The Desire to Touch

by Taylor, N

  “Are you looking for a new car?” Why am I engaging on the conversation? I inwardly curse myself.

  “Cole has one on order for me and its due for pickup today.” He replies.

  So that would explain his not so chatty friends presence, the man moves his head to look through the glass, “Try the buzzer again.” He orders.

  I follow the order and press the button waiting for Cole to respond but nothing happens.

  I get my phone out to call Trey but I remember there’s no signal here, the two men walk away from the window front and the man gets his phone out,

  “I’ll call Cole, he’s probably too busy with your friend to buzz you in.” He puts his phone to his ear and walks further away from the building and me.

  I grab my bangle and start saying a little prayer for someone to open the goddamn door.

  Suddenly the door bursts open and Trey is standing there looking worried.

  “What happened?”

  “I’ve been buzzing for ages, we’ve been trying to get in.” I say trying to calm him.

  “We?” He asks.

  “Yes, these two men have an appointment with Cole too.” I shrug

  The man walks up behind me and I turn to him, “We can get in now.” I say smiling.

  “So we can,” he says returning my smile.

  I step into the now lit showroom and the men follow behind me, Trey’s face drops.

  “Trey, always a pleasure.” the man says holding out his hand.

  “Tristan,” Trey’s face is stern and I can see him clenching his jaw, he shakes Tristan’s hand.

  “Not very wise to leave such a lovely young lady outside in the dark on her own,” Tristan remarks and then turns to me, “I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself, I’m Tristan King.”

  “Hi, I’m Ellie,” I smile and shake his proffered hand. In the light I can see he’s not very old maybe mid to late thirties with short, dark hair that has a very slight tinge of grey on his temples.

  “Well again, it was a pleasure to meet you,” Tristan says releasing my hand, at that point Treys arm slips around my back and he pulls me in tight, taking me by surprise. The air has turned blue and the tension can be cut with a knife.

  “We need to get back in there,” Trey snaps and we turn towards the door, more like I’m being dragged anyway.

  I smile at Tristan as we make our way through to the warehouse at the back where everyone else is waiting for us.

  We enter through the door and I see Michael turn quickly to see us, he smiles at Trey and then me. Tristan walks in behind us and Michaels face drops.

  “Mr. King, apologies I was on another call, I have the paper work and your car is waiting for you to take.” Cole says running up to shake Tristan’s hand.

  “The cars are on order now, let’s get out of here,” Trey whispers in my ear and squeezes me tightly with his arm still holding me against him.

  Meagan and Lacey are hovering around Michael and Trey gives them the nod that we’re leaving.

  “Thank you again Mr. Thomas, it should be about eight days but I’ll give you a call when they are ready for delivery.”

  “Thank you Cole, I’ll see you soon.” Trey answers shaking Cole’s hand.

  Cole turns on his heel and heads for his office, with Tristan and his friend close behind.

  We leave the building rather quickly and the mood has turned sour, I look at Meagan and Lacey who are exchanging glances.

  We get to the car and Trey whispers something to Michael, Michael pulls the car keys out of his pocket and hands them to Trey. Michael climbs into the back of the car and Meagan is quick to follow squashing up next to him.

  “Oh great I’m the odd one out,” Lacey rolls her eyes, “Any chance you can fix me up with a friend?” She looks to Trey.

  He smiles, “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Lacey climbs in and pulls the seat back for me to get in, Trey closes the door behind me then walks around the car and gets in the drivers seat. Masterfully he pulls away and we’re merging with traffic again,

  “Would you stay at mine tonight?” Trey asks.

  “Oh erm…” I want to but after the last time I’m still very reluctant to.

  “They can stay too, I have a games room, TV room and a fully stocked kitchen.” He adds.

  “Yes!” Meagan shouts from the back not giving me time to think.

  “Lacey?” Trey asks.

  “Don’t need to ask me twice.”

  “Looks like that’s a yes then,” I smile and start to grab my bangle.

  Trey’s hand clasps my knee and I look up at him through my lashes.

  “Thank you,” he smiles and relaxes back in the chair, taking the journey in his stride.

  Meagan has requested my IPhone to be put on and she’s selected another song to play, Will. I . Am ‘This is love’ starts pounding through the speakers. Meagan and Lacey start to deafen poor Michael by singing along, I take the opportunity to talk to Trey knowing they wouldn’t be able to hear.

  “Who is Tristan?” I ask.

  Treys Jaw clenches again and I see his hand clasp the steering wheel tightly, “He’s a director, we don’t get on.”

  “That was pretty obvious.” I snort.

  “What did he say to you?”

  “Nothing much just small talk, spoke about where we’re from and stuff.”

  “He’s not a very nice guy so I would watch yourself around him.”

  “Did something happen?”

  “No.” Trey answers very clipped.

  Ok I can guess I’ve pushed it too far, “Ok, sorry.”

  I look at him for a minute then I look down and grab my bangle again, not knowing what to say I start singing along to the chorus just waiting for him to soften. His hand squeezes my knee and I look up at him again, “Sorry, we just don’t get on and I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.” His features are relaxed and his beautiful soft face looks calmer again, his blue eyes twinkle as the streetlights pass by.

  Meagan is leaning into the front changing the music being played, I roll my eyes at Trey and he chuckles, looking back to the road. He turns his hand that’s on my knee upward waiting for me to give him mine, I place my hand in his and our fingers interlock.

  “Classic!” Meagan yells pressing play.

  I cringe at what song she has found because I’m the first to admit that my taste in music is different.

  Jazz hands start flying around in the back nearly taking Michael’s eye out, Bonnie Tyler – I Need a Hero starts to play.

  I cringe and look at Trey, who is looking at me with raised eyebrows,

  “I have a varied taste.” I say and look out of the window trying to hide my reddening face.

  His hand squeezes mine and I start to sing along with Meagan, she’s like a yawn - so infectious you can’t help but want to join in. The song is interrupted by Trey’s phone ringing through the speakers.

  Trey sighs, “Sorry one minute,” he presses a button on the steering column, “Hello?”

  “Trey its Jenna, we need to discuss…”

  “Jenna I’m driving and I have company, I will call you back when I’m home, ok?”

  “Fine, but make sure you do.” Jenna snaps and hangs up.

  The music starts up again, “My agent.” Trey explains.

  “Everything ok?”

  “Yeah it will be, let’s not worry about her now. I’m so glad you’ve agreed to stay the night.” Trey’s smile grows again, there’s that little twinkle in his eyes that makes me wriggle in my seat.

  We pull up to the front of Trey’s house and I can hear jaws dropping in the back of the car. Trey gets out and lets Michael out, Michael runs off into the house while I get out and try to bring Meagan and Lacey round.

  “This is his house?” Lacey whispers as she climbs out from the back of the car.

  I nod and help Meagan out, “Sports cars are not great if you’re wearing a skirt,” Meagan moans climbing out.

  “St
op wearing mini-skirts then.” I say raising my eyebrows at her.

  Michael reappears at the glass doorway and signals to Trey that all is ok, we all walk in and Meagan and Lacey walk around with their mouths wide-open catching flies.

  “If you go into the games room, and make yourselves at home, I have a quick phone call to make. Ellie knows the way,” Trey smiles.

  “Do I?” I look at him and shake my head, he never actually showed me in there before.

  “You’ll find it; we’ll be in to join you shortly.” Trey says walking away with Michael.

  “I think it’s this way,” I say walking off and not too sure.

  “Well he obviously has nothing to hide from you.” Meagan says brushing shoulders with me.

  We walk down the hallway until we reach a door, I remember back to the first night I was here and left suddenly, I was stood listening outside the door but was it this one? “This may be it.” I grab the door handle and turn it opening the door wide, we step down in to a room that has black leather chairs all facing forward, eight massive, staggered leather chairs take up all the space and they face a big black screen.

  “We can assume we’ve found the movie room I think.” Lacey mutters looking into the room.

  I step back out and walk to the next door, “All the doors look the same.” I remark to Meagan who is close behind me tracing my every move.

  “Hell just go in them all, like I said he seems very open about everything.” She shrugs.

  “I’m sure that the door was on the left of the hallway not the right, I don’t want to be too nosey.”

  “For Gods sake,” Meagan grunts, grabbing the handle, “Come on, he’s given you permission to look around.”

  The door opens onto a small room that has wall-to-wall shelves filled with CD’s, I step in and at the end of the room is a desk with a computer.

  “Wow, someone likes their music.” Meagan gasps walking into the room.

  I follow behind her and start looking at some of the racks of cd’s, I run my finger along them as I read their names.

  “Would you look at that.”

  “What?” I look to Lacey who has now joined us in the room.

  “Around the top of the room, it’s all one big speaker.” She points at what looks like a black border around the edge of the room.

  “Sheesh, the life of a film star!” Meagan gasps again.

  “Well it’s not this room, let’s get out of here come on.” I feel the worry in my stomach starting to bubble away.

  “Ellie will you relax, he said make yourself at home.” Lacey smacks me on the back as I try to hurry them out of the room.

  “Best of three?” Meagan chuckles opening yet another door, “Aha! This must be it!”

  I walk into a massive room that looks like it goes on for miles. Lacey and Meagan walk around squealing as they find things to play with.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I stand just inside the doorway and try to take it all in, the right hand side has a big pool table with low hanging light over it, on the left there is what must be the biggest TV I have seen in my life surrounded by gaming chairs and a variety of consoles stacked on a unit beneath the TV. I walk further into the room past arcade games, pinball machines, vending machines, motorbike and car arcade machines. I hear Meagan and Lacey laughing and screaming but the room seems to have engulfed them.

  “Oh my God Ellie, here, come on.” Meagan shouts.

  I walk past another screen that has guns stacked beside it and turn a corner to the left, I am met by a bar that seems to be fully stocked with all kinds of alcohol and soft drinks.

  “No, behind you!”

  I turn around and spot, hidden in a darkened corner, a dance machine surrounded by disco lights hanging above it.

  “This place is…is…” I mutter speechless.

  “It’s amazing and look at the dance machine!” Lacey squeals.

  Meagan presses one of the buttons and the machine starts up, with the lights tracing the beat.

  “Ahhh Barbie girl! Lacey get up here!” Meagan’s scream is so high pitched I think dogs can hear her.

  I grab a couple of bottles of beer from the fridge and place them on the bar, I sit on a bar stool and drink one while looking around the room. Slowly, looking over everything I can see, I realise this room is full of ‘boys toys’ a pool table, shooting games, riding games, pinball machines and slots, a dance machine sticks out like a sore thumb in this room. I guess that would explain why it’s hidden in the corner.

  “You what!” Meagan shouts jumping off the machine, “Top score is way out of our league, held by someone by the name of ‘Tryla

  “Tryla?”I think, “Ahh Kyla.” I grimace.

  “Oh her?” Meagan asks, drinking down some beer.

  I nod and shudder, even saying her name makes my skin crawl.

  “Forget about her because you’re his now.” Meagan whispers, putting her beer down.

  Lacey calls Meagan back over for round two and I continue to watch them until Lacey can do no more.

  “Right, your turn Jones,” Lacey pants whilst clambering up onto one of the stools.

  “No way,” I chuckle.

  “Come on, please?” Meagan calls over, “you can pick the song.”

  I look at her and she’s pouting and pulling the best puppy dog eyes she can muster.

  “One dance!” I say.

  Meagan claps her hands together and sets it all up. After ten minutes of jumping my arse off, I crouch down to catch my breath.

  “Well and truly kicked your ass didn’t she.” I turn around to see Trey applauding.

  My face goes red with embarrassment and I turn away from him to look at Meagan and mouth ‘Oh-my-God!’ Meagan walks over to join Lacey at the bar, I take a deep breath and straighten myself out, before turning around to face him again. I smile at him and step off the machine then make my way back to the bar and back to my beer that has been calling out my name. I feel Trey’s eyes burning a hole in the back of me as I walk. I sit down and take a sip, Michael walks behind the bar and grabs a beer.

  “Wow Michael, drinking?” I raise my eyebrows at him.

  For the first time since the night with Guy, Michael says to me, “Night off.” A big grin stretches across his face illuminating his youthful features.

  I give him an ‘I’m-impressed’ look then, turning to Meagan, “Michael has the night off,” I smugly wink at her.

  She catches my drift and watches as Michael goes and racks up the pool table, She’s off her stool like a shot and over by him giving some of her best hair twist moves.

  Lacey turns to me, “I’m really the odd ball tonight.”

  “Don’t worry Lacey we won’t be holding a mass orgy and just expect you to watch, you can join in.” Trey says dipping behind the bar to grab a drink.

  Lacey’s face is a picture and I burst out laughing spitting my mouthful of beer all over her, Lacey looks at me in utter contempt.

  “I’m sorry,” I wipe up the beer I’ve dribbled all down myself, “He’s joking.”

  Lacey relaxes a bit but still looks uncomfortable. “Fancy a game motor bike race?”

  Her eyes light up and she nods, I look to Trey who is still stood behind the bar and signal for two more beers. I reckon if I ply her with enough beer she won’t feel awkward anymore, she’ll relax fully and have fun.

  After a couple of racing games and drinks Lacey definitely starts to loosen up, she starts playing a game of pool with Meagan and Michael and I spot a darts board. The alcohol has definitely worked its magic on me too as, without hesitation, I look to Trey and challenge him to a game of darts.

  Treys eyes twinkle as he says, “You sure you want to take me on?”

  “I think I can handle you.” I poke my tongue out at him.

  We walk over to the board and Trey hands me a set of darts and takes a set for himself, we walk over to the line,

  “How do you want to play?” Trey asks brushing up close behind me.
r />   “Well I’m not sure if you have different rules, but start at 301 and the first to 0?”

  Trey laughs, “That’s fine, please feel free to start.” He stands aside and gestures his arms.

  I take my aim and throw the darts fairly confidently, hitting not what I aim for but making out I have a plan. I go and collect my darts and step to the side, keeping my cool, trying to look all-smug with myself.

  Trey winks at me then takes his aim and hits 2 bull’s-eyes and a triple 20, he turns to look at me and raises his eyebrow as if to say ‘Not-so-clever-now!’

  I go to take my aim again, I raise my arm and take a deep breath trying to steady myself, I didn’t spend most weekends down the legion with Grandad for nothing. I close my eyes and open them hoping that refocusing will bring me back in the game.

  Suddenly I feel Trey’s hand on my left hip, his body presses against my back and his right hand slides along to meet my right hand, his fingers brush my scar before they engulf my hand. I wince in pain as the aftershock of his touch has left a burning sensation behind, I shake the pain away and wait to see what he’s going to do. His face brushes past my hair and his lips stop just by my ear, I close my eyes again and take in his intoxicating smell.

  “If you hold your hand like this,” he whispers into my ear, his proximity is so close, I want him to touch me. I crave his lips to be on mine and I want to touch him, to run my hands over his body. I lean my head into him so my face is resting on his, his other hands grasps my hip and pulls me firmly against him, then I feel his length growing hard through his jeans.

  “Calm down,” he mutters breathlessly.

  I hear Lacey and Michael laughing in the background and that brings me to, I blink rapidly trying to break free from the spell he has over me.

  I clear my throat then look at him and kiss him on the cheek, “I got this.”

  He smiles and steps aside once more, but this time adjusting himself discreetly. I look at the score he needs 191 and I need 246, I close my eyes then take aim once more fixated on the treble 20 mark.

  “Wow my hands have the magic touch!” Trey exclaims after my last dart hits the board. I managed to land all 3 darts in the treble 20 zone, I look at Trey as he walks over to key in the score.