Checkmate

Chapter 7

LAURA’S POV

“Don’t stop,” I asked when he pulled away from me. I don’t know why. From what I gathered the last few weeks, is that he loves doing this? Why pull away from me?

“You don’t want me to go further,” he whispered into my mouth, but he’s wrong. I want him to kiss me, I want him to touch me and make my skin feel on fire, I want my heart to go into a race and keep racing till I have nowhere else to turn.

“Laura!” he whispered again, pushing me further up the door. His dark eyes stared right through me. I don’t know what to think, but for some reason he’s shady eyes turn me on.

“I don’t want to lose control, not with you,” he admits, making me want him even more.

“Why not?” I sound desperate, like a lost puppy craving attention.

He heaved my chin up, looking me straight in the eyes while biting his lip.

“You have to go.” and just like that, the adrenaline I felt swirling inside me dissolved in seconds when he ask me to leave.

“Okay,” I answered in a low tone. I can’t believe I sounded seconds ago so desperate. Why the f**k would I allow him under my skin again.

“Laura?” he called back when I opened the door.

“There’s a lot of clues. You just have to see it.” what is he actually talking about?

“What are you talking about?” I asked, confused.

“Just don’t call checkmate until you're sure the other player has no moves left. Clues to end the game are everywhere, just focus on the player and not the moves.”

“Okay.” I have no idea how to respond to a chess game if I don’t know who the player is.

I walked downstairs with a knife twisting inside me, and the pain keeps intensifying every time I think how he pushed me up against the door.

“Laura?” Mrs Summers calls, sitting on the chair outside on the patio.

“Yes? I mean hi Mrs Summers.” I sound like a moron. I just made out with her son and I’m pretty sure she can see it all over my face.

“Did Jade bring you here?” she asked.

“Um, yes, he. I mean, he fell and cut his hand, I helped him.” I could kick myself for sounding so ridiculous. I don’t know why I feel so nervous. It’s not like I slept with him. She stares at me with disbelief and who blames her? Her son is apparently a man w***e.

“Mmm, just be careful Laura.” she looked down at her book with a pen in her hand. Everyone keeps telling me to be careful, careful of what? Yes, Jade is playing with girls and has anger issues, and yes, he is arrogant, but that is not a valid excuse for everyone to keep telling me to be careful. I nodded when she looked at me from underneath her glasses.

Back at the house, mom is sitting at the dining table with a stack of papers in front of her. It’s already dark outside, with no food prepared for dinner. I know she’s busy, but she is still our mother. Ever since we came to Washington, she devoted herself to her job, where Jeremy and I need to make lunch and supper for ourselves. She used to watch movies with us and played games, but we barely see her these days.

“Hey.” I greeted.

“Where have you been?” she asked with an angry tone.

“With Jade.” I sigh, waiting for the bomb to explode.

“I thought I told you to stay away from him?” she angrily speaks out.

“You work with his father, so how am I supposed to stay away from him, and why?” I fold my arms. She doesn’t respond, just glaring at me like I did a deadly sin.

“Okay, I will make some dinner.” I placed my bag on the couch and moved towards the kitchen. I don’t know why everyone is so secretly, and if there is one thing my father told me is that if you want to become a lawyer, you need to know how to dig until the secrets unfold in front of you like a map.

“Laura, I know you have questions about Jade, but I really need you to stay away from him.” My mother said unexpectedly behind me in the kitchen. Seriously, I’ve had it with people who keep telling me what to do. My mother and Mrs Summers told me to be careful, Jade keep telling me to keep my eye on the player. Who is the actual player here?

“You know what mom, let’s make a deal. You tell me why I need to stay away, and I promise you I will stay away from him if the reason is valid enough.” I challenged my mother, and hope to God that the reason is not valid. I don’t know why I feel drawn to him. All I know is that I feel addicted to the feeling. The feeling of danger and not knowing what to expect.

“Jade is a troubled kid, Laura. He fools around with girls and does so with no respect towards them, and you saw how he spoke to his father?” my mother pushes to the limit to convince me, but she sounds more scared than anything else.

“That’s not a valid reason, his father is abusive towards him, didn’t you hear how he belittle him in front of us?” I said with the exact tone she just used.

“I don’t want to fight with you, just trust me mom.” she nodded but I know for a fact that she’s not going to let this go. She will keep trying until I decide to stay away from him. I bet she’s praying right now for him to screw up.

“Let’s just order takeout,” I suggest. I suddenly have no desire to make dinner anymore. I quickly ordered pizza and went to my bedroom. I can’t wait to go to university and just start a new chapter in my life.

I laid down on my bed when I heard someone at my window trying to open it. I jumped up in fear when I saw a shadow moving and, as my father thought, I grabbed the baseball bat underneath my bed. I can hear my heartbeat rising and falling when I walked closer to the window.

“Fuck.” I heard a familiar voice curse when he drop on his knees on my floor.

“What a hell Jade? I almost hit you with the bat.” he stares at the bat I hold in my hands and in seconds he burst out in laughter.

“Keep it down.” I closed my bedroom door when Jade started laughing, making me want to hit him even more now with the bat.

“Are you crazy? You scared me.” I whispered.

“Yeah, I can see that. You look adorable.” I don’t know if it’s an insult or compliment. Either way, he scared the s**t out of me. He jumped on my bed, holding my pillow close to his chest while staring at me. His dark shady eyes cut right through my core again. Red flags swivelling in my mind as I stare back, but once again, Jade mists my judgment, making me smile at him.

“Sit next to me,” I moved closer to the bed while my head scream at my feet to stand still.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” I said in a serene yet timid voice.

“Why do you look so nervous?” he calls me out. I don’t know how to answer him. How do you tell someone all the horrible things everyone says about him? My mother called him troubled. His father called him a moron, and well, his mother didn’t actually call him names, but she did warn me to be careful.

“My mother is downstairs.”

“So?” he said with no fear. I picked up that he was not scared at all. It’s like he enjoys seeing my mother telling me to stay away from him. Well, that’s what I picked up the other night when she looks shocked seeing him in the house.

“Let me guess? She told you to stay away from me, and that I’m troubled and have anger issues?” he pins exactly what she said to me. I nodded, earning a small smile from him. It’s like he was expecting every word she said.

“Well?”

“Well, what?” I asked, my tone lower than normal.

“Do you think I’m troubled and have anger issues?” he asked. I’m not sure how to answer him. I know he has issues, but no one is willing to tell me what issues.

“You have anger issues, but I don’t think your trouble, I mean you do....” he pulled me closer making me sit on his lap, before I could finish my sentence or statement, I can’t really think straight now while he hauls his finger over my cheek. The fire I crave builds up in seconds and my skin is burning with his touch.

“What trouble?” he whispered into my neck. I hiss as he slowly moves his lips, kissing me.

“Trouble for doing this.”

“But you like it.” he teases.

“Mmm,” that’s all I could get out. My hands trembled, making me grab the sheets to calm down. I can feel Jade’s lips smiling against my hot skin.

“You have to leave.” I half choke the words out, but Jade ignores me. He kept making circles with his fingers over my breast while kissing me on the cheek. I’ve never let anyone touch me the way he does, and I don’t know why I let him.

“I want to stay away from you. I need to stay away from you, but I can’t,” he whispered, picking me up to move even closer to him. I can’t explain the feeling I feel right now. Everything around me became dark and the only picture I’m seeing in front of me is Jade with his passionate yet terrifying dark eyes.

I want to ask him why he feels like he needs to stay away from me, but I’m afraid of the answer. The answer that might change my mind and honour the bet I have with my mother.

“Then don’t. You don’t have to stay away from me.” he smiled again, the most beautiful and adorable smile.

“You’re telling me to not stay away from you instead of asking the reason why I need to stay away?”

“Yeah.” I smiled back.

“I guess you’re the trouble one here.” he jokes. Kissing me again.

“Well, I never listen to anyone if they don’t give me a solid reason to listen to them, and I’ve never followed rules if you don’t tell me the motives behind the rules. So either you show me facts and let me decide for myself, or I will keep digging until I decide for myself if you are a troubled kid like everyone says.” I tease back.