In My Veins (3 page)

The
date turned out great and I couldn’t find anything wrong with him. He texted me
almost as soon as I got home to say he had a good time too and good night even
though he had already said it when we parted ways. I couldn’t help but smile
and wrote back just as quickly including a
“Talk to you soon xo”
.
He wrote back almost immediately saying,
“I’ll text you in the
morning. Maybe we can do something soon?”

After writing back an okay I quickly got
ready for bed. Practically on cloud nine because I was so happy. I grabbed the
book I was reading and crawled into my comfy bed. I promised myself I would
read only one chapter but ended up reading half the book. It was a scary book
about a vampire kidnapping a human to be his pet. I found it creepy but
couldn’t stop reading.

“Maybe that wasn’t the best story to
read before bed.” I mumbled to myself forcing my eyes to close so I can attempt
to sleep. But my eyes shot open when I remembered I needed to call Tiffany.

“Give me the details.” she said not even
saying hello when she picked up the phone. I didn’t even check the time before
calling her but she sounded wide awake.

“Hey Tiffany. Yeah I’m doing great how
are you?”

“Blah blah blah. Just tell me I’ve been
waiting!”

“He’s nice.” I said simply knowing that
was going to make her mad.

“That’s all I get? Nice? I guess that’s
an improvement from ‘he’s a mama’s boy’.”

I smiled, “It was one dinner Tiff. I
don’t know him well enough for a full on analysis of his behavior. But so far
so good…”

“Full analysis?  You turned down Scott
from the gym because he had a cowboy belt.”

“It’s L.A. not the rodeo.” I mumbled.

“He had an eight pack! Not six, but
eight!” she sighed when I didn’t argue back. He was cute, but I just couldn’t
connect. “Well… I told you the coffee would do the trick.”

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah I’m sure that’s
what did it.”

“Still though… be careful. You don’t
have to marry the guy. You’re just getting your feet wet. Have fun.”

I said my goodbyes to her and went back
to bed. I stared at my phone and contemplated playing some games or browsing
the web. But I shook my head and forced myself not to. I need to sleep. Staying
up late working on extra projects for work, reading and overall procrastinating
on the internet late at night was starting to affect my everyday life. Starting
to forget things, headaches, and just being tired.

I closed my eyes deciding to count sheep.
Around my fortieth sheep my phone vibrated on my nightstand making a loud clattering
sound against the glass. I reached for it and saw that it was past two in the
morning before seeing that I had a text from James.

“Good morning. Want to go to a museum?”

I laughed,
“you’re
quick! I would love to. I wasn’t sleepy at all before, but now I was extra
awake.”
I flipped over to my tummy and stared at my phone anticipating his text back
when it vibrated again.

“You’re either worse than me with
sleeping or I woke you up.”

My smile was taking over my face as I
texted back,
“Worse than you I’m sure.”

“Well go to sleep because I’m picking
you up early.”

“Hmm bossy already. But ok. Good night
for sure this time ;]”

He replied with a
“Goodnight
beautiful”
before my eyes finally felt heavy and I drifted off
to sleep with the biggest grin on my face.

Two weeks later James took me to a
comeback show of one of my favorite groups. He picked me up in his black
Bentley around five since it was an intimate night show for just a handful of
fans. We met with each every other day since the first official date and when
we weren’t together we were texting each other.

Lucianna’s Pub was close for the night
and the show was held in the pub portion of the restaurant. The group, 12AM,
was a popular indie band with a more soul than pop rock sound. They had lyrics
that made girls swoon and want to fall in love. They were unique and I loved
them. We drank wine as some people danced to the more romantic songs and when
they started doing some covers of their inspirational singers James asked me if
I wanted to dance. I shyly said yes and realized they were singing a Michael
Buble song.

“I love Michael Buble.” I said as
James’s arms around me as we swayed to the music.

“Definitely talented.” He agreed. I was
too busy feeling hypersensitive as we stared into each other’s eyes and our
fingers and hands touched each other in ways we were wanting to but were too
afraid to till now. Music and dancing was a great excuse. 

“So will I ever get to hear you sing?” I
asked trying to get my mind off of my naughtier thoughts.

“I’m no Michael Buble.”

I smiled, “No you’re James Carmichael. I
want to hear your voice.”

He smiled and looked at the group before
bringing me closer to him. He brought his lips to my ear and started to sing
along to the band. I couldn’t believe how good he was. My smile hurt my cheeks
and I was seconds away from having a fan girl moment for him when the song
ended and he pulled away.

“Is there anything you can’t do? You’re
amazing.”

The group finished with their greatest
hit and an encore of their title song before calling it a night. James took me
to meet their lead singer Devin, who was almost as gorgeous as James.
Almost
.
But his reputation of sleeping with almost of L.A. followed him everywhere. He
was a major player.

James talked to the group, letting them
know they did great and if there was anything they needed to improve on. I scanned
the groups of people standing around with their wine glasses chatting with each
other when I spotted Jennifer’s boyfriend Collin. At least it looked like him.
I had only met him once so I could be wrong.

His eyes met with mine and I quickly
looked back at 12AM. I cringed hoping Jennifer wasn’t around and that I
wouldn’t have to see her with James. Jennifer has hated me ever since I started
at W&D and has made it very clear that she wanted me gone.

We were more at ease with each other
after the show. Late night conversations were a must. I couldn’t sleep till he
said good night; and according to him his day didn’t start till I said good morning.
It was too good to be true and I was just waiting for something bad to happen. I
guess I’m a glass half empty type of girl when it comes to love.

One Saturday morning the city was having
some sort of autumn festival and we were planning on going before having some
brunch.

“You look beautiful.” He said as he
opened the door of his Bentley for me. He waited till I was in to close the
door. At first I found it cute that he’s been the total perfect gentleman, but
now it was getting annoying. I was starting to think something was wrong with
me that he wasn’t pushing us even halfway to the next step.

So, according to Tiffany, I had to pull
out the big guns. I was wore black jeans that made my butt look great and a top
that showed all my curves perfectly. This was the first time in the two months
we were dating that I saw James in jeans as well. They looked unsurprisingly
good. When he walked around the car to his side I had to force myself not to
check him out too much.

We walked down the closed down street
looking at the various vendors and booths. We shared cotton candy with one hand
and held hands with the other. He grabbed a chunk of pink fluff and fed me. I
was hoping he would do the typical romantic movie scene where he would kiss
sugar off my lips but he didn’t. I had to force myself not to groan out loud. I
wasn’t asking for a full on baby making session but he seriously was making me
wonder if we were ever going to go to the next level.

 He would tease me by leaning in to
whisper stuff about the folk dancers and I would giggle from his comments and
because it tickled whenever his facial scruff would brush against my skin.

“Are you hungry for real food yet?” He
asked.

My stomach growled and I cringed hoping
he didn’t hear.

He chuckled, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“I’m starving…” I admitted.

“I know a good place down the street we
can just walk over.” He suggested.

“Do you own it?” I half-joked.

“No not this one.” He smirked.

As we were walking past more booths I
heard a familiar voice, “Oh, dragon girl!”

James and I looked at each other
confused because it felt like the voice was directed at us. I was surprised to
see Lana at a palm reading booth. She waved us over and I pulled James with me
so I could at least say hello.

“Ah it
is
you! I thought you
looked familiar.” She smiled. Her accent was back and thicker than ever. I
started wonder what about her was legit if even her accent was fake.

I could feel that James was tense but I
didn’t think much of it till I noticed her smile fade when she looked at him.

“Hi Lana. I didn’t know you had a
booth.” I said, looking at their exchange of glares.

She forced herself to smile before
looking back at me, “I see you found your dragon?”

I looked over to James and he didn’t look
happy at all. His grip on my hand was getting tighter. He pulled me closer to
him wrapping his arm around my waist as if he was protecting me from Lana, I
could feel the tenseness all over his body and it was starting to make me feel
uneasy too.

“Would you like a free reading?” She
asked me but continued staring at James as if he was going to attack her.

“No.” James said and squeezed my waist.

“Come on. It’s free.” She pressed.

“Um… no thank you. We have to get going…”
I mumbled a goodbye and was about to turn to leave with James when she ran out
of her booth.

“Wait!” She grabbed my free hand and
looked in it, after touching a couple lines she looked at me, with both worry
and anger in her eyes. She leaned closer to me and whispered, “Be careful of
him.”

James pulled my hand away from her and I
could have sworn I heard him growl at her before he marched us off.

James barely spoke during our lunch or
the ride home. I couldn’t figure out if he was mad at me or if I had done
something to even deserve being mad at. But ever since we saw Lana he was
beyond edgy. I doubt he could be
this
angry at Lana. Unless they had
some sort of past I wasn’t aware of.

“James…Are you mad at me?” I finally got
myself to ask.

He kept his eyes glued on the road and I
wasn’t even sure if he heard my question or if he was ignoring me. He blinked
getting out of his trance and finally looked at me. He smiled sweetly before
saying, “No I’m not.”

“You seem mad though.” I studied his
face for any trace of annoyance before I brought up Lana. “Ever since we saw Lana
that is…”

“Lana?” he raised his eyebrow.

“The gypsy psychic.”

His knuckles turned white as he gripped
onto the steering wheel at the realization, “Oh… I just didn’t like her. She
seemed off. You don’t believe anything she says, do you?”

“I only met her once.”

“Why did she call you dragon girl?”

I didn’t know how to explain it without
making myself look like an idiot.  “Um... it’s embarrassing but I had a coffee
reading at her café downtown. It was for fun. She saw something in my cup that
looked like a dragon. She found it odd.”

“A dragon? What did it mean?”

“Yeah. She didn’t know what it meant
because she wasn’t sure if it was a dragon or a monster of some sort. She
assumed it had something to do with my hopes and dreams.” I laughed. His lips
were set in a grim line and his jaw was tight.

“Not that I believe it or anything.” I
assured him, “She told me she’s not legit herself. I was just curious.”

“I don’t want you to see her again.”

Before I could even say anything I
noticed we had already arrived at my apartment building. I looked back at
him and he truly looked worried and somewhat sad. “I’m going to let the whole
bossy thing go because you must have good reason to think she’s shady.
Sometimes an intuition is the best way to avoid trouble. I won’t go to her café
again.” I smiled at him. Normally I would mind if someone asked me not to go
somewhere but I wasn’t even planning on going back anyway. There was no point
in making that his problem that causes me to run away. She was the one who told
me she’s not a psychic, so why would I trust her palm reading.

He smirked at my answer and leaned closer
to kiss my cheek like usual. After he brushed his lips against my cheek he
hesitated taking his lips away till he finally went back just enough to face
me.

I bit my lip as I looked at his
perfectly kissable lips hoping he would just kiss me. Most guys would have been
making out with someone they were dating by the second date at least. But I
felt like we were dating in a different century.