Shades of Moonlight

Chapter Two- Lie to Me

Although Luci was the kind of girl that would have preferred keeping her emotions and genuine feelings hidden beneath an awkward smile-as shown with Paxton, there was something about being near this man that had enlivened her. Despite the fact she had only been in his presence once, she was able to feel the familiar sensation of her blood boiling and her heart palpitating as she crossed the hallway and stood in front of him without a care of what others may think of her. And without a stitch of makeup upon her porcelain skin or a single stroke from a brush detangling her unruly locks, she desired to have her opinion of this man known-even if she would claim the attention of her academic peers in the process. 

"What the hell do you want?!" She began, but continued to berate him before he had a chance to answer. "How did you know that I was here?! Are you following me? I suppose I shouldn't put anything past you considering you practically stole me!" Although she spoke with passion and chose words that could have forced others to look at him in curiosity, his eyes did not break from her for a second. Instead, he brought one hand to his mouth and used his pointer finger to brush his bottom lip while a smile crept beneath his touch. She was unaware that his brow arched with intrigue and his eyes drifted to her current appearance as others would not have been so bold to expose themselves to the elements as she had in precious little. He was genuinely humored by her presence, her passion, and the cute little way the dimples up her cheeks became prominent as she spoke in anger against him. 

"Are you done?" He asked rather selfishly as if her words, her emotions, or her feelings didn't matter more than the kind of shampoo she used a few minutes prior. But as that fire remained behind her eyes that seemed to only be ignited in his presence, Luci erupted. Every ounce of her ability to remain as the wallflower she seemed to flourish as had now disintegrated at her feet as she stood across from this man. 

"You can't just follow people around until they come out of bathrooms! Especially after kidnapping them the night before! I could have you arrested or reported-" His eyes now narrowed to her as he used his strength to pull her away from the crowd that formed from this fiery conversation until she was placed within her own dorm room and pushed up against the door. As he had his palms keeping her pinned on either side, she was unable to break from him-as a part of her did not want to. He was magnetic...a devilish allure that would certainly end in heartbreak, but also something mystical that fascinated her...but also frightened her. 

"I came to give you this back-" he spoke as he revealed her cell phone from having been withheld within his front pocket until now. But as she went to reach for it, he forced it away from her line of sight and instead pressed himself further into her. 

"You may want to think twice about threatening me...after all...you know my bite is certainly worse than my bark…" he teased before moving away from the trembling woman as his eyes analyzed her for a moment, seemingly taking in her attire-or lack thereof as she glared at his lingering stare. 

"What?!"

"I just didn't take you for the type of girl that would have a navel piercing…" her eyes narrowed for a second before she looked down to realize that she was completely naked. Embarrassment, nausea, and horror came over her in unison as she watched this figure leave from her dorm room. Managing to make her blush yet again, the man left her muttering to herself in a huff. 

She detested how he managed to awaken something courageous yet timid within her by a single pressing of his figure to her own. She promised herself she would never find value in a man or a woman's opinion since she was raised to view her mother's fragile heart endure more heartaches than she deserved. But now, as she became confused about the attraction she felt for this mystery of a man, she wished to resume whatever normalcy remained within her life. Even if that was to attend her mundane classes and drown herself in the thick textbooks supplied via the campus bookstore. But the entirety of the morning had been spent thinking of his smoke-like eyes and his presence closing in on her.

"So THAT'S where you were last night…" Mollie spoke from her side of the room as Luci jumped from having been startled. Suddenly Luci became bewildered to the figure who seemed to arouse and anger her in the capability to do so by flipping an internal switch that only he knew the location of. But as she stood embarrassed in front of Mollie, she quickly dressed to cover the wound upon her thigh before looking down to notice that it had vanished. 

"It isn't what you think-" Luci explained as she covered her nude frame with a pair of sweatpants and a shirt wearing the name of the state school she was currently a student of; Washington State. 

"Yeah...and I'm a virgin...Look...you don't have to tell me ALL the details…but I am dying to know...was he good? He looks like he would be good. Those full lips...those thick fingers...the tricks he could do-"

"Mollie!" Luci spoke with discomfort as she had only recently become open to the idea of having s*x prior to marriage and now found this mysterious and potentially dangerous man the least likely choice upon her spectrum of suitors. 

"Come on! The tension between you two is...volcanically hot! Just tell me one detail-" Understanding that Mollie wouldn't release the topic, she decided to tease her just enough to quench this lustful thirst. 

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you…" 

"What? Does he have like two d***s or something? Is he like a foot long?! Does he have a tongue piercing?!" She questioned in rapid fire before Luci looked at her in horror. 

"You are seriously disturbed …"

"Come on...it's ME! You can tell me!" Mollie pushed further as Luci took a deep breath before divulging every figment of the previous night that she could recall. 

"Okay…" she took a deep inhale followed by an expected exhale before speaking the truth. "I had one drink and woke up tied to a bed and watched that...man turn into this...wolf as a group of people watched him become...this...beast...and then I woke up here with this bite mark on my leg…" 

"So he is into b**m and voyeurism...I mean I was with this guy one time who wanted me to wear this fuzzy suit-now that I come to think of it…" Mollie became lost in thought before shaking off that momentary remembrance and returning her focus to Luci. "Anyway...he seems worth it...like...he seems…" Mollie simply flexed her brows to show her approval before Luci found it impossible to remain upon this topic of conversation. Due to that, she collected a hair tie from her desk, her satchel littered with a few ironic pins from the back of her desk chair, and her phone from the small table beside the door, and ventured towards her first class. But as she brought her phone to view, she found that a new text message had been delivered by a contact number that was placed recently into her phone. 

"I'll be seeing you soon." The contact name had been "August" and she questioned if this had been the man's name or possibly a nickname. Either way, she hoped he would eventually grow tired of this chase and abandon all attempts with her before moving on with someone like Mollie. But then as she thought of seeing him with someone like Mollie who was confident and experienced, she became increasingly uncomfortable and...jealous even. Due to Mollie's graphic and colorful depictions of casual s*x, Luci was nearly mortified at the stories her friend had spoken of, but also became enthralled with "August" as her mind painted him in this lustful light because of Mollie's words. She was curious if Mollie wouldn't have been present, what would have transpired and how she did not wish to push him away even as he pinned her to the inside of her door. Frustrated with this confusing sense of attraction and repulsion, she threw herself into the far back row of the lecture hall as everyone looked at her and gossiped about her morning peep show. 

Attempting to cover her face with the hood allowed to her due to the jacket, she could feel the eyes from a specific someone suddenly connect to her. And so she pulled her gaze outwards for a moment to eye Paxton looking at her in a different light. Believing that he had witnessed her birthday suit as well, she blushed to know that he had only taken interest in her as he was made aware of her nude physique. But in the same instance that her eyes came to Paxton's all-American-boy appearance of blonde hair and emerald eyes, she noticed the professor enter behind him. Praying that the day's lesson would distract her from the events of the last twenty four hours, she focused on this figure who was turned from the entire class as he wrote his name upon the board. 

"Good morning, I am your substitute, Mister Barrone." As he spoke, her eyes witnessed him turn to reveal himself to be none other than the man who had seen her naked and pinned her against her dorm room door a handful of minutes prior. Devastated by this as she seemed incapable of escaping embarrassment, Luci hung her head in defeat as the man she knew to be named "August" locked eyes with her for a second before eyeing the remainder of the class.