Katie wants to invest her heart
and soul in love, but she may lose both to Hell.
Katie, a senior in high school,
is torn between loving the “good” guy, her childhood friend Wes who makes
promises he doesn't keep and abandons her when she needs him the most, and the
“bad” guy, the new kid at school Josh who is also a real demon from Hell.
Katie wants someone who pays
attention to her and puts her first, but what is she willing to give up to find
him?
Excerpt- CHAPTER 1
“You used to
have a crush on me, ya know.”
Katie stopped
dribbling the tennis ball on the court and focused on the speaker. Wes stood in
front of her and to the left. He crouched, his forearms resting on his knees,
his tennis racket twirling in his hand. When he glanced over his shoulder at
her, a sly smile covered his lips. She remembered when his hair was blonde, but
recently he had dyed it black and cut it into a short spike. It made his skin
look paler than normal; his thin lips looked redder. The corners of his brown
eyes wrinkled as his smile widened.
She set her jaw.
There were so many things she could say to him, the first and foremost that he
was an idiot, but she pressed her lips into a line. Why would he bring that up
at that particular moment? What did it matter? With a shake of her head, she
faced forward and threw the ball in the air. Pretending it was Wes’s head, she
smashed her racket into it with all her might. It sailed over the net, and her
opponent moved to the right to intercept it. A forehand shot sent it back
toward Katie and Wes. It was beyond her court realm, so she let Wes get it.
Inwardly, she kind of hoped it would hit him in the mouth, maybe swell up his
lips so he couldn’t speak. It didn’t. He was ready and backhanded it over the
net. The two teams volleyed a few more times, then the girl on the opposite
side hit the ball a little too hard, knocking it out of bounds.
“Yeah!” Wes
pumped his fist in the air, then approached Katie for a high five.
Reluctantly, she
gave him one. The other team readied to serve, but the bell rang. Thank
goodness, Katie thought. After leaving the tennis courts, she followed the rest
of her class into their respective locker rooms.
Not being one to
dilly-dally in the locker room and catch up on the latest gossip, it didn’t
take Katie long to shower and change. Being naked around other girls made her
nervous. She was more developed than they were, and the way they stared and
huffed at her, like she could control nature, made her uncomfortable. The
sooner she could cover up her body, the happier she was. She stopped at the
bathroom mirror to quickly run a comb through her hair. With her dark brown
hair wet, it looked black. It touched her shoulders, so it didn’t take long to
get the comb through. She made sure the part in the middle was straight. Her
hazel eyes caught the fluorescent lights and glittered for a moment. She leaned
closer to the mirror and applied chapstick to her pouty lips. Tucking her hair
behind her ears, she turned and headed out of the locker room.
As she stepped
out the door and headed for the gym, someone grabbed her wrist from behind. The
touch was familiar, and, if she was honest with herself, expected. Especially
after what happened on the courts, an apology was in order. The action didn’t
surprise her, and she didn’t cry out. Instead, she allowed herself to be pulled
toward the storage area near the girl’s locker room that held the gymnastic
mats. Her wrist was released and she turned to face him, crossing her arms over
her chest. Wes hopped onto a stack of mats. It was typical of him to bring her
someplace private, away from prying eyes, after making a spectacle in public.
Wes was good at apologizing, but he was horrible about admitting he was wrong
in front of others.
“Sorry about
what I said on the court, but you needed some motivation. They were creaming
us. I figured the best way to get you to play better was to make you mad.” He
smiled.
Katie rolled her
eyes and turned to walk away. She didn’t make it very far. Wes wrapped his legs
around her thighs and pulled her backward. He draped his arm across her left
shoulder and rested his hands on her ribs, right below her breast. She
shuddered. His mouth was right next to her ear; his breath tickled her lobe.
“Why don’t you
still have a crush on me?” he whispered. He traced his fingertip gently across
her shoulder and down her arm.
Goosebumps rose
on her flesh. Her stomach fluttered; a chill ran down her spine. The smell of
soap and mint drifted into her nostrils. The heat from his body radiated
through her, making her feel safe. It was a short-lived sensation though, and
the flutter in her stomach quickly turned into a lump. She lifted her arm and
dug her elbow into his side. He grunted and let go. Without a word, she stomped
toward the gym.
Wes caught his
breath and jumped off the mats. “Katie, come on. Come back. I’m sorry.” She turned
around, her face red with anger. “Just leave me alone!”
She tried to
keep her emotions in check, but the words came out louder than she expected.
She spun around quickly, not wanting Wes to see how upset she was. As she did,
she ran into someone. Jerking back, she opened her mouth to apologize, but the
words stuck in her throat. Bright blue eyes met hers, then quickly flicked over
her head. She took in the boy’s short light brown hair styled with gel, the
full lips that turned down in a frown. The muscles bulged beneath his shirt,
and she fought back the urge to place her hands back on his chest. Josh Evers.
“Everything all
right, Katie? This guy bothering you?”
Oh, my God! she
thought. He knows my name. Josh Evers knows my name!
It took her a
moment to find her voice. “No, I’m fine. Thank you.”
The redness in
her face that had been there from anger quickly turned into embarrassment. The
desire to run and hide from both boys overwhelmed her.
“Hey, Josh, why
don’t you mind your own business? Katie and I were having a private
conversation.”
Katie glanced
over her shoulder. Wes had placed his hands on his hips but hadn’t moved
forward. She looked back at Josh.
“If you ask me,
it doesn’t look like she wants to talk to you at all.” He balled his hands into
fists at his sides, a gesture that didn’t go unnoticed by Wes.
“Oh, really?
What are you going to do about it, Josh?” Wes spit the name out before taking a
step forward.
Josh also took a
step, and worry coursed through Katie’s body. The tension in the air was
palpable. She didn’t want them fighting on her account. Although, in the back
of her mind, the action flattered her. Especially coming from Josh. He had just
transferred to their school at the beginning of the semester. As the captain of
the baseball team, he was the desire of every girl in the school and the envy
of the boys. Katie hadn’t thought he knew she existed. Yet, there he was coming
to her rescue and calling her by name. It was enough to make her swoon. And she
would have if the situation had been different. As it was, she needed to stay
alert. A teacher could come by at any moment. She didn’t want them getting in
trouble for her. She had no idea what she would say, but she could probably
come up with something if she really needed to.
Not that she had
anything to worry about from Wes. He’d never do anything to hurt her. He wasn’t
lying when he said she used to have a crush on him. She’d liked him since they
were in kindergarten. At times, Wes even made it seem he liked her back. Then,
at other times, he made it perfectly clear he didn’t reciprocate her feelings.
Those moments crushed her, sent her home crying on more than one occasion. But
those moments of tenderness, the ones that made her believe he liked her,
sustained her, kept her hoping that maybe someday something would happen
between them. He had toyed with her emotions for their entire school career.
By her senior
year in high school, she’d had enough. She couldn’t take the roller coaster of
emotion, didn’t want to feel like she was being strung along. She resolved to
stay away from Wes, convincing herself she could do it. Only one more year,
then she’d leave for college, and she’d never have to see him again. But he
showed up her in homeroom, then in her gym class. She wanted to burst into
tears when he took the desk next to her. Why was he making this so difficult?
Still, she wasn’t going to let her resolve fail. She would ignore him, pretend
he didn’t exist.
When Josh showed
up, he made pretending Wes wasn’t there so much easier. On top of that, he was
standing up for her honor, defending her against a rival. As he stood in front
of her, so close to her body she felt the heat radiating from him, thoughts of
wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing him ran through her mind. She imagined
how firm his muscles would feel under her hands, how soft his lips would be.
She inhaled deeply and the spicy tang of aftershave caressed her nostrils. It
took every ounce of self-control to keep from molesting him.
Josh took
another step closer to Wes. Without thinking, she placed her hands on Josh’s
stomach to stay him. As she suspected, the muscles were hard under her fingers.
The seriousness of the situation flooded back into her mind. If she didn’t say
something, a fight could ensue and someone might get hurt.
“Josh, no,
please. He’s not worth it.” She glanced over her shoulder and stared at Wes
with narrowed eyes.
Wes held his
hands out to his sides. Hurt crossed his face.
Without saying
another word, Josh wrapped his arm around Katie’s shoulders and escorted her
into the gym away from Wes.
