Lost in the Moment (A Savioe Family Novel) (32 page)

Great, the universal fuck you.
I let out a huff of breath and set my phone back down on my bedside table. I laid back down and stared up at my ceiling. I’m tired of letting people try to fix things or taking their advice about my life. First it was with my brothers, then Jess, now Hunter. If I wanted to set things straight, I needed to suck it up and do things my way.

I tossed and turned for
a few more hours before deciding to get out of bed. I glanced at the clock. Three-thirty. The hall light was off. Good, everyone was in bed. I opened my door and tiptoed down the stairs. I soundlessly jumped the bottom two steps that tended to squeak. I stood there for a few minutes with my heart pounding in my ears glancing back up the steps to my parents’ door.

Convinced that no one had heard me I made my way down the darkened hall to his room.
I stopped in front of his door and took a deep breath before I opened it. The only light in the room was from the red digits on the alarm clock sitting on his dresser. It took my eyes a long while to adjust to the dimness.

He was sprawled out on his back, his arm over his face, and his other arm resting on his sheet covered stomach. I closed the door behind me and locked it. We were going to
have this out once and for all.

I sat down on the side of
the bed by his hip and touched his arm. “Marcus.”

He groaned and rolled over on his side. I grabbed his tattooed arm and gave him a slight shake. “Marcus.”

“What?” He sleepily muttered pulling the sheet up over his head.

I grabbed the sheet
as frustration set in and jerked it down. He sat up in a start, his forehead almost hitting mine. I leaned back just in time to miss the impact. He turned those grey eyes on me and sucked in a harsh breath. “What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk.” I gripped the sheet in my hand trying to ease my nervousness.

He narrowed his eyes at me. “No we don’t. Get out of here.”

“I’m not leaving, Marcus.”

                                                        *****

Drez

I ran a shaking hand through my hair and shook my head at her.
I sincerely hoped this was just another dream of mine and she wasn’t really here. Otherwise, I’d be seriously fucked if her father caught her in here with me with only a sheet and her in a barely there tank top and small booty shorts. My body stirred slowly waking up at the shadowed sight of her nipples poking through the thin material.

I couldn’t take this anymore.
After that text message earlier getting my hopes up and then her smashing them back to the ground at lunch, I had very little patience where she was concerned. “Marie. Leave before your father finds you here.”

She leaned closer to me causing me to back up a bit. “No. We need to fucking talk. I’m tired of everyone telling me what I should or should not do.
You are going to listen to what I have to say. Marcus, I messed up big time. I was scared of what I was feeling for you, that’s why I broke it off. It had nothing to do with any other guy. I realized it that night but then you called us about Roxy and well everyone here was a zombie for days. This Monday I was being a bitch. I thought that you had moved on and I wanted to make you jealous. So I kissed Hunter after telling him that that was what I was doing.” She stopped talking and swallowed before capturing my eyes. “We then argued over something that never should have happened. I said some horrible things to you that I didn’t mean.”

She grabbed my hand as she continued. “I knew you were in the bathroom this morning. I just didn’t think you’d be….” Her cheeks turned pink. “Well, you know. I talked to Roxy about what I should do regarding your text about the locked doors. She said that if I wanted you back I should send you something sexy back. I was going to do that before lunch. But Hunter took my phone from me and sent you what he did.
”

I shook my head trying to clear
it. My voice cracked from the sudden rise of emotion. “Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know what his motives are. Not really.” S
he placed her hand on my cheek.

I savored her touch like a starving man
would. Her palm caressed my chin sending a shiver of desire down my spine. I closed my eyes as I grabbed her wrist. This had to be a dream. Once I opened my eyes, she would be gone back safe in her room snuggled under her blankets. I opened my eyes to see her staring at my mouth.

S
he leaned forward and brushed her soft lips against mine. My body trembled as my breathing escalated. I tangled my fingers in her hair and tilted her head back burying my nose at her neck. I inhaled the sweet scent of her arousal and growled softly. My tongue flicked out to lick a wet path up her neck to her ear. I grazed my teeth against the sensitive lobe wringing out a gasp from her lips.

I jerked away from her
. What the hell was I doing? “Marie. Go back to your room.”

“
What! Why? I want to be with you, Marcus.” She purred at me slowly crawling onto the bed.

I grabbed her shoulders putting a stop to her advance. “Your father gets up in an hour and I don’
t want him catching you in here.”

She sent a frantic look at the clock on the bureau. “Shouldn’t that be long enough?”

My head plopped down on the pillow as I ran a shaky hand over my face. “We will talk about this in the morning, luv. Please, just go.”

She ducked her
head biting her lip. “Are you sure?”

“
Go, Marie.” I sat up and grabbed her hand. “We will talk. I promise.”

She squeezed it slightly before heading over to the door. She unlocked and opened it before looking over her shoulder at me. “Night, Marcus.”

As she shut the door, I let out a long stuttered breath. Fuck. I’m going to have to start locking that door. I let out a snort. That wouldn’t help she’d just pick the damn thing.

             
                                          *****

             
             
Chapter Thirteen

The next few days I never had the chance to pull her aside to talk to her. I had to work Wednesday and Thursday then she was saddled with helping Eva take the twins trick or treating. We couldn’t really talk during lunch thanks to the watchful eyes of her brothers. So when Friday rolled around and Hunter’s party loomed, I thought that would be a good time to talk.

Nat and Eva told us to stay out as late as we wanted when they learned that they would have the evening to themselves.
The twins were going to their first sleepover and all of us were heading to that silly costume party. I didn’t realize just how into masquerades the entire family was. Charles spent days working on his Halo inspired costume. Luke and Roxy decided to go as Gambit and Rogue from the X-Men. They even included a deck of cards and staff for Luke. Roxy streaked her hair with some type of white hairspray.

Beau surprised me by dressing as some sort of pirate. He had a long black wig on with
a red scarf tied around his forehead, a white billowy shirt and black leather pants with sword attached to his hip. It took every ounce of control I had not to laugh at him when he walked into the kitchen.

He glared at me when he noticed my shoulders shaking
from my barely contained mirth. “I wouldn’t laugh too hard, cap. Scott gave this to me and said that you needed to wear it.” He tossed a bag over to me.

It landed at my feet something grey and fuzzy slid out and rested on the toe of my boot. My face dropped. What the hell? I gingerly picked up the white plastic bag and pulled out the contents. A set of grey fuzzy ears, a black box that contained customizable fangs and a grey tail littered the table. I raised my eyebrow at him. “What exactly is this supposed to be?”

He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled revealing a fake gold tooth. “It’s your costume.”

Roxy grabbed the
box with the fangs and opened them. “Wolf teeth?”

Luke sent Beau a confused look
as he picked up the tail. Beau shrugged his shoulders. “Ils veulent qu’ils correspondent. Elle est le Petit Chaperon Rouge… rencontrer Le Grand Méchant Loup.”

Luke dropped the tail and sent a quick glance at me before he started laughing. “That’s brilliant.
I take it she’s already over there getting ready?”

“Yeah, I dropped her off with Jess twenty minutes ago.
Hunter’s mom is helping her with her outfit.” Beau looked over at me. “Well, Drez. Go change so we can head on.”

I snatched the items off the table and stomped to my room. So I’m the big bad wol
f to her little red riding hood. If it wasn’t for the embarrassment of wearing ears and a tail, I might find this funny.

*****

After changing into my black distressed jeans, T-shirt and well-worn boots, I headed back into the kitchen. Roxy took one look at me and pursed her lips. She left the mix of adhesive for the teeth on the counter and motioned for me to come to her.

“We have to do something about your hair. Hmm, maybe the shirt too. Charles, go upstairs and get an old black
T-shirt that you will never wear again.” She grabbed her hairbrush out of that massive messenger bag of hers. “Luke, baby, can you go get some of your gel? Drez sit down. I am not going to try to reach that head of yours.”

I took a seat at the small table in the corner. Luke and Charles rushed back down with the items she requested.
She wiggled her eyebrows at Luke and opened the jar of goop. With a healthy layer of it in her hands, she attacked my hair mussing it up and sticking it out all over the place. She teased and matted a few pieces to help her achieve the style she thought would work before attaching those damn ears to the side of my head.

I started to get up but hesitated when she shook her head at me. I sighed and sat back down. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a black pencil. Was that…? “No. No way in hell am I going to wear guyliner!”

“Deal with it. Both Luke and Beau have it on. So it’s not like you are going to be the only one.” She started toward me with the eyeliner in between her thumb and forefinger. Luke and Beau clamped their hands on my shoulders to keep me seated as she slathered the kohl on my eyes. She pulled back after her assault with a huge grin on her face.

“Charles hand me that shirt and a pair of scissors.” She put the cap back on the eyeliner and dropped it back in her bag
as she turned around to him.

He handed her the small shirt and scissors. She held it up and began he
r attack on it. She cut the neck down in a v, shredded the stomach and gave the back three long rips before handing me the item. “There. Now put it on. After that we’ll fasten the tail to your jeans.”

I shrugged out of my normal shirt and squeezed into the three sizes too small one of Charles’s.
The sleeves of the shirt cut into my biceps exaggerating their size. The front exposed hints of my pecks and abs. I looked up at them and shook my head. “This is ridiculous.”

She gave me a sideways grin and elbowed Luke
as she giggled. “I doubt Hunter expected him to look like that. Now for the teeth!”

I walked over to the counter and looked down at the four caps sitting on the counter in a bowl of hot water. I thought she was mixing an adhesive she must have been dropping them in hot water instead. “Do I have to wear all four?”

“Uh… yeah. Here stick these two on your canines and bite down the mix inside will mold to your teeth. After a few minutes we will take those out and drop them in cold water so they will harden then we will do the bottom ones.” She slid a small bowl of ice water next to me after ten minutes and motioned for me to put them in there. When I did, she handed me the smaller ones for my bottom teeth.

After that mess, I slid the teeth in expecting to talk like I had a mouth full of marbles but was pleasantly surprised. “Hopefully that’s all the torture you are going to inflict on me, little bit.”

“Just the tail and then that’ll be all.” She attached the tail to the back of my jeans and stepped back resting her head against Luke’s chest. “Beau, can we take my car? Your truck will be a pain to get in and out of.”

“I thought you had the R8 today?” Beau adjusted the tiny braids in his wig.

“Only for school. He and Mom wanted it for tonight.” She held out her keys to him.

“Fine.” He snatched them out of her hand and headed to the door. “Well, let’s go people.”

                                                        *****

Marie

He hadn’t tried to talk to me once since I snuck into his room that night. You’d think if he were really interested in getting back together, he would have at least attempted to find the time. I understood he had to work in the evenings but that left before school and during lunch
that he could have pulled me aside. Hell, even a simple text would have appeased me.

I sighed as Jess walked over to me holding up the red outfit Mrs. Jackson had provided. When Beau had dropped us off here, I was seething in my budding hostility. Here I was doing what was told of me, yet again. This was the last thing I wanted to do but at the sight of that red corset with black laces and white peasant blouse that would hang off my shoulders, my spirits soared at the possibility of wearing that sexy of an outfit.

Mrs. Jackson walked in with a small bag and a pair of hooker boots as Jess called them. “Here these used to be mine before I had kids and lost my figure. They’re a size eleven so you may have to stuff the toe with toilet paper.”

“I wear a size ten that’s perfect!” I reached for the shiny black boots and inspected the four-inch heel.

“In here is a pair of fishnets and the cape that goes with that.” She placed the bag on the bed. “After you put that on I’d really like to help with your hair and make-up. It has to be something wow worthy. Hunter told me that this was to help you get your boyfriend back. I think that’s just so sweet that he’s helping you out.”

I grabbed the outfit from Jess, the fishnets from Hunter’s mom and started changing in the bathroom leaving the door cracked. “I can’t believe that you let him throw parties like this.”

I heard her chuckle. “It’s better for him to have them here than in a field somewhere trying to drive afterward. This way I can make sure no one drives drunk.”

“But isn’t that contributing to a minor?” I put on the fishnets and pulled up the white crinoline slip up fastening it before pulling red skirt over it. The white blouse was next. I gently tucked it in the top of the skirt and pulled it off the shoulders.

“Who is going to arrest me… my husband?” She cackled.

Jess chuckled with her. “Hurry up you still need to put this corset on and I think you’re going to need help with it.”

I stepped out of the bathroom and grabbed the red and black contraption. I pulled it over the white blouse, fixed the straps on my shoulders and adjusted the material around my chest. Jess stepped behind me and pulled the black laces tight before tying them in a bow above my butt. She draped the cape over my shoulders and took a step back. I turned around breathless from how tight the corset was and saw her Cheshire cat grin.

Mrs. Jackson smiled clapping her hands in front of her. “Now for the final touch.”

                                                        *****

I stared at my reflection. There was no way that was actually me. My hair was in loose spiral curls framing my face with a red ribbon threaded through the crown. My lips were a dark red while my eyelids were black with the hint of red. She had lined them with a sparkly red liner that swept up like a cat eye. I shook my head at myself. While it looked hot, I felt like a slut wearing this much makeup.

I pulled on the above the knee shiny black boots and looked over at Jess. She was wearing an Elvira costume, wig included. I raised my eyebrow at her. While she had the alabaster skin, she lacked the bust to make it perfect. Though she had more than I did in that area, she definitely wasn’t Elvira size.

“Ready?” I asked hesitantly.

“Hold on I just want to check something.” She stood in front of the mirror and jumped up and down a few times. “Okay, they’re good. Sorry I just wanted to make sure they were taped down enough.”

“You girls have fun. If you need me for anything I’ll be up here after I’ve collected all the keys.” Mrs. Jackson smiled at us opening her bedroom door.

“Thank you, Mrs. J.” Jess gave her a quick hug before following me out the room.

We walked down the steps
with the music was already pumping. Payne and Scott walked in the door and dropped their keys in the clear bowl to the right. Scott was dressed as a gladiator and Payne wore a pair of black baggy pants and a baseball cap.

“What are you supposed to be?” Jess asked him when we reached the bottom step.

“Magic Mike, baby. Wanna see me dance?” He grabbed the top of his hat and grinded up against her jokingly.

She smacked his butt and pulled a dollar out of….
Wait, where the hell did she have that?
My eyes widened in disbelief as I turned away from them and made my way into the living room. Half of the football team were already there dressed in everything from Iron Man to a walker from the Walking Dead. I slipped by them into the kitchen and spotted Angie and her crowd. Their outfits ranged from a slutty cat to a slutty nurse.

Madison dressed as a nurse spotted me first. “Marie? Is that you?”

My lips twitched up in nervous smile. “Yup. It’s me.”

“What are you supposed to be?” Angie the slutty cat looked down her nose at me.

What the hell did I do to her?
I pulled my shoulders back and stretched up to my full height. “Little Red Riding Hood.”

“Oh. Yeah
, I guess I can see that.” She turned back to her friends and whispered something to them before she giggled.

I rolled my eyes at them and grabbed a red cup. I was not going to drink anything stronger than soda tonight. There was no way I was going to get drunk. I walked out onto the deck and spotted Hunter dressed as the Woodsman. He even brandished a plastic axe. He spotted me
and a huge grin spread across his face.

He waved his axe in the air. “Hey Red! Come on over and I’ll protect you from the Big Bad Wolf. If he shows.”

“Whatever.” I muttered to myself before leaning on the railing. I can only imagine who he had as that character in this little scheme of his. To be honest, I didn’t really want to talk to him right now.

Jess made her way out the kitchen door holdi
ng the edge of it yelling back in. “Angie, shut the fuck up! No one wants to hear your bullshit tonight.”

I pushed away from the railing heading over to intervene in whatever way I could. Jess’s grip tightened against the door before she laughed. “Yeah, whatever. You’re just jealous, bitch.”

I raised my eyebrow at her when she turned around closing the door. “What was that about?”

“Nothing. She’s just pissed because all she could think of to wear is something trite like a slutty cat.” Jess leaned against the railing. “So are you going to drink tonight or is it just going to be me?”