him.”  He states it like a fact and doesn’t even disguise his
disappointment.

“No,” she answers matter-of-factly.  “It’s hard to love
someone when they don’t reciprocate the feeling.”

Harley clears his throat.  “So I’ve heard.”

“It sounds like you’ve had love before.  Is it that
girl from Riley’s?”

That slut certainly wishes it is.

“Jillian?”  He looks shocked and appalled by her
suggestion and tries to cover his response with a chuckle.

Aliah shrugs her shoulders indifferently.  “You two
looked pretty cozy tonight.  She kept touching you like you were
intimately acquainted.”

Harley raises a brow and smiles.  “I’m afraid Jillian
is taken.”

“Are you disappointed about that?”

He outright laughs this time.  “I
do
wish I had
more say in her selection of men.”

Aliah’s confusion shows on her face.  “What do you
care, if it’s not you?”

Their eyes connect, his smile transmitting a secret message
to her.  “I need my assistant to be happy.  There’s nothing worse
than working next to a miserable woman all day.”