Why? Because I’m in love.
13
Malcolm
"Love is a burning thing, and it makes a fiery ring, bound by wild desire, I fell into a ring of fire…"
I change the song with a quick tap on my phone.
"Oh, and baby I'm fist fighting with fire, just to get close to you, can we burn something, babe? And I run for miles just to get a taste, must be love on the brain, that's got me feeling this way …"
Tap. Tap.
"Mind in one place. Heart in another…"
Tap. Tap.
Fuck. Since when did everything on my music streaming remind me of Athena? And why is everyone singing about love, anyways? I can't fucking escape her. No matter what I do, no matter where I'm at, no matter how hard I try, she's always there, a ghost haunting every corner of my brain.
Except, she isn't a ghost at all. She's real. Flesh and blood.
And I can't get enough of her.
I stand up from my chair, and pace my office, forcing myself to stretch and move. I look out the windows and across the city skyline, hoping to clear my mind, but every fucking skyscraper looks like a hard cock reaching toward space.
Great. Now I'm thinking about sex too.
But a deal is a deal. I have to keep seeing her … or I could dismiss her and see someone else. That's the nature of this game.
The smart thing to do would be to let her go … but I can't. And normally, the word 'can't' isn't even a fucking part of my vocabulary.
Athena is even infiltrating my dreams.
Last night I dreamt that we were in the middle of an ocean—maybe the Pacific? And beds of kelp were wrapping around our ankles as we swam, naked and vulnerable. In my dream she kept slicing her legs through the water, effortless, her hair floating and following the current, her tits buoyant. She kept turning back and looking at me, with a teasing smile on her face, and I was swimming after her, always at arms length, reaching out, moving forward.
And the fucking funny thing about it was the sense of serenity
in it.
You think that they opposite would be true, right? But no.
I shake my head and pull my phone from my pocket because honestly, I don't know what's come over me.
I scroll through my contacts—Alexis, Angie, April, and then I see her name—Athena.
The three sweetest syllables ever assembled in one package.
I press her name, and the phone starts to dial.
I have no idea why, but I can't sit still. I pace my office, waiting for her to pick up, and with every ring, my pulse quickens.
"Hello, Mal."
Oh fuck, just hearing her voice makes my cock twitch.
"What do you say we do dinner tonight?" I ask, hopeful that she's available.
There's a pause, and then she answers. "I like the sound of that."