In the House of Spite Ch. 18

The next day, Darren took the day off, or mostly off. He still used a phone or tablet to check on things whenever he was able to do so.

He drove Pearl to a health clinic to get herself checked out. He'd said he'd do it again in three weeks, and a few months after that. Shawn's sex life was a huge question mark. They didn't know what he'd been up to.

For all they knew, he'd regularly rape his pitiable slaves, which was such a disgusting idea for many reasons. Considering those women were meant to be whored out to anyone, the risk was frightening. It was still very possible that Shawn was one of the most careful people in the world, but they didn't know that.

The wedding plans were put on hold. Only the wedding dress was allowed any progress.

Considering that Pearl was always trying to be aware of her surroundings, even peeking in the god damn shower before stepping inside, life was peaceful. It was certainly more restrictive. She was like a prisoner, almost never going outside, and when she did she had someone with her.

Well, it was autumn now. The air was cooling down. She didn't want to go outside much anyway.

But she wanted to know if any progress was being made. She even asked about it every afternoon. "Hey, any news?"

Darren would only shrug and say, "Don't worry. I'm taking care of this." Or he'd say something else in that range.

"Is stuff being done?" She sometimes asked.

"Yeah, stuff's being done," he sometimes answered.

When it was time for sex, they were both too concerned to not use a condom. No fair, really. They were both so loyal. But they still held each other close and kissed like mad. Pearl also rubbed his feet a little more often. She thought he deserved a few extra massages. He'd rescued her without a second thought. He was her hero. She'd even decided to cut and file his toenails for him.

On a windy Saturday morning, Pearl had gone through another foot pampering session. She'd just thrown away the nail clippings and finished smoothing out the remaining nails with a file. She was kneeling on the carpet while Darren sat in his recliner, reading a magazine with a stag on the cover. She looked up and saw him close the glossy thing and place it on a side table. Then he pulled his feet in, smiled down at her, and petted the top of her head. "You're so sweet," he said.

Pearl's chest swelled with pride and her cheeks turned rosy. She slid out from under the hand and stood up to place the file on top of the magazine. Darren simply grabbed her waist, as he'd done many times before, and arranged her so that her knees bent over one of the recliner's arms. An arm around her back, he gazed down at her with tender eyes.

"Nothing's changed," he said, tapping her cheek and lips with his rough fingertips. "Nobody's allowed to hurt you."

"Really?" Her eyelids lowered as she relaxed into him. "Not even someone that's just as big and scary as you?"

He pinched her earlobe and carefully tapped her silver stud earring with a fingernail. His lips curled up into a smirk. "I'm in love, Honey. When you hurt someone a man loves, he plots revenge." He slid a bit of her hair away from her cheek and pushed her up to kiss that cheek. "And I'm already plotting. He's dead and he doesn't know it."

He put his mouth to hers. His voice buzzed in her throat and chest. It made her nipples tingle and her thighs rub together. Their tongues curled around each other. Pearl suddenly thought of all kinds of fantasy warriors. A Conan type, a knightly type, even a vaguely tribal type. He felt like her own personal badass, which made her feel special just for being his.

Darren got up to his feet, carrying her up with him. Pearl's whimsical mind imagined she was a prize or maybe even a damsel rescued from a villain. He walked around a curious Baby Blue, gently telling him to stay out of the way. Gunner walked up to Baby Blue and tapped his side with a paw, then led the Pit Bull away with a playful nip. How could Baby Blue not accept a session of roughhousing?

The bed upstairs was as comforting as ever. Pearl was undressed and held there. Her breasts were pressed and pulled, her nipples pinched. When Darren finally stopped, her breasts were pink and her nipples were sore. All she could think to do was rub those nipples on his hairy body. Her teeth ground together. She hissed and whimpered. It hurt pretty good.

Pearl knelt down after that. She unbuttoned and unzipped Darren's fly.

His voice sounded so far away, but it was still clear. "Mmmmm, Good Girl."

She forced all the cloth down to his knees and put a lap of her tongue on his cock's darkening head. One of his thighs twitched.

"Damn it, Baby," he murmured. "Suck on my cock."

It was already getting a little firm, but more could definitely be done. She put some into her mouth, using her tongue to take away empty space. One of her hands went to the testicles, but she barely touched the heavy things. Her fingernails only just grazed through the pubic hair. He smelled so wonderful. Musk and clean underwear. He was her home.

With a calm hum, Pearl moved her head forward, taking in as much as she could handle. The rest of the shaft was soon gripped by her free hand. He was growling and cursing, random phrases and words. "Fuck! Oh fuck, Baby! That's right! Suck on my cock!"

Whatever he wanted. As long as she could do it, she'd do whatever he wanted. She loved him that much.

Even when she was truly holding and carefully massaging his balls, even when he was holding her hair and pretty much fucking her mouth, Pearl was happy. It didn't matter that she had to move her hand a certain way to keep from hurting his balls. It didn't matter that her jaw was aching. She was in blissful harmony.

He accidentally tapped her throat a little. That hurt and she gagged. He groaned but otherwise he didn't express anything negative. He simply pulled his cock out. That was when Pearl knew to use all her spit as lube and jack him off. That was easier for her.

She loved his straining, tight expression. The lines in his face deepened. His lips twisted. He looked like he wanted to bite something. Pearl put a few kisses on the cock's head, licking up whatever oozed out. Sometimes she murmured into the soft skin, "I need your cum. Please? Please can I have it?"

When he finally did, when he was slurring his curse words and spurting right on her face, Pearl tried not to smile.

***

Pearl wanted to assume that stuff was happening, but she didn't know one way or the other.

She wasn't barefoot and pregnant, but she felt like she was. She was home so much. Her parents would occasionally call and ask why she didn't come to visit more often. Excuses were made up and given. Darren's family members were much, much more understanding. No excuses were needed with them at this point.

One evening, while Darren was combing some kind of leave-in conditioner in his hair in the en suite bathroom, Pearl happened to pop in and ask what he wanted for dinner tomorrow. She happened to see an unusual, yet tiny, bald spot on his head.

"Woah, are you sick?" she asked as she approached. "Is your hair falling out?"

A slick, conditioner coated finger hovered hear his lips, and he shushed her. Then, smiling, he put his detangling brush down and held some of his hair up. Pearl found that the bald spot was unusually ... round. It didn't look natural. She soon saw what Darren wanted her to see. It was a tattoo. A tiny black outline of a daisy flower. It was so tiny that you wouldn't see it unless you were really looking hard.

Darren let his hair cover the tattoo, which wasn't difficult. His eyes were full of a purpose she had to think about before understanding.

Pearl needed to forget about the daisy.

She shrugged and said, "Huh. Maybe you need to go easy on the shampoo." She left him alone then. As she looked in the kitchen cupboards to take note of what needed to be bought later, she tried very hard to forget the daisy.

But suddenly, she understood why it was there.

It was a way to tell Darren apart from Shawn without being obvious, something that Shawn might have difficulty knowing about, and therefore something he'd have difficulty imitating.

Life just ... did what it always did. It didn't stop for anything.

Sometimes, Reese showed up to sniff around the house, particularly at night. He was making sure nobody was lurking about. Whenever he was done, he practically paraded around the house, his chest and nose high. Despite his great size, Pearl was reminded of a god damn Chihuahua.

As she stood in the kitchen one evening, she snorted into her hand and gulped down a laugh as the thought returned. When Reese turned his head towards her, one of his pointed ears twitching and flicking, Pearl had to calm herself down. She was afraid he'd be worried or overly curious.

Too late. He was already approaching, claws tip tapping on the floor. One huge hand clapped onto the top of her head and he bent down to sniff at her face. It really was like having a dog smell you, which the very coddled Pearl associated with happy things, pets and play time. There was no room for intimidation. When Reese put a long lick on her cheek, she giggled.

That giggle must've satisfied the beast. He rubbed his padded palm back and forth in her hair and left her alone. Then, as Baby Blue passed by, Reese scooped the dog up. Baby Blue made a typical confused dog noise, not a yelp of pain, not a growl, just a "ha-ung" sort of noise. Reese had his hands and arms under Baby Blue's belly. He carried the dog over to the living room. The next noises Pearl heard told her they were engaging in harmless wrestling.

She started wiping down a countertop as she listened to the innocuous barks and growling. The dogs knew and loved Reese. Reese was nice to them. Reese never did anything to hurt them. Sometimes he even gave them treats from his hands.

And yet, despite all the peace ... her buried concerns returned.

Shithead Shawn.

She sighed and tried to forget him.

More days passed.

Not knowing what was going on really bothered Pearl.

But she was comforted by many things. The dogs' happy faces. The food. The games and books. The cleaning. Darren. Even Reese, the hairy goof ball. She couldn't remember the last time she drove a vehicle, but that was fine. All she had to do was think of one of these lovely things that comforted her and she was fine.

One afternoon, after she'd finished getting all the excess hair out of the bed's comforter, she got a text message from an unfamiliar number.

"Hey. How are you?"

Pearl sat down on the bed and stared down at her phone, trying to figure out whose number this was. After a short while, her shoulders jerked up and she texted back.

"Who's this?"

"It's Shawn! You alright? You been coloring lately?"

The phone fell from her now loose grip. Thankfully, it landed in her lap.

Upsetting memory after memory came back like a threat of vomit bubbling in her throat. She had to put a hand on her lower belly like she was cramping.

The phone beeped.

She picked it up and read the next text.

"I can get you more coloring books if you want."

Her first instinct was to block the number.

Yet, as her index finger hovered over the screen, she thought Darren needed to see this. In fact, if this was indeed Shawn, or someone representing Shawn, these texts could be a source of clues.

She decided not to block the number, but also not to give any more replies. Let's see if he got a kick out of bothering her.

He probably did.

He didn't blow her phone up, but he did give a text every half hour, or a full hour. Seemingly friendly texts, but they frightened Pearl.

"I can't visit like I used to. Reese is on to me."

"How are the dogs?"

"Are you eating enough?"

"You want some Play-Doh? I can get some from Amazon and send it to you."

"Darren had a rough day at the wildlife preserve. Make a big shake for him."

That last text beeped just when the front door was unlocked and Darren walked in.

Out of spite and little else, Pearl decided to give Darren a tall glass of cold sweet tea. Just about everyone in the area loved cold sweet tea even when there was snow outside. When he was relaxed in his recliner, placing a now empty glass on a side table, Pearl told him about the scary texts. Then she showed them to him.

Darren's large hand cradled her phone very gently, but his nostrils were flared and his jaw moved like he was chewing on his tongue.

"Don't answer anymore," he hissed out when he handed the phone back to her.

"I don't want to," she said.

"He might mess up and give something away," Darren said. "Let him keep texting you."

Pearl nodded. "Alright."

This was all pretty terrifying.

Older memories sparked up as Pearl went on with her life.

The extra coloring book.

How sometimes, before she knew about Reese, the dogs barked as if someone was around. Someone might have been around. Goodness, with enough determination, one could even evade the dogs' notice, maybe sneak in while they were sleeping. After all, these were good dogs but they weren't watch dogs. They were companions. They were vulnerable to mistakes like anybody else.

Pearl even remembered the first time she came to this house, including when she left and she saw something out in the woods. It was possible that whatever she saw was nothing important, but it could've been Shawn. Darren wouldn't have noticed because, not only could have Shawn, or rather Aaron, been a good distance away, but Darren wouldn't have brought Reese out around that time. Reese was still a secret to her.

She also thought of the time she wandered out in the trees, and then a mysterious beast sniffed at her from behind. Definitely could've been Aaron. It was bold enough for him to do.

The random people she'd encountered, the ones that had been quite offensive to her, and how most of them had either avoided her or seemed to have been harmed, like that teacher guy.

Shawn might've done something.

What the hell did this creep even want?!

***

The image in the tall mirror was like a fairy-tale.

Flushed and quiet, Pearl was in her white wedding dress. It was one of the happiest things she'd experienced in a while, but she wasn't enjoying it. Her smile hurt because she had to hold it up instead of letting it come naturally.

Compliments from all around.

The seamstress was tapping and prodding her bodice, making sure it fit well. Darren was moving from one point to the next, looking at Pearl from as many angles as he could find. His seemed to have been holding his smile up just like Pearl.

"You look like a cupcake princess," he said with a very amused tone. "The cutest cupcake princess in the world."

Pearl thought that was a well-meaning exaggeration. She thought there wasn't enough decorations to use the word cupcake. Princess was appropriate, though.

They had the dress safely wrapped and packaged. Then, on the way home, they stopped at a McDonald's for chicken nuggets. Pearl had a major hankering for cheap chicken bits, and she liked the breading's texture used there.

Just when they were about to get in line, Darren happened to smile. He was looking at someone. Pearl followed his line of sight. A woman with a vivid and exquisitely detailed tattoo on her neck was passing by. Darren waved at her. That woman took one look at Darren's face, gasped and cringed as if she'd been punctured somewhere, turned her head away, and hurried out of the building.

Darren's cheer slowly retracted. His grip on Pearl's hand loosened. She had to tighten her fingers.

When they were sitting at a booth with their food, Pearl asked him, "Do you know that woman? The one with the tattoo?"

Twisting the plastic straw in his soda cup, pensively looking down at his free hand as if he was making a plan, Darren vaguely said, "Yeah."

"An ex-girlfriend?" she said.

He shook his head. "She's a tattoo artist."

"Oh." Pearl thought she knew how Darren had met that woman. She'd probably put the daisy on his scalp. "Why did she look so scared?"

"I don't know." Darren let the straw go and ran his fingers through his hair, particularly near the top of his head. "But I think I need to find out."

Pearl shrugged and put a chicken nugget in her mouth.

***

Darren was gone with the dogs. After their morning walk and breakfast, he'd put them in his truck and drove off to the vet clinic. They needed checkups, and the vet didn't mind seeing them both at roughly the same time. Pearl was alone in the house, truly alone.

The quiet was so hateful.

She set her phone on the kitchen table, letting a political commentary video run while she cleaned things up. The dishwater had cracked her pale green nail polish. That was fine. She hand plenty of bottles.

From the phone, journalist with a beanie hat was going on and on about how he hated politicians in general. Pearl thought he sounded younger than he really was.

Her hands paused under the water.

Her chest rose with her lonely breath.

She considered driving over to her parents' place, but then she shook her head and muttered to herself about how she shouldn't leave the house.

Maybe she should've gone with Darren after all ...

But no. No. There had been too much to do at home. Someone had to take care of it.

Baby Blue had vomited on the carpet. He was probably fine, but Pearl had to wash that up. Between the dogs and Reese there was a lot of hair to roll, beat, and fluff out. The floors had to be vacuumed. Mirrors had to be wiped. The bathroom in general needed to be scrubbed and rinsed. There were some weird spots on the walls, perhaps saucy splatters that had been forgotten for a while. Pearl needed to wipe all that away. She'd already cleaned the oven and the stove-top.

Figuring out what didn't need to be done was the easy part.

She rinsed a dish off. She put it in the plastic drainer. That drainer wasn't enough. She'd have to spread a towel out on a counter and put the extra dishes there.

Something was being banged on quite rapidly.

It was chilly outside. She knew it was. Whoever was out there had to be cold. It was early winter now. Autumn had already came and went without anything particularly eventful. she hadn't even gotten any annoying texts from Shawn.

Pearl wanted to think it was Darren out there. He couldn't get in even with his keys. Some time ago, he'd installed a few manual locks on the doors and windows. He'd also replaced all the windows' normal glass with a much sturdier and more expensive type of glass. Pearl was certain it was bullet proof. Darren had also purchased these funny things called security bars or door braces. At each exit door, these bars were firmly set on the floor with curved ends pressed under the door knobs.

If this banging outside was from Darren, he'd have texted or called first. Plus, she'd hear the dogs happily jumping around outside. There was also the fact that the banging was coming from the back of the house, not the front.

All the windows were covered by either curtains, blinds, or both. Pearl dried her hands off and paused the video on her phone. Then she went over to a window near the back door. She peeked through the blinds. Nothing. The next window, still nothing. The banging stopped. She saw a big, dark thing zoom away from the house so fast that her brain needed a moment to understand it had even been there.

Her heart felt like it had cracked from pressure.

That could've been Aaron, Shawn's beast side.

Whatever was going on, Pearl didn't want to be a part of it.

She left the windows and went back to work.

Maybe half an hour later, she heard the garage door being opened and got a call from Darren. In the background, she heard Baby Blue bark. She took the security bar from away from the door to the garage. Then she undid all the locks and greeted Darren. "Hi! I missed you!"