Burning Moth

Chapter Six, Part Two - Purge

I'm not sure how Nicholias and I made it to his bedroom, or even which direction we went, but we were already messing up the sheets before I stopped to consider–which didn't last long. Nicholias was far too good at what he did to allow my mind to wander far.

He lay beneath me, his hands roaming across my body as he chased the kiss. He moaned the green light, so I slipped off my jacket and shook out my hair–prepared to give him the ride of his life. A patch of moonlight disturbed the darkness, illuminating the curves of his full, soft lips. I leaned in, ready and willing to claim my prize–until he gently pushed up on my shoulders, holding me back. 

            "What's wrong?" I said. "I have a condom, if you need one. I'm kind of a guy that way."

            "Um, okay. Not that that isn't helpful, but, I think maybe we should slow down. Scar, I don't wanna do this now only for you to regret it later. Maybe it would be better if--when this happens--it happens because it means something." He broke into a slow, careful smile. "Does that make sense?"

            I grinned. "Yes, surprisingly." I flopped down beside him, surprised at how good it felt to experience rejection at his hands. The bed was California king size, but we were shoulder to shoulder, with no space between us.

I didn't notice at first, but there was a whole glow-in the dark world on Nicholias' ceiling–ringed planets, star clusters, and fiery suns–a galaxy in rotation around a chocolate chandelier. Looking at it made me feel incredibly sad for him, like maybe as he stared with me, he too imagined himself up there, all alone, lost in a cold, strange realm, standing out, but never fully seen...

            I snuck a peek in his direction to find that he was already watching. I turned on my side, smiling through my embarrassment. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just, when you aren't driving me crazy... you're kind of nice to look at." He smoothed the hair from my face and I closed my eyes for a moment, savoring his sweetness. "Earlier, you said there was something you had to tell me--what was it?"

            "Dang, I was hoping you'd forget."

"No such luck. Spill."

"What can I say? Same shit, different day. A friend of mine had a problem--we found out something really bad, and, being the lovely person I am, I ignored her feelings and put my problems over hers. I should be with her right now, trying to apologize, but instead..."

            "You're with me," he finished, his gaze on mine. I nodded. "Well, if it's any consolation, I'm a shitty person too." He made a horrendously goofy face, to which I laughed hard enough to snort. "My mom kept texting me tonight about dropping everything and going to this stupid family meeting, and I got so mad I threw my phone over my balcony--almost hit some random guy in a fedora, walking down the sidewalk."

"Asshole--that'll teach him to mind his own business."

"And you know what I realized? I would rather go through the worst agony of my life--alone--than go home and play puppet for a family that doesn't give a damn about me. That's when you showed up."

            I swallowed hard, staring at a boy possibly more haunted than me, whose ghosts were just as real. Ghosts like Mrs. Dixon, who rocked the Serial Mom vibe like no overbearing mother could, rendering her son so vulnerable he turned to a carnivorous girl like me for comfort. It was scary enough knowing that she had flipped out over Nicholias' ring, and then gone on to have Luther's grave removed, but what I had discovered tonight was even worse.

Nicholias had happened to mention that it was his mother who had gifted Savannah's watch to Lily, which set some very dark wheels in motion. I wondered–how would a socialite end up with a dead prostitute's watch, and why the hell would she give it to her daughter-in-law as a gift? And could the robbery have inspired tonight's Dixon family meeting?