Chapter 16 – The Reporter
Tired, so very tired. Nicole stumbled up the stairs of Erik's lair. Her mood was, however, tempered by the soothing notes that Erik was coaxing from the organ. She slumped into a chair and closed her eyes to better appreciate this new piece.
Nicole had been working late into the night for the past week-and-a-half. Luckily, they had already found a new prima donna to replace Carlotta and so were also working on a new play, which was coming along well, but required an awful lot of work. New props had been devised, new instruments to be bought, and the bills never stopped (not that they were lacking money). The more Erik and Nicole combined their talents the more success they were able to achieve.
But it still required a great deal of time and effort.
When Erik ended his piece, Nicole was half-asleep. She didn't even protest when Erik lifted her from the chair with a soft chuckle and placed her in his bed. With a contented sigh, Nicole snuggled into the luxurious sheets. Erik chuckled deeply again at her innocent antics and turned to leave.
As his presence weakened, Nicole lifted her head and blearily blinked her eyes. "Where are you going? Aren't you tired?"
He half-turned to her, she could only see his masked side, "I thought you might prefer to simply sleep."
The effort to keep her head raised was too much and as she dropped it back down, she said, "Yes, but I don't have to do that alone," - mumbling the next part – "besides, where would you sleep?"
By this time Nicole had completely lost the battle with her eyelids and so she didn't see the tender emotion shining in the Phantom's eyes as he fully turned to her. In answer, Erik removed his coat and settled into the bed next to her. On the verge of sleep, she rolled over and rested her head on his chest.
Before sleep fully overcame her, Nicole whispered, "I like the sound of your heartbeat."
XXX
As Marcus was coming down from his high, Carlotta knew this was the perfect moment to ask for a favor. She ran a hand down his chest and smiled at him coyly; he returned it with a silly sated one. He wasn't the best lover she had ever had, but that wasn't why she slept with him.
Marcus Wood was an English reporter in his fifties, rotund with a receding hairline. He had come to Paris for a little excitement and some new stories.
Like any hopeful, ambitious (but talentless) men, he had been easy to get into bed with a gorgeous opera star. Now there was a price to pay – She had given him a great romp between the sheets, he would help her get revenge.
"Marc – darling, I need you to do something for me – "
XXX
Instead of taking the long trek down to Erik's lair, Nicole opted to just sink down into her bed. She and Erik had been sleeping in his bed for almost a week now; just sleeping, no after form of activity. Nicole was a little annoyed, but knew Erik had his reasons for postponing intimacy. Something else that annoyed her was the fact that she always found herself going to his quarters, never the other way around. Then again, she reasoned that was a good practice for privacy reasons. Erik could remove his mask and Nicole could slip off everything else.
But tonight, Nicole just wanted to sleep (with or without Erik). She was so exhausted she didn't even bother removing her wig and mustache. This was how Erik found her an hour later.
Erik had finished another piece of music (which he wouldn't quite admit to being inspired by Nicole) and had gone to bed for some much deserved rest. But sleep was slow in coming. He kept tossing and turning and couldn't find a comfortable position. He glanced at the space beside him, coming to a conclusion, then shrugging it off. He couldn't be affected by Nicole's presence so much that it would disrupt his sleep, could he?
With Christine, it was different. With Christine he had always had to imagine and theorize who she was, how she might react to situations. Christine was someone he could only have assumptions about. But Nicole…with Nicole, Erik just knew. He knew how much she loved apples, dark blue colors, constellations. He knew how much she loved his music, his dry wit, his voice. Most important, she knew him. They connected and understood one another. If Erik had to put it into words, he would say that she was his other half.
This conclusion (and insomnia) led him to seek Nicole, where he found her asleep on her bed. Erik stood there for a moment, feeling like the dark, looming shadow of Death. A moment of selfishness wriggled through, leaving him wanting to wake Nicole just so that he could see her eyes, hear her voice…He quashed it, however, in favor of watching her dream. It soothed him watching her chest rise and fall with each breath, her brow unfurrowed. Erik was also amused that she had been so tired as to neglect the removal of her wig and mustache. Whether or not he wanted to wake her, she would regret falling asleep with her disguise on in the morning, as several other theatre-mongers learned quickly.
XXX
It started with her head becoming cold and then there was a tugging sensation at her lips…Nicole sleepily batted away the intrusions, but it persisted and a sharp, stinging tug brought her to full wakefulness. She bolted up and smacked the offending person across the face.
Erik's head jerked to the side from the force and when he looked back Nicole was glaring at him.
"That was painful."
He quirked a brow, "Better this slight pain now than more pain later. This adhesive isn't meant for extended periods."
Nicole seemed to come to herself in that moment, for she did know that – from painful experience, but still… "You could have woken me up. It might have been easier for me to remove." She huffed, folding her arms across her chest.
The Phantom appeared to be deliberating from the half of his face that was unmasked, "In all honesty, I sincerely thought that I might be able to remove them without waking you."
Her glare magnified, "Well, you failed."
Erik's gloved hand came up to rub his abused face, dramatically wincing, "So, I have noticed."
That properly mollified Nicole and she lifted up her hands to caress the now red and irritated skin.
"But one thing I would not have been able to remove without waking you was your bindings." Nicole followed Erik's gaze to her breasts which were bound with bandages to complete her disguise. "I would imagine they become uncomfortable after a while."
She smirked in response. "Would you like to help me remove them?"
The Phantom's eyes flared up, gaining a fierce intensity. "Yes, I would."
Nicole was momentarily caught off guard, she had expected him to back off and leave wishing her a good night and that would have concluded the matter…But this time he accepted.
The manager began things by removing her shirt, a teasing light in her smile and in her eyes. Erik watched her, entranced, until she began to unravel the bandages. Then passion took over…
XXX
Marcus Wood had been able to find the peephole in the mirror after a few wanderings through dark, dank passages beyond the walls of the Opera House. Carlotta had told him she had suspected such a thing – always feeling those eyes upon her in her dressing room – and then when the commissioner and his police had arrived and found the secret passages leading to his lair, Carlotta was convinced there was one behind the mirror in her old dressing room as well. The same room that Nicolas Leroux now occupied…
The reporter had found it when 'Nicolas' had collapsed on his bed, but when Marcus grew bored of waiting for anything better to occur, footsteps forced him to duck around a corner where he could see Erik le Phantom glide into view and then enter Nicolas' quarters through the mirror.
Scurrying back into place, he saw Erik watching the sleeping Nicolas, then sit down on his bed. When Marcus didn't think things could get more scandalous – Erik pulled off M. Leroux's wig, letting loose a bun of brown hair. The next several moments had Marcus taking voyeurism to a whole new level as he took in everything so as to have a good report, both for Carlotta, and the millions of Parisians who would just die when they read about this shocking affair!
But first, he would collect a generous reward from Carlotta for this – especially after witnessing the Phantom's and this woman transvestite's complete debauchery in the bedroom…