CHAPTER 3

MELANIE

Today was one of the rare days that I choose to take a walk in the streets. Sometimes, especially when I'm faced with writer's block, I just lock up my apartment and breeze about, almost always ending up at the central park.

The weather was cold, which was expected since rain had only been falling few minutes ago. I tried to walk as composedly as possible in my ankle boots, avoiding tiny pools of muddy water where I could.

Tucking my hands in my coat pockets, I breathed in the fresh scent of rain. It was one of the things that I seemed to love.

The smell of rain.

Probably because my mother and I had a ritual of playing in the rain when I'd been growing up. At least until she was forcefully taken from me by a ghastly accident.

I pushed down the lump in my throat, my eyes almost instantly stinging. I'd come home from school and she hadn't been in the house the way she always was just for my sake, even though she was fully employed.

My dad had returned home hours later to inform me that my mom had been in an accident. He'd been called from work that it was an emergency. She'd been on her way back home to see me.

I'd killed her.

Inhaling a bit of air, I forced all memories to a dark corner in my mind for when I was feeling lonely and depressed. I was about to take a turn when muddy water splashed me from my right side.

Eyes widening in shock, I looked down to take inventory of my appearance. Mud was practically everywhere. In my hair. On my arms. On my clothes. All over my freaking body.

Shit.

On instinct, my gaze drifted to the car which had caused the mess. What kind of insane driver was behind the wheels? Luckily, he had the decency to stop the car. Anger boiling in my veins, I found myself marching to the driver's side of the car.

The door opened before I could knock on it and the driver stepped out. Calming myself down, I raise my head and stared into the eyes of...

Damon Trent.

My heart stopped for a beat and then began racing. I could feel my blood heating once more but for an entirely different reason. He closed the door behind him, coming to his full height in front of me. Almost two whole inches taller than I was, his presence was a bit intimidating. Especially because he was standing so close to me.

I stepped back, sucking in a sharp breath. I knew he was good looking from all the times I'd seen him in the news but the pictures didn't do him any justice. He was six foot of raw masculinity and sex and everything in between. My eyes roamed over his face, taking in the dark hair that called out to my hands, his jaw, his cheekbones, his eyes.

My gaze lowered to his lips and for one second I let myself imagine what it would feel like to be kissed by him. Would it feel as good as I'd heard? Would he go further? Put his mouth right where I wanted it the most? Between my legs.

Jesus, Mel.

I swallowed, embarrassed at my reaction. I felt tingles in places I didn't even know I could feel things. It took me a while to remember why I was even standing in front of him in the first place.

"You shouldn't drive that fast when everywhere is this muddy," I heard myself saying. Was that actually my voice? It didn't sound like me. I didn't normally sound like a bratty high school cheerleader.

His eyebrows pinched together, his gaze moving over my entire frame. I feel his eyes on every part of me. his eyes traveled up and down my body taking every inch in, i feel my body trembling in response "Excuse me?"

My heart sank at the tone of his voice. It was one I knew very well. I didn't know why I was disappointed though. The rumours about Damon Trent were enough to let you know that he wasn't a very nice person. There was no smoke without a fire after all.

It was such a shame all the hot ones had to come with such shitty personalities.

"Do you have a problem with your hearing?" I asked, irritated now. I hadn't expected an apology right away but I'd expected that he would be remorseful.

Or at least try to act like it.

His eyebrows arched in a way that made me think he was starting to get as annoyed as I was. He tilted his head, digging his hands into his pockets and simply staring at me.

"I believe the fact that I responded to your order should tell you that I do not infact have a problem with hearing," His eyes dropped meaningfully to his wrist watch. "Just actually paying conscious attention to people who have no idea how to behave."

My mouth went wide open at his words. He had some nerve acting arrogant when he was the one in the wrong. I had every right to be angry. I was the one who had mud all over her.

"No idea how to behave? Are you fucking with me right now?" I pointed at my shirt. "You're the one who splashed mud all over me and rather than apologize you're being very rude."

He heaved an annoyed sigh and then reached for his pocket. Before I could make out what he was up to, he'd already forced fifty dollar bill into my hands. "There." His voice was hoarse. "Clean yourself up and keep the change." I stood motionless for a few seconds, only blinking.

What a complete bastard.

Fury blinding my senses before I could control myself, I lifted the bill and ripped it into pieces right in front of him. I shook my head at angry at myself for wasting five minutes of my life on someone who was obviously not worth it.

"Fuck you and fuck your god-damned money," I dead-panned, trying not to yell since we were beginning to cause a scene. "The fact that you're rich doesn't give you the right to act like an asshole."

Not bothering to wait for a reply, I turned and walked on the opposite direction, no longer feeling the need to complete my walk. I should have just taken a nap instead.

It was jerks like him that made me remember why I didn't bother trying to make friends. I looked down at my shirt, sniffing dramatically.

Damn, this was my favorite tank top.

***

"You said what?" Trish exclaimed, her dark eyes wide with shock. Even with her shocked expression, I could still detect a hint of excitement in her eyes. "To Damon Trent? The Damon Trent?"

I rolled my eyes at her antics. We were in my house, having homemade pizza and lemonade. She'd seen my tank top in the laundry basket and had wondered why it was so muddy.

At first I'd tried to shrug off the question but she'd somehow managed to pry it out of me. "He was being very rude, Trish. He didn't apologize even when I had started walking out on him." I brought my glass to my lips."How can anyone still be attracted to him after witnessing his arrogance first hand?"

"So you're not still attracted to him even after the whole episode?" She teased, wiggling her eyebrows dramatically. I thought about her question, not wanting to admit that I was infact still attracted to him.

Her phone beeped twice, shattering the comfortable silence. "I guess that's the problem with attraction. It doesn't need a reason to happen most times," I said by way of answering. "It just does."

I raised my eyebrows at her when she began looking at me a type of way. I didn't need a soothsayer to tell me what was going on in her head. Trish had to be cupid's assistant if by any chance she wasn't cupid herself.

I stood up, walking to the living room. "Don't you even dare start," I warned her as I turned on my N*****x. The last thing I needed was for her to be caught up in the idea that there could be a possibility of something happening between Damon and I.

She stalked behind me, her gaze fixed pointedly on me like I was trying to hide something. "I didn't even say anything, Mel," She tried to feign innocence but I wasn't buying it. I knew her better than that.

I narrowed my eyes. "I know that look."

"This look?" She asked, making an attempt at being overtly natural. When I just kept staring straight at her, she huffed and her shoulders deflated. "Fine. So I think that Damon and you might be good together, sue me."

"I will," I snapped at her, pretending to be dialing my lawyer. "Please don't get into any of your antics, Trish. Damon and I are as opposite as the day and night."

I was still having a hard time understanding why we were even talking about Damon Trent. We were acting like Damon and I were casual friends who had a possibility of becoming something more when in reality, Damon didn't even know that I existed.

Prior to today's incident, we had never met neither had we said a word to each other. I knew for a fact that he wouldn't even realize that I was the one he'd splashed muddy water with his car if I walked past him some other day.

"How so?" She asked.

I stared at her. Simply stared, expecting that it had been a rhetorical question. I paused when I saw her expectant gaze. Oh, she wasn't joking. She really expected an answer from me.

"For one, he's into the whole public scene and I am most definitely not," I highlighted. The very last thing I needed was to have my quiet life thrown upside down because of any kind of involvement with that jerk. "And after today, I assure you that we do not like each other."

Trish said nothing for a while, choosing to fix her attention on the tv screen. "I still haven't forgotten the promise you made to do whatever I wanted you to, don't forget."

I forced myself to stay calm but inside I couldn't stop the feeling of dread.

I'd gone and dug my own grave, hadn't I?