Starstruck

Cutting Ties

A few minutes after we arrived, I scanned the bar absentmindedly, wondering why I had let Jason talk me into coming out, when my eyes met with a pair of dark brown ones that belonged to a tall, muscular man with wavy dark brown hair. He had a slightly dark complexion, as though he had Hispanic or Hawaiian ancestors, and he was leaning against the wall near the pool tables about fifty feet away, arms crossed nonchalantly over his chest. He held my gaze for about 10 seconds, and then began to walk in my direction. I had completely forgotten that I was here with my boyfriend and his rowdy group of idiotic friends. When he was about 5 feet away, I flashed him a playful grin. What the heck are you doing?  I thought. He walked directly up to me, still staring into my eyes, and said,

“Would you like to dance?” he was even more gorgeous up close. His eyes were silky and inviting, his high cheek bones accentuating his gorgeous skin color. He had a long, straight nose, full dark pink lips and an almost pointy chin. His muscles were much larger than they had looked across the room. He was captivating to say the very least.I opened my mouth to answer, only to be interrupted by Jason’s furious retort.

“No, she wouldn’t.” he said menacingly, stepping between me and the mysterious sexy stranger with the most intimidating look he could muster. The stranger didn’t move a muscle. He didn’t even blink.

“I believe she can answer for herself.” He said icily, eyes still boring into mine. I halfheartedly tried and failed to suppress a grin.

“She’s not interested.” Said Jason, crossing his arms over his chest. I glared at him. Who was he to think that he could speak for me? After the way he had been treating me for the past few weeks, this was the last straw.

“How would you know?” I spat at Jason, hands on hips. He whirled around to face me, his expression contorted with rage.

“Excuse me?” he growled at me.

“It’d be a hell of a lot more fun than this.” I said, still glaring at him.

“You’re not going anywhere.” He said, stepping even closer and towering over me. I was not about to let that intimidate me. Although we had only been dating for a few months, I had known Jason since I was 5 and, in my experience, he only threatened violence when he thought he could use it to get what he wanted.

“You don’t own me!” I shouted, readying myself to shove him away if he came any closer.

“You’re probably going to want to back the hell off.” Said the stranger calmly. Jason spun on the spot to face him again, arms extended slightly as though shielding me from him.

“Oh yeah?” Jason said, bristling.

“Yeah.” Said the stranger. His face was smooth and emotionless. Suddenly, one of the i***t friends let out a theatrical gasp and raised his right pointer finger in the air, pointing directly at the stranger’s face.

“You – you’re… Are you Logan Star?” he asked. The stranger grinned mischievously.

“In the flesh.”

An excited murmur broke out among the group and the surrounding bar-goers who had apparently been listening.

“Who the hell is Logan Starr?” Jason asked one of his friends under his breath.

“One of the best MMA fighters in the league!” Said the friend admiringly. Jason gave a visible shudder as he stared at Logan, eyes widening in shock and fear.

“You comin’?” Logan asked me, leaning around Jason’s body so he could see my face. He extended his right hand towards me, palm up. I swiftly dodged around Jason and took it.

“Yeah.” I said with a small smile. Logan beamed. I kept hold of his hand as we began to walk away, lacing my fingers through his.

“Daisy!” Jason bellowed. I stopped walking but didn’t turn around. Logan followed my lead, stopping and waiting silently beside me.

“You walk away from me, you better not ever come back.” He said darkly. Anger erupted in my chest, spewing throughout my body, fueling my next move. I spun quickly, dropping Logan’s hand and taking several steps back towards Jason. His eyes widened in confusion and surprise.

“Gladly.” I said, glaring into his eyes for one final goodbye. I turned back around to see Logan standing where I had left him, staring at me as though he had never seen something so magnificent before. I grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the bar out onto the dance floor.

“So, your name is Daisy?” he yelled as we made our way through the see of drunken dancers.

“Yes, it is. And yours is Logan?” I shouted. This wasn’t the best place to make conversation.

“Yeah. Wanna get out of here?” he said with an adventurous glint in his eyes. I thought about it for a long moment. I had literally met this guy less than 5 minutes ago, and I was seriously contemplating getting into a vehicle with him. What was wrong with me? Did I have some sort of death wish? The most ridiculous part was that all I knew about this guy was his name and his profession, and yet I automatically trusted him way more than I ever trusted Jason. I had absolutely no idea why, other than the fact that I just felt like I could trust him. Like I knew somewhere deep down that he would never hurt me or let anyone else. It was a strange and overwhelming feeling. But I went with it. I was fed up with playing it safe all the time.

“Yeah!” I called. He gently tugged me in the direction of the door, then through it into the parking lot. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and clicked the unlock button on the fob, causing the car in front of us to beep, lights flashing on and off. He opened the passenger door and gestured for me to sit. I smiled and stepped into the car. When he stepped into the driver’s seat, he turned and studied me for a long moment, then said,

“How do you know I’m not a serial killer?” with a playful smile.

“I don’t.” I said, a blank look on my face.

“But for some reason, you intrigue me.” I said, squinting my eyes at him.

“Hope that’s worth dying for.” He said with a breathtaking, full-mouth smile.

I laughed and rolled my eyes.

“So, where are we going?” I asked as I buckled my seatbelt.

“It’s a surprise.” He said, a gorgeous half-grin forming on his face. He was intoxicating. I had never felt as much palpable energy radiating from a person in my life. It was like he was this giant magnet, pulling me closer with a powerful and unstoppable force. My left hand, seemingly without the order from my brain, reached across the middle console and grabbed his right hand, which had been resting on his right thigh. He shot me a surprised but amused glance and then laced his fingers through mine.

“So… You’re an MMA fighter, huh?” I asked, searching for an avenue into a conversation.

“Yupp.” He said simply, not taking his eyes off the pavement in front of us.

“You don’t sound too enthused about it…” I pressed.

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

“Is anything, really?” I asked thoughtfully. He seemed to ponder my words for a few moments.

“Some things are. But fighting… It’s the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. You either rise to the top or you die. Sometimes literally.”

I opened my mouth to retort, but he cut me off before I could.

“I know what you’re thinking. Why do I do it?” I stayed silent, looking at him inquiringly.

“Because in all its flaws and cruelties, fighting is my home. It’s what I grew up doing. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. It’s… what my dad did.” I had a very strange feeling in the pit of my stomach that he didn’t often tell people this. I squeezed his hand gently and studied his face as he kept his gaze on the road, eyes tightened slightly.

“I think it takes a lot of guts to do something like that. Plus, you are fulfilling your lifelong dream. That’s amazing.” I said quietly. He turned his head in my direction and stared into my eyes, a look of admiration lighting up his already enchanting features.

“You know, you’re really something special.” He said, caressing the top of my hand with his thumb, sending a jolt of tingling pleasure up my left arm.

“Oh yeah?” I said with a playful smile.

“Yeah. I could see it from across the room. I just had to come and talk to you.”

“Oh? And do you often find women in bars that you feel the urge to talk to?” I asked flirtatiously. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

“No. I’ve never even approached a woman that way before. Let alone one who was surrounded by a group of territorial men.”

“Only one of them was territorial. And that was only until he found out who you were.” I reminded him.

“Jason’s a coward. I should have left him a long time ago…” I said when he didn’t reply.

“But I’m glad that it happened like this.” I finished.

“Are you now?” he said, raising his eyebrows. I shook my head, grinning and he beamed. His teeth were perfectly straight and almost alarmingly white. They contrasted brilliantly with his dark chin and cheeks. He was absolutely gorgeous. He squeezed my hand and chuckled. A couple of minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of a tall gray building with the word RENCORP in large metal letters at the top. He put the car in park in one of the spaces closest to the building and released his seatbelt, turning in his seat to face me.

“Would you have left tonight with anyone that offered, or just me?” he looked deeply into my eyes when he said this, and I could tell that he needed to know the answer. He needed to know if I was attracted to him or merely to the idea of being rescued. I took a deep breath, holding his gaze.

“I’ve never done anything like this before. I’ve been hit on, but never like that. And not by someone as… extraordinary as you. You gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” In an instant his soft warm lips were covering mine, causing jolts of electric pleasure to shoot from the center of my abdomen all over my body. Once the shock of being kissed by an almost complete stranger (and by far the sexiest man to ever lay lips on me) wore off, I tangled my right hand in his hair and pulled myself as close to him as I could get, my lips eagerly mirroring his. After a couple of minutes, his hands appeared on either side of my face, thumbs caressing my cheeks, pointer fingers hooked gently under my jaw on each side. He tilted my face upward, breaking the kiss, and stared into my eyes as though he was searching for something he had always wanted to find.

“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” he asked me, his voice seeming to tingle with affection and amazement. My eyes widened in surprise.

“You think I’m beautiful?” I asked, unable to hide the shock on my face.

“Daisy, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.” He said seriously. My jaw dropped as I momentarily forgot how to use those things in my chest that provided air. This handsome, kind, charming man was not only interested in getting to know me, he also thought as much of me as I did him. This whole situation was insane, but incredible all the same. I grabbed the back of his neck with my left hand and pulled his face forward, extending mine towards him to meet his lips hungrily. It started sweetly, but after a couple of seconds a white-hot flame of desire erupted in my abdomen, licking its way up my throat and down my extremities. It caused an electric tingle to radiate throughout every cell in my body. With some complicated maneuvering, I managed to straddle him in the driver’s seat as the kiss continued to increase in intensity. When I felt his body’s response to me on top of him, I placed my hands gently on his shoulders and pushed him back a couple of inches. When he opened his deep brown eyes, he looked blissful and almost intoxicated. He smiled at me and waited for an explanation as to why I had pulled away.

“Logan, I have barely known you for half an hour and this has already been an incredible night. But I don’t think it’s wise to… escalate things so quickly.” I glanced down in between his legs on the word escalate, and a look of understanding spread across his face as he nodded.

“I think you’re right, but I can’t make any promises if you end up in my lap again.” He said, a knee-buckling half-grin on his face. I laughed and leaned in for one more lingering kiss before dismounting from his lap into the passenger’s seat.

“You ready?” he asked, opening his door and bracing to step out of the car.

“Absolutely.” I said, unable to stop from beaming at the look of excitement on his face.

“I’ll get the door.”

He quickly walked around the car while I waited patiently, not wanting to take away his opportunity to be chivalrous. He offered me his hand after opening my door and I took it to steady myself as I stood up, drawing myself as close to him as I could without seeming desperate to be near him. The truth is that I was, though. I had never felt such an attachment or such a need to be near someone before in my life. I had never felt a burning desire to have every inch of someone against me, until now. But I was terrified of that feeling. Terrified that I wouldn’t be able to control it, and that if I revealed it to Logan, it would send him running for the hills. I kept my face a smooth mask as he wrapped his right arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to him as we began to walk in sync toward the large dark building.

“What is this place?” I asked, glancing into his eyes as we approached a single door in the back-right corner of the building.

“It’s a corporate office building. A buddy of mine owns it and I helped him turn the roof into a pretty nice hang-out spot, so in exchange he allows me 24/7 access to it.”

“Wow!” I said as he punched a few numbers into a keypad located below the handle of the door we were standing in front of. I heard a mechanical grinding and clicking noise as the door unlocked. He opened it and gestured for me to step inside first. I obliged, glancing around to take in my surroundings as he stepped inside and closed the door. We were in a small hallway with a door to our right labeled STAIRS, a door to the left labeled AUTHORIZED PERSONELL ONLY, and an elevator straight ahead, about 15 feet away. Logan grabbed my hand and lead me to the elevator, pushed the Up button, then shot me an adorable grin.

“I think you’re gonna like what I’ve done with the place.” He said.

I chuckled.

“I’m sure I will.”