Free Laney by Joann I. Martin Sowles

stairs. My body tingled at his touch. He dropped his hand as we reached the stairs and the tingles faded. He glanced back one more time as we started up the steps.

    “What were you doing down there?” I asked, my arms still crossed.

    “I was checking to see if I locked my car.”

    We reached my door. He seemed distracted and continued to glance around like he was looking for someone. He seemed uneasy.

    “Goodnight,” I said as I stepped inside.

    “Hey, Laney,” he said, just before I shut the door.

    “Yeah?” I peeked around, trying to hide my bra-lessness.

    His eyes held mine, the moonlight making his sparkle. Damn, he’s gorgeous. “Be careful. You never know what kinds of dangers are lurking in the shadows.”

    I felt my body give a little tremble of fear. Had he seen something I hadn’t? I nodded, not knowing what to say to that.

    “Goodnight.” He smiled faintly and my fear faded.

    “Goodnight.” I returned the smile and closed the door.

Chapter 10 - Stop Biting Yourself!

    I woke in a panic Friday morning. I had overslept. I vaguely remembered Kiera waking me and telling me that she was leaving, that she was walking to school with Carter. Yay for her .

    I jumped out of bed and rushed around, getting ready as quickly as possible.

    I stumbled out the door, locking it behind me while struggling with my backpack that was refusing to stay on my shoulder. I hurried down the stairs to the parking area, rounded the corner, and smacked hard into Oliver, who was just coming up to the steps. He quickly reached for me, wrapping his arms around me as I bounced back off of him. He steadied me and held on a little longer than necessary. I didn’t mind.

    “Are you okay?” he asked. He was wearing his sunglasses. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I could swear that I could still feel them on me.

    “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, through gasps. I had knocked the wind out of myself.

    “You’re running late today.” It was a statement, not a question. “Did we keep the two of you up too late last night?’

    “No.” You didn’t keep us up late enough. I felt myself flush at my own thoughts and noticed a hint of a smile pick at the corner of his mouth.

    “Can I give you a ride? We are going to the same place and you know how eco-friendly I am.” That hint of a smile had turned into a mischievous little smirk. “We might as well carpool,” he finished.

    “Sure.” Like I was going to turn down more time with him.

    He led me to his car and, as we got closer, I noticed a silver ram’s head emblem at the nose of it, between two thick, matte-black stripes that ran up the hood. I hadn’t noticed those before. It was hard to notice anything else when Oliver was around.

    Opening the car door for me, he took my backpack from my shoulder and set it behind the passenger seat. I got in and he closed the door after me. His car was huge compared to mine. The entire inside looked like top-of-the-line quality. Black and leather from top to bottom, lights and every gadget I imagined possible on the dash. It was spotlessly clean, too, unlike mine. I was surprised at how well I could see out the windows considering how dark they were from the outside.

    He slid into the driver’s seat and started the car. The engine roared to life. It was loud and sounded very powerful, not at all eco-friendly.

    “You know,” I began, “I imagine my car’s a little more earth-friendly, considering the sound of that engine.” I gave him a playful smile.

    He shot me a breathtaking grin and revved the engine; he shifted into gear and we started out of the parking lot.

    I’m not much of a car fan but something about the way that engine sounded excited me. “What kind of car is this?” I asked, as we started out onto University Boulevard.

    “It’s an SRT Dodge Challenger.”

    I nodded like I understood. I had no idea what the SRT stood for, but I could only guess it meant really fast and really expensive. Or maybe