The Playboy King's Bride

Chapter 2

With all her worries clogging her brain Stella had a hard time getting to sleep, even after staring at her ceiling for a couple of hours. She had tossed and turned every possible way, but nothing felt comfortable and she had to switch positions every few minutes, leaving her sheets in a tangled mess which she eventually kicked to the foot of her bed.

She couldn’t be sure if Perce actually woke her, or just disrupted whatever sleep deprived trance a brain can concoct when he banged on her door with a quick “Dad said you’re taking me to school. I’ve gotta be there in an hour!” Before his steps faded down the stairs.

Stella groaned and rolled her way to the side of the bed, kicking the pile of sheets just enough that they toppled over the end. “Later,” She told the pile as she stepped past it to the en suite. After doing a quick clean and prep, not bothering with anything more than mascara and concealer, she opened her door and went downstairs. Perce was in his spot on the opposite side of the couch from Gareth, sipping on a small glass of orange juice. She noticed that Gareth didn’t have anything but the remote, though it rested on his leg as he seemed to have settled on watching the news.

“Why didn’t you wake me up sooner? I could have made some breakfast.” She scolded past a yawn.

“You needed your rest. And it’s not like I’m actually in a rush to get there.” Perce barely glanced at her.

“Besides, we weren’t hungry. If we were we would have made something.” Gareth added.

Stella grunted and moved to the pantry to find a bagel. Gareth and Perce may be able to skip breakfast, but she had never been able to without feeling starved and drained of energy later in the day. She sat between them and gazed at the screen in silence as the news turned to the weather. It was going to be a hot day. Big surprise in the south. Every day after the beginning of May was guaranteed to be hot. Really the weather section should be called the “let me state the obvious” section. Stella couldn’t even count how many times she rolled her eyes. “I wonder how many ways he can say “it’s going to be hot” before they’re forced to move on.”

Finally she’d had enough.

“Do you need to get your presentation material?” She turned to Perce.

“No, I set it all up after school yesterday. I really just need to show up and stand there.” When she asked about what exactly he’d be presenting he answered in the simplest terms that it was for biology class. Even he didn’t actually seem interested in what he was saying. Everyone in the class had created the exhibits but his had been chosen as the one to be presented at the fair, somehow. While Stella tried to express her admiration that he had been selected he brushed it off.

“It’s not like I actually wanted to get selected. The other students just obviously didn’t try at all.”

Gareth didn’t say a word, only glancing at his son every now and then. Once the time to leave had come up he still had hardly said a word. As Perce walked out to get in the car Stella turned to face the man.

“Gareth…I know it’s hard, I do. But he’s hurting just as much as you. He needs you.” Gareth gazed evenly at her from the corner of his eye.

“He has you.”

“I’m his sister. He needs his dad. He needs to know you’re still there for him. Please, just…try. For his sake.” She turned quickly and escaped before he could say anything.

The drive to Perce’s high school was quiet, except for him saying she didn’t have to stay, which she took as him asking her not to stay. After dropping him off she decided that the bagel wasn’t enough and wanted to get something more substantial for lunch. Maybe she could get something for the boys too, that way she wouldn’t have to cook dinner tonight, either. After a quick debate she decided that she didn’t feel like going straight back home, so decided to stop for a sandwich and maybe eat in the park before the heat became unbearable.

The shop was small and fairly empty, thankfully, so she got her sandwich and stepped back into the heat, which had somehow seemed to double in just a few minutes. As she stopped to give her body a moment to adjust her eyes were drawn to an older man making his way across the crosswalk. Although he stood upright, something about the way his chest seemed to be expanding too much with every breath bothered her. He didn’t move as quickly as everyone around him, and his gaze had been fixed in front of him as though he were concentrating very hard. As she watched he seemed to stumble a step, just as she heard loud crashes coming from up the street.

Turning quickly, her eyes widened as she took in an eighteen wheeler on it’s side, mowing down everything in it’s path as it headed toward the same crosswalk where the man was walking. A woman screamed as she jumped quickly out of the way, and people were yelling to get everyone else’s attention.

She looked back at the crosswalk, everyone else seemed to have already moved out of the way, but the man had continued walking, oblivious to his surroundings. She tried yelling at him, even as she began running in his direction, but nothing seemed to be getting through.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the big rig looming down on her, but in a flash she could almost reach him. Realizing she didn’t have enough time to pull him back, she leapt to the left of him, wrapping her right arm around his shoulder so his body would be pulled along with her trajectory. He didn’t put up any resistance as they were both catapulted a few feet and slammed to the ground. Stella closed her eyes, bracing for the truck to hit her if she hadn’t been able to get them far enough.

After an agonizing eternity where nothing seemed to happen, Stella dared to open her eyes. She was greeted by a wall of black smoke coming from the left, making her cough. There was way to much in the air for her to see anything further than a couple feet in front of her and it only seemed to be hovering, without moving away at all.

“Hey, we need to move!” She looked down at the man under her when he didn’t respond. She put her hand to his shoulder to shake him, but his eyes remained shut, without even a flicker to say he had heard her.

“Shit.”