Chapter Ten
Scarlett
Joshua left the room telling me that he’s left an alarm and when it rings, then I’ll have to have dinner together. I felt like a teenager going on a first date from the time that the alarm rang.
I was too tired to wake up earlier, but now I have the strength after recovering from the fuck of the year.
What is it about this man that just makes me want to have sex so much?
I want to ask Gretchen if she’s ever had this type of craving and then I decide that I’m twenty-five, not five. I don’t need to consult her for everything, even if I’ve been feeling that way ever since I broke up with Sam. I decide on a black crossover dress. I’m going for sexy. I want him to see me as a submissive, one that he’s molded in only a day.
I tie my hair in a bun, leaving my neckline’s fully exposed, and as much as I love this dress, I know it’s a little short. I know if he’s standing at the bottom of the stairs, then he’ll see my thong, and for that reason, I wear a thong, because with him I feel sexy. The girl who has been living in her sweats has disappeared.
I hardly wear makeup, but tonight, I’ve put on a bit of rouge and sprayed Paco Rabanne on me from head to toe. I have a necklace that I think will match the dress. It’s a gold rope necklace with a rope pendant for the middle which will sit comfortably in between my breasts. Everything fits perfectly as I think about our date.
We’ve done the reverse of what most people do. Or maybe that’s just me. Gretchen says that I live in a glass box sometimes, but then again when you’ve spent the last five years cleaning up after one man then you tend to not notice what’s going on in the world. Or that’s my excuse for my ignorance? Everything fits perfectly I think as I stare in the mirror. Only yesterday I was looking in a different mirror thinking the complete opposite. And now, one day later. I feel different I admire my body as I stare in the mirror. My breasts are on full view and I take one last look as I take one deep breath as I gaze in the mirror once more. I leave the room and wonder tonight if by any chance I’ll be sleeping in it alone.
I never thought that he would kiss me, he seemed to make a point of not wanting to do so tonight could be the start of something or like he said in the car on the way here.
Just one fucking weekend. I’m getting too nervous. I start to sweat a bit and cling on to the stair rail as I head to the dining room. I try to control my breathing even more with the distraction of my heels. I concentrate on just getting down the stairs without breaking my neck. The stairwell seems even more elongated than earlier today. As I reach the bottom of the stairs, I let out a heavy sigh of relief.
I don’t even think of composing myself before entering through the dining room door. Joshua said that it was on the left, the part of the house, like so much of it that I never entered. I didn’t want to pry then, but knowing that he’s here doesn’t stop me from opening it. That and I’m really hungry and having visions of Luisa’s curry chicken on the table.
I laugh because I’m sure that she’s not going to make the same thing that she made this afternoon. I’m taken aback, but I hold my gaze steady as he keeps his only on me. Joshua’s wearing an apron and if I didn't know any better, I would think that he was the chef tonight.
“You cooked?”
“Good evening Scarlett,” he says as he takes out a chair. The idea that he’s a chef and he has a table for six when I get the impression, that he normally eats alone. Again, I start to wonder if this is too good to be true.
“And yes, I did cook. Does that surprise you?”
I nod my head as I stare into his emerald eyes. I take in all his features bit by bit, and I open my mouth to speak, but all that enters is air, and nothing leaves, only silence. I clear my throat because he doesn’t understand that I’m a sea of emotion right now.
No man has ever cooked for me.
Never!
I dated Sam during and after college. The best he could do was order take out and even then, he would always call me to take the order. Always claiming that knew what I would like to eat.
Joshua stands before me and traces his finger softly on my face as if he’s seeing a long-lost friend or lover. I’m just about to turn and sit in the chair that he’s pulled out, but his finger meets my mouth, he leans forward, presses his lips to mine, and as his tongue enters, I melt at the fact that he’s not only kissed me once today, but twice.
“Sorry,” he says as he pulls back. He was so gentle as if he was trying to taste my lips like he’s been doing with my body.
“Why did you stop?”
He ignores me as he says, “Because we’re supposed to be eating. Besides we haven’t even had a conversation. Apart from you trying to make sure that my sound proof house can be heard by all the neighbors.”
I laugh, “Maybe if you weren’t so bent on trying to make me scream then you wouldn’t have that problem.”
“Sit down so that we can eat.”
“Yes, sir!” I salute him as I sit down. Then he pulls the wall behind me, which turns out to be a door.
“It’s quicker to move the food this way. Asun told me that you like chicken.”
“How did she know?”
I wonder if she was sitting and watching me while I was sitting in the kitchen alone. The idea of it makes me feel nervous.
“Oh, she said that you started eating the chicken first. Dead giveaway. Besides Asun’s a fantastic cook, you should have helped yourself to more food if you loved it so much.”
“I didn’t want to overeat, in case you were…”
Now, I feel embarrassed that I’m admitting that I didn’t want to eat without him.
“I know I shouldn’t have left you. We only have one weekend together and besides I’ve never done anything like this before, it felt kind of weird knowing what to do.”
“Because you’ve never spent so much time with someone?”
I can tell that I’ve touched a nerve. He moves away from me again and goes to get something in the kitchen. Or so that’s what he’s pretending to do.
I’m just about to stand up when he comes back.
“I hope that you like cosmopolitan food?”
I’m not even sure what it is, but it smells great. Actually, as I sit there I recognize that scent. I’ve had it enough times to know that before he even lifts up the lid. I know that it’s McDonald’s.
I laugh as I see that it is McDonald’s.
“So, you have a sense of humor?”
He asks, “The question is, are a Big-Mac girl or a chicken nugget child?”
“Really so, women that eat chicken nuggets are considered kids?”
He smirks, “I knew that you were a chicken nuggets kind of girl.”
“How’s that possible?”
“You look like a picker, the type that would snack on everything including their meal and miss out their chance of having a real burger.”
I laugh as he puts the nuggets on my plate with the fries and then he pours us glasses of red wine and I take a sip. Before I entered the room, I was nervous but as we talk, eat and drink. I see a different side of him. Maybe, because we’re no longer in the room. No longer thinking about fucking each other’s brains out.
“We only have one fucking weekend, we should make the most of it.”
He waves his finger at me, as he smiles, “You’re quoting my words at me. Touché.” Then he lifts his glass up and toasts to me.
“Okay, seeing as you’ve had a bit too much wine. There’s something that I really need to know.”
“Why I have a playroom?”
I shake my head.
“Why I put myself for sale on the auction?”
I frown because that had crossed my mind once, but then it feels irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
“Nope.”
“Okay, I give up. What’s been going through your pretty little head?”
As he pops the last fry into his mouth. I blurt out, “Okay so please explain to me why there are no pictures anywhere in this house.”
He makes that face again, the same one that he made when I was trying to talk to him on a personal level before when I entered the dining room.
“Because some things are too painful to face.”
“What do you mean?”
“My mom died of cancer and my dad hung himself.”
I’m expecting him to say something more, but he doesn’t the conversation ends like that and part of me is searching for a way to make it up to him. To make him see that it’s the past and this is the future, but it dawns on me once again.
We may have had sex, but it doesn’t mean that we know each other.
“I shouldn’t have asked and I’m sorry for doing so,” a line has been drawn between us and I question if I should leave now. I never know what to do in the best of times. Especially when it comes to the darkness that’s buried inside of Joshua. He confirmed it by the way he spoke about his parents. I want to ask about other family members, even crack a joke about how mine are alive and they know nothing about me.
They don’t know that I’m homeless and living with my bestie. I’m twenty-five, unemployed, overweight and I have no future.
“You see me and think that I have it all?” He's striking me as a man that loves to judge. He probably sees me as the rich, spoiled little girl. I start to get angry thinking that he doesn't know me at all.
He shakes his head, “No one has it all. It doesn’t exist.”
His answer surprises me.
“Some people are happy in their lives. They…”
“Stand up!”
I shake my head because I like the fact that we're open and for the first time in my life, I want to share my nightmares. But, just like that he completely switches.
“We don’t need to do this; we can talk.”
“We did that, and now I want to fuck.”
I hate the way that he’s so crude, he lets down his guard for two minutes, and right then he switches the table. Can he just not talk? Have a conversation and then have sex? But then maybe sex is his means of expressing how he feels. Maybe that's how we bond together when he’s in between my legs and not just his cock.
“I’m not repeating myself again, Scarlett!”
He’s no longer smiling or exchanging words as he was a few minutes ago. Now, he’s commanding me and making me feel uncomfortable. I want to tell him that I’m sorry. That I shouldn’t have interfered. Before I even get the chance to do that like a panther, he kicks over the chair that I once sat on and he’s holding me. It’s as if time stands still as I freeze. I’m debating in my mind if I should just use the safe word.
Then again, curiosity gets the better of me once again, and I want to know how far he’ll go. Will I push him that he will become violent or will he awaken from the dark cloud and realize that the past in the past. That was what he said, but judging by the lack of photos and his dismissal of the subject I get the impression that they were empty words.
He drags my dress off my body.
“Ah!”
I shout out, thinking that I need to say, Elsa. I need to use my safe word now.
Then he tugs at my bra and pulls it apart. It snaps at my back. I’m acting as if I know him in the short time that we’ve been together. I was with Sam for five years, and if someone had told me that he'd do the things that he did, I would have laughed in his face.
I know that any moment now. Joshua will stop.
Then he bends down and rips my thongs like they’re a piece of string.
I’m standing naked, not facing him, but the door. The one that I can run to so quickly, and he couldn’t stop me. I wouldn’t even need a safe word, and he would never see me again.
Never.
“Open your legs wider!”
He moves away from me, and I know that this is my chance. The plates are still on the table. The bottle of wine that we were drinking is nearly empty, but our glasses are half full. There’s nothing to keep me here. I could run through the kitchen.
My heart’s beating out of control as I watch him pass me. His eyes are on me; there’s no trace of anger as he moves slowly to the door.
Once he closes it, he growls, “You’re so fucking beautiful.”
Hearing him say the words and knowing that he’s calmed down makes me open my legs wider and shut my eyes. I love the darkness and the surprise of his touch. The idea that he can just take me whenever he wants was something that I never thought about until earlier today. When he told me to close my eyes, that’s when I discovered that it’s the most erotic thing in the world.
Not knowing what he’s going to do next.
“You’re learning fast. You seem to surprise me more than I even surprise myself this weekend.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s as if you calm me. Whenever I feel tension, I just turn to you, and it seems to go away. Something that’s never really happened to me before.”
I smile, “Does it scare you?”
He laughs, “No, because I know that it’s only a weekend and maybe, it’s your golden hair that seems to calm me. It makes you appear innocent, but then you're far from it when you're screaming like a ”
Joshua unties my bun, and I feel the loose strands drop over my naked body.
“I can tell that you’ve bene making good use of the vanilla shampoo today.”
Is there anything that he doesn’t miss?
His attention to detail is incredible, but then again he’s in the property business maybe that’s why he has such an acute eye.
My hairs stand up as if they’re attracted to him like a magnet. I want to pull him close. I want to say something, anything that would help me figure out what’s going on.
A tear escapes my eyes as he turns me around to face him. I can’t see him, but I know once I look into those emerald eyes, I’ll melt. I gasp as I feel his length brushes against my thigh. I’m naked with only my heels on, and after his length had brushed me, I knew that I wasn’t the only naked one in the room.
Joshua’s so close, too close that my erect nipples are aligned with his. He’s over six feet tall, and with my three-inch heels, I feel as if we’re face-to-face. I hold my breath as he gently presses kisses up and down my neck. He isn’t touching me with his fingers. Just kisses are darting gently at the top of my body.
“Did I upset you just now when I said that it was only a weekend?”
He stops for a minute, and I feel so silly for being all emotional. He’s right it is a weekend, that was the agreement, so why am I so fucking sad?
“Yes. But then I know that you’re right. This is just a weekend.”
Joshua has a way of controlling me with his smile, touch and even simply his presence. I start to get wet. I don’t want to, and I frown at the idea of standing with my legs open in high heels when I should’ve been heading out the door.
His head is between my legs and his hands around my ankles as he starts to lower himself down.
“Don’t move!”
He’s demanding it before his tongue darts straight into my wetness. Then he gently onto my ankles and pierces his tongue at my G-spot. I stand, trying not to disobey. It’s so hard because I’m becoming weaker and weaker at the knees the more he presses against my clit. His tongue is making a perfect figure eight.
His lips are blowing, and it’s driving me wild. I know I’m so close to the edge of climaxing, and the only words that can escape my lips are, “Hmm, I’m…”
Joshua takes control of my orgasm. He keeps moving slowly in and out, and his fingers tease my ankles. They gently caress them as if every single movement, is done with so much attention.
“Yes!” I scream out as I feel so weak, as I stand like a rag doll as my knees become weak.
Joshua lifts me up, the temptation to see where we’re going is so great, but I resist temptation as I try to regain my thoughts and some energy. Joshua pushes me against the wall and as my back touches it, he holds onto my breasts. This can only mean one thing: he wants relief, and it’s going to be against the wall.
My head moves to the side, encouraging him to slide his tongue into my mouth. I suck on his tongue as his fat cock strokes my cunt. Once was always enough for me. I would need a rest especially after climaxing so hard. But with Joshua it’s different. I’m automatically wet again.
As much as I wanted to leave earlier, I can’t. Joshua never forced me, he even gave me the option of a safe word, yet the curious part of me wanted to stay.
It’s as if my feet are in quicksand and I can’t move. Joshua always starts slowly and then he enters me slowly with his cock. I forgot how big he is until he thrust it in and then it stretches me the more he rocks his butt back and forth. I thought that it was the end of his length, but with every thrust, it feels bigger each time. He has one hand on my breast, and he focuses on my clit with the other. His fingers stroke it as he circles his hips, my pussy becoming once again acquainted with his member.
He’s not going to pump into me.
I want to scream, but I keep sucking his tongue. I start to lap it harder as I feel his cock grinding, my pussy’s crying for more. I whimper as he withdraws his tongue from my mouth and asks, “What do you need me to do?”
I’m confused by his question. He just broke away like that and hit me with a question.
“Don’t stop.”
He shakes his head, “No, what do you need me to do.”
I need him to keep on fucking me. Instead of putting his cock back inside, he circulates his length around the entrance of my pussy. Then he drops my breast and uses both hands to stroke my arse, and alternates the movement to my clit.
I’m frustrated and finally blurt out, “Fuck me!”
“What did you say?”
“Fuck me!” I shout with my head pressed against the wall thinking that he’d heard me. I said it, I admitted it. He wants me to tell him that I want him. I thought that it was evident, I said to him only a few minutes ago that I didn’t want this weekend to end.
We move again, he has me in his arms, and my eyes are still firmly shut. That’s when IU hear the plates drop to the floor. He pushes me onto the dining table effortlessly, but with my tits on the firm wood. I spread out my arms wondering what he’s going to do next.
“This is going to hurt!”
“What?”
Then his thumb starts to go up my ass, and I know exactly what he’s talking about. We’re going to have anal sex. Something that I told Sam that I would never consider in a million years. I’m lying face down on the dining room table with my heels still on my feet, offering Joshua, the guy that I’d met only yesterday to stick it to me up the butt.
I should protest and tell him that this isn’t something that I’m ready to do. Not yet. Not ever.
“Remember you’ve got your safe word? If it gets too much…”
He growls as he changes from putting his thumb in there to his fingers.
“Elsa!”
I nod, thinking that he didn’t need to remind me. This one act would be something that I’ll remember.
He strokes my back, “Try to relax. You’re too tense.”
I move in sync with the rhythm that he’s creating as he starts to rock me back on forth on the table. It’s not the most comfortable position in the world, but with my eyes closed and focusing on how he’s making me feel. I soon forget about my fears as he replaces his fingers with his cock.
“That’s my girl,” he purrs as I start to relish in the pleasure.
I close my eyes and hear him gentle push into me. I rock on the table, but then he has one hand on my waist keeping me steady.
“Your ass is so fucking tight!”
Now, I understand the fascination of anal sex. The idea used to gross me out, but it’s so different from him putting it in my pussy.
“I can’t even hold back any longer. I’m fucking coming!”
He barks as he starts to pump me harder, I think that his whole length is inside of me as I leverage my weight against the table. Then with a couple of forcible and harder thrusts, he drops on top of my back as I feel his come shoot up my spine.
As I try to stand up, I struggle with the weight of my heels, and now I feel sore. The reality of what took place starts to take its turn as his length turns soft and he removes it. Like a delicate flower, he lifts me up.
“You must be exhausted?”
I whisper, “Sore and tired.”
With one flick my heels which felt as if they were implanted on my feet, drop to the floor. I feel as if I’m being rescued as I wrap my arms around him and he takes me up the stairs. We’re both naked, and I remember him shutting the door earlier. I want to ask him if someone else in the house, but my throat is dry and I’m tired. I snuggle against him as we get to the top of the stairs and he moves in a different direction. Not my room and I wonder if he’s taking me to his room.
Wow!
I don’t say a word as I open one eye and take in my surroundings. He flicks on the light, and I can see that his room is no different to the one I’ve been staying in. Paintings hang on the wall, and he has a four-poster bed, which is double the size of mine. The room is beige and there’ s nothing personal about it. Maybe the papers that are scattered on the desk in the corner are the most personal part of the room.
As he lays me on the bed, I smell the same woody scent of his cologne, and it should be enough to make me fall asleep, but then he whispers something so that I know that we may be upstairs, but he's not done.
“I’m going to make love to you. This is what you need and want right now.”
He’s right I do need tenderness, but I also need rest. He’s a beast with a constant erection.
Doesn’t his cock ever get tired?
He sighs as he makes his way to the bathroom to clean himself. I watch him like a frozen statue as I wait for him to return. I need to clean up too, and it is as if he read my mind as he returns with a towel. My pussy wants more, and it knows he’s willing to give it. As he makes his way back, Joshua kisses me on the forehead, then my cheeks and finally my lips.
My wetness is driving me mad as it starts to flow when his length strokes my pussy. I can’t believe it feels this way after what he did, and I feel betrayed.
Every part of me is letting me down, my pussy for reacting every time he touches me. Joshua rocks on top of me, all the time looking directly into my eyes with his gentle emerald gaze, and I run my hand through his hair. At that moment, he kisses me. He kisses me again and part of me doesn’t know what to think. At first, he didn’t want to kiss me at all, and now it’s as if he can't stop.
Joshua’s causing so many mixed emotions in my mind that I can’t think straight. I kiss him back with hunger as he gently enters my pussy, and my legs wrap around him so we can be as one. Joshua thrusts gently inside me, using his hands to caress my sides, my face and at times, to drive my head closer to his as we kiss.
It is one of the most romantic times we’ve experienced together, and I want it to stop. This is just one weekend, soon it’ll be over, and another will take my place I’m confident about that. He’s a man that’s had women here before; I know that I’m not the first and certainly won’t be the last.
There an aching as my pussy clenches with what feels like the last orgasm I’ll ever have in my lifetime. After we finish rocking and I wonder how one man can come all the time.
“We shouldn’t have done it without a condom,” I say feeling silly that after it’s happened, I now want to tell him that we should have practiced safe sex.
“Well, there’s the after pill, you could get that tomorrow?”
I shake my head while still looking directly into his eyes, “Sure.”
He rolls off me, and I sigh, “Silly me.”
I’m not used to these situations. I was on the pill for so long that the moment I had my first period and Sam had dumped me. I stopped taking it.
I turn to face him. I’m trying to read his mind and figure out what’s happening between us. I’m acting as if we have a future together when it is evident that we don’t.
I lay beside him with my arms wrapped around him for safety and comfort. He continues to stroke me as I hold onto him for dear life. I don’t understand it at first, but then I don’t care as for the first time in a long time I feel completely safe and warm being in another man’s arms. Even if it’s only for the weekend.
Chapter Eleven
Joshua
“Who the fuck keeps calling at this time of night?”
The first time my phone rang I ignored it, but the second time it was getting on my nerves, so I reached out and picked it up. Scarlett was peacefully sleeping on my chest. I didn’t mean to wake her up, but I was surprised that she could sleep with the phone ringing.
“What!” I blurt down the phone. I don’t even look at the number as I push her to the side and pick up my phone.
“Mr. Moore?”
“Yes!”
“This is Wendy Hart. You don’t know me, and I’m so sorry to be calling at this time of night. I was calling Scarlett’s phone but she wasn’t picking up.”
I hate people that ramble especially at this hour. I’m listening impatiently as I head to my closet to get my pants.
“It’s just that I need to speak to Scarlett and I know that she won the auction. Well, she didn't win it, her aunt did....anyway, I just rang on the off chance that she was still with you.”
“One minute.”
I walk over to Scarlett who’s hugging the pillow as if her life depends on it. I wonder if she still thinks that she’s in my arms?
I push her gently, no movement. So, I shout out maybe a bit too loudly, “Scarlett!”
She jumps up, “Fire!”
Her hairs all over her face and if it wasn’t for the call then I’ll probably take her again, there’s nothing like waking up a woman with my cock that sends me over the edge faster than normal.
“No, Wendy’s on the phone for you.”
“Who?” she says trying to get her hair out of her mouth. I hand her my phone, and as she blinks her eyes furiously, I put on the light and grab a shirt.
No one calls at this time of night unless there’s something wrong. The fact that Wendy said that she’s been trying to get hold of Scarlett at one makes me think that there must be something up with Ms. Young.
“No, no it’s no trouble. I’m on my way,” Scarlett shouts down the phone and then she’s running around the room like a chicken.
“Scarlett I’ll get your clothes.”
She shakes her head, “No, I need to get out of here. I’ll do it.”
“Wendy thanks for calling me. It was the right thing to do. But what were you….oh never mind.”
And then she hangs up the phone.
“Aunt Betty’s been in an accident. Apparently down the stairs, she’s in the hospital will you take me?”
“Of course,” I’m walking with her, but she seems completely lost as she walks in front one minute and then behind.
“Joshua?”
“Yes.”
She stops for a minute and then looks from left-to-right utterly bewildered, she’s butt naked in my hallway and distressed about her aunt. I’m trying so hard to get my cock out of my head, but it’s so fucking hard when it’s the only thing I do when it comes to women.
Especially Scarlett.
“I haven’t got a clue which one’s my room.”
I walk in front of her and open the door, “This one.”
She smiles, “Thanks.”
“Okay, so I’ll go down and start the car while you get ready.”
“I won’t be long.”
I know that she won’t, and I want to kiss and comfort her and tell her that everything will be okay. She’s scared, but then I don't know how to comfort her even if I did try. We’re still strangers, and we don’t know anything about each other apart from how to make her come.
I turn around and head down the stairs; it’ll give us both time to cool down. I can’t believe that the old lady’s dead. She’s too much of a fighter, but then falling the stairs is serious business especially for someone of her age.
Scarlett must have flown into the bedroom and come down the stairs because, by the time I get in the car and start the ignition, I can see her leaving the house in front of the car. As she opens the door, I say, “That was quick.”
She turns to me, “My aunt’s in the hospital, I need to get there.”
That’s her way of telling me to speed up. I was going to ask Scarlett if she would stay longer. I have a few meetings this week, but not so much work that it'll take up all my time. I could spend time with her, if she's still in town for that long.
She’d made me do what no woman’s ever been able to do, I've never been able to sleep in the same bed with another. I’ve tried it a couple of times, and I always felt uncomfortable having another body by my side.
“How long till we get there?” she asks after I stop at the second set of lights.
I forgot that she was in the car because I feel like a teenager thinking about asking a girl to the Prom. We’re on our way to the hospital. Maybe now I should tell her the truth. She’s going to find out that there was more at stake than just a charity ball. The whole thing was set-up from the start, but I want to tell her that this is how it started and I want it to end on a different note.
If she spends more time with me, then we can get to know each other better, in a different way.
“Can you drive faster?”
I nod my head.
“Just that I’m so damn scared. If I lose her, then I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“I understand.”
“Shoot, sorry that was insensitive of me. You must know what I’m going through.”
Then she puts her hand on the wheel, but then I move mine. Not because I need to while I’m driving, but because I don’t want her to get attached and think that something can happen between us. Maybe asking her to spend more time here is not a good idea after all.
“Anyway, I wasn’t thinking. It’s just that my dad’s a bit of a control freak. Well, not exactly a bit. Very controlling and as much as I love my mom. Well, she’s like a puppet on a string and does everything that he tells her to do.”
“Has he ever abused her?”
I dart my eyes towards her for a second, when she doesn’t answer, and I don’t like the tone of the conversation. I can sense that my feelings were right and it doesn’t make me feel better guessing that her mom is an abusive relationship, but then something about it doesn’t seem right.
“Maybe.”
I’m about to say something else.
“That’s a lie. I knew a few times when I was a kid, and she said that she fell down the stairs and other things that they weren’t true. This is part of the reason I never went home after my break-up and why I avoid going there like the plague.”
“Why doesn’t your aunt or anyone do something about it? More to the point why does your mom stay with him?”
She sighs, “For the same reason that I stayed with Sam for so long. Insecurity. Maybe she feels that if she left him she would be alone and she couldn’t bear that.”
“So, being beaten up is a better solution?”
She winces, “You don’t have to be so crude. I just told you a big thing. Something that I’ve never shared with anyone else. I didn’t expect you to mock me.”
Then as I stop the car and we arrive at the hospital. I regret my words. She’s right. It must have been hard for her to witness that growing up. Maybe that's the reason she came to spend time with her aunt?
I hate families and their secrets. She’s already in the hospital by the time I get out of the car and start heading inside. There’s a woman that I saw sitting at their table during the auction, she’s walking with Scarlett, and I follow suit.
I don’t say a word because I’m tired. I tend to sleep a few hours every night. Just to rest my mind, but since Scarlett’s been with me. I haven’t slept. Friday we didn’t finish in the playroom until the early hours of this morning, and as I held her in my arms tonight, I kept thinking about tomorrow and having to say goodbye. I can’t keep her in my life.
No fucking way.
I don't believe in love, either love at first sight, but there’s a connection between us that’s so intense that I need to keep her at bay and as we start to head to her aunt’s room. I know exactly how to do it.
Scarlett rushes to her bedside, “Aunt Betty you scared me.”
Her aunt’s laughing, “I don’t know who called you, but I told them that I’m fine. They shouldn’t have bothered you.”
Scarlett starts to cry and says, “Don’t be silly. If anything happened to you, then I don’t know what I’ll do,” she hugs her one more time, and I imagined Ms. Young to look her age without make-up. If she did go into surgery, then she must have had a stylist on stand-by, because her hair is perfectly shaped in her short bob.
Ms. Young’s in her room and as the nurse smiles and reassures Scarlett that her aunt’s just bruised her leg. I walk closer to Ms. Young, “So what happened?”
I was abrupt and could have started with the niceties the same way that Scarlett did when she entered the room, but there was just one thing. I had an idea to end all of this, and I intended to use it right now.
It was the best thing for Scarlett, and most of it was the best thing for me.
Scarlett was too sensitive and nice to deal with a man like me. One of darkness, she would be hanging pictures on my walls if she had her chance. The idea of it annoyed me. I’d hardly had anyone in my house. They knew where it was, but I didn’t entertain unless it was fucking women in my playroom. I never even gave them a tour or let them spend the night. If we hadn’t been woken up, then Scarlett would have spent two nights in my house. She wouldn’t come back after my plan’s carried out. That part I knew for sure.
“Oh, and you brought Mr. Moore with you. Oh no, I’ve ruined your weekend. It’s not even over yet.”
She sighs, and Scarlett and I ignore her comment patiently waiting for her to explain why she’s in the hospital in the first place.
“Well Daniel’s away, and I decided that when he gets back from spending time with his family, I’m going to ask him to marry me.”
Scarlett shrieks, “About time. Congratulations.”
“I know it’s silly to pretend that he’s my driver. That he doesn’t mean so much to me. He does, and when he gets back, I’m going to show him.”
Wendy comes into the room and then it dawns on me that she was talking erratically on the phone. I had assumed that it was because she was worried about Ms. Young. But as she sighs and flops on the chair, I can tell that she’s clearly drunk.
“Anyway, so Wendy decided to make a cocktail and then we decided to play truth or dare.”
“Aunt Betty, how old are you? Truth or dare!”
She laughs, “Never you mind about my age. You're only as old as you feel.”
I must admit that there’s something we agree on, the fact that they were both intoxicated and played a teenage game says it all.
“Anyway, so Wendy dared me to go down the stair rail.”
“How?”
I’m intrigued now because I may be a lot younger than Ms. Young but I never imagined her to have so much fun especially with her strict business regime. She’s a shrewd business woman like me, but listening to her story, I can tell that not only does she have time for love, but fun too.
“Down the rail. I could either go face down or on my butt?”
“Which way did you choose Aunt Betty?”
Wendy seems to have woken up as she joins in the conversation laughing, “Butt down. It was so funny until the end when she fell.”
I address my question to Wendy, “And you brought her in?”
Wendy sighs, “Yes, but then I got in the car and realized that I couldn't drive because I was drunk.”
Scarlett asks, “So what did you do?”
They both look at each other, “She called the ambulance to pick us up because at that point I was wailing in agony. I thought that at my age. I must have broken something.”
“I’m the one who nearly broke my back carrying you from the staircase.”
I sigh as I think that this is funny, but I need to put things into perspective, this will be the first and last time that I see Scarlett.
She’s laughing as well as everyone else in the room. But I know that it will come to a dramatic end.
“Well, seeing as the contract was for taking Scarlett for the weekend, but with the hospital phone call it’s been put to an end. I take it that you’ll still be able to keep to your side of the bargain?”
I’m looking at Ms. Young, but I can feel Scarlett’s eyes on me. I know that soon they’ll be filled with tears, but this was the agreement. I don’t want her back in my house. Or anywhere near me right now.
Wendy asks, “What contract?”
“The land on Westfield, Ms. Young said that if I took her niece to my house for the weekend and showed her a good time she would sign it over to me.”
Scarlett’s standing up, her eyes are moving from her aunt to me as if she’s watching a tennis match. I don’t say a word as the tears start to flood from her eyes.
“Scarlett dear, just know that I did this for you. Gretchen told me that you'd been down since that rat threw you out. I did it for you…”
Ms. Young calls after her as she runs out of the room.
I stand frozen thinking that I should be pleased with myself. The result was exactly what I wanted, but as I turn to leave the room and Ms. Young tells me to take the land. I wonder why I don’t feel proud?
After all I’ve achieved exactly what I wanted to do.
I walk out knowing that the best woman that I’ve ever been with has just left the room, because not only did I end up breaking her heart, but mine too.