Page 59 of Lust
I only mollified Steve by having him bring the office to me. But Michael turned out to be a greater pest than Steve and kept texting me nonstop.
Michael:Please call me to schedule another session. You might lose Sara forever if we don’t resolve these feelings.
Lose Sara?
Never. We had only just begun, but the words hit me hard enough to return for a follow-up session.
“I assume things are better with Sara… In your dreams, that is.”
I smirked. “I’m working on making it up to Sara… in my dreams.”
“That’s great to hear, Tristan. Are you ready to acknowledge your feelings for Sara now?”
“Maybe.” I wasn’t ready to say it out loud quite yet. “But first, why don’t you tell me one more of your stories? I always find them… enlightening.” Michael always seemed to know of my conundrums and would pluck a silly story out of his ass to show me the light. It kind of worked last night, but Sara continued to be hesitant. She didn’t want me sleeping over because she was worried about being unconscious around me.
How do I get her to let go? How do I get her to return my affections without holding back?
Michael frowned, perplexed over losing the usual upper hand he exercised by being the one to suggest it. “What story would you like to hear?”
I glanced out the window and toward the busy streets of Georgetown. “We know how Asmodeus feels about Sarah, but does she ever fall in love?”
“Oh, she does. She does, indeed.”
* * *
As the years passed, the fear surrounding Sarah became palpable. Some believed her to be mad. Others thought her to be a murderer. Some thought she was both.
Nonetheless, tales of her beauty were widespread and brought the most curious of men to her doorsteps for a distant peek. One such man was Tobias, the son of Tobit.
His father was an old family friend and had sent Tobias to meet with Sarah’s parents. At first sight, he became enamored with Sarah’s beauty and demure alike.
Others warned Tobias of the catastrophe to follow the girl, but Tobias and Sarah felt a pull toward one another that was as unexplainable as it was undeniable.
Sarah had never dared to hope for love. Now, it had come knocking at her door, and her lonely heart sang loudly for Tobias.
However, when a lovestruck Tobias asked for her hand in marriage, Sarah slinked away. And when he told her that he loved her, dread like she had never known coiled inside her. For any man to love Sarah always died a painful death, and she could never allow Tobias to meet such a fate.
* * *
Of course, Asmodeus’ Sarah was in love with another Tobias. If Michael was hell-bent on teaching me a lesson with these stories, couldn’t he at least change the names?
For four hundred dollars an hour, I expected a bit more originality.
“Tobias and Sarah couldn’t fight their attraction, whereas Asmodeus did everything to tip the scale in his favor. Sometimes it’s best not to force matters of the heart and let things take their natural progression.”
“Didn’t matter, did it?” I snapped. “Sarah still turned Tobias down.”
He tilted his head thoughtfully. “Only because she cared for him.”
I scoffed. “Are you about to say some shit like, if you love something, let it go?” I gripped the edges of the sofa but kept my face thoroughly placid. If he thought I’d let Sara go off into the sunset with Toby, Michael had another thing coming for even suggesting it.
If I couldn’t have Sara, no one could.
He looked at me innocently. “Hmm. I was only suggesting not to force matters of the heart. Whereas the first thought to pop into your head was about letting Sara go. What do you suppose that’s about?”
My eyes rounded. Inadvertent or not, for the first time, I had voiced the idea of letting Sara go for the sake of her happiness.
Michael won that round.
