Free Coma (Paranormal Romance) by Lilly Mance Page B

love with someone. In my
view, relationships didn’t include secrets. To commit, I had to
feel safe, trust completely, and surrender all that I am to someone
who would do the same. Corny soul mate kind of thingy. What was the
point in having a relationship if I had to hide who I was for the
rest of my life? One time, hearing me say that, my girlfriends said
I needed to come down from that cloud, and look at life for what it
was—anything but a fairytale. Men are from Mars, and women are
from Venus —Helen would quote a famous book title. I couldn’t
settle for that. If things really were like that, I’d rather spend
my life alone than with a Martian. Mom had her opinion on that
matter. She said the problem was that I dealt with boys, not men,
and that things would change in time. I begged to differ. Looking
at Dad and other grown up men, all I could see were the same boys,
only more facial hair.
    So what was it that I wanted? What differed
Venusian men from Martian? And why did I feel Zack was different? I
knew nothing about him. That was yet to be discovered. Mom’s car in
our driveway ended my internal debate. I must have lost track of
time, and now had to hurry up. I dried myself, applied a thick
layer of lotion, and impatiently tapped my foot against the tiles,
waiting for the lotion to soak up. There was no time, so I put on
an expendable T-shirt that foreseeably glued itself to my skin, and
hurried down to see Dad.
    We exchanged hugs, with me suppressing
painful moans when he put his arms over my burnt back. It was
almost midnight when we finished talking about my job, sunburns,
and Dad’s conference. Before I went to bed, Mom and Dad had agreed
to stop for coffee at Mario’s before work to see me in action. That
made me nervous big time, and I tried to talk them out of it. No
luck.
    ~*~

Chapter
#6
     
    The next morning, I woke up way before my
alarm clock went off. My mind was too busy to sleep, sorting out
what I feared more—my parent’s visit, or Fat-man. I hoped Zack
would come, and share some good news before I got to work, but he
didn’t. That’s why I was extra careful exiting the bus. It was too
early in the morning, but if Zack’s efforts had failed, I was in
big trouble. Couple of glances around the block reassured me I was
alone, so I entered Mario’s. None of the staff were there yet, so I
decided to make some coffee for myself to steady those edgy
nerves.
    Sipping warm coffee, I tried to visualize my
parents sitting at one of the tables, and me serving them. It
shouldn’t be too hard. Sure, it was important for me to show how
good I was at it, but if stage fright ate the best of me, I was
certain Mom and Dad would find it cute, not clumsy.
    At that moment, something crashed behind my
back, and I almost fainted from fear. I heard myself scream as if I
were watching from somewhere else. Before I almost passed out, I
caught a glimpse of Jake hopping on one foot, holding the other in
both hands. The thing crashing must have been Jake’s bare foot
hitting something, or the baseball bat still rolling on the
floor.
    “Oh, it’s you,” I said when I managed to get
ahold of myself.
    “Morning to you, too,” Jake growled, and I
tried to look somewhere else, because he was wearing only briefs.
I’d hate to see anything slip out of those. That image would surely
imprint in my brain. “What are you doing here this early? I thought
someone had broken in.”
    “That man from yesterday attacked me when I
was going home, so I came in earlier to avoid running into him,”
that was the briefest explanation I could offer.
    “Did he hurt you?”
    I shook my head and said, “No. I managed to
escape.”
    “You should have come to me. I would have
made him regret that decision!” Though he sounded serious, his hair
defying gravity, bare feet, and briefs, made it less so. Seeing him
like that took the edge off his usual grim self.
    “Thanks, Jake. If he tries it again, I will.
Coffee?”
    “No,