***
It was hoursbefore she took a break. In fact, it was almost noon when shefinally closed her books. She had successfully wrapped up herassignment. Feeling rather accomplished, she stood up andstretched.
Realizing shewas starting to get hungry, and that she was still in her pjs, sheran upstairs for a pee before deciding on what to have forlunch.
Becky gave herhands and face a refreshing scrub. She left the bathroom and wasmaking her way to her room to get dressed when she paused byCrispin’s bedroom.
The door hadbeen left open just a crack. That in itself was very unusual. Theprickly Goth always made a point of keeping his door shuttight.
To say shewasn’t curious about this whole vanilla business he went on about,would be a lie. She didn’t exactly know what to look for, but shehad a feeling that she might find a clue or two in his room.
Feeling cheeky,she didn’t see any harm in taking a peek. No one would ever knowshe’d been in there. She would make sure to leave everything as shefound it.
Pushing thedoor open with the slightest of nudges, she stepped inside and tooka good look around. She was quite surprised to discover that theprickly Goth was incredibly neat.
His manyensembles were hung up in the closet in an orderly fashion. Hisornate, iron framed bed was impeccably made. Unable to resist, sheran her hand along the fancy wrought iron frame, admiring its manyswirls and curls.
Crispin’s roomfaced the backyard, and therefore it was quite bright despite thedark green brocade wallpaper and black satin bedcovers. It was allrather beautiful, much like the man himself.
Hmmm… theredidn’t appear to be anything suspect in his room so far. Tiptoeingtowards the closet, she dared to take a closer look inside.
Other than aninsane amount of Victorian lace and shiny shoes, she didn’t findanything too interesting in there.
She could gothrough his drawers, but she didn’t feel quite right about doingthat. In fact, she was starting to feel rather guilty aboutsnooping around as it was.
Over on thedesk, by the window, she found a laptop, notebooks, music sheets,but nothing really out of the ordinary. The only place she hadn’tchecked was under the bed. Crouching down with her back to thedoor, she gave it a shot.
Bingo! Rightthere, was a rather large black leather box, an attache case ofsorts, fancy brass snaps and all. With her heart racing in herchest, she reached for it and dragged it towards her.
For a moment,she hesitated. This was so wrong on so many levels. She shouldn’tbe in his room at all, let alone digging around his things.
But hercuriosity was killing her! Oh, what would it hurt? As long asnobody found out, no one would be the wiser.
Despite herburning curiosity, she was almost afraid to have a look. If onlyshe could keep her hands from shaking at the prospect of what shemight find in this mysterious black box! After a series of calmingbreaths, and a furtive glance over her shoulder, Becky snapped itopen.
She instantlyfroze. For a moment, she couldn’t make any sense of what she’dfound. If anything she was more confused than ever. The only thingsshe recognized were a pair of fur-lined handcuffs and a ratherelegant leather wand with fine twine on its tip.
On closerinspection, she found a plethora of lovely silk scarves. Under thescarves was a long, black feather, most likely from a raven’swing.
Weird. Whywould Crispin have all this stuff? What did any of it mean? Was hesome sort of magician?
Digging furtherunderneath the scarves, she discovered a brochure of sorts. Perhapsthis would enlighten her. Unable to resist, she flipped itopen.
That’s when itall became disturbingly clear! Oh, the horror! Becky couldn’tbelieve her eyes. Not Crispin! He couldn’t possibly be intothis!
“Find anything you like?” Crispin asked, leaning against thedoor frame.
“Huh! Crispin!”
Startled beyondbelief, Becky fell backwards onto her butt, dropping everything,including the brochure she’d been flipping through. “W-what are youdoing here?”
“I might ask you the same thing.” Seeing Becky sitting there,looking as guilty as sin, Crispin didn’t know whether to laugh ather or throttle the little dormouse.
To think he’dbeen looking forward to seeing her. He’d just wrapped up hismorning classes, decided to come home, figuring she’d be lonely allby herself. He’d even stopped at the diner and bought them bothlunch. Imagine his surprise at finding the little rodent, riflingthrough his most private affairs.
“I… it’s, um… it’s not what it looks like,” she said, avertingher eyes.
“Oh, so you weren’t snooping?” He quirked an eyebrow, staringher down with a most intimidating frown. “You weren’t diggingaround my things?”
“Crispin, w-what is all this stuff?” she asked, turning itaround on him. Yes, she was upset, and embarrassed at being caughtred-handed, but what was most prevalent on her mind were thequestionable contents of that box.
She was juststarting to really like Crispin. She thought she could trust him.But now after realizing what all that vanilla nonsense was about,she couldn’t even look at him.
“Well, Becky, since you ask…”
Before shecould register what was happening, Crispin came at her, grabbedher, and tossed her onto his bed.
“Some things are just easier shown rather thanexplained!”
“Stop! Crispin, what are you doing?” she cried out, flailinghelplessly as he effortlessly overpowered her, straddling herbetween his hips, while reaching into the black box. Withinseconds, he had her handcuffed to the top of the very same wroughtiron bed frame which she had so recently admired.
“Kelley!” she screamed, frantically.
“Kelley’s not here!” Crispin hissed. “And neither is Dorian,for that matter. There’s no point in calling for either of them. Noone will hear you.”
He reached forthe silk scarves and turned himself around. “I’m the only one whocan help you now.” He grabbed her ankles and held them down on thebed, a little wider than a foot apart. “In fact, we have the entirehouse to ourselves for hours yet.”
Realizing whathis plans were, Becky kicked at him with all her might, but it wasno good. As elegant and graceful as he was, the Goth was a force tobe reckoned with.
“Such a wee little thing, aren’t you?” He couldn’t contain asnicker as he straddled her legs, and tied a
