Chapter 60
"Well, well, if it isn't Abbie, what can I do for you, sweetheart?"
"I need a white dress. Something…elegant, but not overly fancy."
Ron arched a brow, wondering if Taker had popped the question and folded his arms in front of his chest. "Well, if I have any…they'd be in the dress department in the back."
"Thanks."
Mark would inform everyone what was going on and she knew Ron was one of the few that was coming with them to war. She flashed a quick smile that didn't touch her eyes and hurried to the back, spotting the dresses. Blue, green, purple, grey, orange, yellow, red…Abigail spotted a white one, finally, and breathed a sigh of relief it was her size. It was simple, short-sleeved with frayed edges, and would go to her knees. She wouldn't have to wear it until the day they actually made it to Bray, but that didn't comfort her one iota. Taking it off the rack, she quickly tried it on and stared in the full-length cracked mirror, tears streaming down her face.
White…she really hated this color.
Even though he had a million things to do, Taker had strayed into Ron's shop, holding up a hand for silence when Ron went to greet him. His emerald green eyes sought out Abigail, spotting her disappearing into a fitting room, and followed her. She stepped out to examine herself in the dress, it was white. She was crying. Stepping up behind her, he touched the back of the gown with a finger, watching as it began turning the colors of the nighttime sky, millions of stars forming, shimmering, the starlight he usually saw reflected in her eyes.
"This suits you better." He said quietly, knowing she hated white and he could see how much it hurt her being in it again.
The color he changed her gown reminded her of the invisibility cloak, how it shimmered and reminded her of the night sky. "I love it." Of course, it would have to be changed back to white, but for the moment, she could enjoy being in this starry nightdress. "That's all he forced me to wear was white. I hate it. My entire wardrobe, not a hint or a flicker of color because of 'purity'." She scowled, smoothing her hands down the dress, and took a deep, shaky breath. "I really don't want this changed back. I wonder what would happen if he saw me in this, what he would say and how he'd react." Probably flip his lid if she knew Bray as well as she thought. Come to think of it… "Wait, why am I wearing white anyway? I'm supposed to be your captive, right? Why would you have me wear white, the same color he forced on me? That doesn't make sense – THIS makes better sense, wearing what you pick out or the color you choose for me. Not to mention, he'll be distraught and angry over it, which will cause him to react irrationally and that's what we want. We want him off his game."
"My only concern is that he'll think, because you're not in white, you're no longer pure." Taker said quietly, thoughtfully, staring down at her. "Would that put him off of you or just piss him off even more?" He knew if he was in Wyatt's place, it would enrage him and he'd want to kill whoever had 'defiled' his woman. Taking Abigail by the hand, he twirled her, watching the skirt of her dress, the way the starry night on it shimmered and he smiled. "Whichever way you think is best, darlin'."
"Let him think you defiled me. It'll enrage him, it'll make him unfocused and that's what we want. We want to throw him off, make him make mistakes." Abigail smiled when he twirled her again, a genuine smile coming to her face. "It doesn't matter what color I'm in, he's still going to want me. He'll just think I need to be 'purified'." She shuddered, the smile vanishing because she'd seen what he did to soldiers who had to be 'purified' in the name of the Dominion. "Maybe not this color, but…the color that suits YOU best, Mark. Black would probably send him over the edge, actually."
"Black?"
He didn't think black was his color, not really. Well, if he went Lord of Darkness style, sure. With a smirk, his features and hair transformed and his hands on her bodice had the dressing an inky black, something with the slightest bit of shimmer because straight black in this cut, on her, looked bland as hell. This gave it that subtle shimmer of something… wicked and definitely not pure.
"I could eat you up, Abigail." He rumbled, stepping back to admire her.
This disguise, Stephanie called it the Lord of Darkness, remembering that vividly because, even Abigail would admit, it was incredibly sexy. The black long beard, the black hair, the way his eyes flashed acid, and his entire demeanor in general. "That. This look you have right now, that look in your eyes…that's what you should show Bray when the time comes. He'll be scared out of his mind, pissed off and it will cloud his judgment." She would be in the arms of the devil incarnate, maybe even himself and it brought a wicked smile to her face. "Black, definitely going with black." It was the color of darkness, the complete opposite of purity, and Bray would definitely lose his mind seeing her, not only in black, but with Mark as he currently looked now. "Maybe your disguises aren't so bad after all, though I still prefer you as…you, the most."
"Well, none of them know what I really look like, so this will do."
Not to mention, if shit hit the fan and didn't go as they planned, at least his true face wasn't being shown. Taker would modify this one, go pale ass white, put some fire in his eyes. His lips curved into an arrogant smirk, taking her arms and drawing her into him, his hands leaving her arms to skim over the small of her back, to her backside, squeezing.
"What is it about this look…" He mused, voice dropping to a dark baritone. "That makes you get that wicked gleam in your eyes?"
"I don't know." It was honest, she had no idea why she was drawn to him in this image, this particular disguise. "Maybe it has to do with the fact, for so many years, I was thought of as pure and I had to live a pure existence. It was forced upon me, I never had a say on what I truly wanted out of life. So this disguise exudes darkness, and I'm drawn to it. I'd rather live in a world of dark than 'purity' any day of the damn week. Stephanie was right." At his arched brow, Abigail smirked and slid her arms around his neck to pull him closer. "You drip with sin and you're walking sex in this look."
She remembered the night Stephanie told her that and her cheeks had lit on fire. It was before her first night spent with Mark, back when she first came to Wonderful. The girls had inadvertently spilled his secret about the magic and disguises.
"Walking… sex…" He repeated, his voice still the dark baritone, his accent fairly gone.
It was something he just naturally did with this look, and apparently… this look had its own fan club. Where the hell was that knowledge before? Taker grabbed her about the waist, hoisting her up, and felt Abigail's legs encircle his waist, the material of her dress bunching up around hers.
"You look exquisite in this color," He growled, brushing his lips against the column of her throat. "I'm tempted to fuck you right here and now, Abigail."
"H-Here?" Abigail blinked, not sure how she felt about that and, more importantly, how the owner of this shop would feel about them getting down and dirty. "Mark…Mark, what are you…" Her words trailed off as he promptly walked into the dressing room, drawing the curtain, and slid his hand beneath her dress, her panties disintegrating. "You better put up a sound barrier." She breathed, unable to deny him, and smirked when he didn't take the dress off, her mouth finding his moments later. With a wave of his hand, a barrier was placed around them that was soundproof, so Ron or any other customer wouldn't know what was going on back here. "Thank you. Now fuck your woman, Lord of Darkness." She mumbled against his mouth, hearing him growl, and gave herself completely to him, enjoying how positively sinful they were being.
It was a damn good thing he put that sound barrier up because Abigail had the most intense orgasm of her life and screamed louder than she ever had before.
When they were done, Taker slipped out the back door because he really didn't want to see Ron at the moment. He would wind up smirking or laughing, and he didn't feel like tussling with the old-timer. Taker had left her there feeling a hell of a lot better than the condition he had found her. He was also feeling a lot more relaxed as well, less grim for sure, and went to find Steve to get their army ready to march.
"I thought you were looking for a white dress, honey?" Ron asked when Abigail came to the front of the shop, taking in the black dress.
"Oh, yeah, you didn't have any back there, but I'll take this one for sure."
Abigail tried so hard not to flame up, paying for the dress with a shirt and pants, trading, before exiting the shop. She went back to the tower, packed up the things she would be bringing along, including the dress, and changed into a pair of jeans and a purple tank top. She braided her hair to keep it out of the way and made sure to have a sweatshirt since she would be riding with Mark. Sex with Mark in that shop had also cleared her mind, made her worries disappear and Abigail honestly had an appetite for the first time in days. There was one more stop she had to make before setting off on this journey and Abigail hoped she wasn't a bother, but Stephanie had become a friend. She wanted to see Anthony too, spend a little time with them, before departing.
Stephanie was more than glad for the company, smiling brightly but tiredly when she spotted Abigail. She was now out of the medical wing and still confined to bedrest, sort of. Only allowed to get up and walk around every now and then, for short distances, but she wasn't supposed to bend over or lift anything heavier than Anthony. Currently, she was sitting in the recliner, feeding her nipple attached son.
"You're looking… happy." She laughed, gesturing for Abigail to have a seat. "What's got those roses in your cheeks, Abbie?"
"You don't wanna know."
"Let me take a WILD guess here…Taker as the Lord of Darkness?" Stephanie laughed when Abigail's cheeks reddened, knowing she'd hit the nail on the head. "Yeah, that's what I thought. He is damn sexy in that disguise, isn't he?"
"Yeah…" Abigail cleared her throat, leaning back against the couch, and smiled at the way Anthony greedily sucked at his momma's breast. "You'll never guess where we just…uh…committed sin at."
"Committed sin?" Stephanie laughed harder, wincing since it still hurt to laugh. "I cannot wait until I'm healed from that damn C-section. Sorry, go on and tell me where. I need a good story." She listened as Abigail told her what they'd done in RON'S shop and nearly split her side laughing, tears in her eyes from pain in a good and bad way. "Oh fuck…oh my god…"
Abigail was up instantly, checking to make sure Stephanie wasn't actually hurt, and smiled down at the baby boy gazing up at her questioningly. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up chuckles. It was worth it though, and exciting. Can I hold him?"
"Sure." Stephanie handed her son over to Abigail and watched her walk back over to sit down, cradling him against her chest. "Damn brat has to eat every 2 hours. I swear, I'm never gonna get on a normal sleep schedule again. I love him though. He's worth it. You gonna have any?"
"Someday, I hope."
"Well, there's old women around here who remember the 'breast is best' campaign from back before the world went to shit and, while I agree to an extent, it blows on sleeping through the night. Can't have John give JR there a bottle or take over." Stephanie sighed wistfully, then shook her head. "Oh well, I guess I should just be glad I'm able to do it, right?" Having Abigail take over was great, though. "Give me a second? I need to pee, and I hate leaving him alone." At Abigail's nod, she gingerly got up and walked out of the room. "Be damn glad to be out of these stupid diapers too!" Pregnancy was such a bitch; the post-partum bleeding was crazy.
Abigail was familiar with the aftermath of having a baby, due to so many women in the castle having to go through it. It made her wonder how their wombs were even able to conceive one baby after another. There was absolutely nothing magical about Anthony. He was perfect with chubby cheeks, those blue eyes, and dark wisps of brown hair. This baby already had him wrapped around her finger and he didn't even know it. Abigail suddenly wondered if Mark wanted children, frowning thoughtfully. They hadn't discussed it yet, then again they hadn't been together that long either.
"So perfect…and precious." She whispered, kissing the baby's forehead and sighed at the fresh baby smell. "Oops, someone needs a diaper change. Come on, little guy, let's get you cleaned up for Mommy."
"Sweet baby Jesus I am over this… just an FYI, what they never told us about having kids was that you're going to need fricking adult diapers for the waterfalls of blood and inability to not piss yourself, whenever you laugh or sneeze… I hope everything goes back to normal." Or else Anthony might just be an only child. Stephanie wasn't entirely sure she wanted to risk the peeing every time she sneezed. "Oh, you changed him, thank you! He shits all the time." Babies did a lot of gross things, but at the same time, he smelled so good, she would love to bottle that scent up, knowing it wouldn't last.
"Yeah, I figured you could use a little help and we haven't really hung out since you had him. I also put a new sleeper on him because he threw up on the one he had on." Abigail made a face, making Stephanie laugh and wince. "Sit down Momma, you shouldn't be on your feet very long. And don't worry, everything should go back to normal." Hell, if those women in the DOV could keep popping them out like PEZ dispensers, there was no reason Stephanie couldn't handle having one baby. "I also wanted to tell you that we're leaving today…something…happened to me. I can't even begin explaining it to you, but…I know when Bray is coming for me. It's 6 days from now and we have to cut him off at the pass with what Malcolm and Mark have to do."
"Abbie, you can't tell me all that and not expect me to take your 'I can't even begin explaining' it bullshit. So start explaining." Stephanie ordered dryly.
Having a baby had done nothing to stop her blunt way of speaking, at all. A person couldn't tell someone all that without actually telling them anything; all it did was make them worried and curious at the same time. She sank back down and stared at Abigail expectantly, drumming her fingernails on the chair's armrests. If the woman could tell her about having sex in Ron's shop of all places… and god help them all if Ron ever found out, she'd find a way of explaining what 'this' was.
The baby in her arms gave her some kind of strength and Abigail knew she could trust Stephanie. "You can't tell the others about this. Nobody except Malcolm and Mark know."
