Like a Bird

by Varga, Laurie

  - -

  “I just want you to be careful,” Elise said to Gareth as they stood outside the front door while the helicopter waited on the landing pad. “I don’t understand your lifestyle, but it’s your choice, I guess. Though it would be a shame if anything happened to Sky.” Ellie paused to take a breath. “Anyway, you seem to be doing better. It’s nice to see signs of the brother I knew.”

  “It’ll never be the way it was before,” Gareth retorted.

  “I know, that’s not what I mean. I’m referring to the person I know you can be. I think Sky is good for you. At least she’s not a blond carbon copy of your ex like Jay was.”

  Gareth stiffened and cleared his throat. “Thanks for the house call, doc. Please send your invoice to my assistant.”

  “Shut up,” Ellie said and playfully shoved Gareth’s shoulder.

  He forced a grin and she smiled back at him before walking to her ride back to the city. The clicking of her pumps on the stone pathway echoed into the woods.

  - -

  The essence of Elise still filled the isolated house the next morning. Sky had found a shady spot to read in the garden, and Gareth sat at his desk reading the morning financial news. He stopped to check his e-mail and noticed an automated message from Kitty, alerting him that a new video was available.

  Gareth’s finger hovered over the button for a moment before he clicked on the link. A bright and smiling Kitty appeared wearing nothing but a blue bikini with white dots. Gareth leaned in to get a better look and turned the volume down. He studied the bulge of her breasts and the soft curve of her hips as she sat perched on her desk chair. He watched her lips moving as she read her e-mail. She pushed her bright hair back and Gareth’s lips pulled into a crooked smile.

  The video screen went blank and Gareth closed his office door. He sat back down at his computer and replayed Kitty’s video, blowing her up for a full-screen experience. Kitty went through the motions again and again, her breasts bouncing as she threw her hands up in the air. With each viewing Gareth focused on a different part of her.

  On the third replay he flipped open the button on his jeans and pulled down his zipper. His phone rang and displayed a message from Louis, which he ignored.

  I’m here! This is it. One week of no phone so I’m saying good-bye for now. Wish me luck!

  - -

  Kitty woke up stoked. She padded into the kitchen in her fluffy robe and sat down to a bowl of cereal. While scooping it into her mouth she checked her phone; there was still no message from Gareth. She put down her spoon and scanned through her photo album to locate the shots she’d taken of him when he wasn’t looking. Though most were blurry, taken in a rush to avoid getting caught, in one clear shot, Gareth lay sleeping in the early morning and Kitty zoomed in to focus on his hands. Her eyes followed the contours of the scars on his left arm, the rough topography she had enjoyed running her fingertips over.

  Kitty put her phone down and played with her soggy cereal. She returned to her room to check the activity on her site and discovered there was a lot of buzz about her latest venture.

  She peeked at her income stats to see how many T-shirts she might have sold in the hope there would be just enough to make her rent next month. Kitty’s eyes widened when she saw the figures rolling in. Overnight her fans had donated over two grand to her Karnivore by Kitty project.

  “Holy, fuck!” She brought her fingertips to her lips. “This is real,” she whispered to herself. She opened her e-mail to send a note to Creep.

  Hey honey,

  You’re not going to believe how well things are going. The Prowlers are totally coming through! Now we actually need to produce something and I don’t even know where to start. Help!

  XOXO

  Kitty

  Kitty hit Send and noticed a new message from Dream Date. Someone had left a message on her profile.

  Hello beautiful,

  You look like a lot of fun and I could use a little bright spot like you in my life. I’m an open-minded guy with extensive resources and I’d like to show you a good time. Send me a note if you’re interested.

  — George

  Kitty did a little groove in her chair. She hopped up from her desk chair and danced on the layer of clothes cluttering the floor.

  - -

  “Two grand probably isn’t enough to get started,” Creep pointed out, as he ran his finger around the rim of his coffee mug.

  “It’s three grand now,” Kitty corrected.

  “Whatever, you need a bit more to cover your living expenses plus the fees to have samples made. Unless you can make them yourself, but you can’t sew.”

  “Mm, yeah. I can’t sew for shit. And I don’t want to. I’ve made a few sketches but I don’t know where to take them.” Kitty pulled a notebook from her purse and slid it across the table to Creep. He flipped through a few pages and stopped on one.

  “I like this one. These sketches are pretty good. I didn’t know you could draw.”

  “Me neither,” Kitty admitted. She sipped her latte and licked the foam off her lips.

  “Well, there are people who can make patterns and all that, but we need to figure out the costs and crunch the numbers. In the meantime, you need to do more detailed drawings and keep the funds coming in.”

  Kitty sighed heavily and took back her notebook.

  “Did you hear back from Gareth?” Creep asked.

  Kitty solemnly shook her head.

  “Well, maybe he didn’t get your message. Call him again,” he suggested.

  “I don’t want to seem desperate,” Kitty replied.

  Creep thought for a moment. “Maybe you need to appeal to a different side of him. The business side. Tell him you have a little venture you want to talk about. I don’t know this guy, you do. You know what he likes.”

  “I thought I did,” Kitty said.

  They silently watched people stream in and out of the café. Creep excused himself to keep an appointment, leaving Kitty on her own. She ordered another latte with a scone and watched people passing in a blur. She pulled out her notebook and tapped her pencil on a blank page. She wrote Gareth’s name at the top but couldn’t put any other words down. More coffee and scone didn’t help, the page remained empty. She drew a simple happy face under his name, an odd contrast that made her feel fuzzy. She picked up her phone and sent him a short message.

  Call me, I have a business venture I need help with

  — xo

  Kitty returned to her breakfast. When her cup was dry and her plate littered with crumbs, she packed up her bag and headed for home. The phone rang as she dropped it into the bag. She scrambled to fish it out again. Gareth had responded.

  Tell me more.

  Blood rushed to Kitty’s cheeks and her groin. She hurried back to her apartment, and by the time she reached the front door her crotch was wet.

  - -

  A rhythmic whack, whack, whack came from the kitchen, and Sky poked her head around the corner to see Takao neatly slaughtering vegetables. She waited for him to notice her. Vegetables continued to fall prey to his sharp blade as he chopped, deep in meditation, his gaze unflinching. He picked up the cutting board and slid the brightly colored pieces into a wok.

  When Sky shifted her weight, Takao saw the movement out of the corner of his eye. He smiled brightly at her. “Sky! Hello. I didn’t know you were there. Are you hungry?”

  Sky shook her head. “I was just wondering if you had any scissors I could borrow. I want to cut some things out of a magazine.”

  “Oh, sure. No problem.” He wiped his hands on a towel. Takao opened a drawer and pulled a large pair of scissors out of a sharpening stone. The polished steel reflected everything around it like a mirror. Sky’s eyes widened.

  “They are quite large, but I think they are the only ones I have,” he said, handing them to her.

  Her hand sank under the weight of solid steel. They felt like a formidable weapon. Sky thanked him. She was just about to leave when
she thought of something else. “Oh, do you have any glue?”

  Takao frowned. “No, I don’t think so.” His face lit up, “But I do have some tape. Will that work?”

  “Yes, thank you!”

  Takao went to another drawer and found the roll of tape.

  Sky thanked him again and went into the library where magazines were spread out, ready to be disassembled.

  Right above her Gareth sat at his desk reading about pattern design and staring at pictures of women in bathing suits, all in the name of research for Kitty. After a time he rubbed his tired eye and dialed Denise. As the phone rang on the other end, he paced around the room.

  “Good morning Gareth,” Denise answered.

  “Hi Denise. I need a few things.”

  “Of course, anything you want.”

  “I need to make reservations at a restaurant, but I want something very private and exclusive. Can you find that for me?”

  “Not a problem. What date and time do you prefer? And how many people?”

  “Early next week. Maybe a Tuesday or any other day that isn’t too busy. Any time between six and eight will be fine. Make reservations for two people.”

  “OK. Is there anything else?”

  “Yeah, I need you to set up a cost analysis form to calculate the creation of one swimsuit from design to sample production. Get three different quotes, if you can.”

  “I can do that. When do you need it?”

  “The morning of my dinner reservation.”

  Denise laughed, “OK. Is that everything then?”

  “One last thing. Has that package arrived yet?”

  “Yes, it’s in and I’m having it delivered to you. It should be there by Monday.”

  “Great, thank you. Just send me a note when the reservation is made.”

  “Yes, will do. Bye Gareth.”

  Gareth hung up. There was a subtle knock at his door.

  “Come in.”

  The handle turned slowly and Sky’s head appeared in the small opening she allowed.

  “What do you need?” Gareth asked.

  “Just wondering if you wanted a little break.”

  Gareth’s lip turned up in a subtle grin and he signaled for her to come in. Sky slipped into the room and shut the door behind her. Her tight black T-shirt revealed the soft indentation of her navel. She sauntered over to him and he held out his hand to pull her closer. As Gareth leaned down to kiss Sky, she reached up to hold his head in her small hand. Their kiss was interrupted when his hair snuck between them, and Gareth, slightly annoyed, brushed it out of the way, revealing the badly scarred side of his face. Sky couldn’t help but look.

  “Does it bother you?” Gareth asked.

  “No.” Sky looked up at him with eager eyes and a reassuring smile. She touched the perfect half of his face with her hand.

  “Does my arm bother you?” she asked, lifting her stump a little.

  Gareth shook his head. “Of course not. But it’s not the same. You don’t look like a monster.” Gareth brushed her cheek.

  “You don’t look like a monster, either,” Sky assured him softly and stood on her tiptoes to reach his lips. Gareth pressed his warm lips into hers and wrapped his arm around her back to pull her in tight. He slid his hand under her bottom to lift her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He settled in a leather chair in front of the fireplace.

  Sky continued kissing him down his front, in a straight line for his groin, while wiggling her way off his lap and kneeling on the floor. Gareth leaned back and brought one hand to her head, weaving his fingers into her hair. With his other hand he helped Sky free him from his jeans and she slipped him into her mouth.

  Gareth was ripe from his morning research, and it didn’t take long for Sky to manipulate him with her wet mouth and skilled tongue. She worked him into a shivering release and swallowed the salty liquid. As he regained his breath on the chair, she wiped her mouth and handed a tissue to Gareth. His phone rang on his desk and Sky picked it up to pass it to him. It was impossible not to notice the picture of the pretty girl with pink hair and the name Katherine in bold letters on the screen.

  Sky handed the phone to Gareth, pretending to keep her eyes averted from his private message and held a frozen grin on her face to mask her dismay.

  Gareth grabbed the phone from her and glanced at the message. “You can go now.”

  Sky nodded once. She walked out of the room, inviting Gareth to catch a good look at her ass and the winged tattoo floating above the waist of her low-slung jeans before she closed the door behind her.

  With Gareth holed up in his office for the rest of the day, Sky tried to entertain herself by cutting beautiful pictures out of magazines and taping them to the wall of her room. The lean, elegant figures and exotic locations had excited her before, but now they aggravated a knot in her stomach. Though Wisdom joined her as she wandered about the property, the ache of loneliness and boredom ran through her veins like poison. Every minute until nightfall felt like an hour.

  Gareth didn’t join Sky for dinner, so she sat in the dining room alone and fed most of her meal to Wisdom, except the salad because the wolf wouldn’t touch it. Each time Takao appeared, she smiled in desperate hope he would offer her some wine, but he didn’t. Sky slid away from the table and went upstairs to shower. She felt ill and threw up a bit of her salad in the sink. She rested her hand and head on the cool tap, waiting for the nausea to pass and then wearily went to the shower to turn on the cold water. The cool mist pricked her skin like tiny needles as she undressed, and she took a breath before stepping into the icy stream of water. The cold shower snapped her out of her dizzy spell and made her nipples stand out so hard and fast they hurt. After a few minutes of pain, she adjusted to the temperature and relaxed into the sensation, though her skin was taut and rough with goose bumps.

  When she had dried her hair and slipped into an old T-shirt, she collapsed on Gareth’s bed. It was hard to sleep in the sunlit space, so she got up to pull the curtains shut, overlapping them carefully to keep out all the light. In the darkness she was able to fool herself into thinking it was time to sleep, and she drifted off with Wisdom resting beside the bed.

  At some dark hour she woke to find Gareth trying to penetrate her from behind. She was groggy and remained limp as he massaged her with the tip of his cock. When she was damp enough to enter, he filled her up completely and bumped against her ass until he was close to release. He pulled out slightly and stopped to press his lips into her neck and shoulder while he squeezed her breasts. She moaned so softly she could barely be heard above Gareth’s excited breath and deep groans. He slid in and out of her, slowly, until he was nearly complete. Closing in on his satisfaction, he increased his pace and hit her harder until he shuddered and filled her up. Sky lay quiet and didn’t move until Gareth fell asleep next to her.

  When his breathing was deep and regular she moved like a translucent ghost and floated to the side table where she carefully picked up the gleaming pair of scissors concealed in the drawer. She kneeled on the bed and inched toward Gareth. Sky leaned over to carefully locate his silhouette in the near darkness. He grunted and stirred, causing Sky to nearly drop the heavy scissors on his chest. He rolled from his side to his back, but she didn’t breathe again until he remained still for a long moment. Sky closed her eyes and inhaled a clean round of fresh air.

  - -

  Even though her dinner meeting with Gareth was a few days away, Kitty woke at four in the morning to begin planning her wardrobe. She performed an entire closet inventory and chose absolutely nothing. There wasn’t one suitable dress among the impressive pile of clothes she had just formed. She did find something for her first date with Angelo, a smooth-talking consultant who had contacted her through Dream Date. This girl, Kitty had decided, was not going to put all her eggs in one basket anymore. Besides, the more funding she could secure, the better.

  Kitty held up the simple blue dress she planned to wear to her lunch with
Angelo, when she was struck with an idea. She hung the dress on the back of her door and hung the rest of the pile back into the closet by the armful. At her computer, she reread the list of sales strategies she had composed the night before. She whispered them aloud to make sure they were etched in her brain: authenticity, benefits, demand, social proof, scarcity, value.

  “Oh and sex! Sex sells, why isn’t that on my list?” she said aloud, typing it in. Kitty glanced at the time: 5:00 a.m. She threw her head back and groaned. “I can’t believe I’ve only killed an hour!”

  Kitty pulled out a small dictionary from her desk. She opened the book to a random page and started reading. Shortly thereafter, her book failed to keep her interest and she passed out with the dictionary resting in her lap.

  - -

  In the darkness of his bedroom, Gareth lay motionless on the bed. Only a few slivers of morning light fought to enter through the small cracks that appeared in the night between the curtains.

  Sky sat in the dining room waiting for a bowl of cereal. She nervously bounced her knee and and listened for Gareth.

  “You’re up early,” Takao observed as he placed a bowl of brightly colored cereal and pitcher of milk before Sky. Her hand shook as she poured and the milk sloshed into the bowl. She wiped her sweaty palm on her shorts. It was already hot and the day was just getting started.

  Gareth’s eye fluttered before it opened fully though he could see almost nothing. As he rolled from his side to his back he frowned at a strange sensation he couldn’t identify. He curled into a sitting position and noticed his head felt lighter. His hands quickly discovered much of his hair had been hacked off.