Her smile goes from jokey to supportive. “You’ll find someone.” She reaches out and squeezes my arm. “I know it. And look on the bright side, you could always go lesbian with me. That way you wouldn’t have to stay on the pill. Thrifty and sexy, that’s me.”
“Not with the tequila breath you’ve got right now and the fact you starfish in the bed. That’s not even mentioning those chili farts you get. I swear my lungs degrade a little more every time you cook Mexican food.”
“You’re not so wholesome yourself. You smell like a Mexican drugs party right now. Won’t get Johnny Big Wang with breath like that.”
“Then I guess I better dust off Old Faithful and see to myself for the rest of my days. And for the record, I’m on the pill to help settle those excruciating periods God deigned to give me, not because of all the sex I get.”
She swoons. “So sexy, I can hardly stand it.” She sits back up, squeezing my arm again, looking sincerely at me through tequila-glazed eyes. “Seriously, there’s a cock out there for you somewhere, Chloe. Shining like a lighthouse and calling to you like a siren.”
“And on that image, I’m going to bed. Good night.”
“Don’t want to watch the end of the movie?”
“He gets to do his Dracula musical and Rachel falls for him.”
“Wow, way to go with the spoilers.”
“You’ve seen it more times than me.”
“Because it’s amazing! Russell Brand and Jonah Hill, what’s not to love?”
I get up and head through to my room. Old Faithful is sitting on my bedside cabinet. It’s almost taunting me. You and me, it’s saying. Never going to be anyone else but you and me.
It’s a sign your date didn’t go well when you start thinking your vibrator is sentient and talking to you.
Probably means I’ve drunk too much.
I get ready for bed. Once I’ve got the blankets wrapped around me, my mind goes back to what Enzo said to me. It comes to me like I’m in the diner again. I remember every word, like each one is seared into my soul.
Him growling out the words. “I fuck them in the pussy and the ass and the mouth. That’s what I do.”
I close my eyes, reaching out for Old Faithful. I tell myself it’s to help me get to sleep, not to think about Enzo doing all those things to me.
But while I’m switching it on, I can’t help but imagine he’s here dominating me, holding my hands down so I can’t move, forcing his cock into my mouth, a plug deep in my ass like I’ve seen in some online videos. My ass stinging from a spanking I’ve endured over his knee, my pussy soaking wet from the urgent need for him to be inside of me.
When I sleep, I dream of Enzo. He’s not in bed with me. He’s at the end of the room, sitting in an armchair. Around him, a fire is burning but it doesn’t touch him.
“Strip for me,” he says in that deep throaty rumble of his. The sound echoes around the room, getting louder each time.
I have no choice but to obey to stop the noise of his words, which are already deafening. I start undressing and at once a silence falls. I’m wearing the red dress I wore at the diner.
For some reason, I can dance, which I can never do. I have no rhythm. But I’m dancing slowly, swaying, using my body to entertain him, to hold his attention as I remove my dress. He watches me, his arms folded, his feet crossed at the ankles. He does nothing. He just watches.
Once I’m naked, I walk toward him. I stop, lowering myself to my knees, and looking down at the floor. “I am yours,” I say and that’s when I jolt awake in the middle of the night.
The dream fades almost at once and by the morning, I don’t remember a thing about it other than the feeling that we are connected in some way. Like I belong to him. I’ve always belonged to him.
8
ENZO
* * *
I’m still in Shallow Falls. Why am I still here?
Because I’ve got a job to do that’s why. I’m not some little girl running away from danger with her skirts in her hands, screaming for her momma. I’m Enzo fucking Lauria.
I’ll leave when I’m done and not before. I won’t be controlled by my lust for her. Nor will I run away from it.