CHAPTER NINE
Perry
To say I was concerned about Dex was a total understatement. First it was the nosebleed, then it was the time he spent in the bathroom that morning, time I knew he couldn’t explain. Then it was seeing the demon thing and the fact that he says his reflection was always screaming at him. Now, he wanted to visit his childhood home, something I knew was an extremely bad idea.
Something was happening to him, something I didn’t understand. I waited until we were all getting ready for dinner when I chanced leaving him alone and went up to Maximus’s room. I took the stairs, just in case. No way did I want to get stuck on the sixth floor again and see that terrible beast that made my limbs feel like lead.
My mom had seen it too, which means my experiment was working. She wasn’t on her pills and the world that eluded her for so long was slowly seeping in.
I rapped on Maximus’s door. He answered it, buttoning up a green cowboy shirt with a pointy collar.
“I thought it would be you,” he said, his tone hushed. He quickly ushered me inside. “We need to talk.”
“Yes, we do,” I said, sitting on the end of his bed. “I’m worried about Dex.”
He nodded and walked over to the mini bar, bringing out two mini bottles of vodka. He shook them at me. “Care for a drink?”
“You know those are like twenty bucks each.”
He shrugged and smiled. “You’re paying, aren’t you?”
I rolled my eyes but held out my hand. “Yes, give me one. Forget the mix. Cheaper that way.”
He sat down beside me and handed me the bottle of Absolut. “I’m worried about him too. I reckon I’m having a right case of déjà vu, don’t you?”
Now that he mentioned it. A trickle of ice went down my spine. Dex was acting a bit like I had been acting when I was possessed. Of course it was nearly impossible to know what I looked like to the outside eye, but Maximus, he had seen me. And now he was seeing him.
But that didn’t seem likely. How could his brother possess him? He was human.
“I don’t know what I think,” I said as I unscrewed the cap and dumped the contents into my mouth. It burned so good as it went down. I hoped it would cauterize my heart.
“Then tell me why you’re here. Tell me everything, even if you think it’s nothing,” he said. “It won’t do any good to keep your concerns inside, darlin’.”
I breathed in deep through my nose and gathered my thoughts. I started with the nosebleed and ended with him thinking that going to his old house would give him all the answers.
“And just now,” I said, “before I came up here, he was just standing by the window and staring at nothing. But it was like he was listening to something I couldn’t hear. Occasionally he would smile but I don’t know at what. It was…creepy.”
He finished his bottle and ran the back of his hand across his lips. “It could be nothing. He’s been through a traumatic event and even if he can’t remember it, perhaps his subconscious does. Maybe he’s just catching up.”
“But it has to mean something that he wants to go to that place, the very place we were looking for when we first got here.”
Maximus nodded. “It does mean something, I just don’t know what. But you know, Perry, I don’t think there is anything we can do about it. He’s going to go, whether or not we go with him. And now, it seems like your mother has the same idea.”
I chewed on my lip. “Do you think Michael will be there?”
He sighed and got up. “Lord, I hope not.”
“Maybe it will all work out for the best,” I said feebly, looking down at my hands. “It could put an end to everything and we can just go home and never have to look back.”
He put his hand on my shoulder and stooped over, raising his brows as he looked at me closely. “Have you ever known for something like this to work out for the best?”
He had point.
“Just keep an eye on him,” he said, straightening up. “We all will. And while you’re at it, keep an eye on your mother, too.”
I stiffened. “What do you mean?”
He gave me a wry smile. “I may no longer be a Jacob, but that doesn’t mean I don’t pick up on things. She’s seeing things – finally. She’s going to need you when she finally comes to term with it.”
Until then, I finished in my head, she’s going to deny, deny, deny.
But that didn’t mean I was going to try. When I went back to our room, Maximus in tow, I discovered Dex talking to my mother and father, looking freshly shaven and bright-eyed. My mother seemed calmer too.
Maybe this was going to go okay. Besides, we didn’t even have to think about the house until tomorrow. Now, I was in Manhattan with my fiancé, friend and family and the night was ours. It couldn’t get much better than that. For all the doom and gloom and my tendency to blow shit out of proportion, I could at least try and enjoy the evening.
We went out to a delightful little Italian joint that my parents used to frequent when they were first dating in the city. Even though I didn’t have much appetite, I enjoyed the capriccio and copious glasses of red wine that was splashing around the place.
But most of the time, my attention was on Dex. He was sitting next to me and I kept my hand on his knee, just to feel him, just to let him know I was there. He was quiet but when he did talk, he was his usual smartass self. He kept on turning slightly in his chair, looking over his shoulder for someone or something. When I asked him what it was, he just brushed it off, saying he felt like he was being stared at.
I couldn’t see anyone in the restaurant who was paying us any attention. And maybe because of that, I was started to get a little more creeped out. Soon I was paranoid that we were being watched but I resisted the urge to keep looking over my shoulder every five seconds. Dex was doing that enough for the both of us.
After dinner, we ended up not seeing the Lion King like my dad had wanted but caught this small off Broadway play with John Lithgow. It was really good, albeit a little too dark for our moods but the acting and direction was compelling enough to steal my attention for a few hours.
When it was over and night had settled over the city, all of us decided to walk back up to the hotel instead of trying to catch a bunch of cabs. It was about a half an hour walk but I didn’t mind. I was going to use this time wisely.
While Maximus was talking to Dex and seeming to keep an eye on him, I decided to approach my mother. I pulled back on her silk shawl.
“Mom,” I said, “can I speak to you? Privately?”
She looked at me in surprise. Or maybe that was fear. Maybe she knew what was coming.
“Sure, pumpkin,” she said and in a rare act of affection, she smoothed back my hair from my face. “What is it?”
Even though she sounded casual, there as a tremor to her voice that told me she was anything but. I hated to ruin a moment that had us bonding in such a way, but…
“It’s nothing,” I said, looping my arm around hers. “It’s just that…I know what you saw.”
She flinched. I wouldn’t have caught it if I wasn’t watching her so closely.
“What are you talking about?” she asked lightly. Too lightly.
“In the elevator,” I said, not wanting to do this dance. “We stopped on the sixth floor. I was watching you. You looked as if you saw the devil himself.” Or one of his minions.
She gave me a look. “Oh, honey. I can barely remember a few hours ago. I didn’t sleep on the plane and then there’s the jetlag. I was so worried about you and Ada.”
Ah, classic diversion. So I only nodded and smiled and let her sweep it under the rug. But just this time. Next time – and I knew there would be a next time – she was going to be called out on it, as in denial as she was going to be.
I patted her arm and then we caught up with the roving band of delinquents I called friends and family. I found myself under the security of Dex’s arm as we weaved through the crowded streets, all the way back to the hotel.
If I could have just ignored every frightful thing that had happened over the last couple of days, this would have been the most perfect evening ever.
But it wasn’t.
As soon as we were inside the room, Dex picked me up by the shoulders and turned me around, slamming me back against the door so it shut. “I’ve never needed your cunt more,” he growled, pushing me harder into the door.
My mouth dropped open, caught off guard. Dex was always a dirty talker but he didn’t use the “C-word” all that often. Nor was he usually quite this rough with me.
As if to emphasize that point, he brought me off the door slightly and then slammed me back harder, my head banging against it, forcing me to cry out from pain.
But Dex took no notice. He was completely insatiable, ripping off my jeans, the edges of his nails catching my skin as he did so. I was certain he had drawn blood.
“Dex,” I said breathless but he’d already managed to part my legs as far as they would go, his head buried between them. His fingers pushed aside my underwear and somehow I felt his tongue sinking deep inside me. It scared me, actually, because while Dex had a great tongue and he knew how to use it, it seriously wasn’t that long.
The thought seemed to float away from my head as he licked me to new heights that made my knees want to give out. I didn’t know how he was doing it, but at the same time I didn’t want him to stop.
Suddenly he pulled back and before I knew what was happening, he put his arm around my waist and threw me to the floor. I landed on my ass with a painful thud and was just about to tell him off when he put a hand on my chest and shoved me back down, his head returning to the place it was before.
“Dex!” I snapped at him, annoyed. “Take it fucking easy.”
“I want to do terrible, horrible things to you,” he grunted. “I want to make you scream.”
As adventurous as I was, I wasn’t sure if I wanted terrible, horrible things done to me but my protest never left my lips. He started licking me with renewed frenzy, his grunts becoming louder and louder until he started to sound like a lion tearing into its kill.
Somehow it was still a turn on and I felt my hips lifting toward his mouth as he brought me near orgasm again. A sharp lance of pain shot through me.
What the fuck? Did he just bite my clit?
Before I could even process the pain, it melted into pleasure and soon I was coming, my hands curling into fists in his hair and pulling at him, explicits leaving my mouth as I rode a wave far and long. He growled in response, still going at me, like he couldn’t get his fill.
Now though I was too sensitive and I tried to get him to stop. I pulled harder at his head and when that didn’t work, I propped myself up on my elbows and scooted back and away from his mouth.