Page 19 of Undone

“Wait here.” She motioned for me to stand behind her as she opened the door an inch and peeked out. “God damn, the man keeps looking over this way every few seconds. Jesus, Luce, what did you do out there?”

It was a good thing she couldn’t see the shades of red coloring my face as I stood behind her.

“Quick! Now!” She turned, grabbed my elbow, quickly leading me out the door and around the corner of the building. “Shush, try not to make noise or move to fast.” I was forced to duck under a low hanging branch as Dev led me down a path not as well kept as the main ones. We didn’t walk far, but just went far enough.

“Spill, Luce. Now!”

“He’s… he’s on a whole other level. I mean, he took one look at me and I felt…claimed.Owned Completely.”

“What? Did you smoke a joint this morning before we left?”

“No. I’m high on him though, that’s for sure.”

“Did you sleep with him?”

“N-no…”

“Luce?”

The words spilled out of me before I could stop them. “We did make out like teenagers. It was so hot. I didn’t even know his name for three hours. He led me to a meadow, took off his shirt, laid it down and spread me across it. The man went down on me for an hour. He pinned me down, wouldn’t let me up and made me come over and over again.”

“No way.”

I nodded, “Then he kissed me. After… after all that. Then he ripped my shirt off and sucked my tits for another hour. H-he said I had a body he could feast on for days. He never asked me my name.”

“That’s because I told him.”

“Well, he said my name was,“Taken”and made me repeat it.”

“I don’t know Luce. I’ve seen Smith at Sassy’s and he seemed like an okay guy. Damn, don’t you think this is weird?”

“I don’t care. It makes me feel so good. So—wanted, that a man like him could want me so much, so viscerally; instantly. It’s like my existence makes him go insane—just kidding Dev,” I cracked up. “The look on your face right now is priceless. He did take me to a meadow and we just drank and chilled. We talked a lot. It was nice to have a guy actually interested in me without rushing to get my clothes off.”

“Well, I would believe it after I heard you calling out “Oh, god,” from the woods.

“We saw a snake. No lie. I’m a city girl. I freaked the heck out, okay? I don’t do wilderness, but I do—do wild men,” I winked.I felt guilty, but how could anyone understand the wild current running between me and him when I didn’t even understand it myself. I told myself I’d tell her it was all true… but not here. Not now. I wanted to continue my night of magic with Smith and save the story of it for later, when Dev and I stay up late drinking wine and dancing like we used to.

“Crap. I hear something.” Dev cocked her head listening. The night descended while we were gone. The darkness was fully falling—a thick blanket cloaking us.

“It sounds like a goddamn bear.”

Something or someone was coming.

The sound of snapping twigs and leaves crunching under feet drew closer.

“Jesus, it is a bear,” Dev, drawled as Smith came crashing down the path.

On cue, something comes tearing ass through the brush. But of course, it wasn’t a bear.

It was Smith.

He tapped his watch. “You were gone over ten minutes. I was concerned. Especially after how you almost fainted when you saw that garden snake earlier. Bats come out this time of night.”

“Uh huh,” Dev rolled her eyes, and jabbed a finger into his chest. “I’m watching you. You’re both on my radar. If you pull any psycho shit on her, I’m gonna go bat-shit crazy on your ass.”

“Easy there. We’re just getting to know each other. Come,” he said, turning to me, “the bands playing.”

Across the distance, a soft ballad weaved through the air.

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