“Thanks, but I can’t stay. I’m leaving to break my curse, but I need your blessing.”
He laughed and furrowed his brows in confusion. “Blessing? Why do you need me to approve of you breaking your curse? You’ve earned it. It’s time, Desiderio.”
I licked my lips and braced myself, preparing for an attack. “I’m breaking it for Scout.”
He blinked, and his eyebrows rose high on his face. “Oh?”
I nodded. “I- I have feelings for her. Real feelings.” I stumbled over my words. I looked away from his face. I couldn’t look at him while confessing that I was in love with his ex.
“Real feelings? What does that even mean?” he demanded. He waved for me to follow him to his den, and I did so cautiously. He then made me sit in a chair beside him and explain myself.
“I think I’m in love with her. From day one- there has been this spark. Something that drew me to her. I knew she was yours, but I didn’t care. I’m sorry,” I said mournfully.
He nodded and took in my words for a long time before responding. “Were you two having an affair behind my back?”
“Absolutely not,” I swore. I left out the single kiss after the fights. He didn’t need to know that.
Arsenio didn’t say anything for a long moment. He got up, paced, and drank. But finally, he nodded again and looked at me with his lips set in a grim line.
“How can I help?”
Don’t Stop Believingcame on, and my mind returned to the drive. I smiled, thinking about how much she hated this song. I’d have to remember to sing it to her when I came back. My hand twitched for my phone, but I forced it to stay on the wheel.
I had to fight the constant urge to call her. I wanted to apologize. To explain what was going on. To promise her the world. But I couldn’t. I needed to do this alone.
I made it into the city just in time to book a hotel and find a liquor store. I needed more candy. I was surprised to see a container just like the one Scout had bought me back home.
Home.
Was I really considering- staying? I guess, for her, I was.
I grabbed the full tub and took it to the counter. The clerk looked confused as hell but rang me up. I knew that he charged me double what Scout had probably paid, but I went through the candy so fast that it made sense to just buy bulk.
When I made it into my room, I laid in bed, and my fingers hovered over her number.
A quick call just to chat couldn’t hurt anything. It took everything in me not to press dial. If Corrine or anyone else figured out that she knew about who I was, she’d kill her. I couldn’t take any chances.
Instead, I clicked on the photos she had sent me. I went hard in an instant when I found a picture of her ass, but I craved more than just pictures. I needed contact. This was torture. I found myself moving from the photos and heading to our texts. Our non-sexy ones. I spent an hour reading through our bullshit.
I had never met someone who wanted to shoot the shit like she did. We talked about anything and everything for no reason. There was literally a text here from her that said:
Scout: I forgot to brush my teeth when I woke up. I feel like the stinky kid at school.
Why did I need to know that? And why did I like it so much that she told me? It was dumb. Completely pointless, yet, as I continued reading down, I felt like I was watching the timeline of our relationship. What started as her trying to be friendly with her awkward coworker turned into her openly flirting with me, which turned into a lot more.
I fell asleep that morning with her name on my lips and her beautiful smile dancing behind my eyes.
***
I had a guy tied to a chair in a butcher’s freezer when the big plastic flaps opened with a flourish. I turned to see who had interrupted my torture of this bastard and let out a huge groan.
“Oh, come on! Fuck!” I swore.
Corrine laughed and sauntered over. Her long black skirt made her look as if she were floating. Her raven black hair was pinned back in a bun, and her spine was so straight I swore she was a giant mannequin.
“I fucking knew it.” I slammed the knife down on the table beside me and turned to face her. I shook my head. “When you wanted to talk my ear off but refused to tell me where you were these days. I fucking knew eventually you’d make me come visit. God Damn it, Corrine!”
She cackled. “You act like I schemed to get you here. It just happened to work out that way. I can’t help that you're moving through the marks like your cinnamon candies.”
