Poison in Pumps

I had almost slipped out of his bedroom undetected. My sneakers were laced up, feet tiptoeing across the floor. Afraid to breathe, I wrapped one hand around the knob and turned slowly, careful not to make a sound as I pulled the door toward me. The open door cast a few rays of light into the room, but he didn’t budge. Exhaling for the first time, I was about to pronounce a victory when I stepped on the one temperamental bitch of a floorboard, causing the silence to be cut with an ear screeching creak beneath the ball of my foot.

I froze as the figure beneath the covers stirred then settled back into the warmth of his slumber. That’s when my subconscious began to argue with my body, begging me to hold still for another moment. I really didn’t want to wake him; I knew one more step and the floor would creak again, but my calf muscle was cramping with the intensity of trying not to move.

I caved, stepped, and released another creaky sound. This time the covers were removed, and a wild haired David Archer sat up and blinked back at me through squinty, sleepy eyes.

“Kristen? What are you doing? It’s the middle of the night.” His voice was low and raspy in his throat as his tongue twisted the syllables to better suit his London accent. Even half asleep and completely aloof to the fact that morning had arrived, he was beautiful. Sometimes I needed to be reminded that this amazing man was mine.

I walked across the room, over to the window, and drew up the blackout shades a few inches to let the sunlight in and reveal that the night had actually slipped away from us. “Sorry, sleepyhead. It’s morning.”

“What time?” He scratched his head, causing his dyed silver hair to stick out in all directions as he eyed me with suspicion.

“Uhh…” I glanced down at my watch. “Six-thirty.”

“That’s the middle of the night, love. Get back in bed.” David fell back against the pillows and patted the empty space beside him.

I placed a knee on the edge of his mattress and crawled over to him, kissing his neck lightly where my lips were tattooed on his skin. I felt goose bumps emerge at my touch, and a low, sexy grumble emanated from his throat. David looped one arm around my waist and pulled me closer, but I slammed a hand on his chest. “Sorry, I was just kissing you good-bye. I need to get a run in before the snow starts.”

“You don’t need to go for a bloody run, you look amazing. And I should know. I can account for every inch of your body.”

“Yeah, well, I’d like to keep it looking amazing.” I popped out of bed, and David reached over and gave my ass a playful smack.

“Fine, go, leave me.”

“You’ll be asleep in two minutes. You won’t even miss me. Besides, you know I’ll see you tonight at the Draught.” A Draught of Poison was where David’s band, Sinful Delight, played. I was the supportive girlfriend who tried her best to be in the audience as often as I could. That and it was the local college hangout, so most of my friends were sitting right beside me.

“Don’t remind me. I need a fucking day off.”

I tried not to smile. It was hard not to. He pronounced fucking as fecking. It was downright adorable. But the guy was right. He was usually off on Mondays and Tuesdays, but his band had been booking more gigs lately, and his days off were devoted to band practice. And I knew he had to take every offer that came his way. The Draught didn’t pay that well.

“I’ll draw the shades, you get some rest.” I pulled the shades back down, returning him to the comfort of the darkness and kissed his cheek before I left. He moaned softly and rolled over as I left his room. It was so tempting to kick off my sneakers and get back under the covers with him. Being responsible sucks. Sometimes, I was way too mature for my own good.

I jogged the three and a half miles from David’s apartment to the Delta Sig house where I lived with several other sisters. Entering the house, high on endorphins, I went into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of water. The house was pretty empty since most of my sisters were still away on winter break. I had come back after the holidays, eager to do all the prep work for my last semester as an undergrad. There was sorority business that needed attending to, and since I was the president, a lot of that fell solely on me.

Taking a nice hot shower, I enjoyed the solace of a near empty house and stayed under the water longer than I would have if my sisters were all home. I tried to relax and enjoy the moment knowing that in a few weeks I’d be overwhelmed by papers, exams, auditions, and tutoring. I had a few students that I taught piano to. My music theory teacher was able to get me access to the campus music room to use for my sessions. It was very cool of him to offer, and I knew I was in his debt.

Newly invigorated from my shower, I put on a pair of leggings and a comfy sweatshirt, then combed out my wet locks, allowing my hair to air dry. Sprawled out on the living room floor, I had put on Pandora and began sorting papers and assembling binders for the new pledge class. Natalie was our Pledge Mom this semester, but she was still at home and wouldn’t move in for a few more days, so I took the initiative to give her a head start. It only took a few bars of music before I was singing and so lost in the rhythm of my work that I didn’t hear the front door open. The sisters usually kept the door unlocked as long as we were on the first floor. I nearly jumped out of my skin when David walked in.

Placing a hand over my heart, I looked at him in surprise. “You startled me.”

“Sorry, love. You didn’t answer your phone.”

“Huh?” I reached over and glanced at the screen. Sure enough, I had several missed calls from him. I was so busy singing, I hadn’t even heard the buzzing. “What’s up?”

“I was hungry,” David said as though that were the perfect reason to travel across town and leave his home for mine.

I laughed. “Do I look like a kitchen?”

“If kitchens looked like you, I’d actually learn how to cook.” He sat on the couch behind me, placed a hand on either of my shoulders and playfully nibbled on my neck. “No, I thought we could grab a bite?”

I glanced around the floor. I still had a few more things to do. “Um. I’m not done, yet.” David massaged my shoulders, rubbing his thumbs in a circular pattern. I closed my eyes for a moment and leaned into his touch. “Now I’ll never get done.”

“I’m sorry,” David said and stopped massaging me, which was rather disappointing but necessary if I wanted to get this work finished. “Tell me what to do. I can help.”

“You must be really hungry,” I said, laughing. Filing was not really David’s thing.

“No, I just really missed you.” He had his fingers in my hair now. For someone trying to help, he was incredibly distracting.

I turned, giving him a sideways glance. “Missed me?” I asked incredulously. “I was in your bed all night.”

“I know. It was bloody amazing…” A slow smile curled across his face. “In fact, I’m still thinking about it.”

I smiled and tucked a stubborn brown lock of hair behind my ear. He was right. It was pretty damn amazing.

“So now I see through your hunger facade, you really came over for a quickie!” I raised a brow, defying him to deny his intentions.

“No, love.” He shook his head slow, deliberate. “I came over for you.” He shrugged and looked at me thoughtfully with his hazel eyes. “I really missed you,” he repeated.

I reached up and placed my hand on his forehead. “Do you have a fever?”

He pushed my hand away. “Very funny.”

I wasn’t trying to be funny. I had been with David for three years. We were not lovey-dovey. Don’t get me wrong, I was madly in love with him, but I was way past the need to proclaim our passion for each other every five seconds. Unlike a certain couple I knew…

“Kitten.” Kitten. That was his name for me. And it made my heart flutter every time he used it. “If I say I missed you.” He slid off of the couch so he was crouching down beside me, reached for the lock of hair that had already escaped and wound it around his finger. “I missed you.” Then, tugging my hair, he pulled me closer and kissed me. Kissed me like he hadn’t seen me in months. His tongue sliding over mine in a way that was anything but innocent. I had no idea who this stranger was, but I wanted to see him a hell of a lot more.

David sucked softly on my bottom lip before releasing me. God, he was so playful today. Playful and damn tempting. My eyes fluttered open and caught his gaze. He had the left side of his mouth lifted in the most sinfully delicious smile. I looked down at the papers in front of me.

“Fine, you missed me,” I said breathlessly. “I believe you. Just give me like fifteen more minutes. I really need to get this done.” He nodded, jumped up and jogged up the stairs to where the bedrooms were. I assumed he was going into my room, but when he returned with a crimson Gibson guitar in his hand, I knew he had wandered into Brit’s. It bothered me a bit that he so callously wandered into her bedroom. I knew they were friends, but still, that seemed a little too intimate. Seeing him with her guitar was enough to sound the alarm.

“Do you have a death wish?” I asked, shocked that he’d be so bold as to take her precious guitar without asking her first.

David shrugged and shook his head like he was not the slightest bit concerned. “Brit lets me play her guitar all the time.” He sat back down on the edge of the couch and started strumming a few chords. Without the amp, it was soft and soothing. I turned my music off so I could hear him play.

“What’s that?” I asked, not recognizing the melody as I slid sorority history facts into the clear plastic binder sheets.

He looked at me and flashed a mischievous grin before turning his gaze back to the guitar. “Something I’m working on.”

“It’s pretty.”

“It’s getting there.”

I leaned back and got a good look at him. The T-shirt he wore was stretched across his broad, chiseled chest, the contours present even beneath the dark cotton. His strong jaw tipped down, silver hair loose and hanging over his brow. He swept the hair out of his eyes, causing his brow ring to glisten as the light hit the silver hoop. He already embodied the rock star image without even trying. It’s who he was, who he was born to be.

David sucked in his bottom lip and bit down while he fiddled with the guitar, tattoos slightly dancing as the muscles in his arms flexed with the different chords he played. Even now, after years together, I still had the desire to crawl over to him and distract him with kisses. The fact that he was so focused on his task made him that much more attractive. He was leaned over, the guitar resting on his right knee, as he strummed with his right hand. The fingers on his left-hand twisting into new positions to switch the chords. His head was swaying a bit in time with the music, and when he looked up, his hazel eyes met mine, and my heart fluttered. Music was so much a part of him. He was constantly writing new songs, and in the time I had known him, I’d seen him grow in his craft. It killed me that he couldn’t get out of the Draught and really have his career take off.

Still, he hardly complained, just persevered. I tried my best not to push him because I never wanted him to think he wasn’t enough. He would always be more than enough for me.

“You are never picking the movie again. That was beyond depressing,” Brit groaned as we exited the theater. She was bundled up in her oversized green army jacket, purple hair tucked under a black wool hat.

“I didn’t pick it. We both did.”

“I only said yes because you had said no to everything else. But seriously… she spends years chasing him around the world only to see him married to someone else and then—she dies!” Brit looked outraged. “People go to the movies to escape reality. That made me want to slit my wrists.”

“Ugh!” I groaned. “I said we could stay in and watch something on Netflix.”

“No, I needed a day away from the sisters. I wanted you all to myself and if that meant watching a movie that defined depression, so be it.”

I stopped and eyed Brit skeptically. “You and David drinking the same Kool-Aid?”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing… He’s just been super attentive lately.” I stopped in front of my white Infiniti and dug through my purse to find my car keys.

Brit giggled. “Since when is having an attentive boyfriend a bad thing?”

“It’s not, I’m just not used to it.” Finding my keys in the corner of my bag, I pulled them out and beeped the car.

“You’re too hard on him. David is amazing, you know how lucky you are.” Brit opened the door and got into the passenger’s seat. I walked around to the driver’s seat and got in, closing the door behind me. Already I felt warmer.

“I am in no way complaining. Just curious. Like the other night, when you guys played at the Draught, he took off his guitar and sat out three songs just to sit with me.”

Brit did not seem concerned. “I think that’s nice. He knows you’re there to see him, so he took a moment to see you.”

“I guess you’re right, it’s just… he owns that stage.”

“Gee, thanks.” Brit twisted her mouth into a pout. She was the female vocals in David’s band.

“You know what I mean. When he’s playing with his band, he's in his element. So to see him put that to the side, even for a few minutes…”

“I still don’t see that as a reason to be concerned.” Brit’s gaze wandered over to her chipped black nail polish. “Did you ask him what’s up?”

“He insists it’s nothing. I dunno… maybe he realized it’s my last semester, and I'll be moving to New York if I get into Juilliard.”

Brit nodded.

“But, I sort of thought, maybe he’d come with me… Is that being selfish?”

Brit took a deep breath. “I think you need to talk to him. Like really talk.”

“You’re right. I mean, if I am leaving then that gives us over six months to start a game plan, right? And it’s not like New York is that far from Pennsylvania if he chose to stay… We’ll figure it out.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Brit repeated with a nod. She removed her hat and ran her hand through her bright purple hair, giving it a shake, then started staring at the pieces intently, looking for split ends. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she knew something, but even if she did it was clear she didn’t want to talk about it. Instead, I turned on the radio and we both sang Imagine Dragons at the top of our lungs.

Wanting some piece of mind, I called David when I was back in my bedroom.

“Would you believe I was just about to call you?” David said, excitement in his voice.

“Hey, you. What’s going on?” I asked as I balanced the phone between my ear and shoulder so I could change out of my jeans and into a pair of sweats.

“What would you say to a night on the town? Fancy dinner… a little champagne…”

I furrowed my brow. Dinner? Champagne? This really did not sound like David. Why was he suddenly trying to be someone he wasn’t? “It’s Monday,” I said with hesitation. Not that I had an early day tomorrow…

“Who says a couple could only have a nice evening on a Saturday?”

“How about I come over and we rent a movie?” Anything had to be better than the flick Brit and I had watched this afternoon.

He laughed. “You know, most girls would be thrilled at the idea of a night out with their man.”

“I am. You just caught me off guard” I sat on my bed and looked at myself in the mirror. I was a mess. “I just got in from hanging with Brit, and I’m already in sweats and about to toss my hair into a ponytail.”

“Kristen.” He said my name low, his voice like velvet on the other end, and I instinctively pressed the phone closer to my ear. “I’ll pick you up at seven. Wear that blue dress I like.”

“The blue dress?” I only owned one blue dress. Had he lost his mind? “David! That’s a summer dress! No way. It’s January, I’d freeze my ass off.”

“Good, then I can have fun later warming up that little ass I adore. C’mon, amuse me, love.”

At the sound of the word love, I felt every part of me melt. David knew his accent was a weapon against my heart.

“Fine! But no bike! I’m not wearing a foot of fabric and riding on the back of your motorcycle. I’ll drive, and therefore I’ll pick you up.” Damsel in distress my ass.

“If you insist. I’ll be ready at seven. See you later, kitten.”