Page 86 of Into the Blue
“Oh.” Taking the few steps to the bed I sit next to him. “You’ll probably think it’s silly. But I thought you went to a salon or something.”
“Why would I think that’s silly?” He looks at me a beat and I pick at my cuticle, instantly regretting what I’ve said. “Ah,” is all he says. His smug grin making my own turn down.
“What is that?” I say, pointing to his face.
“Should really get your jealousy under control.”
“Me?” I scoff. “It’s a… safety thing.”
He gives me a look and I’m taken back to the night he saw my first glimmers of jealousy flare. In an attempt to divert from being found out, I had let it slip. I wasn’t normally a jealous person, but Blue was mine.
Mine?
My mark.
Of course.
“Uh-huh,” he retorts. After securing his final twist with a rubber band, he grimaces. Holding his hand, he starts to massage them.
Sitting on the bed, I instinctively reach for his big hand. “Do they–”
“It’s fine. Just been overworking them.” He doesn’t pull his hand from mine.
Following the line of his scar above the most prominent of them, I apply pressure with my thumbs to the tension there. Slowly I make my way up his forearm to his thumb.
His head falls back and he rolls his neck, locs splaying behind his head. “Fuuuck that feels good. How do you know how to do that?”
“Pole dancing is a sport like you wouldn’t believe. Our grip strength is important in many ways. This is a recovery massage we learned pretty early on.” I press into his palm where the thumb connects, moving my thumbs away from each other. Over and over again until I reach the top of his thumb. Repeating the massage for each of his fingers. He’s relaxed back onto the bed before I finish, boneless and relieved.
“This next one, is really gonna get you,” I preface before I interlace my fingers with his. It takes both of my hands intertwined with one of his to be able to stretch his palm and fingers. The groan that rolls out of him makes me press my thighs together.
When I release his hand, he scoops me up into his arms, hands on my ass. “You know I’m never lettin’ you leave me now, right?”
I manage to tap my chin as I ask him. “When were you letting me leave again?”
His eyes gleam before he kisses my forehead. “Wanna take you somewhere.”
With my hands on his chest I hold his downward gaze. “Like a date?”
“Somethin’ like that.”
It had been weeks since I left this property. Tonight, I’m going all out to finally stretch my legs.
We arrive at a restaurant that I could only describe as luxe. All four guards come with us to the restaurant, but we leave in two cars. Both Marcell and Lidia sit in the front of Blue’s night black Maybach in their standard guard clothing, so I didn’t have many clues to where we could have been going. This though, was far more luxurious than I was expecting, I’m happy that I had dressed for a true date.
Another thing I was able to do with few limitations was shop online. At first I bought silly things that I thought might irritate him, but he never said anything when the obnoxious flamingo inflatable pool float chair arrived. Even though it's the middle of winter—and he has no pool.
Then I really started buying things I liked. A few new outfits to replace the ones that he had shredded with his knife.
Then I found designer ateliers that would take your measurements online for custom orders. This one I bought on a whim because the model looked fantastic in it. The fabric shimmered like my club clothes but not nearly as cheap looking. Thankful that I was able to have it tailored now because I’ll actually be able to show it off.
The slinky black dress hugged my every curve until it reached my ankles. Brand new red-bottom spike heels let the long line of the dress shine without me tripping on every step. I absolutely looked the part of a woman who would be eating at a place like this. I had also purchased a smaller clutch for the evening that was just large enough for me to slip my burner phone into it along with my other things.
I hadn’t worn makeup for a long time with nowhere to go, but tonight I was primed, blended, lined and highlighted to perfection.
Using the highest setting on my flat iron, I straightened my hair and added an elegant curl to the ends. I needed so much humidity-proof serum to make sure it didn’t expand as soon as we walked out of the house. A little bit of edge control gel finished my look off, swooping my baby hairs back into the straight style.
She cut zero corners, is what I’m saying!
