Tenderlytucking her in under the sheets, he watched and waited until shefell asleep. He then stealthily undressed her, carefully wipingaway all evidence of what he’d done. Taking one of his shirts, hegently put it on her.
“You take such good care of me.” She sighedlanguidly.
“Sleep, love. Get your rest,” he said, stroking her cheek untilshe relaxed and fell back asleep.
Wrestling withhis conscience, Kelley agonized over how he was going to tell herwhat he’d done. Unable to stand his own company, he quietly lethimself out of his room and closed the door behind him.
“What the hell happened to you?” Crispin asked, watching Kellskulk into the living room and slump into his chair.
“I don’t want to talk about it…” Kell grumbled with his handsup over his eyes.
“Right then, see you both tomorrow. Goodnight,” Keegan said,getting up and limping away, not having the attention span to dealwith the obvious drama that was about to unfold.
The two pensiveGoths sat in silence for a few moments before the front dooropened. Dorian’s voice along with a feminine giggle jarred them outof their preoccupations. “Heather, let me introduce you to myhousemates,” Dorian said, proudly presenting his very pretty,blonde haired friend.
“Hello,” she said, hesitantly wiggling her fingers at the twobrooding Goths.
“Hey…” Kell grunted, still so lost in his thoughts.
“Hi there, sweetling,” Crispin said with a raised eyebrow,looking from the perky little blonde to Dorian. Another mundanelooking for a thrill, he quickly surmised. “Got any friends forme?” he all but hissed.
“Um…” She frowned, looking to Dorian forreassurance.
“Fuck you, Crispin. Be nice,” Dorian scoffed, making light ofthe situation. “Don’t mind him, he’s just jealous.”
“Yeah, that’s it,” Crispin said with a roll of hiseyes.
“Hey, where’s Becky?” Dorian asked, looking around, hoping tointroduce her to Heather. She’d get a kick out of knowing that he’dfinally gotten up the nerve to approach the girl in the Santa hat.It had taken some rather intensive flirting and a lot ofconvincing, but the shy girl eventually agreed to come withhim.
“Sleeping…” Kelley muttered.
“Oh, that sucks, I thought we were going to all stay up andparty.” He shrugged, glancing apologetically at Heather. He waspretty sure that she had only agreed to come over because she wasexpecting another girl to be around. As it was, she looked like shewas about ready to bolt. One Steampunk was challenging enough to bearound, let alone two more sulking Goths.
“Come along, sweetheart. Why don’t we go get you something todrink?” Dorian suggested, taking Heather into the kitchen by thehand.
“Okay…” she said, eager to get away from his two intimidatinghousemates. “Umm… I don’t know if this is such a good idea,” shesaid, hesitating as Dorian poured her a glass of wine.
Unable to sitany longer, Kell got up and followed them on his way into thebackyard. “Best to listen to your instincts,” he grumbled,overhearing her as he passed on his way out the back door.
“What the fuck, man?” Dorian frowned, noticing Heather startle.“Crispin, what’s up with him now?”
“How the fuck should I know,” Crispin said, pouring himselfanother glass of wine before following Kelley into thebackyard.
“Aw… come here, sweetheart. You’re all right,” Dorian said,wincing at the look of doubt that came over Heather’s face as hersmile turned to a frown. God, what had he been thinking, bringing anice girl like her back here?
“Right then, out with it,” Crispin demanded, sitting with Kellin the garage. “Go on. What did you do?”
“I fucked up,” Kell groaned with his head in hishands.
“That much I can tell,” Crispin snickered. “Oh, come on, Kell,what could be so bad? Did you snap her half?” He pretty muchguessed that something had gone terribly wrong between the time heleft the kitchen and Kell joining him in the living room. “Kell, amI going to have to kick your ass?”
Before he couldstop himself, Kelley confessed the whole sordid incident. After afew moments of silence, and being on the receiving end of Crispin’sscowl, he couldn’t stand it anymore. “Well, say something!” heshouted when Crispin didn’t respond.
“Seriously, what the fuck am I supposed to say to that?”Crispin said aghast. “Lord, she would have been better off with me.At least, I would have waited until she wasn’t drunk.”
“Shut the fuck up, man. I feel awful as it is.”
“And so you should!” Crispin scoffed, glaring atKelley.
“What am I going to tell her?” Kell said.
“Nothing! You tell her nothing. Hopefully, she won’t evenremember,” Crispin said, shaking his head, disgusted.
“The worst part is…”
“It gets worse?” Crispin balked. “The girl gets drunk for thefirst time in her life, you take advantage of her, rob her of hervirginity like an animal, and it still gets worse?” he gaspedincredulously.
“Ah, man, I had this whole romantic weekend getaway planned. Iwas going to do everything right.”
“Well, fuck… forgive me if I don’t give a shit what you hadplanned! Just you fix this or I will.”
“What the hell does that even mean?” Kell frowned.
“It means, I’ll take her for myself! I’ll give her a night shewon’t ever forget, an experience she deserves! Not just a cheapthrill up on the kitchen counter, for Pete’s sake!”
“You stay away from Becky!” Kell shouted, lunging atCrispin.
“Fuck you, too,” Crispin hissed, quickly dodging Kell’shalf-hearted attack. “Pathetic.” Shaking his head, Crispin left thegarage without another word.
Chapter 43
“Your friendsseem upset,” Heather said, sitting down on the edge of Dorian’sbed. “Is it because of me?”
“Of course not,” Dorian said, sitting down next to her, runninghis large hands up and down his leather clad thighs in an effort tokeep from grabbing her. “That’s just the way they are.” He toyedwith his wristband.
The energybetween them was electric and he was having a hard time thinkingstraight. All the signals were there, her slightly parted lips, therosiness in her pale cheeks, the subtle dilation of her pupils.Everything was moving along very quickly and he had no problem withthat at all, yet he hesitated for some reason.
It’s not oftena girl like Heather asks to see his room. Why was she still here,he wondered? He half expected her to demand to be taken home aftertheir run-in with his less than
