by Lacuna Reid
It starts to rain. I should seek shelter, but for some reason, I can’t turn away.
“We should get out of here,” I say.
The girl’s eyes open.
“You can see me?”
I nod.
“Follow me!” she calls, and despite the rain, I know I have to do as she says.
She turns and runs.
I follow her through the rain… running… running…
So much rain…
I’m awoken by a knocking sound. Someone is at my door. I’m in my rooms in El Cielo, but part of me is still in the dream… running through the rain… so much rain. I’m left with a haunted feeling, and despite telling myself it was just a dream, I can’t shake the feeling that it was somehow real.
It’s Gino at the door.
“Sorry to disturb you, Mira,” he says. “I’ve reviewed the security footage and the guy who dropped off the package for you wasn’t Clifford Maxwell. It was someone else.”
“Who?” I ask. Of course, it’s just like Cliff to get other people to do his dirty work for him, I shouldn’t be surprised.
“It was a younger man, shorter than Clifford, in dark glasses,” Gino says. “He was the only visitor to El Cielo apart from a few business guests and he was shown carrying the box to reception. There are no other known intruders.”
“But…” I start to say, but Gino hands me the box from Cliff and I can’t find the right words.
“I’ve had this examined,” Gino says. “There are no other fingerprints. He must have worn gloves…”
I don’t want the box back, but I have more important things to raise, so I cast it down onto the kitchen counter and reach out for Gino’s arm.
“Gino… I heard…”
“No one was in your room,” Gino says. “We have CCTV cameras in all the hallways and by all the entrances.”
“So that music…?” I ask, “…and that slamming door?” Gino’s face darkens. “You should ask Theo about that,” he says.
Chapter Fifteen
Mira
After Gino leaves my room to go and do whatever the hell he does when I’m not with him, I start packing my things to move to my new apartment – the one directly under Theo’s. I’ve been stalling on this because I didn’t like Theo’s attitude, but I would feel safer with him being so close, and besides, as nice as this suite is, the apartment he wants me to move into is definitely an upgrade.
As I throw things into my bag, it’s tempting to think that I could just leave – run away from all my problems, especially from Cliff, since apparently, he’s found me. It doesn’t make sense though. He could have tracked me down when I was in New York.
Why is he targeting me now, after five years? What’s going on?
I could disappear with the small amount of money I’ve earned so far, with most of my debts covered by the ‘relocation fee’. I could slip away, back to Bali, or somewhere else. The thought is nowhere near as tempting as it has been in the past and I know exactly why. The connection I have with this place and these men is far too strong. Even though my tendency is to escape, especially with creepy stalkerish behavior from my ex, there’s nowhere I’d rather be.
I’m still exhausted from the lack of sleep and the intensity of the almost-threesome with Gino and Elias. I decide to take a shower and then drop my things off at the new apartment and go for another walk.
After my shower, I look in my closet for something to wear. Most of my clothes are threadbare and well past their best, but I’m only going into the forest, so I throw on the light blue sundress that I bought at a market in Bali.
As I pack the last of my things into bags, something comes loose and falls to the floor. It’s a condom box, and the sight of it makes me smile… thinking of all the possibilities. I retrieve one of the items from the box and slip it into my pocket, just in case.
I leave the “present” from Cliff in the trash except for the engagement ring. I’ll need to find another way to dispose of it… bury it somewhere outside maybe.
It still doesn’t feel quite right to move my suitcase of stuff to the apartment below Theo’s, but I’m warming to the idea.
I carry my bags over to my new apartment. As soon as I open the door, I know I’ve made the right choice. Not only do I feel safer here, but the whole place is lovely. There are vines growing from pots hanging from the ceiling and elegant lamps and more of El Cielo’s signature green velvet couches. There’s also a big bookshelf filled with novels, and I can tell this is a peace offering from Theo. All his bookshelves are non-fiction focused, but he’s gone to some effort to make this place perfect for me. I make a note to thank him at some point… if he ever stops being so arrogant and aloof, that is.
I was impressed with my ‘living quarters’ when I first arrived, the whole place here is so gorgeously decorated and furnished, but it was still just one room, whereas this is a proper apartment with a bedroom and a guest room and everything. It’s bigger, more spacious, and best of all, the bed is enormous. I think back to the night – and morning – I spent with Gino and Elias and reflect that I could fit even more guys in bed with me now. What’s wrong with me?
I’m secretly hoping to come across Helio again, but I don’t want to admit that, not even to myself.
The day is so nice that I don’t even wear shoes. I enjoy the feel of the cool polished concrete floor under my feet. Once I’m outside, the slightly damp earth gently gives way, softened by the early morning rain. I enjoy the sensation of the warm sunlight, the dappled shade from the trees, the still, humid air on my skin.
I take the ring out of my pocket (yes, I bought this dress entirely for its pockets) and carry it up a narrow path, through the trees. I need to be rid of this baggage once and for all. The ring itself is worth thousands, with those big diamonds, but it’s not really mine, it never really was, and I can’t bear to owe Cliff anything. I dig into the soft earth, creating a hole about a foot deep. I drop the ring inside and cover it with dirt, hoping that it’s somehow symbolic of burying my past. You have no power over me… not anymore.
I never stood up to Cliff. Even when it got to the point where he wouldn’t let me leave the house, where he kept me locked up wearing that stupid tracking bracelet that sensed my heartbeat, that I’d had to slip onto the cat if I ever wanted to sneak out without him knowing. I was terrified of him, just like I was of my father.
Not anymore, I promise myself. Never again.
I bend over, pressing the earth down over the buried ring.
“Nice ass,” a gruff voice says behind me. I can see Helio, upside down, from between my legs.
Chapter Sixteen
Mira
I stand up too fast and nearly lose my balance. I grab hold of a tree branch to steady myself, feeling slightly dizzy.
“Hey,” Helio says, coming closer. “Hey, Mira, sorry if I gave you a fright.”
I laugh.
“I wasn’t expecting you,” I say.
“Then why were you standing on the path to my house with your butt up in the air?”
“What?” I look around. “You live out here?”
“You thought I was in the castle with the other princes?” Helio says, a note of amusement in his voice. Of course, Helio wouldn’t want to live in Theo’s palace… like Elias, he prefers a different kind of lifestyle and I’m curious to find out more about his home.
“No. I like it rough.” He winks at me and I take a good look at him, drinking him in, his shoulder length, wavy hair, his muscles – of course, Helio is shirtless again, wearing only a pair of black leans.
Oh, you do, do you?
Desire burns between my thighs like a bonfire. I may have already gotten busy with Theo and Elias recently, but looking at Helio now, I want more.
“Can I see it?” I ask and then blush at the look on Helio’s face. “Your house!” I give him a playful shove. “Sheesh!”
“Sure,” Helio says. “You gave me a shock there, princess. I thought you were ab
out to take advantage of me.”
He flashes a smile at me and starts running up the hill, along the path. I run behind him, watching his muscular body move along, wondering why he always wants to run everywhere.
We keep running until the path opens up to a clearing. Helio stops and for a moment I wonder why, before I notice a small wooden hut, disguised between the trees.
“This is your house?” I ask. I’m so used to the elegance and grandeur of El Cielo, that it surprises me to find something so humble here.
“Not fancy enough for your royal presence?” Helio teases.
“Shut up,” I say. “Next, you’re going to tell me that you built it yourself.”
“So, what if I did?” Helio replies.
“Get out!” I say, shoving him playfully.
“It took me over a year,” Helio says with a shrug. “But hey, I’m not trained as a builder.”
I’m impressed, but I don’t want Helio to know that because he’s clearly already too full of himself.
He opens the door and I follow him inside. It’s cozier than the rustic exterior suggests. A simple one-room cabin with exposed log walls, and all the furniture and benches seem to be made from the slices of the same rough wood. Above the camp stove, an array of pots hang on the wall, next to a shelf of jars with spices, grains, and seeds. There’s no mattress on the bed, instead there’s a futon outside on the deck, propped up against the rustic French doors.
I raise my eyebrows.
Helio shrugs, “I like to sleep under the stars, but sometimes I get caught by an unexpected shower.”
I smile and imagine lying outside with him, being held by him, looking up at the night sky…
“I love it here,” I tell Helio. “Honestly… it’s so…”
“So… what?” Helio asks.
“It’s gorgeous,” I say. “It feels so… safe.”
I want Helio to step closer, to wrap me in his arms, but instead he turns away.
“It’s a hot day, princess. Do you fancy a swim?” with that, he turns and starts running again.
I’m confused, not sure what to think about Helio turning away from me, about his obvious distaste for intimacy. Not a cuddler, huh?
I follow him anyway, running along the path behind him, taking a different track to last time, but clearly heading towards the same lake. I can barely keep up. Helio keeps disappearing behind the trees in the twists and turns of the path. Finally, breathless, I emerge into the wide-open space of the lake shore.
Helio is already taking off his pants. I want to watch, but I avert my eyes out of politeness, sitting down on a boulder to catch my breath.
“It’s okay to like what you see, princess,” Helio says, then walks into the water. Fine… I watch his perfectly muscular and tanned naked body, his tight butt, enjoying the sight before he dives into the lake.
I’m hot from the running and from the scorching hot midday sun, beaming down, but part of me wants to run away from this cocky asshole, despite the fact that I’m addictively attracted to him… or because of it.
“You coming in?” Helio calls out. “Or do you prefer to watch?”
Fuck him and his stupid teasing and his stupid sexy body and his stupid fear of intimacy.
As much as I want to turn around and walk away, I want to be in that water more. I want to let it wash away the terror I’ve been feeling recently, brought on by Cliff’s creepy stalkerish gifts and by that ghostly feeling of being watched. I want to cleanse my mind of my endless frustration with Theo and the confusion around Gino.
What the hell am I doing with all these men?!
I slowly take off my blue dress. I’m wearing sexier underwear this time, black lace, and it might have just been intentional if I let myself admit it. There’s a thrill of excitement, and if I’m completely honest with myself, it’s because of Helio.
I want you to want me…
I’ve come prepared… thank goodness for dresses with pockets! I drape my dress over the boulder, slipping the small, silver packet out of the pocket and tying up my hair, carefully.
I linger there, in my underwear for a moment, deliberately wanting him to look at me, to desire me. Then I unhook my bra and drape it over my dress.
Helio wolf whistles at me from the water. I ignore him as I slowly lower my panties and step out of them, hoping that my movements look sexy rather than clumsy.
Then, I walk into the lake, not looking at Helio, looking at the shimmering surface of the water and the horizon and the trees and the sky and everywhere else except those dark eyes… that muscular body, that enormous pierced cock that I know is submerged beneath the water.
There’s a humming feeling in my chest as he steps closer to me, but I keep walking out, veering away from him and then I dive under the water, swimming under the surface for as long as I can hold my breath. Just as I’m ready to emerge I feel arms wrapping around my waist, jolting me like electricity. Helio pulls me up, out of the water, against his chest.
“Is this what you’re wanting?” He asks, holding me, pressing into me so that I feel his hard cock up against my mound.
Fuck. Yes.
I lean my head against Helio’s chest, listening to his heart beat, then I grind myself against him.
Helio growls and tips me back, claiming my mouth with his. I wrap my arms around his neck and lose myself in his kiss, high on his pheromones. He grabs my ass, pulling me harder against him, the shaft of his cock pushes against my clit and I moan into his mouth. He bites my lower lip.
“Fuck!” he says, “I want to fuck you right now, but I don’t have any protection.”
…as hot as it would be to feel Helio inside me right this minute, I’m not quite ready for motherhood.
“Lucky for you I came prepared.” I unhook my arms from Helio’s neck, reach under my ponytail and retrieve the condom I hid there.
The look on his face is priceless.
“It’s like my fucking birthday or something!” Helio crows, and I can’t help but feel pleased with myself.
Helio tears the condom open and rolls it over his enormous hard cock. He shoves the wrapper under the leather bracelet around his wrist so as not to contaminate the pristine water, then he hoists me up, slightly too high, so that his face is between my breasts.
“Oh… my… god… Mira… you really are something else,” he says into my cleavage, setting flutters of butterflies right through my torso. The bottom of my stomach drops like a roller coaster as he lifts me up, even higher.
“What are you doing… oh…”
He nudges my legs around his shoulders so that my thighs wrap around his head, then with both hands supporting my back he teases my pussy with his tongue.
He moans into me, sending vibrations right through my body. I look around at the lake, the horizon, the sky. All I can see is nature; all I can feel is pleasure.
Helio’s tongue strokes harder and faster, bringing me closer to the edge. Just as I’m about to come, he pulls his head back. I groan, wanting more.
He lowers me, slowly down, wrapping my legs around his waist. His hands are tight around my lower back. Then, he pushes me down, slowly, slowly, onto his enormous, hard, pierced cock.
I hitch myself with my thighs, leveraging off Helio’s hips, wanting more… deeper… faster. Taking that as an invitation, Helio grins and thrusts into me.
Oh… my… Gods!
I feel the tingling of his cock ring, all the way inside, sending ripples of pleasure through me until Helio fills me right up to bursting!
We surrender to our bodies like animals.
I close my eyes, enjoying the sensations of his huge cock pumping into me. This is some fucking workout!
My legs are aching so much I want to collapse back into the water and float. Sensing my surrender, Helio clutches me to his chest and starts running with me still on him, with him still inside me, right back over to the boulder where I left my dress. He brushes my clothing aside and lowers me down onto the hot rocky surfa
ce, then pummels into me, over and over again, rough and raw and exactly what I’ve been craving. Helio fucks me harder than I’ve ever been fucked before.
He pounds into me like a mighty stallion until I reach a climax so intense, I’m literally screaming in pleasure. My voice echoes out over the lake as he shudders. I feel his release inside me.
Helio leaves me breathless… literally. He’s barely finished when I notice he’s already pulling his pants on. It feels so rushed when I want to stay and linger in the post-coital bliss for longer… not another emotionally unavailable man!
“What are you doing?” I ask him.
“I have things to do,” he says, but instead of being cold like Theo is when he’s feeling aloof, Helio winks at me. “Thanks for that. We must do it again sometime,” he says. Then, without so much as a kiss goodbye, Helio is off again… just like a friend… or like a fuck boy… and not at all like a soulmate, despite the fact that he’s just fucked my brains out.
Chapter Seventeen
Helio
My feet thud against the forest path, almost as loudly as my beating heart, racing in my chest. I’ve fucked around a lot in my life… but I’ve never experienced anything like what just happened with Mira.
Never….
I’ve never felt so close to someone.
What a cock… I silently berate myself. Why did I treat her like that?
I think of the expression on Mira’s face when I was up and out of there the second after I came.
Fuck and run… great one, Helio. Finally get it on with the woman of your dreams – literally – and you screw up your chances of ever getting into her pants again.
I’m panting by the time I reach my cabin, despite the fact that after a run of that length usually I wouldn’t even break a sweat… but what surprises me are the tears streaming down my face.
