by Tee, Marian
Chapter Six
Mary Priscilla still hadn't returned when Hadrian came knocking on my door at precisely a quarter to two. He had a hoodie over his jeans this time, and my lips twitched when I noticed that all of it was plain and black once again. Definitely younger than me, I thought in a mixture of amusement and resignation, having remembered an article that claimed "black was the new black for millennials".
Hadrian raised a brow. "May I come in?"
Oops.
I quickly stepped back with a rueful smile. "Sorry." I closed the door behind him, and when I turned around, it was to have Hadrian pull me into his arms and cover my mouth with his.
Bliss, I thought dreamily all the while wrapping my arms around his neck.
The kiss started out soft and gentle, but the moment our tongues met, it became hot and torrid in an instant, Hadrian sucking on my tongue with such blatant hunger that I could only whimper in surrender. When he lifted his head, I could only stare up at him in dazed breathlessness.
"Younger," I managed to say, thinking that a guy in his forties couldn't be this horny. "You're definitely younger."
But Hadrian only smirked, asked if I were ready to leave, and got back to kissing me once we were inside the elevator.
My lips felt deliciously swollen when he finally released me, and I couldn't help smiling up at him. "You kiss so good."
He laughed.
Hadrian's car was a sleek black Lamborghini, and once inside it, Hadrian asked for the address of my workplace.
For a few moments, I watched him drive in studied casualness, and it was only when I saw that he was a good enough driver that I relaxed against my seat.
Hadrian slanted a smirking glance at my direction, and I realized belatedly that he had totally seen through me.
"Sorry," I said sheepishly. "You can never be too sure, with cars like this."
"No offense taken, love."
Oh, that endearment.
It was just too sweet, but it also made me so, so horny that it had me squirming in my seat and racking my brains for something to distract me. "Um...so..." I cleared my throat. "How was your day?"
"The usual."
"I remember you mentioned about working odd hours..."
"It mostly involves working from home."
"So today..."
"I dealt with paperwork."
Mm. What kind of job would require physical paperwork? A professor grading his students' papers, maybe? Or an architect, but no - he would've used the term 'blueprint' instead, wouldn't he? What about—-
"I think my home office is right next to your en-suite."
The words definitely caught me off guard, and I glanced at him in surprise. "Why would you say that?"
"Why indeed..."
His husky murmur had a rather enigmatic tone to it, and I couldn't help frowning. So what if his office was right next to my en-suite? It wasn't like he'd be able to smell my breath before I could brush my teeth or know when I was pooping or...
Oh my God.
My gaze flew to him in horror, and when I saw his lips start to curve—-
"Please don't say—-"
"I heard you singing?"
I groaned.
"You have a very lovely voice," he said soothingly.
"But lousy taste in music," I grumbled.
"I beg to differ."
"Of course you would."
"It was a nice song."
"Ha!"
"But does it, though?"
"Does it what?"
"Love," Hadrian said politely even as his gaze remained on the road. "Does it really move in mysterious ways?"
I burst into laughter, and a peek at his direction showed that a grin had also tugged at one corner of his lips. "I can't believe you said that."
"I can't believe you sang it either, so that makes the two of us."
"I hate you," I pouted.
But this only had him smirking. "No, love. You don't."
Gaaah.
I quickly looked away and turned my attention to the window, not wanting him to see how his lazy confidence was making me all wet and horny again.
I watched the car drive around the corner, and as the Lamborghini smoothly coasted past a fifties-styled theater, I saw a familiar face—-
Joaquin!
I waved without thinking, and the handsome Spaniard waved back, his expression one of unmistakable interest as he took in the fact that my companion was an actual human being for a change.
"Who are you waving to?"
Shit.
I had forgotten all about Hadrian, and when I looked back at the theater, I realized that there was only Joaquin, whom Hadrian obviously wouldn't be able to see. In fact, the only one that would be visible to Hadrian was...
"The cat," I said lamely while pointing to the gray-colored feline licking its paw next to the door. "It's a stray that I've...known for some time?"
"That's one handsome stray."
I shot him a dubious glance. "Really?" It had looked rather scraggly, but then again, beauty was in the eye of the beholder.
"How long have you...known it?"
"A few months." Gaaah. It was so hard to lie like this.
"Since you left the hospital then..."
Astonished, I turned in my seat to face him, asking warily, "Who told you about that?"
"The other tenants..."
I made a face.
"You're very well-liked," Hadrian assured me. "They only had the nicest things to say about you..."
"But?" That pause had to mean something.
"But they only had the opposite to say about your ex."
I groaned. It was one thing for Hadrian to learn about me from my well-meaning but gossippy neighbors, but seriously. Did they have to tell him about Jason, too?
"He was the biggest mistake of my life," I told him.
"Does he know that, too?"
I couldn't help sending him a teasing look. "Jealous?"
"Over you?" Hadrian was unsmiling. "Always."
DR. HARRIS WAS IN A hurry to leave as soon as I arrived at the clinic. My doctors want to talk to me. Please reschedule today's patients, and you can close at ten.
The calls took only ninety minutes to complete, and with the rest of the day all to myself, I naturally opted to spend most of it on thoughts and fantasies about Mr. 13A.
Since I only had his first name to go with, looking Hadrian up on the Internet was no different from searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. In the end, all I could do was examine and re-examine my assumptions.
Was he younger or older? He just seemed so mature that his actual age no longer seemed that big of a deal. Plus, I loved how easy it was for him to admit to being possessive and jealous. I knew it wasn't good to compare, but I couldn't help it. Jason, too, had also been the possessive type, but his pride had rarely allowed him to admit jealousy.
Hadrian, on the other hand...
I remembered the look on his all-too-gorgeous face when he told me he'd 'always' be jealous, and butterfly wings fluttered inside of me. Other women might not approve of Hadrian's possessiveness, but I personally found it thrilling. I could be wrong here, but I had a feeling his possessiveness would never cross the line. He was simply the old-fashioned type who liked his woman to be his and his alone, and I couldn't exactly complain about that since I was the same. No effing way was I going to share—-
What the hell?
The TV on the console had suddenly turned itself on, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I watched the display show one channel after another, almost as if someone had taken hold of the remote control.
Game show.
Baseball match.
Tiny House Nation.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer rerun.
The channel surfing only stopped once the TV started showing a local news program, and the volume went up...and up...and up...until I felt like I was about to go deaf.
"SIXTH CORPSE FOUND..."
A photo of the most recent victim, Melanie Pelham, flashed on the screen, and before I could even blink, the woman in the photo started to move.
What in the world?
Her neck suddenly made a snapping sound, and I jumped in my seat when the woman's eyes turned completely white as her gaze settled on me.
Her lips parted, her mouth opening wide...and wider...and wider...
Until it covered her entire face—-
And then she screamed.
Chapter Seven
There are simply some things you don't tell someone you've just started dating. Things like how much more money you're making (Jason), the last time you had paid for sex (also Jason)...or things that would only make other people think you're crazy, like the fact that a ghost had successfully infiltrated your workplace.
So when Hadrian came to pick me up at the clinic, took one look at my face, and asked what was wrong—-
"Just thinking about this morning." Which wasn't quite a lie. I had been thinking about it...until a ghost had decided to take the Poltergeist-slash-Sadako route and try communicating with me through a TV set.
"And us in general, of course," I added belatedly, not wanting him to think it was all about sex for me (even though it kinda was).
"Good."
Good? Did he really mean that? It was dark inside the car, but there was just enough light from outside to let me peek at Hadrian's expression. He looked his usual calm self, but maybe he was just pretending?
Guys don't usually like it when girls started thinking in terms of "we" and "us". They typically served as a prelude to serious talks about the future, and they were enough of a red flag to have guys scrambling for a change of topic.
Hadrian, however...
"What if I told you what happened this morning wasn't me," I asked impulsively, "and that I'm not really in the market for hook-ups?" I wanted to see if I could crack that impassive mask of his, thinking it would be fun to rattle him a little. "What if I told you I wanted a relationship?"
"Great."
I couldn't help but laugh. Like hell he meant that.
Hadrian slanted a glance at my direction. "When would you like to move in to my apartment?"
My heart skipped a beat even as another choked laugh spilled past my lips. "It would serve you right if I took you up on that."
"Try me."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah right." Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?
But when we got to our apartment building, Hadrian seemed intent to proving he was serious. "Sleep with me tonight?"
No. Show some pride. Let him know you're not easy.
But instead, I heard myself say, "Yes."
And then we were kissing again, Hadrian kicking his front door shut while I wrestled with his belt buckle. He lifted me up in his arms as soon as I managed to pull his erection out of his jeans, and my back slid up against the wall as he reached down to tear my panties off.
Two down, eighteen more to go.
His erection began rubbing against my already moist entrance, and my entire body shuddered. It felt good, really, really good...but I wanted more.
"Hadrian." My nails dug into his back. "I want you...now."
A smirk played over his lips. "Noted." And then he was efficiently suiting action to words, with the way his thick, hard member had thrust inside of me right after.
Heaven, I thought dazedly. Just pure, erotic heaven, with every forceful thrust hitting my G-spot in the right way - the exact way my body craved, and it had me buckling and crying out in less than a minute, climaxing so quickly I could've submitted an entry for the world's record for shortest amount of time needed to reach an orgasm.
While I was still shuddering in his arms, his manhood still inside of me, Hadrian carried me into his bedroom, and everything started all over again. He got rid of all of our clothes before laying me down on his massive bed. This time, though, he wasn't to be hurried, with Hadrian ignoring my every cry and plea as he lazily explored my body with his mouth and fingers.
He sucked on my neck for so long that I had a feeling by the time he lifted his head he could've given me a new birthmark, and the amount of time he spent fondling my breasts and suckling on my nipples was just as lengthy and leisurely. By the time he had moved down between my legs, I was a sobbing wreck, and I could only clutch his hair as he started pleasuring me with his tongue.
"Please, Hadrian..."
I wanted to come so badly, but each time I was about to reach the peak, he would withdraw, and it was back to square one. It was the most exquisite torture, and it happened over and over and over until I was begging and sobbing for release—-
"Will you please just make me come?"
A dark, lazy chuckle played somewhere above me.
And then he was giving me what I wanted—-
AAAAAAAAAH.
My hips were off the bed, my legs forming an inverted V in the air as Hadrian grasped my ankles just before he started pounding into me, so hard and fast it was almost brutally relentless, and oh God...it was exactly, just exactly how I wanted it, too.
We came together in a flash, my moans intertwining with his rough breathing, and still it went on, Hadrian pounding into me over and over. He just wouldn't stop, just kept fucking going that my first orgasm rolled into a second one, and by the third time it felt as if pleasure was about to tear me apart.
The night seemed to stretch infinitely, and I lost count of the number of times he made me climax. All I knew that there was a point when every part of my body and his felt wonderfully sticky, and that I couldn't even remember how exactly things ended.
It just happened,
I had probably passed out.
I think I did.
I must've really, since the next thing I knew, I was once again falling over the edge...and into the abyss of another nightmare.
I DREAMT OF SHADOWS multiplying in the darkness. They were restless now, no longer content to simply watch and bide their time. This time, I could hear them, but their cries were distorted. Almost...inhuman.
But even so, it was as if I was on the brink of grasping what they wanted to say.
There was something about them...and something about me...that tied us together.
A bond that was new and timeless all at once—-
Just something there, dammit.
Something—-
But the truth eluded me, reality hauled my soul back into my body, and I woke up, heart once again threatening to bulldoze its way out of my chest, and another silent scream trapped inside my throat.
I shot up to a sitting position, my fingers fumbling in the darkness until I could turn the bedlight on.
The other half of the bed was empty, and the unexpected sight stunned me enough into unthinkingly calling his name out. "Hadrian?"
Only silence answered me back, and I would've felt rather abandoned if not for the sight of my clothes, all neatly folded on the bedside table, and with a Post-It note on top of it.
Emergency at work. Stay in bed. I'll be back in time for lunch.
Text me when you're up.
His mobile number was scrawled below the message, along with his signature, which seemed to be in Greek. After wriggling back into my dress and shoving my undies into my bag, I was about to tiptoe out of the bedroom when my glance absently fell on the bedside clock—-
Shit.
The time read...3:15.
Something cold skittered down my spine, and it reminded me of the time Nana had first revealed herself to be a ghost. With my knees feeling like they were about to give out any second, I sat back down on Hadrian's bed and and focused on taking quick, deep gulps of breath.
Whatever this could mean, panic will only make things worse, so calm down, and think things through.
I rifled through my bag until I found my iPhone, and I couldn't keep my fingers from trembling as I pulled up a new browser and hit Google with a search term.
3:15 time occult
The page reloa
ded with its first page of results, and I hastily skimmed the headlines until I found what I was looking for, and it was a whole lot worse than I ever imagined.
3:15...was called the witching hour.
Also known as the time when that guy from Amityville murdered his entire family—-
As well as that time of the day where demons were at their strongest and most powerful.
I called out to Mary Priscilla in a trembling voice even as a part of me appreciated the irony in seeking help and comfort from an eight-year-old ghost. "Mary Priscilla?" I waited anxiously for her ghostly form to reappear, but nothing happened.
She had told me before that she could haunt any place she wanted, but maybe there were some other rules she had forgotten to tell me, and it prevented her from crossing to Hadrian's apartment?
After sending Hadrian a quick text, I hastily left his apartment to get back into mine—-
"Saoirse!"
"AAAAH!"
I had already made a symbol of the cross with my fingers by the time I realized it was just Mary Priscilla floating in front of me.
Well, shit.
Letting myself still be scared out of my wits by the very ghost I was babysitting was like being caught in public with my pants down, and I glowered at the little girl in an attempt to hide my mortification. "Didn't you hear me calling for you from the other apartment—-" I broke off when I saw the terrified look on the girl's face.
"Y-You w-were in 13A?"
I had never heard Mary Priscilla's voice shake like this. "What is it—-"
"I asked about him like you told me..."
I froze.
"And everyone said..."
I almost didn't want to hear what Mary Priscilla had to say.
"They couldn't even see him."
Mary Priscilla's voice wobbled.
"I couldn't see him either."
And I started feeling cold all over.
"I think he's the Man in Black, Saoirse."
Chapter Eight
Twenty minutes and one cab ride later, and I was seated in front of Nana in Roger Hills' cafeteria, pretending to be in a phone call while I spilled my guts out to the oldest haunting ghost I knew. She had looked sick with fear when I told her about how I might've crossed paths with the Man in Black, but this had instantly turned into horrified dismay when I told her how I might also have had sex with him.