To Love And Be Loved

Chapter 24

"You are quiet today," said Victor. 

Cass gave a small smile and turned her head to look out the glass. She forced herself not to look at him. "Its been a long week," she said.

"I recommended a mud bath."

"A what?" Cass asked incredulously, turning her head to look at him.

Victor glanced at her, a smile playing on his lips before turning back to the road. "Whats wrong with a mud bath? You've never had one before?"

"Yuck. Sinking into sticky black mud isn't my thing."

Victor shrugged. "What about skydiving?"

"Skydiving?" Cass scoffed.

Victor laughed. "I'm going to take you skydiving one day," he said. "And if you don't feel like a five year old high on sugar, then I give you permission to punch me in the face or cut my hair or throw me off the plane."

"I don't have to go through so much fuss. I'll just take your boat."

Victor chuckled and pointed at her. "That...that is not a fair bargain. I'm not taking this deal."

"Why."

"My boat is dear to me. She's..."

"The love of your life?"

"Yeah, the love of my life," said Victor. He stared at Cass and she couldn't look away. The sunset was a dull glow on the horizon. It painted his face bronze and turned his hair gold.

Victor turned into a long stretch of road and they lapsed into a comfortable silence. He began to hum slightly under his breath.

Cass looked back at the road, the smile on her face faded when she remembered the lady who had talked to her the previous day and her strong strawberry scent. She could smell it in Victor's car. It was faint but it was there.

Earlier in the department cafeteria, she had told Fatima over lunch about the lady.

"Perhaps she was one of his numerous exes," Fatima had said.

"Numerous?"

"Here goes the can of worms," Fatima had said with an apologetic smile. She then told her stories of how he had dumped his ex girlfriends, many of them actresses and models, not ordinary undergraduates, Cass had noticed. She had also told Cass about his supposed alcohol and drug use.

The Victor that Fatima had painted wasnt the same Victor that Cass knew and she had pointed that to her.

"I'm telling you this so that you'll know what you are getting into. He's super famous and there is no way of telling if the stuff circulating about him is true or not. He's not your average guy, Cass. You should be careful," Fatima had said.

That was the third warning Cass had heard regarding Victor. They were warnings alright and they sounded ominous.

Victor slowed as her house came into view. He wasn't a badboy, was he? Then she remembered the kiss and butterflies fluttered in her stomach and her legs turned to jelly.

"You don't seem yourself," he said as he killed the engine and pulled the handbrake. "You know you can tell me anything."

"You are an amazing guy and I like you...a lot but I can't help but feel that this...whatever we have here is fleeting, like a flash storm," said Cass.

There, I've said it.

She stopped picking the hem of her bag and looked at him, the intensity of his gaze made her heart jump. She swallowed and stared at his lips instead.

Why do you have to be so perfect?

"What makes you say this?" The smile on his face was slowly fading.

"I don't understand this thing between us. This is the first time I'm doing something like this and I don't want to end up getting scarred."

She watched his Adam apple bob up and down, then he sighed. "To tell the truth," he said, "I prefer this version of me when I'm with you. Believe me, I cant get that feeling elsewhere and I don't want you to believe whatever they say or write about me. I hope you don't too."

"I'll think about it," said Cass. She opened the door and stepped out. She saw Hanna looking at her through her window. "Thanks for the ride."

Victor gave a small smile and nodded. Cass smiled back and closed the door.

"Cassie," he called after her and she turned. "You wont get scarred," he said. "I promise."

She swallowed and turned away quickly before he could see the look on her face. His voice tasted like honey and sounded like velvet, it felt like soft silk and it made her ache to hear more.

Hanna was standing in front of the door when she reached the porch. "Who was that?" she asked, looking at Victor's car with a slight frown on her face.

Cass turned as Victor started his car and drove off. "Nobody," she said. "Nobody."