Today, as I started out I noticed that it was getting more and more chilly each morning. It was mid-September and I was hoping that the cold weather would hold off for a while. I didn’t want to give this up. My meditation time was important to me. When I got to my spot, I climbed up on my rock and as usual began to listen to the familiar sounds of nature all around me. The soothing lapping of the water never failed to quiet my mind, until today.
I was getting restless. Two months of training had changed me both inside and out. I gained almost fifteen pounds of muscle and for the first time in my life had some sweet curves. I was strong. Physically strong. I couldn’t wait until I could show off my new body to Janel. I only talked to her once since coming to Wolf Island.
Janel was still in the Bahamas hanging out on Cat Island. With a lot of The Evolved on the Island, she was busy studying their unique characteristics and learning all that she could. She was at least doing something. I know my training is important but the thought of several more months of this was making me crazy.
I hadn’t been off of this island since Mark and I got here. Mark at least, made several trips. He took our rented boat back and traveled to the mainland for supplies twice. I wanted to go along but both times was told by Cheve and Onatah that it was too dangerous. As I made my way back to the village, I decided that I was going to take the evening off and go to the mainland tonight for dinner. There was always going to be danger. That didn’t mean that I had to stop living, and I’ll be damned if they were going to stop me.
I found Cheve waiting for me in front of my cabin. He was early. Since Cheve was always punctual, I had to ask him. “Am I being punished for something?’
“No. Should you be though?” he asked with a grin.
“No, but you’re fifteen minutes early, which is totally unheard of in Cheve time.”
Over the last few months we’d fallen into a rather strange relationship. More than friends due to our unorthodox training techniques, but not romantically involved either. Besides Janel, he was the closest person to me in the whole world. We spent many hours together and it was natural that we began to talk about our lives.
I told him all about Janel, Brian my ex-husband and even about Roberto and Alex. He told me about his life back in Arizona, about his Dad who raised him all alone because his Mom died during childbirth. We became close in a very unique way. I wish that I could say the same for my natural Mother. Onatah and I got along well enough, but we still hadn’t bonded.
It wasn’t for a lack of her trying.
No, the problem was definitely me. To me, my Mom was Magnolia Sherman, and though she’s been gone these past four months, she was still my Mom. I dragged my thoughts back to Cheve and why he was early.
“Well, I came early to talk to you about your training today. I was going to give you the day off, but it looks like you’re up and raring to go, and I don’t want to disappoint you.”
“You ass! You’ve known all along about my early morning meditations haven’t you?”
“Yeah. This is a small Island, and besides, nothing much gets by Onatah anyway.”
“Of course not,” I said feeling put out. I sighed. Oh well, I didn’t really care. I had the day off and I planned on making the best of it, but already Cheve was bursting my bubble.
“Your day off comes with very specific restrictions” he warned me.
“What restrictions?” I asked suspiciously.
“You may go to the mainland for a day of shopping. Mark will go with you. I will join you for dinner, then we will come straight back.”
Honestly, that didn’t seem too bad and besides, maybe our plans would change, I thought to myself as I went to get ready.
A few hours later, Mark and I were on a small motor boat making our way to the mainland. Since Mark still was not a chatterbox the ride was mostly in silence. It felt wonderful to be going somewhere.
When we got to the mainland the first thing I wanted to do was some shopping. Not that I needed many clothes for my day in and day out training regimen, but I was looking for something special to wear to dinner tonight. It had been so long since I dressed up like a woman that there was no way that Cheve was taking me to a burger joint tonight. I intended to have a little fun for the first time in ages.
As Mark and I walked along the streets of Alexandria Bay looking into shop windows, my finely tuned intuition told me we were being watched. Not wanting to alarm Mark, I took my time staring into the windows checking out the reflections of the people around me. As we strolled down the street looking in shops I tried to get a fix on who was watching us.
“Are you just going to look in windows all day or are you actually going to buy something?” Mark complained.
Not wanting to get anyone worked up I said without bothering to look at the store “Yeah. I was just looking for the right shop and this is it.”
Mark raised his eyebrows but said nothing. I took a quick glance up and down the street, but the feeling of being watched was gone. I walked into the store and for the first time noticed the merchandise was more for going clubbing than dining. I almost turned to leave but then saw the slight smirk on Mark’s face and thought what the hell.
A store clerk walked over and said, “Welcome to Club Diva. My name is Christina. Are you looking for something in particular?”
“Yes. I’m looking for a dress, a little black dress maybe. Something I could wear to a nice dinner?” I asked hopefully.
Christina looked thoughtful for a minute then said, “We do have a few black dresses that are a bit more conservative. Follow me and I’ll show them to you.”
I turned to Mark and said, “Why don’t you go and scout out a place where we can eat lunch and be back in an hour.”
When he looked like he wanted to protest I gave him a hard look. “I think I can manage an hour of trying on dresses by myself. Besides I wasn’t asking you, I was telling you.”
With that I turned and dismissed him. If there was one thing I learned in the last few months it was when to assert myself. Mark shrugged and left, and I went to try on dresses. After trying on three dresses, I was ready to give up and find a decent store. All three so far had made me look like a streetwalker. One had a plunging neckline so low that Christina said she would bring me tape that would hopefully help keep my breasts covered. Christina returned carrying the tape and another dress. She handed me the tape and I shook my head no letting her know I wasn’t interested.
“Maybe you’ll like this one. It looks like it will cover more,” she said, handing me the dress.
I sighed, but took the dress wondering why I was bothering. After taking off the breast baring, streetwalker dress, I slid this newest insult over my head. I looked in the mirror. Hmm….it was short, very short by my standards, but it made my now shapely legs look great. The v-neck was low but I would not require tape to keep my breasts covered. I turned to get a better look at the back. “Wow,” I couldn’t help saying out loud. The dress molded around my nicely rounded butt. I didn’t remember having a rear like this before.
It must be the workouts that I’m doing. I had put on a lot of muscle. Christina returned and when she saw me exclaimed “Wow! That dress looks amazing on you. I wish I had some booty like you do. We have the perfect shoes to go with that dress. Hold on I’ll be right back.”
I couldn’t believe that someone actually envied one of my body parts. I felt...sexy. When Christina returned with a pair of silver high heeled sandals, I didn’t even look at the price. All I said was, “I’ll take them.” Before leaving this morning, Onatah gave me a credit card and told me to have fun. I tried to protest, but she told me I had some inheritance coming to me from my adoptive “parents”, so I took the credit card. After paying I noticed the hour was almost up and spotted Mark outside the shop waiting.
“I hope you didn’t have to wait long,” I said to him.
“No.” Eyeing my bag he said skeptically, “You found a dress in that shop?”
“As a
matter of fact, I did. It’s a very lovely dress too. Wait until you see it. You are joining us for dinner tonight aren’t you?”
Mark looked uneasy. “Uh, no. I have a date.”
I was shocked. “With whom?”
“Sarah.”
“Sarah? Isn’t she a little young for you?”
“No. She is twenty three, and we’ve been seeing each other for a few weeks now.”
I don’t know why I was so shocked. I’ve talked to Sarah several times and knew that she was a nice girl. I liked her. It was just weird I guess, knowing not that long ago Mark had confessed feelings for me and now he had a girlfriend.
Men…they were all alike. When was I going to get it through my head that to men, women were pretty much interchangeable? Any woman would do to warm their bed. An image of Roberto and Annika flickered across my mind before a bright flash of anger burnt through my veins. I quickly got it under control and said, “Well, I’m glad for you both. Sarah is a sweet girl.”
“Yes she is. She’s coming over to the mainland with Cheve later, and we’re going to have a real first date tonight.”
I was about to invite them to have dinner with Cheve and I before I realized that they would probably want to be alone.
“That’s great Mark.” And I did mean it. Mark was a friend and I wanted him happy. I was the one who was not destined to be happy.
We ate lunch at a nice little Italian restaurant. After that we took a walk around the town. Alexandria Bay was a beautiful seaside village. When I saw a sign advertising a tour of the famous Boldt castle, I made Mark purchase tickets. The rest of the day was spent touring the unique castle. In 1900 Millionaire George Boldt began construction of the 120 room mansion as a gift to his very much loved wife, Louise. In 1904 Boldt ordered all construction stopped when his wife passed away. I got teary eyed when the guide informed us that the castle is now host to hundreds of weddings annually. I couldn’t help but think of how fitting it was for love to be the legacy left behind from so great a passion.
It was getting close to dusk when Mark said it was time to meet Sarah and Cheve down at the dock. When we got there, I was pleased to see that they brought a bigger boat that had a small cabin. I would at least be able to change into my dress in privacy.
When we boarded Sarah came out of the cabin looking pretty in a blue dress with a black floral pattern around the scalloped edge. She quickly went over and hugged Mark who seemed embarrassed at the gesture with me standing there. Sarah saw the bags in my hands and exclaimed, “Oh did you buy a pretty dress for tonight? I’ll help you get ready. Cheve went to make sure he got reservations at a nice restaurant for the two of you.”
“That would be great Sarah. Thank you. Maybe you can help me with my hair. It’s always such a mess.”
“Your hair is beautiful. I wish mine would curl like yours does.”
We went below and it was really nice to have a few minutes of girl time. Though, it did make me miss Janel. After washing up, I slipped the dress over my head. I realized that for it to hang right I wouldn’t be able to wear anything underneath. While Sarah was turned the other way I quickly slid my underwear off. I tugged the dress down as far as it would go and Sarah turned and exclaimed, “Holy crap! That is some dress.”
I was deeply regretting my rebel decision to buy the dress. “Is it that bad?” I asked Sarah.
“No, it’s just so sexy. If you don’t mind me asking are you trying to get Cheve to notice you, you know, in a romantic way?”
“No!” I quickly said. “It’s just that I’ve never had a body that could pull something like this off, and when I tried it on it was so…so…exhilarating to feel powerful and sexy.”
“Well, you do look sexy. I hope that Cheve will be able to keep all of the men off of you.”
I couldn’t help but smile, “That has never been a problem for me, and I don’t think Cheve will have anything to worry about.”
We finished getting ready and Sarah even managed to make my hair look attractive. She swept it up on top of my head with a few strands curling around my neck.
Just then Cheve called down, “Are you guys ready yet? I made reservations for a half hour from now.”
I winked at Sarah. “Guys? Let’s go show them how good the “guys” are looking.”
She laughed and we climbed up the few steps into the cool evening air. The laughter died on my lips when I saw Cheve dressed in black dress trousers that hugged his muscular thighs and a black dress shirt that was open a few buttons. His black hair which was usually tousled was combed back. He looked so good that I forgot to breathe for a minute. I looked at his face and for one second I saw pure lust in his eyes, and then he ruined it by saying, “Go put some underwear on Sensay.”
Chapter 12
I was getting seriously pissed off. Mark, Cheve and Sarah were all staring at me. It was my business and no one else’s if I wore underwear or not.
“Are we going to dinner or not? And if you say no, I’m still going.” I started to move toward the steps. Cheve grabbed my arm. I glared at him and he let go.
He sighed, “Okay, we’re going to dinner but then we’re heading back to the island.” He turned towards Mark, “You and Sarah can take this boat. We’ll take the motor boat since we’ll be returning early.”
That’s what you think mister, I thought to myself though I just smiled at everyone. Cheve took hold of my arm “We can walk to the restaurant; it’s just a few blocks from here.”
When I didn’t answer him he stopped walking and turned to face me. “It’s not that I don’t like the way you look, Orenda. You look really hot. I just don’t want you drawing attention to yourself. It’s a matter of safety.”
“Cheve, we can take care of ourselves. It’ll be fine.”
“You really don’t know do you?”
“Know what?”
He began walking again but said, “How incredibly beautiful you are.”
My earlier anger subsided.
The restaurant was a little inn that specialized in
seafood. I actually began to relax. “This place is perfect, Cheve.”
“Thanks, I heard it has the best food in town.”
Cheve ordered a bottle of wine and we sat chatting about some of our favorite foods. It was nice to enjoy dinner with a friend. It had been too long since I had some normalcy in my life.
We were just finishing with our desserts when I had the feeling of being watched again. Not wanting to tip off Cheve in anyway, I glanced at him to see if he had picked up on anything.
Cheve was eating his cheesecake and didn’t seem to be alarmed about anything. I nonchalantly glanced around but didn’t see anything unusual. As quickly as the feeling came it was gone. Maybe my training made me paranoid. I wasn’t about to let it spoil my one night of fun. As we were leaving, I decided to at least give it a shot to see if Cheve would let me stay out for a while longer.
“Cheve? Can we please stay on the mainland for a little longer? It’s been ages since I’ve done this, and I just don’t want to go back yet.”
I was stunned when he grabbed my hand and raised it to his lips, kissed it and said, “Yes we can, but only if you let me take you somewhere where I can dance with you.”
My face must have registered my shock because he laughed and said, “Orenda, I know our relationship is anything but orthodox, but tonight I’m not with a Sensay. I’m with a beautiful woman who has been driving me to distraction.”
He pulled me against him and I felt the bulge in his pants. “I’m a man Orenda…at least for tonight. I know we can’t act upon our desires, but let’s have a little fun anyway.”
Still too shocked to say anything I just nodded my head in agreement. We walked a few blocks until we came to a club. It was simply called Tango’s. I was never one for going to clubs but for some reason the thumping of the music was making me excited.
We went in and the place was really hopping. Cheve leaned over and said into my ear, “Stay here. I’
ll go get us some drinks.”
I nodded at him hoping that he didn’t notice how his whispering in my ear gave me shivers. Two months of training down the tubes, I couldn’t help but think with disgust. As soon as he left, I had the feeling of being watched again. In this crowd there was no way to pinpoint anything.
“Hey, do you want to dance?”
I turned towards the owner of the voice to find a rather attractive guy. He grinned at me with a lopsided smile, “My name is Jason, do you want to dance?”
“No, she doesn’t want to dance. The lady is with me,” Cheve growled at the poor young guy. Jason took one look at Cheve and his bulging muscles and threw up his hands in defeat and left.
“Now how do you know that I didn’t want to dance with him?” I asked Cheve.
He leaned close to my ear and said, “Because that young man would never know how to handle a Sensay.” He then proceeded to run the tip of his tongue up my neck to my ear. I forgot how to breathe. Taking my hand he began to walk me out on to the dance floor.
“I’m not a very good dancer.” I warned him.
“That’s okay. I’ll teach you.”
When we got to the dance floor, Cheve pulled me into his arms and nudged my legs apart with his muscular thigh. He slid me up on his leg and pulled me in closer. “Let the music flow into you. You’re a Sensay; you were born to feel the music.”
I opened my mind to the beat of the music. I felt it permeate my every nerve ending. I closed my eyes and swayed against Cheve. I felt primitive….one with the earth and nature. I became aware of Cheve’s hard on pressing against my thigh.
Images of the two of us mating on a bed of soft grass came to my mind. He was pumping into me fast and hard. I was clawing at his back and raising my hips to meet his thrusts.
I opened my eyes and saw Cheve staring at me intensely as if he were having the same fantasy. My breathing became labored when his head lowered to mine. His kiss was hot, his tongue pushing into my mouth. His mouth was moving over mine slanting this way and that way. All the while his smooth tongue kept dancing with mine.
Jude Stephens Page 8
