Chapter 4: Tension isn't good for anything
Anastasia stood in the same spot for a while, just staring at the door, waiting for Hunter to return. Something was wrong with her, first Kyle, now Hunter. Guys never got to her like this, she sighed and turned, then returned to her paper work. She soon realized that she couldn't focus on anything except the way his eyes pierced hers and the way his markings were.
Kyle hurried back to the house and for a while, just watched the phone with his hands together in front of his face. "Waiting for a call?" her voice filled the quiet room and he looked over at the dark-skinned woman. "No." he snapped and got up, walking to his room. "Time for tutoring." She called, but he didn't care, he wanted to hear her voice, wanted to see her smiling again.
Lindy was taking a night walk, just to get away from her father, after all, he was not himself tonight. She turned up her music, knowing her father would follow after a while, trying to apologize. She turned a corner and was face to face with a tall hooded figure. Lindy couldn't barely breath, this person looked as if he was on drugs and had been in a car wreck. She started to back away slowly, but the man grabbed her arm and she let out a scream.
Kyle heard a scream as he walked along the street, trying to get his thoughts off Anastasia. He ran toward the scream and found Lindy Taylor, a fellow classmate, being thrown over a man's shoulder as he started running down the street. He followed the man, wanting to save Lindy for some reason. Once they were alone in an alley, the man sat her down and started to sniff her hair. Kyle was about to move, but a voice stopped him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing to my daughter?" the smaller man appeared and tried to fight the other, but it was no use, he was knocked out cold when the man smashed his head into the wall. Kyle was going to have to be quick or the man would do the same to him. "Hey!" her voice made him freeze and suddenly the man grunted and held his head.
"What the fuck?" I heard his hoarse voice and saw a bit of blood on his hand. "Get away from them." her tone was commanding and strong, she didn't look scared at all. I realized that we were near her store, so no wonder she heard the voices and would be dumb enough to try to help. While the man had his back turned, Kyle ran up and jumped onto his back.
The man was surprised and quickly recovered by ramming Kyle into the wall, making him let go. "Stay out of this!" she yelled at him and started toward the man, slowly and calm. Kyle's vision was slightly blurry, but he couldn't just let her get hurt, although, she didn't seem to be worried about herself. She was shorter than the man by a lot, he started to laugh, it was sickly.
Anastasia stood her ground, refusing to let people get hurt around her. She quickly used her training to drop him to his knees, making him more her size. His face shown his surprise and she couldn't help but smirk. He quickly got up, but stumbled a bit, so she quickly grabbed his wrist and jerked him down, but placed her boot against his throat, choking him.
"Time for a nap." she said and pressed harder, cutting off air flow and he fell to the ground, out for the count. She turned to the people, along with the guy that tried to help. "Are you alright?" she asked and held out her hand, he took it and she saw a glint of silver. "I'm fine." "Hunter?" he nodded and she smiled.
"Why did you try to help?" he asked and she shrugged. "I couldn't just let it happen. This girl's probably still in high school or something, she's got her whole life to live." Kyle couldn't believe that Anastasia just took down the guy with such ease, it was like she had done it before. "Come on." she said and he picked up Lindy's father, while Anastasia got Lindy.
We walked a short distance and walked into her shop, she quickly kicked an empty chair toward Kyle and he sat the father down, then took Lindy so she could move some papers. She looked like she was sleeping and she was intriguing to Kyle, but then so was Anastasia. "That's some power you got hiding." he told her and she giggled. "Lots of training growing up." she explained and he stepped over to her.
"Maybe you could give me some pointers." "Maybe I could." she said and he stared into her green eyes, they were shinning so brightly, it was making his heart flip over and over. He knew what he wanted to do and couldn't stop himself, there was something about her. "Hunter…" she started, but was already leaning toward him, waiting.
He was an inch away from her soft lips and then everything changed, the lights came on and slightly blinded both of them. "What's going on?" a woman's voice rang out and Anastasia quickly moved away from him, who was this woman that just ruined his chance to feel those lips. "Brooke, it's fine, I just save some people." "Get them out of here Anastasia." her tone was annoyed.
"No." Anastasia snapped and the woman lifted her eyebrows. "Excuse me?" "You heard me. I'm not kicking two people that aren't even awake out onto the street to be mugged. And this guy is our new employee." the woman turned her gaze to Kyle and he looked away. "This guy? The one hiding under the jacket?" "Go back to bed, Brooke." "I'm your elder, you need to respect me young lady."
"Just leave me alone, go back to your secret lovers house and stop bothering me." the woman walked over to Anastasia and placed her hands on her hips. "Young lady, I own this shop, your home-" "No, you don't own any of this. I saw a nice letter from the state, it said that I was plenty old enough to claim this property if I wanted to keep it. And of course I do, it was my parents for Christ's sake!" her voice was full of emotion, but Kyle couldn't tell if it was anger, sadness, or fury.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Brooke, I would like for you to leave please." "You are kicking out? Your own family? My blood help build this place too, it's as much yours as it is mine." then she turned to Kyle, smiling sadly. "Hunter, I'm sorry to have to ask you this, but would you mind taking these people to a hospital, this man has a drug problem, I can tell."
He nodded without thinking, he just agreed to leaving her presence without getting to touch her lips with his own. She pulled out a wallet and handed him some money. "Take a cab or something." he took the money without thinking about it and then picked up Lindy's father, while Anastasia got Lindy again. He held the door open so she could come out as well and she got a taxi over to us, the driver opened the door.
"They're going to the closest hospital please." she said and then turned to him after setting Lindy and her father in the seat. "Thank you again, I don't know if I could've handled that by myself." he said, not even bothering to be ashamed about getting saved by a girl. "Not at all, it's normal stuff for me." he blinked, normal stuff was beating up people who attack others. "I'll see you around." she said, then turned and left him standing next to the open door of the taxi.
Anastasia walked back into the store and found Brooke in the same spot. "Well?" "Listen, you lied to me, said that I couldn't claim this place until it was paid off. I'm so frustrated that you have to lie so you'll have a place to come back to and try to call your own. This place was my parents, they left it to me, not you. I've worked so hard to keep it running and have been successful. You just like to come back here to prove you don't sleep with married men."
She let all her frustration out, hoping that Brooke would see her point, but not hate her for it. After she finished, Brooke was silent, she just stared at her. Her eyes were similar to Anastasia's. "Your parents didn't want the store to remain like this, barely any customers at all, you just clean the dust and talk with your freaky friend." "Shut up about my friends." "Tyler's nice." "You only like him because he has money. You've probably slept with his dad many times, you are nothing but a home wrecker and I want you out."