Bad Decisions

Chapter 4

"I will take care of you."

I woke up gasping, in a tangle of sheets and pillows as Eli's voice rang in my ears. How could he say that? No one takes care of strangers. No one has ever taken care of me, especially. The people who were supposed to do that had left me for dead, each in their own way. But, I have always known better than to let someone else support any of the weight that teetered delicately on my shoulders. So far, I had been proven right in doing so. Pressing my cold hands to my face I tried to calm myself. Self preservation was key, I could never seem to get out of survival mode. So why was my heart dead set on flying at the very thought of him? My brain was determined to shove image after image of him front and center.

"Come on." I groaned.

With that I went to shower and attempted to clear out my stupid thoughts. I must just be hormonal, it would pass.

The weather man had called for nice weather so I pulled on a deep blue tank top and my favorite jeans. Even though I didn't really want any attention, they looked great on me and some days a girl just needs to feel good. Today was defiantly one of those days. I walked out the door, not a cloud in the sky and started down the street.

In need of a refuge from thoughts of my mother, him and most of all of Eli, I went to the library. Whenever I can't deal with the weight of my own thoughts the only other option is to drown my mind in stories of fictional characters for they always have happy endings. The library was old and smelled of dust and paper. To me, it was warm and inviting, making it easy to get caught up in the experience. Any surface that was not stacked with books was rich with dark wood, cushioned chars nestled in every available nook. Tall shelves went back for what seemed like forever and the dome ceiling was gilded with exquisite images of history. Grabbing my books I went to the fluffy chair that I claimed every time I came here, and curled up.

Two Kleypas novels later my eyes had begun to cross and I was starving. When I walked out of the building it was pouring rain. Of course. My life was no romance novel. No happy ending awaited me, but thats okay, its better to have no one than take the risk of...

I stood there for a moment cursing my luck. Praying for the rain to let up long enough for me to make a sprint to the nearest sandwich shop that was right around the corner I waited. Minutes ticked by, it didn't weaken, rather it came down harder. My stomach rumbled and I sighed. Scowling at the sky, I walked into the down pour cocooning myself in my arms.

It was absolutely freezing and for a moment I turned into a heap of girl, screeching, I jumped back under the awning of the library.

This was never going to work. I was trapped.

A deep bellowing laugh called out over the sound of the roar of raindrops hitting pavement and my head snapped up, my eyes searching out the source. The laugh was coming from inside a shiny charcoal colored sports car with its window rolled down.

The next thing I knew Eli Byrns was getting out of the car with an umbrella. What is it with this guy? Ive never seen him before the other day and now in this city of millions I suddenly find him everywhere?

He walked straight towards me with his head down, shoulders still shaking with laughter. He had seen the whole thing. You've got to be kidding me. Of course he had because this is my life we are talking about and of course a hot human that I desperately wanted to avoid would catch me jumping around wet and freezing with no jacket. Of course that happened. My eyes rolled behind my lids as I squeezed my lids shut. This wasn't happening, how in the hell did I keep running into this man? I opened my eyes to find him directly in front of me with an amused grin lighting up his face.