Beautiful Illusion (9 page)

I
was hot
. So hot. And I had a throbbing headache. I peeled open my sticky eyelids and looked up at the recessed lighting that was staring back at me. The brightness stung my eyes a little. I blinked a couple times and tilted my head to the side to see an abstract painting hanging on the wall, and I could see a coffee table with a large, flat screen television resting behind it. I was in some place—big, clean, and looked like it had been professionally decorated by some urban interior designer.

I had no idea where I was, and that sudden realization made my heart kick into high gear. I pushed myself up on one of my elbows with a groan, and I felt a cold, wet washrag fall off of my forehead and onto the leather couch that I was laying on.

I heard that sound of running water, and before I could even process that someone was in an adjacent room, the water stopped and Enigma appeared through the door wearing a pair of boxers and a wife beater.

What the fuck? Why am I in a room with Enigma?

“What’s going on? Where am I?” I asked.

“This is my home. You weren’t in the right mind state to tell me where you lived, so I just brought you back here.”

“Wait. Why am I in your home?” As soon as I said that, I looked down to my skimpy dress and remembered that I had a date with Dante.

“You don’t remember anything?” he asked.

I scanned my memory. “The last thing I remembered was walking towards the ladies’ bathroom at Lobster House and then… I don’t remember anything else.”

“You were basically a zombie all the way over here. I could’ve gotten you to do anything.”

“What? I don’t understand… Where is Dante?”

“Is that who you think you were on a date with? The guy drugged you, and his real name is Rick Jackson, not Dante.”

“What are you talking about? I’m so confused.” I tried to push myself to my feet, but felt a little too lightheaded to pull myself all the way up.

“Just relax,” Enigma said. “I saw you get in the car with that guy, and I immediately knew something was off. The guy is a pathological liar, and he uses his lies to pick up women.”

“How do you know Dante? He’s from Miami.”

Enigma sighed. “You’re not listening to me.
Rick
,” he stressed, “isn’t from Miami. He lives right here in Southern California. Here, let me show you something.” He reached for an iPad that was sitting on the coffee table then navigated to a website. After a few taps, he handed it to me.

On the front of the iPad was a website, and on that website was a man who was clearly Dante. He didn’t look like the dark haired Dante that I had met that night, but closer to the Dante that I had met on Dateme.com—Blond hair, younger, devilishly handsome. And the car he was standing in front of was the same car that he had picked me up in that night.

Rickjackson.com.

Tell Them What They Want To Hear, Show Them What They Want To See
by Rick Jackson.

My head was spinning.

“He’s a world renowned pickup artist, and if you read his book, you’d be shocked at his method of meeting women. Basically he has a ‘by any means necessary’ methodology, even if that means lying about his entire life or hypnotizing you into bed. And…” He grabbed the iPad from my hands and tapped a few times before handing it back to me. “He’s had a few … incidents.”

On the iPad was a news article discussing the details of an alleged date rape charge that Rick Jackson had been caught up in.

I set the iPad down on the table, unable to look at it anymore, and rested my face in my hands. “I can’t believe it. I feel like
such
an idiot. I knew he looked older than 25, but I had no idea he—”

“He’s at least twice your age. You’ve got to be more careful with people you talk to online.”

“Yeah, that was really stupid of me.” I pulled my head back up and took a deep breath. Enigma was just standing there, looking at me with a kind smile on his face, his thick arms bulging and muscles visible through the thin fabric of his tank. He looked sexy but … real, and nothing like the playboy that I had met at McMillan that night. “I owe you so much.”

“No you don’t. I owed you for what you did for me at the magic show.”

Emotions suddenly flooded into me. I thought back to the 6 months that I had wasted with Dante, all the nights we shared chatting. The silly, childish dream that maybe I had met my dream lover and the only thing that separated us was distance. But he had even lied to me about his name, and I believed it all. It was all a scam. And here was a man—a kind, talented and gorgeous man whom I had pushed away like a snobby bitch the moment he tried to get to know me.

The tears started flowing.

“Hey,” Enigma said awkwardly.

I couldn’t even respond, and I felt bad for crying in his home, creating such an uncomfortable situation for him. I’m sure he wasn’t used to being around crying girls, and much less girls who elevated their crying into sobs and sad wails the way that I did that night.

“Ummm… Hey,” he said awkwardly again, and then I felt his presence slide beside me on the couch, a gentle hand patting my back, a gentle arm pulled around me. “It’s alright.”

Thank you.
I thought to myself. I couldn’t even say it out loud amidst my sobs, but that’s what I wanted to say to him. I wanted to thank him for saving me and being there for me when I needed him the most.

His arm was loose and friendly, but I fell into him and wrapped myself around his hard torso in a tight embrace. My eyes were closed, so I have no idea what he may have been thinking, but after a moment of me squeezing on him, his other arm slid around me and pulled me into a sweet hug.

“It’s alright…” he said. “It’s all over now.”

B
efore I begin
, let me first ask you not to judge me.

I didn’t even intend to bring Angel back to my place, but every time I asked her where she lived, all she could mutter was “Santa Monica.” She couldn’t tell me any details about her street address, and even if I rustled through her purse to find some ID with her address on it, it would have been questionable for me to drag her up to her unknown room, open her unknown door and hang out there until she recovered from her zombie state. Whatever it was that Rick gave her, it was some strong shit.

And I’m not a creep either, but I admit that seeing her floundering around in that skimpy dress turned me on a little bit. There was a lot of cleavage already on display, and when a well-endowed girl isn’t in a completely coherent state, her breasts have a tendency to have a mind of their own, if you know what I’m getting at.

She was hot to the touch, so I placed a cold towel on her forehead as she laid on my couch, and I ran off to take a cold shower to get my raging hormones under control. When I emerged from the bathroom, she was sitting up and seemed to be partially back to her normal self, and after I gave her the truth about her little internet boyfriend, the tears ran like rivers.

I did my best to comfort her, and she held onto me tightly when I did.

It was weird, because Angel always came across as this strong, professional businesswoman with a hard outer shell that not a damn thing could touch, but in that moment, I realized that deep down she was still just a little girl.

I returned her squeeze and rubbed my hand up and down the smooth crevice of her back—I wasn’t sure what else to do—and slowly but surely, her sobs began to slow.

When her weeping turned to sniffles, she looked up at me and our eyes locked for a long minute. I just stared in her glistening, light blue eyes. They were slightly red from where she was crying, and her makeup was ruined from the tears. But still she looked so damn beautiful.

It was then that I grabbed her chin, tilted it up slightly and leaned over for a kiss. Part of me rejected the idea and told me to pull away, told me that I was taking advantage of a vulnerable girl, but the other part of me couldn’t resist the attraction that I had for her. I wondered if she would jump back and run out the door at what I had done, change back into the girl that had pushed me away so harshly at the club, but she just accepted my kiss and even seemed like she had been waiting for it the whole time.

Her lips were salty from tears, but they felt soft and luscious as they pressed against mine. And I’m not a kissing type of guy. I mean, when I’m fucking or about to fuck a girl, I’m likely to do some tonguing, but I usually don’t kiss anyone the way that I kissed Angel. These were gentle, calming kisses that I had never been compelled to give to a girl before, but they felt even more erotic than the dirty kisses than I was used to somehow.

I pulled away after we kissed a minute or so, and her crying and sniffles had vanished. We stared at each other for a few seconds more, and I wanted more than anything just to lean back in and kiss her again, but instead I told myself to maintain control.

I reared back from her and stood up from the couch. I had a strange sensation like I didn’t know what to do with my hands. “It’s late. If you want, I can drive you back home, or you’re welcome to stay here.”

“I don’t even know where here is,” she said quietly.

“We’re in Studio City. It’ll probably take about 30 minutes to get you to Santa Monica. There’s probably no traffic on the streets now.”

“Studio City?” she asked. “Oh god. I left my car at the Event Center.”

“I can drive you back to Anaheim now if you’d like or even in the morning… It’s up to you.”

“I’ll just stay here if it’s okay with you. It’s been a long night.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” I replied and tilted my head towards the bathroom. “If you want to take a shower, everything you need is in there.”

“Thanks,” she said.

She stood up from the couch and her feet were grounded this time. I walked her to my bathroom, flipped on the light, and motioned to the clean towels that were hanging on the rack. “There’s a few new toothbrushes in the cabinet if you want one.”

She nodded and closed the door.

I walked into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of Wild Turkey. I felt like I needed another cold shower, or something, and hoped that the poison would help take the edge off.

Any other girl of the caliber of Angel would’ve been ravaged the moment they walked through my door, but I didn’t want to stoop to the same low as Rick. I wanted her. Damn, I wanted her, but I didn’t want her to feel like I used her fucked up situation as leverage to get into her pants.

Plus, that kiss scared the shit out of me.

Forget the fact that I wasn’t a kisser to begin with; there was something in the kiss that felt like more than just a little lust. Maybe it was the fact that Angel was so strong, intelligent and independent, or maybe it was the fact that she hadn’t been as easy as any old girl that I picked up and slept with the first night we met. Whatever it was, something about the girl drew me into a sphere of wonder and held me there, even without having sex.

I liked the girl… a lot.

And that was terrifying.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t liked anyone before or that I didn’t want to have a girl for something more than a little quick fun. It just wasn’t something that had been on my radar or that I had even thought about in a long time. I was more concerned with getting my magic career in line and helping other guys in need get girls. And a guy with a steady girl? I don’t think anyone would consider that guy a pickup artist.

I poured myself another large shot of whiskey and chugged it in one gulp, feeling the heat burn my throat as it went down. The glass clanked as I dropped it on my granite countertops, and I looked around at the rest of my condo.

Expensive flooring, a high-end espresso machine, a subzero fridge. There was hardly any space in the room that wasn’t decked out with some of the finest furniture or decorations that money could buy. But what good did any of that do me if I had no one to share it with? Sure, I could impress my friends or girls who came to visit, but did it mean anything? I wasn’t sure, and I wasn’t sure why I was even thinking about such a thing right then.

I took one more swig of alcohol before I walked out of the kitchen and into the bedroom, the sound of water pitter pattering from the bathroom echoing off the walls throughout my home.

I straightened the bed sheets and my comforter, making sure that everything was neat for Angel, and I pulled a spare blanket and pillow out of the closet so that I could sleep on the couch. It would be the first time I had ever slept on my couch, and I hoped that it wouldn’t be too uncomfortable.

Once I moved back to the living room, I took a seat and turned on the TV right before I heard Angel turn off the shower water, and a few minutes later, she emerged from the bathroom with one of my white cotton robes wrapped around her body.

Her hair was matted wet, and her face was free of all the makeup she was wearing before. She looked clean and natural, and… words can’t describe how much better she looked without that artificial barrier hiding all her perfect little imperfections.

“Well, this looks cozy.” She smiled as she sat down on the couch, eying the blanket and pillow setup that I had laid out.

“I hope so, but you’ve got the bedroom. I’m sure I can manage it out here.”

Angel inhaled a slow, deep breath, and her eyes lit up at my words. She shook her head slowly as she exhaled. “You know, I would’ve never imagined you were such the perfect gentlemen that first night I met you.”

I chuckled. “Perfect gentlemen? I don’t think I’m one of those. But I’d like to think I’m a good guy when I need to be.”

“You are,” she said. Her eyes drifted off to one of the pictures on the wall. It was a photo I had taken myself that I had blown up and framed—a crab I had stumbled across while walking on the beach. She seemed captivated by it. “Why did you kiss me earlier?”

That got my attention, and I moved myself to sit up straight. “I don’t know,” I answered. “It just felt right at the time. Look, I’m sorry if it—“

“It was nice,” she interrupted.

I sat silent for a moment while I stared at her and wondered at our curious situation. Tiny freckles were scattered randomly on her face, and her eyes were still a bit red from where she had been crying before. It reminded me again that under the hard outer shell she was still just a young, vulnerable girl.

I wasn’t sure if I should make a move, but I knew I wanted to. My loins were burning with desire, but there were so many reasons why I should’ve kept things the way they were and not pushed things any further. For starters, she had already told me that she wasn’t interested in me, and that move had practically ruined my reputation in the pickup community. But since then we had also become business associates and friends, and everyone knows you don’t fuck your friends or people you work with. But also she was in such a helpless situation. There she was, sitting in a strange room with no car and having just got away from an encounter with another man that could have gone much worse than it had.

Did she need another guy trying to take advantage of her?

I placed my hand on top of hers, and after a brief caress, our palms were linked together. I leaned in closely and whispered, “What if I…“ right before my lips softly graced against hers, “…kiss you again?” I finished right before I kissed her a second time.

Like I said, don’t judge me. I’m a man, and sometimes a man’s dick or even the heart of the man can make him walk the line between nobility and pleasure.

Angel closed her eyes and purred into my mouth when I kissed her again, and this time I didn’t pull away. Instead, she fell back onto the comforter that I had laid out on the couch, while I followed and pelted her with kisses, her breathing growing heavy as she wrapped one arm around my back and the other brushed against the light stubble that was on my face.

She huffed into my ear as I trailed kisses down the side of cheek, and then to the tiny ridge right below her jawline. She smelled like fresh soap and something that was distinctively her, and just her scent alone made my cock swell hard inside of my shorts. I trailed my kisses back up past her cheek and then landed again on her mouth, this time more forcefully, and in an instant our tongues had delved into each other’s mouths.

Her tongue was so soft and her rhythm so perfect with mine. When I darted inside, she’d moved a little back to give me room, but not so much that I could find her, and when I’d retract, there she was, following me wherever I went.

It was only then that I realized that my eyes were closed, and I was totally lost in the moment. The few other times that I had kissed girls, I definitely didn’t close my eyes. I like to see what’s going on, get a nice view of how the girl is responding, but this time my eyes just closed on their own.

What was it about her?

I stood to my feet and scooped Angel into my arms in one swoop. The bathrobe she was wearing came partially undone, and I could see one of her breasts exposed, but she didn’t seem to notice, or she just didn’t care. She just wrapped her arms around my neck and let me carry her into my bedroom.

I gently sat Angel down on the bed and slowly unraveled the thick cotton belt that was holding the rest of the bathrobe together. My hand met the side of her bare hip, but Angel didn’t stop me at any step of the way. She just sat there with her lips pressed tightly together, and if I didn’t know any better, I think she was holding her breath.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Angel nodded.

For a few seconds, I just marveled at her bare body lying there, peach colored skin a nice contrast against the white of the robe. Her breasts were full, and her nipples were thick and dark, pointing high to the sky. Her pussy had been shaved, and I wondered if it was how she usually kept it or if she done it because she had planned on meeting Rick that night… or Dante or whoever it was she thought she was meeting.

Fucking Rick. Even right there in that moment, the thought of him managed to get under my skin. How could he take advantage of this perfect creature? Angel didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. She deserved…

What is it that she deserves?
I wondered. Did she deserve me laying her out on my bed, fucking the shit out of her and then sending her off in the morning? Was I no better than Rick?

I almost pulled away as the thought crossed my mind, but then I heard a slight moan slide out of Angel’s mouth, and I realized that my hand had already slid off of her hip and onto her inner thigh.

I could feel her heat, and that shattered away any reasonable thoughts.

I pulled off my wifebeater, crawled on top of her, and darted her neck with kisses, slowly moving my way down ‘til I was right in the center of her chest.

Angel arched her back high and hard, breathing through her teeth and pushing my face out of the way. “That tickles,” she said with a childish voice I hadn’t heard come out of her before.

No sooner than she had relaxed back down onto the bed, I cupped one of her breasts and sucked one of her nipples in my mouth. “Does this tickle?” I asked.

She arched again, but this time her only other response was a slight moan of pleasure, and I twirled my tongue round and round and round, then switched to her other breast and repeated the process.

By the time I was done with her breasts, she was already trembling a little, and I wondered if she could have orgasmed just from breast stimulation if I had continued. But enough with that… I wanted something else.

I kissed the center of her chest again, forgetting that she was ticklish there and she jolted back again before I moved below her sternum and to her belly, kissing right over her belly button until my face was where it needed to be.

I kissed her inner thighs while I kept one eye on her pussy, taking in every tiny fold and the glistening moisture that was already running down the center slit. I wondered what she would taste like. Salty? Sweet? Sour? I couldn’t wait to find out and pushed her legs back so that even her pretty little ass was staring back at me.