When Worlds Collide

After dinner I took a stroll around the grounds. Something I hadn’t done in years until a few months ago when I let Lucia browbeat me into taking a walk with her in the moonlight. As hard as we tried to keep our feelings hidden, it was little things like that that I was sure would give us away before long.

We couldn’t seem to help ourselves. We took any opportunity to be together no matter how mundane. There was no doubt in my mind that had I caved and given into my mother’s wishes that I’d have ended up an adulterer. Something I couldn’t have lived with, because I would’ve been dragging her down with me as well. She deserved better, more. She deserved all of me.

5

The walk was bittersweet because she wasn’t there to share it with me. I’ve found in the last few months that a lot of things had lost their spark because she wasn’t there with me. Things that I once enjoyed no longer enticed.

There was always a feeling of emptiness. Or a sudden moment when I’d think, ‘she’d really like this’. Or even worse, the times I’d reach for her hand to share some new find with her, only to remember that she’s not there.

After that moonlit walk, I’d distanced myself, even more. That was the beginning of this little tug of war. Before then we’d skirted around each other, but there was still room for doubt. I’d been very careful not to give too much away, not to encourage what I had already seen growing in her eyes. After that night there was no mistaking that there was something there on my part.

We hadn’t said anything suggestive to each other. The conversation had been light and friendly banter. But you could’ve cut the tension with a knife. It was in the days following that night that her hatred of Helen had come to the forefront.

She was telling me how she felt without coming right out and saying the words. But by then I’d already known. She wasn’t sophisticated enough to hide her feelings, not like I was. But that night she must’ve seen something in me, something I hadn’t been aware of giving away, and it had freed her up.

The night air was cool now as I looked up at the starlit sky wishing she were here with me. I missed her. So much that I was tempted to go get her. My need for her that had been on a slow burn for the longest time was reaching the boiling point. I’m afraid that if I don’t do something soon things just might get out of hand.

I’m a man of great appetites. For that reason, the fact that I’d bedded my intended only once should’ve been a huge tipoff. I was way beyond thinking about that now though, right now those appetites were leading me in a whole other direction. A direction that was sure to get out of hand if I didn’t do something soon.

I left the gardens where she spent so much time that I’d begun thinking of it as hers and headed up to bed. Tomorrow I will offset a shit storm of monumental proportions, I need to be well rested for this shit. My last thought before I fell asleep was that before long she’d be joining me in my bed.

I’m going to kill her. As soon as I get my hands on her skinny little neck I’m going to twist it the fuck off. “How long ago did she leave?” I was already heading for the door not waiting for an answer. It didn’t matter, I knew where to find her.

“About half an hour ago.” I heard her mother’s answer all the same as I jumped the last step in the garage and ran to my Rover. Why would she do this? After what had passed between us yesterday I thought she understood. So why the fuck was she going down to the recruitment center?

It was purely by chance that I’d learned this and a good thing too. I just happened to ask her mother in passing what her daughter was up to, framing my question in the most noninvasive way possible. When she innocently told me with pride that she was on her way to sign up to follow in her daddy’s footsteps I almost choked on the sip of coffee I’d just taken.

I played it off well but I was sure my reaction had given her something to think about. I couldn’t worry about that right now though. Right now I have a woman to catch. Maybe I should spank her ass to get her to behave. Maybe I should’ve done it a long time ago. The damn girl is a nuisance.

I drove like a bat out of hell to get there before it was too late. I still didn’t know why the hell she’d done it, but knowing her, she had her reasons. Whatever they were I’m going to paint her little ass red. I hadn’t stayed up half the night working this shit out for her to pull this stunt.