Confined

Chapter Eleven - Deal with the Devil

One evening I was surprised to find the room empty when I walked in. The fireplace was dark, and it left the room feeling colder than normal. Not finding much interest in reading alone and not knowing how to light the fireplace, I left.

I explored the second floor of the house. When Jaime gave me the tour, he only showed me the downstairs and only a few rooms upstairs, bedrooms he said. I peeked inside an open room, almost passing it until something in the corner caught my eye.

An ebony grand piano sat on the far side of the room. I slowly walked towards it almost as if in a trance. It had been so long since I had last played. My old keyboard was sitting in a closet at home getting dusty. I never bothered to get it out. But standing in front of this beast of an instrument, my fingers twitched in anticipation, grazing the dark wood. The words of my old piano teacher drifted back to me,

"Before your fingers ever touch the keys, you must learn to first respect the instrument. If you treat it with care, you'll produce something beautiful."

"Do you play?"

I turned, startled and frowned at Jaime whose tall frame filled the doorway. I shook my head, my hand falling back to my side. "Not anymore."

He stepped forward into the room, looking around. "My mother used to play for me every evening. Now, I'm not sure anyone has been here in years, except to clean."

I could hear the longing and sorrow in his voice when he spoke of her. "I'm sorry. I wouldn't have come in here if I had known."

He waves his hand, shrugging off my apology. "It's about time someone played music here again."

I didn't respond, clasping my hands in front of me and looking anywhere but at him and his grey eyes that swirled with an emotion I couldn't recognize. Didn't want to recognize.

"Do you want to go out?" Jaime asked, abruptly breaking the silence.

"Out?"

"For dinner." That look was gone from his eyes, replaced by his usual smirk. "I thought you might like to go out for a while."

"Sure. That would be nice." What's he up to?

"I'll come get you in an hour. I trust that you won't try anything?" Jaime asked, looking at me expectantly. I shook my head, but he was already out the door to see it.

An hour later, I had just changed into a pair of dark jeans and a silk top, clasping the watch around my wrist, when a knock sounded at the door. Jaime takes in my appearance, scanning me from head to toe, his eyes lingering on my wrist before leading me down the hall. We turned down an unfamiliar part of the house.

My jaw dropped as we entered a massive garage. The sheer number of vehicles parked in the room ranged from expensive sports cars to SUVs to sedans. I could understand why he had omitted this part of the tour. Jaime led me over to a charcoal Lexus and opened the passenger door. I stopped, eyeing the car that would only fit two people.

"What about the others?"

"It's just us." He stated, hand resting on the door frame.

"Oh." I slid into the black leather seat, the door closing after me. My hands fidgeted with the hem of my shirt as Jaime rounded the car. I watched as he started the ignition and drove us out of the garage.

"Where are we going?" I asked once we left through the gate. I was a little insulted that it didn't look like it had been rammed into by a car, might I add.

"There's an Italian place in the city, if you're okay with that?" He glanced at me, looking more relaxed than I've ever seen him. He was wearing a leather jacket that looked similar to the one he wore the night we met along with jeans and a t-shirt. It was a nice contrast to the dress clothes he normally wore.