If Wishes Were Horses 14

Today’s word count: 1684     Total word count: 24,690

I woke up on my bed, with only a sheet across me. Discarded clothes formed a haphazard line across the floor towards me, the pendant still hung around my neck, but the chain had returned to its proper size. My body ached from head to foot, and there was a worrying sensation between my legs that implied I might not have been alone all night. Did I have sex last night and not remember? Did I have sex with…….oh no! I felt movement on the far side of the bed and turned slowly, dreading what I might see. There was Dee, leaning with his back against the bed foot and looking back towards me, bare shouldered, with his legs under the same sheet that covered me. 

“Morning gorgeous!”  

My heart sank. “Please don’t let me have spent the night with him, that would be too much to bear,” I thought, closing my eyes again in shame at what I might have done. “And what if I’m pregnant? What kind of hell creature might I give birth to?”

“You don’t half go at it, don’t you? Phew you surprised me! You’re a demon between the sheets.” I could feel myself blushing. “And the noises you make. The neighbours must have enjoyed themselves. I know I did. ” He gave me a cute look and a knowing smile. 

“Did we …….? Did you……? Did you get me drunk and take advantage of me last night?”

“Well, I got you drunk, but the ache in your groin is entirely down to you Sweetie. That’s how you feel after you sit on someone and ride them like a harlot.”

“A harlot. A harlot? How dare you? You’re a monster. What were you thinking?”

“Oh please!” He looked at me as if I was a slightly backward child. “I’m an immortal.”

“So?”

“So you’re not.”

“So?”

“So we’re not allowed to sleep with mortals. Otherwise we have to give up our immortality.”

“So we didn’t……….” I left the question hanging, and he shook his head slowly. “So who………..?” 

Dee turned towards the bedroom door and pointed. “Him.”  A dark, curly head appeared around the door frame and for a moment I thought it was Ami. Then a quiet voice said, “Good morning. I made coffee, I hope that’s OK,” and I realised there was a total stranger standing in the doorway. I looked back and forth between Dee and the newcomer, confused about who this new person was. 

“Erm, Paul?” he said in an embarrassed voice and shrugged his shoulders. “You remember?”

“Yes, yes, of course. Paul. Of course. Sorry, It’s still a bit early in the morning for me.”

“Blatant lie. You don’t remember anything from last night, you Strumpet!” Dee said from the bottom of the bed. I looked up, terrified that Paul would believe him. “Oh don’t worry, he can’t hear me. Or see me. Good job really. ‘Oh Angie! Angie! Yes, yes, like that!’“  He rolled his eyes, imitating someone in the throes of passion, tossing his head back and panting, before giggling madly. 

“I had a really good time last night, I hope you did,” this was Paul speaking, and I tried to concentrate on him, but Dee’s facial expressions didn’t help. He made guilty puppy faces at me as I tried to give Paul my attention. 

“Thanks for the coffee. Thanks. Yes, I had a good night.” Dee mimed his nose growing longer, just like Pinocchio.  “I was a bit drunk though. Some bits are slightly hazy. How did we end up here?”

“I offered to see you home, after your brother said he had to leave.”

“My brother,” I said.  Dee pointed a finger at himself.  “Oh yes. My brother. He can be a bit of a pain at times.”

“I thought he was really great, actually. Fun. Great sense of humour.”

“See!” Dee interjected. 

“Some of his jokes can go a little far,” I said. “I say, do you mind awfully giving me a bit of space while I put some clothes on? I think I’m naked under here.”

“Oh yes,” Paul replied, “Though I saw pretty much everything last night.” He smiled widely and walked away into the lounge. 

I turned to Dee. “Get out” I hissed. “Go now. I can’t stand you watching me deal with this.”

“Bit late for that Duckie. This is just the final act, as far as I’m concerned. The first three acts were brilliant! Three! The guy has stamina, I’ll give him that. The least you can do is let me stay for the finale and curtain.”

I threw a pillow at him, but it passed through thin air.  I quickly pulled on some casual clothes and went through to the lounge to have my coffee with Paul and see if I could gather any information about him without letting him know I’d forgotten everything that so far had passed between us.  Luckily he was a chatty type, and talked about his job in IT and his mates at work and how they’d never believe he’d met someone as classy as me. 

“Don’t get excited,” I told him “Last night was really quite unusual. I don’t often look like that.”

“You looked amazing. You still do.” Oh god he actually liked me. This poor sap had been used by Dee to play a trick on me and I had absolutely no interest in him. Although he did look remarkably like Ami. “I’d really like to see you again, please.” 

I had no idea what to do about this. I had to admit he was good looking, and he had made me coffee this morning. It wasn’t his fault that I couldn’t remember anything about the night before. I took pity on him.  “OK. I’d like that,” I heard myself say. We exchanged phone numbers and promised we’d call each other. “I can’t make any promises though,” I warned him, “There’s a lot going on in my life right now and I’m not sure how I’m handling it.”

“Maybe I could help?” What a sweetheart! Perhaps this wasn’t so bad after all. He stayed to finish his coffee but then kissed me goodbye and made me promise again that we could go out somewhere together.

By the time I turned around Dee was back and making sickly gestures about Paul’s departure.

“That was nauseating. Are you telling me you actually like the guy?”

“You set me up with him ‘brother’. The least I could do after he was used so badly is treat him kindly.”

“I’d say you treated him very kindly last night,” Dee said with a leer. “He’s gone home with a very big smile on his face, anyway. Your smile isn’t so huge though. Didn’t you enjoy it? I did. I love watching mortals have sex. You’re so bestial about it. Grunting and snorting like pigs and humping like dogs.”

“Oh shut up!” I shouted and Dee looked genuinely shocked. “You have violated me. Even if you didn’t do it personally you have organised a sexual assault on me and I feel dirty, and used. I have no idea who that guy was. I could have caught anything from him. I might have a fatal disease for all you know. And if that wasn’t bad enough, you watched! You are a nasty, dirty minded little.... THING!  As you took great delight in telling me, you’re not human. In fact you are quite inhuman.”

He looked contrite, but I didn’t believe it for a minute. Everything he did was designed to annoy me, make my life difficult and unpleasant, and I really wanted him to leave me alone. Not just for then, but forever. I had to find a way to remove him from my life permanently. 

“He’s clean, I promise. You haven’t caught anything from him. I thought you’d be happy. I thought you’d enjoy him.” His words infuriated me. 

“You thought I’d enjoy being almost strangled, forced to wear a straight jacket while I endured your company all evening, then getting molested by a total stranger, while you looked on?”

“It was what you wished for.”

“Wished?  Wished! I never wished anything of the sort! It was horrendous!”

“I have to disagree,” was it my imagination, or was he becoming defensive? “Once you were drunk I could get past the wall and I saw into your deepest desires. He is definitely who you were dreaming of. He’s your ideal man.”

I stared at him in disbelief as the implications of what he’d said sank in.  “Wall?”

“Yes. You’ve built some sort of barrier in your head. I’m impressed, I have to admit. Most people can’t stop me at all. I mean, your body obeys me – you couldn’t overcome the dress and the choker – but your mind is closed. Half the time I can’t read you at all. I had to get you drunk to get past the road block. I’ve never faced a challenge quite like you. You’re fascinating.”

“Yes,” I thought, “Exactly like a mouse fascinates a cat, just before it dies.” The really worrying part was the fact that Paul looked like Ami. However warped Dee’s understanding of my hidden thoughts might be, he’d created an accurate face for my lover. Then something else occurred to me.  

“Paul is real, isn’t he? Or did you create him especially for me, like you did with the extra sports car driver.” At least that would explain how Dee could be so sure I wasn’t pregnant or infected. 

“He’s real.” His face brightened. “So you did like him. You are thinking of seeing him again.  I knew it. I chose him well.” He beamed and looked very pleased with himself, but there was something else. Like a puppy that wags its tail, hoping for praise and affection.  He wanted me to appreciate his so-called gift. Suddenly I realised that Dee had weaknesses, if only I could work out how to take advantage of them. I’d found a chink in his armour, but as yet had no idea how I could exploit it.