Beauty

Chapter 20

Callie woke up in the warm, loving arms of Michael Jackson. They were laid in a spooning position and Callie listened to the sound of his breaths, whistling in and out of his nose. She smiled and slid deeper into his embrace, thinking about the night before. 

   They had ridden every ride in the park at least twice. Callie had been afraid of the ferris wheel at first. But with Michael's mischevious smile and teasing, "What, are you scared?" he goaded, she tossed her fear aside and got on. With Michael beside her, she felt as if there was no reason to fear, she felt so safe with him. They talked and laughed. She couldn't remember laughing so hard in her whole life.

    It was well after 12 o'clock when they had gotten back to the house. Instead of releasing her hand so she could walk upstairs to her bedroom, Michael had squeezed her hand tighter and pulled her towards his room. Callie's heart had pounded harder in her chest wondering what exactly he had in mind as she stumbled towards the bedroom after him. True, they had slept together before but she couldn't help but think that things were different now. They were together. 

   But Michael had meant what he had told her earlier, that he had honorable intentions. They had spent the night cuddled together on his bed talking, laughing and kissing until they both fell asleep. Much to Callie's relief- and a bit of disappointment- Michael was ever the gentleman. 

   Michael had slept peacefully for the first time in a long time but Callie not sleep well. She ended up waking up at sunrise but lay still on the bed so as not to disturb Michael. She had noticed the monitor on the night stand on her side of the bed. It had shown various images of Neverland through the secuirty cameras. Callie watched the images as they passed, one at a time, each one empty.

   About an hour later, she noticed a car pulling up to the gates of Neverland and she felt her stomach turn. She hadn't expected her parents to arrive so early and still had no idea how she was going to convince them to let her stay. 

   As gently as she could, she slipped out from under Michael's arm and quietly rushed to the bathroom. She splashed her face with water and tried to tame her hair but ended up tying it up into a messy bun and ran her wet hand over the fly aways. On the way out she grabbed a white bathrobe- Michael's bathrobe- and slipped it on over her little sundress. She took in his scent before wrapping it around her and running for the front door. 

   By the time she made it outside, a large, dark SUV was pulling into the drive way. It was an odd choice of vehicle for her parents to pick she couldn't help but think as she waited nervously for them to emerge. She was still pondering exactly what she would say to them when a large, dark man stepped out of the car.

   He was huge, like a linebacker, she noted. He was dressed in a black suit with black sunglasses which he had lifted up to glare suspiciously at Callie. She pulled anxiously at the robe to tighten it around herself.

   "Who are you?" She asked suspiciously.

   "Who are you?" The deep voice replied back shortly.

   "I asked you first." She replied cautiously reminding herself that this man could take her out in two seconds flat.

   The man wore a look of slight annoyance as he answered, "I'm Bill. Mr. Jackson's bodyguard. Your turn."