Fiendish: A Twisted Fairytale (69 page)

“So, a lesson is in order,” I commented
, breaking from our kiss.

“Oh, really,” she said coyly. “What are you going to teach me?” She shifted again
, rocking her hips backwards.

“Put your hand on mine,” I said, switching her position to the other side.

She had that fleeting look that I had seen over the last several days. It was as if she wanted to protest, but instead she smiled sweetly and complied with my request.

“Sure thing.”
Leaning forward, she placed a kiss on my cheek before turning to place her hand on mine.

The jeans I wore were restrictive, and my hardening erection was begging for freedom. Taking a steady breath, I forced myself to focus on the task at hand. Slowly, I began to move my fingers to properly play the song she
’d attempted earlier.

“You see,
Cara Mia, even with a simple song, you need to show love for the keys. Relax your fingers and let them glide. If you’re too rigid, the music will reflect that.”

She slowly nodded her understanding while our fingers continued to move across the keys.

“Think of how you would like to be touched by your lover. Would you want him just banging away at you with no regard to how you feel? Or would you rather him take his time, to appreciate you? To seduce you?”

Slowly, she started letting her fingers slide in and out between mine.

“I understand,” she said quietly, turning to straddle me. “I do like being seduced,” she continued as she placed her warm hands against my face. “So, when you play, do you always envision yourself making love to a woman?” she asked, cocking her head to the side innocently.

“No, not always.
But sometimes I am inspired,” I responded, grabbing her waist as she rocked forward against my erection.

“Are you inspired now?” she asked, continuing to grind
herself against me.

“To play the piano?”

She nodded in response.

“Not so much right now.”

A wide grin spread across her face. “So, lesson over?”

I laughed softly before bringing her face down for a kiss.

“No. Your lesson is just beginning,” I whispered against her lips.

Chapter 46

“Oh my goodness.
Who is this stranger walking into the house?” Macy exclaimed when I opened the door. She was laid up on the couch with popcorn watching a movie.

“I know, I know. I
’m sorry,” I replied, locking the door behind me.

I hadn
’t been back to my house in a week, not since we came to pick up his truck. That next day when I talked to Seth and told him I was leaving work to head home, he responded with dinner will be ready and he would see me shortly. When I left for work in the morning, he kissed me and told me he would see me later. That pattern continued over the next several days.

“If it wasn
’t for the fact you would call me, I would have thought he kidnapped you or something,” Macy said, hitting pause on the DVD player.

I kicked off my shoes to join her on the couch. “Nope, I
’m alive and well as you can see. Although going over to Seth’s after work provided me with a much better dinner option,” I said, laughing as I grabbed a handful of popcorn. “Who knew that man could be so domestic?”

“Ah, so a nice home cooked meal was the lure to get you over there?”

“Yeah, that among other things,” I replied, grinning broadly. “But, I’m out of commission for a few days thanks to Mother Nature. He didn’t seem to think it was a problem, but I missed you and my own bed.”

“I figured you were moving in with him and sticking me with the bills here.”

“You know I wouldn’t do that to you. Besides, I don’t see myself living in his house; it’s sooo creepy. Not to mention I am in no hurry to live with anyone again. Well, with a man again,” I added to clarify my statement.

“Well, glad to have you home. Mitch has been keeping me company, but you know I need a break every now and then. There
’s leftover pizza in the fridge.”

“Great, let me go get changed
, and we can finish whatever movie you were watching.”

I stripped out of my work clothes and thought back over the last week. Things were good; Seth attempted to teach me more basics of the piano. He seemed to enjoy sharing that side of himself with me, and it made me feel good to have him open up to me that way. It was odd, but it felt as if learning about my abortion somehow freed him as well. He appeared more relaxed, softer, more like the man I
’d first encountered.

The other side of him was still there, and it still came through
, only it wasn’t as harsh. I could spend years with him and probably never fully know Seth. However, I was learning how to manage what I had figured out to make it better for both of us. So far, even though it had only been a short while, that approach seemed to be working.

When I walked out of my room, Macy had already warmed up a slice of pizza for me and had it sitting on the table.

“See, I can manage a hot meal for you as well,” she said with a big grin. “And we can work on the great sex if you wanna,” she added with a wink, blowing a kiss at me.

I doubled
over, laughing so hard it brought tears to my eyes. I had missed my friend and all her craziness. Things were better, less stressful, with Seth but I still needed this downtime. I always enjoyed having girl time, and I was glad she was home alone when I got here.

“Ah, Macy,” I said, wiping away a tear. “Thanks. We can stick to the hot meal for now,” I commented, picking up my slice and taking a bite. “I
’m a little sexed out right now, but I’ll let you know if that changes.”

“Alright,” she replied with a shrug.
“Just trying to be helpful.”

“Good to know you are always there for me for whatever I may need,” I replied, pulling her closer to plant a big kiss on her cheek. “So what are we watching?”

“
Face Off
.”

I scrunched my nose up at her. She had this weird obsession with Nicholas Cage and his terrible acting. I still cringed when I thought about the money I
’d wasted going to the movies with her to see both
Ghost Riders
and
Season of The Witch
. Of all of those, having to watch
Bangkok Dangerous
had to be the worst. She had to listen to me complain for a week about that horrible movie, so I was spared when
Drive Angry
came out.

“Well, at least this one has John Travolta. He makes a great bad guy,” I said, settling back against the cushions and propping my feet up.

“Yes, he does,” she agreed, grabbing a handful of popcorn. “So, Mitch is really excited to see the plans you have for his office.”

“I just hope he
’s not disappointed in the finished product.”

“Of course he won
’t be. You’re good at what you do, and he has complete faith that you’ll make his office look great.”

We watched the rest of the movie mostly in silence. She had seen it countless times, but still liked watching it uninterrupted. She would pause and shoot me dirty looks when I tried to talk to her. I did it mostly to annoy her
, and she knew it.

“Okay, Mace, I need your advice,” I said after the credits starting rolling.

“On what?”

“Seth
’s birthday is at the end of next month, so I need to figure out what to get him. Obviously, I can’t compete with a car, but I still want to do something nice for him.”

Macy sat back on the couch
, thinking a bit. “Well, what does he like to do? Is he a collector of anything?”

“Um, he likes to read and play the piano. As far as collecting goes
, I’m not sure, but I don’t think so.”

“Huh. Well has he mentioned anything he wants? Mitch dropped not so subtle hints about what he wanted, but then again he
’s a big perv. Although his present was really fun for both of us,” she added with a smile.

“You both are big pervs, and I
’m not buying a stripper pole from the sex toy store nor am I taking pole dancing classes.”

She
’d tried to talk me into taking the classes with her when she told me what she was doing for his birthday. There was no way I could see myself doing that, just the thought of trying to act sexy in front of strangers was more than I could handle. When she would come home and show me some of the moves she’d learned, I would blush. It only solidified my decision even more because I knew I had no inner sex goddess to channel and would have done nothing but made a fool of myself.

“Hey, don
’t knock it till you try it,” she said with a big smile. “We still have fun with that thing, and I’d rather strip for him than have him go wasting his money at the club. Even the high class ones look skanky to me.”

I got up to start clearing away the dishes when she mentioned the strip club. Memories of that horrible night came flooding back suddenly. The place he took me wasn
’t close to being high class. It smelled of cigarettes and sex. I remembered the look on the Seth’s face when she danced for me. I recalled the lewd comments of the other men as they watched. I closed my eyes and took a few steady breaths in an attempt to keep the other memories from that night at bay.

“He knows your financial situation,” Macy said, following me into the kitchen when I didn
’t return right away. “I’m sure he’s not expecting some big gesture. I mean it’s hard to compete with a car. Especially
that
car.”

“I know, and I
’m not trying to compete. I only want to do something special for him. I’ve always had you or my parents to celebrate with; he’s not had anyone,” I replied. Suddenly I felt sorry for Seth when I thought about how lonely that must have been for him.

“Well, in that case
, whatever you do will be good. I think he’ll appreciate the thought more than anything. But, if you’re really concerned, try putting out feelers to see what he may want.”

We spent the rest of the evening talking about how she
’d spent her week. She talked to Malcolm who was off in London for three months. Her oldest brother, Mark, and his wife were expecting their first baby. She was excited about becoming an aunt and getting to spoil her new niece or nephew. And it was a great relief to all the kids since her parents were pressuring them all for grandkids.

That night I had a hard time sleeping. My bed felt strange after not being in it for a week and it didn
’t help that I was haunted with memories again. I lay in the darkness, staring up at the ceiling, willing sleep to overtake me soon.

“No, no, no,” I whispered to myself. “You can
’t go there again. You’ve moved on. You’ve forgiven him. You’ve put this behind you,” I said into the darkness, hoping to will the bad feelings away.

Unfortunately, the thoughts wouldn
’t stop once they started. They got worse. The images went from the actual event to Seth with faceless women. One after the next, over and over, he fucked them while I was forced to watch. 

I curled into a ball
, hugging myself tightly, trying to wish the bad thoughts away. I was crying by the time I rolled over to grab my phone. My panic increased the longer it took for him to answer.

“Hello,” Seth growled into the phone.

I hadn’t thought about the time when I dialed his number. Now I sat too scared to speak, realizing I called him at two in the morning. I heard him fumble with the phone for a moment.

“Calida, what
’s wrong?” he asked, sounding a little less annoyed at being called so late.

“I
’m sorry,” I cried. “I just…I’m sorry. I couldn’t sleep, and I…”

“Decided to share your case of insomnia? Why are you crying?”

“I’m not,” I lied, trying to muffle the sound of my sniffles.

“Not only is it rude to call someone at two a.m
., it’s even ruder to lie to that person during that two a.m. phone call.” His tone was flat, so I wasn’t sure if he was angry or joking.

“You
’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Quit apologizing and just tell me what the problem is.”

I sat up, biting on my lip. I couldn’t tell him I had a mild panic attack because I pictured him with other women. This was supposed to be behind us, and I thought it was. He was not going to want to rehash what I’ve already forgiven him for and especially not at two in the morning.

“There
’s no problem,” I said. “I…I had a nightmare and got scared when you weren’t beside me.” I felt childish saying that out loud, but it wasn’t a complete lie.

There was silence on his end
, and I thought maybe he had fallen back asleep.

“Do you want me to come over?”

The feeling of relief and happiness that washed over me with that question was instant. The fact that he was willing to get up and drive thirty minutes to my house in the middle of the night because I had a nightmare filled me with a sense of security. I was important enough to Seth for him to want to make me feel better even if it was inconvenient for him.