Infliction

6

"You're here," she breathes out as she fiddles with the zip.

"That I am," I smile.

She dusts the imaginary dust off and gives me an eye roll as she stands besides the bed and pulls the suitcase down. I sigh out of frustration because she doesn't have shoes on. I always want my women wearing shoes; the floor is hard and they have delicate feet.

"What happened to your shoes?" I ask her as I walk around her room, studying it carefully. Everything in here is screaming her name. Not literally, but of course.

"Happy?" She stands behind me and I turn to see that she has slipped into a pair of red loafers with little cute gold bow ties.

"Very," I smile. "Interesting room you have." She has beautiful antics and ornaments all over. Scarfs and belts hang on one side if the wall, and surprisingly, no pictures or posters are against her walls.

"Yeah? Thanks." I feel her presence behind me and I glance over my shoulder to look at her smiling at me. Her cheekbones are pink and she's holding her hand in a fist below her chin. My eyes hesitantly fall on her lips and she bites her bottom lip as she looks away.

Now's not the time, I'm reminded by my subconscious.

"How long have you had these?" I run my fingers along the spines of the DVD covers.

"For about five years, at least." I nod at that and pull one out. Love Finds You In Charm.

"How many times have you watched this?" I smirk when I see the guilty face.

"Three times," she says quickly, making me doubt her a little. I keep her gaze and she doesn't hold it for too long before sighing. "Okay, maybe seven times." There's an edge to her voice, and I raise an eyebrow. "Geez, fine. Twelve," she confesses and rolls her eyes, making me laugh at her. I put it back on the shelf and move to the books.

"Maybe you're invading my space," Tess speaks as she stands besides me.

"Maybe just a little," I say absent-mindedly as I mentally tick off which books I've read as well. She has loads of books, from Alice In Wonderland, Love and Friendship, Sense and Sensibility, the Divergent series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and even Lick.

What is Lick doing here? I pick the book out and turn to her, and by the way she turns away from facing me and avoiding my eyes, she can tell what I was going to ask.

"I have just read it four times," I say as I put it back. She scoffs at that. Almost as if she's read it more than four times. Then again, what could have stopped her?

"I think I might just camp here," I turn to her and smile when I see her confused face. "What do you think?"

She laughs sarcastically, but stops when she clicks that I'm almost serious. "No can do, mister. You gotta go." She wraps her hands around my arms and attempts to drag me out of her room. I stand still and hear her say profanities under her breath as she struggles to get me out.

"You're not even trying," I mock her. She folds her arms across her chest and gives me a cold stare. "This is trying," I say and before she can react, I reach down and grab her thighs as I effortlessly toss her body over my shoulder. A screech escapes her lips as she immediately grabs hold of my lower back.

"I demand you p-put," she inhales shapely before continuing, "me down this instance."

"And if I don't?" I challenge.

"I'm feeling dizzy," she says weakly.

"Shit," I say as I quickly lower her and support her body with my hands so that she can stand properly. "You wanna lay down?" I ask her when I see that her eyes are shut tight. I pick her up and hold her against my chest as I walk over to her bed.

"You-" she says and starts hitting and punching my chest. "Put me down!" I smirk as I hoist her a little higher and let go of her. She hits the bed with a muffled yelp and bounces a little. Her hair gets loose and her slippers have fallen off.

She turns to face me and that's when I take my phone out and start snapping pictures of her. I believe this makes her really upset because she starts throwing pillows at me but none of them come even close to hitting me.

"Are you upset with me?" I ask her while I offer her my hand to take but she slaps it away. "I'm sorry," I stifle a laugh and lay on her bed beside her.

"I don't care," she hisses at me as she gets off the bed and walks across the room. I walk after her and tuck a loose strand of brown hair behind her ear. I look at our reflection in the mirror and smile.

Her scolding eyes meet mine and we stare at each other for a while before she turns around and snakes her arms around my lower back. I instantly wrap mine around her small frame. This feels like home.

🕕

"If it doesn't disturb your plans, would you mind joining us for dinner tonight?" Julia asks me as soon I finished packing Tess' luggage in the car. I decided to put them in the car so that I wouldn't have to do it in the morning.

"I'd love to," I reply honestly. "What time can I come?"

"Seven. Seven would be just fine."

"Then seven it is. See you then," I say as I wink at Tess who quickly looks away. I'm about to open the door when an idea comes to mind.

"How about I spend the night?"

Julia looks thrilled at my question and Tess looks like she's about to skin me alive. "That's fantastic! That way you don't have to drive a long way here early tomorrow morning," she says, seemingly trying to convince Tess.

"What do you think?" I ask Tess as we look at her to agree with us.

"I guess that's okay," she whispers as she bites her nails and studies the floor. Who knew my poorly thought out idea would work?

🕡

I think back to what I've left at the apartment and decide to text Carlos to tell him that he he can keep whatever I've left behind. He replied almost instantly, saying he'll be back at the apartment the next day.

I go to the car and reach for the pouch behind the passenger seat and pull my laptop out. I open my mail and type in the recipient name: Lautner

I think of my options carefully before composing the email. Just as I'm about to click send, another email pops up on my screen.

The girl you thought you handled four years...check again.

I look at who it's from but it's just says FWD. My fingers hover over the keyboard as I think of who it is. It's a little too specific -- the four years, to just be a mistaken email.

How would you know that? I quick reply.

Look closer. She's around you. Comes the short reply. I type a response and press send but it bounces back, saying that email address cannot be found.

The movement at Tess' window catches my attention and I look up in time to see the curtains being drawn. Something's not right here, I can feel it in my gut. I look around again and delete the threats I just received.