Tying up some loose ends, now that Rowan and Dana have come together.
Story 17
Rowan’s heart pounded in his throat. She was gone, again. Vanished from the bed they had lain in, wrapped in each other’s arms. The rooms and hall he searched were devoid of her warmth. Nothing but silence remained. Just as they had found each other in both mind and body the night before, she had left him, with no clue as to why.
“What’s wrong?”
She was trembling, close to tears, fighting her body’s desperate need to sleep. They lie face to face in the bed, letting the wild euphoria of their reunion fade into simple contentment. In her gutted room, their need for each other had expressed itself as a passion that knew no bounds or sensibility. It was ravenous craving, furious and unhinged in its nature until their pent-up desires were sated. Later, she’d led him to the bed where they discovered each other once again at a slower pace.
They now lie in silence, gazing into each other’s eyes, feeling the gentle warmth of each other’s proximity. Exhaustion was creeping in, not as a force to be fought, but a comforting blanket enveloping them both, wrapping them together. He’d never felt so relaxed, so content. Why was it then, that she seemed fearful?
“Dana, what’s wrong?” He asked again, noting a small tear in her eye.
“I’m scared to go to sleep,” she said timidly.
He ran his fingers through her hair, his brow furrowed with concern. “Why would you be scared?”
“What if you’re not really here?” she whispered through quivering lips, exposing her vulnerability.
He smiled warmly, wiping away another tear. “I’m not leaving.”
Her head shook slowly, “I mean, what if you’re not here right now? I didn’t eat, I barely slept since I left. What if this is just a hallucination? If I close my eyes, will it all disappear?”
He moved to console her, but she pulled her arms back, drawing her knees toward her chest.
“This has to be real!” she exclaimed between newly emergent sobs. “You have to be real!!”
Nothing on earth could have kept him from her side, but words could not offer the comfort she needed. Rowan glanced at the base of the bed, noting the assortment of binds and bondage paraphernalia that hung from the frame. He placed a reassuring hand on hers then sat up, reaching for a slender length.
Her panic became evident as she grasped his arm, desperate to keep him by her side. When he returned to his place next to her, she shuddered with relief. Placing one of her hands to his chest, he allowed the steady beat of his heart to course through her fingers.
“I’m real,” he assured. He then looped the cord around her wrist, then around his own, binding them both together with three more loops. She opened her hand to accept the loose ends, watching him lay back down with a smile.
“Now I can’t leave.”
Alternating between tearful heaves and nervous laughter she wiped the wetness from her face.
“Is it too early to say I love you?”
His smile couldn’t have been brighter.
He’d awakened to an empty bed after all, the cord still wrapped around his wrist. The other end, unraveled and trailing across the sheets. He sat up in a panic, terrified she’d fled.
Every room was empty. The front and back garden were bare, but the car was still here. She could have left on foot, but why?
When all seemed lost, he noticed an open skylight, but no ladder or even a rope to reach it. Although it seemed unlikely she was up there, it was the one place he hadn’t looked. Baffled, he gave up on trying to understand it and retrieved one of the chairs from the kitchen. Eyeing the pastel sky beyond, he wrapped the blanket tightly around his naked frame, tucking in what he could so as not to lose it. Once atop of the chair, he flung himself upwards grabbing hold of the frame to pull himself up.
Relief shuddered through him when he saw her sitting on the shingles below, clad only in an oversized shirt, seemingly lost in the sunrise.
“I thought you’d left me again,” he said with a shaky voice, clambering up onto the roof to join her.
She gave him an utterly peaceful look and nuzzled his cheek. “Sorry. It’s just, the sky looked different today. Brighter.”
He ran a finger gently over her lip then kissed it, letting the last of his fear be taken away by her warmth.
“How’s your arm?” she asked, peering across his body.
Rowan twisted a bit in place to bring his left arm forward, examining a neat row of stitches. Their uninhibited and ferocious expression of lust had caused some damage. Though she had thoroughly gutted the room some debris and broken glass remained, camouflaged in the black. The flesh of his forearm must have found one of the largest remnants, slashing it open. It hadn’t even registered at the time.
He gave her a wry smile. “When you said you did other things at work, I thought you meant preparing samples!”
“Professor Dockett lets me practice my stitching. I know how to take out all your organs too, if you ever need it.”
He looked at her with the exuberant high of new love. “You’re so creepy,” he giggled back, pressing his forehead against hers.
Their lips came together again, gentle touches soon filled with yearning before Rowan broke it off with regret. “I don’t think your neighbors would appreciate the sight us naked on the roof.”
She buried her head in his arms, thinking it best not to mention that one or two might have seen her in that state already.
“Why don’t we go out for breakfast?” he asked, wiping her frizzled bangs from her face. “There’s a place I know that’s open early.”
She lifted her head, gazing at him with adoring eyes, elated that he’d be seen in public with her.
“There’s just one problem. My clothes seem to be in shreds” he said, lifting her chin, utterly failing in his attempt to look serious. The giggles were escaping no matter how tightly he pursed his lips. In her haste to disrobe him the night before, she’d found his secret knife and used it to make quick work of everything on him.
She shrugged sheepishly with a comical “Whoops.”
“YOU,” he began, pointing an admonishing finger, “are not allowed near my knives anymore.”
“Aww. I wanted you to teach me how to throw them!”
He let out a laugh of pure delight at her gall. “You nearly castrated me trying to get my shorts off! I’m not handing you an entire set to play with!”
She shuffled around to better face him, toying with the blanket around his waist. “What if I said I had some clothes for you, to replace the ones I wrecked? Would you forgive me?”
He really was trying to keep a straight face, but it was difficult while fighting with her more and more insistent hand. If she tugged any harder, he could add public indecency to the list of things he’d done today. “Depends. Is it a dress or a new pair of shorts? Because you know I’ll wear either.”
That got her to stop. “No dress! Last time we wore the same dress you looked ten times better than I did!”
He tossed his head back with a silly grin and struck a pose. “What can I say, I’m gorgeous!”
Her eyes opened wide, exclaiming with great awe “I know! I mean, you were asking to be kidnapped!”
Before he could respond, and without warning, Dana lunged forward with a shriek, snatching Rowan’s makeshift skirt from his hips.
With any luck, no one noticed what happened next.
****
They’d been walking in contented silence for a few minutes, hand in hand, when Dana noticed him staring at her with an odd expression. “What?”
Nothing about this woman, or this situation made sense. She’d stalked him for weeks and he was fine with it. She’d done what she did, and it didn’t bother him at all. It seemed oddly justified. They were perfectly suited to each other.
When they got back into the house, he was quick to discover she’d been collecting some of his favorites. ‘Just in case,’ she said. She had the coffee he liked, a selection of snacks and a few toiletries too. Far from disturbed, he was thrilled when she handed him his favorite styling gel. He didn’t feel much like himself without it.
She was also stocked and ready to make some of his favorite meals. How she knew what those were was a bit of a mystery though. When he asked, she was happy to answer. She was pretty bit smug about it, in fact, having deduced some of the things he cooked based on what he bought at the market that day. They were pretty accurate guesses.
She’d never known what he’d been reading, but bought him a book anyway, one she thought he might like. He admitted to being a little spooked by that one. He’d been planning on buying it next.
He’d been glancing at her CDs that morning. It was eclectic mix, but in the same way his own collection was. Some he had himself, some he was interested in hearing. One by the stereo stood out though. It was an obscure recording from an uncommon band, not the easiest album to find. It was also a recent favorite of his, only she hadn’t known that. She just happened to be a fan.
Another thing they resonated on was the shunning of luxuries. Neither had much to their name, andwere perfectly content with that. Aside from the fact that both had a simple phone and quality stereo system, they owned no other piece of technology, not even a TV. They cared nothing for stockpiling possessions, nor followed any trends.
On the bus, they’d both headed straight for the same row of seats, but she preferred the window; he the aisle. They stood up at the same time, early, without knowing the other was going to do it. It was such a stupid little thing, but hard to ignore considering everything else.
Although so much of her story had been answered the night before, there was one question he hadn’t been able to answer. How was she supporting herself? Admittedly she didn’t have much, save for the house,it’s wine cellar and the artwork, but she’d explained all of that. The stock below was what remained of her parent’s vineyard. The house and artwork she’d bought with her inheritance. The place was falling apart though, so Rowan assumed there mustn’t have been much inheritance left. The evidence was all around. The car she had barely worked. What little furnishings she owned looked older than she was, and were in a sorry state. Little things, like the field of dandelions she called a lawn could have been addressed with minimal cost, so he supposed she couldn’t afford that either.
He couldn’t have known that her isolation ran so deep she hadn’t a clue how to do any of those things, nor really know why she had to. She wasn’t bothered by what the neighbors thought, nor craved any luxuries. As for the dandelions, she was quite fond of them, with their dogged determination to live in the worst of conditions.
If money was so tight, though, where did she get the clothes he was now wearing, and all the others she’d presented him with this morning? Every item was of exceptional quality and must have cost a small fortune all together, a thousand dollars at the very least.
He sincerely hoped she hadn’t stolen them.
She’d said that she’d been buying pieces here and there in the hope that she could give them to him, certain that he’d like them. There were a few shirts, shorts, several pairs of striped nylons and a new pair of boots and the PVC pants he was now wearing. The tops he could forgive, the sizes an easy guess, but what of the pants and boots? She couldn’t have possibly known his measurements, or his shoe size. The pants fit him like a glove and clearly weren’t cheap. Not a single surface hung loose, the legs a perfect length. The stitching was superior quality, and they were more supple than he could normally afford. Considering her things and her property, he doubted she could either.
He would have pried a bit further about their origin, only they got distracted when she’d seen him in them. He had to admit, he would have fucked himself too if he could have, they look that good.
Though they were better suited to a nightclub, he ended up wearing them to the cafe. He was too enamored with them to leave them for later.
He must have blanked out for a minute because she asked him again, this time with a twinge of fear. “What?”
He stopped still, taking a second to gather himself. “OK, I’m going to ask, though I’m not sure I want to know the answer.”
Dana’s stomach twisted into knots. That didn’t sound encouraging.
“Why did you just happen to have this apparently expensive pair of pants in my unusually specific size?”
Dana avoided his gaze and began picking at a non-existent spot on her wrist. “It’s not unusual.”
“The shirts maybe, but my legs are like stilts, and I’m nearly as thin as you. These are the perfect length and width.”
“Lucky guess,” she muttered, still avoiding his gaze. Inside her guts were churning. This was going somewhere that could make him mad.
He reached over to cup her chin, turning her eyes to him. To her relief, he wasn’t angry. He was smiling, with his eyebrows raised, making it clear that he was merely curious. “I really, really like them. I just want to know where they came from. You couldn’t possibly know my exact size, or do you?”
She tried to smile, to look non-threatening and humorous, but came across more like a monkey grinning in fear. “I took your measurements.”
”Measurements?” he asked, confused. “When-?”
“You were out cold!” she squeaked, panicked. “I needed some clothes for you, you couldn’t keep wearing the same thing for weeks!”
“Wait, you were going to keep me in your basement for weeks?”
“No, not weeks! I mean, I don’t know. I didn’t think about it, I thought, you know a few hours and you’d get to know me and want to stay! A day at most!”
“So, you took them when I was passed out?”
“I was very professional about it. I didn’t grope you or anything, though I had to uh, well, I had touch you in certain places” she trailed off, nervously pointing at his groin. “It only took a minute, I promise.”
For a moment she thought he was going to snap. To her relief, he burst out laughing instead. “Why am I standing here making goo goo eyes at a woman who broke a whole list of laws to have me!?”
“It sounds flattering don’t you think? Kinda romantic?”
He let out one last chuckle and pulled her in close, regarding her with great amusement. “I’m finding it hard to believe you didn’t slip a hand down my pants at least once when I was unconscious.”
She lifted a hand with a great grin, a hearty scout’s honor. “I swear, I did not touch your fun bits, or any other bits I think are fun, even though I could have!”
“What did you give me anyway? How the hell did I sleep through all of that?”
“Couple of sleeping pills…. Some other stuff later. I, uh, might have overdid it a tad on those. You kept stirring, but hey, the pants fit real nice, don’t they? Professionally tailored, next day service!”
He was staring at her, his expression unreadable.
“You’re not mad, are you?” she asked, pressing her palms together. She started to weave her fingers in and out of each other in an oddly hypnotic, nervous motion.
He sighed and chuckled again. “No. It’s not exactly a surprise. I knew you’d knocked me out with something. I still invited you to dinner.” He kissed her gently, tousling her hair in good fun. “You’re not boring, I’ll give you that.”
“Oh, thank God!” her anxiety released in a massive shudder.
Still musing over the last unanswered question, Rowan enquired, “Next day service huh? Professional tailor? You must have some good connections.”
She’d taken his hand again and was happily swinging it to and fro. “Well. If you give someone enough money, you can get just about anything.”
“Oh? How big a tip got you these then?”
“Well, the original price, making it to measure, the rush, plus a little extra…” She trailed off, stopping her steps, nervously giving him a sidelong glance. “It was only a few hundred dollars… maybe eight.. I don’t know…” she said quietly, only now realizing the trap she’d walked herself into.
Rowan stopped dead in his tracks. “Erm… Dana. How much of that inheritance do you still have!?”
“Well… it’s been a while, but it’s somewhere around 13…14….”
“Hundred?”
Her answer was barely audible. “…Million…”
“Y-you’re joking.”
She let go of his hand and was backing away, deeply discomforted. “I’d rather not have it.”
“What – WHY?” he cried. “Think of all the things you could buy!“
The darkest of shadow shot across her face, her lips curled in a snarl. “That money corrupted my parents! Made them care only about themselves, and how they could get more of it! Made them hate me. My aunt too! That money is blood, and PAIN!! I don’t want anything to do with it! Every penny I have is a reminder of hell!”
It could also be her compensation, Rowan thought, but he bit his tongue.
She began advancing at him, any hint of former glee, swallowed up and spat out. “You knew about it for a whole of two seconds before you nearly leaped at me, the pull of it in your eyes, ready to consume you.”
He paled. She wasn’t wrong.
“I take what I need. ONLY what I need. What I want can’t be bought!!”
Rowan, now ashen faced and feeling the cold threat of her fury had gotten the point. Her face softened and warmed, reaching for his hand anew. “Like you.”
For a moment, Rowan became stiff, unable to take his eyes off of her. “I’ve got a rich girlfriend,” he stammered.
She froze, dropping his hand in shock. “What did you call me?”
The white of his cheeks became red. “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have used that word. The money. I didn’t think.”
“Girlfriend?” she said in a hushed tone, as if saying it louder would make it untrue.
“Is that OK?”
He had the answer he needed when she leapt into his arms, nearly knocking him over.
*****
They walked to the other side of the park where the little café he’d mentioned stood. It wasn’t that far from the one she was far more familiar with. It was cute, this one, and vaguely familiar.
Dana stopped at the entrance, screwing up her face. “Something about this place.”
Spying an empty table outside, Rowan headed in, offering a friendly wave to the owner, a darkly tanned, friendly sort. “Hey Lou!” but was taken aback by his odd reaction. A horrified sneer.
“YOU!” he shouted, with a damning, pointed finger.
Thoroughly confused, Rowan pointed at himself mouthing the word ‘me’?
Lou stormed towards, and then straight past him.
“I thought I told you to stay out!” he screamed.
Dana backed up a step, offering a little wave of her own coupled with a sheepish smile. “Long time no see” she squeaked. Dana lurched forward as the large man yanked at her shirt before turning her around to march her back out.
“Lou!” Rowan cried, leaping after him.
“You stay out of this. This one’s no good!”
“Lou, it’s OK! She’s my girlfriend!”
“Oh no you don’t!” shoving Dana forward before pulling Rowan aside.
“Look, you’re a nice guy, I get it. You want to help the little lady. BIG MISTAKE! You don’t know her like I do! You lonely? I got three daughters. You pick, I set you up yeah?”
“That’s very kind of you but-“
“No but! You, HEY!” he yelled, pushing Rowan out of the way. “YOU GET OUT NOW!”
Trying to be unnoticed, Dana had tiptoed to get behind Rowan in the hopes he could protect her. She froze, caught.
“GET!”
She looked up at the man she had only just won and dropped her shoulders, defeated. Lou’s reaction to her wasn’t unique. It would be this sort of thing that would surely make Rowan leave, or so she thought
Seeing her pained eyes, Rowan extracted himself from the man’s grasp and looked up at him with a guilty expression. Time to put those performance skills to good use.
“Sorry Lou. I was just trying to be a gentleman. I didn’t know she was trouble.”
He left the owner’s side and approached the slack-jawed and deeply hurt Dana.
“Hey, maybe you should leave, you’re causing a Whoah!”
He took her by the shoulder looking deep into her eyes.
“Your eyes!” he sputtered. “I’ve never seen eyes so blue! Like glittering jewels, so vivid and alive! I don’t know how I didn’t notice them before!”
With one hand, he caressed the side of her cheek. “Your skin is so soft, it’s incredible. I just want to touch it!”
He suddenly turned, sweeping an empty cup and saucer off a nearby table then picked her up and lay her on it. “I have to have you!”
Both confused and exhilarated, Dana smiled and went along for a ride, shrieking out with glee when Rowan buried his lips in her neck, sliding a hand up her shirt.
Panicked at the scene, Lou pulled him away by the shoulder. “Okay okay! I let her stay, just stop!”
As a brief finale, Rowan brushed himself off and glared at him. “She really is my girlfriend, Lou.”
He let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, uh, how about some coffee huh?”
“Black, no sugar!”
“Two sugars for me please and a bit of cream!”
Rowan watched him disappear inside, turning back to Dana who’d slid off the table and into a seat.
“You’re going to be a handful aren’t you?” Rowan laughed as he sat down next to her.
Her sheepish grin began to falter. “You know this might happen again, right?”
“Oh, I know!”
“And you’re OK with that?”
He stared at her intently with hungry eyes. “Actually, I’m thinking about throwing you back on the table.”
“Aww. You’d get banned for me?” she said with a giggle.
“I haven’t had this much fun in ages!” His face then turned to one of bemusement. “What did you do anyway?”
She pressed her lips together and remained silent.
“You… knocked over some tables.”
“Uh-uh.”
“Took a swing at someone.”
“No!”
“Took off all your clothes?”
Her face turned red. “Well, not all of them.”
Rowan broke out in a new laugh. “Why?”
“Everyone was so stuffy and quiet. Thought I’d liven up the place.”
“And?”
“So, I got up on the table.”
“I thought you might have.”
“…Annnd tried to get everyone to join in a singalong.”
“And your clothes?”
“I got carried away.”
He roared with laughter, imaging the whole scene with crystal clarity.
Reeling, Dana responded with slack-jawed awe. “Why aren’t you bothered by this? Why don’t you want to get the hell away from me, or call the police?”
“Life is a whole lot more interesting with you in it!”
He then took her hand with a grin. “Just do me a favor.”
Astonished at his good humor she smiled, elated. “What’s that?”
“Don’t do it again unless I’m there to see it!”
Lou came back in record time, with two pastries as well. “On the house, provided you finish up quickly.” Rowan expressed his appreciation, trying to convey his assurances that the drama was in fact over. Lou didn’t seem convinced, but let them be.
“So, when do I get to see you throw knives?” Dana asked with excited anticipation.
“The two I threw at you weren’t enough?”
“I meant in a show numnuts!”
He leaned back into his chair looking comically annoyed. “I don’t know. It’s only been a day and you’re already calling me obsolete names!”
She threw a packet of sugar at him, giggling. “Come on! You claim to be this irresistible sex object and won’t let me see it?”
“Hey! I’m an irresistible sex object right now!”
“Yeeeeeeaaaahhhhhh!” she responded with sparkling, hungry eyes and a sudden switch to gripping the table. For a second, he thought she was going to jump him.
“Better not let Lou see what you’re thinking of doing!”
As if only now remembering where she was, Dana backed down.
He looked back at her with regret. Now doubly so. He was half-tempted to take her. “It’s off season, actually. I’m not touring at the moment.”
Her disappointment was evident.
“I’ve got a routine I do at home to keep my skills sharp, I can show you that.”
Newly encouraged, she had to ask “Can we go there now?”
****
They crashed into his small apartment, oblivious to the world. If Dirk had been watching them, they didn’t know it. If there were workers up top, they never heard them.
Before she could get the wide-open space in the middle, Rowan snatched Dana up around the waist and spun them around, letting her shrieks of laughter fill the space.
They came to rest by the table where their performances had so captivated each other.
With a smile that only the newly enchanted could achieve, Rowan took her hand, blushing. “When you were dancing, I wanted so badly to lift you off that table and kiss you.”
Disbelief still flooding her mind, Dana replied “Why didn’t you?”
“You gave me a challenge I couldn’t refuse!”
Recognition quickly dawned, “Ah! Carmen!”
Rowan responded in rapid fire Spanish and a snappy, arrogant gesture.
She gave him a shy little giggle, lifting her shoulders, turning her hips back and forth. “You could have tried something later, you know.”
He shook his head with a warm smile. “The connection we were making meant more. Besides, you seemed really bothered earlier that night. I didn’t want to push you.“
She hopped onto the table with a coy little twirl. “How about a second chance?”
His eagerly lifted hand was put to a stop by an admonishing finger, long before it could get close enough to take hers.
”Wasn’t there music?”
Rowan’s face brightened up as he leaped over to the CD case, quickly rifling through it. Grabbing one with a handwritten label, he popped it on, jumping back to his feet as the speakers began belting ‘The Hokey Pokey’.
Dana burst into laughter.
With an effortless spring, he joined her atop of the table.
“Why do you have this?” she howled.
“Isn’t it romantic?” he replied with fluttering eyes.
“I think the table’s going to break!” she squealed as he began prancing about.
“I know! And I don’t care!” he cried, lifting her hand, leading her to join in. “AND YOU SHAKE IT ALL ABOUT!”
They sang out together at the top of their lungs, kicking and swinging through the steps. ”YOU DO THE HOKEY POKEY AND YOU TURN YOURSELF AROUND, THAT’S WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT!”
The table survived another silly song before a sharp crack in one leg sent them scrambling. Shrieks and giggles eventually calmed, bubbling forth again when Dana discovered Rowan had yet another talent; the ability to make coins disappear and come back again. Now cross-legged on the bed, facing each other, Dana was becoming increasingly frustrated by his well-executed slight-of-hand. Her now wearing his tank top, him in her oversized sweatshirt, she was certain she’d finally figured him out.
“This one!” she exclaimed, jabbing a confident finger into his balled-up right fist. Opening up to display an empty palm, Rowan made an over-the-top show of expressing his oh-so-sorry regrets.
“Ohhhh.. wrong again, it’s in this one!” he smugly exclaimed, opening up his left, which was just as empty.
“Ah shit, I remember now, it was in this one,” he swore, refocusing his attention on his right hand again, where three battered pennies now sat.
Screeching out her frustration, Dana grabbed him by the wrist, pulling up his sleeve with no regard for being gentle. Wild laughter ensued as they wrestled, her screaming “WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU HIDING THESE THINGS!?!”
“You’re worse than a kid!” he howled.
Changing her tactics, Dana drove her fingers into his sides, discovering, with great glee, he was very ticklish. Piercing shrieks filled the air as he frantically tried to escape the assault, sending him right off the edge of the bed.
Alarmed, Dana lunged forward. Peering over the edge she asked, “Are you all right?”
With nothing bruised but his ego, Rowan conceded defeat, but not for long. Grabbing a grape from a bunch they’d been snacking on, he sent it flying, nailing her smack in the middle of her forehead.
“Hey!” she cried, throwing her hands up.
Giggling, he followed it with two more, finding holes in her defense. Crying out in frustration, she snatched up one of the green projectiles and threw it back, missing him completely. Rowan burst out laughing at the attempt.
“Where’d you learn to throw? I’m, like, two feet in front of you!”
“You’re so freaking skinny it’s like trying to hit that lamp across the room!”
With absolute cheek in his grin, Rowan twisted around and sent the last grape sailing, bouncing it off the tall, slender stand with ease.
“It’s too hard to hit the what now?” he laughed, turning back.
“Fuck! I forgot you make a living out of that.”
Crawling back onto the bed, Rowan remarked, “You haven’t asked to see me throw knives yet. I did say I would give you a demonstration.”
“I’ve already had a demonstration!” she replied, wildly gesturing to illustrate the two hits he’d scored in her basement, and the fear they’d caused.
Settling down, he smiled, gentling rubbing the sore spot on her forehead. “There’s more to my act than just standing there and hitting a target.”
“What, you stab a few people as well?”
Regretfully, he sighed. “Oh, if only I could.” Brightening, he made his way back onto the floor. “Come on. Give me a hand packing up this bed and I’ll show you.”
Once the floor was clear, Dana parked herself on the armchair, growing increasingly intrigued as Rowan began shuffling around in his storeroom. The first items to be retrieved were targets – well punctured circular pieces of thick corkboard. Casually tossing them in a pile with a clatter, Dana pulled one over to get a better look. It had a felted back, and a loop of thin rope stapled to it. Countless holes gave the front of it a chewed-up look, most of the damage being dead center.
Next, Rowan brought out three wearable sets of sheaths, one being a double rowed bandolier. Strapping it on, he proceeded to fasten the two smaller ones to each forearm.
“Isn’t all of that a bit bulky?” Dana asked. “It looks kinda ridiculous.”
“On stage I use special racks I can easily access,” Rowan said. “For this, though, I’m going to need them all on my person. You’ll see why in a minute.”
He then retrieved one more thing from the storeroom, a well-worn, bulging satchel in red leather. About the size of a small duffel bag, it was clearly weighty, but not so much so that he needed both hands to lift it.
Humming gently to himself, he flashed her a pair of twinkling eyes, then flipped up the cover. Rows of stiff leather were nested inside, like frames in a beehive. He pulled one out, displaying a row of slender knives in sheaths. Removing one of the blades, he handed it over to Dana who took in gingerly from his hand.
“Careful with that, it’s razor sharp.”
Nodding, she admired it’s simple, but elegant design. Made entirely of stainless steel, it was a nearly twice the length of her hand, flat and thin. Nearly symmetrical, three holes distinguished its handle from its blade.
“This looks like something I’d use to pry open a can of paint.”
“Do that and I will kill you,” Rowan warned, taking it off of her. “These things are expensive!”
Sliding it into one of the sheaths on his bandolier, he plucked out the rest to transfer. Together with more knives from the satchel, his wearable collection was soon complete. Moving the bag aside, he stood up to get a feel for the weight and bulk now upon him. Once satisfied it all felt a part of him again, he popped a CD into the stereo and turned to the targets.
“Here,” he said, handing one to her. “There are screws hidden between the pictures on the wall. I’m not sure if you’d noticed them yet. Hang this and the rest of these wherever you like.”
Taking his offering, Dana scanned the room, settling on a nearby section to start with. Before she could step forward, Rowan lifted a finger. “Just one more thing.”
Pulling a long piece of black fabric from his pocket, he secured it tightly around his head. With smug confidence, he settled down onto the floor in the lotus position. Considering his burden, it seemed a miracle he could sit comfortably at all.
Eyeing him with suspicion, she set off, hanging the targets in the most challenging positions she could think of. Some dangled at almost unreachable heights, others nearly hidden by nearby furniture. If he were to reach all of these in succession, he would need to twist himself up into a pretzel. Once satisfied with her work, she backed into the armchair, carefully folding her legs in.
“Ok, I’m ready.”
With near boredom he recited, “Three horses, Gideon, me on a tightrope, me with my mother, me, me, me, and six of them near a pretty girl in my arms I’m going to guess you don’t you don’t like the look of.”
Eyes popping wide, she exclaimed. “How did you know!?”
Lifting his blindfold just a tad, he smiled and said, “You’re not as quiet as you think.”
Choosing to express herself as unimpressed, she groused in a mocking sing-song voice, “Look-at-me-I’m-the-greatest-thing-in-the-universe. I’m-the-best-at-everything.”
Chuckling, he reached back to press play on the stereo, then unfolded his legs so he could stand.
“Whatever you do, under NO CIRCUMSTANCES move. And I mean that,” he warned. “I know where the targets are, but I won’t know where you are if you move!”
Dana nodded before realizing how foolish the gesture. “I am frozen in time, exactly where you just saw me.”
A haunting track filled the room, as Rowan shook off all residual tension. As more instruments joined in, his body arched and turned, a rising shoulder soon followed by an expressive sweep of his arm. A thrust of a hip preceded the introduction of a pounding beat by a mere split second, its apex precisely timed to where the bass came in.
All senses now on alert, he zeroed in on the music’s many sources – an array of speakers, strategically placed to create the most immersive sound. Once firmly fixed in his mind’s eye as landmarks, he began creating his mental map of the room. Ever searching, his feet roamed the floor’s surface, elegant in their movements but performed for a purpose. Every scratch, every dip in the surface beneath his toes indicated his position and where he’d need to be. Another thrust of his hip, a sweep of the arm brought his body in line, every movement in time with the song. A twitch of the lip revealed his cheeky confidence. He knew every inch of those walls, every angle his body needed to be at. He’d done this dance a thousand times before and then a thousand more.
With no warning, he flew into action. Twisting sharply, he tore out blades from his bandolier, letting them fly at the walls one by one. Grinning now, his feet lunged forward, his body following in a dance as one after another, his flying knives hit their marks. All but one. Landing nearly at the edge of the target, inches from the bullseye, it was the only outlier.
Spinning anew, he tore the blindfold from his head, sending the last two blades flying at Dana, burying them right to the hilt in the armchair. Shrieking in terror, she froze, save for the fingers of both hands nearly tearing holes in the cushion.
All at once, Rowan was atop of her, boring his brilliant blue eyes into hers. His scent and body heat enveloped her, a knee pressed between her legs. Any chance of her racing heart quieting was thrown out the window as he leaned forward to let his breath wet her lips. Pulling out the blade nearest her hip, he drew it slowly down her exposed thigh, the flat edge lightly pressing in.
“Little close for comfort, don’t you think?” he growled in a deep, husky voice, then promptly ran his tongue up her neck.
Shaking, she whispered, “Oh my God I hit the jackpot.”
In a flash, there was chaos. Dana burst into action throwing him back. He landed hard on the floor, surprised at her strength as she dove in, taking every bit of flesh she could with her hands and lips.
Rowan threw his hands up, trying to scramble away. “Whoah, whoah hang on! Just wait!”
Pausing mid-action, Dana retracted her hands from where they’d be trying to take off his shirt.
He sat up with imploring eyes. “Dana, it’s really important that THIS isn’t who you think I am. I mean, I get it, my stage character is appealing. But I don’t want you seeing him every time you look at me. Just like you wouldn’t want me to see dollar signs when I look at you, or anything you did just to meet me.”
Her readiness to listen was encouraging.
“This guy, this character, he’s a part of me I’m not proud of. I wish I could get rid of him, but he sells tickets.”
Dana’s smiled grew warm. “I like the guy I bumped into at the park. The one reading one of my favorite books. He walked like he was floating on air, like the rain wasn’t there. The guy in the marketplace who dressed to say ‘I’m not like you’, but never treated anyone like that was the case.”
Wrapping her arms around her knees, she squeezed with pure contentment. “The guy I liked is the one that had a smile for everyone yet seemed happiest on his own. He looked like he lived in the same world I did. Not the one everyone else lived in.”
“This guy?” she said, unwrapping her arms. “He’s not him. He looks like he’d cheat on me the first second he could. He’s fun, and I can’t wait to show him off, but he’s not the guy I fell for.”
Everything he had felt in the past few days converged, expressing itself as a flurry of powerful beats of his heart. Her words seemed the most soothing sound he’d ever heard.
Dana settled down next to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “What did you see in me? You’ve only known me for a day, and some of that was me keeping you hostage. Why did you give me a second chance?”
“Right,” he said, gently caressing her arm. “I answered that, but you’d fallen asleep.”
Extracting her arm, he turned onto his side, softly smiling. “You intrigued me. Not many people do that.”
“I intrigued you,” she replied with a guarded smile.
“You had me tied up in your basement and you didn’t know my name. How could that not catch my attention?”
“Hehe.”
“Thing is, had you caught me any other time I don’t think I would have given you an answer. I mean, you are certifiable, you know,” he grinned, giving her a light flick between the eyes. A giggle brought a bigger smile to his face, one that faded just a quickly as he grew serious.
“A little while ago I was in a relationship with the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen. So beautiful, I was completely blind to the fact that inside, she was a horrible person. She knew nothing about me at all. Worse than that, she kept changing stuff she didn’t like about me in this insidious way, and I was too stupid to notice. Until one day I realized what she’d done. I wasn’t me anymore.”
“The fans I’ve got, they’re not much better. They see the slice of me that you just did, and they think that’s who I am. The real me is such a disappointment in comparison.”
“What about all of them?” she asked, indicating his extensive gallery. “They all know you.”
“I don’t see them much,” he softly said. “They’re scattered all over the country. My stage partner is nearby, and another friend I see often, but mostly I keep to myself.”
“And then I came along and ruined your solitude,” she smiled.
“Yeah, so there I was on the stairs, furious beyond belief that yet another person misjudged me and I was completely wrong. You started listing all these… mundane, everyday things about me and it threw me for a loop. I was still feeling pretty stung by my ex, and here you were. Knowing ten times more about me than she ever did. Weirder still, you were completely oblivious to the side of me everyone else fixates on.
“…and that intrigued you…” she said, with some doubt.
“That, and a few other things. Like, where did you get that big oil painting by your stairwell? I love it, and I want it. I would have stared at it longer, but I thought that would be too weird.”
“You were staring at it this morning for an awful long time.”
“The further down that hall I went, the more intriguing you and that gallery got.”
“And then you found my room…” she said, trailing off with concern.
“I can’t say it didn’t disturb me, because it did,” he admitted. “There was a war going on there, light and dark. You couldn’t have known that the same battle was going on within me.”
Worried, she retracted her arms, crossing them over her curled-up legs. “It’s mostly darkness in there…”
Nothing but warmth met her concern. “We all have a dark side. What matters is how bright the other side shines.”
“And me?”
Rowan sat up, with strange awe. “You’re like a fiery red fireball. One that comes out of nowhere and blows everything away.”
“That doesn’t sound like a compliment.”
He took her cheek in his hand, lightly caressing it. “Fire brings life. Sometimes in places that were too choked by the past to thrive. That’s been me for a long while.”
Picking up one of the coins he’d used earlier, he nimbly sent it flipping between his fingers, before bringing his palms together, then pulling them apart. Nothing remained but a sparkle in her eyes. Reaching forward he produced the missing penny from behind her ear, giggling at her tickled response.
“I haven’t laughed like this in ages,” he softly said. “I haven’t felt so thrilled to entertain. I put on the motions nowadays, get the job done, but it’s not the same. There’s always an undercurrent of self-hatred. You remind me of the joy I used to feel, that high when every eye was upon me, screaming with laughter, or wonder, applauding for more.”
“So..” she began, “I’m fun, I know something about you and I’m a multi-dimensional mystery who’d take years to dissect. I didn’t hear, anywhere in your speech, the word ‘attractive’!”
Rowan burst out laughing. “Is THAT what you’re worried about? Can I give my answer in the form of physical contact?”
Dana held her head back with suspicious eyes.
Creeping forward, Rowan brushed one hand against her side, planting it just behind her. It was followed by his body sliding against hers, a hungry smile on his lips. “What makes you think you aren’t attractive?”
“I don’t know,” she moaned. “I’ve got these small little tits.”
He lifted himself up to hastily rid himself of his shirt. “Mine are smaller!”
Diving back down, he lifted her top, eagerly indulging himself in her self-proclaimed minor assets.
Squealing with delight she exclaimed, “And I don’t have a single womanly curve!”
Halting his worship, he sat up, looking perfectly aghast. “Oh my god I feel your pain,” he lamented. “I’m like a big, long rectangle!”
Her shorts were the next to go, followed by wild shrieks as his ravenous mouth ate up every spot he’d uncovered
“Can we just leave these off!?” he shouted, waving around the panties he’d just removed. “They’re so impeding!”
Giggling at her resounding “YES!!!”, he found himself yanked back down onto her squirming body.
“TAKE ME YOU BEAUTIFUL THING!!!”
Gideon would have to wait for a reschedule of their rehearsal. Hours passed like they were mere minutes, each filled with the laughter that they shared and the comfort of one another as their darker histories revealed themselves, though Rowan skipped any tales of reckless promiscuity.
As evening passed into night, and beyond, they found themselves in the same position they’d been in the night before. Face to face, naked on the bed, this time their wrists bound together by Dana’s hand.
“Are you still worried I might leave?” he asked.
“No,” she smiled. “I just like being that much closer to you.”
He ran his fingers slowly and softly down her cheek, “Is it too early for me to say I’m in love?”
Dana gently shook her head, her face lighting up with a smile. Sleep came with warmth and comfort, their respective demons leaving them be.
Flickering Lights 
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