The Darkest Of Light (The Kings of Retribution MC)

"Sorry, it’s just you’re my friend. I’ll always worry about you." I see Leah roll her eyes at my statement, but I don’t miss the small smile she tries to hide by ducking her head.

Later that day, I decide I need to stop by the store. Bella and Logan gave me a credit card and told me to use it for whatever I need while I’m at school.

As I’m walking from my dorm to the student parking lot, when I get an eerie feeling of being watched. Glancing over my shoulder, I take in my surroundings. I only see students milling around from point A to point B. Shaking the feeling off, I pick up my pace, reaching my truck. I go to reach for the door handle when I notice a piece of paper under the windshield wiper. Sweeping my head from side to side, looking around once again, for someone I may recognize, but come up short. Leaning over the hood, I lift the wiper, retrieving the folded piece of paper. Opening it, I read—

Alba,

I wanted to tell you how beautiful you look today.

Okay, this is creepy. Who the hell would write me something like this? I don’t even know anyone here except Leah and Sam. Something tells me this is not Sam. He’s sweet, but not creepy. Suddenly, I think about the flowers I received.

Climbing into my truck, I make a mental note to ask Sam if he’s messing with me. My gut is telling me no.

I’m walking down one of the isle of the grocery store in search of microwave popcorn, when I run into Professor Green.

"Hello, Alba." He greets with a warm smile. I notice him holding one of those hand baskets, filled with various items.

"Hi, Professor Green. How are you?"

"Oh please, you call me Calvin when we’re not in class. Professor Green makes me feel old." He smirks.

Not knowing what else to say, I fidget with my shopping basket.

"Well, it was nice to see you Professor—I mean Calvin. I’ll see you in class Monday." I tell him, attempting to step around him. I’m the epitome of socially awkward. When he doesn’t move, I look up at him. I see something pass over his face, but then it’s quickly gone before smiling.

"Yeah Alba, I’ll see you Monday." He says stepping aside, letting me pass. That was weird.

Back in my dorm, I’m putting the snacks I bought at the store away, when my phone chimes with a text. Opening it, I see it’s from Leah.

Leah: I emailed student housing about putting in a dorm transfer. Fingers crossed.

Me: Yes! Fingers crossed!

I send a silent prayer that Leah becomes my new roommate. I hate being alone. Nights are the worst. Sitting down on my bed, I close my eyes remembering the last time I slept through the night. The last time I felt completely safe.

> How can one of the best memories of your life also be one of the worst? What I wouldn’t give to feel Gabriel’s warmth beside me. To have him wrap those strong tattooed arms around me, and to feel the scruff of his beard on my cheek when he holds me close. And no matter how much his last words gutted me, I can’t bring myself to hate him, or regret the last night we spent together. The way Gabriel touched me, held me, and made love to me showed me he cares. Even if his words said the opposite. It will be the memory of his touch I’ll keep with me always.

Knowing sleep is inevitable right now, I sit down at my desk and fire up my computer. Scrolling through Facebook, I see a few new releases by a couple of my favorite authors and my fingers "accidently" one-click. I continue to scroll down when I see an author looking for suggestions on a cover designer. Clicking on her page I see she’s a romance writer. Chewing on my lip, I contemplate emailing her.

"Screw it." I say out loud. It won’t hurt to try, right? Typing out an email and attaching about a dozen of my designs along with all my contact information, I then click send.

The next morning, I wake feeling sick much like the day before. What the hell is going on with me? Probably stress. Lord knows the past several months—hell the past year—has been a nightmare. Thankfully this morning I’m not hugging the toilet. After a few deep breaths the wave of nausea has disappeared.

Sitting up in bed, I look up at the clock on the wall and see I have several hours before class. On Mondays my first class isn’t till after lunch. Rolling out of bed, I glance out the window and notice it’s pouring rain. This makes me smile. Call me weird, but I love rainy and cloudy days. I’m just finishing up in the bathroom, when I remember the email I sent last night. Grabbing my laptop off my desk, I sit on my bed and pull up my email. I have a reply already. Nervously, I click open the message.

"Holy crap!" The author wants to buy two of my designs, as is. Then she goes on asking about pricing, and do I have a website, etc. I can’t freaking believe this. I spend the next couple of hours building my website and setting up a Paypal account. When I’m finished, I email the author back with what I’m charging along with my website information. I still can’t believe something I created is going to be on a book.

Suddenly, I hear some scraping noises against my dorm door, and what sounds like someone giggling the door knob. I sit there frozen, my heart pounding. Who would be trying to come into my room? Seconds later the door flies open. Leah stands there with a couple bags hanging from her shoulders and she’s trying to balance a box on her hip.

"You know, a little help would be nice." She chides with a smirk knocking me from my stupor.

Smiling, "Naw, looks like you got it." That remark earns me a death glare. Walking over to her, I take the box out of her hands setting it down on the floor. "I guess it’s safe to say I have a new roommate?"

"You guess correctly." Leah says adjusting the glasses on her face. "As soon as I checked my email this morning and saw a reply from student housing, I couldn’t pack my stuff soon enough. No way was I staying around that she beast Stacy any longer than I had too." With a huff Leah tosses her duffle bags down on the empty bed across from mine. "You’re not mad I showed up early, are you?"

"Of course not. I’m just glad you’re here at all." Over the next hour, I help Leah put her things away. She doesn’t have much, so she was able to bring all her things in two hauls. She wasn’t kidding about wanting to get out of her old room. When I followed her into the hallway outside our door, she had all her stuff lined up against the wall. I admonished her for not calling me to help her carry all her stuff up.

With a little time to spare before class, we decide to get some lunch. I fire off a quick text to Sam, to see if he wants to join us at Joe’s.