THE PRESENT
CAILY GALILEO
“That wasn’t me. That could not have been me. That could not have been me acting on my own will. It was for the money. Not for myself.” I whispered to myself as I stared wide eyed at the ceiling.
But no matter how much I said those words to myself, I could not deny the reality that it had been me. That I had been the one who touched myself to the voice of a stranger and that I had actually liked it. I had started for the money but midway, somehow, someway, I had forgotten about the money and totally lost myself in the…
“Oh please shut up!” I shut off the thoughts in my head, sitting up on my bed and kicking the duvet off my body.
Liked it? Liked it? I did it because I needed the money but had I really liked it?
I got out of bed and moved towards my closet.
My body… My body had liked it, the way my fingers trailed my body while I pictured manly, strong hands touching me. His voice soothing my ears and setting my body on a type of fire I had never experienced before. The way he had spoken to me, the way he had told me to cum on my fingers for him. How could I or anyone not have liked that?
“Please, Caily!” I slapped my forehead to send the dumb thoughts out of my head as I opened up the closet and searched for a dress that I could wear to dinner with Dylan.
I felt guilt wash over me as I reached for a black dinner dress. How would I sit opposite Dylan at the table, knowing fully well that another man, a completed stranger had set my body on a type of fire I had never felt with him? How would I be able to look him in the eyes knowing that another man’s voice had enchanted me enough to make me cum so hard? And even worse, I had liked all of it.
I let out a soft breathy sigh, dumping the dress on my bed and doing a small twirl in the middle of my room, trying to lighten myself up with that.
“Be happy, Caily! Be happy! You made thirty thousand dollars from this! And once you are done helping Aunt Mandy, you’ll do this no more. Liking or not would not matter. You’d continue life with Dylan happily.” I chastised myself and put on a big, faux smile on my face.
But the smile only lasted a few seconds on my face as I recalled the last word I had heard from him while we both came.
He had moaned something like ‘Peaches’, hadn’t he?
But I must have misheard. I had definitely misheard him, he must have said some curse words or it was probably just a breathy moan that sounded like ‘Peaches’. And that wasn’t a very big surprise, was it?
I had broken up with my first boyfriend because each time he kissed me, my brain would pick up an image of Pietro before I could enjoy the kiss. Each time he held my waist, my brain would come up with the image of Pietro holding me and that would make it feel better to be held by him.
Shameful! It was shameful for me to be that way towards that monster, that monstrous human that killed my father but all my childhood and young teenage hood had been him. Only him.
It had however been a while now since I pictured him. After all these years, the image of him in my head was quickly fading away so why did I almost hear his voice in that of a stranger?
I slowly sat on the edge of my bed, my body coddling as my brain reminded me of how shameful it was that mishearing ‘Peaches’ had made me cum even harder than I would have cum without hearing it.
I shut my eyes, my gaze lowered as I felt tears slowly pool in my closed eyes. I let a picture seep into my brain, a picture I would never forget.
The picture of Pietro with his back to me, stabbing my father over and over again. I only needed that image to hate him over again and to feel the hatred surge through me powerfully.
My eyes still shut, I took in a deep breath, sinking into the hatred of Pietro until that other image suddenly took over. Him cupping my face with a desperate look in eyes and telling me how much he loved me.
“Hell!!” I yelled the word, getting up to my feet with a sudden start that would have startled anyone.
“I am just not going to think at all.” I said to myself, giving up on trying to replace these many thoughts in my head as that obviously wasn’t working positively.
I pulled my hair out of its messy bun and was about to undress and go take a bath when my phone beeped with a message. I felt my heart skip a beat as my gaze moved to my phone, lying lone on my bedside table.
Was it him? Or was it just someone from work asking me to get them coffee on my way?
I reached for my phone anyways and it was really a message from him. My heart stumbled in my ribcages and my knees seemed to lose strength for a quick second before I pulled myself together and opened the message.
“Good morning, beautiful.” The text read.
I could almost hear that deep voice saying that to my ears. I gulped down the desire that almost rose in me at such a simple message.
But then, I had gotten a good morning message from this stranger while my boyfriend hadn’t even sent me a goodnight text in response to mine.
“Good morning” I sent the text with an emoji of a smiley sun.
I stood there, phone in hand, waiting for a response from him because somehow, I knew he’d reply early.
“Come live with me and I’d give you any amount you want” His message dropped.
My face turned expressionless for a second and then a series of expressions crossed my face at a fast rate.
My brows knitted, smoothened, my eyes widened, then narrowed and eventually confusion settled on my face. Come live with him? With a stranger? How does that even make any sense?
“I do not think I understand you.” I texted him back, the confusion still fully evident on my face.
“I meant exactly what I said, Caily. Come live with me for two weeks and I’d pay you any amount you want.”
There was the emphasis on ‘any amount’. But even ‘any amount’ had a limit. What could the limit be? Two hundred? Three hundred?
I could pay off Aunt Mandy’s debt at once and get her in a rehab home!
“Caily, are you out of your senses?” I shook myself out of the beautiful trance of money.
This was a stranger! How could I even think about it for a second before saying a firm ‘no’? Did I even think about what would I be required to do in those two weeks? It definitely would not be just call sessions, I would definitely have to sleep with him and that would be completely cheating on Dylan!
“I am sorry but I cannot take this offer.” I texted back, a firm and determined look on my face.
“What are your conditions to take the offer?”
“I simply cannot take the offer.” I texted back, standing on my grounds.
“Caily, I’d not touch you unless you totally want me to. Touching you or not, you have your complete pay. A legal contract would also be signed so you are safe.” His text popped back in and it just seemed safer, more appealing.
But to trust a stranger? I was naive but not this naive.
“I am sorry. This might sound stupid to say but I have a boyfriend and cannot go as far as living with another man” I replied and waited for his response but none was forthcoming.
I was about to drop the phone when his message finally dropped.
A one word message.
“Okay.”
Okay? The word ‘okay’ had never sounded this eerie before. What was okay supposed to mean? Whatever okay meant, this didn’t feel too good. It didn’t. At all.