“Aunt Emily? Will Mommy come home?” asked Nick, and I clasped him tighter to my chest.
“Of course, darling. She’ll be in the hospital for a little while, but it won’t be long at all really. You’ll see.” He was small enough that my kiss on his cheek didn’t make him cringe. Rather, he burrowed deeper into my embrace. Alex, snuggled up behind me with a pillow under his head so he could see, squeezed tiny arms around my neck, as if he’d needed reassurance too.
Yes, this was what I’d wanted. To be needed, to be loved, but also, to be appreciated. The boys didn’t know how to express that yet, they were too young, but those hugs, that need for reassurance, told me my presence was important to them. Now, if only I could teach my brothers that.
Mason had tried, but he’d called me when he’d needed me. That was all I’d
ever wanted from them, though. I didn’t want to be on standby, but if I was absolutely needed, if it was an emergency, I was more than willing to help.
The only problem was, I wanted to be at home, my new home. With Mr.
Dark. I pushed thoughts of him away as a cartoon elk chased a wild duck through the forest in the children’s movie the boys chose, and I tried to figure out what was happening in the movie.
It wasn’t long before we were all asleep, warm and comfortable wrapped up
together. I found myself in a dark room, with only a candle to light the darkness.
I could see the chair and table were both white, but other than that, I couldn’t see anything.
Then Mr. Dark appeared, and I tilted my head in his direction with a smile on my face. “Hello there.”
I didn’t react when my voice echoed. It seemed appropriate for some reason, and I didn’t pay attention to it. “Hello, Emily. How are you?”
A chair appeared on the side of the table he moved to, and the light expanded to encompass him as well. He looked delicious, and I wanted to curl into his lap, his arms, to forget the world existed. Nothing could get to me when I was with him, I was sure of it.
“I’m well, Mr. Dark.” I took his hand when he offered it, and suddenly we were dancing on a cloud in the darkness. I had on a long, slinky black dress, and I pressed myself into him.
He was warm, and the resistance of his body felt so good. “You aren’t afraid.”
His voice broke into the peaceful place I’d drifted to, and I smiled up at him.
“No, should I be?”
“Maybe. You don’t know me, Emily. You haven’t even told me your real name.” I didn’t point out that he’d just used it; I simply listened to him and then replied.
“You don't need to know my real name. Not yet. I just need what you give to me.” I ran a finger down his smooth cheek that covered high cheekbones and perfect teeth. “I don’t need to know anything more about you, other than the fact that I’m safe with you. I know that.”
“Do you? Because you don’t know me, Emily.” He looked concerned, and I
wanted to wipe that concern away.
“What do I need to know? I know how you make me feel, and that you made
me free. You let me be me. You taught me how to say no.” Which was something I could barely do with my family. And then I could only do that recently. Well, I couldn’t tonight, but this was an emergency, wasn’t it?
“If that’s all you require, then I won’t trouble you about it anymore.” He spun me around, and suddenly, I could hear music. I put my head on his shoulder and stepped through all the steps I’d learned in my many dance classes at school.
He expertly guided me through the cloud, and I didn’t even notice that we shouldn’t be on a cloud.
I woke up when I finally started to wonder how we could dance on a cloud,
and I took the boys up to their rooms to sleep. The dream lingered in my mind, and I smiled the entire time I was in the shower. I still smiled as I put on pajamas and went downstairs to watch another movie. If he’d wait for me, I’d have to ask Mr. Dark to give us more time together. We’d need it. Only another week or two, that was it. I didn’t want to get attached to him, but I did want more time with him. Just a little more. I missed him.
15
DYLAN
She’d been gone for three days. I sat in a chair and glared at the dancer
on the stage. It wasn’t Roxie, and she was terrible. I knew she wouldn’t last long. From the listless way she danced, it was obvious she had a drug problem. Miss Maples would pull the woman aside, have her treated, then offer her a job somewhere else. I’d heard a lot about how fantastic Miss Maples was from Roxie over the last few days as I waited for Stephanie to come home.
A family illness had cropped up, and she’d had to go home. That had put the damper on things, but I couldn’t complain. She had family. I had two adoptive parents and no siblings. I didn’t know what it was like to have to take care of nieces and nephews while your family member was sick.
It gave me time to come up with a new contract, and to think about whether I actually wanted to give it to her. I was alright, really, the first few days. I did the contract, I worked, unpacked my apartment, and settled into it. Roxie said it would be a couple of days, at least. When she wasn’t back on the third day, I started to wonder.
Had the sick family member been an excuse? Did she really just not want to
come back? Had she got what she wanted and decided to leave? No, she was too curious to walk away.
“When’s she coming back, Roxie?” I asked as the beautiful young woman came to sit beside me. “Why can’t I have her phone number?”
“You know that’s against the rules until you sign on as her protector. Until then, you contact her only through me.” There was an edge to Roxie’s voice that
I wasn’t about to argue with, especially when her eyebrow lifted, and she gave me the female version of the ‘don’t fuck with me’ look.
“Fine.” I sighed, and sank lower in my chair. Perhaps a little childish of me, but I was getting antsy. I wanted to feel her soft skin and smell her delicate scent.
