Masks and Firecrackers

Chapter 2

Alice

My face turned toward the speakers when the DJ called for our attention. “Ladies, I’ve had a request from a very confused guy. You see, a beautiful girl approached him, flirted a little and left. If I had been in his position, I would have followed her, but I guess he was dumbstruck. Or maybe just dumb.” The entire club laughed, and I realized that I had been holding my breath. “But now he’s trying to find her, but she’s eluding him. So he asked me to play this song with the dedication. She said she would know what to do. So here’s to you, ‘The firecracker who lit up my life with her smile.’ And, mystery girl, I’m off every Thursday night and all day every week. Call me.”

‘I Caught Fire (In Your Eyes)’ by The Used blasted through the speakers. Tears in my eyes, I moved through the mass of confused dancers to the back right corner, where Aiden would come to meet me. I danced slowly, facing the wall, until I felt light fingers across my temple and my mask being fastened to my face.

“Can’t have you getting kicked out now that I’ve found you, can we?” A husky voice breathed int my ear the same time a minty cloud of chilly breath brushed my cheek. My knees quivered and threatened to give out. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Careful there. Those shoes are a death trap.” He wrapped warm arms around my waist. I almost laughed. He thought my reaction was to the shoes!

“I think I’ll live. Besides, they make my legs look great.” I stated, turning to face hi. We both sucked in a gasp at the same time. He was so handsome. Defined jaw bones, brown hair that clung to his neck and hung over one masked eyes in a carefully executed messy look, green eyes that pierced me through so that I felt as though my soul were laid bare before him, and gorgeous full lips that beckoned me to press my own against them, made up his face. His body, pressed deliciously against my own, consisted of a broad set of shoulders, strong arms, a wide chest clad in a black button-down shirt that was tucked into tight black pants, the letter showcasing gorgeously muscled legs. Horseman’s thighs, my mother had called him once; lean, and layered with muscle. Damn, but some guys just look really good in black. My inner, sex-starved self declared. I’d be lying if I said that I disagreed.

Those gorgeous green eyes were lit with amusement and something that heated my blood. “So. Do I pass inspection?”

“Yes.” I answered breathlessly without thinking. “I mean, I wasn’t staring at you. There is a fascinating spot on the wall behind you, and that was what I was looking at.” Genius, Alice. Why don’t you just tell him you’re lying. It would be less obvious. My inner, evil, sex-starved self berated.

“A spot, huh?” He asked, not believing a word of it.

“Yep.” I answered, a little distracted by his hands on the small of my back.

“So. Do you wanna dance? Or do you wanna find a table?” The last stains of the song rang over the speakers, and a new one that I had never liked began.

“I’m thinking table.” I answered, reluctant to break contact with him. Apparently, he didn’t either, because even though he released all of me but one hand, there was a grimace on his handsome face.

The feel of our skin brushing was exquisite and electrifying, making me feel like I had stuck a knife in an electrical outlet. He must have felt it too, because he dragged his thumb across my knuckles as he led me to an empty table near Noemi and another guy, one whose hand she was holding. I noticed her wink at me when she met my eye, and I winked back.

“Your friend Noemi is really great.” I told him as we sat down.

He looked at me intently. “Yeah, she is. She has really great taste. You know, she usually helps me push away the girls who hit on me in bars.”

“Really now?” I asked, genuinely curious. “And does that happen often?” Jealousy laced my voice, and I hoped that he didn’t notice I was acting like a freak.

“More often then I’d like to admit. She’s like a bodyguard for me. The fact that she helped push me toward you says a lot.” He looked at me with that soul-stripping stare again.

I looked at the table as a blush stained my cheeks.

“So, Alice, wanna tell me about yourself?” He asked softly, cupping a hand under my chin and lifting my face.

“What do you wanna know?” I asked.

He was silent for a second. “Aiden?” I asked.

“Sorry. You blush beautifully, you know that?” Of course, I blushed again. “How about we start off with how old you are?”

“I’m twenty-six.” I answered.

“Same as me. That’s good.” He smiled. “Favorite book?”

“I love a lot of classic literature, but I’ve been getting into modern literature too, like Stephenie Meyer and Christopher Paolini. How did you know I like to read?”

“You’ve got that scholarly air about you.” He answered. “What’s your favorite color.”

“You just asked two of them. So I figured I’d learn more about you.” He answered with a smile that would have had me dropping to my knees if I weren’t already sitting. “Now, favorite color?”

“Blue.” I answered. “Yours?”

“As of tonight? Red.” His gaze raked over me and I felt myself blush again. “And that shade of pink.” He finished. “Favorite band?”

“I like Avenged Sevenfold, but I listen to all kinds of music.”

“What do you do for a living?”

“You’re going twice again.”

“Yes. Job?”

“I’m a bartender at the Luna.” I named the bar I worked for across town.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me? Those little bar tricks should have tipped me off.”

“You mean they didn’t?”

“Nope. Favorite movie?”

“Edward Scissorhands.”

“No way. That’s my favorite too.”

Suddenly, one of my favorite songs came over the loud speakers. “Wanna dance?” I asked.

“Hmmm...Pass up an opportunity to see that beautiful body of yours move? Not on your life.” He grabbed my hand again.

I waved to Mark, the DJ, and he turned it up. He looked down to my hand, wrapped up in Aiden’s, and mouthed “It was you?”

I nodded. Mark sometimes worked at the Luna and would spin my favorite tracks if I would dance to them.

Aiden led me to the back corner of the club again. I spun around and rocked my hips into his gently. He jerked and put a hand on either one of my hips. We dance together for what felt like hours until I felt like I was going to implode from the desire sparking between us. After a while, Mark played a slow song, and Aiden wrapped his arms around my waist. My arms snaked up his chest to rest around his neck, and I placed my cheek on his chest.

It was astonishing. I had had boyfriends before, and I had never felt the same connection with them after months that I had right off the bat with Aiden. The electricity that was ingerent to his touch was new and mystifying. I felt incredibly comfortable and safe with him, despite knowing him for only a few hours.

He placed his head on top of mine and I listened to his heart beat for a long moment. His breath brushed the back of my neck, and I shivered.

“Are you cold?” He removed his arms from my waist to run his hands up my arms, hoping to heat me with the friction. Little did he know, I needed no heating. I was already on fire.

“I’m just a little tired.” I lied.

“Should I call you a cab?”

“Do you wanna come with me? Noemi won’t miss you too much, and I have Edward Scissorhands on DVD. I just don’t wanna be alone.” A really bad feeling was starting to twist its way into my stomach, causing me to fear going home.

“Is something wrong?”

“I just have a really ominous feeling.”

“Okay. I’ll tell Marcus we’re leaving. Then I’ll call a cab.”

“Thank you.” I told him.

I sat down at our table to grab my purse and adjust my shoes, then went to the door to grab my coat. Aiden was already waiting at the door, and he wrapped a protective arm around my shoulders. A yellow cab pulled up. I gave the driver my address, and we set off towards my home.

Aiden

The DJ I had talked to came on over the loudspeaker, delivered a little into, insulted me a little, and said my dedication before my song came on. I had chosen it because it demonstrated exactly how I felt. I gave Alice a little while to get into position before I set off myself. Sweaty women pressed themselves against me provocatively, beseeching me to dance with them, but I pressed on, pushing my way through the crowd to the woman I couldn’t get off my mind. The mask she had worn was clasped in my hand, and the sweet strawberry scent of her hair clung to it.

I saw a flash of red out of the corner of my eye. Alice, her hips moving in a slow circle, and dancing to the music in the sexiest dance I had ever seen. The innocence around her was so palpable, I felt a protective urge rise up inside me until I wanted to reach out, grab her, throw her over my shoulder, and carry her away from the lustful stares of the men around her. Believe me; they were staring. I barely bit back the urge to growl “Mine” at them.

Fighting with myself, I walked up behind and placed the mask carefully over her face, lifting her silky brown hair away from the pale skin of her neck. I heard the men behind me groan as they saw that they had missed their opportunity to get with this goddess.

“Can’t have you getting kicked out now that I’ve finally found you, now can we?” I whispered in her ear with a satisfied smirk on my face knowing that this paragon of loveliness was mine, at least for the night. Her knees buckled, and I grabbed her waist before she could fall. Her shoes must have tripped her up. I called her shoes a death trap and she chuckled.

“I think I’ll live. Besides, they make my legs look fantastic.” She said coyly. I looked up said legs and my own nearly gave out. ‘Yes, I can certainly attest to that.’ My inner playboy stated.

‘Down, boy.’ I told myself.

She turned to face me and I sucked in a breath at the same time she did. Those beautiful brown eyes were an even deeper brown than I had originally thought and those lips...I wanted to press my own against them and figure out what she tasted like.

She had a little mole just barely exposed by her mask on her cheek. Said cheek was slightly red from dancing. Quite simply, she was glowing.

I noticed she had been conducting an inspection of her own. I called her on it, and she lied obviously after giving a breathless “yes.”

Then I asked her if she would rather dance or talk. To my displeasure, she answered that she would like to talk. Not wanting to break contact with her, I grabbed her hand and led her to an empty table. Her skin was so smooth, I couldn’t resist to slide a thumb across her knuckles. I nearly grinned victoriously as a slight shudder ran up her body.

It was a table near our previous one. I pulled out Alice’s seat and caught a glimpse of her winking at Noemi out of the corner of my eye.

She remarked on how great Noemi was. I told her of my consent, speaking thoughtlessly of how she had protected me from hormonal women. The fact that my bodyguard was protecting Alice from hormonal me spoke volumes. She had only known Alice for a short while, and she was as enthralled by her charm as I was. I trusted her intuition enough to accept her judgement. Besides, I had finally found a woman who took my breath away and didn’t fall at my feet. Was I truly going to give her up if a friend hadn’t liked her?

Glad that I didn’t have to ever think about that question with Alice, I asked her a few questions about herself. She answered with a delightful blend of truth, sarcasm, and questions of her own. I found out that was shared an interest in literature and even a favorite movie.

After a round of questions, she led me out onto the dance floor, where she began to move her hips the same way she had before, only this time I was allowed to touch her even as she rolled them against me.

Just as I was about to cave and ask her to a hotel with me–how I love loopholes–a slow song played over the loudspeaker, giving me an excuse to take her into my arms. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her cheek into my chest. The smell of her hair wafted up to my nose, and I pressed my chin to the top of her head to smell it better.

She shivered. “Are you cold?” I asked.

“I’m just a little tired.” She answered.

I offered to call her a cab, and she made the offer that had been drifting in the corners of my mind since we first met. She asked me to accompany her home, saying she had a bad feeling.

I accepted and practically ran to tell Noemi and Marcus that I was leaving. They gave me a knowing smile and bid me good bye. I grabbed my coat and hailed a taxi, waiting for Alice. She stepped out of the club, and a smile lit her face when she saw me.

I opened the cab door for her, and she slipped inside, giving the cabbie her address. I had been right. It was an expensive Manhattan apartment.

The ride to her home was quiet. I held her hand the entire time, stroking her knuckles. She was tense, but smiled at me every so often.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing. I just wonder if my roommate is still home.”

“And if they are?”

“We leave. I don’t want to intrude. There’s a hotel down the street.”

“All right. Now what has you wound so tight?”

“I’m just worried about this feeling. It’s a very ominous one.”

“It’ll be alright. I’ll protect you.”

“Good.” She snuggled close, and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. The car ride was quiet, her body serving as the heater the cabbie refused to turn on.

The taxi pulled up to an intimidating complex, the glass window reflecting our image back at us. Alice grabbed my hand and threw a twenty over the seat before I could even reach into my wallet. She pulled me over to the door lightly and stopped in front of the doorman.

“Hey, Bill. Did they leave yet?” Alice greeted the man.

“I haven’t seen them, but I just got on shift. You just missed Dean, however. He would have known.”

“Okay. We’ll just go up then.” She sighed.

“All right. Have a good night.” He eyed me warily before smiling at Alice. It was obvious that the elderly man thought of her like a daughter. “You look beautiful tonight, by the way.”

“Thank you.” She said as she blushed a shade as red as her dress.

“You’re welcome.” He fiddled with a key ring before opening the door with a flourish. “You working tomorrow?”

“Yep. See you then.” She walked through the door with a smile.

“See ya.” He agreed as the door closed.

She pulled me to the elevator, her heels clicking against the floor. A clock above the metal doors showed it was two in the morning. She pushed the button to go up and stepped inside when the door opened. Pushing the floor six button, she stepped back and leaned against the doors. Before I realized what she was doing, she had hooked her fingers in my belt loops and pulled me forward so that I was standing between her legs.

“Hello.” She said demurely.

“Hey.” I said, leaning down to kiss her.

Just as our lips connected, I heard a ping and pulled her up against my chest as the door opened, admitting an elderly couple.

She breathed once against my chest and sighed. “Thanks. I probably would have ended up flat on my back without you.”

Between the mental images and the close proximity of her body, certain parts of my body stood up and took notice. I stood back a little to give us both some air, not to mention conceal my body’s reaction to her in case it would scare her.

The elderly couple that had rung for the elevator pressed the button for their floor and stepped completely inside, forcing us to the back wall to accommodate them in the small elevator. Alice took my hand again and smiled up at me. She looked at the couple, smiled indulgently, and looked at the little lighted numbers as they increased. Finally, the six went out, leaving only the third floor light on, and the door opened to let us out. I sighed and walked beside Alice until she stopped, causing me to run into her back.

“Sorry. It seems your brake lights are out.” I told her as I helped right her, smiling. She grinned back at me and unlocked the door.

“Anybody home?” She called as she pulled her keys out of the lock. When there was no answer, she flicked on the lights and ushered me inside. She managed to get to the sofa, flop down, and flick on the television before screaming. I ran over to her and took one look at her face, her eyes wide and skin flushed of color. She raised a shaky hand to the window, which was open. There was no one inside, but I noticed a shadow move down the side of the building. We were at the top, so it wasn’t inconceivable for them to get inside.

I grabbed Alice’s arm and pulled her close, rubbing her back in what I thought was a soothing gesture. She tightened her arms around me and buried her face in my neck. The sweet smell of her hair wafted again up to my nose. She was shaking like a leaf when a man walked through the door, saw me holding her, and ran to us.

“What did you do to her? I swear, if you hurt one hair on her beautiful little head, I’ll feed you your ass.” The crazy man (her boyfriend?) screamed at me. He looked like he had just stepped out of a GQ magazine, with striking features and elegantly disheveled hair.

“Cody! Stop! He didn’t do anything!” Alice pleaded, clinging to me tighter. Well, that hinted her wasn’t her boyfriend. If he was, I was probably in for some major pain. Alice wasn’t the type of girl you give up lightly. Maybe was her roommate’s boyfriend?

“What happened?” He pulled her out of my arms and into his own. “Why are you shaking?”

“Someone tried to break in. He was inside the house. If Aiden wasn’t here, I don’t know what he may have done.” She clung to him for a moment before turning back to me. Her eyes were dry, but held the same amount of fear as they had originally. She clasped my hand and laid her head on my shoulder. “You should go check your room to make sure nothing’s missing.”

“I will. You going to be okay?” He asked. She nodded and squeezed my hand. He nodded back and walked to a closed door.

“Do you want me to call your roommate to let them know what happened?”

She laughed. “I think he already knows.”

“Huh?” The only other person who knew was—

“Cody is my roommate.” She giggled. “You didn’t figure that out?”

“Ummm...no.” I have to admit, jealousy coiled in my stomach.

I don’t know if she saw it, but she laughed as she took off those beautiful red heels. “Yeah, Cody and his boyfriend, Ben, pay for most of the rent. They just let me live here while I’m writing.”

My head turned so fast, I think I gave myself whiplash. “Cody’s gay?”

“Yeah, he’s a model, so he makes good money, but Ben and him have been together since high school, when we were all really young.” She squeezed my hand. “You didn’t think we were together, did you?”

“Nope.” I lied. “Just curious.”

“Mhm.” She muttered a disbelieving agreement. “Do you still want to watch the movie?”

“Don’t you want to check your room?”

“Nah, I’ll do it tomorrow.” She grabbed the blanket off the back of the sofa and cuddled down of the couch, resting the side of her face against my thigh. “The movie should still be in the DVD player, unless Ben was messing with it again.” She pressed the play button on the remote. Suddenly, sounds of panting and moaning filled the room. She started and fumbled with the remote, giving me a full eyeful of the movie before she finally managed to push the ‘change disc’ button.

She chuckled awkwardly. “Well that was interesting.”

I took a few deep breaths, trying to get the blood to migrate north. She pushed another button, and the opening theme for Edward Scissorhands began playing.

“Ben messing with the DVD player?” I teased.

“No.” She squeaked. “That was me.”

Oh hell. I gave up all hope. All the blood rushed south. (Who was I kidding? It had never gone back up.) “Oh.”

“Yeah.” She whispered before becoming fully enthralled in the movie. I started humming the opening theme, hoping to tame my excitement before she noticed. Before long, I felt her entire body relax against me. I looked down to see the angel on my lap asleep, her red dress twisted around her body.

I chuckled, picked her up with an arm behind her knees and cradling her neck. I walked to the open door with a Cheshire cat on it, chuckling to myself at the reference to Alice in Wonderland. I laid her down under the satin duvet, leaning down to kiss her cheek. At the last moment, she moved and our lips connected.

As soon as there was a little bit of breathing room between our mouths, I whispered softly. “You’re not asleep, are you?”

Her lips brushed mine as she whispered back. “Not as asleep as you thought I was.”

I laughed and kissed her again, turning to leave. I felt her tiny little hand grab my wrist and I stopped. “Stay. Please.” She pleaded softly.

“For as long as you want me.” I said back, kicking off my shoes and laying down beside her. She wiggled her way into my open arms and rested her head on my chest.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I kissed the top of her head, overcome by the tenderness I felt for the little goddess in my arms. “Goodnight, my little psychic.”

“Psychic?” She laughed. “Because of the feeling?”

“Yeah.” I kissed her hair again before closing my eyes and falling asleep with her in my embrace.