Change Me (The Protector Series Book 2) Read online

  Change Me

  Written by: Melissa Townsend

  Edited by: AJ Field Editing

  I was considerably smaller than most girls my age. At eighteen years old, I was five feet one inch tall and weighed just over one hundred pounds. My older brother, Shiloh, had inherited all of the good height genes.

  “Watch your head, Shi,” I said as he walked through the doorway and into my apartment.

  “I know, I know,” he huffed.

  “You know he hates the idea of you moving so far away,” my sister-in-law said after she elbowed me in the ribs.

  “I think he just hates that he has to help move my shit,” I told her with a laugh.

  I had recently finished high school in Puyallup, Washington, and told my brother and his wife, Nat, that I was moving to Florida two weeks after graduation. Shiloh didn’t take the news well, but I hadn’t expected him to. He’d taken care of me on his own since I was ten years old, and according to him, an eighteen-year-old girl was incapable of taking care of herself. He wasn’t just a normal, overprotective big brother; to call him that would be the understatement of the century.

  “When do you start classes?” Nat asked after making herself comfortable on my loveseat.

  “I haven’t exactly enrolled yet,” I shrugged.

  “You’re not enrolled? Then why were you in such a hurry to get down here?” Shi asked from the doorway. He sat the box he had been carrying down with a thud and took a seat next to Nat.

  “I just wanted to get out on my own,” I said hesitantly.

  “I see,” he grunted.

  I did my best at making small talk with the two of them. I think Nat noticed that I really wanted to be able to enjoy my first night living on my own because after dinner she talked Shiloh into getting an earlier flight back to Washington. Of course he argued at first, but Nat can be persuasive.

  By seven o’clock that evening I was almost completely unpacked and utterly exhausted. I lay down on my couch and pulled my phone out of my pocket. I made a to-do list and saved it in my phone because I knew I would lose it if it were on a piece of paper. Maybe I was scatter-brained and unorganized, but at least I was aware of it. That’s got to count for something, right?

  I forced myself to take a shower before I crawled into my bed. The noise from the cars outside occupied my brain and refused to let me sleep. I had just put my pillow over my face and let out a loud groan when I heard something. I froze, careful not to move a muscle as I focused on the noise. Once I was sure I had actually heard something, I rolled out of bed, falling to my knees and crawling to my window. A guy was outside of my apartment; I could hear him. Was he laughing?

  It sounded like he was right outside my window, but I was on the fourth floor and there were no balconies. When the laughter stopped suddenly, I got up the courage to peek through the glass. I jumped back and screamed when I saw the two dark eyes staring back at me. The eyes and the figure they belonged to were gone by the time I calmed down enough to look out my window again. I stood still, staring out the window, wondering if I had actually seen anything at all. Could I have imagined the entire thing?

  I knew I wouldn’t be going to sleep any time soon, so I decided to go out. I slipped into my favorite pair of black skinnies and paired them with a dark red tank top. The open toe sandals I wore showed off the black polish Nat had let me borrow the night before. Shi hated it when we used black on our nails, but we felt like it helped us show off our inner badass.

  I texted my friend Taylor and told her to meet me at a bar a couple of blocks away. I’d met Taylor four summers ago while I was staying with some family friends, Bennett and Mandy James. Taylor and I were complete opposites, but we had been inseparable every time I came to Florida.

  I chose to walk to the bar, which wasn’t my best idea. As soon as I walked out of my apartment building, I looked up at my fourth floor window. There was nothing that any living thing could have been standing on or holding on to while they looked through my window. Not even the tiniest ledge was visible.

  I was still feeling spooked when I entered the bar. However, when I caught sight of Taylor’s bright red curls after a quick sweep of the place, I relaxed instantly. She was on a stool at the bar, already flirting with the bartender. I rolled my eyes but grinned as I made my way through the crowd toward her.

  “Is this seat taken?” I asked her from behind.

  “Yeah, my friend is─ Oh my God, Mace!” she squealed as she wrapped her arms around my neck. She was at least half a foot taller than me and had been blessed with awesome curves. Unfortunately, I was lacking in that department, too.

  “Get your boobs out of my face,” I said with a laugh. She gave me one last squeeze before letting go and taking her seat again. I sat down on the stool beside her and waved to get the bartender’s attention.

  “Vodka cranberry,” I ordered after I flashed him my fake I.D.

  “You’re drinking?” Taylor asked with one eyebrow raised.

  “It’s been quite a day.”

  “So you aren’t working tonight?” she asked quietly.

  “I’m always working, Tay. I don’t have a choice,” I said as the bartender handed me my drink. He winked at Taylor before walking away to help another customer.

  “One drink can’t hurt,” she said with a smile.

  I nodded in agreement before taking a sip. “Is there a lot of crime in this area?” I asked.

  “Well, that’s random. Don’t you think you should have asked that before you moved into your apartment?”

  “You’re probably right, but I’m asking now.”

  “Eh, nothing too serious. More robberies than anything else. I don’t think you have to worry about being shot in a drive-by or anything, though,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

  “Robberies?” I asked, thinking back to the guy I saw outside my window.

  She nodded as she pulled her drink away from her mouth.

  “I think I saw someone looking into my window tonight. Right before I texted you.”

  “I thought you said you were on the fourth floor?” Taylor questioned.

  “I am. And no, I don’t have a balcony.”

  “That’s weird. How would anyone be able to get up there? Did they bungee from the rooftop?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe I just imagined it,” I said with a shake of my head.

  Taylor and I chatted while I watched her finish off another drink. When I was yawning more than I was talking, I decided it was time to leave. Taylor offered to stay with me in case the guy from the window returned. But after seeing her make googly eyes with the bartender all night, I assumed she would be getting an invitation to go home with him and assured her I would be fine on my own.

  “Text me when you make it back,” she said as she hugged me one last time.

  “Boobs in the face,” I muttered against her chest.

  She laughed like she always did, and I promised to text her before leaving to walk back to my apartment.

  As I walked on the well-lit sidewalk, an uneasy feeling came over me. I glanced over my shoulder several times and quickened my pace. I never heard any footsteps behind me, but I felt someone, or something, following me.

  “Who’s there?” I yelled, turning around to look behind me. I fully expected someone to step into the light and admit that I’d caught them, but that didn’t happen. Nothing happened. I shook my head and walked to my building as quickly as possible.

  “I’ve got to pull myself together. Nobody is after me,” I whispered to myself as I changed into shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in. I brushed my teeth and slipped into my bed.

  I texted Taylo
r, letting her know I was safe and sound. She replied with a winking face and I knew she was with the bartender. I rolled my eyes as I tossed my phone onto the pillow beside me. I had no trouble falling into a deep sleep.

  ***

  I spent the next morning organizing all of my stuff. I never realized how much shit I had until I had to find places to put it all. I was putting up picture frames on the coffee table in my living area when I heard a thud in my bedroom. I stopped what I was doing and slowly walked down the hall toward the sound.

  My door was opened just a crack and made a squeaking noise when I pushed it open. I looked around the room and immediately noticed my window was open. I dropped to my knees and looked under my bed to see if the intruder was hiding there. Nothing. I made my way to the window and expected to see nothing but the street below when I looked out. I was shocked when I saw a guy staring back at me. Well, not a guy. Half of a guy. He was only visible from the chest up and even what I saw wasn’t really him; it was transparent. I was tempted to stick my hand out the window and touch him, but I had a feeling I would be disappointed when my hand didn’t come in contact with anything.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  A look of absolute shock came over the transparent-half-a-guy’s face before he opened his mouth and then closed it quickly. Before I had a chance to ask another question, he was gone. I closed the window and took a seat on the edge of my bed. Who was that? Better yet, what was that? And why am I not freaked out?

  Surprisingly, when I was looking into the eyes of that thing, I never felt any fear or worry. I was more intrigued than anything else. He looked so real, with his disheveled brown hair and dark brown eyes to match.

  I considered calling Nat. After all, she had experience dealing with unusual people and things. But I decided to wait in hopes of finding out some more information about the transparent-half-a-guy.

  I ran to the kitchen and dug around in the drawer that I had filled with random shit until I found a notepad and a pen. I scribbled out a note and went back to my bedroom. I opened the window just enough to slide the note through and then closed it on the piece of paper to hold it in place.

  “Now, I wait,” I said to myself as I walked back to the boxes I’d been emptying before.

  ***

  When I woke up the next day, I checked the window immediately. The note I’d left was still there. I tried to go about my day without thinking about the weird encounter I’d had yesterday, but I caught myself zoning out frequently. Finally, I accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to get anything done in my apartment and called Taylor. I invited her to lunch but she’d already eaten and I wasn’t even hungry. We got pedicures instead.

  “So, how was last night?” I asked as my feet soaked in the hot, bubbly water.

  “It was great. Gabe was really great,” she sighed as she let her eyes flutter closed.

  “Oh, God, I’m sorry I asked. It’s nice to have a name to put with a face, though,” I said with a laugh.

  I considered telling Taylor several times throughout the afternoon about the mysterious form I’d seen outside my window, but I knew she would worry about my sanity, so I kept my mouth shut.

  We grabbed Chinese for dinner and took it back to Taylor’s apartment, where we watched reality TV shows while we ate and split a bottle of wine.

  Taylor asked me to stay with her, but I told her I wanted to sleep in my own bed. She pouted as we waited outside of her building for my cab to pick me up.

  “I’ll call you tomorrow,” I promised before I gave the driver my address.

  It was almost ten o’clock by the time I got inside my apartment. I went straight to the bathroom to get in the shower. Still feeling a little buzzed from the wine, I knew I wouldn’t have any problem falling asleep. I dried off and got dressed, still in a daze. I was ready to crawl into my bed when I glanced out the window and saw an envelope stuck to it. I shook my head and blinked several times, but the envelope stayed put. I wasn’t imagining it. My heart rate picked up as I opened the window. My hands were shaking as I pulled the envelope off and brought it inside. I took a deep breath as I sat right there on my floor and opened it. The response to my note that had read: “Who/what are you?” was brief but still intrigued me.

  You’re not supposed to be able to see me. Who/what are you?

  -J

  I’m not supposed to be able to see him. What does that even mean? I saw him plain as day. Twice. I scribbled out another note and taped it to the outside of my window again before slamming it shut.

  What am I doing? I thought to myself. Why do I keep going back to her apartment?

  My best friend, Sam, had spotted her moving in a few days earlier and we had set our sights on her right away. The things we had seen her friend carrying in for her didn’t look like they would be worth much. And after looking through her window several times, I’d concluded that the shit inside the many boxes wasn’t much more promising. That’s the thing, though; we didn’t steal things just to make a quick buck. The money just happened to be a perk. We took things that didn’t belong to us, snuck around while others couldn’t see us, and played hurtful pranks on people just for the thrill.

  I remember when I first met Sam at the juvenile detention center in Jacksonville. We were both fifteen years old and had been expelled from our schools for a long list of reasons. Sam had lived in Tallahassee with his dad, who didn’t give a damn about him. I’d grown up in Miami, where my grandma had done her best to raise me. Even though I know I put my grandma through hell, I wouldn’t change it if I could.

  Sam and I were both lost until we met. We’d spent countless hours trying to figure out what was wrong with us. Trying to find out what it was that made us want to be bad. One day, we just decided we didn’t give a shit anymore. We liked pranking, sneaking, and stealing. And we weren’t going to stop.

  I got out of the center the day I turned eighteen. Sam had to wait another four months to be released. I promised him I would stick around and wait for him. Which is when I met Daniel Akins.

  Daniel introduced me to the Raiders. At first I blew them all off, thinking they were a bunch of losers who thought they were badasses. That was before Daniel filled me in on all of the exciting details.

  Basically, the chance of a couple of shithead kids like Sam and me being natural born Raiders is greater than seventy-five percent. However, if the kids aren’t raised by other Raiders, then they never grow into or even realize their capabilities. It wasn’t fun trying to find out if I was a natural-born. In fact, I still remember it as being the worst night of my life. Daniel spent most of the night forcing me to drink all kinds of god-awful concoctions he’d made. If the drinks made me vomit, I was a Raider. Daniel wasn’t convinced until I had puked for the twenty-third time. The bastard.

  I spent the next four months living with him. During the day he taught me basic things about being a Raider and at night I tagged along with him and some of his buddies while they did their thing.

  It wasn’t until the week before Sam was released that Daniel taught me how to transfer. Honestly, it scared the fucking shit out of me the first time. The second time was a little easier, and by the time Sam got out I was a full-blown Raider. I could sit on Daniel’s couch and transfer to the mall and scope out the jewelry stores without ever physically moving. I just had to close my eyes and think about where I wanted to be and the next thing I knew, it was like I was actually there. Nobody could see the transferred version of us, which came in really handy when we were looking for valuables to get our hands on. Or in Daniel and his friend Jon’s case, when they were peeking into women’s dressing rooms. Sam and I agreed that we would never stoop that low. Besides, neither of us had ever had any problems getting attention from women.

  Unfortunately, Sam and Daniel didn’t get along well. In fact, they barely even spoke to each other when we were living together. Needless to say, our living arrangement didn’t last long. Sam and I got our own apartment as soon as we could and I t
aught him everything that Daniel had taught me. I still talked to Daniel occasionally, but we weren’t friends. It was only for business purposes. If he needed help with a big heist, then Sam and I would lend a hand and Daniel would share the goods.

  Sam picked up the Raider qualities quicker than I had expected. We found out that he’s able to transfer much further than the average Raider. He’s been as far as two hundred miles away from his physical self before, although he was too exhausted to do anything else for the rest of that day.

  We’d been taking turns watching the short girl with blonde hair as she and her friends moved her shit into the apartment on the fourth floor. I was watching her that first evening when she attempted to take a nap. I couldn’t help but laugh when she covered her face with her pillow and let out a frustrated yell. Then, she looked at me. She didn’t just look in my general direction; she actually saw me. I have no idea how or why she was able to see me mid-transfer, but it scared the shit out of me the first time. The second time it happened, it just peaked my curiosity. There was obviously something unique about this girl. For one, she was able to see me while I was transferring. Fellow Raiders couldn’t even see each other mid-transfer. Another thing I found extremely surprising: she wasn’t afraid of me.

  I knew I shouldn’t reply to her silly note. I knew I shouldn’t have even gone back to her apartment. But, like I said, my curiosity had been peaked.

  I’m an 18-year-old girl trying to find her place. Now, it’s your turn... Who/What are you?

  -M

  I frowned as I read her note once more before I transferred back to my bedroom and scribbled out a brief reply to place on her window.

  ***

  I was lying on my bed, feet crossed and eyes closed, when Sam opened the door to my room.

  “You going to sleep this early, bro?” he asked as he flipped my light on.

  “No, just resting a bit. What’s up?”

  “Brooke and Blaire are on their way to Showtime’s. I told them we would meet them there in twenty.”

  “Damn,” I groaned. “I’m not in the mood for Brooke tonight, man.” I cringed as thought of her whiney ass voice and her needy as hell personality.