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“Stop it! She’s not worth it, please, Truck,”
Julie screamed, astounded to find that the words were coming from
her very own vocal cords.

Everyone turned to look at Julie. Trucker’s
head snapped around. He dropped Emily immediately with a loud thud
and was at Julie’s side. He fell down beside her and gently removed
her hands from her hair.

“It’s over,” he said, holding onto her
hands.

Julie opened her eyes to see his veins
recede. His eyes were black. Not just black, but cold and
emotionless.

“Your eyes?” she whispered.

Trucker squeezed them shut and forcibly
rubbed them. When he opened them again, they were crystal clear,
loving, and blue.

“You can have all this. I don’t want it,”
Julie blurted out and pushed Trucker away. The minute the words
slipped out of her mouth she regretted them. Trucker pushed his
hair off his forehead. The force of his will told her to keep it
together. Her spine stiffened. It was not the place nor the
time.

“Get her out of here now,” Larry ordered.
“Every human out.”

Trucker started to help Julie to her feet,
but Julie shoved him and clutched for Catherine instead. She stood
and watched, out of the three hundred or so people there, about two
dozen women and a dozen men raced for the door. Her eyes met
Catherine’s warm eyes, they were not the only two humans trapped in
this life. Told to leave one last time, she heard the door slam as
they walked out.

“Get in the car, now.” Trucker’s voice was .
. . well, wrong. It was crude and hateful.

Julie scurried to get in, knowing his other
side had not fully regressed. His demon half was alive and fighting
for the upper hand. She glanced back to Catherine who was in the
back seat, her eyes were closed and she was mumbling a small
prayer.
See, not only do I love you, but so does your mom. I
know you care about me, so why can’t you leave Emily alone. She
doesn’t love you. She loves the power in you.

They left the bright well-lit parking lot as
Trucker drove into the dark depressing roads that led back to his
house. She gazed at Trucker. His movements were harsh and forced.
She wanted to reach out and touch him, but was afraid of her own
feelings. His mouth drew taut; he took deep, even breaths exhaling
through his nose.

“Try,” he begged. His face often showed
sadness, but never that depth of pain.

“Try what?” Her eyes closed in fear.

“Making us work, loving me.” He quickly wiped
away a stray tear that was rolling down his face.

She scratched her fingers through her hair,
gripping the side of her head.
Oh, baby, all I do is
try.

“All I’ve done is love you. This is a two way
street, buddy. It’s her or me, you can’t have us both.”

Trucker rammed his fist into the dashboard,
cracking it down the middle. Julie intuitively jumped in her
seat.

“I’ve never tried harder. I don’t want her,
damn it. I want you.”

“You had a funny way of showing me
tonight.”

The car entered through the massive gates
that led to his home. Trucker stared straight ahead, never
responding to Julie. Shrouded in darkness, he camouflaged his
thoughts from her. The glow from the house washed over his
extraordinarily beautiful face. His face shadowed between light and
dark, a perfect metaphor of his soul.

“Julie, I want nothing more than for us to
work.” He parked the car and paused. “No one is home.” He turned
back to his mom. “Show her to my room.” Glancing back at Julie, he
took her hand. “I’ll be back shortly.”

“Are you going back for her?”

“No, I’m going back for you.”

Speechless, she unbuckled her seatbelt and
climbed out of the car, never looking back. He was an amazing boy
with serious and deep-seeded emotional issues. At the moment, Julie
felt like she was drowning in the darkness that surrounded him. She
was more than willing to join him briefly in the dark for a chance
to bring him into the light.

Julie followed Catherine to Trucker’s room,
listening to her say it will be okay. Julie paused in front of
those paintings. She swore that Trucker’s pinky was slipping from
the grasp Emily had on it. Her head tilted as she inspected it
closer.
How could that be? It’s a painting. Paintings don’t
change. Do they?

Catherine placed her hand on Julie’s
shoulder. “Sweetie, try to ignore them. I do, or I would’ve already
been crazy.”

Julie wished she could ignore them, but
something told her the key to saving Trucker was in those
paintings. Before she left, she touched his face on the canvas. How
could he even pull at her heart when he looked like that? He was
hers, monster or not.

******

Julie was still reeling as she sat in
Trucker’s bed waiting for him when he walked in with nothing on but
his pajama bottoms. She’d thought earlier there was nothing more
beautiful than him in a suit. Now, she realized she had been wrong.
Seeing him standing there looking so handsome, brought a tear to
her eye.
How could the creature that I saw earlier tonight,
stand here now, looking so godly?

“Angel, can you forgive me?” He closed his
eyes with a quick shake of his head. “Everything I did tonight was
about keeping you safe.”

“I don’t think I have a choice. I need you
too.” She reached over to where he was standing, and slid her hand
down his well-defined chest, tracing across the flat planes of his
stomach. “Why didn’t you acknowledge me tonight? I felt invisible.
You completely ignored me.”

He yanked on her foot pulling her straight in
the bed and started crawling over her. “I could never ignore you,”
he whispered. He jerked up her shirt slightly exposing her
mid-section and kissed her belly button.

“It’s impossible.” He placed a line of kisses
from her stomach to the hem of her shirt as he stretched himself
over her body. Propping himself up with one arm, he smoothed his
fingers gingerly over her cheek with the other. “When we’re in the
same room I’m aware of every single movement you make, every single
breath you take. I can think only of you,” he said before kissing
the tip of her nose. He rolled off her to lay at her side. Resting
on one elbow, he whispered, “I was keeping the wolves at bay.”

She traced the muscles in his chest with the
tips of her fingers.

“I will do anything to keep you safe,” he
informed her. “Even fraternize with the enemy.” He wrapped his hand
tightly around hers. “You were beautiful tonight. I do love you in
pink.”

“I thought your favorite color was green.”
She wanted to question him more about his behavior but was ready to
change the stifling mood in the room.

“For me, yes, but you look heavenly in pink.
It accentuates your rosy cheeks. You’re perfect,” he said with a
quick kiss. “I’m proud to say you’re mine.” He flipped on his back
and draped his arm over his eyes. “Baby, this whole thing is almost
over.”

“Why did they make us leave and why was there
so many humans there?”

“They didn’t want any humans at the meeting
part. They don’t want you to know what they are planning. Emily’s
rude behavior cut the dinner part short for everybody.” He coughed.
“Some humans have less humanity than we do. Our kind are drawn to
them, the humans get a natural high off of us.” He kissed her
temple. “It’s reverse for you and me. Your goodness gives me the
high.”

She cuddled up in his arms. She didn’t bite
her lips or nails though. She didn’t need too. He had already eased
her nerves. “Are you sure my mom was okay with me staying over
tonight?” she asked as she lightly trailed her fingers over his
chest.

“Yeah, my dad is better than me at getting
what he wants.” He took her hand in his again, threading his
fingers with hers.

“Your dad?” The very thought of his dad, the
embodiment of pure evil, socializing with her parents was too much.
Her head shook involuntarily.

“Does it bother you to sleep here, with all
this craziness around you?” he asked. 

“No, because my prince is here,” Julie
answered and kissed his chest. She felt him flinch at the word
prince. It didn’t bother her to be with him. It did, however,
bother her that her parents were involved.

Although, the mood had shifted, she could
still tell he was battling to keep his demon buried. She didn’t
speak, letting him fight with the inner-struggle raging in him.
There was nowhere on her body he didn’t touch, her back, her face,
her hair. His body was pressed to her thighs, her shoulders, even
his feet and legs were threaded with hers.

“I miss your curls,” he finally said breaking
the silence between them.

In all the primping his mom had done earlier
that day, one thing Julie had fought was the straightening of her
hair. Catherine thought it would make her appear more polished.
Trucker didn’t argue the point, but at that moment, Julie wasn’t
sure he’d even realized what the condition of her hair was.

“I thought you like straight hair. You seemed
to enjoy talking to all the women with straight hair when you first
moved to town,” she teased.

“They were easier to talk to. The only curls
I wanted to see were yours. I’ve always had a thing for curls.” His
eyes were so clear, so expressive; she believed she could see his
soul.

“Truck, were you about to turn tonight?”

“Yes,” he answered and drew her close to him.
“Are you scared at all? I don’t want you to be scared.”

“Yes,” she said with disappointment. He
shivered. “I’m terrified of all of this, but I’m not scared of you.
Tonight, you didn’t think about it, it was second nature for you to
protect me.”

“Always.” He kissed the top of her head.

“Why did you take me, tonight? What if I got
hurt?” she asked.

“I knew you wouldn’t get hurt. It was a test
to see what you were willing to do for me.”

“You were scared,” Julie stated.

He paused a few moments before speaking. “I
was afraid . . . I was afraid you would tell me that you didn’t
want me.” He ran a hand through his hair, his expression agonizing.
She cupped the nape of his neck. She had told him that but she
didn’t mean it. He was truly all she wanted, just as much as he
wanted her.

“Sweetheart, when I said that earlier, I was
scared. I thought they . . . you might hurt me. I didn’t mean
it.”

“I know. I knew it when you said it.”

“How?”

“The way you were looking at me. But my
sweet, beautiful Angel, no one was going to hurt you, especially
not me.”

“How do you know for sure they wouldn’t have
hurt me?”

“Because we go by a very strict code. This
will sound odd because of what we are, but my kind are very loyal
and committed to the greater cause. When we give our oath, we stand
behind it. It’s the only way we’ll ever achieve our goals. They
gave me their oath that you are safe.” With trembling hands, he
stroked her hair. “Every test we are put through is to prove to
them that you deserve me, but baby, it is only a few more days.
Then it will be over.”

“Demons are loyal?”

“Angel, I told you the worldview made us into
something they can resist, but sin is strong and cunning.”

She started to trace his face, and was
stunned by what she saw. She slowly ran her finger down his nose.
Her brow knitting together.

“What’s making that gorgeous little face
frown?” he asked.

“Your nose, it’s crooked.” She kept staring
at it. How many times has she studied his face and marveled at its
perfection?

“Very, I’ve broken it five times.” His
laughter was contagious.

“I’ve never noticed. Why?” She felt like she
didn’t know him at all.

“I told you, I’m like sin and your mind sees
what it wants to see. I also have a scar on my lip.” He pointed to
a tiny scar running down from his bottom lip. “I bit part of my lip
off the first time I changed.” He then pointed to an indention in
his arm and a large scar on his side. “My first change was not the
best experience.”

“I don’t understand. I noticed your eyes.”
She was bewildered. He was still the most beautiful person she had
ever laid her eyes on, but now she could see he had flaws.

“My sweet Angel, sin is so deceiving your
mind tricked you. Nothing is perfect including me. Do you still
want me?” He wondered.

“Yeah, very much so.”

“For the record, I think you’re sort of
perfect.”

She went to kiss him when a yawn escaped her
lips.

“Tired, baby?” he asked. She nodded. “You’ve
had a long day and late night, sleep my love,” he told her as he
kissed the top of her head and snuggled her onto his chest.

He watched her, as she quickly drifted off to
sleep, in his arms.

My innocent baby fell asleep in my arms
almost immediately tonight. I know she’s both physically and
emotionally drained. I doubt she would sleep this peaceful if she
realized how much I could do to her. But one glance at her angelic
face and I realize I’m powerless when it comes to her. I wonder how
this weekend will affect her. Will she ever know how much I love
her? She’s this bright sun beating down in the darkness that’s my
life. Her presence pulsates against me. I don’t want to live
without her. I refuse to rule without her by my side. Will she ever
know how I cherish her and most of all, will she ever fall asleep
in my arms again after this weekend? Truck

Trucker tucked his journal back in his desk
drawer. He stood beside the bed taking in her beauty for a moment,
before softly pushing a stray hair off her cheek.

“Good night, my love. Sleep tight, you still
have a few hard days to go.”

After one last kiss, he curled up beside her
and watched her sleep as he counted each precious breath she
took.

******