After a restful day, I am in my room getting ready for dinner. I'm taking special care to put every hair in place and to arrange myself perfectly for Jeremy. I want to ignite that lust that I know he is constantly feeling for me. I want his eyes to take me in and devour me so that he cannot look away.

I've chosen the long red Valentino dress that clings tightly to my every curve. The dress is on the bed as I'm sitting in my lingerie at the vanity provided for my comfort. I haven't seen Jeremy in a while and I'm antsy to just see his face and connect. When I'm not with him I feel a heavy sense of isolation and loneliness, especially when I consider my place in the world at this moment. It's so precarious, all I've seen and done, and I'm eager to be held by Jeremy. The weight of his sculpted arms will bring me back down to earth. He centers me. He's like my point of gravity and the world melts away and I melt into him. After applying extra eyelashes to make myself look fierce, I swipe on some crimson lipstick, and then step into the gorgeous red gown I've chosen. I hope Jeremy likes it. It fits like a glove and I idly wonder how he knew my measurements so perfectly.

As I leave my room, hair swept up with a few loose curls cascading down my back, I can hear music playing. It's opera music, and I think how romantic it always is of Jeremy to set the scene in such a beautiful way when it's just us dining together.

When I reach the dining hall, however, there is a man there but it's not Jeremy. I feel startled and I stand in the stone archway, waiting to be noticed. Notice me he does and he quickly rises and comes to greet me. This guy is hot, not as handsome as Jeremy, but close. He's probably a few years older.

"Hi there." His voice is smooth, almost too smooth, and he takes in the look of me with not a hint of pretending. He's eyeing me up and down and I think how rude it is when I am a guest...or prisoner, of Jeremy's, not his.

"I'm Carter. Won't you please come join me?"

He takes my hand and leads me to a seat next to him. "Thank you," I reply a little stiffly. Who is this stranger?

"Been here long?" He offers to pour me some wine and I allow it.

"Not really," I say vaguely, wanting to cast his attention off of me.

Just then, to my delight, Jeremy enters with some hors d'oeuvres. His eyes light up in a profound way once he realizes what I'm wearing. He stands next to me and kisses my cheek lightly all under Carter's watchful gaze.

"So you've met Carter?" Jeremy says as he takes a seat at the head of the long dining table.

"Yes, we met just a moment ago," Carter responds and his eyes are dancing and I don't know why. What is it about this guy that makes me so uncomfortable?

"Yes, Carrie, he and I met in school a long time ago and Carter is really the only family I have left. I consider him friend and family." They clink their wine glasses together on this note. I find myself wondering what their history is. This is the first person of note that I've met who's a part of Jeremy's life. I want to make a good impression, but something about this man comes off cold and calculating like there is no depth behind his eyes, just a private reserve of something chilling, like untold secrets.

"Oh, so you guys met in boarding school." I take Jeremy's hand under the table and squeeze it.

"Yes," Carter responds easily. "We once knew a girl there that we both liked, didn't we Jeremy?"

I cringe at the weird tone of his voice.

"Yeah, um, we did." Jeremy is eyeing him cautiously and I wonder what's happened between these two and what the nature of their relationship is.

"She was nowhere near as beautiful as you are Carrie. Isn't that true Jeremy? Wasn't she just not even close to this lovely relic we have sitting beside us here." Jeremy's gaze narrows and I can sense some kind of a competition going on here. For what I don't know. It can't be for me because I'm already won over, by Jeremy.

I sit perfectly still in the uncomfortable silence. Jeremy exits to retrieve the main course. It smells really good and I'm trying to focus on superficial things like the food, instead of the tension in the air.

As soon as he leaves Carter is all over me. He leans in close and whispers in my ear, "You know, you really do look stunning tonight." He bites his lip as if holding back an impulse. "I could help you too like Jeremy has. I have the means to support— "

I cut him off right there. "You don't know anything about what's going on here."

Jeremy returns. We sit and begin to eat the delicious presentation.

Carter says, "I was just telling Carrie here how gorgeous she looks tonight. I mean she really is something."

I'm dying to tell Jeremy about what Carter said when he left but I say, "Thank you," to his compliment and bite my tongue on the rest.

Jeremy's eyes are intensified now and I know he's just waiting for one more comment about me to leave Carter's lips before he reacts. Carter creeps me out so much. Sitting next to him sends shivers to my spine, and not in a good way.

"Mmmmmm, this food is delicious. Carrie, let me see you taste it. I want to see your face when you eat Jeremy's food. Let me see it light up."

With that Jeremy is standing over me glaring at Carter. He says through clenched teeth, "Carrie, I need you to go to your room, now."

I'm happy to appease him because Carter's turned out to be more than a little odd, he's downright scary.

"It was nice to meet you," I mumble as I make my way out. That was the most awkward dinner table I've ever sat at.