CHAPTER 5: IN WHICH DENIAL CANNOT BE SUSTAIND
It had been two weeks since he’d seen her last. He had barely been able to draw breath in that time, waiting for the axe to fall. Waiting for her to do something about what had happened in her living room maybe by telling Charlotte about it, or, or... something. But he hadn’t seen or heard a word from her. He wanted to go and see her; first to make sure she was okay, then to find out what was going on in her head; but was terrified of going near her. Clearly he couldn’t trust himself and he couldn’t understand it. She was hardly his type; she wore grandma outfits, barely groomed herself, and was apparently a witch. Seriously, she could not be less like his type. His type was blonde, had blue eyes, and belonged to a family that was rich as Croesus. That was his type. So the huge afro, the chocolate skin, mango breasts, long, long...long elegant legs...He lost his train of thought. This had been happening to him a lot lately and he was at a loss to explain why. He stood up abruptly, picking up the house phone to call Miles. Operation Distract needed to be put into effect. He’d see what Miles was up to; maybe they could go shoot some hoops at the school gym or get a beer if Jon would agree to sell them some. Being underage blew, but Jon was cool people – as long as no overzealous law-abiding citizens were around. Before he could hit the speed dial though, it rang. Charlotte.
He stared at her name for a while, wondering whether to answer or not. It had been like this for the past fortnight. Dread filled his insides like molten lead every time he saw her name. He hadn’t had the courage to pick up yet, but this time, he took in a deep breath, and answered.“Hi.” He said, feeling that his voice was a little too high.
“Hey Stranger” her sultry tones purred down the line,“ Where you been?”Was this some sort of play? He wondered. If she hadn’t heard from Mya, still she should be mad at him for being AWOL for two weeks...Just go with it? Or fess up?“I’ve missed you babe” he said, in a better approximation of his usual gravelly tones, “it’s been a while”.
“I noticed” she said, in slightly sharper tone“, Where have you been?”He took a deep breath, all the time wondering what to say.“This isn’t a conversation that should be had on the phone, where are you now?” He asked on the exhale, stalling for time.
“I’m at Freddie’s, you coming?”
“Give me five minutes” he said, instantly hanging up. ‘Shit.’ He thought, ‘now what?’
‘Now you go to her, and you do what you do best... spin’. A voice that he wasn’t sure was his answered him.
‘Right. So, step one,’ he thought, ‘how do I look?’He went to his room and examined himself in the mirror. Navy blue shirt that brought out the grey in his eyes, his trademark black levis that showed the length of his legs to perfection, ending in ‘bad boy’ alligator skin boots that just added a few more inches to the length of his legs. Jet-black hair artfully mussed, falling in an elegant sweep over his eye. ‘Perfect’. He thought with a self-satisfied side smile.
“Okay” he said to himself, “let’s do this”.
Freddie’s was packed with young people, enjoying the last days of summer break before the new school year began. The whole gang was present; Aaron and David sitting on either side of Tina the Barbie who was opposite Ashley; which meant that Miles was near, though Leo couldn’t see him. Teddy Bear leaning anxiously to the side, his large head bent to listen to whatever she was saying – Charlotte. A vision in brown and gold. He smiled as she turned and saw him. Teddy turned too, but he didn’t smile.“Leo” she said in that sultry voice, pronouncing his name in the Italian way that made it something exotic and foreign.
“Hi.” He replied not looking at anyone else, “Can we talk?”
“Of course”, she said standing up. Her dark brown denim skirt stopped just short of being patently indecent, hugging her hourglass figure like an ardent lover. Her golden top didn’t leave much more to the imagination. It was cut low over her luscious breasts and the gold of her top blended well with her light tan, making her look naked at first glance. She accentuated the look with gold sandals that emphasised the delicate turn of her ankle and gold jewelery graced her wrists, ears, and neck. All this topped by long blonde wavy hair left loose to cascade down her back. She looked...expensive. He was treated to the full frontal view as she sashayed toward him, her hips gently swaying from side to side. He was quite sure the walk was in slow motion in her mind. They had so much in common -Leo and Charlotte- almost like they were made for each other. In the dictionary, under narcissism, was a photo of the pair of them, perfect smiles in place.“Shall we go?” she asked as she drew level with him.
“Yes. Let’s.” He replied looking into those blue eyes that reflected his face so perfectly, “Your place?”She made no reply but moved forward toward the parking. Teddy Bear looked like he wanted to protest but what could he say? Leo gave Ashley a look, asking with his eyes for her to pass his regards to Miles and let him know where they’d gone. Miles would know to call him up in an hour or two with ‘an emergency’. She inclined her head slightly to let him know she understood. Ashley was good people; it was a real pity Miles had no real interest...But he couldn’t think about that right now, he was on the clock.
Charlotte was standing by the passenger door of his black jeep. He had acquired it at a bargain because it had been ‘beyond salvage’ in an accident. His uncle Jamie- who was actually his mother’s on again, off again boyfriend -and he had worked evenings and weekends fixing it up in Jamie’s auto garage. Now it was the most beautiful car in town. He went over and opened the passenger door for her then got in and drove off. There wasn’t much conversation between them as they drove and he used the time to think up a strategy.
The guards let them in without hindrance and they drove straight to the side door that led off the patio. He helped her out and led her inside. The room was empty apart from a solitary maid laying hors de oeuvres on the table. Service was efficient at the Le Carré manor; the staff was well trained. The maid finished laying out the dishes and left the room. As soon as she did, Leo turned Charlotte toward him and kissed her. ‘The best defence is a good offence’ was his decided strategy. He deepened the kiss, running his hands down her body with amorous intent. He waited for the madness that had overcome him with Mya to take over him now, but although he was aroused, he was also very much in control.
He mentally frowned at this puzzle and stowed it away for future examination.“Babe? It’s been too long - I have missed you” he whispered as he kissed her face all over. She let him kiss her, and touch her but did not reciprocate. After a minute, she pushed away from him.
“Leo,” she asked, unaccustomed steel in those blue eyes“, what are you doing?”
“What am I doing?” he asked in surprise, “Clearly I’m doing something wrong if you don’t recognise kissing” he said, leaning toward her again. But she pushed him away, giving him a look that he could not mistake. He sighed deeply and walked away from her to sit on the sofa.
“Okay babe, let’s talk” he said; resignation in his voice and stance, “You wanted to know where I’ve been for the past two weeks right?”She moved toward him and sat on the love seat next to him, “Yes” she replied, looking him in the eye.“Well, just remember you asked for it, okay?” he told her with a warning look in his eye.
“Leo, you’re scaring me. Just tell me already!” she snapped.
“Okay! It’s like this. You were lying on your deathbed, and the only thing that could revive you was a spell –“
“I know all that” she interrupted“, what’s that got to do with anything?”
“If you let me finish, “he said impatiently, “I will tell you.”
“Okay, sorry. Continue.” She said contritely.
“So you were lying over there, “he pointed at the divan, “at death’s door, and this spell needed to be done. But your girlfriend Mya said she couldn’t do it because of some proviso which said she needed passion from a lover to perform it. And we all know no-one’s ever looked twice at that girl and here was this vital ingredient missing...something had to be done – or you would die”, he trailed off, staring into the distance. She gave him thirty seconds to contemplate her premature death before saying;
“Go on.”
“Well... I was at a loss for what to do you know?” he said catching her eye for a second before looking back into the middle distance.
“If there was someone at least who was interested in her, I might have...persuaded them to kiss her, but there was no-one. So I had to resort to some drastic measures. “He broke off, looking at her as if assessing her ability to hear what these measures were.
“Tell me!” she demanded breathlessly, torn between fascination and fear.
“Okay! So there was no way that she could do the spell without the passion, and she had kind of gave up. So I grabbed her grandmother who was asleep in the other room, put a knife to her throat, and told her to hypnotise that retarded dude from the graveyard to make love to her...or I would slit her grandmother’s throat.” He said in one go, barely stopping to draw a breath; like saying it fast would lessen the horror of what he was saying. Charlotte was certainly looking horrified...horrified, fascinated, and impressed. She always was one for drama .
“You did, WHAT?!” She asked her eyes wide as saucers.
“I’m not proud of what I did” he said, his eyes on the carpet”, but I had to do something fast and it was the only thing that came to mind.”
“So you threatened an old woman...to save my life?” she whispered.
“Like I said, I’m not proud of it.” He replied, eyes still on the carpet.
“But...what does that have to do with where you were these last two weeks?”
‘God, she was a persistent little bitch’
“I was scared. I thought she would come and tell you what happened and you would hate me. I haven’t wanted to face you, see the horror in your eyes...I’ve been a coward I know. A coward and a bastard and I don’t deserve you.” He said with a shaking and broken voice. There was silence in the room. He wanted to look up and see what she was doing but that would ruin the effect so he kept his eyes on the carpet and waited, rubbing his eyes a bit; just for added drama. She stood up and moved from the loveseat to the sofa and her slender fingers came into view as they touched his arm. He took a deep breath of relief, which he quickly turned into a sob. Her other hand went around his shoulder as she laid her head on it. His hand crept out and touched her fingers gently and she immediately encircled his hand with hers. ‘Checkmate’ he thought.
“That would explain why she hasn’t been to see me,” Charlotte said suddenly, “I wondered”.
“Well, I imagine she would rather not run into me. And to be honest, I’d rather not run into her either...” he replied quickly.
“Well, you’ll have to you know? School starts in two weeks.”
“Yeah” he said.
‘Shit, that’s right’ he thought. ‘School does start in two weeks. I gotta see her before then...the sooner the better. ‘The thought of seeing her again made the blood run faster in his veins and he decided to bite the bullet that very day. Now if Miles would just call so he could get out of here...
But she was caressing his hand in a way that he knew only too well. Her hand moved slowly caressing his back, until it reached the waistband of his jeans, and she pulled up his shirt so she could touch his bare back. Her breathing was deep and slow as she pressed her breasts against his arm. She began to unbutton his shirt and when she’d loosened it sufficiently, she pulled it over him and threw it on the carpet. He turned to her, cradling her butt cheeks in his hands, and kissed her lips. She moaned softly pressing her luscious breasts closer, and then moved away so she could take her top off. She was back again, her breath panting in his ear. He moved his hands up her tanned legs as he placed butterfly kisses on her neck. She was beautiful and aroused and he should have been raring to go, but nothing was happening for him. Heart rate; slow. Blood pressure: normal. Penis: flaccid...‘God, what was happening to him?!’ When it was Mya, he barely had to touch her to be ravening with lust. At the thought of her, his penis gave a twitch. His mind went back to that day on her sofa, the orgasm he had had. Suddenly he was hot and ready; he picked Charlotte up and turned her over so her ass was in the air. Pausing to slip on a condom he proceeded to ram himself inside her -eyes closed - pounding into her as tan legs were replaced by chocolate in his mind and long blond hair became short, curly, and black...
‘I have to see her’ He thought as they lay on the carpet afterwards.
“ Mmm... That was incredible”, she whispered into his chest, sounding satisfied and replete, “Looks like absence definitely made the heart grow fonder”, he heard the smile in her voice.
“Mmmphm...” he replied absentmindedly. How fast could he get out of here? Charlotte lay against his chest, body heavy with sleep after that intensely passionate session he’d just put her through. Yet although they lay so closely intertwined, their minds were distant as the stars. Charlotte was falling asleep; she couldn’t believe how passionate Leo had been. The sex had been beyond amazing. Obviously almost losing her had stirred him to greater passion than ever...Leo meanwhile was feeling...deflated. He had just had the most incredible sex with his girlfriend. The only problem was that he hadn’t been fucking her. He’d been fucking a tall, slender, crazy- looking black witch with the strangest habits this town had ever seen. Bad enough that she was a witch; that wasn’t the worst. The worst was that she was poorer than a church mouse and wore faded floral print grandma dresses circa 1969! How could he want her? Correction, how could he want her over this glorious golden vision lying at his side, who was his for the taking? His mind must be magnifying the chemistry that had occurred between them because she was definitely forbidden fruit – forbidden in every way; socially, financially... did he mention financially? Still he had to see her again, just to prove to himself that it wasn’t as bad as he thought it was.
Leo Devereux was the only child of Jade Evans. His father had ran off when he was eight years old, leaving his wife and child at the mercy of Jade’s brother, Gregory. As uncles went, he wasn’t bad people, but he definitely made you work for your dinner. Leo was put to work on his alligator farm right away and Uncle Greg paid him by allowing them to live rent-free in the tiny apartment above the shop in town, where he sold his alligator derivatives. He had no sons of his own, and his daughter Sheila, was grown up and married to an out-of-towner. So Leo was being groomed to take over the family business. But he had far loftier ambitions than wrestling with alligators for the rest of his life. Seeing as he had no independent income, his best bet, the way that he saw it; was to marry it. Enter Charlotte and her crush on Francis Bacon High School’s basketball sensation. Certainly Leo could have any girl he wanted, and did – but the one he needed was Charlotte. He’d been cultivating her for two and a half years now, and he had her just where he wanted her. He wasn’t letting some random feelings get in the way of that.
But he still had to see her; and soon.