Cassandra went into her room and sat heavily in the big comfy chair. Her night had been going so well, why had that man said what he did? Why did he have to ruin everything?
"Cass?" Cassie looked up at Ryan who was just coming in and locking the door behind him. "Are you sure you're OK?"
"Yeah…He didn't want to hurt me." Her hands shook slightly and she had to clasp them in her lap to keep Ryan from noticing.
"How can you be so sure? He looked like he was going to throw you over the edge."
"No he wasn't…he was going to tell me something….he never got the chance Villefort knocked him out."
"What are you saying Cass?"
"I don't know any more…I just don't know." Cassie leaned back and closed her eyes…she was so tired of all of this…the drama, the fear. When she opened her eyes again Ryan was kneeling at her feet and staring intently at her.
"What can I do to help, Cass?" He took her hand in his and kissed the back of it gently. "Just tell me and I'll do it." Cassie touched his face with her palm and smiled at him.
"You're so sweet…really…" He grinned.
"Aw…shucks…" He said blushing.
"Will you sing to me?"
"What would the lady care to hear?"
"I don't know, something soft….something soothing."
"Rubber Ducky, you're the one!" Ryan stood and broke into song causing Cassandra to laugh uproariously.
"No no no! Not at all!" Ryan sat on the sofa and motioned for Cassandra to join him, which she did quite willingly. He wrapped her in his arms and lay back.
"Something soft and soothing, eh?" Cassie nodded her head against his shoulder as he brushed her hair back off her face.
Ten minutes ago, I saw you I looked up when you came through the door my head started reeling you gave me the feeling the room had no ceiling or floor. Ten minutes ago, I met you, and we murmured our how do you dos I wanted to ring out the bells and fling out my arms and sing out the news. I have found her, she's an angel, with the dust of the stars in her eyes. We are dancing, we are flying, and she's taking me back to the skies! In the arms of my love, I'm flying, over mountain and meadow and glen. And I like it so well that for all I can tell I may never come down again. I may never come down to earth again.
It was from Cinderella, the stage version. Cassie closed her eyes and listened as Ryan sang. He always had a song for her.
Ryan hummed through the chorus and looked down at Cassandra who had fallen asleep in his arms. He lay with her, unwilling to disturb her after the ordeal of the day. There was a quiet knock at the door and Ryan carefully extricated himself from the couch and went to answer it.
"Mr. Alexander, is Miss Davagé well?"
"I think so Mr. Villefort, she's just gone to sleep, she didn't want to be left alone."
"Miss Cartwright will stay with her. I need to see you in the office." Mia ducked into the room and looked at Ryan questioning him silently. He shot her a pointed look and left with Villefort, their dress shoes clicking softly on the hard floors. Mia sat on the big bed and waited an hour until Ryan came back.
"I had to give a witness report….is she…"
"Still asleep…Do they need to talk to Cass?" Mia looked over at the couch where Cassie still lay curled up, the golden curls of her hair spilling over the edge of the couch. She looked like an angel.
"No, they're going to come back to talk to her tomorrow morning….they think she's been through enough already."
"She didn't really need someone to stay with her, did she?"
"No, but it was the best cover story for Villefort." Ryan said running his hand through his hair. "That man does not like me….he doubly hates me when I'm with Cass."
"I see. Well, I know I'm the callous friend, but I'm going back to the gala. It's starting to wind down, a lot of people were freaked out by what happened."
"Thanks Mia." Mia was almost to the door when she turned around and strode back to where Ryan was standing beside the couch staring down at Cassandra. Mia grasped the lapel of his tuxedo and pulled him down so he was looking into her eyes. "If you hurt her, even a little bit, don't you dare put it past me not to kick your ass and hide the body so no one will find it."
"Mia, I would never hurt her, I swear to you."
"Good boy." She patted his lapel smooth and flounced out of the room. Ryan took off his tuxedo jacket and lay it carefully on the chair. Then he went to the door and listened…no one was in the hall. He looked back at the peacefully sleeping form of Cassie. He couldn't help but look at her. Her skin was a beautiful rosy peach color, her golden hair spilled over the scarlet velvet upholstery, the black and white satin dress accented her natural curves. His eyes were drawn to the smooth, perfect curve of her neck and down over her collar bone to the gentle swell of her breasts as they rose and fell with her soft breathing. She was flawless…he smiled knowing that she was his.
Ryan went back to the big chair and propped his feet up on the arm of the chair, his head on the other and continued to watch her sleep, feeling only a little despicable as he did so.
Cassie awoke slowly. She felt a little uncomfortable and looked at her surroundings. She was on the couch in the rose room, but couldn't really remember why. She looked at the chair opposite her and saw Ryan stretched across it. She smiled…he was so handsome. His shirt was unbuttoned slightly and his left shoe hung precariously from his foot where he'd untied it, but had unsuccessfully gotten it off his foot. She sat up slowly and went to take his shoes off for him. She then pulled the afghan off the back of the couch and draped it over him. His eyes opened as she tucked the blanket around his shoulder.
"Sorry." He grinned up at her as he looked around. "I must have dozed off."
"No problem." Cassie stretched and walked to the opposite side of the room. "I can't believe I slept on that couch….how long have I been out?"
"I don't know…I don't even know how long I've been out." He looked up over the back of the chair to where Cassandra was trying to reach the zipper on the back of her dress. "Need some help with that?" She looked over her shoulder and nodded. It was possibly the sexiest thing Ryan had ever seen. She'd gone from Angel to Goddess in the matter of moments. He stood up and threw the blanket onto the couch. His fingers undid the hook and eye at the back of her dress and slowly slid the zipper down. He couldn't help but run his knuckle all the way down her spine. She breathed deeply as he did so, relishing his touch as she always did. He kissed the nape of her neck softly and breathed deeply of her perfume. His hands ran back up over her shoulders as she gently leaned back into him. He kissed further across her collar bone as he began to slide her dress of her shoulders.
"If you don't stop, I don't know that I will stop you." She sighed as he captured her lips with his own as he spun her around.
"I will not sleep with you." Ryan said, his lips close to hers. She opened her eyes and looked at him, slight confusion creasing her brow. "Not before the performance anyway." Cassie leaned back in his arms.
"What?"
"Call it superstition, but I fear that if I sleep with you I will destroy your gift...your voice."
"Ryan that's…"
"It's not crazy…it's an old story my Gram used to tell me. God help me it just popped into my head…..she used to say 'Go with you gut' too, so I am." Cassie leaned up and kissed him sliding her tongue across his. "Although, if you keep that up, I'm going to find it damn hard to follow my gut."
"You're such a gentleman." Cassie said as she backed away and went to her small closet. "A dork, but a gentleman none the less. I'll be right out." She was back out in five minutes, her hair still done; wearing short shorts and the gray t-shirt she'd worn when they'd slept together at the hotel. She walked towards where he'd taken a seat on the bed and had unknotted his tie. She stood between his knees and touched his face gently. She loved the smell of him, his slightly unkempt look with his tie undone and his shirt sleeves rolled up made him irresistible. His hands naturally found their way to her hips and he gently brushed his fingertips across the skin at the waist band of her shorts as she initiated the kiss. She ran her hands over his chest and shoulders and moved to unbutton his shirt.
"Cassie…"
"Shh….we don't have to sleep together…" She recaptured his lips with her own as she continued to remove his shirt. "But I want you to stay here tonight, and I want to feel your hands on me." Ryan's hand clasped behind her back and he pulled her into him forcefully taking control of the situation. His hands slipped up behind her beneath her shirt and danced over the smooth lines of her back. He kissed down across her jaw and over her throat.
"No marks….Villefort would kill us."
"Don't mention his name….it's just us tonight." Ryan answered breathlessly as he quickly turned Cassie and pinned her to the bed taking the place she'd formerly been standing in. Cassie's taught body stretched beneath him trying to get in contact with every possible inch of his body. She could feel how hard he was…she knew he wanted her as bad as she wanted him, but knew his self control was too great. His hands touched all the sensitive spots on her body, his lips never left her and he gently ground his hips into her hips. She reveled in the feelings he generated in her body. He slowly pulled her t-shirt up over her head, his lips following it up and kissing every inch of flesh he exposed. She was in heaven….this was where she belonged.
When Cassandra woke the next morning, she was curled beside Ryan. They'd kicked the heavy comforter off the bed and were now covered in only a sheet. Ryan's arm lay heavy across her waist, heavy and comfortable. She closed her eyes and crept closer to him, as if that could have been anymore possible. Ryan's arms tightened around her as she did so and he kissed the top of her head without opening his eyes.
"Don't move, don't wake up…..I don't want to find this was all a dream." He said softly. She did as he asked because she didn't want to find it was all a dream too.
Ryan snuck out of Cassie's room and back to his own and the two met with a tired looking Mia and Matt before breakfast.
"Hmm…If I didn't know any better, I'd think they were up to the same thing we were." Ryan said sitting across from Matt and smirking at Cassie. Mia coughed, choking on piece of bagel she'd been chewing on.
"I hope not…..I'm thinking they're a bit beyond that." Cassie said casually. It was Matt's turn to cough.
"Do you tell her everything?" He asked as Mia laughed and tried to regain composure.
"No…of course not."
"Students….I need your attention please!" Mr. Giles shouted. "Today is opening day….your first performance will be this evening at eight o'clock. No one is to go anywhere near the stage today. Make-up and costuming schedules are posted on the wall outside the cafeteria…be prompt and don't dawdle." He droned on and on about what had happened at the gala the night before but tactfully avoided the subject of the mystery man.
Several students found their way to dark corners of the opera house. To find solace and peace before the performance was hard to do in an opera house with so many people, but the place was constructed so it offered numerous hidden places for anyone who looked for them. Occasionally a random scale would sound throughout the opera house. Cassie went back to her room after breakfast and lay on her bed listening to the soundtrack from Rent. Anything to keep her mind off Phantom. A knock on the wall between rooms signaled Ryan's entrance.
"So the guy they arrested last night just woke up…apparently Mr.V is stronger than we all thought…really cuffed the guy a good one."
"And?"
"He says he's lived in the Opera house for years using the secret tunnels, and that he wasn't trying to scare us, but warn us."
"Rut Ro Shaggy…"
"yeah, it does seem a bit odd, doesn't it?"
"But what is he trying to warn us of?" Cassie asked.
"He never said, wouldn't give the inspectors a cogent answer."
Ryan and Cassie relaxed all day and then at two thirty Ryan's watch went off.
"Well, I got make up." He said standing. "Mark's just going in now…"
"Poor thing…he's got to sit all day in that stuff."
"Yeah…at least it's better quality than the putty we used in the performance at school."
Cassie shrugged. Ryan left and Mia came to get Cassie shortly after.
"Corset time…you ready?"
"No." Cassie said firmly sitting on the floor by her bed. "If I lace into a corset now, I'm going to puke."
"No you aren't." Mia admonished dragging Cassie along the corridors to eat something and then up to costuming.
"Stop for a minute….I feel nauseous." Cassie said as the costume mistress tightened the laces.
"Too Tight?"
"No….just nerves." Cassie looked at herself in the mirror….she was green around the gills…the only natural color coming from the make up she wore. "Can I go get some air real quick before you finish?"
"Sure sweetie." Cassie left the room. Davette laughed as Cassie brushed past, still tying the sash on her dressing robe.
"Well, we all knew you'd fall down when it came to the big one…" Davette laughed as she walked away from Cassandra. Cassie shook her head, muttered an oath beneath her breath and went out and sat in the plush velvet seats of the opera house. She sighed heavily and tried to calm herself but to no avail.
"Cassie, why are you here? Davette said you looked ill."
"Oh…I'm just nervous….and a little light headed…that's all." Cassie covered as Villefort sat beside her.
"I'm nervous too."
"Over what? You aren't performing." Cassie said incredulously. This man could lurk in the shadows and lay all blame on the students….he didn't have to accept anything…he had nothing to be nervous about.
"I'm terrified all of Paris will be here to see this. This is a bigger production than any I've ever been a part of." He looked at the stage where the techies were working on a set of lights. "It's as if, one moment I'm flying because I'm so filled with joy that we're performing here. This is the chance of a life time." Villefort's eyes glimmered in the pale house lights. "But then I feel as if I'm slipping backwards into something dark because there are so many things that could go wrong." He turned to look at Cassie, his green eyes seeming black. "Do you know what I'm talking about?"
"Yes." Cassie breathed. He'd voiced her thoughts exactly. "Mr. Villefort, what if something does go wrong?"
"Then we try again!" He clasped her hands in his and looked deep into her eyes. "We perform here for a week before the real company comes in. We'll have a week to get everything into perfection. You know I'll settle for nothing less." Villefort's crooked grin flashed as he got up, pulling Cassandra with him."Come, you must finish changing." Villefortbrushed his thumb over the back of her handand walked with Cassandra back to where everyone was getting laced into corsets for the performance. "Sing well, Cassandra. You know deep in your heart this is nothing."
"Thank you Mr. V." He bowed away from the door and into the shadows of the opera house.
Cassie was ready. With her head held high and her hand tingling from where he'd been stroking it, she marched into the room and prepared for her show.