Forest Read online

  I closed the gap between our faces a few more centimeters and the warmth of air leaving our mouths collided into each other. Immediately she whipped her head back from my face.

  “Sorry…I got a little out of hand.”

  “What’s wrong with kissing me? After all, this might be our last night alive.”

  She scoffed and rolled her eyes. A soft chuckle escaped her mouth.

  “You can’t be serious Forest…”

  I wasn’t. But it didn’t matter.

  “My point is, you never know.” I leaned my head against the door and closed my eyes. There was a quiet ruffling sound coming from her direction but I didn’t budge.

  Every ounce of restraint in me held me back from kissing her. I was curious. The taste of her lips, the feeling of her skin. I wanted to know what it felt like.

  Curiosity was tempered as I continued doze off.

  “Forest. Hey, Forest, wake up! I called a tow company to come get us an hour ago. They’ll be here any minute.”

  The sun seared my lids. Jamie was the first thing I saw when I woke up.

  I stretched as much as I could in the tight space and patted her on the back.

  “Thanks.”

  “Your welcome. Now please make sure I get back home safely.”

  “Will do princess.”

  We waited for little more than a few minutes before the tow truck was in plain view. Speaking briefly with the tower, we loaded the car up and made for Seattle.

  We were back to my shop in under an hour, and I was out of three hundred dollars. Fun stuff.

  “Jamie, you should probably head home. I’ll drop your car off to you when it’s ready.”

  “Probably a good idea. Here’s my number. Call me when you’re done. See you soon then.”

  That was a weird…date.

  “Lock, where the hell were you?? You were missing all morning.” Derrick emerged from working on Jamie’s car in the garage. The smell of oil and motor felt a bit comforting. The woods were not a pleasant place to spend the night in your car.

  “Yeah, I need to talk to you about that Derrick. My alternator is blown. From the looks of it, it seems like someone tampered with it.” He scratched his cheek, smearing oil all over it. The man was a ditz but he was a damn good mechanic.

  “Are you thinking it’s who I’m thinking?”

  “I am.”

  There was only one person that had a vested interested in fucking with my car. And this person was involved in a side of me that Jamie would have nothing to do with.

  “Mauve.” We said the name in sync and shook our heads equally so at the thought.

  Mauve Bedguard. A rich kid that raced fancy cars with his parents money for a living. We were both part of an underground community that made big bucks racing modified cars. It was dangerous. 180 miles an hour has the tendency to make your face feel like it’s being wiped off your skull.

  The last time I hit my car to the pavement, Mauve lost the race. Had to give up his nice Porsche which I sold to make some editions to my shop.

  Easy work right?

  But the bastard clearly developed a grudge and took it to the next level by tampering with my ride.

  “Forest, what are you gonna do about it?”

  “We’ll send him a message not to do this again. He’ll get the picture.”

  “Give him the old timer?”

  I snapped my finger in response to Derrick, “Bingo.”

  Adrenaline, that’s what it was all about. The only thing that mattered. Burning rubber and ruling the night streets. Blackmail, intimidation, violence, it was all part of the gig. I couldn’t have some demure wanna-be painter getting caught up in the mix of it.

  Even if I did find her interesting.

  “Let me finish up that Honda. Replace that alternator if you don’t mind.”

  “I’m on it!”

  Chapter 3

  Jamie

  With the coffee shop closed, I had all day to stare at the ceiling and refresh my email for Delvin’s message.

  The earlier interaction with Forest was strange but exciting. I felt conflicted about it. I mean, I hardly knew him! And there I was one second away from kissing him.

  Why the hell would I do that?!

  Well…

  He was pretty hot. Charismatic. Sarcastic in a tolerable way. Certainly, I could get use to him.

  Did he feel the same way though?

  All of the walls in my tiny box of an apartment closed in on me at the thought. I stared into each tiny crack of gravel and replayed the previous night in my head. Gina would definitely call me an idiot for not kissing him.

  But he was damaged. He said so himself.

  It wouldn’t be smart to fall for a man like that. Keeping the distance would do us both good.

  I peered out into the kitchen window. The cold breeze ran through my hair. I closed my eyes at the feeling of its brisk caress.

  Think about the portfolio Jamie…

  Why was every other thought that came to my mind Forest?

  Dangerous…

  He was way too dangerous.

  I decided that some painting would take my mind off of him.

  Grabbing a damp brush from my easel, I placed careful strokes on a blank canvas before me. The colors would be my feelings, my emotions. They would be the words of confusion that I was too afraid to speak out loud. And maybe they would blind my conscious from thinking about Forest. The bustle from the streets outside also worked to muffle my thoughts as I worked to shove Forest in the back of my mind.

  “This is bad. How could I possibly be falling for him?”

  My phone rung, rattling my heart out of my chest.

  It was Forest.

  “Hello?” I almost whispered the word as if I was afraid to talk to him all of the sudden.

  “Hey Jamie. Your car is fixed. I’m driving it to the apartment now. I’ll park it in your garage.” The tone of his deep voice oddly comforted my apprehension.

  “Come to my apartment when you’re done.”

  “Huh?”

  “I said, come to my apartment when you get here.”

  I had to see him again. I could see this very quickly turning into an addiction.

  “Sure, if you want me to.”

  “Okay then.”

  I hung up the phone before he had any reasonable chance to respond to me.

  The truth was, I was going to kiss him back at the Mountain Loop. Stain my lips with the hue of his darkness. Almost like her drew me in. A beautiful animal with a deadly nature. I was compelled to experience it.

  I fastened the tie on the white dress I was wearing, and for the first time in forever, wondered if a man would think I looked sexy.

  The last boyfriend of mine was quiet, and too into his work. He didn’t care about my artwork and cared even less about me. He was your typical “good boy”, but he was also a drag. Part of a monotonous routine like the peppermint frappes I found myself making endlessly at the Java Mug.

  The sex was bland and almost non-exist.

  Suddenly, my body craved. Just the simple thought of Forest had that effect on me. I was a woman with needs.

  Would it be so bad to have those fulfilled?

  A knock on the door jerked me from my privacy.

  Racing to the door, I opened it with a quickness.

  “Woah, slow down there. Someone chasing you inside your house?” My face turned blood red at his comment.

  “No, you just startled me is all. My car is in the garage?”

  “Good as new. Well, as new as I could manage.”

  It doesn’t matter what he said. The words coming from his mouth seeped into my eardrums like sweet poison.

  Forest Lock, what kind of spell are you putting on me?

  “Don’t stand out there, come inside!” I grabbed his arm and dragged him into my apartment.

  “Well well, someone’s in a hurry to get me in here.”

  “Listen to me Forest. I wanted to talk to you about
last night.” My thoughts were moving faster than my mouth could keep up, but I felt emboldened.

  “Wait, what happened last night aside from us getting stuck in a freezing cold forest?”

  “I-I umm…”

  Pull it together Jamie! Spit it out!

  His quizzical expression wasn’t making it any easier.

  “You wanted to kiss me didn’t you.”

  My heart stop.

  My eyes widened.

  “You don’t have to admit it. I mean, you were so close to my face you could nearly bite it off. It was pretty obvious.”

  He walked closer to me. The warming scent of sandalwood that radiated out from his body swirled its way into my nasal cavity. The aroma was a drug. I placed my hands on his firm chest.

  “Would you have liked it?” I asked him, digging my nails lightly into his chest. I dragged my hand up behind his neck. Small raised goosebumps made their presence known.

  Was I getting to him?

  “Tell me if you like this.”

  He grabbed my waist to him and kissed me.

  I would’ve passed out if I wasn’t holding on to his neck so tight.

  His heated lips burning mine, it felt too hot to stop. But the kiss lasted only for a minute longer before he broke it. As if he was fearful that somehow kissing me would reduce him to weakness.

  We stared at each other for a short while.

  “Don’t think anything of it. It’s just a kiss.” I swore I could see redness in the apples of his cheek.

  Just a kiss? I think not.

  “Well I liked it. Something wrong with that?” I asked him firmly. He faced his back to me and walked around my apartment, taking time to look at the unfinished work laid throughout.

  “Don’t like it. In fact. Don’t even think about me when I leave from here.”

  “You realize you can’t make me do that right? You fixed my car, and guess what? I’m not a charity case. I intend on paying you back. I want to work at your shop with you.”

  Turning around to look at me, he raised an eyebrow.

  “What? You wanna work in my shop?”

  “As a thank you. I could schedule your appointments for you. How does that sound? No strings attached.”

  “I don’t understand for the life of me, why a dainty lass like you would want to be around cars all day.”

  It baffled me that he couldn’t see the only thing I found myself wanting to be around all day was him.

  “It’s a favor okay? Just look at it like that.”

  “No. I don’t want you in my shop. I want you staying here, painting er…something like that. I’ll come see you every once in a while. Deal?” He reached his hand out to me and tilted his head meagerly to the side.

  Maybe that would be a better idea. Besides, I would have to break it to Gina that my paintings would finally start paying my bills and my stint at the coffee shop was over.

  I met his hand and we shook on it.

  “I don’t know what your intentions are Jamie, but I told you once and I’ll tell you again. Don’t make the mistake of getting too close to me. I’m not a safe guy.” He spoke in parts, like he was carefully thinking out his words.

  “That’s for me to decide.” A look of surprise came over his face when I uttered the words.

  “Getting a little rambunctious huh? I like that bug eyes. Just don’t get too confident. I don’t want anyone else liking it the way I do.”

  I parted my lips and pouted at him. “What do you mean by that??”

  “Stop doing that.”

  “Doing what?!”

  “Stop doing things that make me want to kiss you again.” Oh how I wish he knew how much I wanted him to kiss me again.

  I was ready to make this an addiction.

  “I’m gonna get going. There’s some stuff at the shop that needs my attention.”

  I grabbed his fleeting arm before he could make his exit. “You’ll be back right?”

  “Yeah. I will.”

  He left me alone in my apartment to be a slave to my thoughts of him again. But they were disrupted almost immediately with another firm knock to my door.

  I was surprised to see Gina when I opened it.

  “Gina? Hey, what’s up? Come in!”

  She wasted no time waltzing in and throwing her purse to the wood floor beneath our feet.

  “That was Forest Lock, wasn’t it Jamie.” Her tone was serious and interrogating. I gulped loudly and covered my face as if that would conceal the sound.

  “Yeah, I think so. Can you believe I just found out he lives next door to me?? I mean, how outrageous is that haha?!”

  “You are in trouble missy! I know you two were talking! When were you going to tell me that you were flirting about with the enigmatic loner from high school? I feel so out of the loop!” She sped walk to my sofa, pulling my arm gently behind her. “Spill it all out chick!”

  “Listen Gina, there’s nothing there. Really. We were just catching up is all. I mean, we literally just found out that we live next to each other. Nothing more.”

  “You’re expectin’ me to believe that malarkey? Pshhh…I’ll let you off the hook for now.” Gina lowered her eyes and glared at me. I was just glad she wouldn’t probe me any further about Forest.

  “Anyway, I’ve got something much more interesting to talk about than Forest. Gina, the Vox Museum is drafting paperwork. They want to host some of my paintings!” To think, I was so wrapped up in thinking about Forest, that I totally forgot about it!

  “Oh. My. God. Girl, that’s amazing!! So you’re like, a paid artist now right?” She placed her arm on my shoulder briefly to confirm.

  Her enthusiasm made me laugh.

  “Pretty much Gina!”

  “Okay, where’s that bottle of Hennessey that you were storing in your cabinet for the zombie apocalypse? We’re cracking that thing open right now!” Shuffling through the cabinets in my kitchen, she let out a big “ah-hah!” at the sight of the bottle inside. She brought two glasses to the coffee table in front of us.

  “I’m so happy for you Jamie, but I already know what this means.” Her pitch decreased a bit. “You’ll have to quit working at the Java right?”

  Through all the commotion, I didn’t have time to think about it. I didn’t want to offend Gina by being excited that I wouldn’t have to deal with the dreadful morning coffee rush anymore, but damn, I was.

  “Yeah, I will have to. But I promise I’ll help out every once and a while! Don’t worry, I won’t leave you high and dry.”

  “Well that makes me feel a little better. Anyway, a toast to your amazing accomplishment. Seems odd that things are falling into place and then Forest Lock appears out of nowhere huh?” She laughed obliviously, but I thought deeply about her words.

  The smooth burn of the liquor stung my palette.

  One drink turned to two…

  And two to three…

  And this is why I didn’t drink with Gina Acosta.

  “Ooh Jamie, it’s 9:30 already. I’m gonna called a cab and head home. Congrats again love.” She gave me a peck to the cheek.

  “I appreciate it Gina. Get home safe okay?”

  “I will!”

  She opened the door and the way out was blocked by Forest. Gina jumped at the sight of him, dropping her purse to the floor. She let out a quiet gasp in reflex.

  “Excuse me. Here’s your purse.” He picked the bag up from the floor and handed it to her.

  “Th-Thank you?? You’re Forest Lock right?”

  “I am.”

  “It’s been years! Hope you’ve been well!”

  “Thanks.”

  Turning around to wave at me awkwardly, she squeezed through the doorway, by Forest and left the building.

  Forest walked in after she’d left.

  “Was I supposed to know who the hell that was?” He took off his leather jacket and placed it on the rack in the doorway.

  “That’s my best friend Gina. And uh, no, you weren’t.”


  “Seems like I’m a bit more famous than I care to be.” There was an empty spot on the couch next to me, and he sat there. Filling my empty glass up with a bit of Hennessey for himself, he took a short swig.

  My heart starting racing again. He made all of my senses heighten.

  “You nervous or something princess?”

  He read my mind. Or was it that obvious?

  “No, I’m not. Just didn’t expect you to be here so soon.” My words slurred a bit from the liquor, but I tried to keep my head on my neck.

  “So soon? I was gone for six hours. It’s almost ten.”

  “Oh.” I said plainly.

  His smoldering eyes melted my skin yet again.

  “I really didn’t have any intention on coming. Since you said it was your way of saying thanks, I figured it wouldn’t do any harm.”

  “Well I’m glad you came. And I’m glad you helped yourself to my bottle.”

  He glanced awkwardly at the bottle and laughed a bit.

  “Don’t mind if I do.”

  “Since we seem to be friends now, don’t you think I should get to know you better?” It was a dumb question, but I didn’t even know the man’s birthday.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “So forward?”

  “What reason do I have not to be?” He swirled the liquor in the glass as he held it up to his face.

  “Tell me something about yourself I can’t tell by just looking at you.”

  He laughed so hard I though he nearly spat out his drink.

  “Did I say something funny?” I was genuinely asking!

  “You really are a buttercup huh? I’ll tell you this: I don’t waste my time with a lot of people, but I make an exception for you. You’re alright.”

  “Do you prefer to be private?”

  “I don’t want you getting sucked it. It’s a mistake.”

  I didn’t understand how he could say that while he sat on my couch arching his spellbinding body. There was no way that he was that unmindful of my reaction to him. My leg touched his as I moved closer to him on the couch.

  “You keep saying that but I don’t see what’s dangerous about you.”