A matter of trust

"The Dark Stranger"

© VeGirl 2014

The next day I'm supposed to have a well earned sleep in, but I start to toss and turn bright and early. All I can think about is the man across the street, if he really is a man. Eddie is certain that he's a... No, I can't even think the word, and definitely not say it out loud.

People are people and nothing else.

Aggravated I get out of bed and walk up to the window closest to his house. All I see is what I always see; a rundown house, as empty as it has been for the last three years. Something between a sigh and a growl escape my lungs and I stomp over to the shower.

The entire time while water is streaming down my body, my mind is swarmed with thoughts. Why did this Vincent tell me to stay away from him, and why does he keep approaching me if he wants me to stay away? What kind of danger am I in anyway? And how weird was it that Esmeralda or what's-her-name, just showed up for me? Isn't it weird that Eddie couldn't see her? And was that a real conversation Esmeralda and I had that night or just a figment of my imagination like any other dream?

All this stuff is getting to me; I need somebody to talk to, but who would listen to this and not have me restrained?

I chew breakfast down fast and am still agitated afterwards, so I end up running like crazy on my treadmill, overlooking the forest behind my house, wishing I dared to run there again. Finally I ask myself; what kind of danger could happen during the day? If Vincent is a... whatever Eddie claims, he must be asleep during the day, I'm certain, and wouldn't his associates be sleeping as well then?

With a smug smile I turn the treadmill off, lock up the house and run out on the well known paths in the greenery. Finally I am able to calm down. The wind is rustling the crown of the trees softly and birds are chirping sweet. It is a soft, calm serenity and all the thoughts that have kidnapped my brain tone out.

I return to my house with a smile on my face and calmly I walk to the shower once again. I call Eddie to find out that she has headed for work after all, all is well with her and now all is well with me too.

* * *

For the next few days everything is great. Everybody at work is anxious to find out what happened in Vegas, but Eddie and I joke and say the famous annoying words.

"What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."

"Really funny!" Sarcasm is flowing from the curious co-workers.

"I just couldn't help myself." I chuckle, feeling really upbeat and... good. "We had a great time, there were inventive vendors and we got some really good ideas," I reveal and show them some photos I had been allowed to snap.

That week run by so incredible fast and soon it is Friday again.

"How about we'll meet at the fair for a night out tomorrow?" Eddie ask me and the other girls after work that Friday. We don't usually get to go out together like this, but we all have the night off, so why not? Even Mary manage to get a baby-sitter and it feels like a one time opportunity.

We decide to meet inside and first of all, I'm standing at the spot we agreed on, waiting for the others to show up. The park is so different at night; all the happy go lucky kids and their families head home and teenagers of different ages take their place. This spot is filled with happy people as usual and the scent of popcorn is pungent right here.

Suddenly I can feel something going on and the next second I know what it is, or more specific; who it is. I watch hypnotized how a familiar figure in black jeans and a black leather jacket saunter slowly and swiftly towards me. My body's reactions are ridiculous; my entire body is on full alert. I don't seem to be able to breathe properly, my pulse goes crazy and my stomach is in a knot.

"Vin," I say short, doing my best to ignore how my body reacts in his presence.

"Sam," he replies and I can feel how my mouth opens slightly from the sharp intake of breath.

It is amazing how it feels; like we are the only people here, even if I could have sworn there were lots of people running around just seconds ago. Even the sounds of people laughing and talking fade away. All I am aware of is the way his mussed black hair is moving in the warm wind, and how it falls down on his forehead, almost reaching his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, knowing that it isn't my business.

"I'm here for you, gorgeous," he replies with a smirk, making my body tremor again. "Just making sure nothing happens to you." His voice is silky smooth as usual.

What? He's not supposed to stand for safety; he has already told me he is dangerous, and he's not the only one who says that.

"Like a guardian angel?" I blurt out and watch his face get a slightly troubled look. "...or a stalker...?" I add cocky and Vincent's face brightens up in a flash and a soft pearly laughter erupts; a laughter that makes my head swoon. A breeze makes my light brown hair swat my face and that helps me focus on my surroundings.

"More like a bodyguard," he suggests smooth, making my breath hitch again. I just imagine him guarding my body and I have to clear my throat to be able to say something; anything.

He leans closer. "You're doing it again," he says softly in my ear and all I can think of is how he suddenly could be so near?

When did he step so close to me?

My mind is spinning and I can feel him gripping my upper arms tightly. "Breathe," he hiss in my ear.

What?

"Breathe," he says sharper and I draw in a ragged breath. He pushes me away from him slightly and looks into my eyes. "I can't have you passing out every time you see me." He has a teasing tone and humour is glistening in those gorgeous eyes of his. And what does that mean?

"If I'm gonna be your bodyguard..."

Wait a minute, how did he know what I was thinking? Does he read minds? Eddie will be so mad at me for having Edward friggin' Cullen for a neighbor. Luckily vampires are just a figment of somebody's imagination, and not for real. Right?

"Stop freaking out, Sam," he says with a smile lurking in the corner of his mouth and I draw in a deep breath. Suddenly he starts to whip his head around, as if to look for somebody. "Oh no..." I hear him mumble and his widened eyes has me scared for real. If something scares him, it must be bad.

"What?" I breathe, suddenly worried about what would make him this agitated.

He suddenly jerks me along and I find myself with my back pressed against the back of a shack with Vincent's finger on my lips as he is looking anxiously around. My body is on full alert in the most disturbing way. "We have to go," he hiss and once again his arm is around my back as I am stumbling along some narrow lane in what must be the staff quarters of this city fair. I have no idea where he's taking me or why. I am just about to ask when he once again push me up against some back alley wall in a shabby condition.

He's looking in every direction before his eyes focus on my face. I widen my eyes in fear, alarmed more than anything by the worried look in his eyes. This is serious, for him to look so worried. "Do you trust me?"

Every fibre of my body is screaming No! But still I answer a trembling. "Yes."

A slight smile forms on his face. "Good," he says and opens a door to let me inside some old shack. "Hide," he hiss and pushes me inside before he close the door behind me, engulfing me in total darkness.

I try to feel my way and not stumble in what feels like a small space. There is some kind of bench with a tiny curtain which I crawl under. My heart is pounding as I sit there hugging my legs and wondering what made Vincent so scared. Is there something after me? I can hear sounds from the rollercoaster outside; metal wheels thundering past and people screaming, and I figure that we must be close to that attraction.

This place isn't well insulated and I can hear muted voices just outside, but it is impossible to make out any words, and when they raises their voices, the freaking rollercoaster thunder past us, drowning out any sounds of a conversation.

Suddenly my phone starts chiming and I quickly pull it from my jeans pocket and ignore the call.

"What was that?" I hear clearly from the outside and I hold my breath as I flick the little button on the side to make sure it doesn't ring again.

"What?" I can hear Vincent ask.

"There was a phone ringing," a man's voice says. "Do you have someone here?" The voice sounds maleficent.

I hear Vincent laugh a gloating mean laugh. "Just a casual victim..."

I can hardly believe it, even though I heard it with my own ears. My heart is almost dead still in my chest as I hear them share an evil laughter together. Casual victim; I can see the headlines. Who is this man, and how could I trust him?

The rollercoaster rolls by and the sound drowns out the ominous laughter. I put my forehead on my knees where I sit trapped under that bench in this old shack. I have no idea how to get out of here. Suddenly the door opens and a dim light is brightening up the room. I hold my breath.

"Sam, where are you?" I hear Vincent hiss, but I'm frozen from fear.

What will they do to me?

"Sam? He is gone now, you can come out," Vincent says and I peak out from my hiding spot. He immediately grabs my hand, raise me from the floor and wraps his arms around me. "Good girl," he mumble as he press me close to his chest.

I'm not sure if it is the stress and confusion of what just happened, or if it is just being in this close proximity of him that makes my head spin. "Who was that, and what did he want from me?" I ramble on my eyesight blush with tears. "And who are you; what are you?" With my hands on his chest I press away from him and he looks at me intense.

"What are you?" I repeat sternly, needing answers.

He takes a deep breath. "I can't tell you."

I furrow my eyebrows. "What do you mean, you can't tell me?" I thrust my hands against his chest to let me go, but he won't budge. The fear had merged into anger of being put in this situation.

"I can't, you just have to trust me."

I try to shove harder against him, but he keeps me in his arms. "How can I trust you if you won't tell me anything?" I yell and I can feel my eyes start to well up again.

"That's right, just let it out." He coos me and strokes my brown hair as tears flows freely.

"How can I trust you?" I cry and he wraps me into the confinement of his arms again. My ire seeps away.

"Because I would never let anything hurt you," he murmur in my hair as he presses me tight against his chest again. "Never again..." He dries my tears away.

"Again?" I squeal puzzled. "What do you mean, again?"

He looks like he've been caught saying something he shouldn't have and without answering he starts to look around to see if anyone has been listening in on our conversation. "We should head out of here," he says strained.

"What do you mean again?" I use a little more edge to my tone.

"Not here," he hiss and grab my upper arm with a little more force than I find necessary. He drags me along between the huts at the fair. I almost stumble, even if the pace isn't that fast, we try not to bump into people we pass. People are excited, waiting in line to go on rides or walking around eating popcorn and cotton candy.

Randomly I wonder if Vincent would like to go on the Ferris wheel as we pass it.

"Sam?" I hear and turn my head as I'm dragged along and find Mark looking at me with worried eyes. "What's going on?" He glares at Vincent who has barely stopped.

"Vin," I hiss sharply and tug his arm to stop when I notice how Mark almost intervenes. Vincent stops, but he gives me a troubled look and glare at Mark. "It's Eddie's and my co-worker," I hiss and pull my arm from his grip to give the guy a quick hug. "Hi Mark."

"Hi gorgeous, is everything okay?" Mark asks guarded with his eyes flickering between Vincent and me.

"Yes, sure," I try to sound convincing, pretending that everything is perfectly normal. "This is Vincent, my neighbour." I introduce him with a smile to Mark and the two of them keep looking suspiciously at each other as they shake each other's hands.

I can see in Mark's eyes that he doesn't believe any of what I'm telling him, so I hook my arm in Vincent's, looking trustingly up at him. "Mark helped me when there was some creep almost attacking me after work," I say provocative, certain that it was the man next to me even if we've never discussed it.

"Oh, good," he smiles and slide his arm around the small of my back instead, sending shivers up and down my spine in a delectable way. "I was so worried when she told me about that incident," he tells Mark. "It's great that she has friends like Eddie and you." I can feel that he says it to provoke Mark, and to make some statement of ownership, but at this moment I can't do a thing about it.

"Yeah, how has that been; any other incidents?" Mark asks, while eyeing Vincent carefully.

"No, nothing," Vincent answer. "Good thing I live so close now that she's single again."

It is obvious that this is new information to Mark. "You left the asshole? Why didn't you say when we met in Vegas?"

I laugh from that surprising question. "I threw him out." The laughter could be from the stress standing here, pretending everything is okay even if I nearly was a casual victim just minutes ago.

"Good!"

"Yeah, that's what I said," Vincent claims, even though he and I have never discussed it.

"Don't hesitate to call if there are any more incidents with the stalker," Mark says with his eyes locked on mine.

"Luckily I can see her house from my kitchen when I'm not with her, so I can come to the rescue in seconds," Vincent interferes.

Ironical when most certainly he was the one that caused my panic; I have to talk to him about that later I tell myself. He runs his hand soothingly up and down my back and I have to concentrate to be able to think clearly at all. Electricity is sparkling between us, making me afraid light bulbs will pop around us. I want to throw myself at him right here.

The man by my side starts to look around in a surveillance kind of way. "I better take you home, honey," Vincent says and squeezes me tighter to him. "It was nice meeting you." His words are polite towards Mark, but they sound a bit fake; a bit too territorial.

"I'll see you, beautiful."!Mark takes a step forward to kiss my cheek, and realize that Vincent is still not letting go of his grip around my waist.

"You too," I say with a genuine smile and then we're off, towards the exit of this amusement-ground, and towards the parking-lot. "Mark is my friend," I hiss at Vincent. "Don't ever do that again!"

He turns to me with an innocent look on his face. "I don't know what you mean." The dangerous sparkle in his eyes tells a different story though.

I glare at him.

"Come on; let's get you to the car." He tugs me in the direction of my car, where we end up outside it. "Give me the keys, I'll drive," he commands.

I glare at him. "What are you talking about?" I am not tolerating this bossy behaviour from him.

He wraps me close into his arms, looking close into my eyes, and I lose all coherent thought; all I am aware of is his silvery dark blue eyes sparkling towards me and a scent I now identify as Jasmine, mixed with the leather from his jacket, clouding up my head, as chills travel along my spine. My eyes zoom in on his lips and I can't wait to taste them. Suddenly black spots start to dance in my periferal vision.

"Just what I thought," he chuckles as he pushes me toward the passenger-door of my car. The car blinks and he opens the door for me. "Step inside, milady."

Surprised I find the keys in his hand already. I narrow my eyes at him, but instead of making a pointy look, it turns out as a confused one and black spots once again starts to dance around in my vision.

"Breathe," he hisses as he leans closer to my ear and I draw a deep ragged breath. He chuckles. "See; I better drive," he teases me, closes the door behind me and takes a seat behind the steering-wheel in my car.

I keep my gaze on him the entire ride home as he navigates smoothly through the traffic and soon we're on my driveway where he politely holds the door for me. He drops the keys in my hand as I get out of the car and pass him. I press my lips together in a frown and walk with a little more impact on the concrete than necessary, on my way to the door to get inside.

The sounds of footsteps behind me are expected, but when I get inside the hallway, I am surprised to find myself leaving the door open for him, but he is still standing on my porch with a slightly pained look on his face. "Are you just gonna stay there?" I ask.

After a pause he inhales a deep breath. "I'm waiting for you to invite me in," he says with a patient smile.

I keep looking puzzled at him. "Do you want to have it in writing?" I am actually surprised at my own sharp attitude and how I talk back at him.

He notices my sarcasm and puts on that superior glib face I have seen before. "I'm an old fashioned guy; I live by a code of courtesy."

My puzzled face stays glued on him for some time while I debate internally what to do. Anger is still very much my fuel, but then I bow my head really exaggerated while I curtsy. "Welcome into my home sir." I say solemnly. "I am honoured to have you as a guest in my home Mr..." I start to giggle as he purse his pursed lips.

Vincent takes a ceremoniously step into my hallway and put an arm around my waist. "Thank you for this honour, Miss Morin," he says with a glib look and pulls me into his muscular chest.

I have to focus on the breathing again and have to work hard to distract myself from the tingling sensation. The arrousal is instant as soon as he touches me. "Once again you have me at a loss here; I have no idea what you're called more than Vincent," I say with pounding heart and watch his silvery blue eyes react when I say his name.

"Therrien; Vinćento Therrien..." He says slowly with French r:s and it really suits him. His accent does strange things to me.

I take a step back to get away from him... to be able to think. "A mysterious name for a mysterious guy," I muse. He doesn't answer but I think I see a pained look in his eyes, shadow by. I am determined to know more about this man. "Can I offer you a drink?" I surprise myself by asking even if I should be intimidated.

A smile takes shape on his face. "Yes please." His eyes sparkle and I am amazed at the way my whole body tingles when I see that smile. I ask what he wants and ramble what I can offer. "Scotch, please," he says when that word comes through my lips and I turn towards the kitchen cupboard, grabbing a bottle and pouring it into two glasses.

I take a seat by my kitchen table, gesturing to the chair opposite mine, wanting to put some distance between us so I can think. "Would you please explain now?"

Swiftly he takes the seat and watches me thoroughly for some time.

"I heard that I'm nothing but a casual victim," I prompt tart and watch his face react with pain or trouble.

"I had to say that to get him off your scent."

"Scent?" I blink.

Vincent smiles and slowly raises his eyebrows with a smile. Could Eddie have been right about Vincent being a... I lean back in my chair and study him. Have I invited a vampire into my home? Am I that stupid?

He smiles and rolls his eyes at my reaction. "I've told you I'll never hurt you."

"Intentionally," I remind him.

A smile graces his face. "Good, you were paying attention!" He keep watching me with cautious eyes for a while, looking like he's going through some internal battle. "You and I knew each other a long time ago," he said devotional.

That was not what I expected and my eyebrows fly up in surprise. "No we didn't."

"Yes, Samira," he says with a French accent that makes my whole body tingle. "We knew each other well." The flirty teasing smirk is far from his serious face.

I keep looking surprised at him with my eyebrows high up. Suddenly the corners of my mouth start to turn upwards and the smile turns abruptly into a bubbling laughter. "No Vincent, I would definitely remember if I had known you before," I laugh.

Vincent's serious eyes narrow from my reaction and eventually his mouth turns into a smug grin. "Oh you would, would you?"

"Definitely a guy looking like you," I say and want to bite my tongue off when I see his smug face. What the eff did I say? Why can't I learn to strain my tongue and not speak without thinking first?

"Yeah, you are not so bad yourself," he says with a wink of his eye, and I want to smack him, but just one look into those eyes, and I lose my ability to think again.

I shake my head to regain some of my brain-functions and I clear my throat. "Could you please tell me when we met; was it in college, because I had some serious partying going on there." I try to apologise, but not too seriously.

"No Samira, it was before college," he says softly and the smug face has turned into the face of a man who lost everything. I look at him as he seems lost in his own world.

I pucker my brows and watch him in silence for a while. "You ask me to trust you, and then you go around saying things like that, without further explanation. You make it really hard to trust you, you know?" I say slowly and watch him snap out of his own little reverie.

He looks up at me and plaster on a smile. "Unfortunately this is all I can say at this moment." His voice is dark and suggestive again. "You're just gonna have to trust me."

"Trust is earned, not just magically handed out," I say, my tone a little sharper than I first intended, and I can see in his eyes what a difference that statement had.

A smile or perhaps a smirk lightened up his face. "You trusted me once, one day I hope you can do it again."

* * * * *

Thank you for reading. I would really want to hear your opinion on this story.

Please let me know!

Yours truly! VG

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