Don't Forget Me (24 page)

Behind The Mask

S
he looked at
Donn. His forehead was resting on hers, his eyes were closed, his breath ragged. He smelled delicious. His eyes suddenly shot open and he looked at her tenderly. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, then gently slid out of her. He lay down beside her and Stella snuggled in his arms, her head against his chest as her heartbeat and her breathing slowly returned to normal. She stroked his chest; it was cold under her fingers.

Moments later, reluctant to be touched, Donn pulled up the zipper of his pants, picked up her exhausted and bleeding body and walked towards the double doors next to the bar. Behind them was his personal area. They walked down a half-lit hallway. Stella saw another study and a room with a bed, white walls, and windows overlooking the ocean. He took her into the bathroom. It was so spacious it could accommodate several people. The walls were gray and white marble. In another room, she could see a giant bathtub sunken into the floor. There were marble steps leading down to it. Donn pulled her dress off and let it fall on the floor. He unrolled the condom, tied it and threw it in the trash.

“Now I’ll take care of you, little angel.” He hugged her against the cool marble wall. Stella was shaking like a leaf. Without taking his lips from hers, Donn turned on the faucet. The hot steam rising from the water instantly enveloped them in warmth. Donn was barefoot but was still wearing his shirt and black pants. He was so gorgeous, she could hardly breathe. His white shirt adhered perfectly to his cold, sculpted chest. He held her under the jet of water from the shower, and their clothes became soaked through; blood flowed off of Stella onto the floor.

“Is the water warm enough?” he asked her. Stella lifted her face into the refreshing stream of water, while Donn’s hands held her up.

“It’s perfect,” Stella murmured. Donn kissed her and sucked the water from her lips and the blood from the wounds on her neck and shoulder. Stella signed helplessly, and collapsed onto Donn’s chest, holding herself up by grabbing his back.

“I want to wash away all your blood,” he whispered into her ear.

He picked up the bath gel and poured a small quantity into his hand. Stella recognized his scent in the soap as he lathered her with it. He smeared it over her body, her breasts, her belly, between her thighs. Stella blushed and sighed. Her heart started to beat faster. Donn spread it over the marks from his bites, and then rubbed shampoo into her hair. He sucked her breast, licked the water on her belly and suddenly knelt in front of her, moving his tongue down until he reached her vagina. Stella was breathing hard, as intense pleasure invaded her core. She began to groan and her legs started to shake. She gasped as she joined Donn on the floor of the shower.

Their bodies came together under the water and they moved rhythmically. Their lips met greedily and their hands sought every inch of the other’s body. Then Donn took her in his arms and lifted her naked frame from the floor of the shower as he got to his feet.

Stella unbuttoned his shirt, which he then ripped off hurriedly and threw into a corner. Stella admired the chiseled features of his chest and desire fired up inside her again. She stood on tiptoe to kiss him gently on the lips and run her fingers over his chest muscles, although he didn’t seem to appreciate her moves, his look darkening visibly. She moved downwards and stroked his stomach. She felt a shudder run through his body and so she went even further down to undo his pants. They took them off together and then she moved her hands onto his member, increasing his excitement with her mouth. Donn closed his eyes and grunted. Stella stroked it with her lips and he moved his hips closer to her, his fingers running through her hair encouraging her. Excitement pulsed in him as she sucked harder and took him as deeply into her mouth as she could. Donn grabbed her hair from the roots and pulled her up to him. He kissed her violently and used one arm to force her legs apart, wanting to penetrate her once more. His mouth found her neck. His face was somber, his breath heavy, as he raised his lips to sink his fangs into her.

“Please don’t bite me anymore,” Stella begged in a trembling voice. She felt helpless to stop him, and she hunched her shoulders as a protective shield for her neck. She felt her stomach contract suddenly. Donn stopped himself and lowered his head to rest on her shoulder. He gently kissed her there and then moved up to behind her ear.

“This is all wrong, Stella, I have needs that you can’t satisfy,” he panted. He closed his eyes and wrinkled his forehead before continuing, “I have very specific tastes…” There was a perverse note in his voice. Then he opened his eyes and was once again in control.

“Can’t you do without that stuff?” Stella asked anxiously.

“No, I know no other way…” said Donn dryly.

“Is it because you’re a vampire?” she whispered hesitantly. Donn leaned his head on one side and smiled at her. He ran a hand through his wet hair in exasperation and pulled at it with his fingers.

“Not only… it’s that I need it…”

“I don’t understand.”

“You don’t have to understand, Stella, that’s just how it is!” he exclaimed cold and authoritative.

“So this is what you like, seeing me exhausted and bleeding?” Stella asked, shaking as she indicated the bite marks on her body.

Donn stood before her, his eyes watched her judiciously and harshly as he pulled her towards his body, placing his erect penis between her legs.

“I’m not the right ‘man’ for you, angel… Just take a look at yourself. You ought to keep away from me… The trouble is, I can’t keep away from you. There’s something about you that won’t allow me to.” His voice faded as he beheld the amazement in Stella’s eyes. Then he kissed her on the lips before she could take him at his word and walk out. He embraced her bare body under the cascading water and kissed her hair beside her ear.

“Now I’ve said that, I want things to work between us, we’ll take things slowly,” he murmured. Stella’s eyes clouded with tears. She caressed Donn’s chest and, reluctantly, he let her. Stella threw her arms around his neck, her mouth sucking the delicious flavor of his lips.

“I desperately want to make love with you, Stella, even if I never do again,” Donn said, his finger stroking her from cheek to mouth.

“Never?” Stella asked, puzzled. She stared at him helplessly and then looked away. Donn pulled her body close to his, and turned her head so that she was looking straight at him; his face was troubled.

“Please, Stella, make love with me! But don’t take this as a sign that I’ve become a romantic,” Donn whispered. He searched for her mouth, and Stella sighed a ‘yes’, returning his kiss. He passionately sucked her lips, as Stella threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with more conviction. Donn slid inside her. Stella shuddered and clung to him. Donn moved slowly between her thighs and she gasped with pleasure. Donn waited for her to take a breath and then thrust back into her. He pushed himself all the way in with deep, fluid movements. Stella released a cry of pleasure, Donn falling onto her lips to suffocate her moans with intense, fervent kisses. He could not tear his eyes from her. Neither of them exchange a word, the only sounds were sighs, their fragmented moans and the water tumbling onto their bodies.

After drying himself off, Donn got dressed in front of his wardrobe while Stella got out of the shower. She wrapped herself in a towel and patted her hair dry. She looked around but couldn’t find her dress on the floor. There was a knock at the door. Her heart began to beat. The door opened, and to her surprise, Donn’s assistant Nancy came into the bathroom. She held a glass of water and a painkiller in one hand and in the other a hanger with a dress wrapped in paper hanging off it and two packages from different boutiques.

“Hello, Miss Whitely. I brought an Advil and all you need.” She handed Stella the pill, which Stella gulped down gratefully.

“Mr. Brooks advises you to drink it all. He says you need to rehydrate,” she explained, her face impassive.

“What a control freak… Thank God he didn’t physically force me to drink this time,” Stella thought to herself as she obeyed, downing the water in one go.

“Where is my dress?” she asked confused.

“I took it to the cleaners,” replied Nancy. She opened the white package, from an exclusive boutique, on the counter by the sink. Inside was a pair of beautiful black suede shoes with high heels and a platform sole. The other package had lingerie in it, red silk with black lace, which she could make out through its fine tissue wrapping.

“
A very appropriate color for the occasion
,” Stella thought to herself. Nancy then unwrapped the dress on the hanger and showed her a beautiful casual outfit, black and bright blue, designed by Stella McCartney, for the party at Jamie’s house that evening.

“Wow, it’s beautiful!” Stella said, astonished.

“I’ll leave everything here, Miss Whitely. If you need anything, do not hesitate to call me.” She hung the hanger on the hook by the mirror and passed Stella a hair dryer which she had extracted from a cabinet.

“Mr. Brooks also requested that I give you this, so that you would not have to go out with wet hair,” Nancy explained, and then turned to leave.

“It’s amazing, no detail escapes him!” Stella said to herself, then she thanked Nancy, watching her as she left the bathroom. Stella dried her hair in front of the mirror and dressed quickly, noting that the dress perfectly covered the bite marks on her shoulder, her inner thigh and on the neck. She walked down the hall, her eyes alert, darting back and forth in the semi-darkness, following the light from the windows of the office to guide her.

She walked tentatively through the double doors back into the vast white room. She looked at the desk and a burning desire once again invaded her as she remembered what had just happened there. Donn was nowhere to be seen. The room seemed empty and bare without him. Stella looked around and walked towards the glass windows. She gazed out at the ocean, and the people moving down in the street below the building, who seemed small as ants from this great height.

She looked up and suddenly saw Donn in the middle of the room. He looked at her carefully as if trying to read her thoughts. Like magnets, her eyes were drawn to his wonderful blue ones, the same color as the sky reflected on the glass of the window.

His hair was wet and disheveled. He was wearing a pair of gray pants and a black shirt, the top button undone. He was so handsome, he took her breath away; the thought that he was way too good for her troubled Stella.

Donn cocked his head and smiled confidently. His eyes were soft, his face friendly. He walked toward her, their eyes still locked together.

“Nancy has impeccable taste in choosing clothes, and apparently also a good eye for sizes; that dress fits you like a glove, Miss Whitely.”

Stella smiled back and blushed.

“Thank you for the dress, Mr. Brooks. But I want to return the money you spent on me.”

He looked offended.

Stella spoke hurriedly, captivated by his heady scent, but wanting to say what she had to say before she gave in to him.

“Donn, you already gave me an iPhone, which I’m still not sure I should have accepted; at least let me pay for this dress.”

Donn looked grouchy and a little hurt. He frowned disapprovingly at her, his elation shot to smithereens.

“I cannot accept, I’m afraid!” he exclaimed adamantly.

“I insist,” Stella repeated, and Donn ran his hands through his hair in exasperation.

“I stained your dress with blood. Getting you another was the least I could do… And I can more than afford it,” he added irritably.

“You’re such a dictator. You were different the night I met you. You seemed much more the romantic hero…” He shook his head, ironically.

“There is nothing romantic about me, Stella… I’m just a man who uses every means he can to achieve his goal. And my goal was you, Stella,” Donn confessed, his face resolute.

“You’ve been playing with me this whole time?” Stella asked him. Her mouth was dry, bitterness was welling up inside her.

“What happened between us was real, Stella.”

“I would never have dared to lie about us… Everything was so real, from the first to the last kiss…” he cried out in anguish. He was terrified of losing her.

Stella looked at him in confusion. She felt both deceived by him and somehow strangely caressed by his words.

“I can’t think with a clear head when I’m around you.” She threw him a dirty look, she so hated feeling that way, so lost and feeble. She started toward the door, but Donn took her by the hand and pulled her into his arms.

“Where are you off to? Stay here,” he ordered.

“Everyone here has to obey your orders, don’t they?” she hissed furiously.

“They do if they don’t want to lose their jobs.”

“I don’t work for you, so I can do what the hell I want!”

“God, Stella, you sure know how to get round me…”

“Don’t you dare call me Stella, Mr. Brooks,” she warned, furious. She struggled to loosen his grip on her, then pushed him away. She walked into the reception area where Nancy, hearing the door of the office open, jumped to her feet.