Intrigue: The Night Muse Trilogy, page 27
Chapter 26: Ruin with a View
On Friday, I was practically zinging around like a cat on speed because of all my nervous energy. My mind ran a constant loop of Apollo’s Plan, My Plan, and Date Night like a hamster on a wheel. I was so jumpy during all my morning classes that Jazz caught me in the bathroom and observed, “Girl, did you double up on the caffeine this morning? You’re twitching like a ferret.”
I made myself take a deep breath and try to calm down before I replied, “Flockin….Date Night. Rafe officially meeting my parents, and he won’t tell me where we are going! But, don’t worry, I will fill you in on all the details on Saturday after practice if you can cover for me Saturday night. DUA is doing a sort of think tank lock in, and I wanna go, but you know my parents!”
Jazz smiled at me and threatened, “You best give us all the gory details for sayin your staying at my house.”
I gave them a conspiratorial smile and promised, “Done and done.”
We headed to lunch and saw that both Rafe and Thrace were already seated at our table. It’s always an awkward moment when I headed to the table with Thrace on one end and Rafe on the other. Rafe looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. I tried to get any details out of him about tonight, but he goaded me with inappropriate suggestions. When I reasonably asked about the dress code, he replied, “Hmmmm…..I’m thinking fishnets, black knee high boots, micro-mini, and a corset top should be appropriate for where we’re going.”
“I’m thinking we must be going somewhere in your fantasy life for that to be appropriate date wear.”
He just gave me a devilish grin and taunted, “We’ll see, now, won’t we?”
I raised one eyebrow at him and remarked, “Not if you keep goading me like this.”
“Ahhhhh, but keeping you distracted with the wicked things I have planned for tonight surely must take some worry away from other activities of the weekend.”
His smart-eyas grin and wink definitely kept me distracted, but it also made my stomach churn, which definitely wasn’t helping.
“About the other activities, I’m gonna try to calm down Thrace during journalism, so can you run interference for me with Mr. Johnson?”
“Absolutely. I live to serve,” Rafe stood and performed a bow with a flourish as the bell rang.
I threw his word back at him with a grin, “We’ll see, now, won’t we?”
I laid out the final details with Thrace, and I said all the calming things like ‘this will all be over soon’ and ‘no need to worry.’ The rest of the day flew by and soon Jazz, Key, and I were headin to my house for a little girl time before our respective dates that night. We had mini-spa festivities planned as we did each other’s mani-pedi’s, make-up, hair, and a short fashion show of our outfits for my parents. Jazz and Key left around six and wished me luck. Whereas, my dad prepped for Rafe’s arrival by getting out all his hunting rifles to clean. Even my mom thought that was overkill, “Lethe, is more than one really necessary.”
Dad just grumbled, “Of course! She’s a junior now. The guys will be expecting certain things. I think my subtle warning just teaches them they need to lower those expectations right off the bat.”
I just shook my head, amused by the thought of a Greek god being afraid of my dad.
Rafe, of course, arrived on time and was properly blown away by my attire. I was wearing my favorite black low-riding jeans with a beautiful emerald corset top (much to Rafe’s amusement), and a little black jacket in case we were going somewhere outdoors. I had a vintage black beaded purse and adorable emerald ballet flats with little crystals on them. Of course, my appearance could not hold a candle to how scrumptious he looked. He had on a brown suede jacket with an olive v-neck shirt and dark washed jeans. His tousled hair looked perfectly mussed as usual, and I had trouble concentrating on introducing him to my mom. Mom and Rafe hit it off when he started off with a compliment to the house, which was her pride and joy.
She actually blushed and replied, “Well, thank you, Rafe. I have always had a good time finding just the right pieces for the house. Let’s go find Calli’s dad, I believe he’s in the den. Oh, and don’t let him scare you away. I think you might be a keeper.”
Now, it was my turn to blush, “Mom, hello, first date.”
Rafe gave mom a conspirator’s smile and remarked, “I think it would take a lot to scare a potential suitor away from the Edonides women. ”
Mom laughed and said, “See honey, no harm done--at least until he meets your father.”
As we walked into the den, dad was just finishing up on his favorite rifle. My mom awkwardly said, “Lethe. Time to stop cleaning your hunting rifles and get ready for dinner.”
Dad gave Rafe a hard once over, then came over to shake his hand. With the unloaded rifle in his left, he shook Rafe’s right hand. The interrogation then commenced. Rafe answered every question with a 'Sir' at the end, which amused my mom and I. Dad told him my curfew and said that I was not to be a second late. I said good-bye to my parents and hustled Rafe out the door. Once he backed down the driveway, he blew out a loud sigh of relief.
“I think I would rather do hand-to-hand combat with all three Graces than face off with your father. He is one tough customer. Of course, if I was in his place, I would be exactly that tough on your suitors and any guy that looked twice at your mom.”
I tutted him as I said, “No crushin on my mom.”
He laughed and said he would keep that in mind as he drove to our destination. I quizzed him relentlessly, but he still would not tell me our plans until we hit the Dearborn city limits. Sometimes coming to Dearborn seems like you’re suddenly in a different country. Many of the street and business signs are in Arabic or Lebanese rather than English. My favorite restaurant is located here. A little known fact about Detroit was that it had the best ethnic food in the country. I smiled at Rafe and said, “Nice choice, Sparky.”
He replied, “Don’t get out of the car, we are just picking up food here for our final destination.” He ran in and out in under two minutes.
“I thought you said that your species needed less food than we do. Otherwise, you must have invited your 50 closest friends cause I can’t eat all that.”
He commented, “I wasn’t sure what you would like so I got a variety.”
“I know variety is the spice of life, but don’t you think you got a little carried away? And where are we going anyway?”
“You’ll see when we get there, Miss Impatience.”
I spent the next 15 minutes guessing our destination before he finally pulled up to Lee Plaza--one of the many gorgeous abandoned ruins of Detroit. Night was just settling in, and I could barely marvel at the solid structure and beautiful arches that used to welcome the wealthy of Detroit into its gracious accommodations.
Rafe hustled me out of the car and into the building through a hidden entrance. I could barely see the destruction of the once beautiful ballroom. He had to guide me through an obstacle course of debris to the stairway area. Rafe gave me the food to hold and then unexpectedly swung me up in his arms. He cradled me and gave me a roguish smile and wink as he said, “Let the first date begin.”
“Hold a sec, Rhett Butler, watcha think you’re doing?”
“We’re going to be heading upstairs for dinner, and the stairway is not quite safe for mere humans.”
“Alright. Wouldn’t wanna ruin your elaborate plans by being a mere human.”
He was already flying up the stairs his feet barely hitting the ground. Floor after floor, we rose until we hit the fiftieth floor in mere seconds. He glided down a long hall with light filtering in through windows or holes in the wall where windows in the building used to be. Rafe stopped at the corner room. He set me down outside where I couldn’t see in. He kissed me on the forehead and told me to stay facing the hallway until he had properly prepped the room. Just as I was about to investigate the other rooms, Rafe appeared back in the hallway.
He guided me back toward our room as he teased, “My curious little cat, I should have known I couldn’t leave you alone.”
I was about to comment when I stepped into the doorway and all rational thought left my head. Amazement and wonder knocked my breath away. The room was bare concrete and debris free. But there was a path of white pillar candles that led to a picnic set up on a papasan cushion in the middle of the room. The cushion was surrounded by even more candles that circled it in a wide arc. What was even more stunning was the view framed in both sides of the corner windows. The surreal view could have been of Gotham City in the distance. When my breath came back, I looked up at Rafe in awe, and he gave me a bone-melting smile and said, “Yeah. The view’s not bad.”
He led me to the picnic area and sat me down in front of all my favorite goodies—hummus, fattoush, grape leaves, falafel, and chicken shawarma. . Even though I adored this lovely spread, the view, and the candles, the company had my stomach in knots. Rafe teasingly commented as he took my hand, “I have never seen you speechless before. You find out I am a Greek god, and you have a snappy retort. But a romantic dinner throws you for a loop.”
I flirted back, “Call me my mother’s daughter, but a guy sweeping me up and carrying me fifteen floors to a breath-taking romantic dinner is really the pinnacle of her trashy romance novels. And even though you have literally swept me off my feet, the evening won’t be ending like her novels.”
Rafe’s eyes sparkled with his amusement as he commented, “So I’m not gonna end up your eternal boy toy that gallantly serves and protects you for the rest of your life?”
I laughed and agreed, “Wow. I like the books you’ve been reading! That is exactly what happens after tonight. I am glad we are clear on that.”
Rafe had dipped a celery stick from our feast into the hummus as I was agreeing with him and started to actually feed it to me. “So are you trying to stop me from talking, or have you heard of my remarkable ability to always get food on me when I attempt to eat without assistance?”
“I’m just practicing my servant duty, Siren. I just want to make sure you are satisfied,” he gave me a wink and used his thumb to get off the hummus from the corner of my mouth.
If he was trying to turn me into a puddle at his feet, he was doing a fantabulous job! But, I needed to summon the courage to give him my “Two Person Push-ups” spiel. A shadow must have crossed my besotted face because Rafe asked, “What’s wrong, Calli?”
I looked up at him in a hesitant manner and said, “Rafe, you need to know before you decide whether you want to be my personal servant that I am not planning on doing any two person push-ups for a while. I don’t want it to be an issue like it was with Thrace. I am ready when I am ready.”
He put his hand on my neck and pulled my head forward until we were a mere inch apart. Then, he ground out in a somewhat annoyed voice, “Please, don’t ever mistake me for Thrace again. I respect your right to call the shots on this, and I am perfectly willing to wait until our third date before I become your personal sex slave.”
I laughed and punched him lightly in the stomach. As I pulled away, I grabbed a grape leaf and started to nibble on it before I replied, “Thrace wasn’t like that either. It took him months before he started losing patience with me. I just don’t want to be right back in the same place, Rafe.”
He tenderly brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it then replied, “I have waited decades for someone to come along that I cared about as much as Cora. Time has a very different meaning to me. Years are mere moments in my world. Despite my appearance, I am not a hormone driven youth. When you are ready, I will be waiting.”
I blew out a breath and snarked, “Well, I am glad you’re finally done begging me for my sexual favors. Can we eat now?”
He rolled his eyes and agreed, “Your wish is my command, so dine til your heart is content.”
I filled my plate with a little of all the goodies before I confessed, “I am breaking the trifecta of girl rules. First, never date a guy that is prettier than you. Second, never eat more than your date. Third, never let them see you perspire.”
Rafe became thoughtful for a second then he cryptically clinked his soda to my diet soda as he toasted, “To being the dynamic duo of rule breakers.”
As dinner ended, I had a tough time taking my eyes off of Rafe. I literally thought I was going to go down in flames if I didn’t get some air. So with all my willpower, I slowly got to my feet and walked to the window.
Rafe rose to his feet and moved to stand behind me. He entwined his fingers over mine and wrapped them around my waist. I leaned back into him and he rested his chin on my shoulder as we looked out at the city. “I believe this Tower of Babel will fall, Siren.”
I turned my head towards him at the biblical reference to the great Tower of Babel that was created to glorify man rather than god. “Please tell me that you don’t mean Detroit.”
He kissed my cheek and replied, “I mean the Detroit that Ares runs where humans are in constant danger.”
“I would rather ignore the danger and politics for just one night and enjoy ourselves,” I answered as my voice turned hoarse with emotion as the reality of tomorrow came crashin back in.
“Sounds like a plan! Are you ready for dessert, my sweet? I need to prep the room again before we start the next part of the evening.”
I gave him a quizzical look at his reference to the next part of the evening.
Rafe zipped around to gather up the dinner plates and leftovers and put them back into the bag. “I promised you dinner and a movie.”
Once the papasan cushion was cleared off he dodged the candles and headed into another room within the space I hadn’t noticed before. He came out with a black computer bag, the papasan frame, and a huge comfy blanket, which was good because I was starting to get chilly. He set up the double papasan chair in a flash then started to get out a laptop and projector. The laptop must have already been on and loaded because with a few clicks by Rafe, the screen popped on one of the blank walls. He asked me if I was ready for the movie portion of the evening. I was flabbergasted so I just nodded my head, grabbed the blanket, and sat down on the chair as I asked, “What exactly are we watching?”
Rafe tenderly smiled back at me as he confessed, “I asked Key and Jazz what your favorite movie was. They said some old, weird British movie called Room with a View. So I came up with a theme for the night, we are watching Room with a View in our Ruin with a View.”
He clicked on play, then reached into our picnic bag and pulled out a little lunch bag cooler with one pint of Raspberry Chip ice cream--my favorite decadence of all time. I can only get it in pints because I would consume the whole half-gallon if I had access. We took turns feeding each other the ice cream and being disgustingly infatuated until it was gone-- as was 15 minutes of the movie.
I sighed and confessed, “You might be the perfect man.”
“I might actually take that as a compliment if I was a man rather than a god, but I think you just downgraded me.”
I laughed and said, “Poor, poor servant. Zip it, so I can watch my movie.”
He situated himself on the chair with his arm around me as I snuggled up against him with my head on his shoulder. In mere minutes, we were transported back in time to Edwardian turn-of-the century England where a young man ignites a spark of passion in an uptight English girl.
We lasted until the part where the couple kisses for the first time. I was gazing up at Rafe and his lips were softly brushing mine in the best first date kiss ever. I don’t know if it could even be classified as a kiss. It was more like a conversation without words. You know when you have that first great conversation with the guy that you always wanted to be with--the conversation when you are no longer nervous or stuttering--the conversation when you just get to learn about him and tell him stuff about you—that conversation was this kiss. It was soft and gentle and tender and exciting, and I think I learned about who he really was on the inside. I wanted to savor every wonderful moment with him, which meant that I pretty much missed a chunk of the movie. I finally laid my head back on his chest as we finished watching the movie.
The candles were making strange and interesting shadows on the walls and ceilings. I looked up at Rafe to memorize every feature--his tousled hair, his glittering hazel eyes, his delicious soft lips, and that wicked smile. He didn’t speak. He just held me while I studied him with intense concentration. I finally ended my exploration by placing light, soft kisses all over his face. His scruff tickled my lips, and I smiled in delight at the feeling. I closed my eyes and snuggled back into him to avoid looking at my greatest temptation. He held me for a long time until I was almost ready to fall asleep in his arms. I knew our time was coming to an end. Even though I agreed with Rear Admiral of the Navy, Grace Murray Hopper that 'it’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission', I didn’t want to take a chance of ruining any of our plans for tomorrow.
Rafe finally stated the obvious in a resigned voice, “We have to go, Siren.”
“I know. I wish this night, this date, this feeling could go on forever.”
Rafe kissed my forehead and replied, “Usually your wish is my command, but in this case your father’s command trumps your wish.”
I laughed as he heaved us up off the chair and held me to him. When he let me go, he asked in a teasing tone, “Wanna bet who can blow out the most candles?”
We both started at the door on the path that led to the circle of candles. However, I started to cheat as I licked my fingers to blow out and pinch out my candles simultaneously. As usual, he started to slow down so the genetically challenged human could catch up to him at the last candle. He picked it up and said, “Let’s blow it out together,” which of course I was more than happy to do. As we blew out the last candle, our lips just happened to meet again one last time. The darkness sparked a much more desperate kiss that literally made my knees weak. I kissed him like this could have been the last time I kissed anyone. I was very aware that this date could be my first and last with Rafe. We took one last look at our glorious city before he sweep me up in his arms and tentatively asked, “You ready to go?”
“No. But I think I have to anyway,” I replied with regret.
We went to the window, and he looked into my eyes and asked, “You want to take a leap of faith with me Calliope?”
I looked down at ground far below us and reached within a part of myself that had been locked away from all the other people in my life and declared, “Leaps of faith are my specialty tonight.”
He kissed me as he stepped out the window, and we hurtled to the ground. It was terrifying and exhilarating, and Rafe never took his eyes off mine until we landed. I threw my head back and laughed as I said, “Can we go again?”
Rafe just shook his head with regret and replied, “Not if I want to retain your father’s permission to date you.”
Unfortunately, the Explorer was exactly where we left it. He set me down and opened the door for me. I got in and a minute later we were speeding through Detroit.
I finally complimented him for the incredible evening, “You know you have some mad first date skills. I honestly don’t think any date could possibly top this one. I am happy to see you putting your god-like skills to good use.”
“Well, I did promise you bungee jumping, and when you come with a lot of costs, you have to compensate with a lot rewards.”
He grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips. Unfortunately, we were almost to my house and my perfect evening was about to end. “Mark this date down because I am going to say something you will not hear very often, you were right. Date Night definitely took my mind off the other issues going on in our lives. Thank you.”
Rafe’s tender gaze opened something in me that had never been breached before. He got to me. A little part of my soul was now his, and I would have to deal with the consequences tomorrow.
He walked me to my door and kissed me gently before saying his good night, “Sweet dreams, Siren.”
I think I practically floated in the door, then up to my room. Reality came crashing back as I spotted my cell phone lying on my bed. As I picked it up, I saw that I had one message. I called Dr. A back, and the conversation sucked. Yes, everything was still a go. Yes, I still knew word-for-word the plan. Yes, I hated both him and myself at this moment. Yes, I was going to betray Rafe. I prayed that he would forgive me for choosing Thrace over him. I think he could forgive that. What he would have a much harder time forgiving is that I chose Thrace over me.
