The Heart Stealer

“Do you know where you’re going?” Jack had been silent for forty minutes, total. Kelly sighed and stared straight ahead at the crowded street refusing to appear annoyed at Jack. It was proving difficult. If she wanted her plan to work, she’d have to turn it on in a big way. She had to make Jack want her so much it hurt him.

“I read the map,” Kelly said now. “I know exactly where we are.” There was a strong confidence in her tone, but Jack wasn’t buying it, not for a second. He shook his head and laughed under his breath.

“Women can’t read maps,” he said matter-of-factly. Kelly reached out and punched him in the arm without taking her eyes off the road. Jack winced and rubbed the sore spot, complaining to himself. Kelly smirked.

She pulled over and parked on the side of the road out the front of the destination she’d been looking for. She killed the engine and turned in her seat to look at Jack, a triumphant smile on her face. He looked behind her at the building and shook his head, laughing.

“Alright,” he admitted as they both got out of the car. “Maybe you can read maps. Are you really a girl?” Kelly scoffed and pushed him in a playful way, commending herself on her flirting skills. Jack lightly pushed her back and Kelly stumbled before righting herself, and rolling her eyes at Jack. He laughed again as they entered the building together.

This art gallery was like nothing Kelly had ever seen before. It was huge. She got the impression that not just anybody got their artworks in this place. It had to be something really special. Which also, unfortunately, meant that any works from this place were sure to be mega expensive. She sighed loudly, sliding her hands into her pockets before sauntering over to a woman seated behind a desk in a horrid blue blazer.

“Hey there,” Kelly said, startling the woman. She had an air of confidence about her and the woman was slightly intimidated. She slid her glasses further up the bridge of her nose and straightened in her chair, looking up at Kelly. “How may I help you?” She asked, her voice shaky.

“I’m looking for any works by Rebekah George,” Kelly said clearly, her throat tightening slightly. Jack stood just behind her, looking bored. He felt out of place in the spacious art gallery. He didn’t belong there at all. He had always been a trouble maker, and far from classy. That’s what the place felt like to him – classy.

“Of course,” the woman said now. “Right this way. I’m Amy, by the way.” Kelly nodded and followed her, watching the way her chestnut brown hair flowed down her back. She couldn’t have been older than twenty. “I’m Kelly. That’s Jack,” she said in a flat tone. Jack blinked and looked over at Kelly, quickening his pace to keep up with the girls as they walked down one of the numerous hallways and into a huge room.

At the door, Kelly noticed a picture of Rebekah and her name underneath. When her eyes landed on the contents of the room, she gasped. There was a whole exhibition of Rebekah’s works. There had to be at least fifteen. “Wow,” Jack said, stepping past Kelly. His eyes landed on a huge charcoal portrait of Kelly that Rebekah had drawn years ago.

Amy followed his gaze and did a double take, looking between Kelly and the artwork. “That’s you,” Amy whispered. Her eyes widened as she wondered who Kelly was.

“Yeah,” Kelly said, her throat constricting. “It is.”

“You know Rebekah?”

“Knew. She died.”

“Oh, I’m sorry…”

“Forget about it.”

Kelly played with the hem of her shirt as Jack walked around the room, looking at all the artworks. She sighed as her brain went into overdrive, trying to calculate how much all of this would cost her or even if they would let her buy the works. The blog she’d found had been wrong about just how many works were in Los Angeles.

She got a cigarette from her pocket and lit it, inhaling slowly. Jack turned around to look at her from across the room. “I don’t think you’re allowed to smoke in here,” he said.

“Fuck the police,” Kelly said bitterly, taking another long drag.

“That’s not good for you, you know,” Jack tried again. He hated it when people smoked.

“Really?” Kelly shot back at him, her voice thick with sarcasm. “What a revelation, I had no idea.”

Jack just looked at her. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t even know why the fuck he’d let her drag him to the stupid art gallery. He couldn’t give two fucks about it. He’d never gone so far out of his way to try and get into a girl’s pants. What was so different about Kelly? There was just something about her, something that he liked. He just hadn’t figured it out yet.

Maybe it was the way she acted like she didn’t care, the ‘fuck the police’ attitude she carried around with her, confident in her stride. Maybe it was the way she made Jack feel like he didn’t matter. That had never happened to him before. He was a rock star. He got mobbed by crazy girls hoping for a chance to touch him. But Kelly…Kelly acted like she wasn’t interested at all.

So why was he?

He couldn’t answer that question, didn’t know where to start.

“I’m going,” Kelly suddenly announced, her voice echoing throughout the large room. Jack followed her out, his eyes focused on her backside the entire time. She looked over her shoulder and caught him looking, smirking to herself before slowing her pace, and allowing her hips to sway a little more.

She was driving Jack crazy. He was so horny but she seemed so untouchable. He just wanted to fuck her and be done with it. But she kept playing hard do get, and Jack liked games. He always won.

Back outside, Kelly led the way back to her car.

“What happened in there?” Jack asked. “I thought your mission in life was to buy all of Rebekah’s artworks.”

“It’s not that easy,” Kelly said.

Yeah, just like you, Jack thought, but he bit down on his tongue to stop himself from speaking his mind. He had to charm his way into her pants. He could do it. He was a master. He’d done it countless times before, with hot, but stupid girls.

“Why isn’t it that easy?” Jack said, pushing further.

“Because I’m not a bajillionaire? Because they won’t sell works that good to some random off the street? God, Jack. Isn’t that fucking obvious?” Kelly snapped.

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” Jack said sarcastically.

“You got a problem?”

“You’re the one with the fucking problem,” Jack said. “I’ve done nothing but be nice to you and you keep blowing me off. You act like you don’t even care,” Jack said, a frown settling on his features.

“Maybe I don’t,” Kelly countered.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Jack snapped.

“Guys like you are all the same. I know your type. So you might as well just give up now,” Kelly said bluntly. To someone that knew of her plans, it looked like she was fucking the whole thing up by saying this, but she knew exactly what she was doing. She knew guys like Jack. They loved a challenge. She’d said just the right thing. Jack would want to prove himself, he’d let the one lie that all guys told slip from his lips so carelessly.

“I’m not like the other guys,” Jack said. “I won’t hurt you.”

Kelly had expected that. Anticipated it. It was the one, universal lie that was told all too often. She knew that better than anybody. She smiled and looked up into Jack’s brown eyes.

“Really?” She said sweetly, trying so hard not to be sarcastic. “You promise?”

“I promise,” Jack said.

What a filthy fucking liar, Kelly thought.

Breaking Jack’s heart would be more fun than she’d first thought.

*

If there’s one thing people knew about Jack Barakat, it was not to let him drive. But Kelly didn’t know this, so when Jack had asked for the keys, she’d handed them over with no hesitation.

Now, she gripped the dashboard as Jack tore up the streets of Los Angeles at high speeds, almost causing multiple accidents.

“Slow the fuck down!” Kelly screamed. Jack laughed, only increasing his speed, overtaking cars left and right.

“Seriously, Jack!” Kelly screamed. “You’re going to get us fucking killed!”

“Too fast, yeah, too furious! I’m too fast for yooooouuuu!” Jack screamed out the open window, laughing as he turned the radio up. Kelly genuinely feared for her life.

“Do you value your life!?” She yelled, looking over at Jack, who just laughed again, before slowing and pulling into a smaller side street. He stopped the car and looked over at Kelly, who was still pinned in the passenger’s seat, a look of horror on her face.

“Get out,” she said through gritted teeth. Jack smiled devilishly and killed the engine, kicking his door open and getting out. Kelly got out and walked around the front of the car to him.

“Are you a fucking mentalist?” She demanded, throwing her hands up in the air.

“Calm down, Kelly,” Jack laughed, placing his hands on her shoulders. She had to mentally remind herself to allow the contact, and not immediately shrug him off. If she was going to keep this up, she needed some hard liquor.

“Wanna get a drink?” Jack asked her, as if he’d heard her thoughts.

“You read my mind,” she said with a smirk.

*

“This is stupid,” Kelly slurred, leaning heavily on Jack. It was one in the morning, and Kelly was considerably drunker than Jack, although he was struggling to walk straight himself. In his drunken state, Jack had come up with the bright idea of breaking into a heated swimming pool.

“This is awesome,” Jack said, as he put his hands together to boost Kelly over the chain-link fence. She put her foot in his hands and he lifted her up, sending her flying over the top of the fence and landing with a thump on the grass on the other side. He chuckled to himself at her shouts of complaint.

He followed after her, struggling to climb the fence and hoist himself over the top. He finally reached the top of the fence and jumped down to land on the other side, rolling over on his back and wincing in pain at his awkward landing.

“Karma’s a cunt,” Kelly said with a laugh, disappearing into the dark.

“Hey!” Jack called out, stumbling after her. He walked over the edge of the pool, where there was a least some light. This was a mistake. Out of the darkness suddenly came Kelly, who pushed him straight into the pool. He flailed his arms as he fell backwards into the water, sinking to the bottom.

As he swam back up to the surface to breathe, he looked around the pool for Kelly, but she had disappeared again.

“Kelly?” He called out, a smile on his face. “Where are you?”

Suddenly, he heard a soft splash behind him and felt a pair of hands grab his shoulders, forcing him underwater again.

“It’s shark week, bitch!” Kelly screamed, pushing him under.

They wrestled underwater for less than a minute before they both had to come up for air. Jack laughed and splashed water in Kelly’s face and she did the same back. They both laughed uncontrollably and continued to splash each other until it wasn’t so fun anymore.

Jack noticed that Kelly had a weird look on her face. She looked kind of dazed, and completely out of it. He realised a little too late that she was passing out. She sunk underwater and he dived after her, bringing her back up to the surface and dragging her out of the pool. He put her down on the grass and slapped her in the face, in an attempt to wake her up. He didn’t know what else to do.

Coughing and sputtering, Kelly finally came to, and Jack sighed in relief. He stared at her and held the side of her face in one hand, a worried expression on his own. Kelly giggled and smiled up at him goofily, still very obviously drunk.

“Are you worried, Jackass?” she slurred, laughing to herself. Jack rolled his eyes and shook his head in response.

“Come on,” he said. “We’re getting out of here.”

He staggered back to the hotel he was staying at, taking her with him, never once letting go of her hand. The elevator was out of order, so Jack dragged Kelly after him to the stairwell, pushing the door open with his back. The bright fluorescent lights inside made them both feel like they’d just entered hell. Kelly groaned and leant heavily into Jack’s side.

She was completely gone.

Jack helped her up the stairs, smirking to himself. Tonight was the night. She’d made it all too easy for him. But just as Jack was getting himself ready for it, and getting excited that he’d finally caught the hard-to-catch girl, she slumped down onto the flight of stairs between the third and fourth floors, her body deciding that it couldn’t go any further.

He groaned to himself and sat down next to her, allowing the girl to lean into his side and rest her head on his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her thin frame and rested his head against hers as she started snoring softly.

These nights could go on and on and on.