Promiscuous (Who's the slut?)

Chapter Twenty Six

"Are you just going to stand there?" I planted my hands on the sides of my hips. His stare was burning me alive. We'd been in the supermarket downtown to refill his refrigerator earlier in the morning. Without a word he lunged forward I screamed and tried to run. I was laughing heartily. God. I was so happy.

I was a little agitated, too. Sometimes, I was afraid at being too happy. It might be a farce. A bluff.

I was running... well, there was no place to go but to his room. He snaked his arms around my waist from behind. I leaned on his chest sensing the tension in his muscles. I was breathing in succession. He smelled the top of my head and caressed my stomach.

I felt mushy. I could hear his shallow breathing mixing with mine. We both fell on the bed sideways. We were positioned in spoon fashion. He brushed the hair on my nape and gently planted a soft kiss. He embraced me possessively as if he didn't want to let me go, ever.

"Maire... I don't know what love is. But I can assure you, this feeling of mine is ten times stronger than I've had in the past."

Should I content myself with that? I'm not stupid. But I'm stupidly in love with him. I whirled about to face him. I scored my fingers on his stubbled jaw. I swallowed the words I couldn't quite tell him. I couldn't just say 'Hey Rave, I'm helpless in love with you... now, you should reciprocate what I feel.'

"Do you think you're in... lust with me?" Imagining him with other women made me achingly jealous.

He laughed. "You're making me a teenager eager for his first experience. I don't talk flowery words like all girls tended to hear... Maire. You met me like this, accept me this way."

So we have something in common. We both accepted each other the way we are.

"I have something to confess..." I turned to face him. His brow raised.

"My... 31 boylets..." He put his finger on my lips to silence me.

"Ssshhh. It doesn't matter to me."

"Maybe it doesn't... but I still want you to know."

He sighed. "I might be jealous..."

I pouted. "Good. You should be..." He turned flat on his back while staring blankly at the ceiling.

I gulped. Now or never. "I've given myself only to one man Rave... wholly. I mean, you won't believe this but other than you... well, I never considered that other... guy"

He was still silent then... "Guy?... What about the gossips? Not that it matters to me."

"They were bluff... a scheme on my part. I gave them a dose of a sleeping drought to manipulate their memories... I wasn't the one who.... do the thing."

I watched the soft smile played on his lips.

"A year ago... something happened. I found myself caught in the web of lies and deceit. Later in the morning I was in a hotel room."

I fell flat on my back the way he was on the bed.

"With a stranger... Brix walked in on us." I nodded bitterly to myself. "Out of nowhere the paparazzi was there, making me famous... for a day." Until now...

He reached for my hand between us. I grasped it tightly, unconsciously. He squeezed my hand.

"If you're lost, you should go back to where you started."

Caroline's words kept playing like a broken record in my mind. Where would I go back? I abruptly sat up straight. Yes.

"Where are you going Maire?"