All Strings Attached

by Miss Merikan

  Dan turned the main light on with a remote. “Is that why your face is dirty?”

  Anna blinked and put a hand over her mouth. She did take a shower after Gavin left. “Where?”

  Dan frowned. “Yeah, next to your lips. Maybe a guy with so much makeup isn’t such a good idea?”

  Anna rolled her eyes. “Ha-ha. I’ll just have to always have makeup wipes with me.”

  Dan ran a finger through his shaggy hair. “‘Always?’ So you’re gonna see him again?”

  “That’s the plan. He should be out of the Tube soon,” said Anna, glancing at her cell. She hated waiting for messages. What if Gavin didn’t receive her text and now thought Anna didn’t want to see him again? Maybe she should send another one? Or would that be too much?

  Dan shook his head and pulled out a Double Decker, his favorite after-midnight snack. “Give him some time. Don’t be a crazy stalker.”

  Anna blinked. “What do you mean? I just texted him once. What if he didn’t get it?”

  “I mean, don’t look him up on Facebook to check if he updated his relationship status.” Dan raised his eyebrows.

  “That’s not funny. I only did that once. And I know it was stupid.” Anna leaned back, deflated.

  “Speaking of crazy stalkers ...” Dan sat closer on the sofa with a grin. “Guess who approached me online today.”

  Anna frowned and spread her arms. She had no idea what Dan could be talking about.

  “Dollmother. She sent me an offer. She said she’d pay me a ‘handler’s fee’ if I talk you into selling Fiona.”

  “Oh, for the love of God! Will that woman ever stop? She has three other Katyushas. Can’t I have one?” Anna rolled her eyes.

  “Don’t worry though. I wouldn’t sell her off.” Dan winked at her. That was all the reassurance Anna needed. She leaned over and gave Dan a hug.

  “I have no idea what I’d do without you.”

  “You’d be lost and out of a cool flat in London.” Dan hugged her back, his big soft body like a warm blanket. Anna was blessed to have found such a good friend on the Internet.

  She had a warm cup of cocoa while Dan ate his supper. They talked about their day, and the new line of dolls Dan was interested in, but eventually it was time to go to bed. Being left to her own thoughts, Anna looked at her phone once more as she walked down the corridor. It was a disappointment not to see any new messages, so she stumbled straight into bed and looked at the plaster decoration around the base of the lamp. Should she, or shouldn’t she? That was the question.

  What if Gavin really didn’t get her message and now thought Anna was in for a one-time fling? Anna looked to the side, into the white eyes of Mariku. The doll was blind but had ways to look into the future. Maybe she would know what was in store for Anna? Or she would, if she weren’t a piece of resin. There, Anna wasn’t all that crazy. She knew the dolls weren’t really alive anywhere but in her fantasies.

  Anna rolled to her stomach and typed, ‘How about dinner? I know a great Japanese café close to Brick Lane :)’ She hit send without thinking twice and threw the phone to the other side of the bed. She wouldn’t have a moment of peace before she got her answer.

  She closed her eyes, but sleep just wouldn’t come. The clock tapped subsequent seconds and rang every half an hour, but she was still as awake as the moment she went to bed. Her eyes shot open, and she stared at the lamp again, spreading her arms to the sides. It had been so hot. She’d gladly have another go at it if Gavin weren’t in a hurry. Such a good listener, too. But did he like her? It looked like it. Guys who were considerate and nice while already in bed had to have good intentions, right?

  A sweet tingle tickled her clit as she squeezed her thighs, imagining Gavin’s hand sneaking under her pajama shorts and rubbing against her pussy, which was already filling with heat. He could have done her from behind the second time, and it would have been easier for him because of the stump, too. The lack of one hand was a bit awkward at times, but Gavin managed to move around very well without it, and as bad as that was, the first time she saw it, it reminded her of a modification she saw on a friend’s doll.

  Anna took a deep breath, imagining Gavin pushing her legs apart, his hair tickling the sensitive inner side of her thighs as he went down on her.

  Chapter 4

  Gavin was finishing a cigarette in front of the Mad Teacup, where he’d been working part-time for a few months now. He only took the job because his freelance styling dried up after the accident, but it was now looking like he’d be stuck here for a while. He still had insurance money, but the last thing he needed was to sit on his ass alone all day and sulk. The Mad Teacup was a cute place, even if being the ‘one-armed Mad Hatter waiter’ wasn’t his idea of fun. But if he were honest with himself, he was lucky to even have this job and only got it thanks to Andrea. She had talked the café owner into employing Gavin, so that the place could get some kind of tax cut for employing a disabled person. He hated to think of himself that way. Okay, so he didn’t have an arm, but he was perfectly capable, thank you very much.

  He dropped the cigarette to the pavement and went into the brightly colored interior with psychedelic patterns and swirls drawn all over the walls. Walking down the black-and-white floor, he passed the owner’s pride and joy—a sculpture of the opium-smoking caterpillar—and went straight for the counter.

  Andrea smiled at him from behind the coffee machine. “You’re early today.”

  “Yeah, my roommate’s decided to have very loud sex. Again. I thought I’d rather be here than listen to his girlfriend’s howling.” Gavin shook his head. “Can you make me coffee before I have to don the top hat of doom?”

  “Oh, so it was a celibate date?” guessed Andrea, adjusting her blonde wig.

  “What?” Gavin frowned and focused more attention on her. She was wearing her pink Japanese Lolita-style dress today, all frills, petticoats, and cookie print. She even had little cookie-shaped earrings and a matching necklace. In contrast to Gavin, she felt right at home in an Alice in Wonderland themed café. She’d probably do well in one of those anime cafés in Tokyo. Only a few piercings in her lips and nose gave away that she had a less sweet side as well. It was a fun fashion trend, to make yourself look like an old school porcelain doll, and while it didn’t look that amazing on just anyone, Andrea was rocking it.

  “Your date with Anna. You were supposed to go out with her on Friday.” Andrea pursed her plump lips and started preparing the espresso. “I was kinda hoping you’d let me know how it went.”

  “It was ...” Gavin shook his head at the memory. “You didn’t tell me she was a doll freak.”

  Andrea’s large, dark eyes widened. “What did you say? Did you just call my ex a ‘freak?’”

  “Okay, maybe I’m not one to speak, but I’m a normal freak. She’s just weird.” Gavin sat in red plush armchair by the counter.

  Andrea frowned, glancing at a group of girls chatting under the portrait of Alice and Hatter, but then turned her attention back to Gavin. “What do you mean? She’s lovely.”

  “She only talks about her dolls and shit. She’s a Japanophile as well.” Gavin tapped his fingers against the table.

  “And I told you that. You could have changed the topic, you know,” said Andrea, finishing his coffee off by adding hot water to the espresso. “Black as your soul,” she said as she placed the asymmetrical cup in front of Gavin.

  He smirked at the comment and looked into the dark liquid. “It wasn’t easy to change the topic. She just doesn’t stop. It’s a bit overwhelming.”

  Andrea leaned against the counter. “Doesn’t sound like her.”

  “Maybe she’s different around girls.” He looked at the little jingly pink bracelets on Andrea’s wrists. It made him fantasize about a makeup style to go with them. All pink and glittery. He’d have to match the shade with Andrea’s dark skin, make it more intense because she could pull that off without looking tacky. Andrea frequently complained about other people i
n her online community frowning upon dark-skinned Lolitas, but he thought she was as lovely as any other girl in a cute outfit. He’d been all over her when they first met. Then again, it was hard to know how much of what Andrea told him was true. If he were to believe her, half of the Lolita fashion community were ‘snobs, bitches, and homophobes.’

  “I don’t think she’d be talking about dolls to get laid.” Andrea shook her head, and then frowned. “Did you get to speak at all?”

  “I tried ... But I could hardly get a word in. You didn’t tell me she was this obsessed,” Gavin grumbled.

  “I did.” As she leaned over to him, Andrea pulled on the sides of her skirt, to prevent the garment from displaying her butt, no doubt. Not that it would show with those silly pantaloons she always wore under her dresses. “Maybe you didn’t register it after you heard she’s got pink hair and big boobs.”

  Gavin took a sip of coffee to hide his embarrassment. There was some truth in that. “It did have its appeal.”

  Andrea scowled. “You’re talking about it as if it was a done deal. Give her a chance. It’s not like you have a queue of prospective lovers lined up.”

  “Rub it in. It was nice. Good jumpstart. Anyway, if she’s so lovely, why did you two break up?”

  Andrea opened her mouth and took a deep gulp of air. “Our taste in sex didn’t match up. Anyway—”

  Gavin’s eyes went wide, and he almost spit out his coffee. “What? What do you mean? Is there something else wrong with her that you didn’t tell me about? Come on, Andrea!”

  She scowled and glanced at the patrons, lowering her voice. “There’s nothing wrong with her. It’s just that some people like stuff others don’t.”

  “You’re not gonna tell me, are you?” Gavin was left to his own imagination, which was going in all sorts of stupid directions.

  Andrea gave him a dark look. “I bet she loved being your ‘jumpstart,’” she uttered before going off to their one busy table.

  Gavin finished his coffee, an unpleasant cramp clenching his stomach. Okay, that did sound shitty. He looked at his phone. There was one message for each of the last three days. Sex with Anna had been amazing. Maybe they could work something out?

  The latest message read: ‘You inspired my newest doll makeup. The owner loves it! Btw, what about Sat?’ Persistent little bunny.

  Gavin took a deep breath. ‘I’m free later tonight. Can I come round?’ he wrote, not to sound too eager. No hearts, no kisses, no smiley faces. This would do.

  He didn’t even manage to drink half of his coffee when he received an enthusiastic reply with emoticons he didn’t know existed.

  He waited for Andrea to come back. “Okay, I’m seeing her tonight. Maybe we could be friends with benefits.”

  She shook her head in passing. “Just make sure she knows this.”

  Gavin finished his coffee. “I will.”

  Chapter 5

  Anna managed to change the outfits of all her dolls to a more wintery theme and was now deliberating whether she should buy more coats and boots, since there weren’t enough and a big scarf hardly worked against a blizzard. She was getting so nervous she kept walking over to the computer only to get back to pacing. Dan advised her earlier to just think of the coatless dolls as spending winter in California, but Anna needed something to focus on.

  “Anna ... I think it’s time to admit to yourself that he’s not coming. It’s two in the morning.” Dan sighed and looked up at Anna from the computer. “It snowed. We could have a photo shoot outside. How about that?”

  “I know, but I don’t want to go out today,” complained Anna, focused on the panels beneath her feet. The patterns of the wood made up the strangest shapes. When she looked long enough at one of them, she discovered a remarkable resemblance to one of Volks’s classic head molds. It was oddly fitting, since it was also her first doll ever, bought during a trip to Japan. Back then, she didn’t even understand yet what a remarkable buy that was. It sold out in a few days, and she was the one to get it by sheer luck.

  But before she could start thinking about that new Volks doll she wanted to buy, there was a short ring at the door, followed by a longer one.

  “You’ve got to be shitting me ...” Dan muttered from his place on the sofa.

  “He’s here!” Anna rushed for the door and opened it without looking through the peephole. Her breath stopped when she looked at the tall shadow in front of her.

  Gavin was as gorgeous as she remembered. A tall black mohawk elongated his silhouette even more than his denim-clad legs. With his skin so pale, and his clothes a mix of black and silver, it was as if he came out of a punk-rock noir movie. The only splash of color present on him was one blue eye. The other was covered by a completely black lens that obscured the white of the eye as well. He was wearing a leather vest attached with a leather strap going across his body.

  “Hi,” Gavin said in that low rasp and threw the butt of his cigarette into the snow.

  Anna was at a loss for words, so she just moved away to let her guest in. Her lungs were so tight she could hardly breathe. Gavin looked so amazing.

  He went right in, stomping snow all over the tiles. “I brought some booze, if you want.” He pulled out a bottle of wine from his studded shoulder bag.

  Before Anna could answer, Dan started rushing down the steps toward the entrance. He and Gavin couldn’t look any less alike, with Dan wearing a T-shirt with an anime character and grey sweatpants.

  “Hi, I’m Dan. I’ve heard loads about you,” he said and outstretched a hand to Gavin, but after an awkward moment of trying to touch Gavin’s single hand, in which he was holding a bottle of wine, Dan put his hand in his pocket.

  “Let me take that,” proposed Anna, finding her voice again. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from Gavin’s slim silhouette and amazing face. It was like a marble sculpture with sharp cheekbones and a straight, shapely nose.

  “So ...” Gavin gave Anna the bottle and looked back to Dan, who backed away slightly and was now standing halfway up the stairs. “Is this like ... a party?” He frowned.

  Anna hugged the bottle. “What party?”

  “Dan here? He’s ... I mean ...” It was hard to focus on the meaning behind Gavin’s words with the delicate black chain attached to his lip piercing moving with every word.

  “He’s my roommate. It’s just the two of us.” Anna closed the door behind Gavin and smiled. She couldn’t wait to be alone with him.

  Dan cleared his throat and gestured up, to the living area. “But you can stay in the living room, if you want. I could order pizza, and we could all have a drink.”

  Gavin glanced at Anna, the power of his gaze taking her breath away yet again. “Nah, I’m good.”

  Anna squeezed Gavin’s slim, bony fingers. They were so cold she wanted to pull them close to her mouth and warm them up with her breath. “If you’re hungry, I have some fresh sushi and a salad.”

  “Yeah, you look like you need a Big Mac or two.” Dan laughed, but Gavin’s face remained frozen.

  “No thanks,” he said, and Anna’s heart melted when the bony fingers gently squeezed hers.

  “You’re so cold.” Anna pulled him in, glancing at the platform boots on Gavin’s feet. “You sure you don’t want tea?”

  Dan took a deep breath. “So, yeah, I’ll leave you guys to it,” he muttered and walked back into the living room.

  “I’d like a coffee,” Gavin said and stroked Anna’s back.

  Anna swallowed and looked back to make sure Dan was gone. The sharp scent of cold was making way for a fresh yet masculine aroma that seemed to envelop her in a cocoon of arousal. She stepped closer and got to her toes, but she still had to pull Gavin down to reach his lips. They were like the softest doll wigs, and she didn’t care if his foundation got her dirty.

  “Hi,” Gavin whispered into the kiss with a little smile, his mismatched eyes watching Anna’s every move.

  “What kind of coffee would you like?” asked Anna, s
till holding onto Gavin’s hand as they walked up the stairs to the place where she and Dan kept all their coats and shoes. “You can pull off your boots and leave the jacket here while I make it.”

  “That sounds good. Just black for me.” Gavin rubbed Anna’s hand with his thumb before letting go.

  She stared at him before realizing she had things to do and marched off, straight to the kitchen, clinging onto the bottle so it wouldn’t fall to the floor. Gavin was even hotter than she remembered.

  Dan seemed to be waiting for his chance and caught up to her. “Are you sure it’s fine that he comes at this hour?” he whispered.

  Anna frowned, starting the coffee machine. “Why?”

  “He doesn’t even text back for days and now comes over in the middle of the night. That’s not on,” hissed Dan, his face getting a red tint.

  “Oh, come on, he must have been busy,” whispered Anna, reaching for a mug and two wine glasses.

  “Doing what? You don’t even know. He looks like he’s on drugs.” Dan crossed his arms on his chest.

  Anna raised her eyebrows. “Even you don’t believe that. Come on, I like him. Be nice.”

  “Okay, okay, just don’t let him be a dick to you.” Dan took a deep breath and got himself a pizza out of the freezer.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Anna pulled out the corkscrew and squeezed it in her hand.

  “Make sure he’s not five hours late next time.”

  “He never said when he’d come.” Anna stopped talking when Gavin’s tall, spidery silhouette emerged from the entrance hall. With the vest and scarf off, Anna could see his simple black shirt with a deep V-neck, with one sleeve neatly folded up on one side.

  Dan spared him a glance but then just turned on the oven.

  “Got kinda lonely.” Gavin laughed, but his gaze strayed to the doll photos pinned to the fridge.

  Anna put the coffee, wine, two glasses, and the corkscrew on a tray and walked back to him, careful not to stumble and embarrass herself. “I imagine you prefer my company to that of the coats.”