Arrival of the Prophecy (4 page)

He allowed her to leave after the two agreed on dinner at her place
the following evening, and then he made sure she made it home safely by having
his driver go as far as walking her to her door. The driver waited for Sky to
open her apartment door before he bowed his head and excused himself.

She watched him until she couldn’t see him anymore then shut and
locked all three locks on the door. She dropped her purse on the floor and
rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands, wondering if what she just went
through was a dream, or if it really happened.
Werewolf
she thought. “What’s wrong with me? The first hot guy to
ever look my way and he’s flat out nuttier than a fruit cake,” she said out
loud, looking over at the white cat named Doc that was stretching out on the
back of the chair. “I should call the cops, but they’ll just ask what I was
doing there. Momma just doesn’t want to explain why I jumped in a limo after
meeting him one time.”
Because he was
beyond handsome
, she thought.

She went into the kitchen to fix
herself
a
glass of pop, thinking about how Anthony pulled off the trick that he did with
his hand and wondering what she was going to do if he actually had the audacity
to show up the next day. She was undeniably and annoyingly attracted to him,
but the drugs, bondage and the whole ‘I’m a Werewolf’ thing, was a little more
than she thought she wanted to deal with. Now she was wondering how she was
going to get out of seeing him again if he actually showed up.

Sky woke up to her phone ringing and her head pounding with a full
blown migraine. She reached over to pick it up right as it stopped ringing. She
pulled one of the pillows out from under her head and placed it over her face,
trying to block out the morning sun. The phone started ringing again and she
threw the pillow across the room, cursing because her head was about to
explode. She looked at the clock next to her bed and noticed it was five thirty
and two hours away from the time that she had to get up.

“Hello,” she said, still fumbling to get the phone by her ear.

“I tried to call you last night, but you weren’t home,” Mallory
said.

“What do you want, Mallory?”

“I’m sorry to call you this early, but I can’t come in today and you
did say you were the one in charge.”

“So, why can’t you come in,” Sky asked, sitting up holding the top
of her head.

“That would be my business now wouldn’t it?” she replied in a high
pitch snobbish tone.

“You know what Mallory, I couldn’t care less if you ever come back
in,” Sky said, and then slammed down the phone.

She grabbed her head as soon as the receiver was out of her hand. “I
should have done that softer,” she whispered, getting up and walking to the
bathroom. She started drawing herself a tub of hot bath water, then went into
the kitchen and made a pot of coffee. She went back into the bathroom and took
off the sweat pants she slept in, leaving the tank top on until her coffee was
ready and she was able to bring a cup into the bathroom. She saw the bruises,
proof that the earlier events really happened. She now realized if she’d only
calmed down she wouldn’t even have them. She looked down stunned, unable to
wrap her mind around what her eyes were seeing.

The scratch or what she had presumed to be a scratch, was red,
swollen and looked more like a deep knife wound that happened days ago, not a
mere
oops
with a finger nail just a
few hours earlier. The more she looked at it, the more she couldn’t figure out
how her leg had gotten so infected so fast, or why the wound looked two times larger
than it did the night before. The one thing she did know was she had to figure
out a way to cover up both wrists and ankles before she went into work, or she
would be asked questions all day. The one thing she was grateful for was the
fact that the worse busy body in the entire store wasn’t going to be there and
she couldn’t be happier.

Sky soaked in the tub and enjoyed her coffee until the water began
to cool. She contemplated topping it off with more hot water, but didn’t want
to make herself late.

She chose a long, pale pink skirt, with a long sleeved white dress
top and a pair of mid-calf white leather slouch boots, that she never wore
because the heel was a little higher than she liked. It might have been the
fact that an attractive man had shown an interest in her, but she felt like
wearing make-up. She applied a light layer of foundation and teamed it with a
slightly daring red shade of lipstick. She slid into her clothes carefully, not
wanting to smudge her lips. Every action she was doing seemed like something
she did on a daily bases, even though Sky did the complete opposite and had
done so for the past eight years. She was a strict creature of habit, always
bathed at night, never wore more than mascara, never bothered about nice
clothes for work, and hated the way heels made her legs feel as soon as she put
them on her feet.

Today Sky walked into work with her head held high and a sway in her
hips. Her look and personality had changed to the point that a fellow employee’s
asked if they could be of service, before realizing it was Sky they were
speaking too. Her hair hung down straight and parted in the middle, giving her
the appearance of a porcelain doll. The dark contrast of her hair against her
white canvas skin was
breathtaking
with the stark red
of her lips. She held herself differently when asking a customer if they needed
help and sold more in merchandise by lunch, than she had in the past week. She
oozed confidence and had no clue from where it had burst forth from.

“You have a phone call, Sky,” Becky said, walking up to her. “You
look fab! Where were you hiding this?”

“Hiding what?” she asked, looking down as she walked to the service
counter.

“You...this,” she replied, looking at Sky from head-to-toe.

“Not today Becky, I don’t feel like dealing with your second grade
crap,” Sky glared back, and then picked up the phone.

“It was a
complement,”Becky
snapped,
swinging her head around and walking away.

Sky was shaking her head when she answered the phone.

“Are we still on for tonight?” Anthony asked in a soft tone.

“Would you show up, even if I said no?”

“More than likely.”

“How do you know I didn’t alert the police about your strange ways?”
She found herself smiling into the receiver.

“I’m assuming it would be procedure for the police to gather both
sides of a story and seeing as I didn’t have a visit, I’m guessing you haven’t.”

“Well, what’s so special about me anyway? If you just want to get in
my panties you might as well give up now,” she said, shrugging her shoulders
like he could see her.

“I think you’re perfect for me, and if all I wanted was sex, I would
get it from my brothers club anytime I pleased.”

“Gross! And you don’t even know me, Anthony. How could you possibly
think we belong together?” she asked, rolling her eyes.

“Your touch, your smell,” he whispered. “When my beast reaches out,
women want to do anything I ask of them. The one that is meant for me holds the
other half to my soul and can withstand the allure of my voice.”

“Oh please, can you hear yourself right now? You sound like a bad
“B” rated movie, ‘The allure of my voice,’ you are not doing a good job of
winning me over you know.” She laughed.

“If I prove it, will you freely give me a long lingering kiss on our
date tonight?”

“Sure, if you can prove that women go ‘
googoo
’
at the sound of your voice, better yet, I get to choose the woman.”

“You, my lady, have a deal. I’ll see you before you close the store
tonight,” he humorously replied.

“You’re on,” she retorted,
then
hung up the
phone.

***

Anthony stood looking at Sky from across the store later that day,
and knew by the way she carried herself that things were already changing in
her system. He also noticed how exquisitely attractive she looked with her hair
around her face and makeup on, drawing him to her on a sexual level that was
the human in him and had nothing to do with the beast that lay quietly inside. He
started walking toward her; his eyes locked on her every move. He was licking
his lips at the thoughts that were roaming through his mind, when she looked up
from the stack of shoes she was about to pick up off the floor.

Sky got goose bumps when she saw him coming toward her, she tripped
over the shoes she’d just got through stacking, and almost went down on top of
them. Her heart began to race as sweat started to form on her upper lip, while
her eyes grazed over his body like a starved animal. He was wearing black,
denim jeans that caressed every muscle, with a long sleeved, baby blue silk
shirt, tucked in and buttoned halfway up and a pair of black shiny boots. This
time his hair looked like he just towel dried it, then walked out. Though it
was easy to tell he had added hair gel and created the style. She stood up,
running her hands down her skirt to wipe off the sweat that had accumulated on
her palms,
then
stuck her hand out in a greeting
fashion.

“Hi,” she said.

“Good afternoon,” he replied taking her hand, turning it over and
then kissing the back of it.

Anthony stood up straight, looking down at Sky, then out of nowhere
pulled her up against his chest and kissed her full on the mouth. Both of Sky’s
hands flew in the air and she froze like that for the first few seconds of the
kiss, then, against her better judgment she slowly raised her hands and gripped
the sides of his face, deepening the passion of the embrace. Something primal
was unleashed inside her. Sensing her submission and desire, Anthony wrapped
his arms around her waist and lifted her off the floor. Sky wrapped her arms
around his neck, never losing his lips or breaking the magic of their first
proper kiss. He lowered her as he broke free from the kiss, staring at her as
if it were the first time that he truly saw her. He touched her cheek, feather
soft, leaning down and kissing her above each eye.

“You will be so easy to love,” he whispered

She laid her head on his chest, reeling from a whirlwind of torment
inside her heart. She wrapped her arms around his firm, slender waist and with
a contented sigh realized that she had never been kissed so passionately, not
even in her wildest fantasies. The Sky she knew would never have even thought
about doing it in a store with other people walking around. Yet here she stood
with the most gorgeous man who had ever given her more than two seconds of his
time, wanting her to be a part of his life. She couldn’t figure out why he was
attracted to her in the first place, and she was still trying to determine if
he was crazy.

“You have my head doing somersaults, but it’s not because your voice
is so alluring,” she mocked with a smile. “I, have the
perfect
woman.”

“Will you finally believe me when I prove this?”

“If this woman falls for you, then I’ll believe anything. Even that
you run around on all fours and sprout fur,” she said swinging her hands in
front of herself like a referee calling an out at a baseball game.

Sky walked over to the service desk and picked up the loud speaker
microphone and asked for Dorothy to come to the main lobby. A few minutes later
Sky and Anthony turned around to watch as Dorothy walked off the elevator. Standing
five ten, hair cut in a military fashion, wearing dress slacks which would have
been more suited for a man, a white shirt, tucked in and black tie, she did not
resemble a woman. She wore no makeup, no
jewelry
—nothing
but a serious expression.

“Yes ma’am?” Dorothy asked with a deep voice.

“This is a
woman
? You’re
sure of this?” Anthony asked, with his head slightly tilted.

“Can I help you with something, sir?” Dorothy asked in a slightly
higher tone.

“She is indeed female,” he bowed his head toward Sky. “I would like
you to get down on your knee pretty lady.”

Dorothy dropped to her knees without a moment of hesitation, causing
Sky’s mouth to hang open so long that Anthony reached over and closed it. “Now
I would like two cold drinks for Miss Sky and myself, then you can go back to
your duties.”

“If you need anything else just call for me and I’ll rush it right
to you,” Dorothy replied, then stood up, trying to lean in and kiss him.

“That really isn’t necessary,” he replied, pushing her back.

“I’ll do things to you that you could only dream of,” she said,
grabbing a handful of his shirt and ripping it.

“Dorothy!” Sky said in a loud voice. “Take your hands off of him.”

The woman that towered over her stepped back looking down at
her,
then nodded her head. Dorothy gazed at Anthony then looked
down at the ground as she rushed past dutifully going to fetch them a cold
drink. Sky glanced over at Anthony feeling a little embarrassed, because she
knew the smile on his face meant he speculated that she snapped at Dorothy
because she was pawing at her man. Maybe she was a tad bit
possesive
,
but she wasn’t about to admit it to him.