Dancing With Devia (13 page)

That night, he dreamt Crystal crept into bed with him again.
He loved her visits; they comforted him. In his dreams, they made passionate love and he slept on.

Sophie was laughing as she walked along the street.  One of her university buddies had said something
that made her go into hysterics
.
She didn’t quite understand why it was funny, but for some reason it made her laugh until her sides and cheeks hurt.
One of those timely remarks that under normal circumstances you wouldn’t ordinarily think was
humorous
.  But here and now, it was hysterical.
She was laughing so hard that she didn’t look where she was going and she bumped straight into a guy coming out of the coffee shop.  He caught her right after she walked straight into his broad chest.

“Hey there! Mind the coffee, it’s hot.”  He said his arm coming up to catch her shoulder. She laughed as she looked up at him apologetically.

“Oh my God!
I’m so sorry!”  She said before she realised it was Julian. “It’s you!
How great to see you again.”

“Oh!” When he realised who it was, “hello Sophie.” Julian was genuinely pleased to see her.

“What are you doing here?” She asked.
He raised his eyebrows as she spoke.

“Errm, coffee shop.
Coffee.”  He waved his coffee cup in front of her face.
She laughed again, feeling silly.

“Duh, of course.” She rolled her eyes. “No, I meant here.” She signaled to the surrounding area.

“I live here.”

“You do?”

“Yes, for a long time now. This is my local coffee shop.”

‘Wow, great!  Mine too!
I go to university near here.
I’m getting my PhD.
I’ve never seen you here before.”
She suddenly said.

“I could say the same.  It’s quite possible, maybe we were here at the same time, before you knew me, and we just never noticed.
We will never know, will we?”  He smiled at her, his eyes twinkling mischievously.
One of her friends coughed to speed up their conversation.
They were obviously getting bored with them.
Sophie looked at her friends and glowered.

“You go in guys.
I will be right there. I’ll have a cappuch’,” she said, abbreviating cappuccino to sound cool in front of Julian.
They rolled their eyes and walked away
leaving
her to it.
If she wanted to hang out with one of her dad’s friends, who were they to interfere?

“So do you want to join us?”
She said, hoping he would say no and at the same time, hoping he would say yes.
She could feel her cheeks blushing at her question, and he saw it, but didn’t say anything.
To her, he was just the ‘bee’s knees’. 
She had developed a crush on him the moment he had taken her hand to help her on board his yacht.
She had felt a frisson of sexual need, or sexual excitement, but being in front of her parents, she had felt weirded out by it.
So she ignored it and had pretended everything was normal.
In her mind, she had kissed him a thousand times and seen herself going on his yacht by herself, dressed to seduce, the ultimate love goddess. He would kneel at her feet and worship her in every way.  He would-

“Sophie?”

“Yes?”  She was dragged back from her reverie involving him.

“I said, sorry I can’t.
I have to get back to the Marina.”

“Oh.” She said sounding more disappointed than she meant to.  He looked sideways at her.

“Look, why don’t you swing by the marina sometime?  If I am going out on the boat, you can join me.
Only if you like.”

“Oh wow. I would love to, but I couldn’t afford that!”

“No, No.
It would be on the house.” He smiled.

“Oh frigging hell YES!
Can I come with you now?” He ran his fingers through his hair, wondering what possessed him to invite her.
Now that she had accepted he was dumbfounded.

“Well, yeah I guess.” Before he could change his mind she brushed passed him, rushed over to her friends to grab her coffee.

“Oh my GOD!” She whispered to them excitedly, “I’m going with him!  Over to spend time on his yacht!

“With your dad’s friend?” One asked.

“This is the guy I spent my birthday with!”

“Be careful you idiot!
He could be a crazy axe murderer,” they whispered back as they looked at him suspiciously.

Standing there, smiling, his tight shirt showing his taut chest and shoulders and fine physique, nothing looked further from the truth. He smiled across at them as they glowered back.

“Pfft!  No, I
know
him.
Don’t be silly.
I gotta go.
See you later.”  She picked up her cappuccino then leaned forward and added, “And, for the record, he’s
not
a friend of my dad’s either.”
She picked up her coffee and had it transferred from the mug into a take away cup.  They left together a few minutes later.
Her friends looked at him a little differently.  They watched her enviously as she slipped her arm in his and walked out of the shop, and out of sight.

Sophie was so surprised to have run into Julian at the coffee shop and could not have been more excited.  She was walking along the street with him.
To her, the birds were chirping louder and sweeter, the trees looked greener, the sky was bluer, her arm was in his, and she was on cloud nine.
All her dreams were coming true.

When they arrived at the marina, she jumped out of his car and almost ran down the docks to his boat.
She couldn’t wait to get back on board.  She remembered that she was trying to be sophisticated and suddenly walked slower, hoping he hadn’t noticed her enthusiasm.

Julian did notice.
For him her enthusiasm was intoxicating, but he said nothing and gave no indication of having seen her almost jog.  He knew she was trying to impress him.
He didn’t know why, nor did he really care.
He was just glad for the company.
Glad of someone who didn’t look at him with pity.
Someone, who didn’t know what had happened in his life.
Someone, who didn’t know of his inner pain and sorrow.
To him Sophie was a breath of fresh air.
She was intoxicating in a fresh and new way.  She reminded him of Crystal, when they had first met.
Crystal was his first love, and always would be.
He felt the
familiar
stab of pain, but when he looked at Sophie, it went away. He decided, in that moment, that he wanted Sophie there, all the time. She would help his heart heal and he knew it.

Walking past the marina, he felt a shiver as he passed the chair where Devia normally sat.  He couldn’t explain why, but something didn’t feel right.
When they got to the boat, he looked up again, and there she was.
She was glowering. A black thunderous look on her face.  She looked angry at something.

At that moment, Sophie grabbed his arm to ask about a local heron that was ‘acking’ in the corner.
He explained to her, what he was doing, that the ‘ack’ sound was him calling for his mate.
He told her a funny story about the heron that the locals called him Herbert, and as they continued to walk he noticed Devia was gone.

Devia wasn’t in his life, never had been really, and was nothing to do with him.
He forgot all about her.

Devia was hopping mad.  If she could have had steam coming from her ears she would have made that happen.
She had seen Sophie doing all her gaga eyes over
her
man, Julian, and she didn’t like it one bit.
After everything she had done to get Julian in to her life and this stupid little girl was going to ruin all her plans.
She was so angry that if she had had a sniper rifle she would have shot her right there and then, a bullet right between the eyes.
The thought was the only thing that gave her a smile that day.  She rushed around the back to where she had a small power boat moored.
He always sailed to the same places.
If she could get there first, she could moor her boat
on
the other side
of the small island
, go to her hidey-hole and watch him through the binoculars as she had done on many occasions since he had returned to work.
Little did he know that she had him under practically twenty four hour surveillance.
By using his passwords to his bank accounts she could access his account and see what he was spending and where, and reading his emails she knew his every move.  In addition, she could read all his messages on his social networks and without him even suspecting, she deleted every email from every woman that wrote to him, and every post she didn’t like.
To carry out this twenty four hour effort she also needed money to survive and this is where his bank account also came in handy, using his passwords again she had set up a monthly direct debit, direct to her bank account which sent her enough money to cover all her bills and then some.  If she ever needed more, she just went in and sent herself some more.  Every night she snuck into his house using the key she kept and she dressed as his dead wife and she fucked him in his sleep.  She knew exactly where he was, every minute of every day.  He was hers.
He wasn’t going to get his cock in anyone else,
only
her. She wasn’t going to have this stupid trollop undo everything.

She threw her things in her boat and sped off in the direction of the island.  By the time they arrived, she would be well ensconced, hidden and ready to watch their every move. She already hated this little skank.  How dare she go sailing with him?

They arrived about an hour after her.
She had moored on the other side of the small island, an island that she now knew like the back of her hand from her spying missions. She saw them sail into the small natural harbour.
He was slowing the yacht down and bringing her about to tie her to the mooring ball.  Devia was watching his every move. From a distance, she saw the little trollop smiling adoringly at him.
He suddenly looked up, right in Devia’s direction and she ducked her head instinctively, although she knew he couldn’t see her.
She suddenly thought that he may have seen the light reflecting from the binoculars and so she put them down for a moment and lay down flat against the ground to blend into the surroundings.

She saw them laughing and she hated them both.
She hated him for being happy without her and she hated the girl for making him laugh.
She
wanted to make him laugh, not a little girl.  She was almost young enough to be his daughter.
Devia lay there, in the undergrowth, and fumed.

She would have to do something about her, and soon, before anything could happen between them.
She watched them come ashore.  They left the dinghy and walked along the beach and through the trees and undergrowth on to the main part of the small island.  Devia skirted around to Julian’s boat.  She wondered if she should go aboard and sabotage things, or follow them.
If she sabotaged things on board then they would be forced to stay the night.
The last thing she wanted was them trapped together, alone, overnight on the boat.
So she decided to creep through the trees to a ledge and looked over the top to watch them instead.

Below, she could see Julian telling her about the trees, explaining the moss on one side, which was an old native trick, it told of the rain direction, and allegedly the position of the north and south.
She heard him explain it was a myth, as moss will grow anywhere given the chance.  She saw the girl, look up at him and smile.  She was lapping up every word he said.
Devia saw Julian looking down at her, with a look he never gave
her
, and it stabbed her right in the heart.
She
really
wished she had a sniper rifle.  That bullet, with her name on it, right between her eyes would wipe the smile off both of their faces.

She saw them walk towards a trail and she started to follow them quietly.
Close enough to hear them, but not close enough for them to hear her.

“Shush.” He suddenly said.
Devia froze where she was, suddenly afraid that he had heard her.
Her heart was pounding so loudly in her chest.  “Crouch down,” he told the girl.  They both crouched down.
Even Devia, from her vantage point, watching them, crouched down.

“Why?” She heard her whisper to him.

“Listen…”

“What?” She whispered back.

“Deer.”

“Why am I crouched down?”

“To reduce your size, to be less of a threat to them, and to not startle them.”

“Oh.” She said.

“Stay still.”

“Okay.”

“And quiet!” He whispered back.

“Okay” She whispered back louder than before.

Devia was so angry.
He had never spent time with
her
like this, never told
her
these things,
and
never taken
her
sailing alone.
She had had to pay him to get him alone.  She was eaten up with jealousy.
After all she had done to be with him.
She hated and loved him more than ever, wanted and yearned for him with every fibre of her being.
It was torture watching them together.
Yet here she was, transfixed, unable to move, in case she gave her position away, and forced to join them in their private time together.
She wished she wasn’t there with them. She didn’t want to be there, but she couldn’t not be.

Devia saw the deer with its fawn, tentatively walking down the path to where the two were crouched.
The young girl stood up and put her hand out.
Devia
watched
her as if she were crazy.

“Come here honey.”  The girl said in her softest voice.

Devia almost snorted, who did she think she was?
Dr Doolittle?
What a fucking idiot she was.

“Come on.
Don’t be afraid.
I won’t harm you.”  The doe stopped and the fawn stopped by her side, then step-by-step, they walked towards her.  Devia couldn’t believe her eyes. 
This girl was like an angel or something.
She looked to Julian whose face was transfixed in wonder and disbelief too.
He was still crouched where he was.  The doe and her fawn, walked right up to the girl, sniffed her hand and let her pet them.
Devia was eaten up with envy.
No animal had ever done that with
her
.

Devia picked up a pebble and threw it across the forest.  She saw the doe and the fawn leap off through the woods, both Julian and the girl looked to where the pebble had fallen.
Julian stood up and walked to the girl’s side.  He looked down at her with what looked like pride and disbelief.  Without a word
, h
e bent and kissed the girl on the lips.  She leaned into him and returned the kiss, then she pulled back.

“What was that for?” She asked, surprised, her cheeks flushing beet red.

“That was for giving me the most beautiful gift.
I have never seen
anything like
that before.
Those animals are so timid that they say they only approach angels, and angels, that are disguised as humans.
You have to have the heart of an angel for them to come to you.  You just showed me your true beauty and innocence.
You are an angel that walks amongst us.”

Devia, hiding up on the ledge, wanted to be sick.
He had never spoken such nice words to her.
She
despised
Sophie, with a passion.  She would have to act soon, before things got too serious between them.
He was hers, not some blonde bimbos. 

Whoever she was, she would have to die.  She
deserved
to die.
And soon.