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He interrupted her, “Maybe, I’ve just gotten
started with you.”

Her heart rate went into overtime. It pounded
in her chest. She had to force out the next question. “What are you
planning on doing with me?”

She almost fell off the toilet for asking.
After all, that was a question she had asked herself numerous times
before.

He let out an audible breath. “I’ll pick you
up at twelve tomorrow.” He paused. “Julie?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry about tonight. I can’t hurt you
and live with myself.”

Her eyes closed. He did hurt her. He chose
wrong. He chose Courtney. Julie couldn’t blame him. She had always
run away, while Courtney ran to him. Julie wouldn’t run
anymore.

“I’ll see you at noon,” she answered. “Good
night, Truck.”

“Bye, mon bel amour.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s French for my beautiful love,” he
answered before hanging up.

She cradled the phone to her chest, still in
wonder at what he had said.

*******

Good Morning Diary,

I didn’t sleep at all last
night.........

Julie let her diary fall to the floor. How
could she even begin to summarize her thoughts? He said he would be
there at noon, and that was a good thing.

Julie had rolled around on her bed all night.
She heard Ellen in the kitchen. Dan’s snores drifted up the stairs
and straight to Julie’s ears. It was a rare Saturday when both her
parents were at home.
Great, both of them are home and he’s
coming over.
She frantically slung the covers off the bed, and
glanced down at a flash coming from her cellphone.

Good night, Angel

thinking and dreaming of you.

It was sent at midnight the night before.
Julie was giddy, almost reeling, both from the fact he was thinking
of her and if he was; he probably wasn’t with Courtney.

She almost danced to the bathroom and tugged
at a towel, letting it fall off the hook and onto her waiting
hands. She decided she would take time to fix her hair and make-up.
She looked at all her mom’s cosmetics lining the bathroom counter.
She’d rarely wore make-up, it intimidated her. She wished Tori or
Tiffany were there to help her get ready, but something told her
that they would be jealous about sending her off alone with
Trucker. She was sure most of Promise Land would be shocked she was
spending the day with him. She carefully applied the make-up and
pulled her hair back, letting a few lose curls fall around her
face.

When she was finished getting ready, she
stood in front of the mirror. Even with the extra time spent on her
hair and make-up, her looks paled in comparison with his, and she
imagined what everybody would think when they saw them together.
She didn’t understand what he saw in her . . . plain little Julie
Emison . . . it made absolutely no sense. But she grinned, knowing
he saw something.

In her bedroom, she glanced at the wall cloak
as she fell back on the bed to wait. It was only ten o’clock. She
turned on the TV trying to waste time, and flipped through the
channels until she came across some silly vampire movie. She
laughed at herself.
H
ow could someone even believe this
crazy stuff is beyond me.
Oh well, at least it was something
funny to watch, as the clock slowly ticked down to noon. Her
cellphone buzzed.

*******

I am evil!!! The embodiment of evil. Nothing
I can do will ever change that fact. I took it too far last night.
I almost bit her. I let myself envision my dog teeth sinking deep
down into that soft flesh of hers. Evil can never find peace. So
why am I even trying? I will find solace in her. At least, until
she learns the truth about who I really am. I know I can’t hold
that delicate hand in mine forever, but I will relish every moment
I have with her. Ready to see her, Truck

Slamming his journal shut, Trucker flicked
his pen in the air. He had been up all night wanting to see her.
His nerves couldn’t take sitting in that apartment another minute.
He slapped his leg that involuntarily jerked as he waited to leave.
He grabbed his journal, walked right past his father, never
acknowledging him, and left. He was headed to see his angel.

He slowly drove through town. Glancing at the
dashboard, he noticed the time. He had left way too early. It was
only ten, but he had to see her. He roughly scraped his hand down
his thigh, trying to relieve the itch on his palm that only holding
her hand could do. He had stayed up thinking about what she did to
him and how he wanted those feelings to continue. Slipping his
phone out of his shirt pocket, he glanced at the clock one more
time. He gave up fighting it. He had to see her. As bad as he
wanted to hear her voice, he was afraid he might wake her so he
sent a text instead.

Hello Beautiful

Miss you

He became increasingly worried as the minutes
passed without a word. He dropped the phone when he finally heard
the familiar ping, signally a new text.

Hey to you,

Missing you too.

She misses me. If she only knew what she
did to me?
Just the thought of her put a smile on his ever
serious and hard face. His fingers moved at lightning speed. He
needed to be
with
her.

Are you ready?

I’m ready to see you :)

Yeah

Hurry over :)

See ya in 10

XOXO

Chapter 4

Julie held the cellphone in her lap and
scrolled through the text. She found herself in a predicament she
wasn’t ready for . . . informing her parents about
him.
She
knew Ellen would be cool with it; who was more like a friend than a
parental unit. Dan, on the other hand, wasn’t so excited about his
little girl growing up and finding a
him.
Dan, however,
worked for Trucker’s father and told her to be nice, but Julie
doubted he meant
that
nice. She settled on sending a text,
telling her mom she needed to talk. After all with the snoring
going on, Dan was probably still fast asleep.

Hey mom,

come here, we need to talk

The soft patter of Ellen’s feet made their
way up the stairs.
Well, it’s now or never. Mom, please don’t
freak.
Julie let out a deep breath.

“What sweetie?” Ellen said as she rounded the
corner into Julie’s room. “Julie Emison, well, I’ve never. I don’t
believe I’ve ever seen you this made up.”

Julie patted the side of the bed. Ellen
climbed into bed and pulled the covers over the two of them.

“Mom, you know daddy said his boss has a son
my age?” Julie asked and started chewing on her lip.

“Yeah, he’s a sweetheart. I met him the other
day,” Ellen answered.

Julie started biting her fingernails instead
of her lips, signaling her over active nervous system.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Julie blurted out.
She hid her face behind her hair. Ellen absent-mindedly gathered
Julie’s long hair together, twisting it around and around her hand,
before letting it cascade down her back. Ellen had always played
with Julie’s hair, and Julie found great pleasure in that simple
gesture.

“I hadn’t thought about it. He was at the
office the other day when I went to have lunch with your dad. Your
dad is crazy about him. Seems Trucker helps him out some.” Ellen’s
eye got big. “Why, Julie? Does this boy have anything to do with
the new found fascination with make-up?”

Julie gave Ellen an over exaggerated eye
roll. “Yes,” Julie said before being cut short by the doorbell.
“That should be him.”

She threw the covers off of them and raced to
the door, praying that her dad didn’t wake up.

*******

Standing on her doorstep, Trucker reached
for the doorbell. He had never known uncertainty in his life until
her. He heard Dan ruffling the sheets and assumed he was still
asleep. But what caught his attention the most was
Julie.
She was talking to her mom. He listened intently to see if she gave
anything away. He didn’t know how she would feel about the fact he
had already met her parents. Hell, Dan and he had spent many hours
together. Trucker did it to keep Dan safe. It was an added benefit
that he got to hear all about Julie, but the true reason was to
make sure Dan stayed ignorant about what was truly going on around
him.

Trucker leaned on the doorframe and
accidentally hit the doorbell. “Crap,” he whispered to himself. He
had never been clumsy in his life, but she had knocked him totally
off-kilter.

Slinging the door open, she took his breath
away. She was yanking at her clothes with one hand and fussing with
a strand of her hair with the other one. She flashed him a bashful
little grin that rendered him useless. The new feelings she gave
him were surging. He had to get himself together, so he didn’t
scare her off. With a tilt of his head, he gave her his uneven
dazzling smile.

“Hey, Angel, do I get to come in or you going
to keep running from me?” He tried to tease, knowing his nerves
couldn’t handle hearing no.

“I’m not running from you anymore.”

“I don’t know, you, little lady, are good at
running. Are you going to ask me in?”

“Why don’t you come in?” Julie asked.

“You really should be careful who you invite
into your home,” he warned as he stepped into the house.

“Why? Are you going to hurt me?” she asked.
Her teeth sunk down onto her lip.

“Never, but some people are not as
trustworthy.” He glared down at her with a serious glint in his
eyes. “When sin knocks, just don’t answer.” He gripped both of her
hands in his. It amazed him how one small touch from her could set
his skin on fire.

“I’ll try to remember that.”

The blood raced to her cheeks. He held up his
hands to touch her face but stopped himself.

“Why didn’t you tell me you knew my dad?”

“You never talk to me long enough to tell you
anything.” He peeked over her head and saw Ellen entering the room.
Trucker had already used his charm on her, so she wasn’t a problem;
he wished he could be so sure of her daughter.

“I made your bed, sweetie.” Ellen said and
stalled.

“Hey, Ms. Ellen,” Trucker said and flashed
his Trucker Castleman’s patented, perfect smile. Julie flipped
around in time to catch Ellen’s lower jaw practically hit the
ground.

“Hey, Trucker,” Ellen stuttered and shifted
her eyes toward the floor.

That’s right, Ellen, I’ll always have the
upper hand and now I have your precious daughter.

Trucker took in the surroundings. Julie’s
home was small and modest, but immaculate. Ellen, he presumed, took
pride in the place. Over the small fireplace, tucked tight into the
corner of the minuscule sized living room, was a row of pictures.
The first one being a picture of Julie in the hospital, taken
shortly after she was born, followed by a procession of pictures
documenting each stage of her life. He ran his fingers over the
mantle and picked up a baby picture of Julie.
My sweet angel,
you deserve more than this. I’ll take care of you.
As much as
he wanted to find her home displeasing, it was impossible to be in
that house and not feel the love. She had the one thing he had
never experienced, a house full of people that cared. He fluidly
fell back into Dan’s recliner and motioned for Ellen to take a
seat. Julie grimaced and shot him a dirty look; he returned it with
a wink.

“So, what do you and my little girl have
planned for the day?” Ellen asked, still unable to look at him.

“We’re going to the movies with Tiffany and
Tori later,” Julie chimed in. Trucker coughed and let out a small
laugh.

“Anything your little girl wants,” Trucker
added.

“Enough with the small talk.” Julie hopped up
and started walking up the stairs. Trucker followed and touched the
tip of her hair. She twisted her head sideways and smiled.

At the top of the stairs there was a small
landing causing Trucker to cringe. It was dark and too close to her
room; too convenient a place to hide.
What is she doing to
me?
The cold sweats hit at the thought of somebody hurting a
curl on her head and sent him into a panic. He snaked his arm
around her waist and pulled her against him.

“Julie, you should run. I’m no good.”

He wanted her to know what he was. He hoped
she’d run for her own good, but losing her would destroy him. He
pressed his lips against her temple and held his lips there
breathing her in.

“I promise you, I can’t run anymore.”

“I can’t lose you, angel.”

“You won’t,” she murmured and turned to
him.

Their faces were a fingerbreadth apart. He
froze.
The great and powerful subdue by the meek and mild.
Julie reached for him for the first time and brushed his hair off
his forehead. His eyes closed briefly. The touch of the sacrificial
lamb. His skin had the sensation of being clamped by hot ambers. He
smiled and leaned into her touch. It was a price he was willing to
pay to be with
her.
Julie peeked up at him under
ridiculously long lashes, and he knew she was the one for him.

“I’m scared, Trucker.” Her lip trembled as
she spoke those words. He traced one finger down her face.

“There’s no need to be scared, Angel. I won’t
do anything you don’t beg me to do to you.”

“I’m still scared,” she whispered. The way
she spoke and the look in her eyes told him that she knew he was
dangerous.

“I know you are,” he told her as he raised
her hand and kissed each knuckle. “I’m not good for you. You should
run as far and fast as you can.” He took a deep breath. “I’ve never
wanted anything more than I want you. Please don’t.” He wiggled his
fingers through her curls. Gripping her scalp, he tilted her head
till she was forced to look at him. “I won’t hurt you. I only want
to take care of you.” He slowly released his grip on her, and she
simply nodded her head. Her stare cut him to the core. No one had
ever fazed him, till her. She pierced his soul.