Open World (9 page)

“So
what’s the favor, sir?” Tavis asked.

James
looked to the man with watery eyes.
“Oh, yes, the favor.
I also have a feeling that you and Alden are here in our lives to protect our
girls, and because of this I want to entrust their safety with you. Grace and I
are still going to go to the meeting. There’s nothing
we
can do in Hope’s case, so we feel it’d be better if we go and
help others and not sit around worrying about circumstances out of our control.
What we need is for you two to stay here with the girls while we’re in our
negotiations.”

“What?”
Cassandra and Faith exclaimed in unison, similar shocked expressions on each
face.

James
held up a hand to them to ward off anything further from being said. “If the
two of you could keep a close watch on the girls, and accompany them on their
errands and such, we would be grateful.”

“It’d
be an honor to take care of your family in your absence, sir,” Tavis expressed.

“Same
here, sir,” Alden said. “Once I get back from meeting with my contacts, I’ll be
more than happy to help Big T keep an eye on them.”

“Hey,”
Cassandra interjected. “What about Justin?
If you’re going to
let their friends sleep over then what about mine?”

“I’ll
not have that delinquent in my home. He’s bad news, a troublemaker. I’ve heard
he has a record. If I find out he’s been here…” He held up a fist.

“James,”
Grace exclaimed in a quiet gasp.

“Chill,
Uncle James,” Cassandra responded with a wave of her hand. “Justin and I broke
up, so you don’t have to worry about him coming round.” She rose and left the
table.

“Cassandra…”
James growled her name,
then
shouted after her. “Why
do you try my patience?”

Later
that evening, Cassandra, still in shock over her uncle’s decision, said as much
when Faith entered the room she was staying in for the night. “And if he
realized how much Big T is into you, he may not have chosen him as our
babysitter.”

“What
are you talking about?” Faith asked, puzzled, flopping stomach down beside her cousin
on the floor. “Big T isn’t into me. We’re just friends.”

“The
hell he’s not. You should see the way he looks at you, the way he acts around
you. You really should give him a chance.”

“Oh,
I don’t know. If something were to happen with Big T in this game, wouldn’t
that still be considered cheating? I couldn’t do that to Tavis. Besides, I
don’t even know what he really looks like. From what he’s told me he has
terrible scarring from bad cases of acne when he was younger so even when he’s
not on stage he’s in makeup or wears some sort of cover. I don’t think I’d
recognize Big T without his masks.”

“So?
Looks aren’t everything. You should stop being such a peacock. He’s smart and
funny and...”

“You
should date him then,” Faith countered, cutting off her cousin.

“Big
T isn’t meant for me, but the guy who is, is on his way. It’s one of the
reasons why I broke it off with Justin.”

Faith
snorted from an old habit of disbelief. Though lately she had come around to
believing her sister’s predictions and given her more credit in regard to her
religion
. She played with a pull in the
rug.

“Are
you still having those weird dreams?” Cassandra batted Faith’s hand away from
the frayed threads of the carpet.

“Yeah,
I am.” Faith rolled over on her back. She placed her arms over her face.

“I
wonder why the tea I’ve been making for you isn’t working. Those herbs should
be helping you sleep.”

“The
tea does help,” she said, propping up on her forearms. “It knocks me out,
that’s for sure. But it’s like an outside force opens a curtain in my mind and
forces me to watch and participate in a play.”

“Let
me tweak it a little bit and see if that helps.” Cassandra rose. “I’ll be right
back.”

Faith
peered into the very warm mug Cassandra handed to her before she shooed her to
her room. Little flecks of plant material floated in the asparagus colored
liquid. The tea Cassandra made to help her sleep was bland and gritty, pretty
disgusting actually, but without it, she’d stare at the ceiling for hours on
end, her mind afraid to release itself to slumber. She took a sip of the
insipid
drink,
involuntarily scrunched her face like
she had sucked on a bad lemon, then placed the container on her nightstand.

She
threaded her fingers through her long hair, untangling each sienna strand
before her eyes,
then
working the sections into a
braid. Once she tied off the length, she finished her sister’s concoction and
snuggled under the covers of her full sized bed. Quiet prayers filtered through
her mind, whispered requests that she make it a full night without any dreams.
Late in the night, she tossed fitfully in her bed as dream visions assailed
her.

****

Faith
stood in a torch and candle lit great hall in front of the tall dream man whose
forehead, eyes and nose remained hidden behind a hawk-like mask. Feathers
smoothed back over the top of his head covered his dark hair. The beak sat upon
his nose and his eyes, concealed by dark glass beads, stared vacantly at her.

Hawk-man
turned and sat at a long wooden table, laden with chunks of red and white
meats, strange colorful fruits and beans, lumps of bread stuff and transparent
canisters of what appeared to be different types of wine. He picked up a book
from beside his plate, handed it to her,
then
swept
out his arm toward an empty section of the room.

With
one hand on the book and the other grabbing a handful of her deep green,
strapless evening gown so as not to trip on the hem, she moved to the vacant
area. Dark paneling lined the walls. Elaborate woodcarvings accented the
adornments and moldings. Windows on either side of a fireplace looked out upon
a desert wasteland, reminding her of the desolate parts of Nevada. There was
only one door to the room. The hawk-man sat between her and it, barring the way
between her and
escape…
again.

A
long, drawn out sigh passed her lips. She looked down upon the page and quickly
read over the words of a play, the scene of a male and female proclaiming their
love for one another during an argument. Enthusiasm surged through her. She
eagerly acted out the passionate episode, employing appropriate voices and
attitudes for the parts.

When
she finished her rendering, hawk-man stood. Clapping, he approached her. His
full, crimson lips moved without sound. A haze engulfed her mind as if she had
taken too strong of an antihistamine. She swayed. The book dropped from her
hand. Hawk-man steadied her, his long, strong fingers gripping and burning into
the naked flesh of her upper arms. Transfixed by the beady, dark eyes of the
mask, she barely registered his alluring mouth descending toward hers. A small
gasp escaped from between her captured lips into his mouth.

The
small opening created by her expelled breath beckoned him, uninvited, to deepen
the kiss. His tongue delved into her mouth, possessing her and her senses. He
brought her closer to him, entwining one arm around her waist and grabbing the
back of her head with the other. Her body trembled under his assault. A
biological, unwanted response of wetness pooled at the juncture of her thighs.
She shuddered again, realizing a subtle danger in the situation, and that he
took her bodily reactions to mean arousal.

The
arm around her waist moved down, keeping close contact. His hand grasped her
ass. At the same time, the hand behind her head shifted to her chest. Hawk-man
groped her breast. His thumb brought her nipple to a hard peak beneath the
light material.

The
kiss ended. Her gaze focused on the lips, only a couple of inches away, which
had just caressed hers. The hawk-man smirked,
then
the
corner of his mouth shot up in a wicked grin.

“You’re
mine, my dear,” he drawled. “Mine here, same as you are anywhere. Remember
this.”

She
closed her eyes against the malice in his voice, against an unbelieving sight
of golden yellow color wafting from her mouth into his.

Chapter Eight

“Well,
look who’s here.” Cassandra stepped back from the open front door and let Tavis
through with his bags. “You have some great timing, Big T. I just got here.”
She winked.

“Ah,
yes, you’re the one I couldn’t wait to see,” he joked back. He shifted the suitcase
in his hand and jerked his shoulder to re-situate the strap of a second. “Now,
if you’ll show me to where I’ll be staying, I’d really appreciate it.”

Cassandra
closed the door against the growing darkness outside and motioned for the man
to follow her upstairs to a guest room.

As
he trailed behind her, making sure not to bang his bags against the walls, he
eyed the white wallpaper printed with tiny flowers. Tavis hoped the room he’d
be in wasn’t decorated in the same dizzying manner. The room she showed him to
was free of wallpaper and instead painted a calming shade of pale blue. He
placed his bags on the twin size bed, careful not to snag the old quilt
covering the top of the mattress.

The
ambiance of the house, lighter than it was a few days ago, and the absence of
bags in his arms, made him breathe in a sigh of relief. Along with the lost
somberness in the Collins’s home, James hadn’t mentioned anything weird going
on. Cassandra seemed to be her sarcastic self.

Perhaps all is not as bad as
Alden and I anticipated
.

He
opened a bag, pulled out a large makeup case and the ski masks he brought, and
placed the items on a desk under the window.

Then
again, he had yet to encounter Faith and see how she fared. She in her
innocence and naiveté would be a prime mark as the next target.
But how?
How would that devil ensnare her? Buzz wasn’t even
in town from what he and Den knew, which meant Buzz would either have
assistance or have learned how to be in two places at once. He shook his head
and emptied out the other bags, putting his clothes in the closet and drawers
as his mind chewed over the problem. How to keep that man away from Faith was a
riddle he needed to solve and figure out fast. He grabbed a canister of makeup
remover from the case, a ski mask from the desk and headed toward the bathroom.

****

Faith
shuffled out of the bathroom, her eyes open just enough to help her navigate
back to her room where she could collapse onto her bed and take a nap. She
stumbled into Big T. Her big toe connected with the hard sole of his shoe,
sending a searing bolt of pain up her leg. She grabbed her foot and hopped
around on the other until she encountered a wall to lean against. “That’ll wake
a person up.” She rubbed the injured area. “Guess I deserved that for being
barefoot and not paying attention.”

“Are
you all right? I could have sworn you were looking straight at me.”

“Mmm,
I’m sure it appeared that way.” Faith put her foot back onto the ground,
testing her weight and balance on it. “But truthfully, I’ve been a bit of a
walking zombie lately.” She looked up in to his brown puppy dog eyes, which
were surrounded by layers of concealers, foundation, color and mascara. She
stepped back, taking in the rest of him, the blush on his cheeks, the paint on
his lips, his mussed up long, shaggy chocolate brown hair and quirked an
eyebrow in amusement.

“
What’s that look
for?”

She
chuckled. “I was just imagining you in a pair of spandex pants, a ripped tank
top and a sash around your waist.”

“And
why would you do that?” he asked, not sounding all too pleased.

“Because
you look like a throwback to an Eighties hair band, that’s why. You went a bit
heavy on the makeup today, didn’t you?” Special effects or not, maybe Cassandra
was right. She should give the guy a chance. Just picturing him in a tight,
rocker’s outfit churned her blood in a good way. The thought of having a chance
to see him dressed that way in real life sent her heart fluttering.

He
walked past her and into the bathroom. A wry smile touched his lips when he
looked in to the mirror. “Uh, wow. What a difference between here and the
theater. Ms. Lanson wanted application practice, and I forgot to tone down her
attempts before I left there. No wonder I got a lot of stares on the way over
here.”

He
placed his items on the vanity. A weird color caught her attention. She took a
closer look. A deep turquoise glow encased his hand and arm, a stark contrast
to the glaring white bathroom counter.

“Now,
if you’ll excuse me, I need to get this gunk off my face.”

Her
gaze darted from his hand, to his mouth and back again. The glow was gone. He
closed the door in her face.

****

A
heavy, gold-decorated wooden door opened in front of her. Hawk-man ushered her
into a grand master bedroom suite. Dark wood paneled walls and rich royal
colors of the décor gave the chamber a luxurious feel. A tall picture window
across from the entryway allowed an unobstructed view of the desert and a
distant mountain. On a far wall to her left, a big, plush four-poster bed
loomed in frightening invitation.