by Kyanna Skye
“…so there I was, in the checkout line and this lady behind me had the nerve to ask if she could cut in front of me. I mean, who cares if she had a baby, I was there first, and fair’s fair, right?” Peter’s voice droned on over the movie we were supposed to be watching, and Lucy had to fight not to roll her eyes. What the hell was she thinking to bring Peter here? She had known it was a bad idea from the minute the words came out of her mouth, but the high-handed way Owen had been acting had just pushed her over the edge.
It was bad enough to have to listen to him talk about how great he is at his job and how much money he’s making, and then turn around and say how great it was to watch a movie here so he wouldn’t have to shell out any of his precious cash on their “date”, but every story he told revealed just what a low-life jerk he really was.
She tried to just ignore him and focus on the movie playing on the big projector screen in front of her but the constant drone of his voice was making it impossible. Lucy tuned him out the only sure fire way she could. Thinking of Owen. Thoughts of him seemed to drown out anything else the past few days and it was even a little frightening just how strong his effect was on her. Lucy wondered if he even knew it. She checked her watch for the hundredth time, counting down the minutes, the seconds, until she would get to unlock the vault and be with him again. She knew it was just on the other side of that wall. Almost close enough to reach out and touch.
And for the thousandth time she wondered what the hell she was doing on this so-called date with Peter. Any chemistry that might have once been there with him had been snuffed out by the inferno that raged between her and Owen.
A sudden touch on her thigh jerks her out of her thoughts of Owen, tied up and waiting for her in the vault, and back to the dimly lit theater room in the back of the house.
“Peter, what are you–.”
“Hey, relax. I’m just having a little fun.” He leans in then, his breath hot and disgusting on her face as he forces his mouth onto hers. Lucy feels a jolt of panic but pushes it away. This is Peter for Christ’s sake. She’ll just explain that she’s not interested and ask him to leave.
Lucy pushes against his shoulder, enough to let him know that his attention is not wanted but it doesn’t stop him or slow him down at all.
“Peter, get off of me. You need to leave, now!” She said when she could finally get a little breathing room.
“Come on, you little slut. I know you want this.” He’s body is back against hers despite how much she tries to push him away and that kernel of panic explodes into full-blown terror.
“No, Peter. Stop!” Lucy tries to scream. Tries to get away but for the first time she realizes how much bigger he is than her.
“No, you stop Lucy,” He’s saying, but his voice is harsh and cruel and nothing like the person she thought he was, “Besides, a fat ass like you, this is probably the only action you’ll ever see. So you’ll take it, and thank me after.”
His hands are tugging at her blouse and the sound of ripping fabric has her heart going into over drive. Her pulse is racing, nothing but a loud white noise in her ears. Her vision narrowed, everything going dark around the edges and she knew she was about to pass out, and she also knew that that was the worst thing that could happen.
“No. Stop. Please.” She pleaded one more time as her world darkened even further. Then suddenly the weight was gone from on top of her, as was the clawing hands and fetid breath. Lucy just had time to see the dark furred face of a gorilla snarling at Peter as the animal tossed him across the room like a piece of worthless garbage and then everything went black.
Lucy came to slowly, confused and disoriented but knowing somehow, instinctively, that she was safe. She looked around the room as she slowly pushed herself up from the slump she had collapsed in when she’d lost consciousness. Okay. She was still in the theater room. And that no-good, terrible, awful, would-be rapist Peter was nowhere in sight. Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. But what the hell had happened? Not that she wasn’t grateful, eternally so, but she couldn’t seem to make the images in her head make sense.
Peter, crushing her underneath his body, his hands tearing at her clothes as terror threatened to freeze her blood to ice and then…that animal. A gorilla? What the hell? She put a hand to her forehead trying to clear the haze. It must have been a dream. Or a hallucination brought on by panic. Yes. That’s it. It has to be. But then where is Peter? What happened to him after she blacked out?
You’re being ridiculous, she scolded herself. There is no way an actual gorilla swooped in and saved you, tearing your attacker apart and rescuing you. Lucy shook her head and instantly regretted it as the pounding headache made itself known. She must have hit it when she feinted.
A sound jerks her head back up and she stifles a groan, first of pain, then of fear as the animal from her dream becomes reality. The enormous beast shifts out of the shadow of the corner, slowly walking towards her as if it can sense that she’s on the verge of hysteria. Closer and closer it walks until its face is just inches from her own.
Lucy’s heart is beating so fast she’s surprised it hasn’t just exploded from her chest. She tries to move, to run, to scream, anything, but she’s frozen in place where she’s sitting on the floor.
It stops, not moving, just standing there staring at her and she suddenly wonders why it hasn’t attacked her like it did Peter, not to mention the fact that there’s a gorilla there in Owen’s house in the first place. Not that much would surprise her of the billionaire recluse. For some reason the thought of him strikes a chord in her and she finds herself staring at the animal in front of her in a new light. It’s still waiting, patiently, for something. But what? What could it possibly want from her?
It’s then that she notices it. What’s been right in front of her face, and she missed it but as soon as the thought registers the truth of it shatters through her. It has Owen’s eyes. The animal has Owen’s glowing, golden eyes. Oh my god.
“Ow…Owen?” It took her two tries to get the words out but when she does the animal nods his head. Oh my god. This is not happening. This is crazy!
“This is insane!” She said her thoughts out loud, the only words she has to sum up the events that are transpiring. Before she can say anything else the gorilla…er, Owen takes a few steps back until it reaches the shadows again. There’s a sort of blurring in the air around him, but Lucy can just see his silhouette begin to change, shifting, until a few moments later a man steps out from where the animal just was.
“Owen!” The sight of him, standing there so robust and real is almost more than she can take and she throws herself into his arms. He resists for a bare moment before wrapping his own around her and holding her so tight she can barely breathe. But Lucy doesn’t care. It’s what she needs. There, at that moment, Owen is all that she needs.
“Owen, I don’t understand.” She starts but he hushes her.
“I know. It’s been happening all my life. A part of me. But recently it’s been harder and harder to control. I had to give up my company, and basically lock myself away here.”
“Literally,” Lucy interjects, drawing a smile from him, but then his expression darkens once more.
“I can’t let anyone know what a monster I am. What happened with Peter…?” His words trail off, but I can tell from his look what happened. And that he’s afraid. Of himself. Of her reaction. Lucy reaches towards him without hesitation.
“Owen, I lo– I could never be afraid of you. I know you would never hurt me.” Before she can say another word, his lips are on hers, driving every other thought out of her head, and she revels in the feel of him. It’s what she needs more than anything. Him. Owen. Because in her heart, she knows that she loves him and had from the very beginning.
His naked body instantly sets hers on fire, and before she can draw another breath, her own clothes are gone, thrown to the floor in a heedless pile.
“Owen, I–.”
“Please,” He grinds the words
out painfully, “If you want me to stop, I will.”
“No! That’s the last thing I want, Owen. I want you. I need you!” Before she even has the words out of her mouth, he has her lifted in his arms and pressed against the wall behind her. He wastes no time, and neither does she as she can already feel the slickness between her thighs growing. His fingers quickly test to make sure she’s ready for him, and she more than is.
Their moans echo into the night air in perfect harmony as he slides deep inside her, exactly where he needs to be, and Lucy wraps her legs around his hips, as desperate as he is. They’re not gentle as Owen thrusts into her over and over again, but gentle isn’t what either of them wants right now.
Every animal instinct is driving them higher and higher, closer and closer to that golden edge until finally, it’s just too much. With a cry of ecstasy, Lucy feels wave after wave of sensation explode through her body more intense than anything she’s ever experienced. A second later Owen follows her into bliss.
Moments pass before he finally lets her slide bonelessly down to the floor.
“Oh my god that was…that was the most amazing…” Lucy tries to get the words out but can’t.
“Hey, don’t go to sleep yet,” Owen whispers roughly against her ear, “I’m not anywhere close to finished with you.”
The early morning sunlight was just beginning to peak through the luxurious drapes of Owen’s bedroom, one that he had never used in the entire time that Lucy had lived with him when she blinked her eyes awake. Instinctively, she turned towards his side of the bed, but all she found was cold sheets.
“Owen?” Lucy mumbled sleepily as she tried to rouse her still spent and satisfied body from slumber. “Owen!” She called louder this time as she realized that he was gone not only from the bed but from the room as well.
Lucy quickly wraps the sheet around her naked body and stumbles out of the bedroom. Some sixth sense leads her to the room she had been using for the past months she’d spent there, and she stopped when she saw him. He was hunched over a bag, throwing all of her meager possessions, most of which he had bought for her, into a suitcase.
“Owen? What are you doing?” she asked, confusion and dread swirling around in her chest in an unpleasant combination. He turns to her, and she can see how distraught he is. It’s written in the lines carved into is face, and she hates that she put them there.
“I’m sorry, Lucy. But you have to go.” He said, not stopping as he continued to pack up her entire life.
“Go? I don’t understand.”
“I know you don’t, but it’s too dangerous,” Owen finally looked up at her, and the desperation in his eyes is her undoing. She rushes to his side, wanting only to ease the ache she sees in him but doesn’t know how. He pulls away from her, and it hits her like a physical blow.
“No, Lucy! This can’t continue, I never should have,” He cuts off his words abruptly but she knows what he was going to say, and that cuts just as deeply as him pulling away from her. “You just…You have to go. You have to leave before I hurt you before I–.”
“That’s not going to happen,” She tried to plead, but he wouldn’t listen, and a moment later the suitcase was packed. No scrap that she had ever even been there remained. And it broke her heart. Owen turns away, and she tries one last, desperate time.
“Please, I…I don’t have anywhere else to go. I moved to LA because I wanted to find adventure, I wanted to make my dream come true, and I have. With you. I needed a friend here, I was all alone, and I found you, the only one that I trust completely.”
“You shouldn’t, Lucy. You shouldn’t trust me. I’m sorry,” He said, but doesn’t look back, “I’ll set an apartment up for you across town. You can stay there for as long as you like. I just…I just want you to be happy.”
“But I’m happy here, Owen. With you. I’m happy with you.” Lucy pleaded, trying to get him to see, to understand. But all he could see was the monster he thought he was.
Before she can say anything else he’s already gone, nothing but a shadow where he’d just been standing, all the words she wanted to say left unspoken, bottled up inside her where they would stay forever. And just like that Owen was gone from her life, flipping it completely upside down and leaving her once more all alone and heartbroken.
“…I know. It’s finally happening, can you believe it?” The excitement in Lucy’s voice was contagious, and palpable even over the phone.
“Well, I’m proud of you honey. You know I had my doubts.”
“I know you did, mom. But I’ve got a leading role! A real chance to get my name out there and make my dreams come true.” Lucy was practically vibrating with happiness as she paced around the apartment. It was the happiest she’d been in the months since Owen had fired her and asked her to leave. She’d been saving up money and would soon be able to move into a place of her own, and she had even made a few friends from the theater she would be acting in the play at. Christian, an excellent director, and Tracy, a fellow aspiring actress, who was actually supposed to be coming over any minute.
Lucy can’t help the smile that breaks across her face. It had been a tough year, really tough, but things were finally starting to look up. She hadn’t dated anyone since Owen, and that night that she’d realized she was in love him. Because the fact was, she still loved him. She wasn’t sure when, or even if, that feeling would go away and part of her didn’t want it to. Owen was like no one she’d ever met before, or probably would again in her entire life and he had changed her, for the better she thought.
The doorbell rang, and Lucy went to go open the door thinking that her friend had arrived at last to run the lines for rehearsal. But as the door swings open it reveals the last person she would have expected. Tall and as handsome as she remembered, Owen devastated her senses even as he devastated her heart.
“Owen, what are you–.”
“Please, let me,” He said, cutting off her words as he stepped inside, “Let me go first. I need…I need to tell you.”
“Tell me what?” Lucy finally managed, breaking through her shock at seeing him. Her heart raced in her chest, every ounce of love flooding her body as she noted the dark smudges under his beautiful golden eyes and his haggard appearance, as if he hadn’t been sleeping.
“Lucy, I…I was so, so wrong to make you leave. I was scared. Terrified really, and I just didn’t know how to handle it. How to handle my feelings for you.” He paused then, as if searching for the right words.
“What feelings, Owen?” Lucy asked softly. Her gentle words seemed to be all he needed because the next instant he was standing right in front of her, his hands reaching out to lightly grasp each of her own. His eyes bored into hers, trapping her gaze with his.
“How do I put my feelings for you into words?” His whisper was rough and intense and rolled through her like a tidal wave, dragging her under. “Love seems like a timid word, like it’s not big enough, not real enough, but that’s the closest I have. Lucy, I love you, even though it’s so much more than that. I love you, and I need you,” He paused with a chuckle, “and not just to chain me up at night.”
Slowly, he lowered himself down to one knee, still not letting go of her hands, still not letting her gaze free of his.
“Lucy Harrison, you are the most beautiful, caring, kind hearted, amazing, talented person that I know. And you didn’t run away when you saw me at my worst. You tried to stay, and I was the one that was weak, that pushed you away. I’m begging you now. Don’t let me push you away again.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box but Lucy could barely make it out through the tears filling her eyes at his words.
“Please, Lucy, will you marry me?”
His question rings through the room and she can feel her shattered heart healing as she dropped to her knees beside him, throwing her arms around his neck as joy like she’d never know filled her up until she thought she might burst.
“Say it again.” She whispered.
�
�Will you marry me?” Owen repeated, a small smile tilting up the corner of his mouth
“No, the other thing.”
“I love you, Lucy Harrison.” He said, just as softly as her whisper and the tears in his eyes now matched hers.
“I love you too.” Lucy let out a teary chuckle as she pressed her trembling lips to his. “And yes, yes, of course, I’ll marry you. After all, who else will tie you up every night?”
Her words surprised a laugh out of Owen. “You promise? For the rest of my life?”
She looked up at him, all the love shining through her eyes, “I promise.”
THE END.
