Running From the Night (12 page)

Chapter Fifteen

Jelani lounged on the couch, staring out the newly replaced window of his apartment. He could hardly believe the luck of these past five days. The trip to Whistler had been a blast, and the only abnormal occurrence had been the appearance of their semi-apathetic fairy godmother. No Hunter vampires out to take his head off, no running, and no nightmares either.

Things had even fallen into place when they’d returned from the trip. The window had been fixed, and when Jelani finally had to speak with the police about the incident, he feigned fear of his attacker caused him to lay low for a while. He gave them as accurate a description of the vampire, Jacob, as he could recall, knowing the police would never find a trace of him. He’d even called them back to see if they had any leads, just to put a good face on it. Whether the cops bought it or not, he could only guess. Still, he felt at least a little better about the situation as things started to return to normal.

He wasn’t foolish enough to ignore Saaya’s warnings, though. He had always been a light sleeper, and the day they had returned home, he’d jumped at the slightest sounds at night. He sighed in relief at the brightly lit day. That Hunter was out there somewhere, but at least he didn’t have to worry about it till night came. His phone rang and he picked it up to see that it was Melinda calling.

“Hello?”

“Hello, stranger.”

“Hey, Melinda. I know I’ve been out of touch, but I’ve been really busy this past week. How have you been?”

“Same story; working, busy, working more. Nothing exciting or different going on. Boring life for me.”

You don’t know how good you’ve got it, girl.
“Yeah, I hear ya. Sometimes boring is good, though.”

“Like when? I’m bored out of my mind, Jelani. Let’s get out and do something!”

“You have something in mind?”

“Let’s go to Seattle, or something like that. Let’s just get out of this boring city.”

Jelani swallowed his reaction to that last part. “Something like that might have to wait a week or two, Melinda. I’m a little behind in my work, and there’s a new IP being developed at Electronic Arts that’s going to have me in their studio every day for a while.”

That was only half true. There was a new intellectual property that was being developed at EA, and his agent had been contacted for him to do some voice acting and motion capture for them, but it would hardly have him at work every day all day. Still, he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea yet to spend a weekend or longer with Melinda. Things with Alisha had begun to take an unexpected turn in a more favorable direction and he didn’t want to chance ruining it.

“Tell you what, let me get my schedule together and I’ll hit you up and let you know what I’ve got.”

“Oh, you’re gonna try to pencil me in?”

“You know it’s not like that. I just need to make sure I don’t make any commitments I can’t fulfill.”

“You’re sweet.”

“Thanks.”

“Talk to you soon?”

“Yeah, we’ll talk soon. Have a good day, Melinda.”

“You too, sweetie. Bye.”

Jelani sat his phone down and rested his head in his hands. What was he going to do about this girl? For months he’d been really interested in her, and she’d strung him along like a she was the carrot and he was the rabbit. Finally he’d reached his limit and left her alone, only for her to start pursuing him. It had begun slowly at first, but then the calls and texts came more frequently, and regardless of his level of interest, he would never be rude and blow her off.

“Probably just playing more games,” he muttered, logging in to his website. Or is she? And what about it? He could admit to himself that he was very attracted to Melinda, but was it more than physical? Sure, she had a great personality when she wasn’t playing the tease, but was it enough for him? As soon as his mind strayed from Melinda to Alisha, he felt a warm tug in his stomach. He knew. Whether his mind knew or not, his heart knew. Both women were very pretty, but Alisha had been his preference from the start. But she’d been with Phillip, so it hadn’t mattered anyway. Just when things were beginning to warm up—somewhat—with him and Melinda, Alisha shows up single again.

“Of course, that’s how it happens,” he thought aloud. “It’s never easy, is it?” And then there was that kiss with Saaya. What the hell was that? The kiss was great, but it came with a whole lot of history attached. That girl lit a fire in him that was undeniable and invigorating. But how much of that was a connection between them, and how much of it was her dazzling him, or whatever it was she was doing?

“Thoughts for another time,” he said. “Time to get work done.”

So he mentally pushed aside anything that didn’t pertain to work and pulled up a client’s website that he was scheduled to complete today. It was a big project with ten pages of information and interactive sections for the visitor to experience. It had taken Jelani a month to work on and he would finally finish it today. This project alone would easily pay his half of the rent for the next five years, and he had several other projects lined up in addition to his mo-cap and voice acting work, which was becoming more frequent as his reputation grew. It had been a long time of hard work with little payoff, but now the rewards were accumulating.

Three hours later, Jelani finished the final polish on the site and emailed the client. He closed his computer and leaned back in his chair, stretching. His phone dinged that goofy tune that indicated an incoming text message. Daniel.

Hey, Wen wants to know if you want to get together for dinner on Friday.

Jelani pulled up the calendar on his phone and checked it.
As long as it’s after six, I’m in. I have a session at the studio that day.

A minute later, Daniel’s response came.
After six should be fine. So you got the gig? I was asking the head developer in charge of the project, but he was pretty tightlipped about it. I have a hunch they wanted you for it all along anyway.

Well I’m pretty excited about this one. It’s doormat and voice acting all in one! And it’s going to be a trilogy!
He sent the message, read it, then rolled his eyes. “Dammit,” he said aloud, then started typing.
That’s mo-cap, not doormat! Freakin autocorrect on this phone is ridiculous!

LOL! Awesome!
came the response.
Okay, so I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll tell Wen you’re in. By the way, Alisha will be coming.
=)

Jelani laughed. Of course. Wen had been wanting to fix Jelani up with someone since first they’d met. The first couple of times had been less than successful, and Jelani had wanted to find a way get Daniel to tactfully ask her to stop trying. Then he’d met Alisha. Being the observant person she was, Wen saw the immediate connection, but with the problem of Alisha having been in a relationship with Phillip, there was not much that could be done at the time.

Jelani started typing again.
Well, all the better then. See you when you get home.

See you then.

Looking out the window, Jelani made up his mind to go for a walk and enjoy the sunshine. It was supposed to rain for the next five days, so he planned to enjoy it while it was here.

He had just finished putting his things away and was going for his coat when he received another incoming text.

Mind some company?

Melinda.

“What?” Jelani asked aloud, then typed on his phone.
Yeah, that’s cool. Do you want me to meet you somewhere?

Sure. How about at your door?

“Umm.” Jelani said aloud, then typed,
When do you want to come over?

The buzzer on the wall of the apartment answered his question. The sound gave him a start, as it always did. He walked over and held down the talk button. “Um. Hello?”

“You gonna let me in, silly?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, sure. Hold on.” He buzzed her in, then put his jacket back in the closet. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said under his breath. What was she doing here, and without calling first? Better yet, why was she here?

He heard a gentle knock on the door and went to open it. Standing in the hall in formfitting jeans and a waist-length brown coat with a faux fur hood, Melinda smiled shyly at him, her freckles standing out starkly against her rosy cheeks. Jelani smiled back and stepped aside. “Hey. Come in.”

She walked through the door and stopped to take off her coat, which he helped her out of.

“You’re such a gentleman, Jelani,” she said, stepping out of her shoes.

A gentleman shouldn’t ogle,
he mentally reprimanded himself after he watched her walk into the living room.

“So what brings you here? You just barely caught me. I was almost out the door.”

“Oh, if I’m interrupting something you were doing, I could leave.…”

“No, it’s fine. I don’t have anything urgent going on.”

She smiled again. Her sharp, angular features gave it a more precise, sexy quality. He hung her coat in the coat closet and joined her in the living room.

“Would you like some water, tea, juice?”

“What kind of juice do you have?”

Jelani thought for a moment. “I’ve got some apples, oranges, and a pineapple. Oh, and some strawberries and blueberries, too.”

She looked surprised. “You make your own juice?”

“Drink freshly made juice, then go buy some from the store, and get back to me.”

She laughed. “No need for all that. I’ll just have some water, thanks”

“You sure? It’s no trouble.”

“I’m fine, really.”

He poured two glasses of water and handed her one, sitting next to her on the couch at a close but respectful distance. She took a lengthy sip, then looked at him quizzically. “Has anyone ever told you you’re polite almost to the point of excess?”

“Polite to the point of excess?” Jelani gave her a quirky frown. “Maybe not in those words, but I suppose I’ve heard something along those lines.”

“You don’t date much, do you?”

The silence stretched while Jelani figured out how to respond to that.

“I’m sorry,” Melinda said, laughing. “I’m getting in your business.”

“No, it’s fine. To be honest, with work and a busy life, I tend not to get out much.”

“That’s not all of it, and we both know it.” She sat her glass down and placed a hand on his lap. “You’re focused and motivated and hardworking, but you are also very careful. I can tell that about you. You don’t let people into your life easily and you don’t like to waste your time, or anyone else’s. Am I right?”

Jelani shrugged, willing his pulse, as well as other things, to lower. “I try not to do people wrong, and if I see it can be avoided, that’s the route I take.”

“I noticed we lost touch for a while,” Melinda said.

“You seemed busy. I didn’t want to get all up in your spot.”

“Get all up in my spot?”

“Bother you,” Jelani clarified.

Melinda laughed, shaking her head. Her sandy brown hair slid over her face, and she slid it back with a slim-fingered hand. “More California slang?”

“I can’t really say. I haven’t lived there for a while, so I don’t know what they’re saying down there.”

Her hand slid a bit farther up his leg and she leaned closer. “So you stopped calling me because you thought I was otherwise engaged, is that what you’re saying?”

“More or less, yeah.”

“Maybe I wanted to see if you would pursue.”

“Never been much of a hunter.”

“Never found a prize worth your time?”

“Never been baited into answering a loaded question, either.”

She laughed, perhaps a bit more heartily than the quip warranted, then lightly tapped his thigh. Jelani concentrated on regulating his anatomical reaction.

“Fair enough,” she said, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a hair tie. She sat straight and pulled her hair away from her face, arching her back and pushing her chest forward as she tied her hair into a ponytail.

Jelani looked out the window, stealing glances and mentally telling himself to stop every time he did. She stopped just as she was about to apply the rubber tie. “See something you like?”

“Is that a rhetorical question?”

“Maybe I want to hear your answer.”

“Maybe you already know it.”

She sat the hair tie on the coffee table and leaned into him again, replacing her hand on his leg, just a little farther up than before. “Maybe it would turn me on if I heard you say it.”

Jelani had often been teased by his friends to be the very definition of discipline, or the kind of guy all monks aspired to be like. Right now, the heat radiating from her hand, and the feel of it so far up his leg, was quite effectively dissolving every layer of that discipline. He went to stand up. “I should probably—”

“Stay here with me,” she finished for him, grabbing his wrist and pulling him back down. Before he could say anything more, she leaned in and kissed him. It lasted for a few seconds before she broke away. Her face was still close to his, and he could see every detail in her light brown eyes. For a time, they sat there, staring at each other.

“Don’t you want to kiss me, Jelani?” she asked.

“What I want to do and what I should do are not the same thing.”

“You think way too much,” she said, her voice softening. “Can’t you just live in the moment?”

“Sometimes.”

“Then do it now.”

She placed a delicate hand on his chest and pushed him till he was on his back, then straddled him.

“Melinda, I don’t think we should,” he said, having no doubt that she knew his body completely disagreed with his words.

“You’re going to make me mad if you keep talking.”

“Wouldn’t want that.”

“Then be quiet.” She ran a hand up and down his torso. “Nice,” she said, sliding her hand into his shirt. “Wow. You must spend a lot of time in the gym.”

“Haven’t gone to a gym in years.”

“I’ll have to ask you about your secret later.” She unbuttoned his shirt and opened it. For a moment, her eyes traveled up and down his chest and stomach. “I had no idea you were this sexy, Jelani.” She gently raked her fingernails down his chest, and he tensed. Then she straddled him a bit higher. Her lips parted and she arched an eyebrow at him. She must have seen the last remaining hesitance in his face. “The body never lies, love.”