Killer Queen: A Painted Faces Novel (22 page)

“You're going to have to try.” She turned her back
to me, and I knew the conversation was over.

I sighed. “All right, sweet dreams, Freda.”

***

The next morning, after breakfast, I managed to
convince Fred to spend the day with me. This weekend would be over before I
knew it, and I didn’t want to waste a single moment. We hung out with the
others for a while and watched some of the bands. Every chance I got I was
touching her in some subtle way, trying to knock down her walls little by
little.

After a while we broke off from the others. We
didn’t broach the subject of our relationship much, but it was nice to just
have alone time with her. That night she slept in my tent again, and I wasn’t
complaining. I didn’t think she wanted to go near the tent she was supposed to
be sharing with Anny after what went down the previous night.

The following day, I felt like Fred had warmed up to
me substantially. Gone was the wall I’d encountered before. Now we laughed and
joked around, and when I flirted with her, she actually flirted back a little.
My heart felt like it was being warmed by a lazy afternoon sun.

I knew that one of my favourite bands, Elbow, was
going to be playing that day, and I made sure that we were at the main stage
for the performance. I’d been planning something special for Fred, and I hoped
it would have the effect I intended. I had my fingers crossed they’d play the
song I needed them to play, the one that reminded me so much of Fred and me.

I stood behind her as the music washed over us,
sliding my arms around her waist and moving our bodies slowly to the beat. She
allowed the contact, and I revelled in the fact that she wasn’t shutting me out
anymore.

Sure enough, they began to play our song, “One Day
Like This,” and nervous excitement ran through me. My chin rested on her
shoulder, and I pressed my cheek to hers. After a moment, I turned her body in
my arms so she was facing me, and she allowed me to do so, looking up at me
with wide eyes. Her gaze was so full of emotion, so full of feeling, and I
wanted to give her all of that and more in return, so I began to sing along to
the lyrics. My voice was quiet and tender, but since we were so close, I knew
she could hear me.

I pulled her body tight to mine, so tight that I
thought we might meld together, and she seemed to welcome the closeness. My
mouth was almost brushing against her skin as I sang low and soft into her ear.
A shudder went through her as she listened, and I knew that she knew. She knew
that the lyrics I sang were coming from deep within me. Another man might have
written them for another woman, but for this moment in time, I claimed them as
my own. I pulled back a little so I could look into Fred’s eyes, and Mum’s
words rang in my ears from all those years ago.

You want them to be able to see you, especially your
eyes. The eyes are the most important feature when trying to convey a feeling.

I fervently hoped that Fred could see the feeling in
mine, because I was fit to burst with the love I felt for her, and I didn’t
just want to tell her in words, I wanted her to
feel
it with all of her
heart that she owned me. I saw her eyes grow watery, and I knew then that she
was feeling it. Her arms went around my neck, pulling me close, gripping me
tight
.

And then I finally told her what I should have told
her weeks ago back in that hotel room.

“I love you, Freda. It feels like nobody in the
history of the world has loved another person as much as I love you. I love you
so much it hurts. You make me smile, you make me laugh, you make me
burn
.”

She sniffled, and there were tears running down her
pretty cheeks. Bringing her hands up to her face, she wiped the tears away
before whispering, “I love you, too. I want you, need you.”

No sooner had she said the words than she brought
her mouth to mine, kissing me hard. My mouth opened, and I slipped my tongue
past her lips, tasting her. The thousands of people around us were completely
oblivious to the fact that we were experiencing the most meaningful,
life-changing moment. I had never felt so…complete. Whole. Together.

Our kiss grew frenzied, and soon her body was
straining against me, needy, desperate for more. My hands were all over her,
grasping for anything and everything. Breathlessly, I broke the kiss and beamed
down at her, my hands cupping her face.

“This feels right. So perfectly right.”

She trembled. “It does, doesn't it?”

I felt the need to reassure her that what happened
back in Edinburgh would never happen again, so I began to ramble, “I belong to
you. I've belonged to you since the beginning, since before I even knew that I
did. I'll never hurt you again. I'd rather die than to hurt you.”

My words were cut off when she kissed me again, and
then we were hurrying to get back to our tent, desperate to be alone. I opened
up my sleeping bag and laid it out over the floor for us to lie on. I took my
time with her, kissing her softly in all of my favourite places before I
couldn’t hold back any longer. I had to feel her skin against mine.

 I took out my phone and turned on the torch
function, lighting up the small space. When I looked at her, her beauty was too
much. She practically glowed.

“It's too dark in here. I have to be able to see
you,” I rasped, and then took her mouth, my tongue sliding past the seam of her
lips. Pushing her long dress up to her waist, I ran my hand up and down her
thigh, then cupped her hard between the legs.

She gasped. “More.”

I smiled at her demand. “More what, baby?” I didn’t
make her wait, though. I couldn’t, because I was so completely desperate to
feel her. My hand pushed aside her underwear, my fingers slipping over her wet,
welcoming core.

“Yes. Like that,” she urged me.

I shot into action, stripping her out of her dress
and burying my face in her breasts, licking and nibbling. “I missed these,” I
murmured.

I’d never been so happy about breasts in my life,
and let me tell you, some of my happiest memories involved a pair of mammary
glands. We grasped and fumbled for each other, helping one another out of our
clothes. I planted kisses from her ribs to her abdomen, savouring every part of
her. The past few weeks, I didn’t think I’d ever get the chance to do this
again. I was in heaven. If there was a higher plane for me, it would be sinking
myself inside Freda. Right then, her body was my church.

I settled myself between her thighs. She still had
her knickers on, and I pulled the fabric to the side to expose her before
bringing my mouth to her waiting flesh. Her moans filled the tent, and I had to
be inside her. Drawing away, I gave her a dark look as I pulled her knickers
all the way down her legs. Her eyes were levelled on my crotch, where my
erection stood proudly to attention. She grabbed for me, pulling me to her and
burying her face in my neck, where she kissed me. I let out a heavy breath when
her hand moved down my stomach to my cock and began to rub.

I was panting then, losing my fucking mind, because
she dragged me down and then crawled on top of me, straddling my thighs.

“Freda,” I groaned in reprimand. I didn’t like to
have control taken from me, but this was Fred, and I’d give her anything she
wanted to take. She could have every last pound of flesh I had to give.

“Quiet, let me take the lead,” she whispered,
placing a finger to my lips to hush me. With a single look, I allowed her
permission, and then she was lowering herself onto my cock. Neither one of us
broke eye contact; I don’t think I ever felt anything more divine than her as
she sheathed me. She began to move slowly up and down in a delicious rhythm. I
gripped her hips, my fingers digging into her supple flesh. Her speed increased
as we both lost ourselves to the pleasure, and she rode me. She was staking her
claim, and I was quite happy to be possessed.

I could feel her walls tightening around me, her
pussy clenching as she drew nearer and nearer to a release. And I could feel my
own building, too. I took her wrists in my hands and brought them to my chest,
holding her firmly in place, my eyes soaking in the sight of her as she cried
out and came in waves on my cock. At the same moment, I blew my load, coming
inside her tight, perfect body. The sounds of our breathing were loud and
echoing in my ears, a fine sheen of sweat coating our skin. She fell on top of
me, and I savoured the soft feel of her weight before flipping us so I could
hold her. I felt like I might never get enough of her.

But then again, I didn’t ever want to.

November, 26
^th
,
2012.

Soundtrack:
“The Nipple Song” by Nicholas Turner

I
dropped my bags down on the floor as I stepped inside the vacant shop and took
a look around. I’d been away in London for the last five days, where I’d been
performing at G.A.Y. I was even interviewed for a prominent subculture magazine
while I was over there, which was exciting to say the least. The issue wouldn’t
be coming out for another couple of months, but when I’d told Fred about it
over the phone, she proclaimed she was going to have a copy framed and hung on
her wall.

It made me laugh and miss her that much more.

Ever since the festival we’d been inseparable, and
I’d never missed anyone in my life as much as I’d missed Fred these past five
days. A couple of weeks before I left for London, I’d discovered a whole bunch
of property magazines under her bed, with potential premises to rent all
circled with a Sharpie. When she’d walked in and saw I had discovered her
stash, she acted like I’d just found a dead body hidden there.

Or fetish porn.

She was looking for a
place to open up a cake shop, and her embarrassment over her secret ambition
was probably the most adorable thing I’d ever witnessed. She’d promptly taken
the magazines from me and shoved them into her drawer, all the while
proclaiming that she didn’t want to talk about it.

“Freda, I think opening
up a cupcake shop is a wonderful idea. Why are you being so weird about this?”
I asked, unable to disguise the affection in my voice.

She’d made a dramatic
gesture with her hands and stamped her foot into the floor. “Because! What if I
fail? Then everybody will laugh at me.”

I frowned and got up
off her bed, striding toward her with purpose. “Nobody will laugh at you,” I
murmured, bringing my hands to her throat and stroking downward with my thumbs.
It was a move that always seem to both relax and turn her on. She melted under
my touch. “And if they do, I’ll clobber them with my stilettos. How does that
sound?”

She chuckled and then
sighed when I pressed my body into hers. I had her pinned against the wall, and
I hummed in the back of my throat, liking the position.

“It’s not like I have
the money to rent a shop anyway,” she said, shaking her head as I ducked and
brought my mouth to her neck for a kiss. “I was only teasing myself with the
magazines. You know, like property porn, except for a cupcake shop.” Her voice
had become noticeably more breathless, and I inwardly growled. Still, I was
annoyed. She’d given up on her little dream without even trying.

“I’ll spot you the
money for the lease. You can pay me back once you become profitable,” I told
her, and squeezed her hips.

“I’m not taking your
money, Viv.”

“It’s a loan, Freda.
Not charity, so stop acting like it is. This is a business arrangement, and I
happen to think that cupcakes are a very good investment.” At this I slid my
hands around to her backside and cupped her arse. She laughed and shook her
head.

“Fine. I’ll think about
it.”

I gave her a smile of
approval and then captured her lips in a kiss.

Fast-forward six weeks,
and she’d secured the lease on a small shop in Rathmines. It was a busy area,
not too far from our apartment building, and had previously been a café, so
there was a workable kitchen in the back. She’d told me all about it over the
phone when I’d been in London, waxing lyrical about work surfaces and
stainless-steel ovens. I had no idea about baking, but I loved to listen to her
when she spoke so passionately about her career.

The door to the back of
the shop opened, and Fred walked out wearing a pretty red peacoat, jeans, and
navy Converse. Her hair was down, and she wore no makeup. There was a tall,
good-looking man with her wearing a suit and carrying a folder under his arm.
He obviously worked for the company who were leasing the premises because he
was droning on to Fred about contractual stuff while she looked up at him and
periodically nodded her understanding.

Oh, yeah, and did I
fail to mention the way he was looking at her? I didn’t like it one bit. It
immediately put me on the defensive. I stood by the entrance, watching them
interact. They hadn’t noticed I was there yet, deep in conversation as they
were.

“So, that’s about the
size of it,” said the man. “Any questions?”

Fred shook her head and
smiled politely. “No, I think you covered everything. Thanks so much for giving
me a rundown. It’s been a huge help.”