Eternal Flame (Eternal Flame #1) (2 page)

“Holy shit,” Joy dazedly murmured as she stared wide-eyed at the attractive brother and sister.

They were embroiled in a heated discussion and hadn’t even looked up or discovered Joy and company sitting in their SUV rental. Cameron appeared to be fussing at him. She was gesturing wildly and Roman’s jaw was tightly clenched; his arms were crossed and his eyes were narrowed as he listened to his sister’s tirade. My God. Even with the annoyed look on his face the man was breath-taking and enviably beautiful. Kristen was going to flip out when she saw him standing back there.

“Kristen,” Joy said, wildly grabbing her friend by the arm. “Kristen! Kristen look!”

“Leave me alone,” Kristen said, snatching her arm away. She was scrolling through her phone looking at old pictures of herself and Carlos.

Joy looked over at her mother to alert her to what was going on; then decided she was still too pissed at her mother to say anything. Besides, her mother was busy looking through her phone as well. Joy looked back out the window at the Dean siblings and slightly rolled her window down, trying in vain to hear what they were saying. She couldn’t hear a damn thing. Despite the exaggerated gesturing that was going on, they were speaking in heated whispers. Joy’s mouth hung open as she stared at them. She couldn’t believe Roman Dean was less than twenty steps away from them and her friend had no idea.

Joy held in the scream that threatened to burst from her vampy red colored lips and tried alerting her friend to Roman’s presence again. “Kristen. Kristen you need to turn around. Now.”

Kristen looked up at Joy in annoyance, her pretty face twisted with emotion. “Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?”

“You need to turn around. I promise you you won’t give a damn about what’s in that phone if you do.” Joy leaned closer to her and whispered conspiratorially. “Cameron is back there.”

“Cameron who?”

Joy rolled her eyes and dramatically blew through her lips. “Cameron Dean you idiot! Cameron Dean is standing behind the car! Cameron Dean!”

“Joy, what are you over there shrieking like a two year old child about?” her mother asked, glancing up from her phone.

“Mama, Kristen’s sister n law is standing behind the car. Look!”

“Sister n law?”

“I wasn’t aware I was married to anyone in her family,” Kristen dryly replied, looking back at her phone.

“Kristen, will you just turn around and look?”

“What the hell do I want to look at Cameron for? Is she sprouting wings and flying around the yard or something?”

“No, no you don’t understand. Look who’s with her!”

Kristen loudly sighed and glanced over her shoulder; then immediately jumped and turned around fully. Her phone tumbled to the floor as she grabbed the top of the backseat with both hands and stared in breathless awe.

“Roman,” she breathlessly said.

“See? See? I told you!”

Ms. Austin glanced up at the rearview mirror and eyed the battling siblings with open curiosity. The two of them were both gesturing now and all but screaming in one another’s face. Joy still couldn’t make out what they were saying; they were so busy talking over one another, it was almost like they weren’t speaking coherently. Kristen didn’t seem to notice the electric tension in the air nor did she seem to care. She hurriedly looked back at Joy.

“How do I look?” she asked.

Joy blinked. “What?”

“How do I look Joy, how do I look?” Her voice was almost manic. “Do I look okay?”

Joy wisely smiled, closed her eyes, and shook her head. “How soon, how soon they forget.”

“Joy, I’m serious! I don’t want him to think I’m ugly!”

Joy just sat there looking at her, dumbfounded. “Bitch, you are straight cray-cray. A minute ago, you were whining and pouting over losing your boyfriend; now you give a rat’s ass how you look to Roman?”

“Joy please! I don’t want to meet the man looking like shit. How do I look? Do I need to put on some make-up? Does my hair need brushing?”

Joy shook her head at a frazzled Kristen as she grabbed her purse, opened it, and took out her make-up bag, comb, and brush. “Isn’t it a little too late to be caring how you look? The man is standing right behind us.”

Kristen pulled out a small compact and opened it, scrutinizing her appearance as she looked in the mirror. “I heard he likes natural looking women so I better not put on too much,” she distractedly said, applying a light coat of mascara to her already long eyelashes.

“What about Carlos Kristen? Don’t you want to finish ogling over all those pictures of him in your phone?”              

Joy flinched and cried out as her mother firmly pinched her on the arm. Ms. Austin shook her head and closed her eyes in a silent plea. “Please,” her mother said. “Don’t. I’ve had about fifteen minutes of peace. For God’s sake, don’t ruin it for me.”

“I wonder what they’re back there arguing about,” Kristen said to herself as she applied lip gloss to her full lips.

“I don’t know but it looks pretty bad,” Joy said.

“Not as bad as it sounds,” Ms. Austin threw in.

“I don’t want him to be in a bad mood when we finally meet,” Kristen said, trying in vain not to shake as she brushed her long thick curly hair. “Fuck, I’m so nervous. I’m so damn nervous.”

“The girl is wacko,” Joy teased, moving her finger around by her ear. “One extreme to the next in 0.5 seconds.”

“Joy leave her alone,” Ms. Austin reasoned. “At least she feels better.”

“Roman!” All three ladies jumped and turned to look back out the window as Cameron screamed her brother’s name. “Roman! Roman, come back here!”

Roman’s face was twisted with intimidating fury as he stalked in the direction of their car, his walk fast and purposeful. “Leave me the hell alone Cameron!”

“You can’t do this! You can’t just walk away! You have responsibilities…  What about the fans? The girls from the contest will be here any minute now.”

“I really don’t give a damn Cameron.”

“Where are you going?”

“Leave me alone!”

Roman was now walking past their car, not even stopping to glance in their direction. All ladies watched him rapt, their mouths hanging open, their eyes narrowed in shock and concern. What the hell was going on?

Cameron refused to give up and started off in pursuit of him. “Roman Elijah Jacob Dean. Stop.”

“Oh shit,” Joy dead-panned. “She called him by his full name. That’s never good.”

Roman halted and irritably sighed. He closed his eyes, roughly rubbed his temple and gritted his teeth. Momentarily, he turned back to Cameron and dully eyed her as she walked over to him. Kristen felt her world stop. He was right beside their car, completely oblivious to the huge vehicle or the occupants inside it. The windows were tinted too so she supposed he couldn’t see them. Even if he could, whatever they were arguing about had him so riled up, he probably wouldn’t care.

He was standing a few feet from their car, half facing them, half facing Cameron as she walked up to him and stared him square in the face, her hand on her hips, her lips pursed. Roman warily eyed her, his dark eyes slightly wide, his lightly stubbled jaw set; his posture defensive. The full pouty lips she had been daydreaming about kissing for years were set in a hard, thin line. Kristen felt she would pass out from the sheer delight of being able to look at him up close, even with all the strange drama going on.  If she died today, she could never imagine being any happier.

Her gaze on him was focused, unflinching. She was distracted by his beauty. As wild emotions mature and juvenile rushed through her she struggled to breathe. The posters on her wall did him no justice. The endless videos of him in her possession were like a filter of what his true beauty was in the flesh. He was dressed simply in a fitted blue t-shirt, loose-fitting jeans and a baseball cap, which he was wearing backwards. He could be wearing a burlap sap covered in dog shit and still be alluring to her. All of a sudden, her teenage fantasies and dreams she’d been having about him for years flashed before her. He was here. She was at his home. Her best friend had won a contest for her to spend not only his birthday with him, but an actual date. Alone. She didn’t know what was going on with him and his sister and she didn’t want to know. She just hoped it wouldn’t ruin what could turn out to be the best weekend of her life.

“Mama, roll the window down,” Joy whispered, snapping Kristen from her reverie. “I want to hear what they’re saying.”

“You already have your window down. I don’t want to draw attention to us.”

“The way they’re glaring at one another I hardly think they’ll notice.”

Ms. Austin slightly rolled down her window and leaned closer to it, slipping her phone in her purse as she listened with the girls.

Cameron hesitantly touched his arm. Roman flinched but didn’t move to pull away from her. “Listen,” she tenderly began. “I love you. I know this is a lot. I know you’re going through a lot right now. But we’re your family. We’re not the enemy. This has gone on long enough. Don’t you think it’s time for you to move on? Stop moving backwards. This weekend is supposed to be all about you. Don’t let her ruin it. Let her go.”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore Cameron,” he tightly replied.

“But Roman-“

He put his hands up, silencing her. “I’m done,” he forcibly replied. “I’m done. Done.”

He abruptly turned and walked away from her, ignoring her as she called him one last time. He walked to a dark blue Hummer that was parked further up their driveway, got inside, started the vehicle, and recklessly skidded down the graveled driveway, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. The large vehicle sped down the road and disappeared from sight.

Cameron just stood there looking lost, helplessly staring after her baby brother. She turned and paused as she looked at the black SUV, noticing it for the first time. She blinked a few times in confusion; then walked to the driver’s side of the car, knocking softly on the window.

“Hello?”

Ms. Austin averted her eyes and slowly rolled the window up.

Cameron jumped at the gesture and stood back from the car, tilting her head. She knocked again softly. “Hello?”

No one moved inside the car. They all looked ahead as if she could see them. But they knew she couldn’t. The windows were heavily tinted. Still, they felt uneasy and guilty about eavesdropping on a family dispute and didn’t want to let on that they’d heard anything.

Cameron continued knocking. “Hello? Hello?”

“What should we do Mom?” Joy asked.

“Shh,” was her mother’s only reply.

“Ma, what should we do?”

Cameron was still standing there. “Is anyone in there? Are you the girls from the contest?”

“What do ya’ll want to do?” Kristen asked, leaning up from the backseat. “We can’t just sit in here all day.”

Joy looked at her and shrugged, then looked over at her mother. “What should we do Ma?”

“I’m thinking!”

“Should we let on that we saw what we down? That we heard what happened?”

“Let’s just pretend we didn’t hear anything,” Kristen threw in.

“That’s impossible. They were screaming like banshees.”

“Hello?” Cameron was persistent if nothing else. The way she’d kept after Roman was proof by itself.

“Ma, come on. We have to get out the car.”

“Joy, why are you whispering?”

“I don’t know. Why are you whispering?”

“Why is your mom just sitting there?”

“I don’t know. Mom, why are you just sitting there?”

“Ah shit, this is ridiculous,” Joy’s mom grumbled as she unbuckled her seat beat. “We didn’t do a damn thing wrong. They’re the ones who should be embarrassed. Screaming, hollering and carrying on in the middle of the gotdamn afternoon like a couple of crazies.” She unlocked the doors and grabbed her purse. “Come on girls, let’s get out.”

Ms. Austin pasted a fake, bright smile on her face and got out of the car. The girls soon followed, getting out and standing on wooden legs. Cameron greeted all three of them with a friendly smile. She was a beautiful woman with golden tanned skin, perfect teeth, and flawless hair. She was dressed in a pretty, yellow sundress and wearing open-toe sandals.

“Hi!” she said. “Did you guys hear me knocking on the window?”

“We were praying,” Ms. Austin told her. “We don’t like to be interrupted when we’re praying. It’s a necessary afternoon ritual for us.”

Joy and Kristen peculiarly looked at one another but stayed silent. Obviously Joy’s mother didn’t give a damn about being struck down by the heavens in the middle of a beautiful sunny afternoon.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Cameron earnestly replied. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. Are you the young ladies that won that contest?”

“They are; I’m not.” Ms. Austin reached out to shake Cameron’s hand. “Hazel Austin.”

“Nice to meet you Hazel. I’m Cameron. Roman’s sister.”

“This is Joy and Kristen, the young ladies that won.”

Cameron reached forward to hug the two young ladies. “Welcome! We’re so thrilled to have you here. You two are very lucky young ladies. Over 10,000 fans entered that contest.”