Midnight Playground

Chapter 13

"Don't be so rough." He griped in a huff, momentarily restraining her by her arms. She easily pulled herself free from his tight hold and continued to flex the muscles in her hands. It had been a while since she had done this... 

"Trouble-maker." He chuckled, his teasing breath filling her lungs. She choked back, coughing into her hand. She stepped away from him, frowning distastefully. He was so close to her, enough that she could practically taste his cigarette smoke in her mouth. It made her feel nauseous. She slapped away his beckoning hand. 

"Still no fun, I see." He said, pretending to feel hurt by the rejection. Cassie didn't even bat an eyelash at his blatant lies and she turned her attention back to the dishes in the sink. Grabbing the next plate from the counter, she rubbed the edges of the dirty surface hard with a cloth. 

"Hey, not so hard, those plates are new y'know." He grumbled, blowing a puff of smoke into the room. All lies. Everything that came out of his mouth was a lie designed to put her off guard. She pressed on with the task at hand. 

"So, who's the pup?" He asked, retrieving the soapy plate from her hold. She hadn't even noticed him move. 

"I don't know what you're talking about." She muttered coldly, reaching for the plate in his keeping, only to have his arm slip around her waist, placing the plate onto the high shelf in front of them. She grumbled miserably. So the interrogation had already begun, huh? That had lasted all of 5 minutes. 

"I never would imagine THAT to be to your taste." He sniggered into her ear, making her briefly close her eyes. She couldn't get worked up over it, the moment that she did, he would never let up.  

"Leave him alone. He's just an acquaintance of mine, that's all." She replied, reminding herself not to act hastily. This man could only be described as an expert on how to push all of her buttons and he made it look effortless.  

"An acquaintance?" He repeated, feeling no shame in expressing his fullest disbelief. "I've never known you to have such an 'acquaintance, you'll make me feel lonely." He emphasised the word, making her cheeks blush slightly.  

"I wouldn't be so stupid as to have someone like that in my life." She couldn't even consider it. In fact, she couldn't really think straight at all right now. "Remove your hand." 

He laughed, seemingly pleased with himself but he did as he was told and softly removed his hand from around her waist. The heat that left her almost paralyzed her.  

"I'm relieved, I wouldn't want it to hinder 'our' fun after all." Just as quickly as he had removed his hand, it was back again, only this time, his fingers travelled along her shoulder, slinking their way up her neck. Cassie shivered, feeling his breath tickling against her. "I'm confident that I can be much more entertainment for you." His tone gave her goose-bumps, although she could tell the difference between disgust and excitement. 

"Entertaining? Even your jokes have gotten old." She quipped back at him with a sigh, watching a smirk sneak up onto his lips. She could tell that he had become amused in all this, so much so that her hands subconsciously grabbed the first thing that she could find in the soapy water. He leant in closer, using his nail to travel passed her collarbone and around to the nape of her neck. His breath tickled against her, getting hotter and hotter the closer he drew in towards her. She bent her neck away from him, her hair standing on end. He was too close! The smell of smoke snared her from behind and his hand snaked around her waist, pulling her backwards. True, she was used to this and her heart had learned to deal with his trickery but even by controlling the swell of embarrassment that had once riddled inside of her, habits were hard things to kick. With a swift tug of her wrist, she swung at him.