A Kiss of Color: The Complete 3 Book Collection by Cristina Grenier Page B
Authors: Cristina Grenier
Ads: Link
couldn’t love Xavier, because to love him inevitably meant to lose him. It would be a mistake, wouldn’t it? Their lives were headed in different directions anyhow. He wanted to work on his IT business while she was bound for med school. Sure, he felt like she meant something to him now, but that would soon change.
If there was one thing Helena had learned in her life, it was that everything changed.
Slowly, carefully, she made her way from the bed, standing, bare, over Xavier’s sleeping form. She felt tears beginning to well and swallowed her grief. Quietly, she made her way around the apartment, gathering up her clothes from the night before. She was lucky that she’d brought a t-shirt and shorts in her bag and changed into them, picking up the gorgeous dress that Xavier had bought her to lay across his couch, smoothing the fabric fondly. As much as she had complained, the garment had really looked stunning on her.
But she could never keep it. Just like she could never keep him.
Making sure she had all of her things, Helena left his apartment quietly, closing the door behind her. She was lucky enough to have woken well before her first class, and if she was lucky, she could get some studying in. Even though she knew that no amount of reading would be able to erase last night from her mind, it might start the slow process of coming to terms with reality.
And all that lie ahead of her.
She had reached the bottom of the staircase and was reaching into her bag to call a cab when a strong arm wound around her waist and a foul smelling hand covered her mouth, jerking her back into the shadows before she could cry out. Helena’s heart leapt into her throat and she struggled immediately, trying to break free as panic enveloped her.
What the hell? She was in the middle of one of the ritziest apartment complexes in town? Who would be idiotic enough to try to hurt her in broad daylight in front of the modern gentry?
“Shh, shh!”
All at once, Helena froze. A small, thin figure stepped out of the shadows and into the light, and the young woman’s heart plunged into her stomach.
It was her mother, looking more worn and haggard than ever. She had somehow lost her shoes in the six months that they hadn’t seen each other, and half of her teeth were rotted clear out of her mouth. She could make out such details because the woman was smiling.
In triumph.
She had obviously gotten someone to do her dirty work for her, as it was quite clearly a man that held Helena captive – and a strong one at that. The pervasive smell that emanated from him clearly pronounced him an addict as well – and it was that moment in which the young woman knew that she was in very real trouble. “Hey, baby.” Stepping forward, her mother patted her cheek lightly. “It’s been a while.”
There was nothing Helena could think to say – and even if she had, her words would have been muffled. “I miss you so much, honey.” Janette affirmed, running her dirty fingers through her daughter’s hair. “You have to come home with me. I need you.”
It didn’t look like Helena would be getting a choice this time. The man holding her lifted her clear from her feet to drag her behind the last row of apartment buildings, towards a waiting, beat-up van. Helena’s eyes widened as she realized that her own mother truly intended to kidnap her. That she would lose everything that she had worked so hard to achieve in the blink of an eye.
And all because she’d left Xavier’s bed in a bid not to hurt him.
Closing her eyes, she let the tears flood down her cheeks.
Everything changed.
**
When Xavier woke up alone, he tried not to take Helena’s absence too hard. He liked to think that he knew her pretty well, and in knowing her, he’d long discovered that she needed time to undergo any sort of change. It had taken her a month to allow him to kiss her, and six months after that until he’d finally gotten to see her in the heights of
If there was one thing Helena had learned in her life, it was that everything changed.
Slowly, carefully, she made her way from the bed, standing, bare, over Xavier’s sleeping form. She felt tears beginning to well and swallowed her grief. Quietly, she made her way around the apartment, gathering up her clothes from the night before. She was lucky that she’d brought a t-shirt and shorts in her bag and changed into them, picking up the gorgeous dress that Xavier had bought her to lay across his couch, smoothing the fabric fondly. As much as she had complained, the garment had really looked stunning on her.
But she could never keep it. Just like she could never keep him.
Making sure she had all of her things, Helena left his apartment quietly, closing the door behind her. She was lucky enough to have woken well before her first class, and if she was lucky, she could get some studying in. Even though she knew that no amount of reading would be able to erase last night from her mind, it might start the slow process of coming to terms with reality.
And all that lie ahead of her.
She had reached the bottom of the staircase and was reaching into her bag to call a cab when a strong arm wound around her waist and a foul smelling hand covered her mouth, jerking her back into the shadows before she could cry out. Helena’s heart leapt into her throat and she struggled immediately, trying to break free as panic enveloped her.
What the hell? She was in the middle of one of the ritziest apartment complexes in town? Who would be idiotic enough to try to hurt her in broad daylight in front of the modern gentry?
“Shh, shh!”
All at once, Helena froze. A small, thin figure stepped out of the shadows and into the light, and the young woman’s heart plunged into her stomach.
It was her mother, looking more worn and haggard than ever. She had somehow lost her shoes in the six months that they hadn’t seen each other, and half of her teeth were rotted clear out of her mouth. She could make out such details because the woman was smiling.
In triumph.
She had obviously gotten someone to do her dirty work for her, as it was quite clearly a man that held Helena captive – and a strong one at that. The pervasive smell that emanated from him clearly pronounced him an addict as well – and it was that moment in which the young woman knew that she was in very real trouble. “Hey, baby.” Stepping forward, her mother patted her cheek lightly. “It’s been a while.”
There was nothing Helena could think to say – and even if she had, her words would have been muffled. “I miss you so much, honey.” Janette affirmed, running her dirty fingers through her daughter’s hair. “You have to come home with me. I need you.”
It didn’t look like Helena would be getting a choice this time. The man holding her lifted her clear from her feet to drag her behind the last row of apartment buildings, towards a waiting, beat-up van. Helena’s eyes widened as she realized that her own mother truly intended to kidnap her. That she would lose everything that she had worked so hard to achieve in the blink of an eye.
And all because she’d left Xavier’s bed in a bid not to hurt him.
Closing her eyes, she let the tears flood down her cheeks.
Everything changed.
**
When Xavier woke up alone, he tried not to take Helena’s absence too hard. He liked to think that he knew her pretty well, and in knowing her, he’d long discovered that she needed time to undergo any sort of change. It had taken her a month to allow him to kiss her, and six months after that until he’d finally gotten to see her in the heights of
Similar Books
