The Decimation of Mae (The Blue Butterfly) (2 page)

He exhaled heavily and returned my wide smile.
“Brilliant.”

I chuckled as his face lit up like a school boy’s on snow
days. I nodded as I pushed at the door again but he remained frozen to the spot
as if his nerves had rendered him immobile. “Okay?”

“Yep.” He grinned back as he shook his head and walked
away. “Oh, uhh, I’ll pick you up at seven, is that okay?”

“Perfect.”

“Okay.” He grinned again, causing me to laugh loudly.
“Right, tomorrow at seven.” He nodded as if confirming it to himself before he
disappeared around the corner of the street.

I smiled to myself as I pushed through the door, and then
cringed as the smell of piss and weed assaulted my nostrils. I sighed, suddenly
wishing the place would collapse; it would make it a damn sight prettier.

I huffed as I changed into my fourth outfit. The red off-the-shoulder
top and tight jeans staring back at me in the mirror screamed slut and I didn’t
want to give him the wrong idea, although I had needed to tell myself that same
statement over the last hour. My nerves were wrecked which was highly unusual for
me, but there was something about Daniel that made my blood heat and my belly
clench. He was just male rawness but had such a sweet side that made my heart
beat a little quicker.

I narrowed my eyes at myself as I chastised my thoughts.
A car door slammed outside and I ran to the window, pulling back the netting.
Daniel climbed from a sleek car and smiled up at me staring through the window.

Shit, I didn’t want him to enter the foyer; the smell
would knock him out before I got to taste those lips.

For Christ’s sake, Mae!

I cursed myself, now not having the time to change my
slutty top, and snatched up my bag before bounding down the stairs.

As I pushed open the outside door, Daniel gasped and
widened his eyes in shock at my sudden appearance. “Holy shit.” He chuckled
when he noticed my panting. “You’re more eager than me.”

“I’m just starving.” I took his elbow and led him away
from the building.

He nodded and opened his passenger door for me to slide
in. “It’s a good job I have everything prepared then.” He walked around the car
and climbed in beside me. “We wouldn’t want you to be
hungry
for too
long,” he whispered as he leaned across the car and brushed at a feral strand
of hair on top of my head.

My breath stuttered at the way he said hungry. “No,” I
said simply as I pulled on my seat belt.

I saw him smirk from the corner of my eye as he pulled
away.

We were quiet for the journey but I gasped as he pulled
up to some huge gates and stabbed a code into a numbered keypad. He seemed
angry as he fingered his frustration on the pad; his annoyance making him hit
the wrong numbers and causing him to repeat the code three times. “Is
everything okay?”

He paused before turning to me, as though he was planting
a smile on his face before turning around. “I’m fine, just a little nervous.”

His openness squeezed at my heart and I placed my hand on
his arm, appreciating the hard muscle beneath my touch. “Don’t be nervous, it’s
just me.” I leaned a little further into him. “And I’ll eat
anything
.”

My eyes widened when I realised how brazen I was being.
Daniel’s eyes seemed to liquefy before me, the deep brown morphing into a pool
of black marble. His teeth nipped at his lips, moistening them until they
glistened.

We both blinked when the gates swung open but he remained
stock-still, watching me. I wasn’t sure if he was angry, horny or just wary. I
suddenly wished I could read him better as my nerves flipped a little.

“I presume by that you mean salmon, Mae?”

He seemed to be reprimanding me, scolding me for my audacious
comment. I dropped my eyes and swallowed but gave him a nod.

He laughed, taking hold of my hand. “Relax, I’m just teasing
you.”

I forced a smile and nodded back to him, however there
was still a darkness in his eyes that told me very clearly that he hadn’t been
teasing at all, in fact, far from it.

He smiled again before he let go of my hand and pulled
the car up the large gravelled driveway.

“This is just… Wow!” I stuttered. All earlier
apprehension disappeared with the beauty welcoming me to Daniel’s home. “You
live here?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t be bringing you here if I didn’t, would
I?”

Okay, now I was starting to get a little wary of him. Was
he calling me stupid or was he just teasing again?

I glanced at him cautiously but rolled my eyes when he
winked at me. “You have a weird sense of humour.” I smiled. “You take some
getting used to, sorry.”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to remember you
don’t know me well. All my friends are used to my dryness. It’s just that…”

“It’s just what?”

His cheeks flamed brightly as he dropped his eyes to his
lap. “Well, it’s weird but I feel like I’ve known you for ages, as though we’re
already friends and you get me.”

He could be so sweet that all my nerves vanished and I
smiled at him before climbing from the car. “Just… wow. Your home is stunning.”

He didn’t answer as he ran up the few steps to the front
door. I skimmed my eyes across the lush green garden. It was immaculate; the
landscaping took my breath away with the vast array of colours and beautifully
shaped shrubs.

The house was maybe a couple of decades old, most
definitely modern. The exterior walls were whitewashed but very well maintained
and the many windows were all adorned with shutters to give the illusion of a tropical
sanctuary.

I reached Daniel on the porch, my eyes still drinking in
the grandeur of my surroundings. He cursed under his breath as he flicked
through an immense amount of keys on a key-ring. He tried three keys, each time
huffing loudly when he rammed another key into the lock that didn’t house any
of his choices. He finally found the correct one and the door swung open.

He turned to look at me sheepishly. “Sorry. I had the
locks changed yesterday and I’m still struggling to find the right key.”

He didn’t wait for me to answer as he stepped into the
hallway. I followed him, somewhat timidly as my eyes widened on the interior. “Holy
shit!”

Daniel’s head snapped round.

“Sorry.”

“I would prefer it if you didn’t use such language, Mae.”

I swallowed back a laugh. Shit, this man had no clue who
I was. I could curse and drink with the sailors on the high seas. Hell, even
pirates would welcome me into their fold after spending an hour drinking with
me.

His face showed every inch of his disgust and I cringed, the
laugh dying in my throat. He stepped towards me, his hand reaching my shoulder
before his fingers softly stroked the curve between my neck and shoulder blade.
“You are an exquisite, feminine creature, Mae. You should really refrain from
trying to hide that side of you.”

Okay. What the fuck?

I suddenly didn’t want to be there, small bubbles of fear
were causing dots of sweat to break over my skin. It wasn’t just Daniel’s
intense dialogue that made me wary but his whole demeanour. The way his eyes
fired as they narrowed on me, the way his back stiffened so straight I was
concerned for his posture, and the way his teeth gnawed savagely at his lower
lip like he was struggling to keep his anger under control.

“Uhh, sorry. That’s just me, Daniel.” His fingers caused
me to shiver as they trailed along my bare shoulder where my top had drooped over
the top of my arm. “M...maybe…” I hated that I had started to stutter, I wanted
to assert confidence. “Maybe we could take a walk through t...the gardens. They
look so beautiful.”

Oh Christ.

A tiny moan rumbled up my throat when Daniel’s lips
brushed across the curve of my shoulder. An intense heat shimmied up my legs
from my toes and crashed into my womb with a raw power I had never experienced
before.

I jumped a mile when the door slammed shut behind me.

“But why, Mae?” He leaned back until his eyes were on my
face again. “You obviously came here to be fucked. That top you’re wearing
screams that you are hoping it gets ripped the fuck off you tonight.”

My knees wobbled. It wasn’t just his words; they weren’t
said as though to a lover in a passionate moment. They were filled with revulsion
and aggression.

“The way your jeans display the tight contours of your
backside.” He sneered as I took a step back and he took one forward. “You are flaunting
your curves, Mae. You wanted to look hot for me so I would fuck you, didn’t
you?”

I took another step back as his face contorted angrily.
His lip curled at the corner with his abhorrence, his eyes darkened as hatred
reflected back at me. “DIDN’T YOU?”

I shook my head as I continued to move backwards, but he
kept coming. He kept placing one foot in front of the other, he kept the
threatening sneer on his face, and he kept his gaze full of ire.

I knew then, before I took another step that that night…
I would lose something I had struggled to hold onto for so long. Something that
was going to be taken from me even if I tried with everything I had to hold on tight.

But I wouldn’t go down without a fight.

I spun round and within milliseconds soaked up my
surroundings then headed for the patio doors situated on the rear wall of the
room. He was right behind me, his loud, sinister laugh eating up the air around
me as I retained whatever my lungs held and converted the oxygen to adrenaline.

“Oh, Mae.” He tutted as I yanked at the door, cursing
when it remained lodged in the framework. “You underestimate me.”

I shot off to the right and headed down a long corridor;
doors appeared left and right but I bypassed them, knowing they would just be
rooms he could trap me in. The hallway veered off to the left and I slid around
the corner, hissing at the sharp pain that burst in my calf and fired needles
through my leg. “Fuck!” My leg gave way and I jolted, causing me to lose a few
yards gap between us.

“Oh, I love a chase,” he sniggered when he’d almost caught
up with me.

I fisted a door at the end of the hall. To my utter
surprise it popped open and I surged forward.

A huge pool greeted me but I didn’t have chance to
appreciate its tranquillity. All I saw were the doors to the garden at the
other side of the room.

“Keep running, Mae. You have a rare spirit that I rather like,”
he mocked as he gained on me, his words driving more determination in me to win
this stupid fucking game. I couldn’t let him win. I
wouldn’t
let him
win.

I cheered inwardly as I reached the door and it opened, the
gust of night air hitting my face and clinging to the sweat that poured from
me. The outside world had never looked so fucking heartening and the adrenaline
rushing through my veins doubled as I pushed harder and charged forward.

You know afterwards, when you replay things over in your
mind? Well for me, for the next three years, all I could concentrate on was the
twisted muscle in my calf that had slowed me down. All I could tell myself for
three years was, if I hadn’t slid around the corner, if I had taken it at a
practical speed and not acted like a fucking athlete at the Olympics, then
maybe, just maybe I would have gotten away that night with my virginity intact.

I remember the sinking in my heart, the dread that
slithered through every fibre in me when his hand snatched at my hair and I was
slung around so forcefully I slid along the tiled floor a few feet and came to
rest at the edge of the pool.

I scrambled around and pushed myself to all fours. A loud
scream burst from me when Daniel’s shoe connected with the base of my spine and
the most torturous pain fired up my vertebrae. “So pointless, little lamb. Why
fight it? I know you will be wet when I take you.”

Through the humiliation, the pain, the dread and the
fear, it was his little pet name that gave me the sickening feeling. As he slid
his foot up my back, the reality of what he was came at me like a lightning
bolt, illuminating the foolish parts of my brain and allowing me to see the
full picture clearly. He was a professional. The small blushes as he had played
with my compassionate side, the soft smiles as he had appealed to my sensual
side and the knight in shining armour act that had guaranteed my trust.

“Please don’t do this.” I hated myself for begging, for
giving this sick bastard what he would expect but I couldn’t help it. It was
human nature, defensive instinct to plead with someone’s humanity.

“Get up.”

I ignored him, choosing to bury myself further into the
cold ceramic floor. Chlorine from the pool assaulted my nostrils, making my eyes
water and my lungs hiss with the chemical rush.

I cried out as he yanked me upright by my hair, his
fingers twisting the length in his hold until it snatched at my scalp and made
my temples burn. He jerked my head until my face was an inch from his.

“Now, I’m going to make this simple for you, Mae. Meet my
demands with perfection and this will be a lot easier. Fight me, disobey my
orders, then you will need to be aware that I will take your obstinacy as a
direct request for punishment. Do you understand me?”

I stared at him. My jaw was locked; my throat was
constricted to an extent that it refused anything including air to escape, and
my mouth had dried up to the degree that my tongue had swollen.

He shook me hard, a deep red tint seeping onto his pale face
with fury at my silence. “Do – you – understand – me?”

I nodded but didn’t answer, causing him to narrow his
eyes. “Speak!”

I blinked at him but managed to choke out a yes with
another nod of my head.

“Good.” He let go of my hair and watched me closely.
“Take off your clothes.”