Stone Lover (22 page)

    “Of course not,” Peter said smugly, running a finger along her neck and making her flinch. “A quickie in the bathroom isn’t going to lead to a long-term relationship.”

    “Peter,” Melanie sighed in annoyance, stepping away from him. “I was talking about us, about you and me. We are no longer together, Peter; you and I are no longer together.”

    “Our break up was a phase you were going through before you took the next step,” he growled as his voice lowered even more. “To be honest, I only let you go because I was feeling guilty for sleeping with Vanessa but I’m over that guilt now and I’m ready to forgive you and move past that.”

    “What?” she felt her eyes nearly pop out of her head as he so casually mentioned sleeping with Vanessa, a woman he frequently criticized.  “You slept with… Vanessa?”

    “Don’t act like you’re the victim here,” he scolded. “You’ve been fucking strangers in public bathrooms but I’m willing to overlook that, after all, I’ve been screwing your friend. My God, that woman is a wild cat in the sack, Lenni; the things she lets me do to her….”

    Who was this stranger wearing Peter’s face? The Peter she knew was kind, considerate;
sane
. He wasn’t this cruel, delusional beast who looked at her with a blank expression as he sliced her with his words. “You need to leave, Peter; we’re not going to discuss this.”

    He turned his head slightly and glared at her, his vacant blue eyes containing none of the heat of Vaughn’s golden gaze. Peter fished something out of his pocket and held up a black box, and dread pressed down on her. “I had hoped to wait until Valentine’s Day to ask you this, but it’s become apparent that you want it now.”

    “Don’t do this, Peter,” she gasped, turning away from him. A flash of movement from the balcony caught her eye and as she turned her head and looked. She could have sworn that she saw a strange, grayish-green creature hanging from the balcony rail; it had large, pointy ears and gigantic black eyes in its small face. It smiled at her, its mouth full of sharp, wicked looking teeth. “What is that?”

    “Don’t distract me, Melanie,” Peter growled, wrapping his fingers around her arm and forcing her attention back to him. Taking a deep breath, he relaxed his grip on her arm and smiled down at her. “Now, as I was saying, I was hoping to wait, but….”

    Glancing back at her balcony, the creature was gone and she figured it must have been her imagination. She had more important concerns at the moment, like what kind of creature was pretending to be Peter. It couldn’t be the man she had spent six years with and if it was, he had to be on drugs or something. Shaking her head, she held out her hands to stop him. “I don’t want it; you know I don’t want it.”

    Again, he ignored her, going down on one knee in front of her and opening the black jewelry box to reveal a single carat, flawless diamond solitaire ring. “Melanie Annette Jacobs, will you do me the very great honor of becoming Mrs. Peter Kingston?”

    She almost got whiplash from the force of her head shaking. “No, absolutely not.”

    “Of course, I plan on keeping Vanessa to take care of my more… primal urges,” he continued, ignoring her refusal. “And knowing how adventurous you can be, maybe you could join us?”

  
“No.”

  
“Then maybe we can invite another man?” his expression was almost hopeful.

    She was shaking her head fervently. “No.”

    Disbelief rippled across his face as he stared up at her, her refusal finally sinking in. “What?”

    “No, Peter,” she repeated firmly. Did he honestly think she would? “I will not marry you; we were never going to get married to one another.”

    “You were upset that I cheated on you with one of your best friends,” he cajoled, standing up, still holding the box in his hands. “I get that, I do; but I also forgave you for cheating on me. We weren’t faithful but that doesn’t mean we don’t belong together. Marry me, Lenni.”

    “I never cheated on you, Peter,” she said, turning her back on him and flattening her palms against the counter top, wondering what bug crawled up into his brain and laid its rotten eggs; he was delusional. If it was truly Peter; she had to keep remembering that there were other things out there in the world and it might not be Peter. God, she hoped it wasn’t Peter. “We broke up because we didn’t belong together; I don’t think we ever belonged together.”

    “But you are going to marry me,” he bullied, irritating her even further. 

    “No, I’m not,” she insisted. Walking away and then turning around to face him once more, she held up her hands, “Peter, you’re not acting like yourself. Please, just go and… sober up.”

    “I’ve never been more sober,” he returned. “We’ll get married, have a couple of kids, get a dog….”

    There was suddenly not enough oxygen in her small apartment and she stumbled over to the balcony doors. Pushing them opened, she welcomed the blast of cold wind that stung her face. She took a couple of deep breaths, welcoming the icy air into her lungs.

    “That’s what I like about you, Lenni,” he said, leaning against the doorjamb, crossing his arms over his chest and watching her. “You’re so expressive; everything you feel is written on your face.”

    “Then why won’t you accept my answer and leave me be?” she spat out, taking huge gulping breaths of the frigid evening air and swallowing the bile that threatened to choke her.

    “Because you’re eyes tell me you still want me,” he said softly, reaching out to touch her. When she flinched he let his hand fall to his side. “Now, come inside before you catch your death.”

    “Peter,” she pleaded one last time, hoping to reach the man she knew was in there somewhere, not wanting to think about Vanessa lying to her all of these months. Why hadn’t her friend told her the truth? Melanie would have accepted it and been glad for it; then she wouldn’t have had to worry about Peter at all. “Go find Vanessa and ask her to marry you; she adores you.”

    He scoffed, “Like I would marry that whore; no, I want someone less used up.”

    “You’re a fucking bastard if you think that way about her,” Melanie seethed, still protective of her friend. “She’s a good woman….”

    “Yes, in bed and only in bed.” Peter’s face twisted in disgust and turmoil. “I’ll fuck her but come home to you at night.”

    “I’m not going to share my husband.” She squeezed her eyes shut, to clarify that she wasn’t going to marry him at all, but he was already talking.

    “Come on, Melanie, you’re being childish,” he murmured, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. “Nobody believes in monogamy anymore; with your, ahem, lover, and my piece of ass on the side, we’re perfect together.”

    She huffed out an incredulous snort, trying to bring her arms up to break his hold but his grip was like a vice. Even though the cold was seeping into her bones, she didn’t want him to touch her. “Let go Peter.”

    His hand splayed over her abdomen, pulling her hard against his body and his arousal.  His breath was hot against her neck as he whispered in her ear, “Marry me, Lenni.” 

     Struggling in earnest, she bit out, “It’s over; it’s been over for a very long time.”

    “Baby, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” he murmured coldly, tightening his hold and frightening her. He actually meant to harm her but she didn’t understand why. If it wasn’t a space alien or skin walker, what the hell caused the horrific personality change? “You’re mine; you’ve always been mine. I’m not going to lose you again.”

    “You’re not making any sense, Peter,” she said in a low voice, watching as the sun began to fall beneath the horizon, as colors exploded across the sky. It was going to be night soon; Vaughn was going to be knocking on her door in a few minutes. Maybe he would be able would be able to explain Peter’s behavior; maybe he would tell her that Peter wasn’t really Peter at all. Maybe….

    Peter jerked her body against his, his voice a low, threatening growl, “I’m not letting you go again.”

    She laughed, “You don’t get a say in the matter; I’m not yours.”

    “You
are
mine,” he snarled, pressing her forward until the metal railing dug into her stomach.

    “You’re hurting me, Peter,” she protested, as they stumbled backwards a few steps. With all of her strength, she pulled away from him. At the same time, he pushed her forward and she landed hard against the railing. Her hands curled around the bar to hold on when she realized that she was still falling forward. She was no longer looking at the sky but at the ground that was rushing up to greet her.

    The ground that she was rushing to meet.

    “Melanie!” she heard a gravelly voice cry out, the sound lost as the wind rushed past her body. She never should have taken a room on the fourteenth floor; living so high was bound to come to a bad end.

    Time slowed down and the strangest thoughts went through her head: she was never going to see her family again, she was never going to see Vaughn again; that he had been the gargoyle in her bedroom. And how cool would it have been to have a gargoyle for a boyfriend? Especially one who looked like Vaughn at night and the glorious stone creature in the day? It would have been interesting to fuck him in his gargoyle form; she wondered if it would even be possible.

    It was insanity to think about Vaughn as he was in his gargoyle form; she wasn’t going to see him again in any of his forms. She was never going to introduce him to her family; hell, she was never going to see her family again. Guilt gnawed at her gut as she considered her family having to deal with her death, of Ferris having to deal with it. The little girl deserved nothing but sunshine and happiness, not the loss of her favorite aunt.

    She almost laughed at the whole thing; the fates finally decided she was ready to see the truth just before they killed her.

    And even more ridiculous was the fact that the talisman wasn’t very effective at protecting her: she was going to die and it didn’t do a damn thing to stop it except for nearly burning a hole in her skin. Closing her eyes, she let the metal bar go and brought her arms up to shield her face. Though from fourteen stories, she didn’t know why she bothered; she was going to be splattered all over the sidewalk next to her apartment building.

    She was not going to be a pretty corpse.

    Armand grabbed Vaughn’s arm, “The sun is setting; there’s no time!”

    “If I don’t, she’ll die!” Vaughn’s heart raced in his stone chest as he spread his wings.

    “If you do, you’ll both die!” Armand yelled back in fear and anger.

    Vaughn didn’t even look before he fell forward, streamlining his wings to gain speed. In his terrifying flight to reach Melanie, he was oblivious to the frozen wind that cut across his face. The sun was setting, he could feel his body transforming but he had to reach Melanie, he had to save Melanie. Without her, life would be cold and dark… empty.

    Watching in horrified dread, he saw her bring her arms up to cover her head. Time was moving too quickly as she continued to fall and too slow as he desperately tried to reach her. She was too far away, falling too quickly and there wasn’t enough time. His body was softening, he was going to catch her but it would be too late. They were both going to hit the sidewalk and die.

    Stretching out his arm, his hands, he reached for her and touched her waist with the tips of his fingers. With a primal roar, he stretched his fingers until they gripped her shirt, pulling her to him. Five feet above the ground, he had her in his arms and he extended his wings fully to halt their descent, jolting their bodies at the abrupt stop. As he set his feet on the cold ground, relief flooded him as he held her once again in his arms. She was safe.

    She was alive.

    Melanie looked up at his changing face with wide, frightened eyes and her voice barely made it past her taut jaw. “Vaughn.”