Chapter Four- Blake

BLAKE

She was the last thing I thought of before falling asleep, and she is the first thing I’m thinking of as I open my eyes with the sun shining through the cracks in the blinds. This girl is messing me up because I have never been so eager to go to school in my life.

My life hasn’t been easy and I’ve never had anything to look forward to- other than getting out of juvie- but I feel like if I can just lay eyes on her today, I would breathe easier.

God, I sound like a love-drunk fool. I definitely don’t love her, and I don’t know if I’m capable of loving anyone other than my grandma, but Laken makes me feel something. But feeling anything over this girl means she could wreck me.

The pull I feel toward her is too strong to back away though. I’m too curious to figure her out. To break away her layers and see that pain and darkness that seems to match mine.

I roll out of bed to get ready for school and after a quick shower, I head to the kitchen. Grandma already has a plate of fluffy eggs, toast, and bacon waiting for me on the table. She’s pouring a cup of coffee when I walk up to her and kiss her on the cheek.

“Good morning, Grandma. Thank you for breakfast,” I say as she hands me the mug of black coffee.

“Good morning sweet boy,” she replies with a pat on my cheek.

My grams is the best. She didn’t have to take me in after what I did to her son, but she welcomed me with open arms and told me she was proud of me for sticking up for myself and my mama. “A real man protects those he loves no matter what,” is what she said the day she picked me up outside the gates when I was released from juvie.

She has treated me better than my own parents ever did and loves me like no one ever has. I had only ever seen her in pictures while growing up. My mom only had one picture of my grandma holding me when I was a baby. My dad wasn’t close to his parents and was always getting into trouble, then moved out when he was eighteen.

That one picture of grandma and I was taken because my mom went behind my dad’s back and contacted grandma when I was born. She knew that her mother would have wanted to see me if she had still been alive, and she felt that grandma had a right to know that she had a grandson. Then he beat the shit out of her when he found out.

She never contacted my grandma again, and I didn’t even know she was alive till I was told I was going to be living with her two days before I got out of juvie. I’m grateful because I would have been put into the system.

Dad got my mom hooked on drugs, and the drugs helped her ignore the cheating and the beatings that became regular. I could tell there were times she felt guilty from her drug usage when she would look at me with self-loathing shining in her eyes for herself. But she always made sure I was taken care of.

She didn’t hit the hard stuff as often as the pills and alcohol. She knew she couldn’t take care of me if she hit the heroin and crack too hard, but there were times I had to take care of her after a long bender or after a good beating. The first time I had to take care of her by myself was when I was six. Dad beat her for bringing up his side whores and then left for two weeks.

There are so many kids who have parents who don’t care for their kids at all, and some get taken away by the state. At least my mom loved me and tried to be a good mother when she could. I could have had it so much worse. The day I tried saving her...I don’t even want to start my day thinking about that. It will have a dark cloud hanging over me for the rest of the day.

After I’m done eating I finish getting ready for school and head out. The only good thing about going to school is I get to see Laken. When I pull into the parking lot I notice that she’s just getting out of her truck. I pull into the spot next to her and it makes me smile that she is already glaring at me. My smile falls when I notice her swollen cut lip. I get out of my car, rush over to her, and grab her arm to turn her around.

“What the hell do you want, Blake?” she says as she jerks her arm out of my hand.

Even her saying my name in frustration sends a jolt to my dick-this isn’t the time for that.

“What the hell do I want? I want to know what happened to your lip.” I reach out to touch her lip, but she jerks back.

“It’s none of your business,” she snaps as she walks off toward the school entrance.

I catch up to her and keep with her steps to demand, “Did someone hurt you?”

She just keeps walking and ignores me. I’m going to find out who hurt her, and I’m going to hurt the fucker. Anger is running through my veins and I’m grinding my jaw so hard it hurts.

I’m still trying to keep up with her as she walks up the school steps. My attention is solely on her ass- I can’t help it, it’s a gorgeous ass- when she suddenly trips and her hands and knees hit the concrete hard.

Everyone that is congregated on the steps, or walking into the school, starts laughing. I know that had to hurt, and before I can reach down to help her up Tillie is right in front of me.

“Hi, Blake. I was thinking maybe we could go out for a coffee or milkshake after school. I would love to have a ride in that sexy car of yours,” she purrs.

I have to agree that my car certainly is sexy. It’s my pride and joy. A cherry red 1967 Chevrolet Impala. It was my grandpa’s, and grams had it sitting in the garage covered up since he passed away. With some cleaning, I had that thing purring in a few days.

Laken is getting up, and I don’t know if her red cheeks are from embarrassment or anger, but I’m pretty sure she was tripped intentionally, and I’m pretty sure the culprit is standing right in front of me.

I go to move around Tillie but she steps in front of me.

“So, what do you say? Do you want to take me for a ride?” she says seductively while her eyes slowly go down my body.

I step around her while muttering, “No,” and go straight for Laken, who just went through the doors of the school.

I hear Tillie scoff behind me and say something about Laken being a slut. I will deal with that later.

As I walk through the doors I see Laken walking into the girl's restroom so I step in behind her. When she notices it’s me her eyes get wide.

“What are you doing in here? You can’t be in here!” she yells.

I just ignore her and she yelps when I grab her by the waist and sit her on the bathroom counter between the two sinks.

“What the hell are you-”

“Shut up, Laken, and give me your hands,” I demand in a hard voice.

She shuts her mouth, but I notice the shudder that runs through her body. Seems like my Laken likes a little dominance. The thoughts running through my mind right now start to make me hard as I stare at her beautiful face.

She reaches her hands out and I look down at them to see that they have some small scrapes on them that need cleaning but aren’t bad. I grab some bathroom towels and wet them to clean the gravel off her hands. I bet her knees got the brunt of it.

“Pull your pants down.”

“Wh-what?” she asks. “Why do you want me to take off my pants? I’m not taking my pants off for you!”

I sigh and say, “I need to check your knees. I see some blood soaking through your jeans so I need to clean them. Now take off your jeans. Now.”

She just sits there and looks at me.

“Laken, I’m not going to touch anywhere else but your knees, I promise. But I won’t ask you again. Take. Off. Your. Pants.”

She sighs and says, “I can’t, Blake. I won’t pull my pants down for you, and it’s not because of you. It’s me and I won’t explain myself. Just get me some wet towels and I will clean it myself. It doesn’t even hurt so it’s not a big deal. I’m a big girl, I can do it myself.”

I look into her pleading eyes and I see that there must be a good reason why she won’t do this in front of me.

I relent and say, “Fine. I will wait outside the bathroom door till you’re done. And don’t think I’ve forgotten about your busted lip. I will want to know who done that so I can take care of it.”

I turn and walk out. I wait outside the door, as promised, but I can’t help wonder why she was so adamant about it. She had a look in her eyes that makes me think it’s not just embarrassment, but something more. Laken is becoming more of a puzzle that I want to figure out. And I will figure her out whether she wants me to or not.