Bad Boy's Pet

Number 1

Paige stepped back to take in the painting she had been working on for weeks. It was good, all right. But she did not want all right. She wanted mind-blowing. She wanted to take the breaths of the judges away. Perhaps it would be better if she worked with natural light instead of the three white bulbs and a fluorescent that was currently making her room look like something from a paradise movie. With a groan, she shoved her paintbrushes in water and removed her apron then trolleyed the painting to the corner. She would continue tomorrow. She still had two months to the deadline.

After washing her brushes and cleaning up her workspace, she switched off the bright lights but left the bedside lamp on so that she wouldn’t be enclosed in total darkness, and went to the window to take a long breath. It was a Friday night and she was cooped up at home. She almost felt sorry for herself. But she knew it was her own fault. She never talked to people in school and when they tried to talk to her, she was always too shy to respond and ended up looking like a snobby b*tch.

She wished she had friends. But having been cooped up all her life was not helping her. The only friend she had almost made moved five thousand miles away almost a year ago and now, they did not even keep in touch anymore. She sighed and started to close her window so she could get some sleep when a hand appeared and held unto the bottom of it. She screamed and scrambled back looking around frantically for something, anything, which could act as a defense against whoever was coming. Short of her easel, she did not find anything.

A dark shadow climbed in and she wished she hadn’t turned off the lights. At least she would have been able to see her attacker. When he began to walk towards her, she opened her mouth to let out another scream but his legs worked faster than her organ of speech because he was in front of her, hands over her mouth, in a second.

She wouldn’t have been able to see him even in full light. He was wearing a mask covering half his face and his hoodie covered most of the other half. His eyes though, she could see. They were staring right at hers as if they wanted to read her mind. Deep blue. Almost like they wanted to be black then changed their mind. She only knew one other person with those colored eyes.

“If you keep quiet, I will be out of here soon” The voice confirmed it. It was him. But what was he doing here so late at night and through her window?

The answer came a minute later when she heard voices below them. “Where is he?”

“How the f**k am I supposed to know?”

“Did you see his face?”

“Of course not. F*cker had a mask on”

“So you are telling me this was a bust?” The person speaking sounded angry

“It won’t be if we can find out where he went” This voice was new. It sounded commanding and authoritative.

She stopped hearing because the person in her room was walking her toward her bed. She started to shake her head but he shushed her. When they reached the bed, he looked into her eyes “I am going to let go of your mouth. Do not scream do you understand?” He asked but she was too nervous to respond “Doll, you need to tell me that you understand. I don’t have much time.” He said and she nodded vigorously. He let go of her mouth and waited for a beat, when she only stared at him in shock breathing hard, he flipped the switch on her lamp turning it off then he removed the hoodie and the mask. She watched him half because she couldn’t believe he was in her room, and half because she was mesmerized by how graceful his movements were. “Now, Doll, I need you to bear with me for a moment. Do not scream.” He took her hand and they headed toward the window. She thought he needed to avoid them. But then she was never good at reading motives. Like now, although she could only see him with the help of the light from the half-moon that hung above, she thought he might be looking at her like he wanted to kiss her. But that was ridiculous. They were strangers. Before now, they had ever barely said a word to one another. She was clearly misreading. But the thought was making her embarrassed so she started to look away. He didn’t let her. He took her by the chin and before she could process it, his lips came down on hers.

His lips were soft but his kiss was firm. It started as an innocent kiss. His mouth was gentle on hers, moving over her lips in lush, languid, graceful movements as if he had all the time in the world. But when she thought he was going to pull away, her arms went to his shoulder and she pulled him to her and opened her mouth to him. He responded in kind his tongue darting out to play with hers and his hands, perfectly stationed at her back formerly, wandered down toward the hem of her nightdress and his hands found their way into them. She gasped when his hands brushed her inner thigh and the short inhale helped clear her foggy, hormonal head. She stepped back from him. He let her.

They didn’t speak for a moment both of them catching their breaths. Then he looked over his shoulder, down the window. They were gone. “Doll,” His voice was different now, a little husky. He was severely turned on. And by a girl he knew absolutely nothing about. He needed to leave. Feelings this sudden, this intense were dangerous. “Thank you for accommodating me. Bye” He should leave, but he couldn’t resist. The wanton expression on her face, mixed with shock was a little more than he could resist. So he walked to her again and kissed her fully on the mouth. One strong kiss left him reeling. Who the hell was she?

He didn’t want to find out. So, he waved at her and jumped out the window with incredible agility then disappeared through into the night.

Paige couldn’t move for almost five minutes. And when she did and looked out her window, she saw nothing but darkness. He had gone. He had disappeared. Just as he had given her the kiss of a lifetime, he had said goodbye and disappeared not even asking who she was. He wasn’t interested. The realization made her feel sick and plummeted her self-esteem. Perhaps if she knew how to kiss better he would have been tempted to stay, not that she wanted him to. But he could hardly blame her. That was only the second time she had ever been kissed; the first was by a fumbling boy in middle school.

Suddenly drained, she walked to her window and slammed it shut locking it securely. Then she crawled into her bed and closed her eyes letting the blissful limbo sleep wash away any feelings that might be plaguing her.