Forbidden Lust (8 page)

“Well, she does need a dress,” Samara said with a smile.

He nodded and pushed away from the bar. “I’ll call the store and let them know to send me a bill.” Turning to Makayla he took hold of her chin, bringing her close so only she could hear him. “Have fun and get whatever you want.” A quick kiss and he let the two get ready for their shopping trip.

Chapter Six

“What do you think of this?” Makayla picked up a silk dress, showing it to her sister. It was the fourth dress she’d picked up, and the fourth she really didn’t like after looking at it closer.

“Pink is not your color,” Samara said.

“So what is my color?”

“Not sure,” Samara kept walking around the racks, perusing the fancy gowns. “So how’s things really been going between you two? I mean, I know it’s only been one night.”

“Things are fine.”

“Really?”

Makayla stopped looking at the dresses and gave her full attention to her sister. “Samara, I don’t know what to really think when it comes to Darius. He built a house for me, for god’s sake. He has been keeping tabs on me for a while and then just marries me without a heads up to any of us. Sure, I wanted to take his head off, but really what good would that do? The outcome would be the same no matter what, so I might just as well go along with it. Besides, I get to stay home now and see you more.”

Samara smiled. “Yeah, that is the good side to all of this.”

Makayla looked at another two dresses before stopping once more. “He’s lonely, Samara. I see it in his eyes.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t explain it really. I just get this feeling he’s been alone longer than what the others know, and I can see it in his eyes. The other night when we were in the Compound, I woke up and saw him just standing in the corner looking down at the floor. He told me he doesn’t sleep much. I want to help him, Samara.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?”

Makayla shrugged. “Not sure. One thing I do know, without a doubt, is that the guys need to get back together. He misses them.”

“Dane told me the other day, finally, some of Darius’s background. Hell, from what I’ve heard, even from Kera, the four of them have had shitty lives. You know Nana pretty much controlled Dane until he got to a certain age.” Makayla nodded to that. “Well, Devon became the reasonable one in the group after his father died. No shocker there. Blaine got shipped off to boarding school because of what his family thought he did to Nicolai’s mother, getting her pregnant and all. Well, from what I have been told by Dane about Darius, he got the worst of the deal out of them all. Guess his father was the worst bastard of all and his mother wasn’t too stable.”

“What do you mean?”

“I couldn’t get much out of Dane. He acted as if he didn’t want to talk about it really, but I pushed him. He told me that Darius’s mother was one of those Bible women, you know, the kind that preaches all the time. Dane said that once when they were all over there, Darius’s mother started going on about how Darius was the spawn of the devil and his sister the devil’s whore.”

“What!” Makayla cut her off. “Darius has a sister?”

“Had,” Samara corrected. “She died I think Dane said around thirteen or fourteen years old. Killed herself.”

“Why?”

Samara shrugged. “Dane didn’t know and Darius never said. After she died, Darius changed, Dane said. Became more alone than usual, stayed away from home as much as he could, then got himself into trouble. Dane thought he did it so his father would send him away to school. When his father died, Darius didn’t even come back for the funeral.”

“What happened to his mother?”

Again, Samara shrugged. “Don’t know. She sort of disappeared right after Darius.”

“You don’t think she’s dead, do you?”

“From what the guys said, they don’t know what happened to her. After his sister died, Darius was sent away and his mother disappeared. Oh, I like this one!” Samara suddenly grabbed a white silk gown from the rack and held it up. It had crystals in the thin straps and an open back that went all the way to the top curve of the rear. “This would be perfect for you.”

Her mind no longer on shopping, Makayla took the dress and headed for a dressing room. She tried it on, ended up loving it, and bought it and a few other things for Darius’s pleasure later on.

They ate lunch, then went their separate ways. Makayla headed back to the house, her mind full of questions and knew of no way to begin asking them. Her gut told her that when it came to things like his family, Darius might not tell her. So she needed to think up a plan to get him to open up.

The house was quiet when she walked through the front door. Bags in hand, she headed for the kitchen first to drop off the things she picked up for dinner, then headed to the bedroom to hang up her new gown and hide the outfit she planned on wearing  later, for Darius’s pleasure. Once that was finished, she headed for his office, which seemed to be the only room in the house that had a light on. Makayla lifted her hand to knock then paused at the slightly open door when she heard Darius having what she believed was a phone conversation.

“Didn’t we have this conversation months ago?” Darius said his voice low and filled with anger. “I told you then that I’m not paying anymore. You take over the bill. I don’t give a shit, Jay. I’m not taking responsibility for her anymore. She’s your sister, you carry the damn burden for once. No, you don’t have to remind me of that fact, it’s not like I’ve ever forgotten. Look, I’m not a fucking bank here!”

She didn’t want to hear any more. Turning from the door, tip-toeing back down to the kitchen, she busied herself with putting things away and getting pans out to start dinner. Thirty minutes later Darius showed up.

“Hey, when did you get back?” he asked, reaching around her for a cut piece of carrot.

“A bit ago,” she said, finishing up and putting the cut vegetables into a skillet. “I went up to your office to let you know I was back, but you were on the phone and I didn’t want to bother you.” From the corner of her eye, she saw him stiffen. “It was so much fun having a whole day out with Samara,” she quickly added. “We never got to do anything like that before. Our father didn’t want to take a chance that his slaves might get taken to the Compound.” She laughed, glancing at him quickly.

“Which I guess is what happened,” he said softly. He walked around the kitchen, opened the door of a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of wine.

She finished with what she needed to do for the moment, and turned to face him just as he finished pouring himself a large glass of wine. Without a word, Darius downed half of it, then filled it up again.

“Something on your mind?” she asked.

“Nope,” he answered right before taking another big drink.

Makayla went up to him and took the glass before he could finish the wine, setting the glass back on the table and blocking him from getting ahold of it. “What’s wrong? It sounded like you were having a fight with someone on the phone.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Darius tried to reach around her for the glass, but she blocked him.

“Talk to me.”

“Makayla,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Please.”

“I can’t,” he said, moving away from her. “I need some air. I’m going for a walk.”

And just like that he left, without emitting another word or looking back at her.

Makayla stood there, looking at nothing, not understanding what it was that she needed to do. They didn’t know each other. Less than forty-eight hours ago they were married, and back in the Compound it seemed they were close, or at least she thought he might be trying to get close to her. Now, after that strange call, Darius just shut himself off.

Not feeling hungry anymore, and getting this strange impression that he might be coming back soon, she turned the skillet off and dumped what little food she started to cook in the sink. Instead of eating, she headed for the bedroom, took a long bath, then when it became too hard to keep her eyes open, she went to bed.

The sun woke her to half an empty bed. She could tell from the looks of the other side that Darius hadn’t joined her. Confused, she got out of bed, dressed and walked through the house, half expecting him to be somewhere but he wasn’t. Feeling brave, Makayla went into his office. She looked around, opened drawers and cabinets and ended up sitting behind his desk, looking around at a room that had nothing really personal in it; nothing of a family that he might have had. Biting her lip, she started opening desk drawers and got a shocker. In the bottom drawer rested a thick photo album.

Makayla pulled it out, placed it on the desk and began to look through all the different pictures. A woman, holding a Bible tight to her chest in a white wedding dress, her face pale as the dress itself. The man standing behind her with a big smile on his face. His looks reminded her of Darius, so she suspected that this might be his parents.

More shots of a wedding and a young bride frightened out of her mind. The fourth page showed a baby in a wicker bassinet wrapped in a pale blue blanket. Under the photo, a name—Darius Michael Alistair. She touched the photo, smiling at it. Four more pages showed different stages of Darius life, then the fifth had another baby. This one the name of Sara Ann Alistair. Had to be Darius’s sister! There were a few other photos of the two of them together. Darius holding his sister, helping her with a cake, then a present on a birthday. Later on, it was around a Christmas tree, then him with her on a bike. Different ages passed by, and then it all stopped. There were no more pictures.

She closed the book and started to put it back, only to stop when an old yellowish piece of paper fell out from the back to the floor. Picking it up she read the small print:

Sara Ann Alistair died at the age of fourteen. She was found face down floating in a local stream, her wrists had been cut.

There had been more to the story, but it had been ripped away. Makayla put it back along with the book. Leaving the office, she headed down to the first floor.

She ate a small bowl of cereal, then tried to find something to do until he came home. It wasn’t until almost three in the afternoon before Darius walked through the front door wearing the same clothing he had on the night before. She saw right off he had a ragged look to him, like someone that had been beaten down and somehow managed to get back up on his feet.

“Darius?” She slowly walked towards him, not sure what to say or do.

He looked around the house, down at the floor, ran a hand through his hair, wouldn’t look at her.

“Um—I—um, I’m going to take a shower.” He headed for the spiral stairs, leaving her in the hallway.

Her anger began to surface. For so long she had been put on a back burner growing up. Once Samara married, Makayla thought she might have a somewhat normal life, but that didn’t happen either. Dane had shipped her out of town to school, leaving her alone once more. After sleeping on it and talking to him, she thought they had come to some kind of truce. Seemed she was mistaken.

With a nod, she also turned and headed up to the television room. Halfway through a movie, Darius showed up, his composure once more in place.

“Hey,” he said.

She turned the television off, stood up and faced him. “We need to talk.”

“I know,” he nodded.

“No, you don’t know.” With both hands on her hips, she released her anger. “You know, I thought we had a truce of some kind, but I can see that was all bullshit.”

“Makayla....”

“I was looking forward to having a normal life,” she went on, ignoring him. “But you just have to do the same shit that my father did, and Dane.”

“Makayla ...”

“I don’t like being left in the dark with the hopes that I might catch up with whatever it is you’re doing.”

“Can I talk?”

“No, you can’t!” she yelled at him. “You walked out of here without a word to me and didn’t come back. What made you think I’d be here when you returned? I mean, we’ve only been playing this married fucking game here for what, two days now. Maybe I should pack my shit up and go to my sister’s and say fuck you!”

“Are you finished yet?” he yelled back.

She was breathing hard and fast. “No. I’m not.”

“Too bad. I have responsibilities that you can’t imagine, and as much as I would love to lock myself in this house with you, I can’t.”

“That is the most bullshit reason I’ve ever heard.” She turned and stormed out of the room, reached the stairs and tore down them.

“Makayla!” he yelled right behind her.

“You know the one and only reason a man stays out all night, when he has a woman at home, is he’s fucking another. Guess that shouldn’t be a shock to me. I mean, why wouldn’t you screw around like others do?”

“I’m not screwing around on you.”

“Well then what the hell is going on?” She stopped halfway down the stairs and turned on him, looking up. “You were just fine until you had that strange phone call. After that you became a man I don’t even know, not that I knew you well to begin with.” He just stood there in silence and it fueled her anger. “Yeah, right.”

“What do you want to know?”

She opened her mouth to answer him, stopped when the doorbell rang. Makayla closed her eyes and groaned. “Great.”

Darius shook his head and went towards the front door. Makayla stood in the middle of the hallway, watching him.

“Darius Alistair?” a man standing at the door asked.

“Yes,” Darius answered.

The man handed over an envelope. “You’ve been served. Have a nice evening.”

“Yeah, right,” Darius mumbled, closing the door.

“What’s going on?” Makayla asked.

He turned and held the envelope up in the air. “I was trying to tell you that the reason I’ve been gone is because I’ve been having it out with my Uncle and now he’s suing me.”

She watched as he left her then, headed up the stairs, most likely to his office.

“Great, Makayla,” she sighed, running both hands over her face and into her hair.

She waited about ten minutes before heading up to his office also. Now she felt like shit, mostly because she accused him of something he didn’t do, but then again she told herself he hadn’t  given even a hint that he still had family either.