I remember that I wanted to update only on weekends from now on, and here I'm already updating during the week again.
TriGemini: Oh, don't worry, Angelina will soon believe that she has a stalker. Oh, and Marcus is actually going to be 'nice' in this chapter :D
Tiarwen: I have a feeling you will just LOVE this chapter.
Tina: thank you, I hope you will like this chapter, too.
Ella Palladino: I live in a very, very, very small village (about 420 inhabitants) in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Angelface04: I'm very glad to tell you that I actually managed to make the chapter longer than the last ones. And it has more sexual tension, a bit of romance and the stalker watching them in it. Sounds good?
Evilevergreen: Oh yes, the stalker is definitely watching them again. And for the mishaps… there are none while they're out, but afterwards…
Chapter 8
Black Roses
Angelina leaned back in her chair when she had finished her salami pizza.
"So, are you happy now?" she asked Marcus as he too finished his Ossobuco Rosso.
"It was at least better than that rabbit-food you ate this morning!"
Angelina just sighed and rolled her eyes. She was thinking about what she could do this afternoon, for she was sure were she to go back to her flat with him one of them would surely kill the other one, and she wasn't ready to go to Azkaban because of Flint.
Flint seemed to have come to the same conclusion as she had, for after they had paid he asked her if there was something to do in the city. Angelina shrugged.
"Nothing much really." At least nothing much she could do with Flint. She went to one of the small cafés or an ice cream parlour when she went out into the city with some of her friends. Shopping was also an option when she was with Meriel or Katie or Alicia. But with Flint? She would need something with as little time to talk as possible, for it seemed as though every word he said made her want to strangle the man.
"We could of course also go back to your flat and you tell me exactly how 'serious' your relationships have been." He grinned at the look on her face.
"Or we could just forget about that option!" Angelina finally sighed and arose from her seat.
"Come on, I wanted to buy a bunch of flowers for my flat anyway, so I can as well do it now." And with that they left the restaurant, neither of them knowing that they were being watched by a pair of grey eyes.
They walked down the street, Angelina setting up a slow pace, looking here and there through the shop windows while Marcus muttered something about 'typical women'.
When they reached the flower shop Marcus hoped she already knew what kind of flowers she wanted. But of course she didn't. Marcus waited impatiently for her to decide when a shop assistant came towards them and asked how he could help.
"I'm searching for some flowers for my flat." Angelina told him and the shop assistant smiled.
"Oh, I think I have just the right flowers for you."
Marcus raised his eyebrows at the man. He was no more than thirty years old but acted as though he was his own grandfather. When he showed Angelina a bunch of white flower's Marcus frowned slightly.
"Here. The Madonna lilies. They are probably the most beautiful flowers we have. Their pure white colour is magnificent and ah, their fragrance…" He smelled at the flowers and sighed.
Behind her, Angelina could hear Marcus snort. She turned around and frowned at his behaviour. The shop assistant, however, looked slightly taken aback and asked Marcus if there was something wrong.
"These are no flowers for you." Marcus told Angelina plainly and pointed at a bunch of roses. Black roses.
"What about those?" he asked the shop assistant who gave him a bewildered look.
"Those are the so-called 'Black Baccara', they have just arrived from Milan. They are the darkest red one ever managed to grow. Such a dark red that they look black." He told him obviously confused at why someone would want those flowers as decoration for one's flat.
Angelina raised her eyebrows at Marcus and looked at him questioningly.
"Are you already planning my funeral?" she asked him when she looked back at the roses. Sure, they were beautiful, like all roses were, but black? Marcus sighed at her ignorance and went towards the bunch of roses, looked at the flowers and back at Angelina.
"They're black, proud, passionate, strong, unique and beautiful." He said and Angelina's eyebrows rose even farther when she heard this.
"These are the right flowers for you." Marcus finished and Angelina could just in time prevent her mouth from falling open. But she couldn't prevent her eyes from widening at what she had just heard. Had she hit her head sometime today? Or had he?
She was so shocked that Marcus had to pay the roses in order for them to get out of the shop anytime that day.
"Come on." He said and pulled her with him by her elbow, pushing the flowers into her hands. Angelina was following him silently for some minutes, not even saying something about the rude way he had pulled her out of the shop.
Once they were back in the street where her flat was, however, her mind found it's way back home.
"Did you mean what you just said?" She asked him silently enough for nobody but him to hear. Marcus rolled his eyes and groaned. He knew he would regret saying it.
"I haven't said anything the last ten minutes." He said and tried to avoid the subject.
"You know what I mean." It was obvious that he wouldn't get Angelina to stop before she had an answer. For a moment he thought about telling her that he had said it only to get the stupid smile off of the shop assistant's face, but when he looked back at her and saw how she looked disbelieving at the flowers in her hand he had this stupid need to say the truth. The Slytherin inside of him winced at this thought.
"Yes, I meant what I said. And don't think too much about it, for it was only the truth." He told her and went on towards the house. "As though a white lily would fit for you." He added more to himself.
"Why not." Damn her why did she have to hear so good? He sighed frustrated and turned around on the street.
"A white lily? A white, fragile lily? I don't think so! Look at you. You aren't fragile."
"You think I'm beautiful?" she asked and had difficulty looking at his face, for she was already fearing he would now laugh at her.
"Have you looked in the mirror lately?" Angelina looked asking at him.
"Damnit Johnson, yes I think you're beautiful, and if you don't know it yourself you really need to have your eyes checked. Now, can we please, please go back to your flat and stop talking about this?" with this he turned around and headed towards the house. Angelina followed him and thought with a small smile that he was slowly starting to act nicely. What a huge improvement.
He goes out with you! Buys you flowers! How dare he? What else are you two doing? Do you let him kiss you? Is he allowed to touch you? Do you let him see you naked? Is he sharing your bed?
How can you allow him to be so close to you when you know that you're mine? That I'm the only one who is supposed to kiss you, to touch your body, to lay with you? But he will soon be gone. And then I'll make you mine!
Radames was lying on the sofa when they entered the flat and lifted his head when he heard his mistress being home again. He meowed and jumped off of the couch to walk to her and rub his head against her leg.
"Hey, missed me already?" Radames let out a meow as an answer and purred while he continued to walk around her leg. Angelina carefully stepped over the cat and walked into the kitchen to put the flowers in a vase.
Radames came after her and looked up at her expectantly. Angelina shook her head and kneed down before the cat.
"Don't tell me you're already hungry again?" Radames put his paws on her knees and tried to touch her chin with his head.
"I guess this is a 'yes'." She arose and went to get him something to eat.
"So, am I allowed to take a shower now, or are you going to throw me out of your bathroom as soon as I go in?" Marcus asked from the couch.
"As long as you don't take hours in the bathroom." Angelina replied and with a mocking bow Marcus disappeared into the bathroom. Angelina looked out of the window and saw that the sun was already setting. Seeing as tomorrow was Sunday, and this meant, the match against the Wimbourne Wasps would be tomorrow.
"I can as well go to bed early then." She said to Radames and went into her bedroom to change for bed. The only problem was, when she had changed into her sleeping t-shirt, she still needed to go to the bathroom.
It just seemed, as though Marcus was taking more time than she had thought. Unfortunately the need for her to use the bathroom was growing stronger every minute.
"Damn him!" she cursed and went to knock on the bathroom door. She could hear the shower behind it, so she knocked harder, trying to get his attention.
"Flint! Could you please hurry!" she screamed at the closed door, but she didn't get any response. She cursed again and moved impatiently from one foot onto the other.
"Flint damn it! I need to go in there NOW!" She banged even harder on the door but she still didn't get a response. At least, the shower wasn't running anymore. But the door was still locked and she was still on the wrong side of it. At least, that was what her body told her.
"FLINT!" her hand was already hurting and she leaned against the door to try and hear something, when finally the door opened and she fell directly against Flint.
"Johnson, really, if this is what you wanted you should have just said so." He grinned down at her and Angelina raised her head from his – naked – chest to look up at him.
"Let me go, I need to use the bathroom. NOW." She was getting way too aware that he wasn't wearing much. Nothing more but a pair of boxer shorts to be exact. And she herself was not wearing that much either. The thin fabric of her shirt let her feel the warmth of his skin and she didn't like this one bit.
Marcus let her go slowly and went back into the bathroom to get his clothes. With one last grin at her and a quick glance at her bare legs he left her alone. Angelina sighed and closed the door behind him.
Marcus went back into the living room area and put his clothes onto one of the armchairs. Then he took the blanket Angelina had always on the backrest of her couch and made himself a bed on the couch. He hadn't slept much the night before and he wondered if Angelina had ever slept on the couch for it was the most uncomfortable place to sleep on.
Just when he had lain down on the couch and had pulled the blanket up he felt a sudden weight on his stomach. He looked down and saw Radames getting comfortable to sleep on his stomach. Marcus raised his eyebrows at the cat and sat up.
"Down!" he pointed at the floor but Radames just meowed and curled himself up on Marcus' legs.
"JOHNSON!" He screamed just when he heard the bathroom door being opened. Angelina came into the living room area and stood behind the backrest of the couch. She was just about to ask him what his problem was when she saw Radames lying on his legs. She couldn't help but smile.
"Well, he seems to like you." She said and petted Radames' head, causing the cat to purr and lift his head farther to reach her hand.
"Get it off of me. And make sure he stays away from me." Angelina sighed and took Radames into her arms stroking his fur when she held him close to her chest.
"Don't worry, he won't disturb your beauty sleep." With this she went into her room and went to bed, Radames curled up at her legs.
Angelina wasn't sure what had woken her but she soon noticed that Radames wasn't where he had been when she had fallen asleep. She moaned into her pillow but rose nonetheless. She had a feeling that she would find her cat on Flint's stomach again.
She sneaked into the living room area and stopped behind the backrest of the couch. And, just as she had thought, Radames was lying on Flint's stomach, curled up and fast asleep.
Angelina reached out a hand to silently wake the cat and get him to come back to her room before Marcus noticed him. But just before she could reach his fur her wrist was held tightly.
She shrieked when she was pulled forward and this woke up Radames who jumped down from his sleeping place immediately when he saw his mistress falling down onto the body he had slept on. But Angelina didn't come to rest on Flint, instead she fell farther, onto the floor, and Marcus fell directly on top of her.
Angelina groaned. Her head ached and she could barely breathe.
"Damn it Johnson. What the hell were you thinking?" she heard Marcus from directly above her. Now that explained why she couldn't breathe anymore. She was tightly pressed between his body and the floor; her legs were caught in the blanket as well as his.
"I was trying to get Radames back before you could wake up and go all ballistic again. Now could you please get off of me? I can't breathe." She told him and tried to wiggle free from underneath him.
"Johnson stop it!" Marcus hissed and held her hips still.
"Then get finally off of me!" she told him and tried desperately to get away from him again.
"Johnson, stop it! What you're doing now is only making it worse." He hissed and now Angelina felt what he meant. Her eyes widened and she tensed underneath him. This could not be happening. This was just a dream. A nightmare!
Marcus rose onto his elbows and reached down to get the blanket off from their legs, desperately trying to ignore her body underneath him, only separated by the thin t-shirt she was wearing and his boxer shorts.
It took him some time, but somehow he finally managed to get the blanket off and rose from the floor. He held out a hand for Angelina to help her up but she refused and arose without his help. Radames was sitting on the couch innocently licking his paw.
Angelina took him wordlessly in her arms and went back to her room. Marcus heard her close the door but didn't feel like telling her to leave it open. He lay back down on the couch and tried to get back to sleep. But the memory of how she had felt underneath him, how he could feel her breasts underneath her t-shirt pressing against his chest, her bare legs against his, the way she had smelt – of apples and roses – and especially the memory of how it had felt when she had moved beneath him were keeping him awake. Unbeknown to him, Angelina wasn't doing much better.