I lost my memory when I was four, but there are things that happened after that I still can’t recall and it’s for that reason alone, I chose MIT. And because it’s all the way across the country. Away from where I think Julian is, Cali.
Disregarding that though, MIT has been everything I could dream off and more. Because I was already late, I had to move in here in a rush. Mom helped me get my cute off-campus apartment that I’m absolutely in love with.
I love my personal space and I love that I can have company if I so decide, but it concerned me the way the apartment just became available for me.
When I expressed interest, the owner told me the apartment was already booked through Spring Break. The next day, she called me directly, apologized profusely and offered me a fifty percent discount on rent for six months.
When I told my mom, she just blinked at me in disbelief.
“All of that because of a mistake in scheduling?”
It was strange but fuck it. I decided to see it as the universe’s way of repaying me for all the crap it’s shoveled my way all these years.
I quickly get home, grab my only suitcase and my ID, then I’m out the door and rive to the airport with thirty-five minutes on the line.
I’m a college student. I live life on the edge.
My flight from Logan International to LAX is canceled due to terrible weather.
I’m so disappointed I want to cry but as I drive myself back home to another lonely birthday, I call my mom and let her know what happened.
“Aw, Mia, let me fly out.”
“Come on, Mom,” I say, keeping my voice upbeat. “You know it’s the same vice versa.”
“I really wanted to see you, honey.”
“I know,” I sigh. “But it was a bit of a stretch anyway, considering I was only going to stay for the weekend.”
Boston to LA is a long way to go for just a weekend, but this was a special one for me. And not just because it’s my birthday.
“Will you tell her I said hello and that I miss her?” I whisper but she somehow hears me.
“Of course, honey,” Mom says. “I’m sure Nancy already knows. She’s watching over us as it is.”
I believed it. There are times when I feel like she really is watching over me. Especially since I started college and that’s a lovely sentiment to hold on to.
“So, do you have any exciting plans for the weekend?”
“You mean besides finish all my assignments and this research paper I’m working on?”
“Yes, beside you drowning yourself in work, what else are you doing?”
“Hmm, I plan to sleep.” That’s not exactly a lie. I was tired. School had just recently started, but I took extra courses during the summer, just to avoid going back home. Mom understood thought I knew she was kinda sad about that, so she came and spent a month with me this past summer. It was amazing.
“Mia, honey, don’t forget to live,” Mom says. “You deserve to be happy.”
“I am happy.”
She’s silent, like mothers often do when they know their child is going through unspeakable pain and they don’t want to make it worse by probing.
“Are you really?” she asks, but I don’t have an answer for her. “God, Mia, I really wanted to talk to you about something.”
“What is it?” I ask, picking up on the tension in her voice.
“Uh, baby girl…” she mumbles. “Do you remember that contract.”
The contract.
I know it well enough. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t wonder what happened to it. But thinking about that makes me think of someone else I’d rather forget.
“Wat about it?”
“I didn’t want to do this on the phone.”
“But we’re doing it on my birthday, so might as well,” I bite out. I can hear her sigh heavily.
When it comes to difficult situations, she’s always cautious and tender, as if she’s walking on eggshells. I want to remind her that I was dragged out of a burning warehouse, bleeding and on the verge of death so at this point, I can just about handle anything she has to say, but I think that would be going a tad too far.
“Well, I don’t want you to freak out, I’m sure there is a way we can fix this.”
My heart drops as dread tightens all the vital organs in my body.
“What happened?”
“Mia, honey, that contract Nathan forced you to sign, it was bought,” she whispers. “Someone… someone…” she trails off, the words obviously too difficult for her.
“Someone owns me.”
By the time I get back to my little apartment, I’m so tired and so overwhelmed that all I want is to numb my brain and switch off.
I don’t want to think about what Mom just told me. I don’t want to think of the potential danger. I just unlock the door to my apartment, drag my one piece of luggage in and then flip the lock and the deadbolt in.
I decide to take a shower to wash over the day. After a long steamy wash, I dress up in my favorite silk robe and wrap my hair in a soft towel then pad barefoot to my small kitchen.
I grab a tub of Ben & Jerry’s, power off my phone then pad my way back to my room.
I light up my new Yankee scented candles that I decorated around my room. When the ambience of the room is set, I jump on my fluffy bed, grab the remote and flip through the movie options on Netflix, I settle on a classic, Matrix.
These days, mind-numbing T.V. does the trick with me. I don’t do romance or anything that’s overwhelmingly emotional for fear that I might break down.
So, action it is.
At some point, I fall asleep before the movie even finishes and just like a song, I’m transported into a nightmarish dream that steals my breath away in a heartbeat.
This one is unlike other times when I fall into oblivion after watching action-packed movies. This time, the blissful ignorance doesn’t come. Instead, a torrid, explosive wet dream decides to make a comeback when a gorgeous green-eyed devil visits me.
Julian.
At first, it’s his delicious, manly clean scent that fills my lungs before anything else. I can feel my blood start to thrum in my veins as if with anticipation for the wicked wet dream but also because he’s here. Oh God, he’s here.
This, in my dreams, is the only place I can be with Julian. And the pathetic thing is, I’d take him like that just to be with him and feel his strength and power pulling me into his force of will, like he is now.
I feel strong, calloused hands slide up my body slowly and sensually, drawing a moan from my lips. I arch my back, wanting more of his touch, more of the way he makes me feel.
Then he’s hovering over me and I can finally see his sexy, panty-dropping gorgeous face that remind me so much of rough, hard and deep sex but his eyes… the green orbs that drive me wild with restlessness and longing stare down at me and I can’t help it.
“You’re here,” I whisper drowsily, drunk on this dream. “You came for me.”
There’s an air of danger around him though. Unlike my other dreams where my subconscious seems only to be able to conjure up the Julian I last saw nineteen months—eighteen since I talked to him—this Julian feels… different.