Paradise Tempted: The Beginning (Paradise Stories) (7 page)

My father didn’t even let me shower. The smell of Sofie surrounded me. She was still on my dick. She was still on my hands. She was still in my head.

He charged through my room, throwing things into my bag and zipping it with enough force that it almost fell off the bed. Standing tall, he pointed for the door and I followed. I had to follow. It had been my fault, and I needed his support to bail me out. I never meant to kill the man; a man who shouldn’t have been in the ring with me.

My secret was exposed. The look of pain on Sofie’s face would have said it all. I couldn’t meet her eyes, but I sensed those innocent blues had turned to ice as I felt her stare on me. I was naked before her in more ways than one. The snake on my chest was fully revealed to her, like it had been the morning before, only now she would know the truth. The Cobra kills. I was an evil man.

My eyes wandered to the side of the bed, and I crossed the room to pick up the ring that Sofie had left behind a second time. I had to let her go. While the temptation to keep her was deep, I had to free her. Fruit once tasted is sweet, but left aside shrivels and dies over time. Sofie would surely not survive in my world.

“Forget the slut,” my father said. I lunged for him with a strength I knew I had: strength enough to kill a man.

“Don’t you ever call her that,” I warned with my forearm against his throat, as I slammed him into the wall beside the door. We were the same in stature, but I was a few inches taller. My workouts made me broader and I filled the space before him. He didn’t cower, though. His hard eyes met mine. His own wife had cheated on him, and every woman afterward was a whore in those eyes.

Atom Callahan had been a scrappy boxer in his home land of Ireland. When he came to the United States, he thirsted for success. His feisty spirit led him to meet a sweet girl, father three children, and leave his wife alone too often. Evelyn was introduced to the underground world and the life of success around a ring, where she connected with the wrong man, became addicted to a poison, and fell from the grace of her husband. The three children left behind faced the wrath of his unhappiness often, but I learned to hold my own against him. Dark features similar to my own faced me. Cold brown eyes, large dark brows, and thick dark hair mirrored me, but didn’t reflect who I was.

I pressed into his neck one last time as Kursch tugged my bicep to release my father. He nodded once with his hardened face still pointed at me. I stepped back and my father turned to exit the room, handing my bag to Kursch. I followed and Kursch brought up the rear as we entered the hall. I felt like the prisoner I once had been when I was arrested for the death of a man. My sentencing was worse now. I was leaving behind a paradise I should have never known. But once I took a bite, it would not suffice until I had the entire feast.

In the front foyer of the villa, I stood while my father settled the bill. One of the divorcees who partook in my sham of a wedding ceremony approached. She was a larger woman with glasses and a jovial look on her face.

“There you are. I’ve been looking for you,” she said with a cheerful smile.

“Party’s over, honey,” my father’s voice spoke across the otherwise silent space. His voice carried and echoed off the terracotta tile. He scanned the round woman up and down, while the young guy behind the counter finalized my charges. “Aren’t you a bit old to play with the snake?” He crudely addressed the woman.

She dismissed my father by turning her attention away from him after giving him an evil glare.

“I have some papers for you,” she said, reaching into her oversized bag.

“What papers?” I asked.

“Your certificate,” she replied, as she rummaged through the bag. My father was at my side again as she pulled out a legal sized envelope.

“My certificate?”

“Yes, marriage license and decree of matrimony.”

I stared at the manila envelope she held out to me.

“His what?” my father growled.

“His marriage license and decree of matrimony,” she repeated, shaking the wide object at me.

“He didn’t seriously marry the girl,” my father said with disgust, as I continued to stare.

A vague image of Sofie and I signing papers came into my memory. She looked over at me, soft waves of dark hair cascading over her shoulder. Her red rimmed glasses sliding down her nose.

“Is this for real?”
she laughed in that way that warmed me.

“It’s for real,”
I returned her smile and kissed her shoulder as she signed her name. Sofie Vincentia.

The woman’s voice broke my thoughts. “He most seriously did. I’m an ordained minister, and by the power vested in me by the state of California, I pronounced them man and wife.” She beamed up at me for a moment, before her face slowly shut down and her lips turned into a frown. She was examining my face.

“I…I couldn’t have married her,” I said slowly.

“Well, you did,” she replied with sternness in her voice. She narrowed her eyes at me and waved the envelope one more time.

My father’s hand reached out and snatched it from her. Without opening the envelope, he ripped it in half and then half again. He let the pieces fall to the ground in front of her.

“Didn’t happen,” he emphasized at her shorter height. Her larger frame allowed her to stand up to my father.

“Just because you tore that up doesn’t make it so. And doesn’t absolve the marriage. It’s already registered with the state of California.”

My heart stopped cold. Sofie Vincentia was really mine. She belonged to me as my wife. How could I have let this go so far? I knew how it happened. She had been the sweetest of temptations, and I, the snake, desired her. I seduced her with charm, like the cobra does to its prey, and she was ensnared into my trap. She would resent me, and hate me, like she should. My heart grew colder at the thought.

My father huffed in the woman’s face, then walked around her when he saw that Kursch had pulled up the SUV. I followed him like an errant child and he opened the door for me. I climbed into the passenger seat next to Kursch, feeling the glare of the minister woman on me as I sat facing forward. I watched my father enter his own car and noticed my younger brother sitting in the driver’s seat.

We drove off. In an instant, I was about to face the fight of my life. The wrath of my father was strong; his resentment deep. I had to forget my luscious apple. I couldn’t bring her into my world, into the ring with me. It would be a fight she couldn’t survive, and neither would I. Like the snake I was, I slithered away, leaving the damage behind.

What happened to the snake after he tempted the woman in the garden with his fruit? The woman fled paradise. The father damned the snake, or so he thought. The rejection of both only made the snake meaner.

Enjoyed Cain and Sofie?

Read what happens in 2016 when Cain’s brother, Abel, begins the tale of two brothers.

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If I thought I was going to make a speedy getaway, I was wrong. My savior caught up to me, half way down the walk, outside the finance building. He was quick and a large hand wrapped around my upper arm.

“Whoa, sister,” he said, slightly out of breath. “You almost got away from me again.”

“What?” I questioned. I had no idea what he meant:
again
.

“Never mind,” he muttered, his hand still on me. I looked down at it and he immediately released me. My eyes pinched as I realized I didn’t mind his hand on my skin. There was something nonthreatening about him. He seemed rather innocent, studious, actually. His shirt was buttoned almost to the top and tucked into his pants. The sleeves secure at the cuffs. His jeans were snug and hugged him well. He wore dark rimmed glasses that screamed smart. Brown boots looked too new on his large feet. It was like he had the right parts but the wrong combination.

His blue eyes were soft and easy to look into. They practically spoke to me, but I had no idea what he was saying. His dark hair was disheveled, a bit shaggy, but cool looking. He kind of looked like a pop star, which was a little too sugar sweet for me. His form was questionable. It was hard to tell what kind of body he had under those clothes. He looked rather preppy, like half the guys at this university. I didn’t want to think about it. I’d just sold my soul for another semester.

“So when do you want to do this?” I asked. His blank stare told me he had no idea what I meant.

“Us,” I said, pointing between him and me.

“I…” His voice trailed off as he gawked at me. His expression changed from confusion to shock.

“I didn’t
buy
you to sleep with you,” he said, a touch of disbelief in his voice. His face turned crimson, then fell. “Why, have you done that before?” It was my turn to be surprised and offended.

I turned on my heels and began stomping away from him. He was too quick and he caught me again. His hand on my arm halted me. This time he didn’t release me when I peered down at his fingers wrapped around my bicep.

“Look. I need help,” he blurted. His face pinked a little, and it was sweet. “I don’t need help with sex. I need help with before.” His tone dropped, and he looked side to side to see if anyone would hear him. I took his meaning.

“You don’t know how to do foreplay?” I questioned in a loud whisper, trying to hide my astonishment.
How could anyone have sex and not know a touch of foreplay?

His face pinked again.

“Not that,” he said, sounding like a child. “The flirting. The dating. The…other stuff.”

I was stunned. I stared at him, taking in his features again. He was kind of cute, leaning toward the potential for good looking. He couldn’t possibly need help with this request. The confusion on my face made him speak.

“I don’t know how to flirt.” The words swirled between us.

“I don’t understand.” I didn’t. I didn’t know what he wanted from me.

“I need lessons how to be…cool: with girls. Call it a tutoring session. I need to learn how to be…seen.” His voice took on a touch of sadness. He couldn’t possibly be serious. I continued to stare at him. My mouth might have actually dropped open a bit, and I noticed he was watching my lips. It was a little exciting the way he stared at them. I licked them and his pupils dilated, filling in more black over the blue. His expression changed. Knowingly, he blinked when he realized I was teasing him. His lip quirked up and a dimple showed in his cheek.

“I need to date you,” he blurted. “To learn how to do, what you just did to me.”

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