Claimed by the Beast - Part One (4 page)

“Love you too, crazy bitch,” Crystal
said.

Beth stuck her tongue out and spun away,
flaring her skirt before heading down the hall to her class.
Crystal watched her go and then shook her head again before heading
for her English class.

She opened the door and walked in,
interrupting the lesson Mrs. Watson was giving on sentence
structure. The teacher looked at her and frowned, her eyes never
leaving Crystal’s glasses even as she took the note.

“Ms. Davis, the sun’s not shining too
brightly in here, is it?”

Crystal ignored the whispered laughter from
Stephanie and a few other high-society girls. She reached up slowly
and lifted her glasses so Mrs. Watson could see her black eye.

“Oh! Well, just this once I suppose it’s all
right,” the teacher offered after she winced.

The teacher’s reaction was similar to Mr.
Robbie’s. Pity and understanding. Even a flash of anger. Crystal
kept her face blank but felt her stomach tighten. It wasn’t hunger
this time; it was anger. She didn’t need their pity. Nobody was
beating her—she fell down! It wasn’t somebody picking on her for
being fat; it was—

Crystal stopped herself. That wasn’t true.
She hadn’t fallen down. She’d been tripped. Tripped by some wild
animal that tried to bite her. That did bite her. She almost
laughed at her own mistake. She’d focused so hard on making up a
story, she started to believe it. Better than the real thing, she
guessed. Who would believe that?

“That’s all right,” Crystal said. She felt
weird, like she wasn’t affected by anything all of a sudden. They
could whisper and laugh all they wanted. She didn’t care. She knew
what the truth was. She turned her head to look at the class and
make sure everyone got a look at her. The whispers and laughter
stopped when she confronted them. “You should see the other
girl.”

Mrs. Watson gasped. “Ms. Davis, that’s
hardly appropriate!”

Crystal flashed her a smile. “I’m sorry,”
she said and then moved to her seat. She was two rows over from
Stephanie and one seat back, but that didn’t stop the popular girl
from glancing back at her. Crystal caught her eyes and stared until
the blond’s cheeks reddened and she jerked her head away.

Crystal settled in and found herself
daydreaming about leather-clad bikers for the remainder of the
class.

Crystal walked out of school and into the
parking lot with Beth at her side two days later. Her bruises had
faded and her appetite returned. The momentary burst of dominance
faded with it, leaving her to groan when she saw Stephanie talking
among a group of her friends on the sidewalk that led to the
parking lot.

“Just ignore her,” Beth whispered.

“Ignoring her isn’t the problem,” Crystal
muttered back. “It’s getting her to ignore me.”

Beth opened her mouth when Stephanie glanced
over her shoulder towards them. She jerked her head back and
laughed at something someone said and then stepped away from the
group. She turned—away from Beth and Crystal—and started walking
towards the parking lot ahead of them.

“That’s weird,” Beth muttered.

Crystal felt the hair on her neck stand up.
It was weird, but she knew it had to do with her. How was Stephanie
going to screw with her this time? “Hey Beth, have you heard of any
bikers coming through town lately?”

Beth missed a step and had to stumble to
catch herself. “Bikers? Like, on motorcycles?”

Crystal laughed at the image of her dark and
handsome savior dressed in spandex and riding a ten-speed. “Yes,
motorcycles. Leather. All that.”

Beth shrugged. “No. Why?”

Crystal smiled. “Just daydreaming.”

“I thought you wanted to meet a guy with a
limo or a sports car.”

“Been thinking about motorcycles
lately.”

“I’d still give a hummer to get a Hummer,”
Beth said with a wicked laugh.

“Nasty,” Crystal chastised her.

Beth grinned. “I can do some amazing things
with my mouth. I bet I can get just about anything.”

“Oh my God! Gross!” Crystal laughed. “And
besides, who have you been practicing on?”

Beth’s smile faded. She shrugged. “I’ve been
doing research.”

“Like what, watching porn?”

The way Beth clamped her mouth shut nearly
made Crystal pee herself she laughed so hard. Distracted by her
blushing friend, she walked up to Stephanie and almost bumped into
her.

“Hey,” Stephanie said.

Crystal stopped laughing and felt the
familiar tickle on the back of her neck. She wanted to ignore the
uppity bitch and keep walking but something told her she’d regret
that. “What do you want?” she snapped at her.

Stephanie’s eyes widened and she reared her
head back a few inches. “Wow, okay. I just wanted to say hi.”

“Fine. Hi,” Crystal said. She could feel
Beth on the other side of her watching and waiting to pull her
away.

“Yeah, um, hi,” Stephanie said again. “You
look nice. Are you working out?”

Crystal’s eyes narrowed. What was she up to?
She turned and started to walk away.

“Look, I’m sorry about the party. About what
I said. I was drunk and, um, I—”

Crystal stopped and spun to face her. Her
face was hot and her heart went from calm to hammering in her chest
fast enough to make her wonder if she’d just stepped on an exposed
power line. “Look, just drop it. You were a bitch. End of story. I
can accept it. I have accepted it. I’m moving on—why don’t
you?”

Stephanie gasped and stared at her.

Crystal waited for a response that wasn’t
coming. She turned to Beth and growled, “Come on.”

Beth tried, and failed, to hide a smug smile
as they walked away from the stunned blond. They made it to Beth’s
car before Beth turned and stared at her. “That. Was. Awesome!”

Crystal’s eyes widened and then she burst
out laughing. Her heart had started slowing down at last and now
she could appreciate the moment without fearing she’d start
shaking.

“What got into you?”

“I don’t know,” Crystal admitted. “I just
didn’t want to put up with her anymore.”

Beth grinned. “That should do it! Or make an
enemy for life.”

Crystal sighed. “Probably. Why can’t she
just leave me alone?”

“Because of moments like that,” Beth
explained. “You act goofy and nerdy so much, but sometimes you do
things that are just so cool, people have to stop and wish they
were with you.”

Crystal’s brow drew together. “With me?”

“Yeah, like one of your friends. Somebody
you care about.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t get embarrassed, it’s true! You’re
going to make some guy a very lucky man someday,” Beth said. She
hesitated and then winked as she added, “Or a girl.”

“Stop it! I’m not gay! That was an accident!
A mistake!”

Beth laughed and opened her car door. “Come
on, carpet muncher, I need to get to work. I wonder if ‘I Kissed a
Girl’ is on the radio?”

“I hate you,” Crystal said. She thought she
meant it for a second but she knew better. She just wished Beth
would stop teasing her about the mistake she’d made. She’d finally
shut Stephanie up, but now Beth was on her ass about it. “Okay, I
don’t mean that, but please stop teasing me about that.”

Beth’s smile faded as she looked at Crystal.
She opened her mouth but Crystal spun away when she heard the
distant rumble of an engine.

“Hey, I said I’m sorry,” Beth repeated.
“What’s wrong?”

“Do you hear that?”

Beth tilted her head and listened. “Hear
what?”

A few seconds passed and the rumble grew
louder. A smile grew on Crystal’s lips. She recognized the rumble:
it was a motorcycle. His motorcycle.

“Motorcycle,” she said.

“Motorcycles,” Beth corrected. She pointed
as five bikes appeared, one after another, on the road that led
past the front of the school. One of them veered off and turned
onto the school drive. “No freaking way,” Beth muttered.

Crystal took her hand off her door and
stepped back out in front of Beth’s car and up on the curb in front
of her car. A roadway that separated the parking lot from the
school was on the other side of the curb.

“You’re not telling me everything about last
weekend, are you?” Beth accused as the motorcycle rolled up in
front of her and slowed to a stop.

The man riding the bike grinned at Crystal
and lifted his sunglasses. “How about that ride?” he asked.

“Crys!” Beth hissed behind her. “Who is this
guy?”

Crystal looked at him and felt her legs and
belly tremble. She remembered him holding her against him and she
wanted to be there again. Safe in his arms.

“I’m Henry,” he offered with a smile that
looked like he might be happy or he might be ready to bite her. “My
friends call me Hank.”

Crystal heard Beth snort behind her but she
ignored her. “It’s okay, Beth. Go ahead and go to work. I’ll call
you later.”

“Crys!”

Crystal turned to look at her, the simple
act of breaking eye contact with Hank helping her think more
clearly. “I will, I promise!”

“I’m going to be worried sick about you all
night. Don’t do this!”

“I’ll be good,” Crystal promised.

Hank chuckled. “Don’t worry, little badger.
I’ll protect her.”

“Did you just call me a badger?”

“Where are we going?” Crystal asked.

He grinned and leaned forward. “Where do you
want to go?”

Crystal found herself climbing onto the back
of his bike and wrapping her arms around him. She leaned in and
inhaled, relishing the scent of leather and man. She felt him
chuckle in her arms. He gave his bike some gas, rumbling the
exhaust and sending thrill through her as she felt the engine
vibrating through the seat.

He shifted, a powerful metallic thunk coming
from the transmission the same as the first night she’d ridden with
him, and then she was pushed back as he accelerated and turned. She
leaned with him, circling in the two-lane roadway, and then was
pressed back as the bike accelerated.

Crystal turned her head as they roared away
and saw Stephanie standing where she’d left her. The blond’s head
turned to follow her as she raced away from the school to whatever
adventure her mystery biker had planned.

“Anywhere special?” the man asked as they
turned onto the road in front of Middlebrook High.

“You just showed up in front of all the
people who matter,” Crystal gushed.

She felt him chuckle. “Mind if we go meet my
friends then?”

Crystal felt her heart in her throat. Did he
mean the people he’d been with the night she’d been attacked? “The
other bikers?”

“Yes.”

“Um, sure,” she said and then grabbed on
tighter when the bike surged forward. The wind whipped at her and
pulled her hair into what she was sure probably looked like a
bird’s nest it was snarled so bad. She ignored it; even shaving her
head made it worth riding behind her mysterious savior.

“Hey,” she called out to get his
attention.

“Hey what?”

She hesitated. How did he do that? He didn’t
raise his voice at all but she could hear him so clearly. Even the
rasp that reminded her a little bit of the growl from that night.
She shivered at the thought. “So you’re Hank?”

“That’s what I said.”

She chuckled nervously. “I’m Crystal.
Crystal Davis.”

“Thanks,” he said.

“Thanks?”

He slowed and turned onto a dirt road. “For
telling me your name. That takes a lot of trust.”

She felt the bumps of the rocks beneath the
tires and realized riding on gravel was a lot different than
pavement. She felt unsteady on the bike and squeezed him tighter.
“Um, you saved my life the other night. I kind of have to trust
you.”

She felt him chuckle again but he didn’t say
anymore. He drove the bike down the road several minutes, a couple
of miles at least, and then pulled off onto an unmarked driveway.
She gulped as she realized the driveway was more like a two-lane
track into the woods. The trees were covered in moss and the entire
area felt wet.

“You’re not going to take me to some rotting
old cabin, tie me up, rape me, and kill me, are you?”

He laughed loud enough for her to hear him
over the steady beat of the engine. “Hadn’t planned on it.”

“Good!”

“I had a different order in mind.”

Crystal gasped and then realized he was
laughing even harder. She snarled and then turned and bit the back
of his shoulder near where it met his neck. He stiffened and
twisted around to look at her.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his blue
eyes wide and intense.

Crystal gulped. “Sorry, I was just, um, I
don’t know. You were teasing me so I figured I’d, um—I’ve never
done that before. I don’t know what came over me!”

He turned his head back around and cursed.
The bike lurched under her as he wrestled it at an angle to keep
them from going off the path and into some bushes.

“Crap! I’m sorry!” Crystal cried again. She
held on tighter than ever but tried to distance herself from him.
She had the taste of leather in her mouth and the smell of his
jacket and his skin in her nose. She wrinkled her nose and tried to
breathe in the moist air of the woods to clear her senses.

Hank remained silent the rest of the short
ride. He pulled into a clearing where some trailers were set up.
Trailers complete with motorcycles in front of them except one. He
parked his there and waited for her to climb off.

Crystal noticed he joined her only because
she saw his feet a few moments later. He was facing her, but she
was staring at the ground and too embarrassed to look up at
him.

“Hey,” he said. “It’s okay. It just caught
me off guard.”

She risked a look up and saw him smiling.
She risked a smile back and then noticed one of the trailer doors
opening. The redhead from the night before stuck her head out. She
was wearing her leather vest and a skirt again. Crystal dropped her
eyes and found herself caught up on the woman’s bare feet.
Especially when she stepped out of her trailer and walked across
the hard-packed ground of the small compound without any sign of
discomfort.