Dahlia

by Tabitha Barret

  “Shit. That’s messed up. Why would he do that? That’s the kind of thing you do when you want to fall asleep during bad sex. Great sex, you tell the person you make more money than they do and how you love to make homemade meals when really you’re broke and order out all the time.” She whistled through her teeth and shook her head.

  “Right? I don’t know. He sounded so sincere. The problem is that I really liked him. Even now, my chest hurts because I told him something personal and he made fun of me. Thankfully, he made the mistake of paying for his tattoo up front. This is why we don’t sleep with clients. Remind me of that again the next time I want to do something stupid.” I picked up my pen and doodled on my blotter to clear my head.

  She nodded. “Will do, Boss. I’ll bake you that lava cake if it will make you feel better.” Her stern face softened into a smile.

  “Okay.” I shrugged when I thought about the lava cake.

  She winked and backed out of the room. “On it. See you tomorrow.” Waving, she stepped out of my office and headed out the back door.

  I closed my eyes and let out a breath.

  “Umm, do you want to show me how to help you close up?” I jumped out of my skin when I heard Aiden’s voice in front of me.

  “Jesus. You’re like a ghost. I have no idea how you manage to stay so quiet and blend into the walls the way you do. This isn’t a large studio, but I never felt like you were underfoot. Yet, every time I looked for you, you were cleaning something.” My heart pounded inside my chest. Jumping up, I pointed towards the door. “Let’s go take a look at what you did. I’m sorry that I didn’t get a chance to run through all your duties. You can see why I need help when it’s busy. I barely have time to go to the bathroom.”

  He chuckled. “I just tried to be helpful. If something was dirty, I cleaned it. I didn’t do much in the tattoo rooms. I didn’t want to mess anything up.”

  “It’s okay. We can go over what you need to do.” I walked into room #1 and sighed when I saw the mess. “I didn’t realize it was this bad.”

  I rushed around mindlessly putting everything where it needed to be, showing Aiden where the ink bottles went and how to properly dispose of the needles in case someone needed help clearing their station during the day.

  Seeing Ian’s phoenix taped to the wall, I frowned. Why couldn’t he have been the one? He seemed like such a nice, normal guy. Maybe I should have tried to read him.

  I wiped down the chair and wondered why I couldn’t see anything when I touched him. I had been too excited to give it much thought at the time, but I rarely found someone that didn’t at least give off a vibe when I touched them. Ian had been a complete mystery to me, which had been refreshing.

  Tossing his phoenix on the table, I walked out to the register and found Daire’s proposal on the counter. “Aiden, did Mr. Foxworth stop by while I was away?”

  He ducked his head out of Gray’s room. “Yeah, he left it for you. Gray put it on the counter so you would see it, but I guess you were too busy with clients. He said something about leaving his card so you can contact him.”

  “Thanks.” I glanced at the proposal, afraid to look at the numbers.

  Closing the file, I ran my hand over the stiff folder. I smiled when I thought about the way he had said, “come back to me”. My body went into a meltdown every time I heard the fear and longing in his voice as if he wouldn’t know what to do if I didn’t return to him. It was silly to obsess over something that happened so fast and probably didn’t mean what I hoped it did.

  After my disastrous encounter with Ian, I refused to think of Daire as a male with a penis. He was just a nice guy who had helped me out of a jam, and who hated Aiden for some reason.

  “Is it expensive?” Aiden motioned towards the folder.

  “I’m not sure. I’m not ready for the sticker shock. I’ll review it tomorrow.” We walked back to my office to drop off the file. I reached for my purse, but my hand never touched it. The room spun and I went to my knees.

  Screaming, I tried to make sense of what was happening. It wasn’t the pain in my stomach that had me on my knees this time, it was a vision.

  “Dahlia? Are you okay?” I heard Aiden close by but I couldn’t open my eyes.

  I tried to breathe, but my heart was racing. The entire room fell away until I was surrounded by complete darkness. Jesus. The visions were getting stronger. I’d never experienced anything like this before. Scared, I didn’t know what to do.

  A muffled voice yelled through the void in front of me. Slowly, blurry shapes formed and shifted around, but I couldn’t make out what they were.

  “Paper. Pen. Fast.” I managed to grit out what I needed so I could draw what I was feeling even if I couldn’t make out the shapes.

  I felt a pen being shoved into my hand and felt Aiden press my hand down onto the paper.

  I couldn’t really understand what I was seeing, but I heard a chorus of different voices. I heard a woman sobbing and muttering but I couldn’t make out her words. Another male voice sounded like he was afraid of something. Suddenly, I felt cold like I was standing outside. I heard more screaming, but this time it was a man’s voice and he was in pain.

  “It’s going to be okay.” The last voice came with a clear image. It was Daire. He had his hand on my face and he was telling me it would be okay.

  The image faded and I dropped the pen and rolled onto my side. Curled into a ball, I panted, trying not to vomit or have a heart attack.

  “Dahlia, what can I do? What do you need?” Aiden was frantically looking for some way to help me. He wiped my sweaty forehead with a towel from the closet and then carefully put it under my head. “I would touch you and hold your hand or rub your back, but you don’t seem to like being touched.”

  Breathing in through my nose, I tried to slow down my panic attack. “It’s okay. I’ll be okay.”

  “You don’t look okay.” He pulled a stray hair from my face without touching me.

  After a few minutes, I tried to sit up.

  Aiden put arms out to form a cage around me just in case I fell, but I was okay.

  I glanced down at the paper to see the sketch I had made. As always, the sketches were some of my best work. Though I couldn’t see what I was drawing, the images were always crisp, clear and detailed.

  “I should put that up on the wall.” I laughed to ease the tension in the room. Hopefully, Aiden didn’t think I was completely crazy.

  “Dahlia, how did you do that? Your eyes were closed and your body was practically vibrating, yet those are the best drawings I have ever seen.” He stared incredulously at the paper.

  “An artist never reveals her secrets.” Or admits that they have visions of things they can’t understand. I’d often wondered if some of the greatest artists who had gone mad, suffered from the same problem.

  “Okay, you don’t want to tell me. So explain the chess. There’s a king, a queen, two knights, two rooks and a pawn. What do they mean?” He pointed to each of them as he spoke.

  “I’m not sure. Honestly, I don’t remember drawing them.” I was honestly more concerned about the ominous set of eyes that were visible through the partial 3D chessboard.

  I carefully got to my feet with minor wobbling and threw the sketch face down on my desk.

  Grabbing my purse, I turned off the light, and headed into the hallway.

  Aiden cautiously followed me.

  “Dahlia, are you psychic or something?” It was the question I dreaded the most. Over the years, certain people had figured out that I was different. They asked if I was psychic, or if I was in league with the Devil. Let’s just say that my Sunday school teacher and I never got along after that accusation.

  “I don’t like labels. Sometimes I see things, or hear things. I get feelings or see images when I touch people. I don’t know exactly what it is or why it happens. I also don’t like talking about it.” I hoped the conversation would end there and I could go home to cry from the hangover that would
soon settle into my skull.

  “You can’t control either, can you?” It wasn’t an accusation. Instead, he sounded sympathetic.

  “No.”

  I headed out the door and waited for him to follow me before setting the alarm and locking the door.

  Walking to my car, I stumbled a bit when I heard a ringing in my ear. Shoot. The headache was coming on fast this time.

  “Hey, I don’t think you should drive. I can take you home.” He stepped in front of me and held out his hand for the keys I was holding.

  “Aiden, I’m…” I doubled over when the headache moved from one side of my head to the other.

  “Sure, you’re fine.” He grabbed me around the waist and helped me to the car.

  Once we were buckled in, I pointed towards the way home. Pointing at each stop light, we made it back to my house quickly.

  He helped me out of the car and up the front steps. “I might vomit on you.”

  He snickered. “Just one more thing for me to clean up. If you need to vomit, you go right ahead.” He looked up at my house. “Damn, you live here?”

  I loved my broken down Victorian home situated directly next to the Silver Springs Cemetery. Once I had enough money saved, I planned to repaint it in bright colors, but until then, the abandoned look helped keep solicitors away.

  He opened the front door and got me inside. He whistled when he saw the interior, which was much nicer. I had spent more time renovating the inside, though the third floor and attic still needed work.

  “Couch. Pain pills are in the bathroom. Water. Bucket.” I gave him my list of demands once I was seated and able to curl up in a fetal position.

  “Should I call someone?” I heard him rummaging through the kitchen cabinets for a glass.

  “It will pass. There’s nothing they can do.” I felt a little better once I was stabilized on the solid, not moving couch.

  He finally retrieved the items I needed, and I swallowed the pain pills.

  As he took the glass from me, my hand shook and I accidentally touched him. When I didn’t see or feel anything unusual, I held out my hand to him.

  “What? Do you want the glass back?” He stopped to hunch over again.

  I grabbed his hand and closed my eyes. Nothing. I couldn’t see anything. No past. No present. No future.

  “Help me sit up.”

  I waited for him to put the glass on the coffee table before he turned to grab my arms and pull me into a seated position. When he tried to pull his hands away, I latched onto his arms. I still couldn’t see anything. I sensed that he was worried, but aside from his emotional state, there were no images. It was just like the brick wall I had felt with Ian.

  Maybe it wasn’t Ian who had kept away the visions. Maybe my abilities were on the fritz.

  “What’s wrong?” He looked at our hands as if he expected me to freak out again.

  “Nothing. I’m okay, just tired. Can you please help me get upstairs to bed?” I shuffled my feet and tried to stand, but I had trouble until I leaned against his solid frame.

  He helped me up the main staircase and turned right into my room. I crawled into bed and sighed when I felt my pillow under my head.

  I heard the floor creak as he rounded the corner of the bed. “Do you need anything else before I go?” His worried face appeared in front of me as he kneeled next to the bed.

  “You can say no, but will you snuggle with me? I don’t want to be alone.” I hated feeling vulnerable, but I’d suffered by myself for so long.

  “I thought you didn’t like to be touched.” He looked questioningly at my bare arms.

  “I don’t know why, but I can’t see anything when I touch you. I feel your panic, but I don’t get flashes of anything. I can’t explain it, but right now, more than anything, I don’t want to be alone.” Tears sprang up in the corners of my eyes at the thought of getting through the night by myself. Thinking back to the way Ian made me feel before, during and after the sex, I felt miserable. I didn’t want to be alone after the promise of something meaningful with him.

  Aiden gave me a small smile and unzipped his hoodie. “Give me a second to run to the bathroom and I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay.” I let out a breath, grateful that he agreed to stay. I closed my eyes and waited for him to return.

  I swore that I heard the front door open, but a few minutes later the steps creaked.

  “Are you still breathing?” He closed the bedroom door and came around to check on me.

  “Yes. I think the painkillers are finally kicking in.” I swung my legs off the bed and maneuvered the covers so I could get under them and tossed my glasses on the nightstand.

  Aiden took off his Nikes and socks and threw his hoodie on the bench seat in front of the window.

  I felt the bed move behind me and felt him move closer. I noticed that he wasn’t under the covers with me, which made me smile. He wasn’t trying to be a creeper even though I had invited him to stay with me.

  “Do you want a blanket? There’s one in the hall closet.” I pointed in the general direction of the blankets.

  I felt him pull my spare pillow closer as he curled his long body around mine.

  “I’m okay.” He shuffled around a bit until he settled in. “Is this okay?”

  I wanted to laugh at the fact that he was asking if his snuggle position was okay.

  “Yes. Thank you for staying.” I pulled my hair clip out of my hair and threw it next to my glasses.

  I felt his arm drape over my waist on top of the blankets.

  “How could I say no to a crying woman? Besides, I’m worried about you. I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing that you could be in pain. If you fell down the stairs because you had another vision I would hate myself for leaving.” He repositioned his arm under his pillow and sighed.

  “I appreciate it.” I moved around a little to get comfortable. “Aiden?”

  “Yeah.” I felt him breathe into my hair.

  “Please don’t murder me in my sleep.” I don’t know what compelled me to say that, but for some reason, I felt better saying it. It was probably the painkillers kicking in, making me feel loopy, but I somehow felt safer by asking him not to hurt me.

  “I promise not to hurt you, Dahlia. Ever. If someone is stupid enough to enter this house tonight, I swear they will regret it.” He wasn’t making a joke, he was stating what would happen.

  In my haze, I took comfort from his words, though deep down I knew they should worry me.

  Chapter 11 Dahlia

  Feeling an intense cold, I shivered. It was as if all the warmth had been leached from my body.

  I looked around to find that I was surrounded by snow and ice in every direction. I was standing in the middle of an icy tundra in nothing but my pajamas.

  “What the hell is this?” I knew I was dreaming, but I wasn’t sure how to keep from freezing until I woke up.

  I vaguely remembered taking medication before I fell asleep. It was possible that I was so relaxed that my body felt numb.

  Think of something warm.

  I tried to conjure a coat or a hat, but nothing appeared.

  Try a fire or a house, stupid.

  I tried to imagine a cabin with a warm fireplace. Nothing.

  Shivering hard enough for my teeth to rattle, I tried to come at the problem from a different angle. Maybe this was a metaphor. Instead of being physically cold, the tundra could symbolize emotional coldness or it could represent loneliness.

  I think I remembered telling someone that I didn’t want to be alone anymore.

  Okay, think of a guy who might be able to get me off this tundra. Think of someone who will keep me from freezing to death. Someone who I could trust to get me out of this dilemma, who could raise the heat in all kinds of interesting ways.

  “Dahlia?”

  I turned around to find Daire Foxworth standing in a Superman T-shirt and boxers.

  “What are you doing here?” It was a stupid question since I
was the one who had subconsciously summoned him, but I didn’t really feel like talking about security systems right now.

  “Ahh, I’m not really sure, but do you think you could turn up the heat a little?” He chuckled as he hopped on one foot in the snow and shifted to the other foot.

  “That’s what I was trying to do when you showed up.” I stepped closer to him when I felt his body heat wafting towards me.

  “Oh. Okay. Well, come here.” He held his arms wide so that I could snuggle into his chest for warmth.

  I hesitated for a second; afraid that my warped dream was setting me up for defeat. I didn’t want another round of harassment from his father.

  I tentatively tapped his finger and braced myself for an onslaught of emotional turmoil. I waited for my brain to laugh at my stupidity and show me all kinds of horrors. When nothing happened, I pressed my finger against his finger and held it there to make sure the extended contact wouldn’t be an issue.

  My abilities were definitely on the fritz.

  Understanding what I was doing, he waited patiently for me to confirm that it was safe to hold him.

  Once I felt confident that I wouldn’t see anything bad, I breathed a sigh of relief and stepped into his arms. He carefully put his arms around me and lightly hugged me.

  Settling further into his arms and chest, the cold subsided and my teeth stopped chattering. “It’s working.”

  Daire looked down at me and smiled. “I feel it too. I’m glad it’s working. Now, care to tell me why you’re dreaming of Antarctica and why you chose me to snuggle with you?”

  I wasn’t sure why I had chosen him until I remembered the incident at the studio. “When I was overwhelmed by my vision this morning, you helped me break free from them. When you told me to come back to you, I felt connected to you somehow. I wanted to return to you. I like the idea of being close to you.”

  If the real Daire was in front of me, I would have been too embarrassed to tell him the truth, but dream Daire couldn’t judge me for it, hopefully.