by Bella King
It sounded like only half the story, so I pressed him further. “You said I had ruined you. What did you mean by that?”
“Ruined? I mean, you certainly could with the way that you look. I find you hard to resist,” he said, leaning back in and letting the dying evening light catch his eyes.
I smiled, but it was half-hearted. I knew that there was something not right about what he was saying, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. He sounded like he was trying to cover something up, something he didn’t want me to find out about.
“All I know, Scarlet, is that you’ve captivated me. That’s the truth, and it pains me to admit it. I never wanted to fall for someone like you. I feared that I would be judged for being poor. I’m still fearful of that,” he said, his words dripping from my mouth into mine as he moved his head so close that our lips almost touched.
“You don’t have to be afraid,” I said.
“No, but you do,” he said, something evil glinting in his eyes before he pressed his lips against mine.
I let my concerns about him melt away as he kissed me. The heat of his mouth felt wonderful against mine, sending tiny sparks of energy through my face. I felt like I was being brought to life, like I had never lived before this kiss.
I pressed my body against him, feeling the rigid muscles of his study structure. He was the perfect build for me, so masculine and powerful. I was so caught up in his charm that I would do just about anything with him now. The conservative portion of my mind was fading in the lustful haze that now surrounded us. Passion can change a saint into a sinner in the blink of an eye.
I knew that this was the point when I needed to pull away, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. There was something special about Dylan that made me want to forgive him even though he was pushing my buttons all the time. It wasn’t just how attractive he was, but maybe also that I felt that his misfortune wasn’t his fault.
I liked a lot of things about him, and he was a far cry than the people I was used to. That made him exotic in a fashion, and I enjoyed that. Even the way he was kissing me now gave me chills. I hadn’t felt like that around anyone else before.
Dylan grabbed my hair, moving his fingers through the deep black layers of it and squeezing then at the base of my skull. He pushed my head down harder on him, our lips pressed almost painfully close together. He slipped a tongue into my mouth, feeling along my teeth and swirling around my won tongue.
There was a beating in my body that I recognized as my pulse, thumbing away under my pale flesh. My heart was racing, desperate to give me the extra stimulation I needed to meet this situation with the same fury and passion that Dylan was. I felt like I was being consumed by his very soul, sucked into a universe far darker than the one I was from.
It was an unsettling feeling, but I silenced the alarms in my head as they screamed at me to let go of him. I had my hands wrapped so tightly around his body that you would have thought either one of us would perish was I to let go. I couldn’t keep my hands off him, nor did I want to. This was my chance to be naughty, and I was going to take full advantage of it.
I looked up at him, my eyes glazed over like a ragdoll staring up at its owner. I wanted him to control me, to use me as he pleased, and to take me home with him when he was done. I wanted to taste his passion and feel his strength as he pushed his way inside of me and claimed me for the first time.
Dylan looked at me, pulling his lips from mine, and he smirked. “You’re mine, Scarlet. Maybe I will ruin you. Do you dare to find out?”
His words felt more like the truth than a game he was playing to increase the sexual tension. I was afraid of him by the energy he gave off, but at the same time, I craved his cruelty. I would let him do whatever he wanted to me, but I needed to take caution that what he wanted to do to me wasn’t all that bad. This was supposed to be fun, not deadly.
“We should get back to the car,” I said, finally caving to the alarms in my brain. “It’s pretty dark.”
Dylan pulled back, a slight scowl on his face. I could tell he was disappointed, but I had never intended things to move this quickly. He didn’t say anything at first. He only let go of me and stepped back.
“I like you, Dylan,” I said, worried that I had offended him.
“But?” He asked, expecting a clause.
I wouldn’t give it to him. Even though he had claimed to have put all his misinterpretations and assumption behind him, I could tell that he was still clinging to these biases about my wealth.
I crossed my arms. “But, nothing. I like you. That’s all I wanted to say.”
He chuckled. “Well, I like you too. Let me walk you to your car,” he said, gesturing with his hand toward the path we were walking on before I got caught up in his romance.
“Thank you. I appreciate that,” I replied, happy that he wasn’t pushing me anymore. In some ways, I had enjoyed that roughness, but in others, it was too much. I didn’t want to get tossed into a situation that I didn’t know how to handle. I was meticulous about the way I went about my life, and Dylan had come out of the blue to shake things up. I needed to get a hold on the situation before I made any big decisions.
“The weather is nicer at night. I prefer it,” Dylan said as he led the way.
I was relieved that he was in front this time. When he had been trailing behind me, it wasn’t that he was obviously looking at my ass, but that I was the first one to step into the darkness ahead which I had a problem with.
I looked around, finally noticing the air on my skin and the way the forest made the air moister and heavier. It felt nice, much better than it did during the day. “It is a lot better. I wish I wasn’t so afraid of the dark. I would stay out late more often.”
“You could probably stay out more if I was there. Then you’d have nothing to be afraid of,” Dylan said, climbing over a log that laid across our path.
“What about you?” I asked, only half-joking.
“You’re afraid of me? Well, I can’t blame you. Maybe you should be,” he said.
The way he spoke made me feel like I should believe him, but I wondered if that was just sarcasm that I wasn’t picking up on. Dylan had already shown me that he was a force to be reckoned with, but there was also a romantic side of him that had caught my eye. At this point, I didn’t want to turn back. I wanted to find out who he really was.
I took a deep breath of the lovely pine scent in the air. With the crickets chirping and the gentle sound of the evening breeze through the trees, I felt calm. I wasn’t afraid of wild animals out here, especially with how close we were to the car already. It was a nice state to be in, and I wanted to cling to it forever.
Alas, the beautiful things in life never last long. We arrived at my car soon after the feeling came over me, and I was back to regular old reality. There was nothing terribly exciting about it.
Chapter 14
Dylan
I was getting closer. Something would have to break eventually, and when it did, there would be no going back. I knew that she was into me, and I was into her in the same lustful way. I wanted to use her, to taste her lips again and drink from her like wine.
Scarlet was quickly approaching a disaster that she knew nothing about. I had a plan that was going to make her life harder, and my life easier at the same time. She was trusting me already, but that was her biggest mistake. I thought I could ruin her from a distance at first, but now I realized that the best way to do it was right up close and personal.
I thought about the plan, and it sounded better and better as I mulled things over. Scarlet was a beautiful and admirable woman, and as much as I liked to destroy her, it was a damn shame that I had to. In another life, I would have been able to put our differences aside and maybe even fall in love with her. As it stood now, I wouldn’t be able to. I simply had no desire to feel that way about her.
I waited for Scarlet to leave before I got into my car. I sat in the parking lot for a while, thinking about the intimate moment we
had shared in the woods. I was surprised that I had been able to get so far with her so quickly after I had been rude, but she was a very forgiving person. She was nothing like her father.
I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel of the car that Scarlet had bought for me. I felt the smallest tinge of conflict not that I had decided to do something bad to her. She wasn’t the one who had ruined my life and caused my father to commit suicide, but she was the only person from that family who I had access to. I had little other way to get revenge.
I smiled to myself, thinking about how I would enjoy her before my betrayal. It would be wonderful to experience her to the fullest, to make her do dirty things for me, and to bend her until she broke under my power. How delightful would it be to have her as mine, at least for the night?
I bet her bed was nice, and I would experience it soon if I played my cards right. This was just the first step in a journey that would solve all my problems, or so I hoped. One can never be sure of anything, and it’s best to be careful when the stakes get high.
I pulled out of the parking lot and headed home, intent on pretending that I had been at work all day instead of messing around with the rich woman by the creek. I had kept my work boots on to look like I had been working, but I was sure my mother would soon find out about my uncle’s retirement and start to freak out. I would have to pretend like I had found a new job.
That wasn’t a problem. All I really had to do was not come home immediately after school and stay out on the weekends. I could use that time to get closer to Scarlet, and I wouldn’t arouse any suspicion. My plan was coming together, despite how dire the circumstances were. I thrived in this environment, and now, I was going to be the boss of a new one. I felt it in my bones.
I drove around the city for a while, making my way to Scarlet’s neighborhood. I knew that she lived in the nicer part of town, but I didn’t know which house was hers. I would know if she invited me over, and I would make sure that she did. It was part of my master plan to share her bed. Who says you can’t enjoy yourself while you’re working?
By the time I rolled up into the old trailer park that I had called home for the past few years, it was well past midnight. My mother was probably already asleep, and I would have to tiptoe inside to make sure that I didn’t wake her up. I still wanted to keep the car hidden, so I parked it around back. Maybe when I pretended that I got a new job I should show it to her and say it was some kind of bonus. It was believable enough.
I stepped out onto the yellow grass that led up to the trailer but stopped after a few feet. I heard a sound coming from around the back of the trailer where the storage shed was. I frowned, listening closer. It sounded like something was moving back there in a steady rhythm, like someone was rocking back and forth, trying to pry off a plank of wood.
I grew angry and felt prickly heat rising to my cheeks. If one more bastard broke into that shed and stole something, I was going to kill him. There was no way in hell that I was letting someone get away with this again. It wasn’t fair to my family.
I slipped out of my work boots and circled around the trailer in my socks. I felt the tiny needle pricks of the dead grass as I stepped on it, but I ignored the pain. There were far more important things right now that a little pain.
I kept my shoulder running along the paneling on the side of the trailer, squinting my eyes in the darkness as I approached the back. There was definitely someone out there, and it sounded more like two people now that I was closer.
I slowed down as I came to the edge of the trailer. I took a breath and held it, peeking my head around the corner to see if there really was someone back there or if my brain was causing me more distress than it needed to.
I didn’t see much, but I heard the sound. It was distinct and surprisingly loud for someone who would want to stay quiet while breaking in. The shed looked to be in one piece. Maybe they were around the back of it.
I dashed across the back yard on the front pads of my feet, careful not to make much noise as I moved. I may have been large, but I could be deathly quiet when I wanted to. As I came upon the shed, I heard hushed voices, shushing each other and trying to quiet down. They knew I was onto them.
I whipped around the corner, my fist balled up and ready to strike, only to be shocked by what I saw.
“Maddie?” I asked, lowering my fist.
Maddie and Scarlet’s friend Jonathan were going at it hard behind my storage shed. Maddie had her pants down and she was bent over, her hands smooth against the wood of the shed. Jonathan was bright pink in the face, concentrating on the task in front of him. As soon as he saw me, he jerked his body backward, looking absolutely petrified.
Maddie looked at me and smiled. “Oh hey, Dylan.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” She asked, staying in the same bent over position while Jonathan scrambled to get his pants back up.
I rolled my eyes at Maddie ignoring Jonathan completely. “You’re disgusting. Can’t you do that somewhere else?” I asked.
“We were going to, but I wanted to do it by your place. You know, because it’s trashy,” she said, wrinkling her nose as she spoke the last words.
I was sure she was doing this to prove a point about how we were over, but it had been months since we had broken up. She was probably just jealous of Scarlet. I laughed at her, which made her annoyed.
“Hey, I chose to do this here because it makes sense. This right here,” she said, pointing back at Jonathan, “This is trash, and so are you. Your place smells like garbage, and it looks like it to.”
She was trying way too hard to insult me, but it wasn’t going to work. Jonathan was clearly being used so that she could get back at me, but I had no feelings toward her whatsoever. It was a moot point. I would never be jealous because there was nothing to be jealous of.
I shook my head at her again. “You’re so fucking stupid. Please leave before I call the police,” I said, pointing toward the gate.
Jonathan nodded his head. “Yeah, we should listen to him,” he said, sounding just as pathetic as he could be. I felt bad for him, but not enough to lose sleep over. He would find out how shitty Maddie was on his own.
Maddie pulled up her pants and did the button on the front of them. “You’re a pig,” she spat, jabbing a finger in my direction as she began to walk away.
I smirked. “And you’re a whore.”
“Fuck you,” she screeched.
I could see Jonathan desperately trying to silence her as they walked away. I waited until they disappeared into the darkness to examine the shed for damage. It looked alright, so after a few moments I returned to the house. If those two returned, I would just have to call the police.
I bet Scarlet would be amused by this story. I wanted to call her up and tell her about it, but it was late. I could probably wait until tomorrow to talk to her. I didn’t even realize how excited I was to see her again until something interesting happened. Then, she was the first person on my mind. It’s funny how that works.
I crawled into bed, getting undressed and showering beforehand this time. I wasn’t nearly as tired as I usually was when I got home. My brain buzzed with the possibilities of what was to come, and all the things I had experienced during the day. It was a wild ride, but it didn’t end here.
I closed my eyes, and like always, I was able to fall asleep in seconds.
Chapter 15
Scarlet
There are several reasons why I don’t let people come over to my house. The first is that my parents are quarreling often, and I don’t want people to know about it. The second is that I don’t trust people not to steal from us. My father flaunts his wealth to impress guests much richer than he is, and that puts us at risk of having something stolen if I invite regular people over.
Even the people at school aren’t trustworthy. It’s easy to succumb to temptation when gold and cash are lying right in fr
ont of your eyes, completely unguarded. My father wouldn’t hurt from a simple robbery, but I still didn’t like the idea of people coming into our house and snatching things.
Now, that said, it wasn’t that I didn’t trust Dylan, it was that he seemed awfully keen to get into my house. He said he wanted to check out all the neat stuff I had, but I suspected he either wanted to get in my pants or do something he wasn’t supposed to in the house.
He asked me about it over the weekend, but I said no. This, of course, led to an argument over the phone about how I didn’t trust him because he was poor, which was something I thought we had worked around. Apparently not. He was still stuck on that as my reason not to rush into things with me.
As much as I hated to admit it, that was the main reason why I didn’t want him to come over. I was worried that either my parents would find out how poor he was (something that would be easy to do since he dressed like a working man), or that he wouldn’t be able to resist snatching something shiny if it caught his eye. He was right when he said that I didn’t want him over because he was poor, and I felt guilty about it.
I lied to him and said that it was because I didn’t know him well enough to introduce him to my parents, but I could have easily brought him over while they were away. I had to spend more time with him to know if he was really into me, or if he was just up to something. As much as I adored his company, there was something about him that couldn’t be trusted. It was there from the beginning, and while it had diminished a little over time, I still felt an uneasiness in the pit of my stomach about him sometimes.
I would see Dylan at school again regardless of how I felt about him, and that was something that couldn’t be avoided. He had his sights on me, and I had mine on him. I knew that it was only a matter of time before something went down. I just didn’t realize how soon that would be.
Monday morning arrived. A freshly pressed black pleated skirt and a white linen blouse were waiting for me on a table outside my bedroom door when I awoke. Today was much like all the rest in the beginning, but tonight, things would change.