Breathe, just breathe
24. December 2024. The story will be taken down. It is contracted with Galatea :)
Tara,
Sasha shook me, holding my shoulders.
“Tara, wake up!”
Through the sleepy haze, she sounded as if someone was dying.
I needed a moment to remember where I was. This tiny house belonged to Sasha’s family. It was her grandmother’s home.
It had only two bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. When I turned around, I saw pristine white furniture with clear geometrical lines and rows and rows of books.
I wrinkled my nose and rubbed my sticky eyes.
It was Theodore’s room, and I would never have slept in his bed if Sasha hadn’t bagged me.
The last time I was in here, he made a parachute from a plastic bag and launched my doll down the open window to see if she could fly. Poor Betsy ended up in a wild rose bush with her plastic butt up to the sky.
I couldn’t leave her there, so I ran outside and glided down the muddy slope.
At first, I felt a slight pain, but by the time I was back in the house with a doll pressed to my chest, I knew something was wrong. The hot red blood soaked up my tennis shoes, and my mum got a hissy fit, gave up on her coffee, and took me to the local hospital.
Instinctively, my fingers found the uneven skin of a moon-shaped scar.
From that day on, Theodore became my enemy number one, and it looked like he was working hard to keep it that way.
Still sleepy, I checked the clock above Sasha’s head.
We stayed late last night, and she insisted I sleep at her house.
‘’Is it morning? What’s going on?’’ I asked.
‘’He is here!’’
‘’Who?’’
‘’Theodore!’’
I shifted back and blinked at her. A nervous chuckle escaped my mouth.
“Did you expect him?″
“No, absolutely not,’’ Her eyes moved to the side, ’’maybe he mentioned he might come. Please hurry.”
I glared at her, just figuring out why she wanted me to sleep over. She needed me in case her brother came and caught her with her boyfriend.
″Where are you taking me?’’
With both hands, Sasha guided me to her room; by the time we reached it, I was fully awake.
Soft lights from the car parking in the yard crossed my face. I saw Darko, Sasha’s boyfriend, lying naked on the bed, pale as sheets.
Trying to ignore his intimate parts that stared me in the face, I turned to Sasha.
’’What the hell got into you?’’
Darko sat on the bed and pulled on his pants.
“As soon as your brother enters the house, I will jump out the window.’’
‘’No, the dogs will catch you. He never comes here without the dogs.’’ Sasha peered through the window, and loud barks interrupted the night silence.
‘’Please?’’ She took my hands.
‘’What do you want me to do?’’
“Please pretend that Darko is your boyfriend. If Theo caught me like this, he will send me home.”
‘’He will know we are lying.’’ I tried to reason with her.
Sasha’s face became softer while she held my hand, “After everything you did this year, he will expect it from you.”
I felt a surge of indignant rage. Theodore Morelli didn’t have the right to judge me. He didn’t know a thing about my life.
Having me exactly where she wanted me, Sasha hurriedly went to the living room.
The house doors slammed. My ears picked up the voices. The dogs barked again.
I stood a little perplexed and not sure what to do. The knob moved, and Sasha’s face came back into view.
‘’He wants you both out. Now!’’
Darko was dressed. He had more common sense than me in this situation, but he wasn't the one who was woken up and forced into this charade.
I fumbled with the clothes that Sasha brought me, a bit disoriented. She helped me with the shorts by pressing the button through the hole.
“I’m sorry. I owe you a big for this. Where is your bra?”
‘’I don’t wear it. It doesn’t have a function on me.’’
She giggled, and I gave her a scolding look.
‘’You know you are twenty-two. A year older than me and too old to be afraid of your brother?’’ I asked,
’’Can’t talk now. Thank you,’’ she kissed my cheek and pushed me into the living room, closing the doors behind me.
With my heart in my throat, I opened the front doors and ran over the wet grass. The house was small, but the yard surrounding it was vast.
The sound of soft paws caught up behind me.
I knew all about facing beasts: don’t run, don’t turn your back, don’t show your fear. But my body broke every rule, and I started the chase I could never win.
My legs stumbled on the shoelace I hadn’t tied, and the only thing I could do was curl myself into a tight ball, shielding my head and pulling my legs close to my body.
The dogs moved their wet noses over my naked arms and legs. I could feel their breath in my hair.
‘’Leg,’’ a commanding voice stopped them.
I swore quietly, wishing that all this was just a bad dream.
Theodore,
I knew Tara was here but didn’t expect to find her in my bed with another guy.
I crossed my arms over my chest and called the dogs.
Glowing in the moonlight, the curve of her spine peered from the thin top. If I didn’t know better, the fragility of the picture would move me.
Her hair was a tangled mess. The left sneaker hangs lifelessly from her foot.
She sat on the lawn, tiding herself, prolonging the moment she would have to look me in the eye.
’’So, you and Darko together, I didn’t see it coming,”
The Tiny barked, catching the emotions in my voice.
She moistened her sensual mouth, stopping the tremor of her lower lip by pressing them firmly together.
“Yeah, it simply happened.” She stood up, pretending to tidy her clothes and avoiding my gaze.
“You know me, I like fun.” Her eyes finally reached mine, and the defiance I saw there rubbed me wrong.
I moved closer.
‘’You thought my house, with my baby sister in it, is the most convenient place for your orgies?’’
She shrugs her right shoulder and pointed one finger in the air.
‘’First, two people hardly make an orgy because I am not into girls, so Sasha doesn’t count, and second, but not less important. She is not your baby sister. She’s a grown woman and starts treating her like one.’’
Every time she opened her mouth, I moved closer, forcing her to raise her head higher. The perilous glimmer in her eyes only encouraged me to provoke her further.
We stood so close I could feel her hot breath on my chin.
‘’But if you are into orgies, we could arrange something.’’ She dropped the last line boldly, holding my gaze.
I knew the stories about Tara Ricci. Every man with eyes knew about Tara Ricci and her wild ways.
She worked hard to ruin her reputation and become the fantasy of every pimpled idiot with an internet connection.
I didn’t know what made me angrier, that she didn’t care or that I cared enough to feel the tingling in my palms to give her a lesson in proper behavior.
Lily moved from my leg, lazily approaching her and nuzzling her hand. This was the first time I noticed pure fear in Tara’s eyes.
She tried to run, but I stopped her.
My hand slipped around her waist, past the top, onto the cold skin. She was too scared of dogs to mind my touch, and I found it intriguing and insulting at the same time.
Tiptoeing away from the beast, she squeezes her body against mine. I barely suppressed a groan, feeling her rounded butt pressed to my front.
‘’If I didn’t notice how scared you are of these puppies, all this attention would flatter me.’’
She shivered, moving her face to the side and grazing my skin with her overheated cheek.
“Here,” I leaned forward, moving her body with mine and guiding her hand into the coarse dog's fur.
‘’If you pat them like this,’’ I whispered in her ear, ‘’they will eat out of your hand. The dogs are very basic, like men. You shouldn't have a problem controlling them. After all, you are a connoisseur of the second.’’
I could feel the crazy pounding of her heart. She shook in my arms before becoming limp, and I held her tighter.
‘’I will puke, Theo. You don’t want it on your shoes.’’ She mumbled, and I cursed silently for being a bully.
Getting down, I took her in my arms.
’’Breathe, just breathe.’’
Thank you for choosing my story. I hope you will find it interesting. If you do please like it and leave a rewieve. It is mine reward for writing it. All the best , Mira.
7. April 2024.
