He being Kelley Keele, or rather Kellas he'd prefer to be called. She preferred Kelley because itsounded less threatening, less murderous. Since he was the onlyperson who'd shown Becky the least bit of kindness, she liked tothink of him in the latter sense.
It happened onthe first day of life drawing class. Becky had been late as usualsince she'd had trouble finding the right classroom.
Of course, thatmeant most of the drawing stations were now occupied. For a moment,Becky had hesitated in the doorway, searching out an availablespot, her arms full of drawing paper and chalk.
The much olderinstructor was already making his rounds, too busy to notice herand none of the other students offered any help.
Finally,spotting a vacant easel at the back of the studio, Becky startedtowards it but before she knew it, she heard shouting and scufflingbehind her and then a powerful force hit her from behind, windingher and nearly knocking her to the floor.
“Freak!” It was the last thing she heard before dropping hersupplies.
For a splitsecond, Becky had actually believed that someone had specificallytargeted her. When two very large hands grabbed her shoulders, shenearly screamed until she realized that the person who'd caught herbefore she crashed to the floor, had to have been the real targetof the attack.
“Fucking mundanes!” he growled venomously near herear.
Kell shouldhave seen them coming. The idiots had been heckling him since thestart of the school year. Still so fresh out of high school, thelittle bastards were out to prove themselves and Goths like himwere easy targets. In their ignorance, the newbies hadn't yetgrasped that in college, differences or rather being odd wascompletely acceptable if not encouraged, especially in the artdepartment.
His firstinstinct was to go after the ignorant cowards and rip out theirthroats, but that would be giving them exactly what they wanted,fodder to fuel their fire and besides, his first concern was forthe girl he'd nearly pulverized. Poor little thing, she could havebeen badly hurt. Righting her to her feet, he then relaxed his holdon her and perused her for injury.
“Are you all right?”
A pair oflovely green eyes stared up at him. The girl was shaking. Hefrowned, racked with guilt. He could have crushed her, she was sovery small. The thought devastated him.
She was staringand she knew it but she couldn't help it. He was quite unlikeanyone she had ever seen before. Gaunt, incredibly tall and lankyyet powerfully built with broad shoulders. He had long inky blackhair, highlighted with blood-red streaks framing his unforgettableface. His skin as pale as snow, his eyes as black as onyx. He hadthe cheekbones of a fashion model, a chiseled chin, straight noseand full masculine lips. He was a handsome devil for sure, butscary as all get out!
“Fine... I'm fine,” Becky said, catching her breath.
He quirked animpossibly perfect eyebrow at the sound of her sultry voice. Hehadn’t expected that. From the size of her, he’d expected a muchsqueakier, higher pitch. Instead, her voice was rich, velvety and…undeniably sexy. So much so, that he found himself wanting to hearmore of it.
“Are you sure? You could’ve been badly hurt,” he stated with afrown.
Becky blinked afew times before she could respond properly. In truth, she wasn’tso much shaken up by the situation as she was touched by hisobvious concern. Had it been so long since she’d been on thereceiving end of such kindness? “I’m okay,” she said shakily.
Unconvinced,Kell clicked his tongue off the roof of his mouth and proceeded topick up her strewn items off the floor.
“Here, let’s gather your things together,” he said, bendingdown in front of her to pick up her art supplies. After a moment,he noticed that she was still standing there, ramrod straight,looking completely petrified.
Not an unusualreaction, he supposed, given his appearance, and the fact that he’dnearly pulverized her. Still, it stung a bit that she might findhim so… unappealing.
“You really all right, love?” he asked again.
“Really, I’m okay,” she said with slightly quiveringsmile.
Becky couldn’tquite explain why she had suddenly frozen to the spot. Perhaps itwas because the majority of the class had turned to gawk at them atthat very moment. Or maybe because the instructor was approachingthem, looking extremely irate. Way to make a first impression. Morelikely, though, it was because of the dark cloaked characterkneeling before her, gathering her things off the floor.
Wait, had he just referred to her as love?
“Is there a problem here, Mr. Keele?” The instructor asked,looking on aghast.
“Oh, you know, same old, same old, Mr. Findley,” Kell said,straightening up to his impossible height ofsix-foot-four.
“Well, see that it doesn’t happen again. I can’t have youdisturbing the other students with your drama,” the doddery older man saidbefore he turned and walked away.
“As if it were my fault…” Kell grumbled, looking at Becky,giving her a conspiring smirk.
With a tiny shrug of her shoulders, she smiled sympatheticallyat towering Goth. In that moment, she felt a strange connection tothis dark cloaked creature of a man, a stirring of something akinto longing. Or at least belongingwith someone rather than being by herself,if only for a fleeting moment.
“You’re a funny little thing, aren’t you?” He smiled wryly ather, displaying a set of perfectly white teeth. “Come, let’s getourselves situated. I see a couple of spots in the back.” He thenproceeded to carry her things, while encouraging her forwardtowards a couple of unoccupied stations. Then he went as far as todiligently place her art board and charcoal sticks neatly on herintended drawing bench.
“Thank you,” she said as he set her things straight.
“What was that?” he asked, leaning in close. My, he enjoyed thesound of her voice.
“I said… thank you, for your help,” Becky repeated a littlelouder.
“It’s the least I could do. After all, I nearly crushed you.What is your name, love?”
“Rebecca… or Becky’s fine,” she said shyly. “Yours?” She hadheard the instructor call him something earlier
