StrangeDays (6 page)

“Does she know about you? About us? About what it means to
fight the darkness as we do? Do you think she’s the type to handle it?”

Christian sucked in his breath. Those were exactly the
questions Master Foy asked all the time when they talked about real-life
relationships outside their work. The Master did not believe they could live
half-lives. He had personal experience trying to do it and lived as an example
for the rest of them. They’d all been there when Foy’s wife divorced him,
unable to stay with him while secrets carved a chasm in their lives because
he’d not believed she could live with the knowledge of what he did.

Foy had loved his wife and he’d kept his charge to fight
evil from her to protect her from knowing. That had ended things. As his
students, they’d all made a pact to only marry women who could handle the
reality, to whom they could come home and speak the truth of their lives at the
end of the day.

“I don’t know.” He rubbed at his arms. Goose bumps had
popped out and he didn’t know what that indicated. “I only got together with
her last night.”

“I feel it too. Could just be the residual evil leftover in
the atmosphere from the Incubus. So, a really new girl.” Jonah laughed. “And
here I thought you might have something serious going on.”

“It is.” And Christian did not like Jonah acting as if it
wasn’t. “When have you ever heard me talk about anyone at all?”

“Listen, I’m glad she’s making you happy, but until you tell
me that you’ve looked her in the eyes, told her what you really do for a
living, and she has managed not to flee from you in either fear or because she
thinks you’re a whack-job, I’m not going to start planning your bachelor
party.” Jonah shrugged. “No offense, but I’ve never met a woman who could
handle it. They like their paranormal scary shit to be on television and
handled by Jensen Ackles.”

Now Jonah lost him. “Who is Jensen Ackles?”

“You really don’t watch television, do you?”

Christian laughed, slapping Jonah on the back. Their easy
camaraderie had always been there. Out of their group of five trainees, they
had always been a pair. Christian kept Jonah serious and Jonah kept Christian
light.

“I don’t have time for television. I train, I dance, I work
out. How do you have time?”

“Foy goes into these meditative states that can last for
days. I spend a lot of time sitting around, waiting for him to come out.”

“When I was his right-hand man, it wasn’t that bad.” All of
the students spent two years with Foy, getting private training and learning
from him. These years were Jonah’s turn.

They arrived at Christian’s apartment building and walked up
the stairs. He stopped outside Dodie’s door, inside he could hear the
television playing softly. His watch told him it was almost one in the morning,
an early night, but he’d skipped the usual partying after the dance to come
back here.

He held up his keys to hand them to Jonah. “That’s my
apartment across the hall.”

His friend shook his head. “Nope. I’m meeting the girl
before I vanish. I’ll know in thirty seconds if she’s going to be the run
because she’s scared or scamper off because she thinks you’re nuts type.”

“When did you get so bitter?” Christian had never seen him
like this before.

“We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you and the
girl next door who is bound to break your heart.”

Christian shook his head. Out of the two of them, Christian
had more reason to think the world sucked. Yet Jonah remained the perpetual
pessimist. He raised his hand and knocked on Dodie’s door. Not that he wasn’t
grateful his friend had shown up. He was. But he’d be more thankful in the
morning after he’d had a night with Dodie. He’d get Jonah in and out and then
focus on his woman.

It took a few seconds, but Dodie swung open the door. She
looked between the Jonah and himself for a second before she frowned. Seeing
her washed over him like a breath of fresh air. He had no idea what her frown
meant and he intended to find out.

“Hey, beautiful.”

“Hi.” Her cheeks flushed a becoming shade of red and he
reached out to stroke one of them between his thumb and his forefinger.

“This is Jonah. He wants to say hi.”

She moved away from him to let them in. Wearing a pair of
plaid pajama pants and a white tank top, she looked cozy and warm. He wanted to
snuggle with her. Maybe he’d make her put the PJs back on after he got done
ravishing her naked body.

“I’m surprised to see you.” She fiddled with her shirt and
Jonah moved past her, giving him a look that Christian didn’t really feel like
analyzing. His raised eyebrows could mean any number of things and, right at
that second, if any of them indicated anything other than hey, your girl is
gorgeous, then he could choke on them.

“Why?” The workings of the female mind remained a mystery to
him.

“Because I figured you were done with me.”

His head instantly pounded. How could the Incubus make more
sense to him than Dodie? “What?”

Jonah choked on a laugh, covering his mouth up with his
hand. Just then Mindy emerged from the bedroom.

“Don’t laugh at her. That’s a hard thing to admit. Would you
rather she lie?”

His friend stopped laughing. “Well, hello there.”

Christian had to find out how Dodie could possibly have
decided he’d finished with her, but first he needed to get Jonah settled down.
“This is Mindy. Her boyfriend got slaughtered last night. Don’t hit on her
yet.” Nothing was easy.

Dodie rubbed at her eyes. She blamed exhaustion for her
verbal diarrhea. Hot man she slept with comes to her house for more and she
told him she thought he was done with her in order to completely ruin
everything. Hmm. How many ways could she tell herself to shut up?

“I’m sure he’s not hitting on me, Christian.” Mindy walked
forward, removing the necklace he’d put around her neck the night before. “Thank
you so much for this. Dodie tells me you really came to my rescue.”

He took his necklace back, the kind look she’d seen him use
so many times with Mindy the night before crossing his face. “I’m glad you’re
doing okay today. I’ve seen what trauma can do to a person.”

“I was hitting on you, he didn’t get that wrong.” Jonah
spoke and Christian sent him a look that could have scorched and burned the earth.
She might not be great at body language but his cues were clear for all to see.
Christian wanted Jonah to shut up. “And Mindy here will be fine. It’s awful to
see violence, but she wasn’t in love with her boyfriend.”

“What?” Mindy reared back. “How dare you speak to me like
that? You have no idea whether or not I loved Brian.”

“Sure I do. I’ve seen heartbreak, lady, and you’re not
having it.”

“Holy shit, Jonah. Shut up.” Christian apparently decided he
couldn’t give out nonverbal signals and spoke his thoughts aloud. The whole
thing might be funny if it wasn’t so darn strange.

“I think Mindy and I can work this out without you
chaperoning.” Jonah leaned against the wall as if he had nowhere he felt like
hurrying off to. “Why don’t you take your woman there and figure out why she
thinks you’re done with her? I gotta tell you, my man, that doesn’t speak well
for your prowess. If you need some sort of lessons as to what you’re doing
wrong, I’d be happy to give you some advice.”

“Eat it, Jonah.” Christian turned to Dodie and her heart
fluttered. Somehow he’d ended up back in her apartment. It was almost
one-thirty in the morning, which would be a booty call, or maybe better put a
booty visit, if he didn’t work so late. “Do you think we can talk?”

She turned to Mindy. “You okay if I disappear for a bit?”

Jonah laughed. “She’s fine. Mindy and I are going to get to
know each other better.” He raised his hands. “In a totally platonic way.”

Mindy smiled. “I’m fine. I’m going to try to sleep.”

Christian shook his head. “He’s harmless. Sometimes crazy
but he would never do anything to bother Mindy, not really.”

Jonah rolled his eyes. “I’m touched by your faith in me.”

She nodded before she walked into her bedroom. He followed
her and closed the door behind him. With the click of the latch, she realized
she’d gotten into her bedroom with Christian again. Immediately, her panties
were wet. She shifted uncomfortably. Only one thing would give her some release
and, thanks to her outburst, they were going to have to talk first and then
hopefully she could get him into her bed later. If she could survive the
anticipation.

“Why did you think I was done with you?” He’d crossed his
arms over his chest. With his hair pulled back, he looked softer, gentler than
he had the night before. Less the sex god from next door and more the nice guy
who wanted to help her lock her apartment.

“I guess I just assumed a guy like you would want a one-night
stand with me.” In for a penny, in for a pound. No way was she getting out of
this conversation any way other than just going for it completely.

“A guy like me? What does that mean, exactly?” He shot darts
at her with his gaze.

“The kind of a guy who can have any girl he wants. Who
probably has had every girl he’s ever pursued. You’re the perfect man. They put
you on the covers of books to sell them to women.” She shook her head. He
needed to understand what she meant even if, as she said the words, they
frustrated her to even hear them. “And I’m normal. A very average, curvy woman
with rolls and fat to spare. I assumed I would be a one-time thing to you.”

He rubbed at a spot between his eyes. She wished she could
reach over and massage his temples for him. It didn’t, however, seem the time.

“Okay. Forgetting for a second that I think you’re gorgeous.
Probably the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen anywhere. You’re like a pinup
model from the 1950s. You don’t have rolls of fat anywhere on your body,
anywhere. Last night, I got a really good look. I’ve been fantasizing about you
for months. But if we just put all that aside for a second, if we forget about
that?”

His words made her head whirl. He’d been thinking about her
for months? A 1950s pinup model? He thought she looked like that? Did he need
his eyesight checked? Yet, as she stood there staring into his eyes from across
the room, she believed him. Christian did feel that way about her.

She wanted to grin, but he wasn’t done talking.

“So, you’re with me—we’re forgetting all of that?”

“Right, Christian, listen…”

He held up his hand. “You think I’m a slut.”

She shook her head. “No, that’s not what I was saying…”

He interrupted her. “I can have any woman I want. That’s
what you said. Now I don’t know if that is exactly true. Thank you for thinking
I’m that good-looking. I’d argue that I’m a type and not everyone’s. Plus, I’m
a stripper.”

“What does that have to do with it? If anything, you would
get more women that way. And you all call yourselves dancers not strippers.
Could you just listen to me for one second?”

Christian continued on. “There are lots of women who
wouldn’t come anywhere near me because they think I’m just a stripper. Just a
guy who takes off his clothes while women scream. That maybe I’m not smart
enough for them. They don’t take the time to know me and that’s fine, I don’t
want to be with that kind of girl, so she can take a flying leap.”

“Right. I did not say I thought you were stupid. I think
you’re really bright. You seem to know an incredible amount of stuff actually.
I’d love to talk more.”

“Good.” He nodded. “So you can listen then. I started
thinking of you this morning as my girl. I don’t want you to see anyone else
and I won’t either. We’ll get to know each other. If, for some reason, there is
something one of us finds objectionable and insurmountable about the other then
we’ll end it and agree to keep our heads down and not make eye contact in the
hall.”

She giggled and he raised an eyebrow. He couldn’t know that
had been the scenario she’d envisioned before they’d ever had sex.

“I think, since I seem to be more observant of you than you
are of me, that we are going to find we have a lot in common. All the same
television shows, video games, things like that. I don’t snore, I don’t think.
I can cook.”

“You can’t really not see other girls.” His job didn’t
bother her. In fact, she’d loved seeing him on stage. “It’s okay. I just want
to point out the obvious. Other women are going to see you.”

“Right. Well, somewhere in the next three to four months,
that will end.”

She walked forward. “How will that work? What are you going
to do next? Is the cover model gig going to take over?”

He shook his head. “No. I have something else I’m going to
do. I want to open a karate school.”

“I’ve seen you do karate.”

“Ah.” He grinned, showing her the dimple on his left cheek.
“So you seem to know some things about me. How did you witness me in the dojo? How
did you know I was a cover model?”

Her cheeks got hot. She knew she must be beet red. “Well,
since I’m in this truth-telling mode, I’ll admit that when I got a view of
inside through the window, I may have pressed against the glass to see more and
when I saw you on the cover of a book when I signed on Amazon…”

He grinned and walked to her. The sway of his hips would
always remind her that he’d been a dancer. The man could saunter as if he knew
exactly how big his cock measured.

“You bought the book.”

She bit her lip and it stung. “I did.”

“How many of them with me on the cover did you buy?”

Dodie met him halfway in the room. “How many are there?”

He held up his hand showing her the number five. “That I
know of. I sold the rights to those photos. They could be any number of
places.”

“Hmmm.” She’d have to investigate again.

“Here’s what I’m going to tell you.” He pulled her up
against him. She could feel his cock harden in the few seconds she stayed
there. “I have very little temper when it comes to mundane things. I’m never
going to get angry over nothing. There are things about me that might bother
you or make you think you want to run away. Please don’t. I can make you happy.
I promise I can. And I won’t let the women at Brass touch my body after the
shows. I’ll always be faithful to you.”

“What are the things I won’t like?” It was hard to even ask
that question. Instead of the baby oil of the previous evening, his scent
smelled clean, like soap. She pushed her nose against his shirt and breathed in
deeply. He groaned.

“Well. Um. There’s going to be a few things, but we might as
well start with I spent a year in jail when I was twelve.”

She hadn’t expected that. “Um.” Jail when he was twelve. “That’s
juvenile, right? What did you do?”

“They thought I killed my parents.” He kissed her forehead. “But
I didn’t.”

“And they let you out when they found out you didn’t?” Her
mind whirled. Someone actually accused him of murdering his parents when he’d
been twelve years old?

“They let me go when someone who knew I hadn’t done it
convinced them I couldn’t have performed the acts they accused me of. He’s the
man who eventually introduced me to Jonah. We studied martial arts and other
things with him.”

“How did he know you hadn’t done it?”

He leaned over to kiss her on the nose. “How about I tell
you about it over breakfast?”

* * * * *

He really, really wanted her. For a few seconds, he hadn’t
been sure he could convince her to trust him, to believe he wanted her, and
that she should feel that way about him.

“Okay. Breakfast sounds good.” She bit down on his lip. “Tomorrow.
But I have work in the morning.”

“We’ll get you there on time.” He kissed her neck, loving
the sweet taste of her skin on his mouth. “Or close to it.”

He picked her up in his arms and she squealed. Christian
loved playing with Dodie. Sex should be fun and scooping her up just to hear
her make that noise was something he intended to do all the time.

Laying her down on the bed, he kissed the bottom of her neck
before breathing her into his lungs. “You smell like cinnamon.”

“It’s the bubble bath I took earlier.”

Christian looked up at that. “You take bubble baths?”

“I do. When I have the time.”

“Well. Some time, when we don’t have Jonah and Mindy with
us, we’re going to take one together.”

“Sounds like a deal.”

She’d questioned his commitment earlier and it brought out
the primitive urge to claim her, to make sure she understood his intentions and
agreed to them not just with her words but with her body as well.

“Take off your clothes for me.” He stood up and removed his
own shirt. “Please.”

That evening would not be filled with a lot of finesse. He
wanted her, needed her, and he would show her how much. Before he took off his
pants, he pulled out a condom. For the foreseeable future he would carry them
around with him all the time, just in case Dodie wanted him. He’d always be
ready for her, wherever and whenever.

After that, he shoved off his pants. She’d done as he asked
and undressed herself. Like the night before, she’d worn no bra or panties
under her pajamas.

Her creamy, porcelain skin shone out at him. He wanted her
dressed in moonlight, nothing else. Watching her made him even hotter and his
cock throbbed, begging to be inside what he now knew would be her hot, slick
folds. It hurt, but he managed to get his briefs off so that he wore nothing as
well.

Knowing he had her undivided attention, he walked to the
light and shut it off. “I’m not doing this for any other reason than I desire
to see your pale skin bathed in the moon’s embrace this evening.”

She nodded and he hoped she believed him. They’d battle her
inner worries together until someday he vanquished them as he would a damned
creature.

Christian knew how to wage war and how to win it.

He shoved open the blinds to let the full moon’s light enter
their bedroom. She gasped. “Christian, someone might see.”

“We’re on the tenth floor. No one will see from below and if
someone can fly and chooses to use that power tonight to spy on us while we are
together, I’m inclined to let them look.”

Dodie giggled. “The flying peeping tom?”

“Exactly.” He walked to the bed, anticipation making his
body tingle. “I wouldn’t mind anyone watching. All they would see is how lucky
I am to have you in this bed tonight. How beautiful you are.”

She touched his cheeks. “When you say things like that, I’m
inclined to believe you.”

“Listen to every word.”

He loved her bared to his every touch. Starting at her chin,
he ran his hand down her body until he cupped her mound. She arched into him
and he could feel her juices already coming from her core on the palm of his
hand. He raised it to his lips and licked.

“My favorite taste.”

Red stained her cheeks, visible even in the moonlight. “You
are so bad, the things you say make me blush.”

“That’s only because you are so good.”

He yanked her by the ankles until she reached the end of the
bed and then rolled them both until she lay on top of him.

“I want you to ride me, sweetheart. Would you put me inside
you?”

She smiled and then bit down on her lower lip. “Sure.”

“Don’t be nervous.” He ran his hands down her thighs, loving
how soft her skin felt beneath the pads of his fingers.