CHAPTER 8
I might have mentioned it earlier but if not, I'd like to reiterate that I was on a personal journey of saying no.
To everyone but myself, my dirty little secret ghost included.
So I ignored his attempts at getting my attention and focused solely on Calvin who was trying to clean up the mess on his shirt
“I'm so sorry, Tara is rarely this clumsy. Here, let me help you,” I spluttered, taking wipes and helping him get as much of the liquid off his shirt as possible.
“I have another shirt from Jordan out the back, can I bring it? I'll throw this in the washing machine and have it for you before you leave,” Tara suggested and Calvin nodded.
“That's a welcome idea, I'm feeling oddly cold.”
Tara ran off to get it and I focused on cleaning him up dutifully.
Feeling a bit satisfied with the state of his shirt, I attempted pulling back but he grabbed my hand and our eyes met, and stayed.
For a long minute, my mind shutting up for once.
“Here,” Tara appeared, breaking the spell we were under and holding a shirt towards him.
I'd thought he was going to excuse himself but he accepted the shirt from her and proceeded to take off his own shirt, exposing a body that made me tingle all over.
I couldn't take my eyes off his well-defined body, the little hairs on his chest, and the way his muscles flexed as he wore the second shirt.
I turned my face to the side when he caught my eyes, looking out the window, hoping my rose-red cheeks would return to normal.
“That was interesting,” he said with a chuckle, “the first time we hang out and you're making me wet.”
“Calvin!” I gasped, giggling. “You're going to be very good friends with Claire, I can't wait for you to meet her,” I added, laughing at the picture of them in the same space.
“Are you going to see her soon?”
“Yes, wanna come with?”
“Absolutely. I have nothing better to do here anyway.”
“You're not working?”
“I'm working on a book, and I have a couple of grand saved, and I paid my rent for the entire year, so I don't have to worry about that. Also, it means my mom's pressure won't get to me.”
“Hm. Someone is determined.”
“It's for the best. So I definitely don't mind following you anywhere, you make great company.”
“That's what staying by yourself all the time causes. I have so many great jokes and no one's heard them before.”
“Ooh, make me your test subject, pleaseee,” he breathed.
“Since you asked so nicely,” I giggled and began tormenting him with a barrage of bad jokes that he kept laughing at, validating something deep inside me.
“Oh, who knew you had it in you?”
“I swear this must be how Mrs Maisel felt in that TV show where she finds out her husband cheated on her with his secretary who couldn't even sharpen a pencil.”
“And she became a stand-up comedian?”
“Yes! You've seen it?”
“Don't tell anyone but it's my comfort show.”
“When I'm done with work, I'll come over and you can put it on for me. I never got to finish it.”
“That should be a crime, everyone has to see the wonderful Mrs Maisel, and I'll be sure to enforce that rule, Young Miss,” he joked in a Victorian era voice that made me giggle.
Seeing that I wasn't paying attention to him, Rowan had stopped tripping patrons, throwing papers at people, which disappeared once they turned to see it,, and all other tantrums he was throwing.
“I genuinely haven't smiled this much in quite a while,” Calvin muttered as he took my hand in his.
“You're easy to relax around I guess,” I breathed, my body tense in a strange way.
“We should do this again okay? I'm letting you go now because I know you have to go to work tomorrow but please let me know when next you're free. I found this private pool in an abandoned mansion we can go to and then come back to that show. What do you think?”
If I didn't have Rowan's protection, I would definitely be shaking my head right now but if Calvin was the serial killer, he had just signed his own death warrant. I've seen the weight Rowan can pull and that was exactly what convinced me I wasn't running mad.
“I'm in!”
He took me home after paying for our drinks.
Before I went in, he stopped me.
“I really like you, Celeste. You're a pure soul, the type of person that no matter what life throws at her, you just clean yourself up if the debris and don't become an evil person because of it.”
“Um.. I don't know what to say.”
“Say goodnight,” he replied with a smile.
“Goodnight Calvin.”
He nodded, kissed my hand and I watched him walk towards the stairs that led to his own floor.
Nobody used the elevator anymore. If you get stuck, no one will be able to get you out for several hours because all the workers have moved to more lucrative places.
This serial killer business was ruining Nevada in several ways.
I walked into my apartment and sighed, my body tingling in good ways, I couldn't wait to tell Claire all about it.
“You finally decided to come back,” Rowan's angry voice greeted me.
I rushed to my music player and connected it, putting a Lana Del Ray playlist on repeat.
Hopefully, it drowns whatever is about to happen.
"You're not ignoring me right now are you?” He snapped, his voice coming from behind me as I stepped away from my TV console.
“I'm not ignoring you Rowan, I'm simply trying to ensure people don't think I've gone mad,” I threw back, irritated.
“Oh because you met that little brat, you are now throwing me aside?”
“I'm not throwing you aside, I'm just… you're not real okay? I have to take a chance at life!”
“I'm not real?!” Then I felt him behind me. “This isn't real?” He hugged me to his naked form, his hands touring around my body, pinching my nipples and squeezing my ass. “Tell me I'm not real again Celeste, I dare you to say it!” He hissed, going on his knees and tearing down my gown.
“Come on, Rowan, you don't have to–” I began, trying to be stern and warn him about wasting my clothes, but his lips sucked in my pussy and I lost all sense of thought.
“Yeah, I'd like to know exactly how this isn't real,” he growled as he began eating me out like he'd been starved for weeks.