The Bad Boy

Chapter 98

Stephanie's P.O.V.

        The plane touches down and I follow everyone off the plane and into the airport. I collect my bag and then use my phone to call a taxi service. I wait on the curb and take in my surroundings. The sky is grey, and so are the sidewalks. The air is heavy with the smell of rain. Skyscrapers stretch up to touch the sky.

        Someone runs into me hard and I stumble.

        "Whoops." The guy says. I look him over. He's got on a black t-shirt and has a ponytail. He smells like weed.

        I ignore him and turn around again to face the street.

        He slaps my ass. Hard. "You're pretty hot." He grins.

        I expect Harry to come rushing at him and knock his lights out. But then I remember I'm here alone. All alone.....

        "Get away from me." I say through my gritted teeth.

        He ignores my statement. "Where ya headed?"

        "None of your business." I turn to walk away from him.

        He grabs my arm, hard. "Hey! I was talking to you!" He grunts.

        "Let her go." I turn to see a tall guy with black hair standing behind me.

        "Sorry man." The guy drops my arm and scurries off.

        "Wow, uhm, thank you." I say, looking at the marks he left on my arm.

        "You're not from here are you?" He asks.

        "No, how could you tell." I give a nervous laugh.

        "I'm Miles. Welcome to New York." He holds out his hand.

        "Stephanie." I grab it and shake it. "It's been so wondeful here already."

        "Yeah, we're not all like that." He shakes his head as I take in his outfit. He has on a red and white and black plaid button up and a pair of jeans.

        "I can tell." I smile and so does he.

        "So where are you headed?" He asks.

        "I have this, uh, job shadowing thing going on at this publishing company, and my apartment's right by it, so I'm headed there." I say, giving him a funny look.

        "No, no you're getting the wrong idea. I'm not some creepy stalker I promise, I was just going to give you directions." He holds up his hands.

        I laugh. "It's okay. I'm going to take a cab anyways. But it's the Lawrence Publishings."

        His eyes light up and he starts to say something, but then stops himself. "I know just the place you're talking about. It's actually only a few blocks that way." he points to my left.

        "Oh, like how many?" I ask.

        "Uhm, eight or nine. I'd still take the cab if I were you. it would be a long walk in all this traffic." he gestures to the crowded sidewalks.

        "I will. Thanks for all this."  I say.

        "No problem. I better get going but I'll see you around." He takes one last look at me before turning and walking away.

        The cab with my number on it pulls up in front of me. I throw my bag in and flop down to the nasty seat and fling the door closed.

        "Where to?" The cab driver asks.