Fiendish: A Twisted Fairytale (5 page)

Over the course of the meal, Calida started to relax. She tended to ramble when she got nervous, which worked for me since I was able to get a lot of information out of her. I learned she and Macy were out celebrating her new job. At twenty-five, she was the younger of two children, her sister being eleven years older. Her mood shifted a bit when I inquired about her sister. I didn
’t push for more information, I didn’t want her closing up on me, but I could tell it was not a friendly relationship. She was very animated when she talked about her parents, but then got embarrassed when she mentioned wanting to find a relationship like theirs one day. Calida attempted to ask me questions, but I successfully steered the conversation back to her whenever they got too personal.

“So what made you move to this wonderful city?” I inquired. The smile that previously graced her face faded away. Her eyes dropped to the table then she quietly excused herself for a moment.

I contemplated what could be the story behind that reaction while I waited for her to return. This was the first time I’d spent this kind of time with a subject. There would be some type of first encounter, maybe a second, but never to this extent. Her shy demeanor made me want to study her outside of the confines of my basement.
For now at least
.

“Sorry about that,” Calida apologized quietly, sliding back into the booth.

“Would you like dessert?” I asked, smiling at her.

“No thank you, I
’m stuffed.”

I signaled for the waitress to bring us the check. Calida pulled her wallet out of her jacket pocket but paused when she saw me frowning at her. The waitress returned with the check, and I handed her my credit card without taking my eyes off of Calida.

“Thank you,” she said, putting her wallet away.

“My pleasure.”

She cut her eyes over at me when I placed my hand on the small of her back to guide her out to my car. When we got to my car, I leaned closer as I reached to open the door for her. Calida’s eyes widened a bit, and her tongued licked her bottom lip briefly before she drew the corner of it into her mouth. I leaned a little closer and saw her swallow hard, then saw the flutter of disappointment when I opened the door and waited for her to get in.

I smiled as I walked around to the driver
’s side. This was going to be fun.

***

I mentally chastised myself as I sat in Seth’s car. I can’t believe I thought he was going to kiss me! I can’t believe I wanted it, but I knew better. He was being polite spending the evening with me. I was not the kind of woman that was normally on his radar.

“Where to?”
Seth asked, as he slid onto the plush leather seat.

His car was nice, very nice, which let me know he was even further out of my league.

“Um, you can just drop me at the Lenox Station.”

Seth sat back against his seat and crossed his arms. The same frown he had when I pulled out my wallet once again made an appearance. “It
’s nearly dark. I would prefer driving you home instead of leaving you at the public transit station.”

“Oh. I just didn
’t want to inconvenience you.”

“I promise you, it
’s not an inconvenience.”

Seth flashed me another one of those charming smiles that had me captivated most of the evening.
Figuring I might as well enjoy the remaining time with him, I told him my address. His smile broadened when he got the information he was after, and I prayed we’d get stopped at every traffic light along the way. Seth turned on his car, and the engine roared to lif
e
.

“Whoa,” I said under my breath, but from the smirk Seth gave me, I assumed he heard it.

He quickly punched my address into his navigation system, and we were off.  Unfortunately for me, the streets of Atlanta were not crowded for once, and we arrived at my house sooner than I’d hoped.

“Thank you. I had a great time,” I said when he killed the engine after pulling into my driveway.

“You’re welcome, and so did I.”

I turned to open the door, but Seth grabbed my hand stopping me. I shot him a look of confusion.

“I can’t let you do that,” he said, answering my unspoken question.

“I can
’t get out of the car?”

“I can
’t let you open your own door.”

I felt a smile spread across my face. The chivalrous
nature of that statement made my stomach do a little flip. Seth got out of the car then strolled around to open the door for me.

“Thank you.”

He stood close to me again, and I found myself holding my breath, waiting to see what he would do this time. I was disappointed again when he backed away without making a move. I chastised myself again for my crazy thoughts. Maybe Macy was right, it had been too long for me if I wanted a near-stranger to kiss me.

“Well, um, goodnight Seth. And thank you again for
linner,” I said with a smile then turned and headed towards my house.

“Calida?”

“Yes,” I answered, turning to face him.

Seth stood with a lopsided smile on his face, leaning lazily against his car, looking like the epitome of tall, dark, and sexy. 

“Are you going to give me your number, or am I supposed to just stake out your house so that I can see you again?”

It took all of the self-control I possessed to stop myself from squealing like a schoolgirl and jumping for joy. Still, I tried, but failed, to act cool about the fact he just asked for my number because I felt myself grinning like a Cheshire cat.

“I um, don’t have any paper,” I replied, patting myself down.

“That
’s okay. Just give me your phone.”

I pulled it out of my pocket and quickly unlocked it before handing it to him. Seth punched in a number then I heard ringing coming from inside his car. Our fingers touched when he gave me back my phone, and we let them linger there for a moment.

“Until next time,” he said with a smile before climbing back into his car.

I stood there watching until his taillights faded away. I did a happy dance in my front yard, not caring if the neighbors thought I was crazy, before I ran into the house to tell Macy.

Chapter 4

I had been awake for a while, but instead of going for a run, I stayed in bed and thought about Seth. I had saved his number in my phone, but I knew I
’d never call him. He was just being polite when he asked for my number, so I had already resolved myself to the fact he wouldn’t call me.

The doorbell chimed, making me glance over at the clock to see the time. It was ten in the morning, and we didn
’t get many visitors. In fact, in the months we’d lived here, we’d only had one or two conversations with the neighbors.

Climbing out of bed, I went to go answer it. Macy sauntered into my room before I could exit, carrying a vase of two dozen of the most beautiful long stemmed red roses and wearing a wide smile.

“The Good Doctor in love with you already?” I asked, rolling my eyes as I sat back down.

Some of the guys Macy dated were only good for one thing, but others I thought had potential. She was quick to end things with those guys once she felt it was moving beyond the realm of causal dating.

“These are for you,” she replied, placing the vase on my nightstand before handing me the card.

“What!” I exclaimed taking the card.

My eyes quickly scanned the short note, and I felt myself smile broadly.

“Tell me what it says!” she urged, bouncing on my bed like a child.

“It was nice bumping into you again, Seth,” I said, grinning like a schoolgirl. “Oh my god, Macy, he sent me flowers. I made a complete fool of myself. Twice! And he sent me flowers!” I squealed, flopping back onto the bed.

Rolling over, I took a long whiff of the roses. The light, sweet, aromatic smell invaded my senses, filling me with giddiness. No one had ever sent me flowers before. In the four years that I dated Paul, he had only given me flowers twice and never roses. I got carnations on the first Valentine
’s Day we spent together and lilies for my birthday one year.

“Looks like Seth is into you,” Macy stated, taking the card from my hands. “You should call him and say thank you.”

“What? No. He’s….”

“He
’s in to you, hunny. No man sends two dozen long stemmed roses for the hell of it. And you didn’t even fuck him. Wait! You better not be holding out on me! Did you?”

“What? No. I barely know him. We ate, and then he brought me home since
you
abandoned me. What’d you think? I did him in his car?”

“I don
’t know,” she replied with a shrug. “You said it was a nice car.”

Rolling my eyes at her, I turned and looked over at the flowers again, and I couldn
’t help but smile. Seth was definitely a guy I’d thought was out of my league, but maybe Macy was right. He sent me roses, and he did ask for my number, so that was a good sign.

“It
’s been three years, Lee,” Macy said, interrupting my thoughts.

I let out a loud groan and put one of my pillows over my face. I didn
’t want to go down this road with her again.

“Hun, you can
’t let your fear of ending up with another ass like him keep holding you back,” she said, yanking the pillow away from me. “You’ve barely gone on any dates, and any that you have, you always found something wrong.”

“Right, they have all been perfect and I
’m just being picky,” I retorted sarcastically. “Let’s see, there’s the one guy who took me to a minor league ballgame. He had a
whole
different idea of what the seventh inning stretch meant. Then there was that guy from that dating site you put me on. You know the one who liked to dress up as a baby and asked if I would breast feed him.”

“Oh, come on. Those are two extreme cases. What about the one, um, you know the teacher guy.”

“Still hung up on his ex-wife. So much so he showed up to
our
date wearing his wedding ring.”

“Ah, yeah.
Okay still, you’re now ruling out people before you even give them a chance. I mean, Seth is fucking hot, and yet you’re sitting here in your self-doubt comfort bubble. He asked for your number, sent you flowers, yet I can still see the doubt written all over your face.”

I pulled my knees to my chest, letting out an annoyed breath. Macy didn
’t understand. It was hard not to have some self-doubt after growing up with Dorian, my major bitch of a sister, and then dating that cheating no good bastard for longer than I ever should have. There were plenty of times I wished I could be more like Macy, but I couldn’t. I was too afraid of making the wrong choices, and I didn’t want to be hurt again. If I was going to be honest with myself, I was secretly glad those dates turned out to be duds.

“It
’s not a self-doubt comfort bubble,” I replied with a snarky tone.

“Yeah right, and I
’m on my way to join the nearest convent,” Macy replied, rolling her eyes. “Look, I get it. Paul was a douche, no doubt about that, but you can’t let that relationship hold you back from finding someone. Or at the very least have some fun. I mean damn, you don’t even masturbate! I have
no
clue how you have managed to keep your sanity after all this time.
And
your birthday present is still sitting in the box unopened. That vibrator is top of the line and cost me damn near three hundred dollars. The sales girl assured me you wouldn’t even miss not having a man. You need to work off some of that energy. It might do you some good.”

“Well, then you use it!” I retorted, climbing off my bed. “As much as I am enjoying this talk about my lack of a sex life, I have to get ready for work now.”

“Well, if things don’t work out with Mitch, I just might put it to use since you won’t,” she replied, sticking out her tongue at me before exiting my room.

I headed down the hall to the bathroom. Once inside, I leaned against the door and counted to twenty. I knew she meant well, but sometimes Macy could be a lot to handle. However, she was right. All the guys I
’d encountered hadn’t been terrible, but I wasn’t ready. At least that’s what I told myself.

As I stood under the warm spray of the shower, Macy
’s comment replayed in my head. ‘Self-doubt comfort bubble.’ This move was the most impulsive thing I’d ever done; I laughed remembering the look on Macy’s face when I’d told her my plan. I wanted, no, I needed something new, especially after what I’d gone through. For once I didn’t over think or worry that it was going to be a bad decision, I just did it. Made a major change in location in hopes of making a major change in who I was. So far, I’d only succeeded in changing my location.

***

Being around Calida was an interesting experience. She was so easily frazzled by a look or a smile; it was amusing. She blushed often, making me curious to know what thoughts went on in her head. She played the role of the shy ‘good girl,’ but I was beginning to suspect there was an untapped side of her begging for release.