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8
Aura
Kalum pulls inside the garage. He places the car in park, and he grabs my wrist before I can get out. Goose bumps break out all over my skin, and his fingers wrap around my arm. My heart begins to race. Every time Kalum touches me, my body responds like it has been awakened from a deep sleep. I thought it would have gone away by now, but based on my body’s reaction, it’s only gotten worse.
“Are you going to clean my room? I noticed it has been cleaned since the first time you were there, but I haven’t seen you.”
Removing my wrist from his grasp, I move the strand of hair that has fallen and sigh. “I thought your mother told you.”
He pinches his brows, and I notice a crease forms when he does, but he still is good-looking. How can a guy make frowning look good? There is nothing wrong with Kalum’s face or body. But where there is beauty, there is a dangerous dose of alphahole.
“Told me what?” he asks.
“Since you wanted space and were annoyed that I had to clean your room, I switched with Camila. Instead of her going to get the groceries with Henry, I will be going, and Camilawill clean your room while you’re at school. She will leave your laundry for me to take care of when I get back from grocery shopping, and I will leave it clean and folded in your room. I will also take up her other duties around the house.”
His mouth forms a grim line, and his voice has a strange edge. “No problem. Sounds like you had it all thought out.”
Without allowing me to respond, he jumps out of the car, and I follow, closing the passenger door gently. I turn slightly and notice Henry already waiting for me.
Whatever. Kalum complains about me being around, and then when I give him what he wants, he’s still upset.
Kalum notices I’m not following him when I wave to get Henry’s attention. Henry gives me a respectable nod, and it’s his way of greeting me.
Camila introduced me to Henry when Kalum’s mother gave me the grand tour of the house on my second day here. He is quiet, dependable, and doesn’t say a word.
Kalum stands in front of the doorway leading inside the house, and I can feel his heated stare on my back. I convinced his mother to switch my tasks with Camila because Kalum felt uncomfortable with me in his personal space. She was reluctant and expressed that she would talk to Kalum, but I assured her it wasn’t necessary. It is a way to escape on my own and go to the grocery store. Something I loved to do with my mom so I could make them dinner before they made it home after a hard day at work.
When I was in middle school, I wanted to help my parents as much as I could, so making them dinner was one way I could give my mother a break, and my father would be happy that he could spend the rest of the evening with my mother as a couple.
“I’ll be right out, Henry,” I call out.
He gives me his usual nod again and slides into the driver’s side of the sleek black car to wait. I swear, at first, I thought the man was deaf and couldn’t hear. He hardly says two words.
Kalum leans against the open doorway with his shoulder against the molding.
“Where is Henry taking you?”
I give him a look. “The grocery store,” I answer, walking toward the open doorway. He straightens like a tall statue and tilts his head down, watching me walk into the house. His manly scent mixed with his cologne is like a breeze as I whisk by him.
I’m making my way up the impressive staircase with my hand on the black iron railing, taking one step and then the next. Kalum follows me, taking his time up the steps trailing me.
I’m excited to get out of the house and begin to quicken my pace. I make it to the top and enter the hallway leading to my bedroom to drop my backpack and retrieve my little wallet in case I need to buy myself something. I have money saved from my bracelet sales, and Mrs. St. Claire has given me the two hundred as promised every week. I’m saving every cent to get out of here unless there is something I have no choice but to buy, like feminine products.
I quickly make my way down the stairs, trying to shake the grief I will always feel inside my heart. I slow my pace because Kalum walks briskly down the stairs.
He pauses and takes the next two steps down to be at my level. I lower my gaze hiding my excitement to get out of the house and go somewhere where no one is judging me, and I can be myself.
Marcus once told me he cared about me deeply. We were together for three years and always spent time together. He respected me, and I was attracted to him. But he never gave me butterflies in my stomach and never looked at me the way Kalum does. It’s like time stops and everything fades away.
When Kalum watches me, he thinks I don’t see him from the corner of my eye in class or when he drives me to school, but I feel it. It’s like he is trying to peel me back a layer at a time to see what I look like underneath, trying to figure me out. It is like time stops and everything fades away.
He turns his head slightly before he takes the next step up the stairs.
“Be careful,” he mutters.
Gripping my small wallet anxiously with my bank card and the card Camila gave me to purchase the groceries for the St. Claire household, I answer softly, “I will.”
After leaving the house, Henry makes the ten-minute drive to a shopping strip with an upscale grocery store, a consignment store, and boutique shops. My eyes scan the rest of the area and notice that adjacent to the parking lot is a shop that fixes street race cars and offers modifications to other types of vehicles. What captures my attention is a beautiful black Jeep Wrangler with a for sale sign.
