Sugar Baby Âœ”ϸ ninth: fissure*

I gazed into her alluring eyes, desire burning in the pit of my stomach.

I grasped her waist firmly as she started grinding against me, her hands reaching for the button of my jeans and opening it. Her mouth trailed along my neck, my chest. Lower and lower till she was kneeling in front of me. “Let me taste you, Waters.”

I bit my lip, nodding as she lowered her head, her tongue exploring me.

I let myself be lost in the sensation of her soft, warm lips. Her hot, wet tongue. Her sweltering eyes met with mine, sending my brain into an overdrive. The texture of her mouth send electric sparks through my body, alighting my nerves. I knotted my fingers in her hair, gently pulling at it as soft, erotic moans escaped my mouth.

I pulled her back to me, kissing her mouth as she whispered hoarsely, “Let’s move this upstairs, shall we?”

I smirked , nuzzling her nose with mine. “It’s so damn far. You’re naive to think I’d wait that long.”

She gazed at me questioningly, raising one perfect eyebrow. I grabbed her waist and lifted her up. Immediately, her legs entwined around my waist as she let out a gasp. I pulled both of us down on the carpet, hovering on top of her and kissing her hungrily. Her eyes widened as I hooked her legs around my waist, grinding deep as she let out a soft growl, her eyes blazing with lust.

“What do you think?” I asked, taking her hand in mine and sucking the tip of her thumb. Desire burned in her eyes.

She sighed deeply, placing a hand firmly on my chest as she smiled with a devilish sparkle in her eyes, “I’m thinking…this carpet feels pretty good.”

I smirked and pulled her closer to me as we dissolved in a battle of fiery passion.

*

I woke up from an impromptu nap after a few hours, my stomach grumbling with hunger.

I got up slowly and sat on the bed, gazing at the darkness of Rosalie’s bedroom. We had returned upstairs later, for consecutive rounds.

I rose to my feet and checked the time. It was four thirty. I would have to wait till Rosalie was awake to leave. Which would be around seven. I was finding it extremely tedious to be around her all the time. She had been nice to me. She was insanely attractive. But apart from an unreal physical compatibility, there was nothing between us.

I got to my feet and pulled on my jeans, tiptoeing out of the dark room and shutting the door gently behind me. I made my way downstairs and was relieved to see that the rest of the mansion still had dim lights. I made my way to the kitchen and instinctively opened up the massive refrigerator. My eyes fell on an array of fruits, custard and a number of cuisines I had no name for. I spotted a box of leftover pizza. I wasn’t sure yet if my relationship with her was intimate enough for us to engage in the sacred art of pizza sharing. Plus, I usually stayed away from any junk food.

I stared at it for a while before shrugging and taking it out.

Eat first. Deal with everything else later.

I placed the pizza in the microwave. I was thankful to see that it was a plain cheese one, no toppings. Perfect.

I gazed at the timer which read three minutes. It seemed to me to be quite a long time. I fished out my phone and unlocked it randomly. I opened my contacts and dialled Grayson’s number almost subconsciously.

His deep voice, riddled with sleep answered on the fourth ring. “Xavier?”

I sighed softly at the tantalizing sound of his voice speaking my name. “Goodmorning.”

I bit my lip at how lame it sounded.

He groaned, “Is everything okay? Why are you calling me at this hour?”

I was quiet, my eyes fixed on the microwave timer as he continued. “Are you in her house? Did you manage to get the invite already?”

I was slightly disappointed that even now, he was solely interested in the project. “No,” I answered, my voice low. I shuffled my foot nervously, at a loss for words. I couldn’t understand why he affected me so much.

“Then why the fuck are you calling me at this hour? I have to be up in sixty minutes anyway.”

My stomach clenched uncomfortably. I didn’t really know why I had suddenly wanted to hear his voice. “Nothing. Sorry.”

I hung up before he could respond, my heart falling and settling somewhere near my navel. A part of me wondered if he knew about my feelings. If he enjoyed shutting me off every time. I couldn’t really blame him. I was always resilient in my pursuit. Perhaps too much so. I didn’t expect him to care about the feelings of someone like me. 

I walked over and switched off the microwave before the beeping started. I waited for a few minutes before extracting the pizza and placing it on a plate. I sat at the counter, my appetite suddenly dying. I sighed deeply, placing my elbow on the counter and resting face on my hand. I felt like an infatuated teenager. Utterly pathetic.

“Mason?”

It took me half a second to realize that a familiar voice was calling me. I straightened up and saw Scarlett at the entrance of the kitchen, looking at me wide-eyed. Her gaze flitted to the pizza and then back to me, smirking with slight amusement.

“Er…hey,” I answered.

She switched on the rest of the lights, bathing the room in a bright white glow. She wore a long grey tshirt dress that seemed way too large for her and had a middle finger printed in front. She sat on the stool in front of me and reached for a slice, taking a bite. “When did you arrive?”

“A few hours ago,” I said. “How come you’re awake?”

She shook her head. “I have this test tomorrow. I’m applying for physical school for the last year and I can’t understand anything. It’s like an admission test of sorts.”

She shook her head in frustration and took another bite. I lifted a slice to my mouth and started eating slowly. “What subject?”

“Biology,” she said. “I usually love it. But the test is on genetic recombination and there are so many different terms. Splicing and stuff. Also, what’s with the central dogma and reverse-?”

“Replication, transcription and translation,” I recalled, taking a bite of the pizza. “Yep, it can initially be confusing.”

She gaped at me. “You had biology major?”

I shook my head. “I dropped out of high school.” I wondered silently how much of the truth I should tell her. It had nothing to do with the case. But then decided to give her as much of the truth as possible. It was my own story to tell anyway. “But I got some books and studied on my own. I loved genetics. Wanted to be a genetic engineer at one point.”

Her eyes widened, the irises shining. “Could you teach me? I could really use your help. Just this part about the cloning vectors.”

I nodded, even though I wasn’t sure that I would remember all of it. This seemed to be a good opportunity to get closer to her and I couldn’t let it get away from me. 

Her cheeks reddened slightly as she pointed to my naked torso. “Er…you could go and wear your t-shirt.”

I smirked. “Why? Does this make you uncomfortable?”

She laughed. “Seeing the hickeys my dear mother gave you? Of course not. It’s my dream.”

I chuckled softly, “Alright. I’ll cover up.”

We finished and left the kitchen. I made a pit stop in Rosalie’s bedroom to retrieve my tshirt after which Scarlett led me to hers. It was located on the first floor as well, towards the corridor opposite from where Rosalie’s was. It was a large, spacious room, although it had a simpler bed, some fairy lights and colourful posters on the white wall. At a corner, an entire karaoke system was in place. A guitar hung on the wall behind. A furry carpet was placed by her bed. It was a simple but cosy room, thankfully, devoid of any busts.

“Thank you for doing this, Mason,” she said as she sat on the bed, cross-legged. “Also, mom doesn’t know I applied for physical school. Please don’t tell her.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You realize she is bound to find out, right? The paparazzi at least will get the news very soon.”

She sighed and shut her eyes, her lower lip trembling. I felt a little bad for her. I could understand the craving to have a normal life. “I’ll…deal with that later. For now…” she put her hand on mine and I was slightly taken aback by her sudden forwardness. Her cheeks were flushed. “Just, promise?”

I nodded. “Alright.”

I took a deep breath and leaned back as she handed me a thick book. “I guess the easiest way for you to learn this, would be to memorize the diagram. Like this circle-” I opened the book to a diagram and turned it towards her. “An escherichia coli cloning vector pBR three twenty two, showing restriction sites.”

She gazed at it intently as I continued. “The human brain tends to remember visual cues rather than written ones.”

She sighed, “I wish I had an eidetic memory.”

I smirked slightly. “Yeah. That would’ve been cool.”

We studied for about an hour. She was very eager to learn and listened to me with rapt attention. It was strange for me to have someone look at me with such respect. She seemed to catch on fairly quickly and was able to understand everything at the end of the hour. I gazed outside her floor-length window and saw that it was getting lighter outside. She took a deep breath and smiled at me. “Thank you, Mason. I really think I can get it this time. You’re a great teacher.”

I smiled at her and nodded. “You’re really sharp.”

“You’re really hot.”

I gazed at her and laughed. Her cheeks were pink, her eyes wide; like she hadn’t really meant to say it. I replied honestly, “Thank you. You’re really attractive as well.”

She blushed harder and turned her face away from me. I shut the book and handed it to her. “What time is your test?”

“Eleven,” she said in a small voice. “Can I give you my number?”

I gazed at her for a while, taking her phone from her hand as she unlocked it with a fingerprint. I typed in my number and name and handed it back to her, fixing her a small, shy smile.

“There’s still time, you should use this to rest up.” I rose to my feet and stretched as she finally looked at me. I smiled, “Good luck on the test, Scarlett. I hope you can ace it.” I gave her a small wink and left her room, exhaustion washing over me.

I went back to Rosalie’s room and lay down, raking a hand through my hair. She was still fast asleep. I still had one and a half hour before her alarm rang. I reached for my phone and unlocked it idly. My heart skipped a beat when I saw a text notification from Grayson.

Grayson: I couldn’t go back to sleep. Unless you have an emergency, do NOT call me at random times.

My heart sank as I read the words over and over again. I typed in a ‘sorry’ and erased it again. What did it matter anyway? I groaned in frustration. Chiding myself. What the fuck was I doing? Was I falling for this guy who couldn’t possibly be more out of my league? I didn’t have time for romance anyway. Who would accept someone like me? Someone who couldn’t assure the basic promise of loyalty. And yet, here I was. Calling him at twilight like some star-struck fanboy.

Good job. Xavier Fucking Moron Easton.

The truth was that I could be loyal. I had never been in a relationship that wasn’t related to my work ever since I had started it. All those years, I kept harbouring secret feelings for a single person even if I was lying in bed with a different one each day.

I long pressed the power button, deciding to switch it off. An icon popped up.

Warning! Action can’t be done!

I sighed. Of course they had done something to it so it wouldn’t ever power down. Maybe if I threw out the batteries or forgot to charge it. But I wasn’t going to find out just yet. I placed it on the bedside table, beside Rosalie’s cell and tried to force myself to fall asleep, a fissure forming in my feeble heart.