“You like it?” I almost jumped out of my skin as the voice whispered in my ear. “Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you!” I turned around to see Beth. Looks like the sisters shared their sneaking abilities.
“Yeah, I really like this one. Actually, I like all of your paintings,” I said once I caught my breath. I took a step back, because she was standing so close to me. How did I not hear her? My back bumped into the wall opposite the paintings.
“What do you like about it?” she asked inquisitively. She stepped away a bit so I could have some room. Her eyes were like the blue fire near the bottom of the flames you see in gas fireplaces.
“I like the detail. Every minute I look at it I see something new I hadn’t seen before. It’s two trees entwined together, right?” She nodded. She wasn’t looking at the painting though.
“And the leaves look really good. I mean, I don’t really know how to paint, or draw, or anything, but it must have taken you forever to put this much detail into it. Looks like every leaf is different.” I looked at the painting. I really did like it. “What inspired you to do it?” I looked back at her.
She looked at the painting and then back at me.
“Do you know of Philemon and Baucis?” I shook my head, and she continued. “Zeus and Hermes decided to walk in disguise amongst the mortals for a day. They decided to test mortals’ hospitality and traveled to different homes, begging for shelter. They were refused by everyone until they came to the humble home of Philemon and Baucis. They were a poor elderly couple, but they were delighted to have guests. They didn’t have much money or food, but they shared what they could with Zeus and Hermes and told them stories. Zeus and Hermes were so impressed by them that they transformed their home into a beautiful temple, and, when the couple died, the gods make them into two trees that were entwined.” Beth was absorbed by the painting now. I saw joy in her face.
“This painting with the man and the boulder is Greek Mythology too, right?” I said as I looked at the center piece.
“Yeah, I was on a Greek kick a few years ago. I spent a couple of months on the different islands with Aimee and my parents. That is Sisyphus. He fooled the gods several times during his life, and, when they finally got him, they made him push the rock up the hill forever.” She was looking at me with a smile on her face. It was a different look than I had seen at dinner. She looked so happy that I started to feel warm inside.
“His face is really good. I can see the pain and regret there. You are a great artist,” I complimented her as I looked at the painting,and back to her. Her cheeks turned red. Was she blushing?
“Thank you.” Her watched beeped, but she ignored it and pointed at the first painting in the hallway. “Do you like that one?”
“Yeah, I do. I assume it is Greek mythology, right? I don’t remember the story of an angel though; it has been a while since I had studied it.” She nodded.
“I was impressed you knew about Scheherazade earlier.”
“Don’t be too impressed. I like mythology, but I haven’t really studied it that much. I knew about Scheherazade because of music. There are a bunch of different pieces about her and the tales,” I said apologetically. I didn’t want Beth to think I really knew what I was talking about. I had just gotten lucky.
“Oh, so you like music?” Beth mouth formed a perfect small O shape as she asked the question.
“Yeah, doesn’t everyone? Sooo, ummm, what about this painting?” I tried to get the conversation off me.
“Oh, it is a great story!” Beth became really animated and started gesturing with her hands as she told it. “It’s Cupid and Psyche. Psyche was so beautiful that Aphrodite became jealous and told her son to shoot her with his arrow so that she would fall in love with the first animal she saw. Cupid snuck into her chamber while he was invisible. He was about to shoot her when he paused, shocked by her beauty. She woke up and surprised him. Even though she couldn’t see him, he accidently pricked himself with the arrow, and fell in love with her.
“Aphrodite was so upset with Cupid’s failure that she cursed Psyche so that she would never find a mortal, human husband. This upset Cupid, so he decided to stop using his arrows. The whole world turned to turmoil, as no one fell in love. Eventually, Psyche’s parents visited an oracle, who told them she should be left on the nearest mountain top, since her beauty was not meant for mortals. Psyche decided to commit suicide and threw herself off the mountain. Luckily, the Wind and Cupid were friends. The Wind saved Psyche and took her to a valley where there was a beautiful palace that was attended by invisible servants.” Beth’s watched beeped, but she ignored it again and looked at me. She was really passionate about this story, and I was into it.
“Then what happened?”
“The servants told her that she would be married that night, but she must never look at her husband, for he was a god. She agreed, since she really wanted to be married and hadn’t been able to because of the curse.
“That night, Cupid stole into Psyche’s room, and they made love. And they continued to do that for many months, until she carried Cupid’s child. She eventually wanted to show her family that she was married, and, since Cupid loved her more than anything, he agreed to let her leave the Wind’s palace for a week so she could visit them.
“Once Psyche met with her family, her sisters, who had always been jealous of her beauty, told her that her husband could be a monster and that she should make sure of what he looked like and slay him if it was so. Once Psyche was back in the palace, she hid a dagger and an oil lamp next to her bed. That night, after she had made love with her husband, she lit the lamp to see what he looked like.” Beth stopped and looked at the painting. Again I marveled at the joy in her face. This seemed like a different girl than the one who had been picking on Aimee half an hour ago.
“So, she is happy to see him, because he is not a monster; he is beautiful. But she is also sad and horrified, because he really is a god. This kind of thing never ends well for mortals.” I finished the story for her.
Beth looked at me for a moment, and the smile left her face. I worried that I had said something wrong.
“Have you seen my other paintings?” she asked, after she had studied me for a long time.
“Well, Aimee gave me a tour of the house, but I didn’t really get a chance to spend a lot of time. There was this one of a tower that I really liked.” I was going to mention what I liked about it, but she suddenly snatched my hand in hers and pulled me toward her.
“Let’s go look at it!” she said with excitement as she almost skipped down the hallway to the foyer, dragging me behind. We rounded the stairs and went into the first room Aimee had shown me. We stopped in front of the first painting that had caught my eye. Beth’s fingers weaved between mine, and she squeezed. I freaked out a bit and tried to let go, but she would have none of it. She just squeezed again until I wrapped my fingers around her hand.
“It makes me feel sad and alone. When did you do it?” I asked her.
“Last year, when I was in Oxford. I didn’t really fit in there…” She sounded sad.
“I find that hard to believe.” I said with a smile. “I’m sure you had everyone wrapped around your fingers.”
“Yes, of course I did!” she said with a laugh. “It’s just a depressing place. Beautiful of course, but I’m happy to be back home. Italy should be a nice change for a year.” I recalled Jack telling me that Aimee’s parents gave Beth a trip to Italy to study art.
“Which city are you going to be in? Do they have a university there?”
“I’m going to be in Florence, I think. I might spend some time in Rome too, maybe Tuscany. I’ve only been to Italy a few times, on brief trips. It would be nice to stay in one place for a while and absorb the culture. I can always try a different city sometime in the future.” She turned to look at me as she finished. Our hands were sweating since they were grasped so firmly together.
It struck me how different these people were than me.
World travelers who could spend their time and energy on leisure activities. Sure, let’s go to Italy for a year. Which city should we live in? Ehhh… whatever strikes our fancy. We’ll just go and have fun. I’d never been out of the country, and the thought of paying to go on a trip the way she had described seemed expensive.
“Do you speak Italian?” I asked her. She smiled, and said ‘Si,’ then a bunch of other words that made no sense. She giggled and said something else. The timbre of her voice had changed. Her voice came out in a husky whisper as her smile got bigger. The inflection in her voice made it seem like she asked me a question at the end. I smiled at her in confusion.
“Want to know what I just said?” she asked with a sly smile. Her other hand found mine and grasped it. The hand that had been entwined with hers, like the trees in her painting, was damp from our combined sweaty palms. We were facing each other now.
“Ummm… okay,” I said cautiously. My heart was thumping in my chest as her eyes seemed to catch on fire.
“First I said ‘Yes, I’ve been practicing for the last two years because I have always wanted to go.’“ Then she repeated it in Italian. “Then I said ‘The cities are beautiful; the food is delicious; the art is amazing; and the boys are handsome.’“ She smiled at me as she stepped closer and repeated it in Italian. “Then I said ‘I don’t think any of the boys there are as handsome as you. So I’d like to get to know you better. Will you take me out to dinner?’“
I think my jaw hit the floor. This was not happening. Her body was pressing against mine. She had to feel my erection through my jeans. Her lips were inches from mine, and her eyes started to close. I could already taste her lips as I leaned down slightly. All thoughts of jail gang-rape were gone. I couldn’t resist this crazy girl; she had me spellbound. Damn me to hell. A soft moan escaped her lips as mine parted and began to-
“I’m ready!” I heard Aimee shout from the foyer as she was coming down the stairs. Beth and I parted abruptly in surprise, and she released my hands. I looked at her in shock, and she gave me a mischievous smile, then she shrugged. I didn’t think I would ever be so happy to have Aimee interrupt something.
“We’re over here!” Beth yelled across the mansion. I heard heeled footsteps make their way over to us across the hardwood floors.
“Thanks for looking at my paintings.” Beth’s mischievous smile was replaced by one of gratitude. “No one ever really asks me about them. It was nice to talk to you about my art.” My heart was going a mile a minute. Holy shit, I almost kissed her. That would have been so fucking stupid.
Aimee walked around the corner. She looked great. Her hair was down in gentle waves behind her shoulders. She was wearing a violet-colored, button-down-the-front, dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. It was tight around her chest, and the top three buttons were opened, exposing her chest down to her cleavage. She had a black-buckled skirt that was loose around her legs and dropped down to mid-thigh. It had a matching violet-and-white plaid pattern that went with her shirt. The best piece of her ensemble was probably her boots: high-heeled black-leather things that stretched over her knees. It left only a few inches of beautiful skin between the top of her boots and the bottom of her skirt. They were definitely “fuck-me boots.” On her left wrist were white-gold dangly bracelets that matched the buckles on the boots and skirt. She was carrying a black-leather jacket and purse in her right hand. They matched the boots, too.
“Wow, Sis, you look great!” Beth said and walked up to her. “I hope you both have a fun time tonight!” She sounded sincere, but Aimee looked cautiously at her and back at me.
“Thanks, Beth,” she said, finally smiling. “You ready to go, Eric?”
“Can I use the bathroom before we head out?” I realized I should have used that excuse to get some space between Beth and me earlier.
“Oh yeah, there’s one down the hall. First hallway on the right.” Aimee pointed. “I’ll meet you back in the kitchen area.”
I made my way out of the room in search of the bathroom. It was bigger than my whole apartment and had faucets that flowed down river stones into a natural-looking bowl. I wouldn’t have been surprised if there had been a blind dude in there handing out mints and cologne. If there had been, I would have told him about how fucked up of a situation I was in, he would have nodded sagely, offered me some wisdom, and I would have given him a great tip. But alas, I finished up and walked back to the kitchen to find Beth, Loretta, and Aimee chatting a bit.
“Okay, I am good to go,” I said with a confident thumbs up. Then I realized it probably looked kind of cheesy.
“It was great meeting you, Eric!” Beth walked toward me with her arms out, looking for a hug. Her arms circled around my neck as mine lightly circled her lower back. I could feel her squeeze me, and then her lips lightly touched my check. She whispered something Italian in my ear that made my whole body turn warm. Then she was out of my arms and walking away. She didn’t look back as she turned the corner toward the stairs.
“Nice meeting you, Eric,” Loretta called from behind the counter. I thanked her again for dinner and looked at Aimee.
“Shall we go?” I said as I walked toward the front door.
“We’ll go out this way,” she said as she pointed to the back corner by the exit outside. I gave her a puzzled look as I followed her out the back door. Then I realized I had left my shoes at the front door. Aimee waited while I got them.
The covered patio had a side walkway that led around the garden. I saw that it led to a large detached garage with eight bays. Oh that’s right; she had said we were going to take her dad’s car. She opened the side door and stepped into the garage, hitting a light switch with her left hand. I followed her inside.
There were four cars occupying the garage at the moment: a silver Lexus sedan, a white BMW convertible roadster, an amazing blue BMW M5, and the red car that Beth thought was hers, a Ferrari.
Now I wasn’t much of a car guy. I knew brands and what-not, just because it was something guys were supposed to know, like how to play football and fix a toilet. I didn’t really know which make or model of Ferrari it was, but I knew Ferraris were amazing cars. It wasn’t the traditional red you saw on the posters or books that had Ferraris on them. This was a darker, deeper red. It looked like blood. It had huge wheels that had a weird star pattern with five spokes, and I could see that the disc pads matched the color of the car. It was a two-seater with sleek lines and air vents, and it looked like it was already going 200 miles an hour even though it was sitting in the garage. All of the windows were tinted dark, so dark I couldn’t make out the interior. I thought it was illegal to get windows tinted that color. It also didn’t have a front license plate. I’m sure Aimee’s dad just paid whatever “fix-it ticket” the cops would give him. The car probably ate more in gas money a week than a ticket would cost.
“Uh oh. I knew this would happen!” Aimee said mockingly from beside me. “Tsk tsk tsk.”
“What?” I said, waking from a dream. I looked over to her. She had a smirk on her face.
“You love the car more than me, don’t you?” She started giggling. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“It’s really amazing. I don’t know much about Ferraris though. It looks fast!” I was failing to hold in my excitement. I didn’t know if Aimee would drive it fast, but it would be awesome just to take a ride in it at street speed. Some people might go their whole lives without even sitting in one of these cars! I made a slow circle around the beast, looking at it from all angles. Even the back looked fast. It had twin exhausts on each side, and the bottom looked like a solid piece of smooth black steel. Jack knew more about cars than I did. He could probably tell me what model this was, how many horsepower it had, and what its zero to sixty time was. I heard Aimee’s footsteps walk back over to the door we came through, and then the garage sliding door in front of the Ferrari opened quietly. Aimee walked back over to me.
“Here are the keys,” she said as she tossed them to me.
I almost dropped them in shock.
“Wait. I’m driving?” I think my voice cracked.
“Yeah! It’s too fast for me. I thought you would like to!” She had a dazzling smile as she opened the passenger door. Her head disappeared as she sat down quickly.
I looked at the keyfob in my hand. It was a big black piece of leather, plastic, and metal with the yellow Ferrari box and a black dancing horse. I honestly didn’t know if I could handle a car like this. What if I crashed? How much were these cars anyway? A quarter million? A half million? I didn’t even know what this bar was like. It’s not like we would be driving to Rodeo Drive to go shopping. It was going to be in North Hollywood, and probably not in a part of town where people drove Ferraris. The car might get scratched or broken into. It would be my fault. Fuck.
I opened the door and sat down in the driver’s seat. The seats were soft black leather, and it smelled divine. The driver cockpit had bright yellow dials and digital displays. There were buttons everywhere. On the left side of the steering wheel was a red “Engine Start” button, and the right side had a dial with different drive settings.
The seat hugged my body from all sides as I practically fell into it. Whoops. I didn’t realize it was that close to the ground. Aimee was putting on a seatbelt that was actually a four-point harness with yellow Ferrari logos on it. This car meant serious business.
“Listen Aimee, I don’t know if this is such a good idea. What if something happens to the car?” I was worried.
“What can happen?” She looked at me with a smile.
“What if we get into an accident, or the car gets stolen, or something happens to it at the bar?” I thought of 100 things that could happen while the car was my responsibility.
Rock God_Book 1_A Contemporary Harem Fantasy Page 18