Deviant

  Sipping the wine, I looked at the note again. It was almost as if I was willing the words to pop out at me. I didn’t know what I wanted him to say. I just wanted him to say something—anything. One word would do, just to let me know I wasn’t going bloody crazy.

  I don’t know why, but something told me to turn the note over. I gasped. “Shit!” I’m not going fucking mad after all. All these years of thinking I was going crazy, thinking that maybe I had been dreaming this all up. Dreaming him up.

  Not now, though. Staring at me now were two words. Yes, two. I actually managed to get two words from my stranger, and they were the most beautiful words I had ever seen.

  You’re welcome.

  For some strange reason, I felt complete elation with this tiny little note. For three years, I had been going out of my mind, wondering who the hell this guy was. It was only today that I came up with the idea of trying to communicate with him. If I had been doing this from the very beginning, who knows where we would be now.

  Sipping my wine again, I wondered what I should write back. Should I ask him his name? Should I ask him why he’s been stalking me for the past three years? Should I ask him why he keeps moving my stuff? But, most of all, should I ask him why he keeps on bloody insisting on turning the toilet paper the wrong way?! He was obviously a little bit OCD with his need for things to be in the right place. He wasn’t even living here and he was taking over.

  Me being me, I wrote the only thing I could think of on the note.

  Do you like cookies?

  How fucked up am I? Of all the things I could ask him, I ask him if he liked cookies? The only reason that even came into my head was because I bought some on a two-for-one deal down at the local supermarket yesterday when I went to get my Chinese food. I must be going mad!

  *****

  The very next day was even more exciting. The next morning, I left that note, along with a plate of three cookies, for him. Once I got home, the cookies were gone, the plate was cleaned and put back in its place, and there was a note from him.

  Yes. Thank you.

  Every day these past few days, I had been coming home and would pull into my space and, every morning, my car would be parked the other way. It was becoming a regular thing.

  The other great thing that happened was submitting my story to Andrew Walker. He read it thoroughly and loved it. It was displayed on page five in the following day’s edition. Things were certainly looking up for me. Everyone loved the article. Suzie, once she realised I had gone over her head, was another story. I didn’t mind. Everyone said it was a great article, and the best thing about it was when Mr. Walker patted me on the back and gave me a huge smile. I didn’t care about anything else.

  It did, however, start me thinking about a column for the newspaper. I got the idea and asked if I could see Mr. Walker about it. It was my stranger that made me come up with the idea.

  The suggestion was I could head a column full of messages and poems from secret admirers. People could post names and little messages in the hopes that special someone they’d been harbouring feelings for would read it. Mr. Walker thought it was a fantastic idea and told me to set it up straight away.

  The minute I got back to my desk, I set up a column called From Afar, asking people to get in touch with me at work with any messages of love and devotion for their secret crush. I didn’t know why I called it that. I guess my stranger had something to do with it. He seemed to be bringing out the creative devil in me, I guess.

  Once I got home, I saw another note on the table.

  Need more cookies.

  After laughing for several minutes, I decided to get myself some dinner and start working on my laptop.

  Chapter 4

  Dean

  Stronger than lover’s love is lover’s hate.

  Incurable, in each, the wounds they make.

  Euripides

  I was so pumped tonight, I couldn’t seem to focus. In the end, I went down to my basement and took it out on my punching bag. I punished that thing every day but, for some reason, it needed more punishing today. Maybe it was because I was now starting to communicate with Tyler. I knew the day would come when I had to push things a little. I just always thought it would be me acting first.

  After a gruelling half-hour, I decided to call it quits. I was in the middle of unwinding the tape on my knuckles when my uncle Humphrey appeared.

  “What’s up, Deany boy? You look a little out of sorts today. Are you not getting enough pussy?” My uncle smiled, but I huffed in his direction. He always knew how to wind me up further than I already was.

  “Don’t worry about me, old man. You just concentrate on your own love life. I haven’t seen you get any action in months.”

  Humphrey shook his head with an unamused grin. “Hey, less of the ‘old man’, you fucking jumpstart. Just remember who’s lived longer and has more experience dealing with little chumps like you.”

  I smiled. I had to give my uncle his due. He was right. He had been at this game a lot longer than me. He was in his fifties, now had greying hair, but still looked every bit the bad boy on the street that he used to be. We Scozzari’s had a bad name. My parents tried to hide me from their way of life, but then they fucking died on me. Who else, besides me, was going to carry on their empire? I had to learn a lot since their death, but it turned me into the man I was now. Actually, Tyler turned me into the man I was now.

  “What have you come down here for anyway? Do you want to get in on a little one-to-one action with me? I can show you how a real man boxes, if you like.” I swiped the air with a couple of punches for good measure, but all Humphrey did was shake his head.

  “I have no desire to put you out on the floor.” I rolled my eyes, but didn’t challenge him. “I just came to tell you that Jimmy called. He told me to tell you that the little errand you sent him on was done.”

  I nodded with a smile. “Good. I’ll wire the money to him as soon as I’m done showering.”

  Chapter 5

  Tyler

  Buckinghamshire, 1993

  “You can never escape me, Tyler. You know I’ll always find you.”

  I threw my hand over my mouth, trying to stifle my giggle. He was so close to me now and probably already knew where I was. I think he just liked to make my heart beat faster. Dean always knew how to do that.

  I was eight and he was ten now. Dean was getting so much taller than me, but I was getting tall for an eight-year-old, too. I think that’s why the three of us worked so well. It always bothered me to think that, one day, Ian and Dean would think I was too young to play with anymore. Sometimes it frightened me a little.

  “Rosey,” he called out with a little hum in his voice. That had been my nickname ever since the day we first met and I felt my cheeks burning. It just stuck with me ever since.

  “I can see you,” he whispered right in my ear.

  I jumped, squealing, and ran out from my hiding spot behind the tree. Dean laughed, but caught me in his arms. “You can’t get away from me, Rosey. I’ve got you now.” He tickled me until I couldn’t breathe.

  “Please, stop!” I shouted, giggling harder.

  Dean stopped, then pulled me up to look at him. He searched my face and then smiled. “See, still rosey,” he said, stroking my cheek.

  *****

  Today was another good day. It was Friday, but what was so good about it was the untold amount of messages that had come in since my post in yesterday’s paper. Lots of people were thrilled about the idea. Some emails were a bit creepy, but the majority of them were messages of love. It was amazing how many people out there were secretly harbouring a crush of some kind.

  Some of the messages were poems, some were little limericks. My personal favourite was from a man named Ned who was desperately seeking his school crush from twenty years ago. Her name was Melanie Cribbins, and she was his first kiss. Sometimes first kisses were just hard to let go of. I knew that more than most.

  I was eager t
o get Ned’s message out there. I put it in the middle of all the others so it stood out for this mysterious Melanie Cribbins to see. It took me hours to go through all my favourites before submitting them to Andrew Walker for publishing.

  He was happy with it, and also happy with the amount of responses I had since posting it yesterday. No doubt there would be even more messages over the next couple of days, especially if my first posting was a success.

  This morning, I had left about five cookies for my stranger. Of course, by the time I came home, they were all gone and a message sat on my table, thanking me for the treat. If I thought things couldn’t get any weirder, they just did.

  Dismissing it for now, I quickly got myself ready for my big night out with Louisa. I didn’t know why I accepted the invitation to go to Bo Jangles, but I guess I’d know later whether it was a good idea or not.

  After taking a shower, I stepped into my royal blue dress and sleek black high heels. I always felt sexy, and rather tall, in high heels. Five foot five wasn’t exactly small, but I always wanted to be a bit taller. I just seemed to stop growing once I got to the age of thirteen. It was a little disappointing, but I quickly learned that high heels were my best friend.

  Once I was ready, I called a cab. I know the club was only twenty minutes away by foot, but there was no way I was going to walk all that way in these babies. A taxi would do nicely. I got there and saw Louisa waiting outside the club. We gave each other a peck on the cheek and ventured on in. “You look amazing, Louisa. You always do, but damn!”

  Laughing, Louisa grabbed my hand. “Thank you, sweetie. You look simply good enough to eat yourself. Nice choice on the little blue number.” She gave me a cheeky wink and smiled. “Now, let’s go find you a man!”

  Feeling nervous as hell, I followed her in. We went to get ourselves some drinks and sat down at a table. I didn’t know why I let myself get talked into this but, in a sense, Louisa was right. It had been a while since I had a man in my life. My stranger was the only constant I had right now.

  “What about him?” Louisa pointed to a tall man in his twenties with dark, spiky hair.

  Sipping my drink, I shook my head. “Nah, not really my type.”

  Fidgeting in her chair, Louisa looked around. “Okay, okay. What about him?”

  I followed her finger to another guy of smaller height and build. This one also had dark hair, but his was slicked back. “Nope. Too small and skinny.” I was never a fan of skinny men.

  Shaking her head, Louisa smiled. “Okay, let’s see.” She scanned the room again, while I sipped on my Margarita. It wasn’t long before her gaze fell on something she obviously liked. The way her lips curved up into a smile gave it away.

  Following her gaze, I expected to see some boy band wannabe, as every other guy in here looked virtually the same. However, this guy stood out from the rest. He was tall and lean, with dark blonde hair and wary eyes. Not bad eyes, but sexy, dark eyes.

  “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Louisa shouted.

  Trying to feign interest, I shrugged. “He’s okay, I suppose…if you like that sort of thing.”

  Louisa’s eyes widened. “Oh girl, come on! You have to admit that he’s hot.”

  Smiling, I stuck the straw in my mouth and winked at her. “Maybe just a little.”

  Slapping my arm, she chuckled. “That’s my girl. Now, let’s go order more Margaritas. He’s at the bar now, so now’s our opportunity. Come on. Drink up!”

  Feeling flustered, I drank as quickly as I could. “Bloody hell, Louisa. At this rate, I’m going to get pissed before I’ve even started.”

  Pulling me from the chair, she smiled. “All the more reason to drink quickly. It will make you braver. Now, come on.”

  I got up and saluted Louisa. “Yes, sir!” I shouted with a smile.

  Giggling, we walked towards the bar area where the sexy blonde guy was standing with two other guys. One of the other guys noticed us straight away and elbowed sexy blonde guy. Once his gaze set on mine, I instantly knew if I was going to sleep with anyone tonight, it was going to be him.

  Trying to pry my eyes away so I didn’t look too keen, I set my gaze upon the bar. “Two more Margaritas, please!” I shouted.

  “Good evening, ladies,” one of the guys said.

  “Hello,” Louisa and I said together, and I noticed sexy blonde guy was gazing at me.

  “Can we pay for those drinks for you? It would be our pleasure.” Looking at sexy blonde guy, I nodded and smiled.

  “So, what are your names?” he asked.

  “I’m Tyler and this is Louisa. What about you three?”

  Sexy blonde guy smiled. “I’m Brad, and this is Calvin and Eddie.”

  Shaking hands, we ended our pleasantries and got onto other things. “So, where are you from?” I directed my question at Brad, as he was the one I was thinking of bedding tonight.

  “I’m from Stoke. A good Northern lad. What about you?”

  “I’m originally from Buckinghamshire, but have been living in London for years now.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Louisa smile. She edged herself around me to be closer to Calvin and Eddie. I got the feeling she was leaving me to it.

  “Do you get the same impression?”

  Flustered, I looked at Brad. “What do you mean?”

  Swinging his chair to face me, he motioned with his thumb over his shoulder. “That we’ve been forcibly paired off.”

  I didn’t quite know how to answer that. I wasn’t sure if he was being rude or not. “Well, if it’s Louisa you’re interested in, you can just say so.” I wouldn’t blame him. Louisa was always beautiful, but she wore a little black number which showed off her model figure tonight, making her stunning.

  Gently grabbing my arm, he smiled. “Of course not. I noticed you, not Louisa. Your friend’s kinda cute, but I don’t really go for redheads. I prefer blondes, especially with beautiful green eyes like yours.”

  Catching my breath, I felt my cheeks redden. Brad just looked highly amused. “Don’t tell me you don’t get complimented very much. Surely a girl like you gets asked out all the time.”

  I shook my head, amazed at how taken aback he looked. “I work too hard for that sort of thing.”

  Brad took a look at my glass and could see it was going down just as fast as my last one. He looked up and motioned towards the barman. “What do you do?” he asked once he placed his order.

  I sipped on the last little bit of my drink and smiled. “I’m a journalist. What about you?”

  Eyeing me peculiarly, he cocked his eyebrow. “I’m a policeman.”

  My eyes widened. “Really?”

  Pulling his head back, he laughed. “Don’t look so shocked, young lady. Is it that much of a surprise for me to be a bobby?”

  Shaking my head, I laughed. I don’t know why, but I found it comical. “I’m sorry, but you look more like Al Capone than a bobby—and I don’t mean that in a nasty way.”

  Smiling, Brad pushed another drink my way. “I think I may let you off with just a warning this time.”

  Realising I had already drunk my second drink, I picked up my new one with relish. “Why, thank you, officer. I don’t want to get into trouble now, do I? You might want to get your handcuffs out.”

  I can’t believe I just said that!

  Wanting to bury my head in my hands, I looked up at Brad with a half-smile. “Sorry. That was lame. I bet you hear that all the time.”

  Laughing, he picked up my hand. “It’s true that I do, but not from women as beautiful as you.”

  Staring into his lust-filled eyes, I couldn’t hold back the rising burn which was now coursing through me. Call it the alcohol, call it the way he looked with his sexy eyes and taut muscles. At that moment, I knew I wouldn’t be going home alone tonight.

  *****

  After another two hours of chatting, laughing, and dancing, Louisa left with Calvin and Eddie, and I left with Brad.

  The whole
ride home in the cab all I wanted to do was climb on top of Brad and kiss him with everything I had. I knew I was drunk, and I knew I was acting on impulse, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. It was why I went out in the first place, wasn’t it?

  Getting out of the cab, I fumbled in my bag for my keys. All the while, Brad was kissing my neck from behind. It was making getting the keys out that much harder.

  Giggling, I managed to somehow retrieve the keys and put them in the lock. Once I got it open, Brad pinned me to the wall in the hallway and ravished my lips. His mouth was soft, hungry, and inviting. It wasn’t as sexy as I imagined it to be, but nice nonetheless.

  Pulling away, we quickly got in the lift and up to my flat. Once inside, I flicked the lights on. Brad grabbed me again and pulled me in for another embrace. I could feel how hard he was and knew he wanted me.

  Managing to pry myself away, I looked at him breathlessly. “I just have to get some water.”

  Brad nodded and I went off to my kitchen to perform my nightly rituals. I was like clockwork every day. One glass of water the minute I got in, even under these circumstances.

  Walking into the kitchen, I opened the fridge door without switching on the lights. I went through the contents and found a bottle of Perrier. Just the ticket. Taking a swig, I still had the door open when Brad walked in and switched the light on. I smiled and closed the door.

  Suddenly, his smile turned into a frown as he stared at the fridge. Frowning myself, I wondered what had caught his eye. I turned my head and got the shock of my life.

  Dropping the glass bottle, I gasped. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on my fridge door. He must have known I would come in with Brad, and he must have known the first thing I would do would be to get a glass of water.

  Staring at me now was a note from my stranger, printed in big bold letters.