Page 48 of Kings of Lust
‘Like you did with your friend Jenna?’ Ferris asked, to my surprise. I didn’t know he had any idea who she was, let alone what he was talking about.
‘What did I do with Jenna!?’ I asked, trying to figure things out.
‘You gave her one of my presents. A diamond bracelet. Unless she stole that from you.’
‘No, she didn’t steal it,’ I turned to look at him, trying to figure out how pissed off he really was about what I had done. ‘But diamonds!?’ I was in a slight shock since I had chosen the bracelet out of a jewelry box that had maybe over fifteen other similar pieces.
‘It had a serial number. The pawnshop where she sold it called me to ask if I wanted it back since it was registered under my store account.’
‘I had no idea. I only wanted to help her. I didn’t even know if it was out of gold or not.’ I took a moment of silence, thinking about how to mend things, not that I could really fix anything. ‘I’m sorry. She’s going through a rough time. I didn’t think for a second that it could be made of diamonds. I’m sure they paid her scraps for it.’
‘That’s probably why they called me. To cash the big bucks.’
‘I didn’t realize. I thought I was doing the right thing,’ I apologized again since now I was the one that had messed things up.
‘I’ll give you a card with a sum for expenses. You’ll decide what to do with that. I don’t care, as long as you stop giving your thing away. I bought that for you.’
‘I didn’t think of the consequences. But I’ll make it up to you.’ I wiggled the takeout bag. Like that could ever compensate for anything.
‘I guess that will do,’ he smiled, waiting for me to take our picnic dinner out. The surprise was on him since instead of the lousy menu, I got a bag full of French fries and more than enough chicken strips for both of us.
‘Where did that come from?’ He looked at the food like Jesus had multiplied it.
‘The extra $2.50 did the trick,’ I smiled, setting out our paper bag dinner cloth over the ventilation pipe and took a seat next to him.
‘I’m starting to think you’re an expert at this,’ he murmured while helping me set thetable.
‘At romantic diners? Not by a long shot.’
‘Getting by with basically nothing. That’s what I was referring to.’
‘Oh... Story of my life,’ I giggled, opening the fine bottle of wine— or the soda cans in our case.
I saw Ferris licking his fingers after eating. I guess the fast-food carbs magic got to him too. But no matter how stress-free our dinner was, the thought that I did him wrong didn’t give me peace.
‘You know. I don’t want you to think that I don’t appreciate what you do for me.’ I wanted to clarify things between us because the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the subject was going to eat me alive if I didn’t talk things through.
‘I know you had good intentions. I would have just liked it if you would have told me. Although I didn’t give you too many reasons to trust me,’ he took a small pause to gather his thoughts ‘You know, I’m also thinking of the harm I’ve caused you.’ He seemed truly repentant. But one thing I’d learned was never to put my full trust in Ferris. He was 99% psychopath and 110% perfect madness, though this time his madness materialized itself into something unbelievable.
‘I hope you’ll be able to forgive me. And to ease my way, I did something.’
‘What?’ I was unsure if I should be happy or terrified.
‘Do you remember my business trip right before Brax got your family back?’
‘How could I forget?’ I cast out a smile, remembering the exact moment when he decided to give me that phone as a gift.
‘Not very nice of me,’ he smiled back with the certainty that he knew exactly the effect his sinful gaze had on me.
He was doing it again. Casting his spell into the air so slowly that untrained senses could hardly detect it. But I knew it. I knew it all too well, and despite that, there was nothing I could do to stop it from unraveling me.
‘No, it wasn’t,’ I arched an eyebrow, getting down from the windpipe and walking in front of him, waiting to hear what he had to say.
Though with Ferris, every step I took meant walking into another trap. The second I got next to him, he stretched his legs then curved them back, catching my thighs between his calves and the windpipe. I was his prisoner, entrapped by his body to gaze right into his Onyx eyes. So devious and so undeniably seductive that he could be easily mistaken for a demon. And maybe that’s exactly what he was. My personal demon, escaped from the depths of Hell to slowly torch my soul to extinction.
‘You were saying something about your business trip,’ I had to remind him about our discussion since it seemed things were switching between me acting indifferent, to one step away from jumping on his neck and kissing him. I wouldn’t allow myself to be that weak. Not when it came to Ferris or anyone else, although what he had to say had the power to change my heart.
‘Yeah... It wasn’t exactly a business trip. At least not company business.’ His confession suddenly saddened me, as I realized he had lied. My mind instantly made room for a thousand thoughts of how, when and where he was spending the night in someone else’s bed. I shouldn’t have been jealous. I had no right to be. And if I had a single sane neuron in my brain, I should be thankful at the thought that one day he might take someone else. It was the most normal outcome he could have.
