Cooper moans listening to Belladonna. Belladonna finally bites Cooper. You can have whatever you want, my Queen. I want you all night tonight. I always do. I can never get enough of you. I love you so much.
Belladonna bites Cooper again. Everything is going to be okay. As long as we’re okay everything is going to be okay. I love you. I love you more than anything. You are my world. My entire world. Everything is good. Perfect.
They are going as fast as they can then they crash into each other.
Pete, Belladonna, and Mercedes go out to finish their Christmas shopping. Belladonna has to be at work after she gets done. “This is insane,” Pete says.
“I’m almost done and then we’re done,” Belladonna says.
“Then you get to go to work and deal with the craziness,” Mercedes points out.
“Yes, I know but it will be fine.”
“Fine my butt. You are married to a rich man take advantage of it,” Pete says.
“It will be fine.”
“It will be fine if you take advantage of it.”
“Shh Pete.”
“I’m just pointing it out.”
“I’ll see after the first of the year.”
“You’re a fool.”
“PETE!” Mercedes yells.
“I’m trying to save her from all this.” Pete motions around at the chaos around them.
“I understand but I can’t leave them high and dry.”
“Well, that’s nice of you,” Mercedes says.
“It’s not a matter of being nice. It’s a matter of doing what is right.”
“Well, we know Pete wouldn’t.”
“Oh shhs.”
Mercedes and Belladonna laugh.
“Okay I need to go in here and I’ll be done.”
“Thank goodness,” says Pete.
“Be thankfully I already bought yours,” Belladonna says.
“I know I’m being a pain today.”
“I think that is an understatement,” Mercedes says.
While shopping they run into Criss while Ava. “Hey guys!” Ava says.
Belladonna stops shocked. “Hey you two.”
“Hello Belladonna,” Criss says.
“We’re just doing some Christmas shopping. I ran into Criss.”
“I’m sure you did,” Mercedes says.
“Well, I need to pick up something for my dad. It’s nice seeing you two,” Belladonna says. It bothers her and she needs to get out of there before she shows it.
“Okay I’ll see you later,” Ava says.
“Yep. Sure will.”
Belladonna heads towards the iPads. She gets over to them and Criss is behind her. “Bell! Slow down.”
“Criss, I have to get this and go to work. What do you want?”
Criss kisses her. Belladonna goes to stop him, but he doesn’t let her. He flashes before her their first kiss and every kiss after that. Along with their last kiss when she was eighteen/nineteen. He finally lets her break off the kiss. “Did you see everything?”
“Yes.”
“Did it seem perverse?”
“No, it did not.”
Criss touches her face. “I love you. I’ve always loved you. You’ve always loved me. I was trying to get your attention with Ava. That’s all. I’ve been with her for maybe five minutes. That’s it.”
“Criss.”
“Don’t. Just get to know me. Not Dark Queen. Just get to know me.”
“I don’t know. You’ll always want me to be your Dark Queen.”
“I’ll take it off the table.”
“No, you won’t.”
“I promise.”
“You promise?”
“No Dark Queen.”
“Criss.”
“Get to know me.”
“I was thirteen.”
“I found the person I was to spend forever with. I didn’t want to wait a moment.”
“Thirteen.”
“Age means nothing to me.”
“Age means a lot to me.”
“Get to know me and ignore that.”
“Criss I can’t.”
“Please try.” Criss touches her temple.
“Criss.”
“With a touch you could forget it and see what we could be.”
“Criss.”
“Say the word.”
“I can’t.”
“I will.”
“Criss!”
“Oblivisci.”
Before it can take effect Gatlin shows up and moves Belladonna out of the way. “I don’t think so brother.”
“Criss?”
“It’s nothing Belladonna.”
“Did you do?” Gatlin asks.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Belladonna, do you remember anything from the age of thirteen?”
“Yes, Criss well. Anyway.”
“Okay.”
“I told you I didn’t.”
“You were about to.”
“I didn’t.”
“Can someone tell me what is going on?”
“Criss was about to erase your memories.”
“Criss?”
“I was just going to erase thirteen.”
“Why?”
“Can we talk about this alone?”
“No because you’ll erase her memories.”
“Gatlin, I didn’t do anything.”
“Because I stopped you.”
“Listen, you two I have to finish shopping. Gatlin, thank you for stopping Criss. Criss, we’ll talk later.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Fine.”
Belladonna grabs what she needs then walks towards Mercedes and Pete. Gatlin and Criss stare at each other. “You really thought erasing her memories would be the best thing?”
“One memory.”
“You can’t solve things that way.”
“I realize that.”
“You are really the bad guy.”
“Thank you.” His eyes turn black.
Gatlin's eyes turn silver, and he smiles.
“What the hell are you?”
“Guess you’ll have to find out.” Gatlin turns around and walks out.
The bookstore is a madhouse. Belladonna is working register and is beyond busy. She helps the next customer who is Nicolae. She smiles at him. “Hello stranger.”
“Hello yourself.”
“I think you may have bought out the store.”
“I was trying to.”
“Well,
I think you came close.”
“Can you not pay close attention to all the books a couple are for you.”
“I will not pay close attention.”
“Thank you.”
“What have you been up to?”
“Starting to pack since we’ll be moving into a new house.”
“Yes, we will.”
“I guess we just don’t know with who.”
“Yes, very true.”
“It’s confusing.”
“You’re telling me.”
“I guess you have a point.”
“Three hundred forty-seven dollar and twenty-six cents.”
“I’ll use my card.”
“Okay. Here’s your receipt.”
“I have something for you. Real quick.”
“Okay. What is this?”
“It’s a credit card in your name.”
“Nicolae.”
“Take it. We’ll talk about it later.”
“Okay.”
Belladonna gets off the register and is working the floor when she sees Gatlin. “Gatlin!”
“Bell. How are you?”
“I’m doing well. How are you?”
“I’m doing good. I wanted to see you.”
“It’s not exactly a good time.”
“Well soon you’ll go home to Cooper and I won’t be able to see you at all.”
“You have a point there.”
“I thought I did.”
“Wha
t can I help you with Gatlin?”
“I would like you to spend some time with me tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.”
“Give me a couple hours.”
“Okay a couple hours.”
“Thank you.”
“Gatlin?”
“Yes Bell?”
“Can you show me what you remember about us?”
“Yes, I’d love to.”
“Can you show me now?”
“Yes. Go somewhere you can sit.”
Belladonna goes to the back corner of the store where it wasn’t busy. Gatlin touches her temple and whispers. She closes her eyes.
She sees it when Gatlin first sees her. How beautiful he thought she was. All their inside jokes. Their dreams for the future. How he was going to train people who were fae while she went to college. He would only train people near school. The small wedding they planned on having. How worried he was about his brother. The special bond they had. It was different from a normal claim that it could never be broken. He knew his brother would be coming. When his brother wiped out her memories he nearly died. He didn’t know how he was going to go on. Belladonna watched their whole romance in such detail. She was so in love with Gatlin. It was however nothing compared to her love for Cooper.
She comes to after the vision and looks at Gatlin. He looks scared. She reaches over and kisses him. He kisses her with everything he has. She ends the kiss. “I have to work. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” he says.
Belladonna goes back to work. Little does she know that Criss is watching the exchange. He rips a book in half and storms out of the bookstore.
Chapter 10
The bed is covered in blue sheets. She is a bit shocked to be waking up in the comfortable bed. Criss is staring at her. He looks utterly defeated. She didn’t hear from him after getting off work. “What’s wrong Criss?”
“I love you.”
“That’s a problem?”
“Yes, I think it is.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“You kissed Gatlin.”
“You were in the bookstore.”
“Yes. Why did you kiss him? You kiss me.”
“Criss, I learned that everything I thought was you was him.”
“So, you kissed him?”
“Yes.”
“Dear gods. You kiss me not him.”
“Criss you can’t dictate who I kiss.”
Criss starts kissing Belladonna. She goes to push herself away and Criss won’t allow her. He lays her down on the bed so it’s even more difficult for her to fight him. I want you to be mine. Not his. Never his. I can’t stand your mouth being on his. Your thoughts being of him. I need to be yours. Let me be yours.
Criss finally lets go of Belladonna. She just stares at Criss like he is insane. “You don’t let me be me. Make my own decisions. You think I’m thirteen still. I’m going to go.”
“NO BELLADONNA! STAY!”
But Belladonna is gone. She wakes up next to Cooper and she is crying. Cooper scoops Belladonna up and holds her. “What’s wrong, my Queen? What happened?”
“Criss would let me go. He kept kissing me and wouldn’t let me leave. Then told me I’m not allowed to kiss Gatlin. That my mouth needed to be on him as well as my thoughts. He needed to be mine and I needed to be his. It was insane. He treated me like I was thirteen.”
“Belladonna, I’m so sorry.”
“I don’t need this. It’s insane. The whole thing is insane.”
“I know it is. You don’t need it. Let them both go.”
“I might have to.”
“We have each other.”
“You’re right.”
Gatlin and Belladonna are at his condo the next day. She sees pictures of them throughout the living room. “I guess I don’t have to doubt we were a couple.”
“No, I guess you don’t. I should have put them up. I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s comforting actually to see it’s real.”
“Good. I wasn’t sure what you’d think of it.”
“I find it to be “real”. To see it in print.”
“I’m happy you say that. I was afraid you’d think it was freaky or something.”
“Not in the least. How did the picture not get erased?”
“I have no idea, but they didn’t. I still don’t know how they didn’t.”
“Is that my prom?”
“Yes, it is.”
“I thought originally I went alone. I now know we went together. Where my one teacher tried hitting on you.” Belladonna laughs.
“Yes, your Spanish teacher.”
“Yes, I remember.”
“That was one of the stranger incidents of my life.”
“Oh, come on you’ve had people hit on you.”
“Never my fiancé teacher.”
“Oh, come on you were interested,” Belladonna teases.
“Not on your life.”
Belladonna laughs. “Just admit that’s where you’ve been for the past four years.”
Gatlin starts tickling Belladonna. “This is what I think of that. Yes, it is. Beg for mercy yet?”
“Please stop please.” Belladonna laughs curled up in a ball.
“I don’t know I spent four years learning Spanish.”
Belladonna is laughing harder. Gatlin is laughing and tickling her. He finally stops. He is directly over top of Belladonna. She reaches up and begins to kiss Gatlin. He lays down on top of her. She runs her hands all over his body. He kisses her neck and ear. He lets out a soft moan. She takes off his shirt. She kisses all over his chest. Gatlin pulls her up and kisses her neck. “You can bite me,” she says.
“I don’t want to do that right now.”
“Didn’t I make a promise to you. To sustain you every day.”
“Yes, sweetie you did. I missed you so damn bad.”
“Bite me.”
Gatlin bites her. “Thank you. I took extra. I’m sorry it’s just been so long.”
“So long since you had me or so long since you’ve had blood.”
“Both.”
“Gatlin, you don’t have to do without anymore.”
Gatlin moves his hand up her skirt playing with her clit. Making her wetter. Gatlin softly says, “Bite me.”
Belladonna bites him and immediately falls in love with the taste of him. I missed tasting you. You taste like strawberries. You are perfect. You are perfect for me. Ignore everything that he has said to you. He enjoys mind games. He is famous for them. He just wants you as his bride. He still sees you as a thirteen-year-old girl.
Belladonna cums and Gatlin licks his fingers. He takes off her skirt and panties then begin sucking on her clit. She moans for him. She hears in her head. “God you taste so good. I could do this for hours if you’d let me. I missed you. I can’t express that enough. How badly I missed you. How much I love you. I love you more than anything in this world. You are my universe. Never forget that. God baby you are too much for me. I want you so bad. I have waited so long for you. I’ve been completely faithful to you. Not one kiss, touch, anything. I’m yours. I am married to you. I want to be faithful. I am a part of you. This is no choice in this world but to only have you. I’ve what I’ve always wanted.”
“I love you. I can’t believe I forgot for all these years. That breaks my heart. I don’t know where exactly you fit in my life, but I know you have a spot.”
“I know you are the most important thing in this world to me.”
Belladonna cums and goes down on Gatlin. She can barely wait another minute for him. He moans and calls her name. She brings him to climax, and Gatlin kisses her. They kiss for a while longer than Belladonna starts getting dressed. Gatlin says nothing about it but puts on his boxers and holds onto Belladonna.
“Did we go too far?” Gatlin asks.
“No not at all. I just didn’t want to go any further.”
“Okay I just wanted to make sure.”
Belladonna kisses Gatlin and he pulls her down on top of him. She starts grinding on top of him. His hands stay on her back. She kisses his ear and his neck. He moans loudly. She bites him. You’re making it very hard to be good. I want my hands on your ass grinding you up against me. I want inside of you. Filling you up. I still remember how you felt. God
Belladonna rubs against him more. He puts his hands on her ass and rubs her up against him. Belladonna is moaning up against his ear. “I want you, Bell. I want you so bad. Let me take you. Now. Please.”
“Not now.”
“Okay.”
Gatlin is rock hard rubbing up against her. He puts his finger inside of her getting her off. Belladonna is so wet and Gatlin can barely stand it. He gets dressed and cuddles on the couch with Belladonna talking. He can feel his brother trying to intrude but he keeps him away.
Christmas morning Cooper and Belladonna wake up to Destiny crying. They all go downstairs to open gifts. Nicolae comes over early to open with them along with Mercedes. Then Criss and Gatlin show up a bit later. Belladonna tries not to laugh at the full house of men in the house. Mercedes starts handing out the presents. Destiny has a mountain of gifts. “Dear lord, she'll never be able to open all these,” Belladonna laughs.
“I don’t think she can open them anyway,” says Nicolae.
“I know it’s just the sheer number of them.”
Belladonna starts opening the presents and is shocked she doesn’t have one duplicate in the bunch. She gets a pink teddy bear from Cooper and Belladonna that she adores then is a yellow blanket from Nicolae which is a close second.
Belladonna has a close second on gifts, but she refuses to open hers. She has everyone else open their gifts. Cooper gets records, clothes, Poe’s complete works along with other books, a navigational bracelet from Belladonna, a watch that is engraved from Belladonna (My King I love you more than this world -Your Queen), and a special envelope he couldn’t open until he was alone from Destiny. Cooper excused himself with Destiny to go open the envelope. Mercedes looked at Belladonna and smiled Belladonna followed behind Cooper. Belladonna stood outside of the bedroom door while Cooper opened the envelope with Destiny. “Destiny, what did you get me that I’m not allowed to open with anyone? Okay here we go. Congratulations okay let’s open it what’s with all the boy confetti I’m going to be a big sister. Oh my god. Destiny! BELLADONNA!”
Queen: Part One Page 13