“Hey old man! What are you holding there?” Voices from the alley behind me coursed into my ears. “Is that a $100?”
“N-no,” the old homeless man denied. His voice was wrought with distress. It was obvious that he regretted making such a spectacle of the donation. “N-no, it’s just a dollar. She just gave me a dollar.”
“Fucking bastard is lying,” said another man. His voice rippled with menace and greed. The beginnings of a physical struggle followed his words.
“No, please!” The old man’s voice echoed across the street. “Please, I need this money!”
“Shut the hell up!”
The sound of fists hitting flesh penetrated the frigid air, rolling over to me like a beautiful symphony. In that chaotic moment, all that could be heard were the old homeless man’s pained screams.
Ah yes, I thought in relief, rejoicing in the wretchedness filling the environment around me. This was exactly what I needed.
Turning away and leaving the liveliness of the club scene behind me, the constriction that once plagued my chest dispersed. I felt nothing but relaxation in the calm of the night. I could finally breathe again.
A genuine smile bloomed across my lips.
After feeling fully functional now that my needs had been quenched, I continued onward, purposely ignoring the excited voices of the homeless men who were ready to enjoy their stolen riches. As their footsteps pattered away in the opposite direction, I dialed the police. I urgently told them that someone needed their help because he had just been mugged. I made sure to inject stress and worry into the intonation of my voice. I turned briefly to see the homeless man sobbing to himself when I finished my call. Although his cries were music to my ears, it also acted like a sledgehammer to my conscience. I hoped that he would find the $500 I slipped into his jacket pocket soon. Hopefully that would help ease his misery.
“Sorry that it had to be you tonight,” I uttered quietly.
I dragged my eyes away from him and felt my smile broaden. As the memory of what occurred faded into the backdrop of my mind, the liveliness and chaos of my surroundings also faded. The further I treaded out of the party scene, the more serene the street became. The block had gotten quieter and foot traffic had thinned immensely. Soon, the only things that kept me company were the orange street lamps that illuminated the desolate road.
Although it was extremely quiet, I paid no mind to it because I felt no fear.
I gave a quiet sigh and tilted my head to gaze up at the night's sky. With the full moon hovering in view, the stars smiling in unison, and the dim illumination of streetlights flickering in the distance, it warmed my heart to feel like I was walking inside a picturesque painting. There was something about walking alone at night that I enjoyed immensely. It could be the beauty or the tranquility, but I always found myself at peace in such a setting.
Regrettably, the peace was short-lived when I felt a wisp of alarmingly cold air curl around me. Coldness crept down my spine. What the heck? I folded my bare arms to fend off the sudden chill. I was momentarily mystified. I did not feel any wind seconds prior. Where did this nasty chill come from?
I was several yards away from my apartment complex when someone decided to answer that question in a surprising way.
“Don't you know how dangerous it is for a pretty girl like you to walk alone at night?”
I tried.
I tried so hard not to flinch in fear when I heard the voice beside me. It took everything I had to not draw back in panic when I turned and saw that there was a stranger walking beside me. My throat grew dry while my heart rate tripled in speed.
There was no one else beside me moments ago.
Where did he come from?
My vigilant eyes slowly settled on him. Though I didn’t overtly flinch in fear, I knew the stranger caught the unease dancing in my flustered gaze. So much for not wanting to appear frightened so the guy would run off, I thought sullenly, trying to make out his face in the dimness of the night. It took a couple of seconds for my eyes to acclimate to the darkness that coated over him. Once I was finally able to make out his facial features, I mentally gasped for air at the sight before me.
Oh my . . .
I half expected the walking stalker to be an average looking hobo who was looking to mug me for some money. To my surprise, as my eyes inspected his features that were now visible under the glow of the full moon, I couldn't help but, despite the arguably dangerous predicament I found myself in, admire his gorgeous features.
Dressed in a dark red dress shirt, black pants, and black dress shoes, this striking guy was anything but a bum. I had seen my fair share of handsome guys, but this guy took the cake for being the most handsome thing I had ever seen. If anything, “handsome” was too serene of a word to describe him.
He had a strong bone structure that accentuated every inch of his face and skin that looked as smooth as fine cut diamond. Not to be outdone, his piercing honey-brown eyes locked me in their gaze, holding me captive for a few breathtaking seconds before my eyes involuntarily trailed over to his tempting lips. I gulped quietly. I honestly felt like I was looking at a model who had just stepped out of the pages of those glamorous magazines. As ridiculous as it sounded, he truly looked like a glorious Fallen Angel who had been sent down to earth to show me what perfection looked like.
I only snapped out of my untimely trance when I saw the curve of an amused smirk form on those kissable lips of his. I hadn't noticed it before because—oddly enough—I couldn't smell it, but he was also smoking a cigarette as he walked beside me. I wrinkled my nose in distaste. Smoking was a big no-no for me. I hated the smell of cigaret—oh crap!
I lost my train of thoughts and immediately averted my eyes when I realized that he had caught me in my awe-like trance. Damn, how long had I been staring at him?
I gathered my nerves. Thankfully, my fear had subsided to some extent, and I was suddenly feeling warmer than ever. I did not allow this momentary warmth to distract me. Pushing this unusual attraction to this gorgeous stalker-like stranger aside, my mind was lucid enough to remind me of the dilemma I was in. Not too keen on being featured as a missing person on the morning news, I hastened my pace and uncomfortably cleared my throat.
“Don't you know how scary it is to say that to someone while they're walking alone?” I managed to muster out. Even though I manufactured a composed voice, my eyes were timid as they stared straight ahead.
I was aware that I should have screamed for help. The stranger could have easily thrown me into a dark alley and killed me without anyone knowing. I think the little alcohol in me may have clouded my better judgment. It was strange that I did not feel any immediate fear with this stranger. Whoever this guy was, I had an innate feeling that he wasn't looking to hurt me. If anything, I was surprised to admit that I felt safer around him.
“I'm sorry, beautiful,” he apologized, a sexy lilt dancing in his sultry voice. It was so sensual that I could feel the fibers of my body come alive, wondering who this gorgeous creature was. Why was he walking with me when he could have any other girl falling to her knees at his charms?
I struggled to regulate my breathing. I was feeling hotter than I had ever felt and this sensation frightened me. It frightened me so much that it took all of my internal strength to accelerate my pace in hopes of losing this guy.
If I ran, would I be able to outrun him?
From my peripheral vision, I could see him smile at me in amusement. I was walking with my arms crossed, my shifty eyes bouncing back and forth between him and the street ahead of me. I began to assess my chances of outrunning him to my apartment. Seemingly knowing that I wouldn’t attempt to outrun him (it wasn’t like my heels could get me far anyway), his pace easily matched mine as another puff of smoke curled away from his mouth.
Parting his lips, he went on carelessly. While his left hand was in his pants' pocket, his right hand was dangling about, holding onto the lit cigarette.
“I know that I shouldn?
??t have snuck up on you like this. It's just that I've been trying to hit on you all night in the club, but you were with your friends the entire time.”
I could easily detect the widening smirk in his voice when he explained his reasoning for being here with me.
“I saw my chance when I noticed you walking alone. I figured, ‘Hey, I might as well walk her home. If I get lucky, she’ll invite me up to her apartment and I’ll be able to pleasure her all throughout the long and glorious night.’”
Silence was the only thing that poured from my mouth.
I gaped at him in disbelief.
The bewildered look I gave him pulsed with shock. Pure shock.
I had never had a guy speak to me so bluntly. I felt a hundred times better that he was a fellow patron from the club, but my caution with him remained. Even then, I knew I wasn’t dealing with a normal guy.
A string of smoke billowed away from his amused lips in the most carefree way. Its haze seemingly told me that he found much enjoyment in my reaction. He did not regret being bold and blunt with me. If anything, I would go as far as saying that he liked that I was taken aback by his boldness. It was as if he wanted to have that impact on me so I'd know exactly who I was dealing with.
He was as sexy as a guy could get, but I respected myself too much to deal with this crap. I enjoy being treated with respect and I enjoy when guys are chivalrous (even if they are being fake). I couldn't have this chain-smoking fool talk to me like this.
“Look,” I started sternly, my eyes narrowing.
I was normally more of a pushover when it came to dealing with people. I rarely used my “stern” voice. I always tried to do my best to avoid confrontation. Because of this, it was a completely new development for me to stand up for myself against this stranger. Whatever it was about him, he made me feel more empowered than I normally felt.
As our feet continued down the sidewalk, I grew a spine and uttered firm words that I never once had the balls to say in my entire life.
“I appreciate the initiative you took to walk me home in hopes of sexing me up, but I'm not drunk enough to fall for your perverted charms. I'm also definitely not drunk enough to sleep with you.”
I could feel my heart beat in disbelief at the words that were coming out of my mouth. I was being rude and my voice wasn’t faltering the teeniest with fear! Fighting hard to keep from smiling in fear of messing up my “stern” face, I plowed on, puffing up my chest and raising my chin high. This guy didn’t know who he was messing with. This was the new and improved Grace Hwang, and he was going to get a taste of my independence and empowerment.
Looking him up and down with an air of superiority, I feigned a bit of eye rolling and meanly added, “I think it’s best if you scurry off. We're near my apartment and if my boyfriend catches you talking to me, he'll kick your ass. He's pretty overprotective.”
I assumed he would get the hint and leave me alone. To my disappointment, he did not seem the least bit affected by it.
With another round of smoke swimming away from his lips, sexy-chain-smoking guy shook his head and laughed as my apartment complex came into view. Funny how I didn't see him take a puff of that cigarette and funny how I couldn't smell the stench of the cigarette. It would have definitely helped if I knew then what was going on. Of course, as his laughter invaded my mind, I became sublimely distracted from the obvious clues in life.
“What?” I asked, taken aback by his entertained bouts of laughter.
“Man,” he whispered in hilarity, suddenly flicking the cigarette butt away. He mirrored the position of his left hand by placing his right hand into the pocket of his pants. Inclining his head up to the starry skies, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to savor the sensation of something. When he opened them shortly thereafter, he tilted his head and allowed his enthralling eyes to lock with mine.
The way he was gazing at me scared me briefly. Why did I have the uneasy feeling he was about to call my bluff? Worse yet, why did it feel like I was about to get caught?
“I love it when pretty girls like you lie,” he stated, his tone as soothing and innocent as could be. There was adoration in the way he stared at me. “Makes me wonder what other naughty stuff you'd be willing to do.”
I scoffed at him, feigning a bluff (even though I knew I was caught). I didn't have an overprotective boyfriend to beat him up. In fact, I didn’t even have a boyfriend. It was a typical lie I used to get guys off my back. It was usually an effective tactic. I didn't understand why it didn't work with him. Already panicking in my mind, I tried to keep the lie alive as we neared the steps leading up to the entrance of my apartment complex.
“Lie?” I scoffed again, taking out my keys from my wristlet and stepping onto the landing. Anxiousness brimmed inside me. I knew at that moment, when he caught my bluff, that I should have been afraid of him. By how he was talking to me, any normal girl would be afraid that the guy would kidnap her and do God knows what to her. Yeah, this psychotically bold stranger would have freaked out any normal girl, but I wasn't afraid. I was just anxious around him. And it wasn't a bad form of anxiousness either.
“What'd I lie about?” I managed to utter while I unlocked the front door to my apartment complex.
When I was about to turn around to face him, I felt a pair of arms sneak up from behind me. Engulfed in a wave of blissful cologne, he pulled me into a deep embrace against his awaiting chest. The sensation of him resting his lips close to my earlobe electrified every cell in my body.
“Lying about you having a boyfriend, of course,” he stated in an alluring tone. His hot breath glided along my earlobe, leaving me to feel much weaker in his hold than I'd like to be.
I should have said, “Get your dirty hands off me, you pervert!”
Alas, at this point, my voice somehow became lodged in my throat. This strange guy was too mesmerizing. I couldn’t find the strength to deny him. I couldn’t even think, much less form coherent words.
When I said nothing, he took my silence as a reply and relished in it. Fully satisfied with himself and my reaction to his impromptu hold, he gave a murmur of approval before wrapping me tighter with care. Blowing soft caresses of hot breath along the skin of my neck, the stranger took his time with teasing me and making me delirious with anticipation.
This is so hot . . .
I should have stopped him. I should have protested to the sudden invasion of personal space. I didn't understand myself. Normally, I'd kick guys like him in the balls and run off. However, with this stranger, there was a strong magnetic attraction that kept me wanting him. It wasn’t because of his striking good looks (though that in itself would have cinched the deal), but because of something else—this raw, sexual magnetism that was so powerful by nature that no woman created would be able to refuse it.
“Let's go upstairs,” he proposed delicately, his hands trailing down my hips and stopping at the lining that ended between the intersection of my black dress and my bare thighs. With deliberate care, his fingers treaded in that area, tempting me with what could happen. “I'd like to further introduce myself to you.”
As an added persuasion, he began to nuzzle himself against my bare shoulder, leaving me with more tingling sensations that were overwhelming my senses. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. Why was I behaving like this? I had never behaved like this. I was a virgin who was so prudish that I didn’t even kiss guys unless they were my boyfriend—and I had never liked anyone enough to have a boyfriend. I valued the intimacy between lovers and planned on saving all these gifts for my special someone. That said, I didn't understand why I was not only allowing some random stalker-guy feel me up in front of my apartment, but I also didn't understand why I didn't stop him. The more his lips met my skin, the more I wanted him to touch me. It was like a drug. I knew it was wrong, but his touch was so damn addicting.
“Gracie,” he murmured, lost in the trance he placed us in.
My eyes bloomed once I heard the trigger that snapped
me out of my idiotic stupor. I turned to face him with a look of shock and broke away from his embrace.
“How did you know my name?” I inquired firmly, panic riding the nerves of my trembling body. My heart began to beat relentlessly as I eyed him with complete vigilance. The spell he cast over me seemingly broken, I started to behave as any normal girl would. I started freaking the fuck out.
The guy groaned. Closing his eyes in frustration, the devastatingly tantalizing smile of his remained while he whispered a string of expletives to himself—as if scolding himself for blurting out the wrong thing.
A brooding sigh escaped his lips when he opened his eyes and held my gaze. Though he was pissed off at himself for having a momentary lapse in judgment, there was still amusement on his face. He didn't seem concerned with how I was reacting—that I was now so wary of him.
“I was hoping that I'd get to pleasure you for a couple of hours before I got down to business,” he commented quietly, giving me a sheepish smile that was so innocent and inviting that I nearly lost control.
Before the stupid part of me could lunge at him in a sexual frenzy, my logic remained strong.
“Who are you?” I demanded. I didn't worry too much about him knowing my name because I suspected that he probably overheard it while I was at the club with my friends. However, I wanted to know his.
He grinned slowly. With an undulation of pride beaming out of his voice, he casually said, “Your Guardian, of course.”
The world screeched to a stop.
“Excuse me?”
The look on my face said it all: with my jaw hanging low and my gaping eyes nearly bulging out, I was clearly scared and not amused with his answer. I trembled where I stood. This was just my luck. The one time I let some random guy feel me up, he turned out to be a psychotic freak. Seriously, where the heck was everyone tonight? I had hoped that one of my neighbors would pop out and save me. Hell, I’d even settle for someone walking on the street to say, “Hey! Girl-with-her-jaw-hung-low-in-shock, are you okay? Is this guy bothering you?” but no such passerby made an appearance. Honestly. Why was no one saving me?