Free True Intentions by Lisa Kuehne Page A

reassess my intentions, I lean forward and touch his perfect, soft lips to mine. The sensation of our lips together is incredible. He immediately tenses up, and I instinctively pull away, but then he abruptly cups my face with both of his hands and pulls our lips closer together as if he wants more. He pushes his tongue into my mouth, and I taste his sweet, apple-laced breath. Before I have the opportunity to register the fact I am actually kissing Sam Perry, he jerks back, separating our lips. He shoots me a bizarre look—one of anger mixed with repugnance.
    "What the hell are you doing, Ava?" he demands, jumping off the picnic table and increasing the distance between us.
    He paces around while grabbing the light brown hair at the base of his scalp.
    "I don't know, exactly," is all I can conjure up as a response.
    I'm being completely honest. I don't know.
    I don't know why I feel the way I do when I'm around him, why I want to constantly stay around him, and especially why I just kissed him when I've never kissed a boy in my entire life.
    Nothing makes sense to me anymore.
    If I had any idea what was happening to me, I'd try to stop . . . . I think.
    "You don't realize what I am!"
    "It doesn't matter," I answer back honestly. I don't care if he has a police record, or cheats, or skips school. It really doesn't matter to me anymore. So what if I'm attracted to the bad boy of the school.
    My butterflies are fluttering like mad.
    Then, I suddenly stop thinking about all the things he may have done.
    What did he mean by " what" I am?
    Is he just a bad boy or something much, much worse? Maybe he really is a rapist.
    "It does matter, Ava! I could have destroyed you the other day. I should have destroyed you. Why do you keep making me realize I made a huge mistake?" His eyes look scornful as he says these painful words.
    That comment—him feeling as though my being alive is a mistake—makes me feel so low—lower than I have ever felt before. I try to hold back the tears, but it is no use. I feel them pour out of my eyes. I grab my backpack from the ground and turn away from him, heading back through the same side door of the school we exited from.
    I can't stand the thought of being around him for another second.
    I can't remove the wounds he's just inflicted on my self-worth. They will probably remain for a very long time, maybe even forever.
    At this point, it doesn't matter why he stopped me from going any farther. I don't care.

    Chapter Nine – Angel of Light

    As he watches her walk away, Sam knows he has deeply hurt her. It's obvious.
    She'll just have to get over it, he reminds himself.

    Will this mistake haunt him forever? How could he have been so stupid? As he thinks back to that Tuesday morning, his fury grows . . . .
    Ava's suspicion toward his mysterious behavior is right on the mark. Sam Perry is indeed mysterious to say the very least . He has to be . Mankind lives in a physical, tangible, material world influenced by the invisible and mysterious spiritual world around them. That's where Sam Perry comes in: to influence mankind. That's what he has focused his efforts toward becoming good at since his birth into this new world in 1798.
    His job is simple: to invisibly tempt. Not only the members of mankind who have poor or weak morals, but to influence everyone, which includes people who view themselves as righteous followers of God.
    It never ceases to amaze Sam; the vast majority of people in this world have lost sight of the real connection between cause and effect. They seldom stop to think of the long-term consequences of their daily, sinful actions.
    If Ava met the devil face to face, she would never believe it was him. Satan has always been depicted as a cartoon character in a red suit with a pitchfork or a ghoul so hideous that if she saw him, her instincts would kick in, and she would instantly know to run.
    None of these characteristics are the truth.
    In reality, she would find him attractive,