Chapter 1 Eviction
This is an old story. It still needs a proper edit. Reader beware :P
Chapter 1
“Eviction”
POV Esme
A relentless pounding on my door snaps me out of my sleep.
I slide my feet off the bed onto the cold floor and stumble to the door, half awake, to find a five day eviction notice pinned to my apartment door.
I rip the note off and slam the door, my hands trembling.
I immediately call my father.
“What do you need now, Esme?” my father shouts.
“Just rent,” I whisper.
“It’s always ‘just’ something. Your grandmother left you plenty to get through school. You should have taken a simple course and married a rich husband.”
“I’m halfway through school, Dad. Once I’m finished, I won’t need anyone’s help,” I try to reason with him.
“This will be my last handout! I’m sick of you leeching off me. I have your stepmother and her kids to take care of. Your stepmother gave you her own car, and you don’t give her the time of day. Goodbye.” He hangs up.
I get dressed and eat Mr. Noodles for breakfast.
I turn the key in my Honda, and nothing. Not even a hello, just silence.
“Damn it, Nancy, I need you right now. Please, please start for me.”
I try again, and the silence is deafening.
My eyes fill with tears as I lay my head on the steering wheel and let it all out like an emotionally unstable teenager.
Someone knocks on my window.
I roll down my window and look into the hazel eyes of the most handsome man I have ever seen.
“Yes,” I sniffle.
“Can you hurry it up? I need your parking spot,” he says.
“Nancy isn’t starting today,” I sob, rolling up my window.
I lay my head back on the steering wheel.
I hear knocking again.
I try to ignore it, but he won’t stop.
I roll down my window to the same hazel eyes.
“Pop your hood,” he says, his voice deep and husky.
I pop the hood without a second thought.
After five minutes, he yells, “Try it now.”
I turn the ignition, still deafening silence.
I get out, tap his shoulder to find out what’s going on.
“I think it’s your battery. They only run about a hundred dollars, so you’re in luck.”
“Thanks for your help, but I’m going to be late for school.”
I grab my bag and run to the bus stop. I drop onto the bench with my face in my hands, feeling like a failure as it suddenly starts pouring rain.
Just my luck, today is just not my day.
I hear a honk.
I peek over and there’s a green Range Rover parked in front of the bus stop.
“Let me give you a ride,” the hazel eyed man calls out.
“No, thanks,” I say, still hiding in my hands.
The cold rain kisses every inch of my body.
I don’t want to soak his fancy car seat.
“Just let me drive you to school, and I promise you’ll never have to see me again.”
I ignore him.
Huge, strong arms scoop me up off the bench in the sudden downpour. Their warmth spreads throughout my whole body as he places me into his SUV.
He puts my school bag in the back and turns on the heat full blast. He shows me how to work the controls for my side.
I breathe in his intoxicating, musky scent, and it relaxes me.
“What school?” he asks.
“Veterinary school on Third and Broadway,” I say.
“Are you going to get Nancy fixed?” he asks.
“No, the bus is cheaper.”
I glance over at my savior. His dark hair is parted to the side. He has full, perfect lips that invite you in and a toned, muscular body hidden beneath a tight blue shirt that leaves little to the imagination.
For a brief moment, his hazel eyes turn to me. “The bus isn’t safe for you. Does your job not pay enough?”
My cheeks flush, and I look away.
“I can’t keep a job,” I sigh. “My school schedule is unpredictable, and I keep getting fired.”
“Can I ask you a personal question?” he asks.
“Sure.”
“Why don’t you have a man to take care of you?”
“My father left my mother for his mistress. I don’t want to fall in love just to be betrayed, replaced and forgotten,” I say.
“So that’s it, you’ve sworn off men?”
“Until I finish school and can support myself, I don’t want to reply on a man to survive.”
“How long until you’re finished?” he asks.
“About three years. Then maybe I can open my own clinic.”
“Three years is a long time,” he sighs.
“Not to me.” I smile, our eyes meet again, and my heart flutters.
“You’re incredibly beautiful, if you don’t mind me saying, and the first stray I’ve had in my vehicle,” he says
My cheeks are beginning to resemble ripe tomato. I’m not used to receiving compliments.
“My cousin owns an employment agency.” He pulls out his wallet and hands me a card. “Ask for Tracy and say Liam sent you.”
I take the card from him, and his fingers graze my hand, sending warm tingles up my arm and through my whole body, and I tremble.
He pulls up in front of the school. “Thanks for the ride,” I say, taking one last look at Liam, wondering if I’ll ever see him again, and then run into school, trying not to look back.
I sit down in my seat, late for class, realizing I forgot my school bag in his car: my purse, my books, my phone, my whole life.
And I don’t even know his last name.
