My Bad Boy Vampire

Dylan’s Point of View  The mid-morning air hung heavy as I thought that it was way too early for it to be this hot already as well as regretting my decision not to go back in my house for a hair tie. Living on the beach had its drawbacks and the relentless heat and humidity was one of them, especially for a native New Yorker like me. Even after five years I still fully adjusted to this entirely different world, but even the most oppressive heat wasn’t nearly as bad as the bugs and snowbirds.  I was sitting at an outside table at Flops, my favorite coffee shop grateful for the big umbrella stuck in the middle of the round table. Flops was a bare bones place that only locals went to, which made me love Flops even more. The fact that it was only a block away from my place was even better, I was waiting for my friend JJ to meet me for coffee, she was the first friend I made here. We met when I got a job bartending at The Hook, the most popular bar on our part of the beach. JJ is a native to this big little beach town, she knew where the bodies were buried, so to speak, if you wanted to know anything about anyone you went to see JJ and she’d tell you everything you wanted to know, but only if she liked you.  “Dylan”. I turned my head as JJ sat down in front of the coffee that was waiting for her.  “Damn girl, why is that lion’s mane of yours down? It’s too hot for all that”.   “Hell yeah it is, but I forgot to grab a hair tie before I stumbled out the door’ I said. She was right on both points, my hair is a lion’s mane, and it was way too hot, my long, thick hair hung down to the small of my back and at this moment it felt like a fur coat. As she started to tell me about what happened after we got out of work last night with her newest boyfriend, she was drowned out by what sounded like a fighter jet coming down the street. Instead, what I saw was at least 10 of the loudest motorcycles I’ve ever heard slowly making their way down the street. I was taken aback by the guy on the motorcycle out in front of the others, he had to have been the most beautiful, exquisite man I had ever seen. He had sandy brown, a little lighter than mine, cut short around the back and sides but long enough on top to be smoothed back. His face looked as if had been chiseled from marble, his perfect cheekbones set off his square masculine jaw. His tattoos started right under his jaw and went down all the way to his knuckles on each of his hands. I imagined his chest and back were also covered by tattoos under his shirt. He turned his head towards me and even though he was wearing sunglasses I knew his eyes were locked on me, I could feel him staring into me that sent a current of electricity and desire coursing through my body that landed between my legs. He never acknowledged me, he didn’t smile, smirk, or even nod as he passed by. “What the f**k was that”? I asked JJ after they were out of earshot and she could hear me.   “That was The Grays, a motorcycle club that’s based down the beach a little way, and the guy out in front was Rowan” JJ said as she took a sip of her coffee. Rowan. Even his name was sexy. “How do you know that was ‘The Grays’, or whatever you called them? I didn’t see anything that said that”. “Because I know, and because of their bikes, did you happen to notice that all the bikes are matted out gray?” “Yeah, I guess, it was hard to notice” … “Anything except Rowan”? JJ chimed in before I could finish my sentence. “Whatever”, I said, maybe a bit to defensively. “Well, he certainly noticed you”, she said. My heart jumped when she said that, and it took everything I had to stay cool and not ask her about all the reasons she had just said that. “You should shoot your shot D. You’d be the envy of all the bitches on the beach, including me”. As nonchalantly as I could I said, “no thanks, I’m all set stroking the ego of a man w***e f**k boy. Especially a f**k boy that is prettier than I am”. “Don’t be so quick to judge beautiful. Rowan is known for shooting down chic’s more often than not. Is he an arrogant mysterious dickhead? Maybe. A man w***e, not s much”. It didn’t matter, I had already decided I wasn’t going to give him the time of day, never mind a chance to destroy my heart. I was not the one, I was also known for being picky, and I wasn’t about to give this guy the satisfaction, no matter how perfect he was.    After JJ and I were done with our coffee I told her I would see her later and headed home. I saw my neighbor Miss Laa sitting on her front porch, “hey girl”! Miss Laa called out to me with her thick Cajun accent. I smiled at her and hopped down her walkway to her porch and sat in a empty rocking chair next to her. I was always happy to see Miss Laa, she was quite the character, besides being a “swamp witch”, as she referred to herself, from the bayou in Louisiana. She was good at her craft because all sorts of people were always coming and going from her house at all hours of the day and night. Some for psychic readings, some for conjure oils, and others for spells to help them with whatever their particular problem was. She definitely looked like a force, she had fire red hair and wild Caribbean blue eyes that seemed to be able to see whatever lurked deep in your soul. I absolutely adored her, I felt like I had won the lottery when I moved next door. We had been chatting for about twenty minutes when one of her clients crept up and parked in front of the house. As I got up to leave Miss Laa suddenly grabbed my hand and looked me right in the eye with her powerful blue eyes and said, “do not tur down any offers or invitations you receive tonight”. In all the years that I had known her Miss Laa had never done anything at all like that. I looked back at her, wide eyed and full of trepidation and quietly said “okay I won’t”.   As I walked into my house besides being grateful for air conditioning all I could think was what the f**k is happening today? First the encounter with Rowan and now Miss Laa freaking me out. There I was back to Rowan, some god like creature that somehow, I have never laid eyes on until today in the last five years of living here. I mean I had never even heard of him of him. How is that possible? That in itself freaked me out, I was already over this day and it was barely passed noon.