Red and her Wolf Ch. 08

I never really listen to Classical music but it's his car. "Play whatever you like."

"Satie it is." He presses the screen and sets his phone in the holder. Melancholy piano emanates as he pulls out of the parking space. A lurching, tense and thoroughly depressing song. Blake hums along merrily, tapping his fingers on the wheel like it's some kind of pop hit. "We didn't get to talking much tonight and I must say, I was really hoping we could chat more. You seem like an interesting girl. Tell me about you, Emily. Who is Emily? What's she like? What makes her Emily?"

Who talks like this? "Well...she's just a girl that wants to enjoy life, I guess? Make the most of it."

"Don't we all." The Lamborghini barrels down the road, surpassing the speed limit just enough to give me butterflies and I'm not sure they're the good kind.

"And uh-who is Blake?" My fingers tighten on the arm rest. "What's he like?"

His mood shifts from overly upbeat to sardonic. A bitter laugh bursting. "Well baby, I'd say that he also just wants to enjoy his damn life. Unfortunately, we can't always get what we want, can we, Emily?"

"I suppose not." I don't know how to respond to that so I move on to another question."Where are you from?"

"Connecticut," he says very quickly. A pause before he asks,"And why are you all alone out here, Emily? You've got something to hide? Something you're running away from?"

I startle at that. All I can manage to stammer out is, "I'm on sabbatical."

"Oh, you're too young to be on Sabbatical, honey," he cackles. "If I were a pretty girl like you, I wouldn't be all alone, so lonely and sad." He pouts prettily at that last word, turns up the volume on the music. "I wouldn't be out here in the middle of buttfuck nowhere, that's for sure. I'd be living it up where the bright lights shine. I'd be strutting my stuff, putting my looks to good use like a good girl."

My face is cringing but for some reason my mind is trying to look for the best in this uncomfortable conversation. I choose to admire his luscious hair instead of fretting over words. "That's an interesting way to look at it."

The ride goes silent, and it's not as cozy as it was with me and Kade. An awkward tension between us, dark classical music not helping the mood. Blake hums along to every depressing Satie number, his fingers tap-tap-tapping that wheel. A bit manic, frenzied -

Blinding pain explodes behind my eyeballs.

Blake is a good guy. A generous guy giving me a ride home. Look at his profile. Looks at those lips. Stunning.

I give Blake directions to my house and he parks at the end of my driveway.

"Thanks so much for the ride." I take off my seatbelt, glancing over at him. He doesn't look at me but he does stare at Kade's house. No lights on over there, just a cabin sitting in the dark. Blake leans back in his seat and slowly lays a stick of potent-smelling peppermint gum on his tongue, watching oak trees with fervour. "I'll see you later?"

The spell breaks. He looks over at me with a movie star pinache, smacking his gum. "I'd love to have your number, Emily. You owe me that rain check, don't you?"

I expected this, but I feel no relief. "Okay..." I try to ignore my headache as he hands me his phone and I go through the motions of typing in my number. No butterflies or enthusiasm, but of course I have no choice.

"So you're really all alone out here, Emily?" he asks for the millionth time. When I look up I find him staring at Kade's property again.

I give him a careful look before handing him his phone back. "Nearly."

Another glance towards my neighbor's place. "Nearly..." He's glaring at Kade's property like he can see right through it.

Or like there's something I'm not seeing.

"It was nice meeting you, Blake." I shift towards the door.

"It was a pleasure." Blake flashes me a grin that sends chills crawling. Then he leans in and plants a firm kiss on my mouth, his tongue moving past my lips with slick precision. A shock before I let it happen.

Not a bad kisser. Not mindblowing either. It's just...

It's not Kade.

"Mm." Blake pulls back with a satisfied hum. Then he scans me with half-lidded eyes. "You're different from the other girls, aren't you?"

I hate it when guys say things like that. It seems so canned. "I'm just Emily."

"I mean, you've got a very strong mind. You're not as easily won. Not as...." His mouth curls. "Malleable." He kisses my neck, a sensitive spot for me yet the goosebumps feel hollow. Only skin deep. His hand skims up my waist, thumb grazing the underside of my breast. I let that happen too. "You'll take a lot of work, won't you?"

I have no response because my head just got stabbed by another imaginary needle. Burning into my skull.

"That's okay, I love a challenge." He kisses me with insistent tongue again before he pulls back to scan me lustily, gaze lingering at my chest. For a moment I think he's going to cop a rough feel, but instead he leans into my ear and purrs darkly, "I'll let you go tonight because you're extra special, but we'll be sure to continue what we started, won't we?"

"Yes," I nod vacantly.

"Of course we will."

"Goodnight, Blake." I open the door.

A canine tooth gleams."Goodnight, pretty girl."

I head back inside my house, and watch my driveway from the dark window until Blake's car eventually leaves. I stare at the black forest for too long after, something uncertain and raw in my gut.

My headache has vanished but Blake's peppermint gum sits sticky in my mouth.

*

After spitting out Blake's gum and being completely unable to settle down for bed, I get the strong urge to ask Kade if he's seen my sister's cat.

Instead of texting, I cross the bushes and oaks. When my I reach Kade's front porch steps, I see a shadowy figure seated in the darkness. The hiss of a match fills the air, a fiery glow briefly illuminating a handsome face.

My heart flutters. Yes, it fucking flutters. Does multiple backflips and summersaults like I'm some sort of boy-crazy adolescent. "Hi." My voice sounds meek in the quiet, mixing with the chirps of crickets.

Kade exhales a hypnotic cloud, the cherry of his cigarette sizzling. "Where did you go tonight?" He presents the question casually, but there's a subtle strain to it. As if he's intentionally trying not to sound abrasive.

"La Luna Cafe," I say cautiously. "Myra needed some help."

There's no response, just another inhale of smoke as I feel his gaze run hot over me.

"Have you seen my cat?" I pause at the bottom of his steps, touching the porch railing. "I lost him today. He's an orange tabby-"

"You mean, this cat?" He glances at his feet and I follow his eyes down.

There he is, a fluffball curled up on his shoes, fast asleep. Relief envelops me.

"Oh my gosh! Snuggles!" I rush up Kade's porch steps, squat down to gently pet the tabby. "You sent me on quite the ride." I don't mention that it was a nightmare ride through the forest that Kade warned me not to go into. Nor do I bring up the ride that I took with Blake. I rise to lean against Kade's front door, standing next to his smoking form. "Thanks for hanging out with him."

Kade doesn't speak, looking up to frown at me. Then he inhales a deep drag. Crushes his cigarette stub in an ashtray and stands abruptly, stepping over Snuggles's unbothered body.

Before I can react, I'm being backed into a wall again. Palms on either side of my head. Except instead of there being a lecture or the kisses I'm hoping for, he....sniffs me.

A long sniff. From my throat to the hollow behind my ear.

"Where the fuck did you go, Red?" Now there's no hiding the gruff demand in his voice.

"It's none of your business where I-"

"I told you not to go into the woods." He turns my chin to the right, exposing my cheek to him. "You're cut up." He lifts my hair off the side of my shoulder, exposing my neck, his thumb sliding across stinging flesh. Skin that I didn't even realize was nicked.

Questions rush through my mind: How could he possibly know that I went in there? How can he see these cuts in the near darkness?

Then he kisses my wounds and my brain stops working. His tongue slowly licking before he presses his lips to each mark. Both nurturing and blatantly sexual at the same time.

"Snuggles ran into the woods." My voice is comes out in breathless gasps. "I followed him. My sister would kill me-"

"Promise me you won't do that again," he rasps.

"Trust me, Kade," I say under my breath. "I'm not going back in there."

Our bodies graze for a few long breaths before he pulls back. "How did you get out?" He looks at me with pointed suspicion. "And how did you get home from downtown?"

I swallow. I don't want to tell Kade about Blake. I have the strong feeling that they would hate each other on sight if they met. "I don't really owe you an explanation, do I?"

"I'm just curious about the guy in the Lamborghini is all."

"You were watching me?"

He scoffs. "Is a man not allowed to smoke on his porch?"

"Is a girl not allowed her privacy?" I fold my arms. "Maybe I'm dating now."

"You went...on a date." His suspicious look deepens, voice coarsening. "You survived the woods and then you went on a date."

"Yup, that about sums it up." A part of me is relishing his reaction. I want to bottle his obvious jealousy and store it for when I need a pick-me-up. "I went on a date. Blake kissed me and wants to see me again."

If Kade were a cartoon, flames would be shooting out of his eyes right now. "Blake, huh?" He snorts, reaching in his jacket to pull out pack of cigarettes. He slides one out between his teeth. "Sounds like a fucking dickhead, if you ask me."

"You haven't even met him," I laugh.

"His name is Blake and he drives a Lamborghini." He lights his cigarette, speaking out of the corner his mouth. "All I need to know."

"He's not like what you think."

"What's he like then, Red?" Kade flicks ash to the porch floor.

To be honest, I can't remember. The whole night with Blake is very fuzzy. Every time I think of details my head hurts and the words Blake is a nice guy pounds into my brain. "He's just a nice guy. He really helped me out tonight." Then I add a juicy lie to rub it in. "He's taking me to the Butterfly Ball."

"Oh, I bet he is," Kade drawls, that southern twang getting more pronounced. "Bet he'll be wearing his coat-tails too cause' he's such a fuckin' gentleman."

"He is. Maybe you could learn a thing or two from him." I push off from the door. Brush against Kade as I pass to pick up Snuggles.

Okay, I know I'm just being a bitch now but apparently I want justice for being fingerfucked and rejected. He can't just do that and expect me not to move on with a vengeance.

"Right," Kade fumes, "Well, you two have fun." He opens his front door wide and slams it shut behind him, leaving me and Snuggles alone on the dark porch.

As I gingerly walk down the steps, holding the tabby closer, a thought occurs to me: I probably shouldn't have done that.

When I check out my face in the mirror the next morning, all of my cuts are fully healed.