Every Last Kiss, Final Copy, June 30, 2011 Read Online Free Page A

couldn’t stand it. 
            I forced my stiff fingers open and I dropped the bloodstone to the floor once again.  It nestled quietly between my feet on the carpet as though it was a perfectly normal necklace.  But it wasn’t.  I didn’t know what exactly it was, but normal it was not. 
            My breathing came in ragged gasps and I tried to calm myself by taking cleansing breaths.  Cleansing breath in, cleansing breath out.  It didn’t work.  Panic still overwhelmed me.  What the hell was that?  Apparently, it needed to be in contact with my skin in order to… do what it did, whatever that was.  So, I carefully picked it up using a pair of clean underwear and hid it in my underwear drawer next to my cotton-candy colored bra. 
            But I couldn’t shake the dark eyes so easily.  They were still haunting me from my dream.  Deep and dark- almost black, they were the color of melted dark chocolate, surrounded by a fringe of thick lashes.  The expression in them had been familiar, loving.  I knew him.  Who the heck was it?  I rushed through every memory that I’ve ever had and came up empty. 
            And then a realization emerged out of nowhere, firmly planted front and center in my mind as if it was dropped there.  I had dreamed about that stare before, off and on for years.  The dark eyes of a stranger that I apparently knew, but couldn’t remember.  Intriguing.  And frustrating.
            My sense of wonder was rudely interrupted by a loud buzz on my dresser.  I got up to find a text message waiting for me- an annoying text message from a pale, blonde cheater.
            Please, Macy.  Can we go have coffee? I need to explain.
            Oh My God. What did he not understand?  I never wanted to see him again- except for school when I absolutely had to.  He had thrown away two good years for an orange colored tramp. And she definitely was a tramp. She had the stamp on her back to prove it. I saw it on her back in gym one day when her shirt slid up. 
    Tramp stamp, fake boobs, overly-tanned skin…that whole mess was his to own- I was so done with it.  Besides, I had other things to worry about now—like a pair of dark, brooding eyes and an insane necklace. 
            I typed back  Leave me alone and resisted the urge to throw my phone at the wall. 
            What was it about relationships that made you feel so vulnerable?  Oh, right.  A relationship.  In any relationship, you put yourself out there.  You exposed all of your sensitive nerve endings and your heart and you just had to hope that you trusted the right person.  Stupid me, I didn’t.  But I wouldn’t make that same mistake twice.
            I wasn’t going to dwell on that now, however, despite my own obsessive nature.  I had a much bigger problem than Derek hidden in my underwear drawer.  It was a mystery that wasn’t going to solve itself.  But before I could think about it for one second longer, I needed sustenance.  My stomach was loudly reminding me that I hadn’t eaten yet today. 
            After yanking a hairbrush through my long hair, I pulled it into a low ponytail and threw some clothes on.  There was a tiny deli just a few minutes away and I could hear a toasted portabella sandwich calling my name.  Grabbing my keys, I ducked out to the garage. 
            And froze. 
            A man with a shaved head and long black robes stared at me.  His dark face was damp with sweat and thick black eye makeup lined his eyes.  A subtle musky scent permeated the air like incense.  He didn’t even look startled to see me- he just stared at me calmly, as though he had been waiting for me.
            “All was lost, Charmian.”
            His grave voice was stark, slicing through the garage with hissing precision.  Just as I collected myself enough to scream, he was gone.
            As