Chapter 7 Amelia
Amelia
Tariq picked me up. I’ll check in tonight.
I don’t bother responding to Clare’s text. She won’t check in and I’m left feeling like I’m losing my best friend. I understand she’s going to want to spend time with her boyfriend, if that’s what Tariq is to her now, but it can’t be healthy to spend every minute with him.
Shoving the door open, I step out of school and hike my bag strap farther up my shoulder.
I wonder why Mr. Burley hasn’t stepped in yet, he’s the reason she started seeing someone like Tariq in the first place, to get his attention.
He ripped into Clare for having Dogs in his house, forbid her to see him again and that was that.
The second he left the house, she went back to Tariq.
Making my way to the parking lot, Darius is leaning against my car like a GQ model with tattoos and a cigarette hanging from his mouth.
Students stare as they pass him, and I look around to see if there are any teachers around. Someone like Darius would definitely generate attention and my father would receive a call from the principal.
Ashlee, one of the popular girls in my grade, openly checks him out and discreetly pulls her top down to show more cleavage.
He isn’t paying her any attention, though, his eyes are on me and my entire body tingles as I approach him.
I haven’t seen him since the fiasco at the fair, but he’s been on my mind.
“What are you doing here?”
“I need a ride home.”
“You do remember there are those yellow cars that pick you up for money?” I throw at him. He said the same thing to me the night I first met him. He smirks and pulls away from my car.
“I forgot to bring any cash out with me today.”
It’s clearly a lie but I ignore it.
“Surely Tariq could’ve taken you home. I mean, weren’t you with him when he picked up Clare?”
“I was, yeah, but I’d rather not bear witness to the two of them together today. There’s only so much I can take.”
I get it. They can be nauseating.
“Fine.”
Unlocking the car, I’m hyper aware of him in my space once we’re both seated and belted in.
A whistle fills the air and when I look over at him, he’s running his hand over the leather fixtures.
“Before you say anything, my dad bought me this car for my birthday. You won’t make me feel bad about it.”
His chuckle sets my last nerve on edge.
“Why would I do that?”
Scowling at him, he’s undeterred and I refuse to answer him. I pull away from the school and ask, “Where am I taking you?”
“You can drop me off at Tar’s house.”
I take a left onto the freeway instead of right where I usually head for home. His cologne, subtle but heady lingers under my nose and every now and then I feel his eyes on me.
I concentrate on the road, fearing I’ll cause an accident if I look his way.
“How was school?”
“Why? You want to mock how much money is wasted on little rich girls like me?”
I expect him to come back at me, but he stares out of the window and remains quiet as I drive through his part of the city. It’s not so bad having him beside me, considering the people who scare me are his people.
My stomach rolls as I turn onto Tariq’s street. The guy with the scar has always been around and even if Darius is beside me, he still scares me. But as I come to a stop outside the house which belongs to the guy who has stolen my best friend, no one is around, and Darius doesn’t move to get out.
“Drive up to 1350.”
I do as I’m told, and the house is a stark contrast to the rest on the street.
“Get out of the car, Amelia.”
Though I like it when he says my name, I don’t think I heard him right. I have no need to go anywhere with him.
He throws open his door and I stick where I am, keeping my seatbelt on and the engine running.
I keep my eyes on him as he walks around to my side and gasp when he opens my door.
Leaning inside, he turns the car off and takes my keys, pausing to undo my belt.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m waiting for you to get out of the damn car.”
He steps back and holds his hand out.
Curiosity wins and has me reaching out to take his hand. He pulls me out with little effort and leans around me to close my door.
Keeping my hand in his, he leads us up the front path and I take in the differences to every other house around here.
The house is freshly painted a clean white.
The lawn is green, and pretty, colorful flowers line the borders.
There aren’t any empty beer bottles thrown about and there isn’t a cigarette butt in sight.
He unlocks the front door and the smell of home cooking hits me as I step inside.
He still hasn’t released my hand and he keeps me close as he comes to a stop in the middle of a small living room.
It’s nothing like Tariq’s house. This is a home and it’s clear to see the people who live here are a family.
Photographs line the walls of family members and a number of reliConnorus pieces in between.
This is his home, and it makes me wonder why he’s brought me here.
Two boys, around ten or eleven, are sat doing homework at a round, wooden table in the dining area and an elderly lady, who I’m assuming is his grandmother, is sat watching daytime TV.
“Why did you bring me here?” I ask quietly.
He releases my hand and turns to me, moving so close I wouldn’t have to reach far to touch him.
“We’re from the same city but two totally different worlds.
You live a life where you don’t have to worry where your food comes from, how to get the lights back on, money isn’t an issue for you.
I brought you here because I wanted you to see that I’ve never had what you’ve had but I’ve got everything I need.
I don’t judge you, Amelia. Not your car, not where you go to school, nothing.
I’m… fuck… what I’m trying to tell you is you have no place here but you’re all I think about.
Since I met you, I can’t figure out what makes you so different. ”
“I’m not different…”
“Yes, you are, it’s not a bad thing.”
He leans in closer, and I brace myself for him to kiss me. I’m so certain it’s going to happen when a woman’s voice barks from behind him. He pulls back sharply and takes my hand back in his.
A startling beautiful woman, in her early forties, possibly late thirties if she had Darius at a young age, is stood in the kitchen doorway. I shrink closer to Darius as her eyes cut through me, roaming from my black pumps up to my eyes.
Keeping her heavy gaze on me, she says, “I told you I don’t want your whores in the house.”
“Ma,” he snaps. “This is Amelia, she’s not a whore.”
Her top lip curls in disgust. “They’re all the same to me.”
Turning her back to us, she walks off down the hall and slams a door behind her.
“I’m sorry about her, she doesn’t like people she doesn’t know in the house.”
“I understand. Maybe I should leave.”
I go to take my hand back, but he tightens his hold and pulls me flush against him.
“How is she meant to get used to you if you run home?”
Frowning, I’m so confused. Why would he want his mom to get to know me?
“What are you doing, Darius?” I whisper.
“I strongly believe the universe only gives us what we need, and you keep showing up in my life. I want to know everything about you, Amelia Haynes. I want to know why the universe thinks I need you.”
He runs his finger down my cheek and along my jaw before breaking the spell between us capturing every breath I need to take.
“Stay for dinner.”
“Is that what you really want?” I ask, not sure why.
“I wouldn’t say if I weren’t.”
I nod and he sits me opposite his grandmother. She reminds me a little of my own before she passed away. She was always happy to sit watching daytime TV.
“Hello, dear.”
“Hi. I’m Amelia Haynes.”
Darius disappears off down the hall and I clasp my hands in my lap, unsure of what to do without him around.
“Darius must like you, he’s not brought a girl home before.”
I wouldn’t have guessed that to be true after his mom’s outburst.
“I hope he doesn’t come to regret it.”
Oh God, why did I say that?
“Darius isn’t one for regrets. He must see more than your beauty to bring you home. I apologise for his mother, she’s a little guarded with strangers.”
“I understand. He should’ve warned her.”
She smiles and nods. I relax into the couch, and we sit watching her drama.
I offered to help prepare dinner, but his mother looked at me like she’d rather I’d offer to leave.
Darius keeps shooting her glares, but they bounce off of her and when he sets the table, I’m more than happy to keep talking to his grandmother.
She tells me funny stories of Darius and his brothers when they were younger, and Darius looks like he wishes his grandmother would shut the hell up.
When dinner’s ready, we all sit around the table, elbow to elbow, not like at home and I like it. His brothers, Connor and Coby, I learn are non-identical twins and Connor is on the basketball team and Coby is on the math team.
“How did a girl like you meet our Darius?” his mom asks.
Her disgust is clear, but I brush it off and answer, “At a party my friend took me to. She’s dating his friend.”
I’m not sure the term dating is totally correct but it’s the politest answer I can give without being rude at the dinner table.
“I’m sure you have parents who won’t approve of my son, won’t they be wondering why you’re not home for dinner?”
“Ma!” Darius snaps but she doesn’t look even remotely sorry.
“I text my dad to say I was at a friend’s house. He knows not to expect me for dinner.”
“That’s enough, Ma,” Darius drawls.
I dig into my dinner and listen to the twins tell Darius about their day at school.
I’m not unhappy at home with my dad but being here the differences are huge.
They’re all so close and the twins are happy and excited about upcoming events at school.
It’s not how I imagined his family to be like going by the first time I met him.
All my first judgements have me feeling like crap. I catch Darius’s stare across the table, and I smile, gaining one from him in return.
Connor pushes out of his seat, but Darius yanks on his arm, pulling him back down.
“Finish your veggies.”
Connor glares at him but Darius doesn’t let up. The kid shovels them into his mouth, washes them down with the last of his juice and holds his now empty plate up.
“You can go now.”
Once Connor leaves the table, everyone else finishes up and when I offer to wash the dishes, his mom doesn’t refuse. She happily leaves the table and joins Darius’s grandmother in front of the TV. Darius helps me clear the table and he dries while I wash.
“Have you ever done the dishes before?” he asks, amused to see me in front of the sink.
“Would you think I’m spoiled if I said no?”
His laugh fills the kitchen. “No. I’m just wondering why you’d offer?”
“Because I wanted to. Your mom cooked so I wanted to say thank you.”
“Even though she’s been less than inviting to you?”
“Even so.”
“You surprise me all the time, Amelia.”
Tossing the towel on the side, he moves behind me and traps me between his arms as he braces his hands on the counter.
“You looked good sitting at my table.”
“Don’t say I look better at the sink,” I giggle.
“Wasn’t going to but now that you say…”
Shoving my elbow back into his ribs, he laughs and spins me around.
“Hey, I’m dripping suds everywhere.”
“Don’t care,” he murmurs, leaning in toward me.
My heart hammers in my chest and my eyes close as he moves in and presses his lips to mine. Sweeping his tongue over mine, I come alive and forget my hands are wet as I latch onto his hoodie to get closer to him.
His hand finds its way up to the back of my neck and his warmth runs through me. I’m hungry for more but he pulls back and rests his forehead against mine.
There’s so much more to him than the guy I met in Tariq’s kitchen. He wants to know everything about me, and the more time I spend around him, the more I want to learn about him. There’s no denying he’s a gang member, but it’s not all he is. He’s a survivalist and I can understand that.
“It’s getting late, I should get home.”
“I’ll walk you out.”
I say my goodbyes to his brothers and grandmother and offer a small smile to his mother. She doesn’t say goodbye.
Darius grabs my keys from the hall unit, and I ask, “Are the wheels on my car still going to be there?”
“It’s outside my house, no one will have touched it.”
He opens the door for me and like he said, my car is still in one piece. The sun is setting and a chill runs through me. Stepping down off the porch, I look up and down the street. It’s unusually quiet and I shiver from the chilly breeze.
Darius walks me to my car and hands over my keys. His skin brushes against mine and I flit my eyes to his.
“Thank you for dinner. Your family are nice, and you have a lovely home.”
He stares at me, not saying a word.
“Are you the only one providing for them?”
He nods.
“How?”
If he expects to get to know me without him being honest with me in return, he’s got another thing coming.
Smirking, he says, “Anyway I can.”
“What does that mean?”
He moves closer. “It means, I do what I have to in order to pay the bills, put food on the table, and clothes on their backs.”
He opens the door for me, but I don’t move to leave. I’m not ready for this to end.
“I don’t bring anyone home, you feel me?”
It’s almost a privilege I got to be the one he let into the mini world he keeps to himself.
I smile. “I feel you.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, his eyes blaze with what I hope is lust.
“I’m not going to lie, I want inside you.”
“Romantic,” I snort.
“Romance doesn’t run in my blood…” He moves even closer, his sweater brushing against my jacket. “But I don’t think that’ll matter to you.”
It should scare me how he sees me so well. He’s right, romance doesn’t bother me. I’ve seen for myself how caring and protective he is of his family. You can tell a lot about a person by how they are with their blood. It shows who they truly are when they’re not hiding it from everyone else.
“My dad is away on business tonight, if you don’t have plans, you should come over.”
I get into the car and slam the door before he can say a word. My cheeks are on fire with embarrassment. I can’t believe I just said that, but as I pull away from his house, I don’t wish to take the invitation back.