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Authors: Sibylla Matilde

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BOOK: Little Conversations
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Chapter 9 – Orion
the Hunter

 

 

 

“Right there, see?  It’s those three stars that kinda make
a ‘W,’ but sideways,” Devin spoke softly, even though the two winos were out
cold in the back of Greg’s sensible beige four-door sedan. 

“Yeah, right over that sharp peak?”

“Yep.  That’s Cassiopeia.  She’s not so famous in her own
right, but she’s part of a very famous story.  Ever heard of Perseus and
Andromeda?  You know… Clash of the Titans?”

Ronin nodded, and Devin continued on.

“Well, Cassiopeia was a stunningly gorgeous queen.  She was
Andromeda’s mom.  Problem was, she knew she was gorgeous.  She was all vain and
self-absorbed, and she would brag about how hot she was all the time.  She even
said she was more beautiful than this bunch of hot, young sea nymphs.  They
were enchanting and radiant, the hottest thing since sliced pita bread.  Well,”
she looked sideways at Ronin for a second before staring back out into the
night “they were
not
impressed.  One of the nymphs was married to
Poseidon, so they all bitched at him until he sent a big old sea serpent to
ravage the coast of Cassiopeia’s kingdom.  Cassiopeia’s husband went to an
oracle for help, and the oracle said that they had to appease Poseidon by
giving Andromeda, their own daughter, to the sea monster.  So, they did it!”  She
looked over at him with wide, incredulous eyes.  “They just chained her up to some
rocks and left her for the serpent.”

“Nice folks,” Ronin said with a chuckle.

“Anyway, the sea monster came to get her, and Perseus came
flying by on Pegasus.  Using the head of Medusa to turn the it to stone, he
rescued Andromeda from the monster.  Cassiopeia was watching, and she looked at
Medusa’s head, too, so she was also turned to stone.  Poseidon was kinda pissed
at her still.  He put her up in the sky sitting on her throne and combing her
beautiful hair. 
But
, he made sure she was in a place where she’d circle
the North Star, so, half the time she’s up there, she’s upside down, which is apparently
some kind of massive, mythical insult.”  Devin paused again to look at the
stars.  “Of course, that means Perseus, Andromeda, and even poor ol’ Pegasus
also ended up going in circles and being upside down since they’re right by
her.  She’s a little closer to the North Star, though, so she gets the worst of
it.”

“That’s quite a story, honey.”

Devin smiled over at him.  “I’ve got a million of them. 
When I was a kid, my mom, my brother, and I used to camp out in the backyard
sometimes and watch the stars.  We lived way out in the country, so there weren’t
any city lights.  The stars seemed to just come alive.  She’d point out the
constellations and tell us the stories.”  She inhaled wistfully.  “I miss that
sometimes.  I miss them.”

“Do you hear from them much?” Ronin asked.

“Not really lately, but that’s probably more my fault than
theirs.  I’ve kind of checked out the last couple months.  All the stress with
Jake kind of has me distancing myself.”  Devin looked sadly back at the sky.  “I
don’t want to burden my family with my stupid shit.  I don’t know how to
explain all that to them.  My dad has met Jake, and he liked him.  Jake’s the
model boyfriend in his opinion.”  Devin laid her head back on the seat and
turned back to the window, silently signaling an end to the path their
conversation was taking.

They were just hitting the outskirts of town.  Ronin drove
to Joanie’s place, and Devin was able to rouse her drunk and sleepy friend
enough to get her inside. 

“So, where does this guy live?” Ronin asked as Devin got
back in the car.   

“Greg,” Devin nudged the passed out form in the backseat.  “Greg.
 GREG!”  

Greg muttered a few incoherent mumbles, but not much of a
response.  Devin chewed on her lip for a minute before she dug through his
glove box and pulled out his vehicle registration papers.  “Well, this was
where he lived when he licensed the car.  Hopefully he still lives there.”  She
shrugged and read the address to Ronin.

It was about three o’clock in the morning, at this point,
and the roads in their little town were desolate.  Pulling into what they hoped
actually
was
Greg’s driveway, both Ronin and Devin tried again to awaken
Joanie’s sleeping beauty, but to no avail.  He was out.  At one point, he
batted one of Devin’s hands away, but, aside from that, there really wasn’t
much response.  Ronin took the keys out of the ignition and set them on the
dash.  He and Devin got out and locked the doors behind them, figuring they’d
just let him sleep it off in his car. 

“We’re not far from my place,” Ronin noted.  “Just through
those trees over there.  I can give you a ride home if you want.”

“Shit, I should have worn different shoes.  These are fine
for dancing,” Devin said as she held one foot out in front of the other, “but
not sure how they’ll be for hiking.”

Ronin turned around and crouched down.  “Hop on,” he said. 

“Ronin, I can walk.  I probably can’t walk very fast, but I
can walk.”  

Ronin stood and turned around, taking another step over to
her so that, even in her four-inch strappy heels, she had to look up at him.  “Honey,
don’t argue with me.  Just get on my fuckin’ back.”  He gave her a pointed
end-of-conversation look, and Devin nodded with an open mouth.  Ronin turned
around and crouched on the ground again.  Devin slipped off her heels and held
them in one hand as she climbed up onto his back.  His large arms secured her
legs around his waist as she clutched his shoulders with one hand and her shoes
in the other, doing her best to hold on.  The late-night mountain air was cool,
even with Devin’s light jacket, so she melted against his warmth as he began
the trek home. 

“So,” Ronin asked, “do you know any stories about Taurus?  He’s
up there someplace.  I remember my gramma pointing him out to me when I was
really little because that’s my sign.  She was into that shit, too.  But I don’t
remember much more about it than that.”  

“Oh, yeah!  Taurus is cool, and a neat story, too.  He’s
pretty easy to pick out.  You can’t see him in the summer, though.  He’s a
winter kind of guy.  He’s a big ‘V’ shape.  The tips of the ‘V’ are his horns,
and the bottom is the end of his nose.  There are a couple different stories
about him, but I like the one where he was actually Zeus in disguise.  Zeus was
kind of a sneaky bastard and was always morphing into other creatures to get it
on with the ladies.  In the story I like, he was all hot for this pretty little
princess named Europa, and so he turned himself into a big white bull to get
her attention.  When Europa and her maidens, her Seven Sisters, saw him out in
a field of flowers, he acted all gentle and shit.  So, being a bunch of girls,
they picked the flowers and decorated him with garlands.  At one point, Europa thought
it would be fun to climb up on his back.  When she did that, he took off with
her, taking her to Crete where he ravished her.  The maidens are a little
cluster of stars on his shoulder.”

“Damn!  That was pretty fuckin’ creative.  How did Europa feel
about that?”  Ronin asked.  “Did she hate his guts, or did they live happily
ever after?”  

“As happily as a woman could live with Zeus, I suppose.  He
had a lot of women.  But she did give him three sons, so he must have had her
pretty high on his totem pole.  Taurus is actually the sign of virility.”  

Ronin stopped dead in his tracks and craned his head to eye her
over his shoulder.  “Huh,” he muttered, and started walking again.

Shit!
Devin thought. 
I
really need to work on my filter.

The night sky began to spatter rain as Ronin’s house came
into view. 

“Dev, put my hat on so your hair doesn’t get wet,” Ronin
suggested as the rain began to pick up intensity. 

“Ronin, it’s like fifty yards away.  I don’t think I’ll
melt.”

The large, chilling drops began to soak through her light
jacket, clear through to her skin, immediately as the storm picked up
intensity.  By the time they reached his door, her hair was plastered to her
face and she was shivering.  Devin regretted not putting Ronin’s hat on.  He went
into the bathroom and grabbed a big towel, then gently wrapped it around her
shoulders.  Without even thinking, he undid his buttons and slipped his dressy
shirt off.  Devin’s head snapped the opposite direction as she tried her best
not to gawk at him… again.  The man was mouthwatering. 

Friends.  Just friends.  Baseball… baseball…

Ronin looked out his kitchen window at the intense little storm.
 “So, just how bad do you want to go home right now?” he asked.

“Holy hell,” Devin breathed, teeth chattering, “not bad
enough to go out there.  I do have to work tomorrow at ten o’clock, though.”

“Looks like you’re sleeping over.  I’ll give you a ride home
in the morning so you can change and get ready for work,” Ronin smiled.  He
stepped into his bedroom and ruffled through his dresser drawers, returning
with a large, long-sleeved thermal shirt and a pair of boxer briefs.  “Here,
put these on.  You’re turning blue.  I’m going to heat up some water for cocoa.”

“Cocoa?” Devin smiled.

Ronin flashed her a boyishly charming grin.  “With little
marshmallows and everything.”

Devin took the clothes and walked back to the bathroom.  She
stripped off her wet little dress, bra, and panties and slipped the thermal
over her head.  The sleeves were horrendously long, so she rolled them up. 
Fortunately, the shirt itself was long, too, going down past the middle of her
thighs.  She had skirts shorter than that, although she generally only wore them
when Joanie was picking out her clothes for the night.  She slipped the boxer
briefs on under the thermal and looked in the full-length mirror to make sure
she was decently covered.  While doing so, she realized how badly her hair
looked, not to mention her makeup.  Her smoky eye look had given way to more of
a raccoon appearance.  Wetting her finger in the sink, she washed away what she
could of the dark smudges.  Combing through her hair with her fingers, she
decided it was going to look bad no matter what.  When the rain hit it, the
curl she fought so hard sprang back to life.  Nothing would bring it back aside
from a flatiron, and she sorta doubted Ronin had one of those lying around. 
Glancing in the mirror with one last grimace, she hung her clothes over the
shower curtain rod (very carefully to make sure her panties and bra were
well-covered by the dress) and walked out to the kitchen. 

A kettle on the stove was just on the verge of boiling.  Ronin,
with his back to her, was measuring cocoa into a couple big, heavy mugs.  He
had slipped on some flannel sleep pants, but hadn’t donned a shirt.  Devin
watched appreciatively for a second as he spooned the mix into the cups, breathlessly
admiring the play of thick muscles under his skin when he moved.  Needing
something to focus on, besides Ronin’s strong, toned back, Devin picked up the
kettle and walked over beside him to pour water over the mix. 

Being with him so much lately, she had developed such a
quiet comfort in his presence, like all the hurt of the world couldn’t touch
her.  Yet, every once in a while, that comfort would switch to an ache for
something more.  Right now, that ache was intense and pounding.  The fresh
rainy smell on his skin made her want to taste him, to graze her tongue along
his broad shoulders.  To work her way up to the cords of his neck.  She battled
the profound yearning back as Ronin handed her a spoon, using another to stir
one of the cups.  Devin followed suit and stirred the other, pretending that
she wasn’t totally melting inside. 

Ronin leaned up against the counter as he drank his cocoa.  They
were both quiet, comfortably so.  Only the soft sound of sipping and the occasionally
a light blowing of the hot drinks could be heard.  As the warmth of the cocoa
began to fill Devin’s chilled body, her eyes began to droop and she unsuccessfully
fought off a large yawn.  She was suddenly exhausted.  With his cocoa in his
left hand, Ronin’s right arm slipped around her waist and snuggled her up
against him as they intermittently took drinks.  A few more sips of cocoa, and
she was done.  Ronin continued to hold her as he finished his own, her head
resting against his bare chest, listening to the beat of his heart.  Ronin
reached for her mug, setting both their cups in the sink, and then guided her
sleepy body towards his room. 

BOOK: Little Conversations
10.6Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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