FaCade (Deception #1) (24 page)

“I HAVE A SURPRISE FOR you.”

I giggled as I stared at the almost-naked man in front of me; the only thing covering his privates was a magazine with me on the front cover. “If I have already seen it, it’s not a surprise and, Mr. Troy, that,” I pointed to where he was covered, “is something I have definitely seen… felt… and tasted.” I winked, loving the lust in his gaze.

My teeth sank into my lip when he took a step towards me. “They advised no visible name tattoos right?” he murmured, making my blood heat every part of my body.

“No!” I screeched.

“Ssh, it’s okay. It’s me. I’m moving you to our bed.” My body protested. Aches from the earlier trauma, and from falling asleep on the floor of the studio burst into my sleepy state, making me groan.

“Ssh.” The sound was comforting, familiar. My body came down against the soft mattress. Swiping my hair from my face, he handed me a glass of water. “Open your mouth, Belle. I have some pain relief for you.”

I swallowed the pills with a gulp of water and succumbed to the beckoning dreams. Where I was happy, and Dante was too.

I awoke early, the sunrise breathing its light through the room. Dante was asleep next to me, which was surprising. Slowly climbing from the bed, I relieved my bladder before showering yesterday away from me.

As I stepped out, Dante stepped in. He stopped me from leaving with a gentle voice, almost like a plea. “Stay in with me.”

I wasn’t used to the soft side of him; it confused me, played with my head. His eyes fixed on mine, something similar to pain burning its way through them.

I let him wash me for a second time, his touch leaving the usual burn in my core. I refused to give in to it. He hurt me, humiliated me. I felt like I was floating in space, looking down at the world I used to be a part of.

The cold, dark abyss swallowed me, pulling me further and further from the earth, from breaking the atmosphere and being who I once was. A deep ache inside me told me this wasn’t where I was supposed to be and I was more lost than ever before.

Stepping free, ignoring the sigh from Dante, I dried off and slipped into some jeans and a tee.

Dante told me he would be gone for most of the day when he came from the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist. Images assaulted me of another time.

“You can’t keep fighting it, Faye.”

He walked towards me, the tiny towel barely covering him. The water pellets beaded over every inch of his skin, crying at me to lick them. I wanted to taste each drop, savor and devour him under my tongue.

“Fighting what?” I didn’t trust myself to say anything more without panting.

“Us!” He groaned in frustration, dropping the towel and making my breath hitch. “I’ve waited long enough, Faye. I can’t bear it any longer. I need you. You can’t deny what’s between us anymore. I crave to hear your voice. I sense you before you even enter a room because I’m not complete when you’re not with me. You set every nerve on fire whenever you touch me. I want to grab onto you and burn up in everything we could be. I want to explore every inch of you; I want to feel you come undone under my tongue. I want to feel you around my cock as I make love to you. I want you. Just let yourself love me back.” He stepped closer, igniting a stream of goosebumps to explode over my sensitive skin. “I’m so unbelievably in love with you. I can’t fucking breathe until I see you some days. I feel you in me so deep we’re two halves of the same soul.”

A tear slipped down my cheek. A knocking at the door broke the spell.

“Mr. Troy, you’re needed in thirty minutes.”

“Star, what the fuck! Where did you go?” I blinked up at Dante.

“Two halves of the same soul.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What?”

I shook my head.

For an hour I looked through every box and drawer in our room and there was nothing, not even an old yearbook. Diary. Photos. Documents. Birth certificate. Nothing. I knew I needed to search his office but Malik was there. I had to get him out of the house. I tried the phone line but there was no dial tone this time.

Making my way down the stairs, I followed the scent of bacon. The sizzling lifted more aromas into the air and the smell made my stomach churn. I couldn’t hold it in. Turning to the sink I retched, my eyes watering, my body vibrating with the clammy fever that comes with sickness.

A heavy palm came down to rub my shoulder. “Star, you still sick?”

My head filled with fog. I wasn’t sick! Why would that scent have made me … No…? NO! Thinking back over the time since I had woken up, I hadn’t had a period. But Dante was so flippant with not using protection, I assumed I was covered with the jab or implant …no. Oh God, no.

I turned to the worried expression of Malik. Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I tried to offer him a small smile. “If I asked you to do something for me would you? No questions asked and without telling Dante?”

He shifted his eyes to the floor.

“Please,” I croaked, gripping onto his arm.

“What is it?”

I looked around for the camera I knew was in there and turned my back to it, whispering. “A pregnancy test.”

His intake of breath was audible. He nodded and sighed.

“Thank you.”

I watched him leave on the outdoor monitor an hour later, after calling the boy who came to get everyone, and as soon as the boat faded from view, I began my search of Dante’s office. But he was a clever bastard, or a paranoid one, because there was nothing in there, not even a solitary household bill.

I picked up his pen holder in frustration and threw it across the room, watching as it fell by the window. Counting to ten I calmed myself and walked across the room to pick it up. The moss covered building I saw him leave that day came into view, making my heart jump.

I snatched up his letter opener and rushed through the house, across the distance separating us and tried the lock. It was locked. Trying to pick a lock was harder than it looked on TV.

I tried again, digging the sharp end into the keyhole and twitching it… nothing. Screw it! I looked around for a stone or rock and found a plant pot. There was no way I could make an excuse for this to him but I would take the repercussions. Something inside told me I needed to get into that damn building if I was to ever find out who I was… who Dante was.

I lifted the stone, took a deep breath, and with as much strength as I could muster I launched it through the window. The shattering sound splintered the silence. My nerves vibrated through my entire body.

I pushed the rest of the glass out of the way and climbed through the panel, cutting my palm as I hooked my fingers around the frame to give me some leverage inside.

It looked like an office. A desk and office equipment was tucked away neatly against each wall; numerous pictures hung from the walls and a plush carpet covered the floor. Adjoining doors led to another room but none of this filtered inside my head. None of these things registered as my gaze fell to a table and my body slammed to a halt.

A suitcase was flipped open, a few items of clothing still folded neatly inside. Toiletries and even a camera sat idly inside. I recognized it. Like a snapshot of pictures, some memories filtered in. The suitcase belonged to me… I was traveling on a plane.

Taking small steps over to it, I brushed my fingers over the leather and picked up the label.

Faye Avery
.

Tears dropped to my cheek. My scent. Cherry blossom… my old scent filled my senses. I picked up the notes laid on top.

It didn’t make sense. Nothing did. I wasn’t supposed to be there.

My chest throbbed reading those messages. The hole expanding in my chest grew ever wider, the cold seeping free. I couldn’t reach the most important memory, the one that would answer this lonely feeling inside me.

Panicking I was going to run out of time, I quickly slipped the notes into my jeans and rushed back to the house to wait out Malik’s return.