Thanks to those who actually read and reviewed for Liberated Aficionado Love which was the 'scene'. Basically all the information you missed was that Numair has a nipple piercing (couldn't resist and gave for another plot point) and the wolf on Daine's lower back is a friend she made in the orphanage. If you want to read LAL then click on my name and go into it from there. Sorry some shameless advertising. But it's not bad for a first attempt, my best friend thought it rocked and was very realistic
Chapter Eight
Daine woke in a warm embrace.
A warm, naked embrace.
She froze and racked her brain for information on her bed partner, hoping she at least knew the name of the person. Well one thing was sure, the person was irrevocably male. If the lack of bumps on the chest she was pressed again and the other reason which she currently felt against her thigh.
Cautiously, she opened one eye and then the other. Her face was pressed against a warm, definitely manly chest covered with silky black hairs…and a piercing on the right nipple.
She inhaled and the scent of spices and soap came to her nose bringing a pleasant tingling feeling to her stomach. Her eyes travelled further up until they reached dark eyes watching her amusedly.
"Hello, stranger." She whispered.
"Hello, Magelet." He said, kissing her on the forehead.
"Now would be a really nice time for after sex cigarettes, but someone has an aversion to tobacco. Which, by the way, has been around since 6000BC."
Numair stared at her. "How do you know that, yet you have no idea who introduces the theory of relativity?"
"I know who made up the theory of reality-"
"Relativity." Numair corrected.
Daine shrugged. "Means the same thing. Anyway I said how do we know that Albert Einstein actually made up the theory? He could have stolen it from some other guy, or more likely, girl. After all he was terrible at school when he was younger and he didn't start speaking till he was three and even past nine years he still spoke hesitantly. Also he quit school and doesn't have a secondary school certificate. Does this sound like a genius to you?"
"Why do you know all this?"
"I know a whole heap of random and often useless facts of information. It's yet another one of my quirks."
"How many 'quirks' do you have?" Numair asked with interest.
"About seventeen. And once you've learnt them all I'll make you recite them in alphabetical order."
"Looking forward to it." Numair said dryly.
Daine shot a winning smile at him and climbed out of bed, pulling on one of Numair's shirts. It was so big on her it hung to about her knees. She looked in the mirror and ran her fingers through her hair, mussing up the curls. Then she blew a kiss at Numair and pranced into the kitchen. Numair sat up and yawned, stretching widely. He sat up and wrapped the sheet around his waist and followed Daine out of the room.
Daine opened his fridge and pulled out a Chinese takeaway carton. She opened it and sniffed it. Apparently deciding it was within the expiry date she started to eat with a pair of chopsticks.
"Don't you want to heat that up?" Numair asked, indicating to the container.
Daine shook her head and swallowed her mouthful. "Cold sesame noodles are like the national food of New York."
"New York isn't a nationality."
She rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."
"Are you from New York?" He asked curiously. "I did detect an accent."
"Born and bred, baby." Daine smirked at him. She grabbed some noodles with her chopstick and held the mouthful out to Numair. He leaned forward and she quickly shoved it in her mouth. "Wow, this is really good." She said innocently as he glared at her.
"And you are really bad." Numair sulked.
Daine raised her eyebrow mockingly. "So are you Mr I-have-a-bar-stuck-through-erectile-tissue."
Numair blinked at her. "That's lot of hyphens."
"Whatever, what's the story behind it anyways. I mean, obviously you didn't just decide it out of the blue."
"How do you know?" He challenged.
"Because people like you just don't decide to get piercing's of the nipple."
"What do you mean people like me?" Numair demanded.
Daine heaved a sigh. "I mean that you're part of the social group that are all totally boring cunts. Now stop changing the subject."
"I'm not changing the subject!" Numair defended.
"Yeah you are. You're doing it right now. You're trying to provoke a changing-the-subject argument with me. God, you're so transparent!" Daine prodded him in the arm. "Spill! Why do you have a nipple piercing?"
Numair pulled a face and sighed heavily. "Fine, you win."
"As always…" Daine muttered.
"I wasn't always a 'boring cunt' as you so eloquently put it. When I was about your age…I wouldn't say I was too bad. But I did cost my mother a lotof grey hairs. Of course now I have my own salary, I can pay for her to have them dyed."
Daine was listening to his tale with interest. "So, what happened to turn you into a…you know?"
Numair raised his eyebrow. "A stiff?"
Daine let loose a short husky laugh and nodded. Numair tilted his head thoughtfully "I guess I grew up."
"Growing up sucks. Like suddenly all the responsibility that your parents sheltered you from is forced upon you." Daine said philosophically.
Numair frowned slightly. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your parents? Why are you with Thayet and Jon?" Daine's expression turned stormy.
Numair took a hold of her hand. "I'm sorry. If you don't want to tell me, it's fine."
"No, it's fine." Daine said emotionlessly."Erm, I never knew my Da. It was some sort of one night stand I think, Ma never told me for sure. She loved him. My Ma, Sarra Beneksri was a midwife and she raised me by herself in the slums of New York. We didn't have that much money, see? Just enough to live on. My grandda lived with us until he died. I don't remember him much, he didn't approve of how Ma lived her life, didn't approve of me.
"She left me with her friend Lory when she went to work. She did late shifts at the hospital mostly so she could look after me in the day. So she'd leave after I went to sleep and return before I woke up. Except one day she wasn't there when I woke up." Tears began to run down Daine's cheeks at this point.
"The police said it was a mugging and she didn't want to give up her purse because she didn't want to lose the money in there, cos we needed it. So the guy killed her. Ten dollars was in her purse…my mother lost her life over ten FUCKING dollars. And they didn't catch the guy so he got away with it. Lory couldn't look after me, she had a husband and a new baby and they couldn't afford it. So I was put into an orphanage and that sucked majorly.
"Older kids picked on the new kids and the young kids. And one day this chick Fiona, most called her Frost and she just singled me out and she was saying all this stuff about my Ma and she just kept picking and picking until I snapped and broke her nose. I thought I would be done for after that but this guy saw it and he was impressed. He's the guy I told you about, the one whose front tooth was broken in half from a gang fight, Brokefang. And he took me under his wing you could say in a completely cliché and stupid manner.
"Anyways, he protected me and taught me how to survive on my own. And I was put in foster homes and I kept being put back into the orphanage cos of my apparent behavioural problems. I can't really remember much of it, kind of blurry. Brokefang didn't like that I kept coming back and he told me that I was lucky to be still; cute enough to be considered for adoption. He was fifteen and once he turned sixteen the orphanage would kick him out on his arse. He said give the next one's a chance cos they might be my last and I told him I'd think about it.
"Obviously the next ones were Thayet and Jon, I didn't and still don't know what they saw in me but they took me and put up with my behavioural issues. And I didn't know why they put up with it when the other families just threw me back and I was sure that they would end up doing that as well so I made myself hate them. I didn't want to like them and get hurt when they kicked me out so I kept pushing and pushing until I realised that I wasn't going anywhere. So one day I just stopped and I said 'good morning' when I came down for breakfast." She laughed. "You should have seen their faces.
"Anyways to make a long story shorter I changed my name from Beneksri to Sarrasri to tribute Ma and got the goddess tattoo. I learned to like the Conté family maybe even love and now Thayet and me bond over things like shopping trips, despite the difference in taste, and drinking coffee. Kally, Roald and Lianne apparently love me like their idol and Jon is the father I never had. That's basically my life story, I should write a book" She attempted a wobbly smile.
Numair pulled her into his arms and held her close. After she was done sobbing into his hug she pulled back. "God, I hate crying" She said, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of the shirt she was wearing. "And I seem to be doing shitloads of it lately. For which I fully blame you."
"Me?" Numair held a hand to his heart in a mock shocked way. "Whatever did I do?"
"You came in my life and muddled my emotions up." Daine said crossly. "I had them perfectly disordered and you came and now they're chaos."
"Perfectly disordered?" Numair raised an eyebrow.
"Yes." Daine insisted. "Like in an orderly disorder. Such as to another person they would seem in turmoil yet to me I could identify each and every one of them and subdue them when necessary."
"I know what you mean. I seem to have a similar system in my lab at work. To an outside observer it would seem like a hurricane has hit it with various books and papers perched in precarious piles yet ask me and I could tell you the location of every item in the room. There's possible a psychological term for it yet it eludes me."
Daine moved closer. "Thinking in similar ways is one of the universal sign for 'meant to be'." She said hooking her arms around his neck and bringing him down for a small sweet kiss. Numair drew his arms around her waist and kissed her back, pulling back for air and then starting again.
"Are you going back to your house?" He asked.
Daine pouted. "Sadly. Thayet's going to go nuts cos I'm grounded."
"What for?" Numair asked curiously.
Daine shrugged lightly. "I took Kally out to get her bellybutton pierced."
Numair stared at her. "You took an eleven year old out to get her bellybutton piercing?"
"God I know, Thayet is such a drama queen."
"You have no sense of remorse over this?" Numair frowned.
"None whatsoever. I've done worse and Thayet will eventually forget about it. She doesn't expect me not to go out; the punishment is just for show. She'd be more shocked if I actually stayed at home." Daine pecked him lightly on the lips and went back into the bedroom to get changed. Numair followed her.
"What about the consequences? Don't you ever think of the effects your actions have upon people?"
Daine walked around the room collecting various items of clothing. "I take consequences as they come. And I don't hurt people in an irreparable way so they always get over it." She began to dress.
"What about how our relationship?" He demanded.
Daine gave him a weird look. "Who's our relationship hurting?"
Numair took a breath. "Me. Do you know how our relationship could affect my life? I could be branded a paedophile."
Daine rolled her eyes. "No you can't, I'm legally allowed to have sex with whoever I want. The consent age in Tortall is sixteen."
"That won't matter, Daine. People will still see a thirty year old dating someone fourteen years his junior. Someone who despite the consent law is still considered a child."
"You shouldn't worry about what other people think." Daine finished getting dressed and came over to him, resting her hands lightly on his chest. "Look," She began. "If it bothers you so much then we'll keep our little rendezvous thing a secret until I'm like eighteen. If we're still going out."
"Rendezvous thing? You make it sound like I only want you for sex."
Daine looked up at him. "Do you?" she asked enquiringly.
Numair spluttered. "I-you-Of course not!"
"Then, it's not a problem." Daine said in a 'topic closed' tone of voice that she learnt from her mother. "Do you mind if I use your bathroom to put on my makeup?"
Numair nodded his consent and began to get dressed himself.
"Jeez! You have more hair products then me!" Came a shocked exclamation.
Numair laughed. "If you had hair as difficult as mine, then you would too." Once dressed, he followed her into the bathroom. He watched Daine draw curling lines out from each of her eyes with a liquid eyeliner.
"You look just as good without makeup on, you know." He pulled his hair into a pony tail with the help of several bottles of product.
"Spose," Daine said, concentrating on her reflection.
"But then you wouldn't be you." Numair decided after studying her. "Because your makeup reflects your personality."
"I'm glad you like it." Daine said patting him on the shoulder in a condescending manner.
"Need a ride?"
"Nope, I'll walk to Miri's house, it's only like a few streets away."
"And you need to give her all the juicy details." Numair added dryly.
Daine winked at him. "You can read me like a book can't you Numy-pie?"
"Okay then," Numair put his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek so as not to smudge her lipstick. "See you."
"Stalk you." Daine retorted with a devious smirk and she sauntered out leaving Numair to stare at her amused.
So that's a kind of crappy ending and i totally stole that last line from Stick It (i love that movie) but I couldn't figure out another way. They had a little heart to heart thing in this chapter and I addressed the whole age gap fear that Numair obviously would have. I also broke my mothers 'Get in bed by eleven' rule since it's now 1.47am. Whoops. I looked up some stuff on paedophilia after an issue that one reviewer had. Personally I think that once they hit the consent age them they can screw whoever they want and I suppose that if there's no sex then they could date under the consent age but not too young. That's just my opinion anyways. I'd love to hear yours (By the way this is a ploy to get you to review)
A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject
Love Queen Cocaine
XXX
