Bishop - Part One: Hollows Creek Book 1 Read online

  A wide awe-filled grin covers her face. “It sure looks like a little more than that.” I bite my lip and shrug again, not knowing what I should be telling people about us, especially after what he said before we walked into school.

  Chapter 7

  Bishop

  Up until ten minutes ago, my day was going great. For a guy like me, if things didn’t go as I had planned for them to, it would have my skin crawling. With Cara in my life now, there's this unusual calm that has settled over me. It smooths over the unpredictability that is my Princess. My reactions are still extreme, but I’m able to get over them quickly and think clearer in response to her.

  Even after freaking out this morning, worrying about why Cara wasn’t answering the door, and then getting pissed at what she was wearing, I was able to smile while waiting for her. My girl is beautiful, all curves and creamy smooth skin any bastard would be lucky to touch. She’s a fucking sight, and I’m losing my mind at the thought of other guys seeing her every day.

  When she called me her prince, I came undone and couldn’t hold back from claiming her lips. When she told me that there hasn’t ever been anyone else, that I’m the only one who will ever get to feel her soft skin against mine, to kiss her full lips, and ravish her beautiful body, I was barely able to make it through my classes without seeing her.

  My girl was still the topic of conversation at school. Unfortunately, like I knew it would, the rumor mill is running rampant. All kinds of stories are beginning to spread about us. The one that set my blood boiling was that my girl was a homewrecker, breaking up Alexis and I. Jesus, the things people could come up with. I’m going to have to set everyone straight, but first I need to see my Princess. Feel her pressed against me, and know that she’s safe.

  I grab lunch for my girl and me, then go outside to my friend’s spot under the trees to wait for Mandy to bring me my girl. While I am waiting, I get a call from my guys in IT. A call that I had been waiting on since last night.

  “Good morning, sir.”

  “Lamar, what do you have for me?”

  “We got the tapes last night and were able to find the incident pretty quick. We are having some trouble figuring out who the offenders were. Unfortunately, the four of them wore masks. We watched the tapes several times and ran voice recognition, but we weren’t able to track who they were. We know that there were three women and one guy. We’re still working on it, but I wanted to call and let you know what we have so far.”

  I growl a ‘fuck’ into the phone. “Shit, thanks, Lamar. Let me know when you guys figure it out.”

  “You got it sir.”

  I see that I have a text from Mandy waiting after I hang up with Frankie. It’s then that I realize Cara should have been out here by now. Lunch started over ten minutes ago. I open the text, and I’m moving instantly.

  Mandy: Bishop I need you at the girl’s bathroom near the cafeteria.

  When I hear the words coming out of Alexis’ mouth, I’m ready to strangle her. “You stupid fat cow. Bishop isn’t interested in you. You’re merely a plaything. A way to pass the time. He’s only trying to make me jealous to get back at me for breaking up with him this summer.” She shouts, then cackles.

  “Whatever you need to tell yourself to help you sleep better at night sweetheart,” Cara says blandly, though I can hear the quiver in her voice. The crowd goes silent, probably shocked that she dared to say anything back to Alexis.

  “Come on Mandy, let’s get out of here,” Cara says firmly.

  “That’s right, go fatten up. You’ll never be able to keep a guy like Bishop Arnetti satisfied. When he comes crawling back to me on his hands and knees, I’ll have him tell me everything you were unable to give him.” Alexis sneers. When I hear others laughing, I’ve had enough of this shit show. I’m reeling from the hate being flung at my Princess. My. Fucking. Princess.

  Trying to get to my girl I see that she and Mandy are surrounded by about ten people who are refusing to let them pass. Seeing red I call out for her. “Cara, Mandy, come here,” I say in restrained fury.

  The others around us gasp when they see me, and I’m sure they can feel the waves of anger coming off me. The crowd parts for my girls, and I’m sick at the look on Cara’s beautiful face. She’s hurt by all of this but is trying to be strong. Strong for herself, so Alexis doesn’t get the better of her, so she can keep her head held high. When Cara finally looks at me, I hold out my hand to her. She hesitates, which kills me, but she comes to me and takes my hand with a pissed off Mandy in tow. Glaring at the people who were surrounding them, they look at the ground, knowing they were caught being assholes.

  “Let’s get a few things straight,” I tell the growing crowd. “One, the only person I will ever be on my hands and knees for will be Cara. Two, that will be when I’ve got a ring declaring that she’s mine for forever.” And when I’m eating her sweet pussy, but I don’t say that part, I don’t want to embarrass my girl. Alexis scowls, but everyone else looks at me in shock. “Three, Alexis you never satisfied me. We never even kissed, let alone slept together.”

  “That’s because you couldn’t even get it up.” She shouts at me.

  “I couldn’t get it up because I wasn’t fucking interested, you vile bitch!” I hear someone mutter 'damn,' in the crowd that is drawing around us, and I keep on. “To be clear, Cara has a beautiful body. I’ve had to listen for the past two days as half of the guys in this school have waxed poetic about her curves.” Looking at the crowd, I say as calmly as I can “Raise your fucking hand if you’re one of the assholes dying to get your hands on my woman."

  When they hesitate, I hear Finn behind me say “Fucking do it. He knows who you are, don’t be shy about that shit now.” I see the guys start raising their hands guiltily. Davey adds “Keep them up.” I see Davey and Finn have their hands raised as well. I raise my eyebrows at them, but they give me a wide grin and shrug their shoulders unrepentantly. Assholes.

  “Look around Alexis. Look at the guys around you. They want her body and haven’t been able to shut up about it. Stop spewing your lies trying to bring her down. I know that my girl can take you, can make your life miserable. She’d feel bad about it because she’s a real fucking person, unlike you, who would never want to cause anyone pain. Let me make this clear. I’m standing up for her because she’s worth it, not because she can’t do it herself.”

  Looking around I tell the guys, “Stop fucking talking about her. I know she’s fucking beautiful, but she isn’t yours, so shut up about it. Now put your damn hands down.”

  Cara squeezes my hand and pulls on it, trying to get me to stop, but I continue, laying it all out there, “Alexis, I’ve regretted going out with you since the beginning, but now, never more so. In the future, I would be cautious about the way you speak to, and of, my Princess. Cara is mine. She’ll be mine always. Cut the shit and get over yourself.” With those parting words, I turn around and lead Cara and our friends to our area outside.

  Once we are there, I pull Cara away from everyone. She still hasn’t said anything, not one word since we walked away from the fucking viper bitch. Walking to the side of a building, where we’ll have some privacy away from prying eyes, I pull Cara into my arms and hold her sweet body to mine.

  “God Princess, are you okay?” She nods her head against my chest, and I release a sigh of relief. I palm the back of her head, pushing my fingers through her hair, messing up her hair, and begin to massage her skull. “I’m sorry about Alexis. Baby, please don’t believe the lies that she spews. I didn’t want her, that’s why it lasted only a couple of weeks.”

  “Bishop, I can’t, and won’t be mad at you because of your past.”

  I kiss her head and rest my head on top of hers, breathing in her scent which is calming me as much as it’s turning me on.

  “I didn’t come here to stir the pot, Bishop. I don’t want drama in my life, and I don’t think we-”

  Pulling her hair, so her eyes are on mine, “Don’t even
fucking think about stopping this. There is no stopping what we have. Do you hear me, Cara?”

  She nods as best as she can, which isn’t much since I’ve got a tight grip on her hair. I pull her to me and smash my lips against hers. I suck her bottom lip into my mouth greedily, and bite, hard enough she gasps. I shove my tongue past her lips, tasting her for the first time. The kiss is sloppy and unrefined. It's also everything I've wanted to feel when kissing someone. She said there hadn't been anyone ever, does that mean I'm her first kiss too? Not getting a good enough angle, because she’s a short little thing, I grab her ass, lifting her until we are the same height, and slam her back against the wall. Using my hips to pin her back and my knee to hold her up, I grab her jaw and take control of this kiss and get lost in her.

  When I hear Cara moaning and feel her body rocking against mine, I realize that we’re outside where anyone could see or hear us. I slow the kiss down and pull away from her lips. “You’re so goddamn beautiful Cara.” Grabbing her hips, I stop her movements, and it almost kills me. Kissing down her jaw to her ear, I run my tongue along the shell of it and pull the lobe into my mouth sucking and nibbling on it. “As much as I want to continue this baby, I will not let anyone see or hear you like this. The way you look right now from almost coming. Bruised, wet lips. Jesus, you’re about to make me come undone. And the noises coming out of you. You’re a wet dream, and I’m the only bastard who gets to see you like this.” Lifting her chin, I look her in the eyes and demand her to tell me she understands. She nods. “Tell me. I want to hear it. Who gets to see you like this Cara?”

  “You Bishop. You’re the only one.”

  “That’s right Princess,” I tell her tenderly.

  Letting her down easy, I steady her with my hands to her shoulders and try and get an idea of where her head is right now. She smiles up at me sweetly, and I can tell she’s still trembling with the lust that was consuming her moments ago. Pulling her to my side and wrapping my arm around her waist I tell her “Let’s go eat lunch before we have to get to class. I can’t have my Princess go hungry.”

  She stops, and I stop with her. “Thank you, Bishop, for sticking up for me. I’m not used to people being so ugly towards me. And you’re right, I could have stuck up for myself. To have you do it means a lot to me.”

  I kiss her temple and linger for a moment, drawing her essence into me as much as I can. “You’re mine to protect Princess. No one is allowed to treat you like they did today. If it happens again, fuck. I will lose it on the next mother fucker who tries Cara.”

  She gives me an uneasy smile, and I pull her along to sit under the tree with everyone. Sitting down first, I pull her into my lap and hand her the sandwich I picked up for her. She eats half of it and gives me the rest, which I devour. Cara laughs and talks with our friends, and it makes me happy to see how fast she has been accepted into our crew, not because of me, but because she draws people in easily. When lunch is over, I send her off with Mandy, telling her to text me if something else happens. She nods and walks away laughing with Mandy about something.

  Finn walks up to me, clapping me on the shoulder. “She’s great man. I can see why you chose her. Crazy fast, but I get it, I would have snatched her up quick too if I were you.”

  I glare at him for even thinking about my girl that way, and he puts his hands up in surrender laughing like a hyena. “Easy brother. I’m paying your girl a compliment, that’s all. I don’t want her like that.” I nod, knowing he’d never step in and try to take her from me.

  “We need to protect her, though. She’s not going to like it, but there’s too much that’s happened so far. I’m calling in a team for her, she’s too important to me, and our enemies will get to her, to try to take me out.”

  “You’re right. Shit man, who would have thought life would be this dangerous already? I thought we had until after we graduated at least.”

  Chapter 8

  Cara

  Walking towards the girl’s locker room with Mandy, my palms start to sweat, and I wipe them down my jean covered legs. After lunch, Mandy and I had Anatomy. Most of the people in the class were pretty nice, though there were some who stayed far away and a couple who gave us dirty looks. Now we’re on our way to the gym, and I’m a little nervous, knowing I’m going to be in class with Alexis again.

  Living in New York, I learned to be observant and figure out how to stay out of the way of others, while protecting myself when needed. All I want now is to stay off the radar, to be left alone to be me. After that run in with Alexis earlier, I’m not sure I can do that. Not to mention, Bishop is the guy around here. I have no business starting any kind of relationship with him.

  I listen to Mandy talk about some guy in our Anatomy class, Rod, but I’m secretly scanning the area for anyone that might come at us. I’ve become very protective of this girl who has accepted me, taken me into her world like a sister, and has shown me she has my back. Now I’ve got hers, and I’ll be damned if they are going to corner us like they did at lunch.

  Even though Mandy is with me, my heart starts racing, knowing I’m going to see Alexis and her minions. That girl is a bitch! What the fuck did Bishop see in her? She’s beautiful, even I can see that. Her boobs are big, her waist tiny, and she’s got a nice ass, even if it’s little. He’s a hot guy, he has needs so I can understand why he’d want to be with her. I know he says she didn’t mean anything, but shit, looking between Alexis and me, I’d probably choose her too.

  I don’t want to start problems here, and they look perfect together. I need enemies like I need a hole in my head. I’ve already pissed someone off well and good. What was done to my car made that clear. Although it will probably piss him off, I’m going to tell Bishop the next time I see him that whatever he thinks is going on between us, won’t be happening. I tried that earlier, but he stopped me with a kiss. Man, I’m going to miss those kisses, they were hot. I’m going to miss talking to him, getting to know him. I wish things were simpler, that I could have him.

  This is the real world, though, and the curvy broken girl doesn’t get the hot guy everyone likes. I was starting to think that what we had could happen, stupid me. Knowing I have to let him go, makes my stomach hurt. Knowing what I’m planning to say to him after school is tearing a hole straight through me. This time I'm going to make him understand that I'm not who he needs by his side.

  Suddenly there’s a sharp ache in my heart. I double over and grab my knees, so I don’t fall over. My whole body begins to shake. Emptiness and longing flood through my soul.

  “Cara, fuck, are you okay?” Mandy says as she rubs my back trying to comfort me. I shake my head quickly and start rubbing my throbbing heart. “Shit, of course, you’re not okay. You want me to get Bishop?” I shake my head no adamantly. But at her mention of Bishop, the pain and hollowness in my heart start to ease a fraction, and I don’t feel like I’m about to end it all. What the hell is wrong with me?

  Shakily, I stand and grab on to Mandy’s arms that are trying to steady me. “What just happened to me?” I ask.

  “I don’t know Care Bear, but you freaked me out. What did it feel like?” Mandy pushes some of the hair that fell out of my bun while I was shaking, behind my ears.

  “I don’t know. I guess what a heart attack and a seizure might feel like at the same time. I know that sounds crazy, I don’t know how to explain it.”

  She pulls me over to a bench and tells me to sit. Once I'm sitting, the pacing and muttering to herself beings. Jabbering, more to herself than me. “Yeah, or people stressed the hell out, or shit I don’t know, I’m not a doctor. That’s it. We’re getting you to Doc Elliot. He’ll know what’s wrong with you and fix it. How the hell are we going to get there? I can call my dad…” She continues talking to herself, and with wide eyes, I watch her freak out.

  Grabbing ahold of her shoulders, I stop her pacing. “Hey. Mandy, chill out okay? I’m starting to feel a little better.”

  Looking up at me with worry
and sympathy she blows out a long breath. “Sorry. You can’t die Cara, and that’s what it looked like was happening to you. I know we just met. I know that you are going to be my best friend, for like ever. You are important to me, you know, and you freaked me out a little bit there.”

  I nod, feeling all kinds of crazy emotions running through me. “I get it, Mandy. I don’t think it was a heart attack. I don’t think I’d be over it that fast if it were.”

  “Ok. Tell me again, what did it feel like? Let’s figure this out together.” I raise my eyebrow at her, daring her to freak out.

  Raising her palms “On my honor, I will not freak out, and I will not interrupt,” she promises.

  I smile and pull her back to the benches in the hall, and sit us down. Taking a minute to gather my wits, because honestly, you’d probably be freaking out too if this were happening to you. “It was like my heart hurt and I could feel it, literally breaking apart. I got depressed, and I couldn’t move, couldn’t go on without…. him.” I say, whispering the last part. Rubbing my chest, I try and get rid of the remaining pain.

  “Oh,” Mandy says surprised, but like she knows exactly what is going on.

  “Oh? What do you mean oh?”

  She clears her throat looking anywhere but me, “Umm, well, haha. Funny thing there, were you uh, thinking about breaking up with Bishop?” she asks nervously.

  “Breaking up with him?” I look at her like she has two heads. “Mandy, we haven’t even said we were a couple yet, officially.” I think my heart cracks open a little, the searing pain in my chest is back, and I’m unable to breathe.

  “Oh shit, oh shit. Cara, shit, put your head between your legs and just breathe. I’ll get Bishop. He’ll make it better I promise.”

  A few minutes pass, at least what I can assume are only minutes, because I’m kinda out of it and my sense of time and what’s going on around me is messed up. I’m still unable to breathe normally while the pain devours my chest. I hear someone running towards us.