An Unexpected Love, Amber Riel [i have read the book .txt] 📗

Brandon’s Attraction

          Jennie walked into the living room which was connected to the wide opening family room which made it seem as if the two rooms were one.  She sat on the bulging black soft couch and noticed that her younger brother had turned the television to Disney Channel but had left the room.  She didn’t feel like changing the channel so she just let the television play.

          Ring…. Ring…. Ring.

She picked up the wireless phone which sat on the little round stand next to the couch and answered it.  She hadn’t bothered to check the caller id as she pressed the round talk button on the phone.  “Hello.”

 

          “OHMYGOSH!  OHMYGOSH!  OHMYGOSH!” Melinda spoke the words so fast that they had formed on long word which she kept repeating.  Her voice had indicated that she was worried and fearful of something horrifying.  She had the television on the news and the story was bothering her.  “Have you watched the news today?” she asked, trying to calm herself down.

 

          “No.  Why?  What’s going on?  Why are you freaking out?” Jennie asked, confused by what could have happened to have one of her best friends in panic mode.

 

          “Just turn to channel nine.”  Melinda’s voice over the phone told Jennie that she was about to cry.

 

          Jennie couldn’t understand what could have Melinda in such a terrifying tone.  She turned the television channel to nine like Melinda had told her and as soon as she seen Cassie’s picture on the television the phone had slid out of her hand.

 

          “Jennie?” Melinda asked.  She had heard the phone hit the floor.  “Jennie?  Jennie, are you there?”  She figured that Jennie heard the news and that was why she couldn’t answer.

 

          Shock had taken hold of Jennie’s body as the reality of the news story hit her.  The news that one of her best friends had been kidnapped was unbelievable.  When reality finally smacked her back to the real world, she picked up the phone and placed it back to her ear.  “Cassie was kidnapped?”

 

          “Yea.”  Melinda felt tears crawling down her cheeks and had been glad that she was the only one in the house because she hated it if she cried in front of other people.  “I couldn’t believe it either.  Cassie’s a good person.  This kind of thing shouldn’t have happened to her.  This is the kind of thing that you wish would happen to your enemies.”

 

          “I know,” Jennie agreed.  “I hope she’s okay.”

 

          “I hope so too…. Man, if I ever meet that guy, I’ll show him that he kidnapped the wrong girl’s friend.  She’s practically our sister.”

 

          “And I’ll be there cheering you on, girl.”

 

          Brandon carried the paper bags of Chinese food into the kitchen.  Zeke couldn’t help but follow as his eyes locked onto the food.  Brandon sat the bag on the table and pulled out a small plastic bag of six egg rolls, another small bag of crab lagoon, and three things of general chow.

          “Why did you order three things of general chow?” Zeke asked.

          “Because….” Brandon had to think of a lie as soon as possible.  “When I get hungry again.”

          “Ok-ay?” Zeke asked, confused although he didn’t bother to ask any more questions.

          Brandon quickly come up with another lie so he could bring the food up to Cassie but he didn’t want Zeke to start raising any red flags.  “I’ll be back…. I have to go check a few things.”

          “Okay.”

          Brandon grabbed two forks and handed one to Zeke and hurried out of the room.

          “Man, Brandon’s been acting weird, today,” Zeke told himself.  “I wonder if he’s feeling alright?”

 

          Cassie laid on the bed, dying of starvation.  Buck laid next to her with his big long black head resting on her chest.  He had his tongue sticking out.  Cassie would pet the dog, but it was hard to with her hands tied behind her back.

          Brandon walked into the room with a ten foil rectangle bowl and a fork in his hand.

          Cassie looked over at him and sat up.

          “Hope you like general chow.”  He walked over to her and went to hand her the bowl.  “Here you go.”

          Cassie looked at the bowl then to him.

          Confusion grew on Brandon’s face.  “What?  You said that you want Chinese.”

          “And I do….” Cassie replied.  “But, I can’t feed myself because you have my hands tied behind my back.  Duh.”

          Brandon remembered he had tied her hands behind her back which made it hard for her to feed herself.

          “That means you have to feed me.”

          “Okay.”  He looked at his dog who was still lying on the bed, looking up at the food.  “No, Buck.  You can’t have any of this.  It’s too spicy for you…. Now, get off of Laura’s bed….”

          “My name’s Cassie.”

          “I’m not talking about you…. I’m talking about my niece…. Her name’s Laura.”

          “Oh.”  Cassie felt awkward now.

          Buck climbed down from the bed.  He looked at Brandon with his mouth slightly opened and tongue hanging out.

          Brandon worked his way over to the bed and sat down next to Cassie while the big puppy of a canine stared at the man and sat on all fours.  His tail wagged with excitement as he hoped for some food.  “No, Buck.  You can’t have any of this…. This is for her…. I’m sorry, boy,” Brandon told the dog as he removed the plastic lid off of the tin container.  He went to stick the fork into the rice.

          “I don’t like rice,” Cassie stated, kind of rudely.

          Brandon looked at her.  “Okay.  Fine….”  He told her as he moved the fork over to the chicken.  “Do you like the spicy chicken?”

          Cassie looked at him.  “Yea.”

          “Okay.”  Brandon stuck the fork into a piece of the boneless chicken and Cassie opened her mouth.

 

          “Man,” Zeke told himself.  “What’s taking Brandon so long?” He looked at the clock which was built into the oven.  It read 4:59pm.  “Dude, he’s been up there for an hour.”  He waited a couple of more minutes but Brandon still hadn’t walked into the kitchen.  He decided to go see what was taking Brandon so long.

 

          Zeke worked his way up to the second floor as Brandon walked out of Laura’s room.  He held the tin which had nothing but rice in one hand as he closed the door with the other hand.

          “Oh…. Laura’s here?”

          “Yea,” Brandon found himself in another lie.  “She’s not feeling too well and I…. She said that I could have her chicken and to save the rice for her later….”

          “Oh…. Well, can I say hi?  She does consider me to be her uncle too seeing that I’m a friend of the family’s and all….”

          “Yea…. But she actually just went to bed…. Well, she’s taking a nap.”

          “Oh.  Alright…. Well, tell the kid that I said, ‘Hi….’ I’m going to go ahead and go…. Oh yea.  When Laura wakes up, tell her that I said that I hope she feels better.”

          “I will.”  Brandon watched as Zeke walked down the stairs and out of the front door.  He swallowed with relief that Zeke was finally gone.  He couldn’t believe that he had lied to his best friend.  He lied to the guy who he considered to be his brother.  His started pounding uncontrollably.  The guilt began to come back.  He closed his eyes and thought about the banker.  “I’m sorry…. I wasn’t planning on killing you,” he whispered as if the man was standing in front of him.  He felt as if he were going to cry.

 

          Cassie was trying to look at her watch to see what time it was but she couldn’t.  She took a deep breath.  “BRANDON!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.  She waited but he didn’t answer.  She took another deep breath.  “BRANDON!” He still hadn’t answered her.

 

          Brandon sat on his couch.  He was watching a rerun of Family Guy.

          “BRANDON!” he heard Cassie’s voice yell.

          “What does she want?” he asked himself.  He stood up and left the room.

 

          “What?” he asked as he walked into the room.

          “Well, first of all, it’s a good thing that I’m tied up because I could have been getting dressed, you perv….”

          “WHAT?!” Brandon asked, confused.

          “And second of all, what time is it?  I would check my watch but I can’t.”

          Brandon looked at his watch.  He turned his attention back toward Cassie and looked into her brown eyes.  Her eyes were so beautiful and he had to look away before he could say something incredibly stupid.

          “Well…. I’m waiting.”

          “It’s after nine.”  He turned his attention toward her again, trying to keep himself from saying something ridiculous.  “So you graduated?” he asked.

          “Yea…. How did you know that?” Cassie dropped her mouth.  “Were you stocking me or something?”

          “Are you kidding?” Brandon looked at Cassie.  This girl had mentioned she was eighteen but her imagination was as wild as a four year old child’s.  “I didn’t even know you before today.  Before today…. You never existed…. You’re a hot eighteen year old girl who I didn’t know about until today.”

          Cassie couldn’t believe her ears at Brandon’s words.  “Did you just say that I was hot?”

          Brandon realized what he had just said.  “No,” he lied, kind of laughing.  “I said that you’re a young beautiful eighteen year old girl….” He realized that he wasn’t helping his case.

          “You think I’m hot.”

          Brandon knew he shouldn’t have looked at her.  “Look I’m the kidnapper and you’re the kidnappee, now just leave me alone okay…. Buck, are you going to stay in here or come with me?”

          The dog lifted his head up and looked at him.  He stood up and walked over to Cassie as if to tell Brandon that he was staying with the girl.

          “Okay.  Fine stay in here with Cassie.  I’m going to bed.  Good night, you two.”  Brandon began to leave the room.

          “BRANDON, WAIT!” there was no need for Cassie to yell but she couldn’t resist.

          Brandon turned around to face Cassie again.  “Now, what?”

          “Can you put in a CD for me, please?  It’s too quite in here and it’s bugging me.”

          “Okay.”  Brandon walked over to the cd’s he had bought for his niece.  “All Laura has are Camp Rock, all four of the Jonas Brothers CDs, and Mitchel Musso.”

          Cassie smiled.  “I love them all…. Which one would I choose?”

          “I have a radio in my room that plays five CDs…. I could bring that in here for you.”

          Cassie’s smile grew wider.  She had only knew Brandon for a day but aside from everything that had happened at the bank it had seem to her that Brandon was actually a kind