CHAPTER ELEVEN

 

Hendrix

 

Thank you.

Thank you?!

 

“Fuck,” I stand there, dumbfounded, my cock still heavy between my legs. “FUCK!”

What in the actual fuck just happened? I fumble with my pants as I tuck myself back in while pushing through the glass doors. Spotting her on the far side of the room, I shove people out of my way as I go after her. I ignore their grunts and shouts of protest; my only purpose now is to get to her before she disappears again.

“Hey, Hen, I want you to meet...” Carter grabs my arm and pulls me towards some guy in an elf’s mask, causing me to lose sight of the girl who just blew my mind.

“Not now!” I shove past Carter and whoever is beside him. I don’t have time to stop. Making my way through the crowd, I scan around, trying to catch a glimpse of her. I spot her rushing down the steps and out of the door of the building. I run down the stairs, taking them two at a time and pray that she’s still there when I get outside.

I crash into the doorman who ‘helpfully’ steps forward to try and open the door for me. We dance around each other and become a weird human-octopus hybrid of tangled arms and legs as we both grapple for the door. Finally, I take a frustrated breath and stop, extracting my arms from his, I pat down his chest and mumble an apology. There’s a second’s delay as we stare awkwardly at each other, trying to figure out who gets the right to open the door.  I take my chance and rip open the door and go crashing outside.

I look from left to right but don’t see her through the crowds of people ambling up and down the pavement. I grab my hair in frustration, just about to let out a scream when I hear an impressive whistle. I look towards the direction of the sound and spot her hailing a cab.

“Wait!” I start running in her direction but I’m too late, and she’s already in the cab and speeding off when I reach the spot she was standing in. “Fuck!” I throw my arms up in defeat when I come to a stop and look around me for another cab. I spot an elderly man holding the door of a cab open for, what I’m assuming, is his wife. She’s taking her sweet ass time getting to the cab, the walking ring in front of her not helping with the speed at all.

“Sorry, so sorry. I have an emergency,” I say as I shove the old man aside and get into the cab. Ignoring his protests, I pull a hundred dollar bill from my wallet and hand it to him from the open window. “So, so sorry,” I say again. My mother would be so disappointed if she saw me right now.

“Follow that cab!” I shout at the cabby. I’ve always wanted to say that.

“Hey man,” the cabby looks at me from his rearview mirror. “I don’t know what kind of freaky shit you’re planning tonight but I…”

“I’ll pay you two hundred dollars.” I interrupt him.

“But I’m in.” He says and pulls out into the street.

“Can you go faster? I can’t lose her.”

So here’s something I just learned. Don’t tell a cabby to speed up. Your life will flash in front of your eyes as he weaves through cars and jumps sidewalks. Somewhere between clinging on for dear life and praying that I make it out of this alive, I spot my favorite coffee spot, the newsstand that always smells like stale ham sandwiches and the homeless woman who is always shouting about aliens. We’re in my neighborhood.

I spot her cab in the road, about three blocks ahead of us, as it turns the corner.  On to my street. There’s a crashing sound, and all traffic comes to a sudden halt. Just ahead of us a pick-up must have run a red light and crashed into a Prius. A man and a woman jump out and start yelling at each other in the middle of the road.

“Fuck.” I grab the promised hundred-dollar bills from my wallet and throw it at the cabby as I exit the car and start running towards my street. When I reach it, I see the cab pull off the sidewalk and drive off. I look around the street, but there is no sign of her. I kick at a tree that’s been minding its own business next to me and place my hands on my hips with a sigh. She’s gone.

I shake my head and scrub a hand down my face. Well, so much for that.

I cross the street and walk up to my building, I rip open the door and press the button on the elevator repeatedly like everything that’s transpired tonight is all its fault.

When I finally reach my apartment, I let myself in and rip off my mask. I throw it onto my drawing table and tug at the bow tie around my neck. I stalk to my bedroom, flip on the light and throw my jacket on the bed. I take off my shoes and resist the urge to throw them across the room.

I need some fucking air.

I open the doors in my bedroom and step out onto the balcony. I look out onto the street again in some faint hope that I will spot my snowflake down there. I roll my eyes at myself and look up at the sky. It’s a clear night out, even if it’s freezing. When I look back down, I spot my cute neighbor in a golden dress kissing Beau in his Santa outfit on her balcony across the street. I turn around and place my hand on the door to go back inside.

Wait. Hold the fuck up.

I freeze and turn around again.

That dress.

That blonde hair.

That dress.

That cat.

MY fucking cat.

That. Dress.

I blink a couple of times trying to decipher what I’m looking at. She turns and goes back inside her apartment, her back covered in smudged glitter. I look down at my hand. I look at the gold glitter covering my hand. I look back at the now empty balcony and narrow my eyes.

Couldn’t be. Could it?

She’s wearing the exact same dress as the woman at the party. While I’m ready to accept the weird coincidence of two women wearing the same dress on the same night, I’m not ready to accept the coincidence of both being covered in glitter. They have to be the same person.

But what was Beau doing there? I know the little bastard entered the building on the day we watched him but could… No. No that would be too weird.

I open the door and go back inside, turn on the coffee machine, stand there for a minute waiting for the brew, and then go back outside. I squint at her apartment, trying to catch another glimpse of her. I stand there for a few minutes, and I’m about to give up when the light in her bedroom flickers on. She’s rubbing a towel over her wet hair, and she’s dressed in a skimpy shirt and panties. A shirt and panties that looks a lot like the ones I have in a folder on my phone named ‘Spank Bank.’ I can’t make out the words on it to be sure. I pull the phone from my pocket and turn the camera on, aiming it at her I zoom in as far as it will go. Though I still can’t quite make out the words on her shirt, it’s clear enough to make out the distinct edges of the Harry Potter font. It must be her.

I close the camera on my phone and begin typing out a message.

Me: Hey, you awake? 

I look up from my phone to see her reach for her phone on the bedside table. I see her typing and my phone dings in my hand.
Ophelia: Yes, just getting ready for bed now though. 

It IS her. My neighbor is Ophelia, who is Snowflake.

Let’s go over this again. My cute stalker neighbor who watches me from her apartment is the sexy cat thief with the nerdy dirty talk who is the golden snowflake from the ball who made me come as I’ve never come before.

Me:  Been up to much tonight?
Ophelia: I just came from a Christmas party my publishing company held.

I close my eyes. I’m not mentally equipped to deal with this.

Me:  Was it a good party? Anything exciting happen?

I watch as she sits down on the bed, she lifts her head to the ceiling before she looks down again and starts typing.
Ophelia: Not really, no. How was your night?

Not really? That little liar. I know she was just as affected as I was. Well, time to have some fun with my little sexy, stalking snowflake.

I go back inside to turn the living room light off, standing in total darkness I dial her number and put the phone on speaker.

“Hi,” there’s a smile in her voice and my cock reacts immediately. “Miss me?” she taunts.

“Yes,” my voice sounds gruff. Being turned on, frustrated, and annoyed all at the same time takes a toll on a person. “So, tell me about the party.”

“Ugh, too Christmassy for my liking. I left early.”

“Oh?” I feign ignorance as I walk to my bedroom. I place my phone on speaker and put it on the windowsill. Her next words become inaudible as I walk back to the light switch on the wall. I flick it on and off until it attracts her attention and she looks in my direction. Smiling with satisfaction now that I have her eyes on me, I walk back to the window and start slipping off my jacket.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that,” I say as I unbutton my shirt.

“Uh… I… um… what was the question?”

“I wanted to know how the party was.” I take my shirt off and drop it on the floor before reaching for my zipper.

“Oh, um… It was… um…”

“Are you distracted, Ophelia?” I ask and pull the zipper down.