Luck Ch. 02

Academy award winner- ARIES STARK- missing'

It was on the front page of every paper and magazine in America; it was top story on every news channel. It was already being called the scandal of the century. The mysterious 'without a trace' disappearance of one of the highest ranked celebrities had the media in a frenzied uproar. There were rewards for sightings, pictures, or any source of information, no matter how minute, surrounding his disappearance.

There were hundreds of '1-800-SEEN-ARIES?' toll free numbers. There had been sightings of him from France to Japan to Brooklyn. The rumors were the worse; the fabrications were spreading like wild fire, and there were millions of different theories and scenarios that ranged from mafia related, to a religious calling, to plain, old-fashioned murder. There was even a rumor that he had sold his soul to the devil for his fame and was now traveling with a murderous cult.

***

Lona Lutz stood in front of the press forcing her overly joyed, gleeful smile of satisfaction to remain hidden behind her false mask of sorrow. There were over 100 journalists surrounding her, all wanting to hear her story. The 6ft3 brunette was getting high off the flashing camera bulbs and she was close to orgasm with all the attention she was getting. She put the thick tissue in her hand up to her eye. She had a tiny vile of fake tears hidden deep inside the tissue for when her eyes dried out . With precise moves, no one would ever know what she was not really crying.

"We were going to get married." she lied with a deep sigh . "That's why I am offering a million dollar reward for his safe return home to me." she looked as sad as she could, still managing to flirtatiously bat her eyes towards the camera. "I miss him so badly," she cried the lie dramatically, her limited acting skills really put to the test.

In all honesty, she was having the time of her life now that he was gone. Truth was, his sudden and mysterious disappearance was really working to her advantage on many different levels, she had unlimited use of his mansions, access to one of his bank accounts and all the press she could ask for. The publicity was the best part, she was a self obsessed, narcissistic, attention junkie, so of course she was working the press for all it was worth, she was going to get every last second of her 15 minutes of fame.

She had the advantage, she was the last person to see Aries alive, and any piece of information of his 'last days' was top priority and more valuable than gold, so naturally her info and immediate updates of his 'possible' where abouts made her center stage. They jumped on any lie she told them, and she was handing out lies like she handed out her business card. She was even planting rumors about a possible pregnancy, which was actually a possible reality. She was the star again, and she was thriving, secretly praying Aries never came back.

***

He was trying to avoid any reminder of that life, but it was becoming impossible, news of his disappearance and his pictures were plastered everywhere. With all the chaos in the world today, why was his story the main focus? Who cared where he went? What he did? He was only a man, the same as any other man out there. He just wanted a normal life, he wanted to be Jack fuckin' Smith, the 'happy to be unknown' man from down the street.

***

Mimi had spent the next few days searching desperately for a job and desperately trying to avoid her new neighbor.

At this point she was unsuccessful in both.

She had almost collided with the black-haired hunk at the mailbox. He smiled, and that damn smile made her want to forget all her rules, morals, her deep superstitions and drag him into her apartment and learn first hand about the birds and the bees. Instead, she kept her head down, trying not to look at him than grumbled a good morning before stalking back to her apartment. She refused to take any unnecessary chances, if she even looked at him something bad might happen.

Mimi had applied to every fast food joint, restaurant, grocery store and a slew of assorted odd jobs available in town and still had found nothing. Her anxieties were rising and her stress level was reaching its peak. Everything seemed to finally be catching up to her and she was fighting hard to keep it restrained and keep herself rational and optimistic. She felt like running in the middle of a deep forest and screaming until her head exploded! She wanted to punch trees and stomp the ground until it cracked! But that display of emotion was a weakness she refused to possess. So she walked around like a zombie, trying to keep her scattered mind clear and her sleep deprived body moving.

***

Luci and Lyndsy were very worried, they tried not to let her be out of their sight for to long. It was just a matter of time before that carefully held control over her emotions slipped, and they were waiting for it. They wanted to make sure they were there for her when it happened. With all their good intentions they did not realize the added pressure they were putting on her with their new plan to shock her into letting go of the emotion that was paralyzing her. Luci had read in some magazine that retelling horrific details could possibly make her finally snap, talk about it and get it off her conscience. They loved her and even though they hated doing it, they would just have to hurt her if it would help her.

***

Mimi had just finally fallen asleep when she sat up abruptly in the bed, her body reacting instantly to the high pitched fire alarm echoing through her apartment. She felt that familiar fear creeping up her back, freezing her bones and paralyzing her soul. She couldn't move, her body was shaking and she instantly began to sweat. Try as she might, she could not make her body move from the bed. The smoke was overwhelming her, making the large dark room shrink smaller around her, the speeding beat of her heart pounding in her ears.

Everything came rushing back to her at once, her place, her parents, her cat, her burning restaurant and home. With no other thought she dove from the bed sprinting to the front door, than straight outside, almost colliding with her neighbor. He was waving his front door, trying to fan the smoke out of his apartment.

"You!" she pointed an angry finger at him.

Great! This was just what he needed, another reason for this girl to hate him. He had planned to actually invite her out to lunch and apologize, it made sense since they were neighbors and hating your neighbor made for a very unstable living environment. He knew she had been avoiding him, he saw the look on her face when he tried to talk to her at the mailboxes and she bolted off. He wasn't used to women reacting like that to him, he also was not used to having bad luck when it came to women. But lucky, lucky him, to add to their already hazardous relationship, and her below negative opinion of him, now she had caught him red handed with a smoke filled apartment.

"It's out-"

"You did this didn't you." Mimi almost growled.

"Yea, i-"

"Your out to get me, aren't you?!" she was serious, but her eyes were slightly wild, a definite dear in headlights look.

"It was one of those oven dinners-"

"Your the devil-" Mimi said accusingly, delirious from the panic attack that was about to take over her.

"No-

"The grim fucking reaper." she took a step back, trying to breath air into her deprived lungs, the room getting dimmer.

"No, i-" he took a step towards her,

"No, you stay back" she put her hands up to ward him off. "Bad things happen when your near." the room started to spin around her, the smoke thick in her lungs, she was going to pass out. He saw it and was ready to catch her if she went down, but she was trying to back away and had backed her self against the wall.

"Calm down."

"Are you trying to kill me?" she cried, leaning against the wall for support.

"I fell asleep with it in the oven-"

"Fell asleep?" she stood up straight, not believing her ears "ASLEEP?!" she roared stepping closer, becoming more alert with the knowledge that her life may possibly be in the hands of a knuckle head who falls asleep with food in the oven "You don't close your eyes with the oven on!"

"I know, I-"

"Do you not know the seriousness of fire? What it can do? Did no one teach you about fire safety?!" she was yelling, hysterical, thinking of her life just burning away again. Sure she wasn't happy with her new life, it was taking alot of getting used to, she still wasn't comfortable in her own skin, but it was hers. Just like the cherished items of her previous life, memories that had been reduced to a thick soot clinging to the city street, it was all she had. She could not handle having to start over again, and no way in hell did she want to go through another fire! She would do anything to prevent it.

"Look-"

"No, you look, I have enough bad luck of my own, i don't need yours on top of it. Every time your near me something terrible happens," she pointed her finger at him again, "Your jinxed, you stay the hell away, your a serious hazard to my well being." she backed away towards the front door.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"Yea, well be sorry from far, far, FARRR away!" she backed out of the front door, "AND USE THE DAMN MICROWAVE!" she yelled, with a glare, slamming the door as she went outside.

***

He just couldn't sleep, he was rock hard, his lungs were still filled with smoke and he could just not get her reaction out of his head.

Even though she had cussed him out and thought he was the devil, she was still one of the sexiest creatures he had ever encountered, he wondered if she had that much passion when it came to sex. She was like a hot tempered little hell cat, with killer curves and a body that had to have been made from pure sin to provoke such a lust.

She was teasing him, tempting him, hating him, fearing him, he wasn't sure if he wanted to put her across his knee for talking to him like that or kiss those perfect full lips until she calmed down or find out what the hell was really at the bottom of her fear. He felt guilty for scarring her so bad, he knew by her reaction that some way or some how she had a bad brush with fire, it was all over her face.

Needing to think, and his smoky apartment just to stifling, he grabbed a beer, went outback and sprawled out on one of the lawn chairs on their adjoining porch. How the hell did he expect to sleep tonight with that curvy little minx, hating him from across the hall? It was just too much, he was seriously attracted to someone who was afraid to be near him. He hadn't had an attraction for a woman like this since he was a teenager, and even than it wasn't this strong.

Sex had become a routine, just something that his body constantly demanded, with no more emotion than eating food when hungry, or sleeping when tired. He had tried for years to feel something, ANYTHING. He had experimented a lot of different, willing women, spent insane amounts of money for new things, just trying to spark something in him, some type of feeling or emotion, anything that chipped at his stony numbness. Nothing had worked.

So now just when he stopped looking for it, convinced it didn't exist, and far, far, far away from home, in the middle of nowhere, he was beginning to feel it for free.

***

It was 3:00 in the morning and Mimi still couldn't get back to sleep. The long walk she took didn't even help, that false alarm had freaked her out more than she realized! When she finally got home and tried to lay down, she just kept getting up and checking things, sniffing the air. Her body felt electrically wired, her adrenaline still pumped and the lingering smoke made her remember the images she had been trying to block out of her mind.

She told herself she despised the man across the hall for his hazardous ways, so why was the very thought of him making her tingle from head to toe?

It was insanity! What fool hearted, idiot was attracted to a constant source of bad luck? Had she become a glutton for punishment? Didn't she have enough bad luck already? WHAT THE HELL WAS WRONG WITH HER???

THE MAN WAS JINXED!!!

or was she?

She went to her closet and stripped naked, throwing on the only bathing suit she owned, a shimmery gold, micro mini, string bikini Lyndsey had picked out for her. Before she would have never worn something so revealing, but now she didn't care how skimpy it was, she needed to get out of this apartment immediately! She needed tons of fresh air, no walls and a vigorous swim to help her tame her raging emotions!

***

When the pool lights came on he looked up from his very comfortable position on the back porch and saw the outline of her figure going down the steps. As she walked closer to the lights, he saw her lush behind clearly before she dove into the pool. He watched her silently; she was swimming like the devil was after her, obviously trying to clear her mind.

He had no idea what possessed him to walk down by the pool, but he couldn't't stop himself, he was drawn to her. He stood close to the edge. Looking down, he could watch her swim all day, her body was magnificent, her moves so precise, so even, so angry.

She stopped when she saw him, swimming slowly to the ladder, her cautious eyes never leaving his.

He watched her climb out of the pool. He did a silent appreciation for being able to secretly adore that luscious body in that barely there bikini. He held the groan forming in the back of his throat.

She looked like a distressed, earth bound goddess, the moon light bouncing off curves, her long raven locks falling wildly around her, the scandalous gold bikini made her appear nude in the pale light. Her heavy round breasts stood proud and perky, jutting towards him, and he would do anything to pull back the small triangles that were just covering her nipples.

"Are you OK?" he asked, seeing the thick emotion she was holding back, ready to escape.

"Yea, I'm alright." Mimi lied, her eyes locking with his, his eyes so sincere and so full of comfort, she was caught and before she was even aware of what she was doing, she was yelling. "No! I'm not OK! I lost everything I ever owned in my entire life in a fire," she exploded, "A STUPID FUCKING FAULTY STOVE! I lost my cafe, the best cat in the ENTIRE world, ALL of my memories! Now I have to work shitty jobs with shittier pay , if I could keep a job, WHICH I CAN'T! I owe rent; I hate my bare, boring, all-white, hand-me-down apartment! My friends who I love dearly are smothering me and begging me to talk about something I don't even want to THINK about, let alone discuss it!" she ranted, stepping towards him. "I can't cook anymore, I'm starving but I can't eat, I'm exhausted but I can't sleep, I have a new neighbor who I think is secretly trying to kill me" she said stepping a little closer to him. "And now I'm out here telling him all the crazy drama of my life at three o'clock in the morning," she shook her head, realizing what she had just done.

"A stranger who has added to your stress and who is now intruding on your private time." he said apologetically. She looked at him, she almost felt bad, she couldn't really blame him for her misfortune.

"Your not intruding." she took a tiny step closer, "it's your pool to." he stayed still, afraid to take a step towards her and freak her out. "I'm sorry for dumping all my problems on you." she bit her bottom lip, standing so close, he wanted to kiss her so bad!

"Don't be, it sounded like you needed to get it out."

"I guess." she whispered, feeling herself sway towards him, "I'm sorry I called you the devil." she was so close, her nipples almost touched him and he was so tempted to run his fingers over them. He couldn't help himself, he leaned down slowly, his lips touching hers ever so lightly.

The moment they made contact it sent a jolt straight through her body, crashing so hard it brought her back to reality,

"I better go." she gasped nervously than pulling back fast, than turned around running to her back door. She shut it hard, than locked it faster.

What the hell was wrong with her? She saw first hand what love did in the end, she watched her mother commit a slow suicide after her fathers death. She had lost to much already, she didn't want someone else to love just to eventually loose them. Everyone she truly, deeply loved had left, and she refused to ever feel the sharp pains of love again!

What she needed to do was find a job and move out of this building, being around him was unwise and unhealthy on so many different levels. He was to handsome, to nice, to tempting and to dangerous, she could not be any where near him. He made her forget her defenses and loose herself into an emotion she could not handle and was not comfortable even feeling.

Mimi ran straight to her room and jumped under the covers, if she couldn't have him in real life, she would have him in her fantasy! She slid her hand down to the intense tingling between her legs.

***

He watched her walk up the steps and all he wanted to do was yell for her to come back. He knew something was wrong, but he had no idea how serious her situation really was. He admired her strength; she was a survivor who was still trying to survive. All she wanted was for everything to be normal and simple again, he could definitely relate. He wanted her more now than even he could comprehend, he wanted to help her, but he knew her pride would not allow a hand out. He had way to much money not to be able to help this beautiful girl out of a bad situation.

He had to think of a way to do it and not insult her, he needed a solid plan.

***

The next morning he found himself standing in front of her door rehearsing his apology.

Him, Aries Stark, super actor, had to rehearse to apologize to a girl.

He knocked on her door and she opened it, wearing a cream colored robe with bright colored cherry blossoms printed on the silk.

"I'm sorry for almost running you over, helping you get fired, moving next door to you, smoking you out of your apartment, and trying to kiss you." he blurted out before she told him to get lost, handing her a sad looking little daisy from the yard. Mimi smiled ear to ear, taking the little flower in her hand.

"And I'm sorry for spilling chili on you, dumping soda on you, yelling at you accusing you of planning my murder, calling you the devil, being friends with the grim reaper and for cursing you with a foul case of small pox."

"You never cursed me with small pox." his grin started to spread.

"Oops." she smiled.

"At least the chili was cold." he grinned, than in a voice that sounded exactly like Mel's he mimicked him, "Mel does not serve cold chili!" they both laughed hard, teasing Mel for the next few minutes.

Mimi hadn't laughed in a long time and it felt good, it was like more weight was coming off her shoulders, freeing her sinking soul.

Lyndsy sashayed in the front door, than stopped dead in her tracks, dramatic look of shock and all. She hadn't see Mimi laugh since the fire, this was a good sign!

"Just in time for the party!" she said to him, smiling ear to ear, her perfectly white, unbelievably even $15,000 teeth glowing, "I brought Chinese." she held up two large bags.

"And I got the champagne." Luci came in the door behind her, holding up a bag of assorted flavors of champagne. Aries and Mimi smiled at Luci, than he turned back to her,

"Well, have a good night." he said smiling, ready to slip back into his apartment.

"Where are you going? I know your going to help us eat ALL this food." Lyndsy handed a bag of food to him, he took it.

"As usual, she bought to much." Luci added.

"I can never decide what I want." she shrugged.