Fiendish: A Twisted Fairytale (18 page)

Leaning closer, I looked at her and whispered, “There are other ways to shed unwanted pounds.

Calida’s eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock, allowing me just enough room to feed her the bite and cutting off any reply she might have wanted to say.

Calida moaned in appreciation as she savored the flavors. “So glad there isn
’t something like this at home, or I’d be in trouble.”

I fed her another bite, and this time she had a small amount of chocolate on the corner of her mouth. It took every ounce of self-control for me not to give in to my burning desire to kiss her as I watched her tongue run across her lips yet miss the chocolate.
 
Kissing isn’t something you do. 
Calida stilled when I reached out, cleaning the small bit of chocolate from her face with my thumb.

She didn
’t take her eyes off me, watching intently as I sucked the bit of chocolate from my finger. “You’re right, that is sinful,” I said.

Calida shifted in her seat as she reached for her wine glass. She cut her eyes over at me; then with a coy smile, she picked up the spoon, filling it with more of the dessert.

“I think you should have a better taste.”

“I enjoyed the one I just had, but if you insist,” I replied, leaning forward, wrapping my lips around the spoon.

Curling my hand around hers, I gently take the spoon from her. “I definitely liked the previous taste better.”

Slight color filled her face when she smiled in response.

“Did you enjoy your meal?” the waitress asked.

“More than you could imagine,” Calida answered, still looking at me.

“We should get going; we don’t want to be late for the show.”

The waitress left and returned shortly with the check. Once the bill was settled I stood holding my hand out for Calida. She placed her soft hand in mine, and I couldn
’t resist giving it a small kiss. 

When we arrived at the theater, Calida was radiant in her excitement.
 I placed my hand on the small of her back, letting my thumb skim across the exposed skin. I don’t recall ever wanting to possess a woman as much as I did at that moment.  

The lights dimmed, and as we sat in my box, all I could think of was taking her right then and there.
 If it wasn’t for the fact I was sure we would disrupt the show, I would have. 
What the hell is wrong with you?
I didn’t know what was wrong. I couldn’t remember the last time I looked at a woman as a woman instead of an object, something to be toyed with. There was something in how she looked at me, how she responded to me that was messing with my head and I didn’t like it. 

Calida was completely enthralled in the show, not noticing that I spent most of the first act watching her.
 I watched the excitement on her face, the way her breath caught at the danger. All of her reactions genuine, showing her appreciation for being here. I watched the rise and fall of her chest and imagined the feel of her breasts cupped in my hands. I wanted to let my tongue tease one of her taut nipples. I needed to hear her moan out in ecstasy as she writhed beneath me. I was so lost in my thoughts, I hadn’t noticed the first act had concluded.

“I feel for the Phantom,” she said at intermission.

“Why is that?”

“He
’s in love with Christine, and she doesn’t see it. Everything he has done for her, to help her, has been out of love.”

“He
’s a beast of a man and horribly disfigured.  How could he expect her to love him?”

“He
’s just misunderstood. And if it’s true love, nothing else matters.”

As the second act started, I thought about her words.
 
He’s just misunderstood.
 That was easy enough to believe when dealing with fiction. How would she feel when it applied to real life? The final scene played out, and I watched her wipe tears away. She cried, for the Phantom.

“You must think I
’m silly.”

I reached out and wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye.
“No, not at all. I think it’s very endearing you would feel so deeply about the Phantom and his wanting to be loved.” 

She smiled at my words, and then, she kissed me.
 Feeling her lips against my cheek intensified the agonizing feelings I had been fighting all evening. But I felt something else stir within me. Something I didn’t understand. My level of self-control was pushed to the limits, and I still had to make it through the night.
Why do you keep denying yourself? Take her and make her yours! Make her scream.

“This has been the most amazing evening.
 Thank you for that.”

“We should go,” I said, picking up her wrap and handing it to her.

I stood to the side, waiting on her to exit the box. She gave me a confused look before doing so.

***

Seth didn
’t say much in the car ride back to the hotel. I sat chewing nervously on my lip, looking out the window, wondering if I’d pissed him off when I kissed him. I had only done what he’d done to me.

“Thank you again for tonight,” I said once we
’d gotten back to our room. “It’s certainly a date I’ll never forget.”

Seth ran his thumb across my cheek. “I
’m glad you enjoyed yourself. Goodnight, Calida,” he said before heading into his room, closing the door behind him.

I heard the click of the lock. I stood there in the foyer of our hotel suite staring at his closed, locked door.
What did I do?
Sliding the wrap from around my shoulders, I sulked away to my room.

Seth’s mood was better when I awoke the next morning, but he was still more standoffish than he was at the beginning of the day yesterday. We barely spoke on the plane ride home, and now as he drove me to my house, he kept his eyes on the road.

“Where would you like your bags?” he asked when we entered my house.

I heard the water running in the bathroom, and I knew that Macy would be ready to grill me as soon as she exited.

“You can just sit them on the couch,” I replied.

“Enjoy the rest of your day,” he said, giving me a quick kiss on the forehead.

“You too,” I said quietly after he
’d already shut the door behind him.

I heard the water shut off. I headed towards Macy
’s bedroom to wait for her.

“Lee! Hey how was it?” she asked excitedly when she saw me sitting on her bed.

“It was amazing!” I answered, flopping back onto her down pillows. “He bought me an outfit, two actually since I needed something to wear home.”

“I noticed,” she said, dropping the towel that was wrapped around her. She couldn
’t care less about being nude in front of me, and over the years I’d gotten used to it.

“Macy, he has his own plane, and we stayed in the most magnificent suite. Dinner was…oh I
’ve never eaten so good! And the show. I loved it. Everything was like a dream. Until the end,” I added, still feeling dejected over last night.

“Wow! That was one hell of a first date. I bet your ass you didn
’t want it to end,” she agreed, dropping down on the bed to apply the lotion to her legs. “So…spill it. Was he a good lay?”

“I wouldn
’t know,” I admitted sadly, turning to prop up on my elbow.

“What? You spent the night with him right?” she asked in disbelief.

“Yes, but the suite had separate bedrooms.”

Macy cocked her head to the side, looking just as confused as I was. “So, let me get this straight. He flew you to New York, took you shopping at Barney
’s of all places, gets a room at the Waldorf, and doesn’t fuck you. Did he at least kiss you finally?”

I shook my head no.

“What the hell?” she asked, climbing off the bed to grab clothes from her closet. “Well, maybe he’s bad at it. Although with those looks, it would be a terrible shame for him to suck in bed.”

“I don
’t think that’s it. It’s me, it has to be. Whatever he sees in me isn’t
that
,” I said, feeling worse about the situation.

I thought about telling her about his weird mood change at the end of the show, but I didn
’t want to make this anymore painful. It was bad enough that he hadn’t tried anything with me, but when I did something physical towards him, he reacted strangely.

“No, that can
’t be it. No guy would go through a date like the one you described unless he was into you,” she said, trying to remain positive. “I mean you thought he’d not show back up after you told him about Paul, yet he did.”

“Yeah, true, but come on, Mace. It
’s not like I go around throwing myself at men, but he had to know that he could have very easily gotten lucky on
that
first date. He didn’t even try.” I flipped onto my back and stared up at the star-patterned, textured ceiling. “I’m so confused, Mace. I mean he flirted like crazy over dinner. Or at least I took it to be flirting, but when we got back to the hotel, he just went to bed. Even going so far as to lock his door like he thought I’d come in and attack him or something.” I sat up and looked at Macy who wore a shocked expression. “He. Locked. The. Door,” I repeated for emphasis on my point. 

She was momentarily at a loss for words before giving me a sympathetic smile. “I
’m sure there’s a reason.” She tried to sound convincing, but some of the optimism had left her voice.

“Only one.
Even when I practically throw myself at a man, he doesn’t want me.”

“Lee, that
’s not true.”

Feeling that I was about to burst into tears at any moment, I rolled off Macy
’s bed. “Yeah, it is. Some things just aren’t meant to be,” I said then left for the comforts of my own room. I was thankful Macy didn’t follow me; she sensed I needed to be alone for a while.

Chapter 17

The stench permeating up the stairs was nauseating. I hadn’t interacted with Pet in almost two weeks. In truth, I’d forgotten she was down here. My thoughts were all consumed by Calida. I needed to regain my control over the situation that was quickly getting out of hand.

 
When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I saw her lying there. Her face reminded me of a pufferfish with the way it was ballooned out. There was unappealing white foam oozing out the corner of her mouth. She must have gotten an infection from the tooth removal.

I had to cover my nose when I entered the room.
 If she wasn’t dead, she certainly smelled like it. She was a disgusting sight. She hadn’t moved from the spot that I’d last saw her in, not even to get up and use the toilet. Instead, she’d remained on the concrete floor unmoving and soiling herself. Exiting the room, I went to get myself dressed. I put on one of the disposable paint suits, goggles, and heavy-duty rubber gloves.

After filling the old metal tub with industrial strength bleach, I went to go retrieve her.
 I laid a plastic sheet on the floor beside her. Using my foot, I rolled her onto it. She let out a weak moan. She was alive after all. No matter, she wouldn’t be much longer. I pulled her out of the room, but unfortunately, I had to touch her to lift her into the tub. Pushing down on the top of her head, I submerged her into the bleach. Her arms and legs flailed briefly, but she was dead within minutes. I sat down beside the tub, pulling off my gloves and removing the goggles.
You hardly played with this one.
I glanced back at the body floating in the tub; I’d gotten all the fulfillment out of her that I was going to get.

The tooth pulling was new, and although it was exhilarating at the time, seeing her afterwards left me uninterested.
The next one will be better
. I stood, rolling the kinks from my neck. I wasn’t sure I was ready to get a new one right away.

***

“Look!” Macy exclaimed as she rushed into the house.

She
’d been out with Mitch doing their gift exchange before he to headed his parents’ for Christmas. She plopped down on the couch beside me, holding her wrist out for me to see the new bracelet she was wearing. The delicate chain was silver or platinum, I wasn’t really sure which, but in the center was one solitaire diamond.

“Wow, that
’s very pretty Mace. Two months and the man is already buying you diamonds. That has to be a record,” I said with a laugh.

“I know! I was not expecting this. He skipped Jared
’s and went right to Tiffany’s,” she said happily. “For this to be our first Christmas, I didn’t expect jewelry. But Mitch knows diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” I laughed at the huge grin that was on her face. “What?”

“Our
‘first’ Christmas, Macy? That implies that there will be more than one,” I replied with a wink.

“Oh, whatever,” she said, heading into the kitchen.