Wild Fire

by Heather Glidewell

CHAPTER NINE

  Mona

  Fire was everywhere around me. The battle was raging, the allies versus the Queens Army. The dead lay in heaps at our feet the blood of friends mixed with the blood of foes. I was standing in the middle of it my hands grasped around the hilt of my broadsword swinging violently. One falls than another. I see her, Miranda, ahead of me and I charge for her. The hatred and resentment flooding through my body, I swing once and she dodges, I swing again I cut clean through her shoulder. I watch as her arm hits the ground with a thud.

  I can hear Wesley calling for me but I cannot see him. However, my focus is on the red head bitch that took him from me. I wield my broadsword behind my head and the picture fades to nothing.

  The phone was ringing, dragging me unwillingly from the dream that I was enjoying. I opened my eyes and looked about, Adam still asleep on his back breathing softly his eyes moving with REM sleep. I haul myself up and slide off the bed mumbling to myself as I reached for the phone.

  “Hello.” I said my voice still heavy with sleep.

  “Good morning sunshine!” Mona’s voice was perky on the other end of the phone. “Did I wake you?”

  “Yeah, it’s ok though.” I rubbed my eyes with my free hand and waddled to the couch to take a seat.

  “I tried to let you sleep. I figured you would be up by ten.” She laughed. “Busy night huh?” I knew what she was hinting at. I didn’t have to heart to tell her she was wrong.

  “Yeah. It’s ok though I needed to get up.” I sighed and looked out the patio door at the Dallas scene.

  “Well I’m about to get dressed and come get you. I got us a hair appointment with my stylist at noon. Figured we could grab a bite to eat at the bistro then head out to shop.” She was as bad as Nadine. She had a damned itinerary for the day.

  “Yeah. That sounds good.” I owed a lot to Mona. She had no idea how important she was to this whole trip so if it meant that I needed to be her Barbie doll for a day or two then that is just what I had to do.

  “Alright, do you have something nice to wear?” Now she was pushing it. I had my mom’s white dress that I figured would work.

  “Yeah.” I yawned.

  “Alright get through the shower, get dressed, and I will be there in an hour.” She laughed and I felt a tingle on my flesh.

  “Yeah, I’m on it.” I looked towards the bedroom door where Adam was propped against the doorframe. I gave him a smile and rolled my eyes at the phone.

  “Alright honey see you soon.” Mona said sweetly.

  “See you soon.” I said pulling the phone away from my ear and hitting the end button.

  “Mona?” Adam asked giving me a huge smile.

  “Yeah.” I groaned. “I wasn’t ready to get up yet.”

  “I wasn’t either. I was quite comfortable.” He stretched and I watched as his muscles flexed then relaxed. I was never big on the bodies of the male species but his was exquisite.

  “So what are you going to do while I’m getting perdified by my step-mother?” I asked quietly as he sauntered over and stood right in front of me where I had to look up at him.

  “I was going to call Rose.” CRAP! There was that tinge of jealousy rearing its ugly head again. I had to get used to this, we didn’t know how long he was going to have to pretend to be into her.

  “Yeah, that might be a good idea.” I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my forehead on his stomach. If someone was to walk in right about now they would totally have the wrong idea of what was going on.

  “Figured I could take her to lunch, get to know her a little more. Plus I have to get with her anyway tonight to see what she has come up with along the lines of the tattoo.” He laced his fingers in my hair rubbing my scalp.

  “Yeah.” I tried not to sound disappointed. Casually dating Dawn, you aren’t exclusive.

  “Don’t sound so upset.” He sighed pulling my hair back so that I had to look up at him again. His face was sad, his eyes were still sparkling but there was pain behind them. I should have known that this would be just as hard on him.

  “Sorry. I was just hoping that the first full day here we wouldn’t have to do anything.” I whined faking a sob.

  “Yeah well duties call. We knew this wasn’t a vacation.” He pulled his hands from my hair and grabbed me under the armpits puling me to a standing position so he could wrap his arms around me.

  “Promise me you won’t do anything stupid.” I said burying my face in his chest.

  “I have gone eighteen years without doing anything stupid. It’s going to take more than one cute red head to make me leave my morals behind.” He laughed. So he did think she was cute.

  “What about a cute dark haired girl?” I asked half joking.

  “She has a better chance but I’m pretty tight with my morals.” He kissed the top of my head. “You better get through the bath. Don’t forget you can’t get your tattoo wet.”

  “Yeah I know want to take the gauze off and look at it?” I asked turning my back to him.

  “Sure I can do that for you.” He reached out and pulled the tape and gauze from my back. I heard a hmmm from behind me and I shivered. What did that mean? “It’s already healed up, looks like the ink is set already too. Still wouldn’t get it wet though just in case. Does it itch any? Tender?” He ran his finger down my spine and I shuddered. For a good boy he was such a tease.

  “No, it doesn’t it feels fine actually.” I turned around. There wasn’t even a second to breathe before his lips were on me. It was a good five minutes before he let me get air. “What was that for?”

  “I’m not going to see you all day.” He groaned.

  “True, but it’s not like you are going to be alone.” I said pinching him on the arm. He flinched and pinched me back.

  “Neither are you but we don’t know when we are going to see each other today it might not be till tonight.” He sighed and started pushing me towards the bathroom. “Take a bath woman!”

  “Fine!” I yelled playfully and walked into the bathroom. A huge garden tub! My heart melted. I turned on the hot water and started filling the tub. Pulling my clothes off I dipped one toe into the water and sighed with happiness. I pulled my hair up on top of my head and tied it in place. I was going to have to wash that last. The water felt amazing and I basked in the glory of the hotness.

  I don’t know how long I sat in the tub but at some point I heard a knock on the door and Adam’s voice rang in clearly.

  “Dawn. You almost done? Mona just called from the limo said they will be here in like twenty minutes.” I moaned, this meant I had to leave the sanctuary of the tub.

  “Yeah give me just a minute.” I said but he didn’t hear me instead the door opened slowly and Adam was staring at me wide eyed.

  “Holy shit. I am so sorry Dawn I thought you said come here a minute.” He didn’t rush in shutting the door his eyes just kept flinching. I laughed and pointed for him to get out of the bathroom. He shut the door and I heard him mumbling to himself.

  I washed my hair quickly and wrapped it in a towel before it had a chance to hit the tattoo. I wrapped another towel around my body and walked into the bedroom. Adam was laying on the bed, he couldn’t move fast enough to get up when he saw me though. I gave him a wink as he sauntered out the door looking over his shoulder three times.

  Grabbing the white dress from my bag I laid it on the bed while I put on my under garment’s. Once I had the dress up and over my chest I called to Adam for help with the zipper. His fingers shook as he zipped up the back of the dress. He was nervous a hell to be near me right now.

  “Why are you shaking?” I laughed as I turned to look at him. He wouldn’t even look me in the eye.

  “I just… never… seen...” He slipped an innocent smile in there and ran his fingers through his hair his eyes shooting around.

  “Oh.” I said slowly winking at him. “Don’t worry about it
.”

  “How can you be so calm? I just walked into the bathroom while you were…” He motioned to my whole body and huffed.

  “Oh hell Adam they are just boobs.” I sighed. “There is nothing to worry about I’m sure you will see plenty more in your future.” I pushed past him and grabbed my makeup from my bag and returned to the bathroom with the door open. “You have nothing to worry about.”

  “How did you feel the first time you walked in on someone?” He asked moving in front of the door.

  “Walked in on someone how? In the shower? Dressing?” I pulled out my mascara and eye liner and laid them nicely on the marble counter top.

  “Any of those.” His voice shook. Was he seriously that clueless about the sins of the flesh?

  “Your dad did tell you where babies come from right?” I teased him and for a second he looked hurt.

  “I know how it all functions. Just because I’ve never done it doesn’t mean that I’m a prude. I’m just willing to save myself.” He crossed his arms.

  “I’m sorry. I know, and I respect your morals.” I apologized I didn’t mean to offend him in any way. “I was scared.”

  “When?” I had lost him.

  “My first time. I was scared.” I started putting a light gray on my eyelids. He knew I needed to get ready so I was hoping that it wasn’t going to bug him.

  “Then why do it?” He asked.

  “I think everyone is scared their first time. I mean you have no idea what it is going to be like.” I started putting the eye liner around my eyes.

  “Still though. You shouldn’t do anything if it scares you like that.” He was extremely innocent, I knew that he was but this solidified the whole thing.

  “I wish I could explain it better.” I sighed and grabbed my mascara.

  “I suppose I will find out on my wedding night.” He laughed.

  “I guess so.” I capped the mascara and turned to look at him. “How do I look?”

  “Beautiful as always but are you going to wear that towel on your head the whole time?” He asked smirking. The previous conversation was closed.

  “Yeah. I guess I should go ahead and take care of my hair. Do you have another piece of that gauze she gave us?” I asked reaching for the towel and stopping. I should probably do this after I get the tattoo covered, just in case.

  “One second.” He left the bathroom and returned with the tape and gauze that Rose had given us. He covered the ink and taped it down. As soon as he stepped away I took the towel off my head and let my hair fall.

  “You think that Rose is expecting anything?” He asked his voice confused.

  “Oh I’m sure she is.” I laughed. “Honey she’s the kind of girl that would eat you up and spit you out. However, play along for now but don’t do anything you will regret.” I pointed at him.

  “I won’t do anything I regret I just don’t want to break her heart in the process.” He joked. I couldn’t believe we were actually talking about this.

  I ran a brush through my damp hair and looked at him. I knew he was toying with me, but I don’t think he knew how much he was. It was hard enough for me to grasp the idea that Adam and I had something and now even harder that I was going to have to share another with another Warden. How was she going to feel when she learned it was all a game? I didn’t want to hurt Rose, but if this was the only way that we could get close to her than we had to.

  There was a knock on the door and Adam left to answer it. I sure hope he was throwing on a shirt on his way. I could hear Mona talking to him in the living room as I walked out. She looked at me with a little less disapproval than the day before as I threw on my vans. I didn’t have any other dress shoes other than my boots. I glanced at Adam and shook my head. The boy was going to have to learn to put on a damned shirt.

  “You ready?” Mona asked. She looked amazing in her black dress with matching hat. She looked just like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffanies. Here I am standing there looking like the reject from Mean Girls.

  “About as ready as I’m going to be.” I smiled. She looked at my shoes and frowned.

  “You used to have an impeccable fashion sense. What happened?” She turned up her nose at me.

  “I became a teenager?” I asked hoping that was the correct answer. She smiled and shook her head.

  “That must be it. Either that or all those small towns you lived in got the best of you.” She reached out her hand for mine and like a five year old I let her take it. “Tell your boyfriend you will see him later.”

  “I will see you later.” I smiled at him and blew him a kiss he broke out into hysterical laughter when we walked out the door.

  “I don’t know how you can keep your hands off that boy.” She said when we got into the elevator.

  “Mona!” I said astonished. My god she’s my step-mother.

  “I mean it. Boys your age aren’t supposed to have bodies like that. It was almost like the Heaven’s opened and blessed him or something.” She fanned her face. My goodness who else was going to be fawning all over Adam?

  “Wow.” Was all I could think of to say, she had pretty much made me speechless.

  “Your father’s isn’t bad, I mean it’s actually quite lovely. I would have loved to see that man when he was your boyfriend’s age.” She grabbed my hand and led me out of the elevator and out the front door to the awaiting limo.

  “Oh god Mona. I could have gone my whole life without hearing that.” I felt bile in my throat.

  She looked at me and smiled wickedly. For a second I saw what my father was talking about. This woman did have skeletons in her closet. I felt a chill cross over me.

  “So how long the two of you been together?” She asked as she pushed me into the back of the limo. Taking her seat she crossed her legs and told the driver where to go.

  “We aren’t together.” I said trying not to sound like I was lying. I wasn’t exactly in the middle of a lie it was the truth but I found myself longing to be just his and him just mine.

  “Seriously? By the way you two look at each other I would assume you two have been together for some time.” She shrugged. “I guess I’ve just been out of the game to long.”

  “I suppose.” I crossed my arms across my chest and looked out the window.

  “My goodness your hair has got so long.” She reached across the gap and grabbed the bottom part of my hair and pulled it lightly towards her. “No worries we will get all these split ends taken care of. Why did you color or your hair this color anyway? You were always beautiful with your blonde hair.”

  How was I supposed to tell her it wasn’t colored? “Well actually my hair darkened over the years. One morning I woke up and my hair was black.”

  “Well that’s just bad luck for you. It was beautiful. But we deal with what we get. I was a red head until I married your father and then suddenly I turned blonde.” So she did understand better than I thought.

  We rode in silence the rest of the way to the salon. When we got there a gentleman opened the door and helped us out. He smiled brightly at Mona and sort of gawked at me. I suppose though when you have the gorgeous Mona followed by me it is a pretty big shock. We walked inside the ritzy salon everyone saying hello to my step mother by name.

  “Nina this is Dawn.” Mona introduced me to the lady behind the counter. She looked at me and forced a smile but I could tell she was appalled by my appearance. If this is how Julia Roberts felt in Pretty Woman I was going to have a pretty hard day.

  “Oh Damien’s daughter.” Nina said offering her hand. I reached for it like I would anyone else but it went limp in mine and became more of a shaking of the fingers.

  “Yes. We need a miracle on this hair of hers. Is Paulo available?” What the hell was that supposed to mean? Who the hell was Paulo?

  “Of course, he always has an opening for you. Let me get him.” Nina walked away in her six inch spikes
and perfect hair to find a tall skinny Italian man with a huge smile. He walked like his hips were about to fall off.

  “Mona!” He squealed and they made kissy faces in the air. I just started in shock. I had seen this on TV but never face to face.

  “Paulo. This is Dawn, my step-daughter.” She motioned to me again and instead of putting my hand out I just nodded I couldn’t stand another fish hand shake.

  “Oh my.” He looked shocked as he started to mess with my hair. “Have you been living in a cave your whole life darling?” I felt insulted and it took everything in me not to reach up and burn him with my fingers.

  “No.” I said slowly.

  “It’s ok come with me Paulo make you beautiful.” He threw his hands up and winked at me. Dread consumed me. What was Mona about to have him do to me? He led us back to a private booth and shut the door walking around me he bit his bottom lip, pinched the brim of his nose, and tapped his foot. “I got it!” He exclaimed grabbing a brush and scissors and starting to work on my hair. I sat there and took it. I had to remind myself I owed it to Mona for doing everything for me.

  By the time he finished I had no clue who I was anymore. My hair was cut to my shoulders, I had bangs that came straight across my forehead, and he had managed to straighten my hair. I looked from side to side. I looked like a rejected Cleopatra. I was going to smack myself for telling Adam not to do anything stupid, when I ran off and did this.