After arriving home, I was soaking wet because of the rain so I took a nice, hot shower to warm up. Not bothering to fix my hair, I let it air dry, so it was a chaotic mess as a result. It wasn’t like anyone was going to see me anyway.
My phone vibrated and I looked down and smiled when I saw that it was a text from Michael.
Hey, Princess. How are you holding up?
I adjusted my position so I could text him back. I’m ok, I guess. Today was just hard. How is work?
Work is work. I’m about to leave now. Are you at home?
I smiled. Yes. Why?
If he said he wanted to see me, I’d have to high-tail it to the bathroom and put some makeup on and fix my hair quickly. A few minutes passed and Michael still didn’t respond to my text. Dejectedly, I tossed my phone on the coffee table and cuddled back into the couch. A heavy rap on my door caused me to jump and release a small shriek. With my heart racing, I grabbed my blanket and wrapped it around myself as I padded over to the door to see who it was.
Opening the door, I gasped as I saw Michael standing there. His dark hair was drenched with rain and it fell sexily into his green eyes. He was dressed in a blue button-up dress shirt with a silky black tie and he looked like sex on legs. And I… well, I looked like shit.
“Can I come in?” Michael spoke in a husky voice and smirked.
“Umm, yeah. Sure.” I took a step back and let him inside.
After closing the door, I turned to look at him and froze. He was staring at me intensely.
“A little warning would have been nice.” I joked. “I look like something that just crawled out of the gutter.” Beneath the joking tone, there were nerves. Michael hadn’t seen me like this before. I always looked utterly fabulous when I saw him.
The smirk that I liked so much appeared on his handsome face. “And ruin the surprise? I think not, Angel.” He walked toward me and wrapped his arms around my waist. “You look beautiful.”
I scoffed, but inwardly melted. “You’ve never seen me without makeup before. And, well, look at me. I’m dressed in a blanket, baggy sleep pants, and Spongebob Squarepants house shoes.”
His gaze roamed down my body appreciatively and I felt my cheeks heat. “I think you look delicious,” he said and leaned down to kiss my neck. “I’ve never been a fan of Spongebob, but I have a feeling you can convert me.”
I swallowed as his lips moved along my neck. My dick was stirring to life and the lust inside me was clawing to get out. Trying to change the subject, I said a little breathlessly, “You sent the lilies to my mom’s grave, didn’t you?”
Michael lifted his face from my throat and glanced at me before looking down. “I hope I didn’t cross a line. I just wanted to do something special for you and your family.”
“It was perfect. Thank you.” My heart swelled– as well as something else– as he looked back at me and gave me a devilishly handsome smile.
“I’m glad you liked it,” he said before leaning down to my neck again. He smelled like a mixture of rain and pure manly perfection.
I bit my lip as he continued kissing my neck and found the spot that made me weak in the knees. Wrapping my arms firmly around his neck, I pulled him closer against me, causing him to stop kissing and freeze. Damn, I did it again.
The reason why he didn’t like me to touch him baffled the hell out of me, but he promised me he would tell me everything eventually. I immediately withdrew my arms from him and the blanket I was wrapped in fell to the floor.
“I’m sorry, Michael.”
He tilted his head up from the hollow of my neck and looked at me. “Soon, you’ll understand. But, I can’t tell you right now.” His eyes were pained and he took a step back from me, heading for the door.
“Don’t go.” Reaching out, I grabbed his hand. “I’ll be patient, I promise. But you can’t just take off every time something happens. You’ve got to stop running and have a little faith in me.”
“You deserve better than this.” He spoke in a soft voice and squared his jaw, as he released my hand. “I don’t know if I can be the man you need.”
“Michael, don’t start that shit again or I will take off my Spongebob slipper and spank your ass with it.” I raised my eyebrows at him and put my hand on my hip.
It worked.
He chuckled and shook his head. “How do you do that to me? You always find a way to pull me back into the light when I find myself in a dark place.”
“Maybe I am an angel,” I said with a smile, knowing that I was full of shit. Reaching down, I picked my blanket up from the floor and grabbed his hand again. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?” He asked cautiously as I led him to the couch.
“It’s time for you to get acquainted with my four best friends.” I plopped down on the couch and then patted the cushion beside me. Michael’s brow creased briefly, but then he gave me a small smile and took a seat. Once he was seated, I cuddled up next to him and covered us both with the blanket.
Hesitantly, he put an arm around me and cradled me against him. I felt his body stiffen as I laid my head on his chest. “Is this okay?”
He was quiet for a second before answering. “Yes,” his voice wavered. I was going to move, but when I glanced up at him, he was smiling down at me with a determined look.
He was trying. For me.
We watched Sex and the City for hours as we cuddled on the couch. Michael really took a liking to Samantha Jones, saying that she was a woman who knew what she wanted out of life and wasn’t swayed by societal norms of how a woman should act. Her over-the-top and incredibly funny sex scenes in the show and her sassy attitude were deciding factors of her being his favorite. I was just thrilled that he actually seemed to enjoy the show.
Occasionally, our mouths would find each other and we would forget all about the TV, but we never took it further than kissing. A part of me liked the idea of us taking things slow and working on building a relationship based on more than just sex. I really opened up to Michael, and the ‘no sex’ rule gave us more time to get to know each other on a deeper level.
The other part of me was horny as fuck and wanted to get laid now.
Michael was worth the wait, though. I only hoped that whatever secret he was hiding wouldn’t destroy us when he finally revealed it to me.
Chapter Sixteen
Michael
Everything was consumed by darkness. The sky was black, with not even the moon or stars to illuminate the earth below. But, the dreariness was deeper than that. Darkness was everywhere and seeped into me, into my soul, wrapping around my insides and cackling menacingly as I was pulled under the wave of hopelessness.
Silence weighed heavily on me as I stood in the middle of a wasteland. Tall stacks of smoke billowed all around me and filled my lungs with toxins. I was being suffocated. My throat was clogged and my breaths came out in small gasps. Turning my head, I observed my surroundings in an attempt to distract myself from my smothering despair, but everything was unfamiliar. I was outside, but that’s all I knew for certain.
Cold air jabbed into me like a thousand small knives as I walked across the scorched earth, with no direction in mind. I was lost. A lost vessel in a sea of chaos.
That’s when I saw it. Hope.
Within the depths of the darkness, a single white rose suddenly grew from the ashes of the charred ground. A dazzling light surrounded it as its petals fanned out, giving it an ethereal glow that silently beckoned to me. The suffocation in my lungs ceased at that moment, releasing me from death’s icy grip.
As I approached the rose, its light grew more intense until I had to shield my eyes from the full force of it. Once I lowered my arms and glanced back down at the rose, it was gone. But something else was in its place.
Gabriel.
He sat where the rose once stood and peered up at me with concerned blue eyes. A white, flowing robe drifted around him, encircling his body. His eyes held a ghostly glow as he watched me, but he didn’t
say a word, he just sat in silence. The delicate frame of his body was luminescent and gave off a glimmering light. Just like an angel.
“Gabriel?” My voice came out muffled, as if I was speaking from underwater.
“Michael…” he whispered my name, his voice coming from all directions and echoing throughout all the corners of my mind. “Don’t hide from me anymore.”
“Angel, I don’t know how to tell you. To show you.” Each time I spoke, my words became clearer, as if I was rising up from the crushing weight of the tide that was pulling me under.
His eyes grew sad as he slowly began to fade away. “Then you will lose me…”
“No! Don’t leave me. Please!” I fell to my knees and tried to grab onto him, but my hands just swept right through his body. Panicked, I screamed his name as his head turned to solemnly gaze at me. And then he faded away. He was gone, leaving nothing behind except for ashes that slowly drifted away with the soft breeze.
And I was left in darkness. This time of my own making.
***
Sitting at my desk, I stared blankly out the window as I remembered my dream from the night before. I knew what it was trying to tell me, that I needed to tell Gabriel the truth soon or I’d lose him forever. He was being patient with me, but that would only last so long before he snapped to his senses and left.
Gabriel and I had been seeing each other for a little over three weeks, and I still hadn’t told him the truth about me. A fact that had obviously subconsciously caused one of the worst nightmares I had ever had– him leaving me. Not a day within those three weeks did we go without seeing each other, though, and I felt closer to him than I ever thought possible, which both terrified and excited me at the same time.
I took him out to dinner or ordered dinner in every single night, went out to the movies, bowling, and I even took him to the Fall Festival that our town held every year. He loved the Ferris wheel at the Festival, and I loved making out with him at the top of it. So it was a win-win for both of us.
We did everything that normal couples usually did, and it felt incredible. I gave in to him a little within those weeks and broke my ‘just kissing’ rule. We still hadn’t had sex again, but I gave him countless blowjobs. His dick was just too perfect not to touch. I hadn’t allowed him to touch me, though, even though he had given me his famous pout.
Most importantly, within those three weeks, we talked constantly and I felt like I knew him better than I had ever known anyone before. Apart from my shady past, I opened up to Gabriel and told him things about myself that I had never told another soul.
He even told his brother and father about me, as well as his friend Melissa. I hadn’t met them yet, but Gabriel wanted me to meet them very soon. He told me that he wanted me to meet them over the Thanksgiving holiday– which was a little over a week away.
That’s why I was going to tell, and show, him everything. Tonight.
I didn’t want to meet anyone close to him until he knew the real me. That way, if he decided he didn’t want to be a part of my life any longer, no one else would be affected with the decision.
When five o’clock rolled around, I left the office and drove home. Gabriel had never been to my house before. We always went to his apartment when we were together. So I asked him to come over that evening when he got off work and finished with his music lesson. Any other time, I would have picked him up and brought him there myself, but I wanted him to have his car just in case he wanted to make a quick exit.
After starting dinner, I erratically tapped my fingers on the counter in the kitchen as I stared out the window. My nerves were shot. Anxiety spread through me as I thought about Gabriel seeing my scars. Would he still want me? I think he expected that tonight was important and would be a pivotal moment in our relationship. He sounded both nervous and excited over the phone when I asked him to come over and to bring an overnight bag to stay the night. We had never stayed an entire night together, so I knew he suspected something.
My angel had been patient for too long, it was time to finally give him the answers he deserved.
My phone rang and my stomach fluttered with nerves. It was Gabriel.
“Hello?” I answered, trying to hide the nerves in my voice.
“I have no idea where the hell I am. I think I’m lost. You live out in the freakin’ middle of nowhere.”
I smiled. “Are you a damsel in distress in need of rescuing?”
“As if,” he scoffed. “I just drove past a creepy looking barn that looked like it could be some serial killer’s secret hideout. Am I close yet?”
Picturing the barn he was talking about, I grinned and answered, “If that barn had an old red truck in front of it, yes you’re close. Make a left at the next road and drive all the way down until the road ends. You’ll see my house from there.”
“Michael, I swear on Prada that if I get murdered out here, I’m coming back to haunt you.”
I barked out a laugh and hung up the phone. He would be here any minute and I needed to finish dinner. Something I discovered about Gabriel was that he was a vegetarian, so I went online and googled vegetarian dishes. I found one called Roasted Asparagus and Tomato Penne Salad that sounded decent and the preparation was simple enough. After the pasta was cooked, I put the asparagus, tomato and other ingredients in a pan to bake in the oven. After the appropriate time passed, I removed the pan and let it sit for a few minutes to cool. Getting out a few plates and silverware, I set the table and squint my eyes as I looked over everything.
Fuck, I was a nervous wreck.
Hearing a car pull up in my driveway, I glanced out the window and saw Gabriel’s pink Volkswagen Beetle. With one last look at the table, I walked toward the front door and opened it. Gabriel had just stepped out of his car, wobbling on stiletto heels as the gravel underneath him off-set his balance.
I grinned.
“Need help there, Princess?” I crossed my arms and leaned against the door frame.
He looked up at me and stuck his tongue out. “Very funny. If you didn’t live like a country bumpkin, I wouldn’t be having this issue.”
As he finally made it to my porch, I stepped forward and brought him into my arms. “You look fucking amazing.”
And he did. His short blond hair was neatly fixed, with his bangs a little longer and swooped to the side. Recently, he put teal highlights in his hair and it looked damn sexy. He was wearing black pleather pants, a white blouse with a black Sahrel leather jacket pulled over it, and purple spiked heels with studs on them. A glittery, purple eye shadow was on his eyelids and his pale blue eyes were smoldering. His lavender scent filled my senses and I leaned down to nuzzle his neck, finding that spot that I knew drove him crazy.
“You hungry?” I asked with my face still buried in his neck.
“Uh… not for food.” He tilted his head back and then pouted when I pulled away. “You’re such a tease.”
“You love it,” I smirked. Grabbing his hand, I led him inside.
“Wow, I might give you a hard time for living all the way out here, but your house is gorgeous.” Gabriel held onto my hand and slowly swung it back and forth as he looked around.
“Thank you.” I brought his hand up and kissed it. “I like living out here away from everything. It’s secluded and surrounded by countryside, but town is only about ten minutes away if I need anything.”
“Sounds perfect.” He stopped looking around and turned toward me with a breathtaking smile.
What would I do if he chose to leave me after tonight? The thought of never seeing that smile again crushed me.
“Would you like to eat first, or take a tour of the house?” I asked, attempting to make my tone light.
“Well, whatever you have cooking smells wonderful. So, I vote on dinner first.” He smiled at me and started swinging our hands again.
“As Your Majesty commands.” I bowed and grinned when he playfully slapped my arm.
Still holding his hand, I led him to the
kitchen and sat him down at the table. I walked over to the oven and dumped the contents of the pan into a large bowl with the pasta and arugula. Once it was well mixed, I sprinkled some goat cheese on the top for a finishing touch.
I hoped he liked it. I was definitely no chef.
“I can’t believe you made me dinner,” Gabriel said, shocked, as he glanced at the food I had just placed on the table. “And it looks fancy.”
“Nah, it’s nothing fancy. And if it tastes like shit, we can order a pizza. Deal?” I smirked at him, causing him to giggle.
I poured us each a glass of wine and made sure Gabriel had everything he needed before picking up my fork and taking a bite.
Damn, it actually tasted good.
“How did your cello lesson go?” I asked after swallowing my bite.
“It went great,” he answered after taking a sip of wine. “I only have a few more lessons left and then I’m done. I’m just glad I started playing again. I missed it.”
“I don’t see how you do it. When you practice in front of me, it always blows me away.” I chuckled as he looked at me smugly. “Hey, now, don’t get a big head or your princess crown won’t fit anymore.”
“You love it,” he repeated the same words I had said to him earlier and stuck his tongue out at me.
“Touché, Princess,” I shook my head and took another bite of food. “But if you keep sticking that tongue out at me, I might just have to bite it.”
Giving me a sassy grin, he replied, “Not if I bite you first.”
My dick jerked at the image his words created. Damn, I wanted him right here on this table. Shifting in my seat, I averted my gaze from him and took a rather large sip of wine. My nerves were still shot to shit and I needed all the liquid courage I could muster if I was going to go through with my plan.
***
After dinner, I took Gabriel on a tour of my house. I showed him the inside of the house, which was nothing remarkable, but he seemed to love it. It was just a simple two-bedroom country-styled house, but compared to his tiny apartment, he thought it was massive and fabulous– his word, not mine. Wanting to show him the view from the outside, I told him to bundle up. The November night was very chilly and I didn’t want him to get sick.
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