“I’m done,” I said, putting my hand up and turning around. I marched back outside and yelled over my shoulder, “Not having this conversation.”
Shaking my head in disbelief, I shut myself away inside my room. What on earth was wrong with him? Then I remembered the whole debacle I still had to face about the letter and his timeline being a lot nearer than he had told everyone.
A wave of sadness hit me like a brick wall then. He was nothing more than desperate and eager to see me happy and settled before his time came to an end. As much as I really wanted to give him what he desired, I wasn’t prepared to potentially ruin my life in pursuit of it.
I flopped face down on my bed and flicked my magic TV into life. Judge Judy appeared on the screen, ranting at some chihuahua dressing pensioner about being petty. I rolled over onto my back and sighed. How had my life become so complicated in just a matter of days?
I sent Marcus a quick text to let him know I was child free.
Marcus: Excellent. May I come over?
Me: Sure
Considering we were apparently going for dinner this evening, I wondered why on earth he wanted to come over now. No sooner than Judge Judy had dismissed the chihuahua pensioner’s claim for reimbursement of her trampled flowerbed, Marcus was knocking on my door.
I jumped up and ran to open it, a rush of relief surging through me when I saw his handsome face smiling back at me.
“Hello,” he said. “How are you?”
“Good. You?”
“On top of the world.”
I stepped aside and motioned for him to come in. He waited for me to close the door then gently took my hand in his. With careful and methodical moves, he entwined our fingers together, lifted my hand to his mouth, and brushed a kiss across the back of it. My heart skipped several beats and warm tingles flooded my insides from head to toe.
“I thought we could chat,” he said, walking down the corridor, still holding my hand. “About the finer details of our arrangement before this evening. I would like to avoid an intense conversation over a delicious meal.”
That made sense. It would ruin the vibe a little. “Ok. Kind of takes the edge off tonight, I guess. By the way, you know Dad has told me where we’re going?”
He grinned. “I suspected he may do, yes.”
“I’ve always wanted to go there. I'm so excited. Is it as posh as everyone says? I need to choose what to wear.”
Leading me to the sofa, he said, “You could wear a rubbish bag and still steal the room’s attention.”
I laughed. “Yes, because I’d be wearing a bin bag.”
He chuckled. “You know what I meant.”
We sat on the sofa, a little way apart but still joined by one hand. My heart started pounding like crazy. What exactly were we supposed to discuss here? I wished I'd done some research so I could have been prepared.
“You look panicked,” he said, stroking his thumb across the back of my hand. “Don’t be. There's nothing to be scared of.”
“I feel like I need a trip back in time to see how this would normally work because I feel way out of my depth here.”
“It’s nothing more than stating what we expect from this, that’s all. Let me go first. I expect you to have no other romantic interests.”
I nodded. “Ok. I expect the same from you.”
“Of course. I would like to see you at least every other day, exclusively.”
I didn’t know how to take that. “That’s...intense.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Perhaps. We’ve seen each other three days in a row and it wasn’t too much was it?”
I frowned. “Well, no, but that was different. We were just going with the flow, not scheduling things in advance.”
He pulled his lips into a thin line. “Ok, tell me your first thought when I said that.”
“Claustrophobic.”
“Interesting. May I ask a personal question?”
“Sure.”
“Have you had a boyfriend before?”
I felt immediately defensive, like I had to explain myself, but then I remembered he wasn’t the enemy here. He was merely trying to understand me. “No.”
“I did suspect. Ok. Can we commit to two days a week, exclusively? Is that better for you?”
“When you say exclusively, you mean...?”
“Just me and you. No friends, no family.”
“Basically what we’ve already done.”
He nodded.
I sighed. “Ok, I can do two days. That's not so intense. Wednesdays and Saturdays.”
“Good. I believe the modern term would be ‘date night’ or ‘nights’ on this occasion.”
“I know what they are,” I said, grinning and thinking of the comedy film ‘Date Night’. “Ok, my turn. You need to be accepting of my friendship with Luke.”
He stilled. His eyes clouded over with a darkness I'd never seen before; it actually gave me goose bumps. After several seconds, he finally said, “I do not like it. I always keep my partners safe and protected and if you insist on being around him, I cannot do the very thing that feels natural to me.”
“He’s nothing to be afraid of. I judge people based on how they treat me, Marcus. He's done nothing to me that makes me think anything untoward. In fact, just today when I was out with the girls, something happened and he was at my side in like, three minutes. It was crazy.”
His darkness vanished, immediately replaced with concern and worry. He squeezed my hand. “What happened? Are you all ok?”
“Yes, we’re fine. I just got a little spooked by some crazy old lady, that’s all.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
I opened my mouth but couldn’t think of the sentence that I wanted to speak. After a few tense seconds I said, “We hadn’t spoken or anything for a few days and he was just the first person I thought of.”
“Regardless of what our situation is, if you ever need help, I'll be there. Do you understand that?”
The sincerity etched into his eyes pierced my soul. I started to feel guilty I hadn’t called him. “Ok, thank you. I understand.”
“I mean it,” he said. “If you ever feel the slightest bit scared or worried about anything, need help with anything, you call me. It’s what I'm here for. It's my job to provide and protect.”
“I...” I frowned. I didn’t know quite how to take that. “You are aware we don’t live in caves anymore, aren’t you?”
He smiled. “I understand the whole feminist movement, Caitlyn. But that doesn’t mean that some of us men can’t still be chivalrous. I have very specific views on how genders should act.”
My heart sank. Here it comes. He's going to expect me to wear big poufy dresses, worry over my nails, and dress a toy poodle in matching clothes to mine. “Such as?”
“Men provide and protect for their woman. The woman nurtures the home and the children. Basically, I believe women should be women and men should be men.”
I snorted. “So you’re expecting my future to be pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen? That’s not for me.”
He laughed. “No, I'm not that antiquated. What I mean is I don’t find masculine women attractive. If you were a...mechanic for instance, that’s not very feminine. Or if you were a lorry driver. That's not my idea of a woman’s job.”
I tried my best not to smirk. “And why can’t a woman drive a lorry? It’s just a giant car. And why can’t we understand a few nuts and bolts that make wheels go round?”
“I’m not trying to stereotype or say women can’t do those things at all. What I'm saying is, I personally don’t find it attractive in women. What’s unattractive to you in men?”
I thought about that for a moment. I hadn’t ever really considered such a thing. But then one thing did spring to mind. “Drainpipe jeans. I cannot stand men, boys, whatever, in drainpipe jeans. It’s just wrong. I don’t want to see skinny legs and knobbly knees, guys should have fitted clothes but not skin-tight, it’s just wrong.”
“Ok, I understand, I think. When I mentioned to you the other night that I see horses in my future, what’s your view on that? I'm pretty sure being covered in hay, straw, and manure isn’t feminine.”
“Actually, I do think that horses are more of a woman’s world than they are a man’s. Girls are always dreaming of ponies or asking Father Christmas for one whilst boys are asking for quad bikes and cars.”
I pursed my lips. “You’re very old fashioned.”
“Does it put you off?”
“Not right now, no, but that’s not to say that something won’t crop up in the future where I find it uncomfortable or strange.”
“Then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” He cleared his throat. “You should know my father is a lot worse than me. I have very modern views compared to him.”
Great, I thought to myself. Can't wait to meet him. “That’s um...nice.”
Marcus tipped his head back and laughed. “He’s not scary if that’s what you’re thinking. He doesn’t expect modern women to entertain his outdated views. That's most likely the reason he’s never had another partner.”
“Oh. Do you mind if I ask what happened to your mum?”
He fell silent, a serious shadow falling over his handsome face. When he looked away from me, I knew it was something bad. “She...disappeared years ago. We've never given up hope of finding her but up until now, we’ve had no luck whatsoever.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, squeezing his hand. “I can’t imagine how awful that must be.”
“It’s easier to live with as time goes by. We have had some information recently though that may lead us to find her. My father is researching it as we speak.”
“Oh wow, that’s fantastic news. Are you hopeful?”
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth and he turned back to look at me. “More hopeful than any other lead we’ve followed.”
“I hope it works out. It must be exciting but nerve wracking all at the same time.”
He lifted my hand to his lips and planted a firm kiss on the back of it. “You have no idea.”
A shot of heat burst inside me and I couldn’t help but blush. “I hope it goes without saying that my dad is my priority at the moment. If he’s having a bad day and it happens to be one of our date nights, I won’t hesitate to cancel.”
He nodded. “Of course. Is there anything else we need to discuss?”
“I do have to ask something, and you might not like it.”
“Go on. You won’t know the answer unless you ask.”
I wrung my hands together and asked, “Are you just doing this because you’re making some weird male move to make sure Luke knows I’m off limits?”
He chuckled. “I can see why you might think that but no, Caitlyn. Luke doesn’t even come into the equation. Unless you’re telling me he does?”
I shook my head. “No, of course not. He’s nothing more than a friend.”
“Good. Ok, I will leave you to enjoy the rest of your afternoon. I'll pick you up at seven fifteen.”
I nodded, already planning a power nap before a bath. “Sounds good to me.”
We said our goodbyes, with another gentle kiss on the back of my hand. Maybe tonight I might get a proper kiss. I skipped back to my bed and fell asleep to fantasies of Marcus’ soft pink lips on mine.
Chapter 17
After I woke up and indulged in a long bubble bath, I agonised over my choice of clothes for the evening. I decided to consult Hannah on my limited wardrobe. Within three sentences I knew I'd made a bad decision.
“You need to make him want you, Cat,” she said. “Making him weak at the knees isn’t enough. You want him begging you to lick your toes.”
“Ewww, Hannah, that’s gross. I wouldn’t let anybody lick my toes even if they paid me.”
“Really? It’s good. Don't knock it ‘til you’ve tried it. It's very tantric.”
I rolled my eyes. She was clearly still in her hippy/spiritualistic phase. The last time I'd seen her, she’d been trying to convince me how you could ‘make love with your mind’. “Maybe I'll just pick my own clothes.”
“No!” she yelled. “You most certainly will not. You'll end up dressing yourself in a pair of jeans, trainers, and that horrible purple vest top you love for some unknown reason.”
“And what’s wrong with that?”
“I’m seriously bordering on driving up there to educate you, girl. Now, show me the wardrobe.”
I'd thought face timing her would help speed the process along. Again, another bad decision. Twenty minutes later, every single piece of clothing I owned was strewn across my bed, all vetoed by her highness.
“I’m coming up there.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Next week or whenever, I'm coming up there and we are going shopping because you, girlie, are not going to keep any man interested with those drab clothes, let alone one like Michael.”
“Marcus.”
She waved a hand dismissively through the air. “Whatever. My gran wouldn’t even go out dressed in those clothes.”
I giggled. “Because she comes from a different era, Hannah, not because my clothes are bad.”
She snorted. “You clearly overestimate your wardrobe. If you’re finally going to become a woman, you need to dress like one, not like a fourteen-year-old girl who still plays with My Little Pony.”
“Hey, they’re collectables!”
“Ha! You know what else is collectable? Dust on your pillow where a man should be!”
I laughed. “Not everything is about men, Hannah.”
She frowned and scratched her head. “I’m sorry. Please remind me how we’re friends again?”
“Because I'm so amazing you’d be lost without me,” I replied, grinning.
“No, more like I took pity on you.”
“You mean I took pity on you after you couldn’t understand year eight algebra.”
“That shit is hard! Who works calculations out with letters? Maths is numbers, people!”
“We can discuss that when you come up. In the meantime, I have a hot date to get ready for.”
“But you have nothing to wear!”
I laughed. “I’ll figure it out. I'll call you when I'm ready and show you the finished product.”
I ended the call to her screams of protest. Personally, my favourite pick for tonight had to be the classic little black dress. It wasn’t little though, more ankle length, very fitted, but also very plain. Still, dressing it up with some flashy earrings and a necklace or bracelet wouldn’t be too bad.
After spending an hour on my hair and make-up, I felt satisfied that I looked more than decent. I slipped the dress on over my head, careful of my hair and of not touching my face. It would be just my luck that I ended up with foundation smeared all over it and not even realise until tomorrow.
I slipped on a pair of simple black high heels, nothing extravagant, just a small two-inch heel, and looked at myself in the full-length mirror on the door of my wardrobe. I couldn’t help but stare at myself. The person staring back at me was a beautiful young woman, someone I barely recognised. It was my face but the rest of her somehow seemed more feminine than I’d ever felt.
Running a hand down my side, feeling the curve of my waist, I watched the woman in the mirror do the same thing. Even though I knew it was me, I couldn’t quite grasp that it was me. The longer I stared at her, the more tunnel vision took over and it became almost a world of just me and this woman, staring at each other, waiting for the other’s first move.
Then she smiled and ran a hand through her hair, closing her eyes and tilting her head back as if she were in the throes of passion with an invisible lover. The pale skin of her neck glowed like ivory, glistening with temptation. Her mouth formed an O as she ran her
hands over the curves of her body. When a burly man appeared, his broad back facing me, I jumped back and screamed, breaking whatever daydream had just happened in my own mirror.
My heart hammering inside my chest, I took some deep breaths and sat down on my bed. What the hell was that? I knew I hadn’t blinked because my eyes were dry. I told myself I just became absorbed in some weird fantasy about me and Marcus and me being some sexy woman that I really wasn’t.
Trembling ever so slightly, I stood up and looked back in the mirror. My reflection stared back at me, mirroring every move and showing no signs of becoming its own person. I breathed a sigh of relief. It’s ok, I told myself. Just had a moment, that’s all.
Three loud knocks hammered on my door, making me jump again. I checked the time—ten to seven. Had Marcus arrived early? That seemed unlike him. Five minutes early, sure, but not thirty. I sucked in a deep breath and walked as fast as I could to the door, every part of me tingling.
When I opened the door, I found Luke stood there.
“Hey,” I said, smiling. “Everything ok?”
He gawped back at me, his mouth wide open.
“Luke?”
He shook his head. “I…um…wow. You look incredible.”
I giggled and didn’t even attempt to hide the heat flooding my face. I liked this compliment and wanted to revel in it all I could. “Thank you.”
“I…I just came by to say have a good night. Jolene’s is an amazing restaurant and I know you’ll love it.”
I raised an eyebrow. “That seems awfully nice of you considering who’s taking me out.”
“Well, of course, you know if he’s a complete dick you can call me to come and rescue you.”
I laughed. “There it is. I knew it wasn’t a genuine case of just being nice.”
He grinned. “I’m only joking. Unfortunately, where it concerns women, Marcus has exquisite manners. I genuinely wanted to wish you a good night.”
“Thank you. That’s really sweet.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
We waved goodbye and I closed myself back inside my room, awaiting my knight in shining armour for the evening. Remembering I promised Hannah I’d call her with the end result, I picked my phone up and facetimed her.
Love, Lies and Immortal Ties: A young adult paranormal romance (Love, Lies and Ties Book 1) Page 14
