In her bedroom, Marie was enjoying a mini vacation and hanging up newly printed photographs from her latest outing. Here she was allowed to display her more personal work, as Arthur did not ever enter this space.
A faceless couple holding hands. A mother leaning into her infant’s pram, children playing, free of worry, a series of black and white memories frozen in time amidst the soft sea of pastel pink that was her personal space.
She heard the door open and she turned, pinching open a clothespin to hang the last photo, but it slipped from her fingers when Vincent let himself inside.
Her heart sped as he approached her, but not in the way it ought to. This was her bedroom. No man, not a single man had stepped foot inside since she’d turned twelve and she didn’t know how to respond, her panic rising. He wasn’t supposed to be here.
When he lifted her up and held her, she drew a few quick breaths, scanning her vanity to ensure her pills were still there should she need them.
Wrapping herself around him, she closed her eyes, erasing where they were and conjuring up a different place so she could at least think. Arthur was away. If Vincent had made it to her, he’d gone through Gabriel, or rather, Gabriel approved and would give them his silence regarding Arthur. There was no danger to Vincent here.
She took a deeper breath, leaning forward and inhaling his hair, legs tightening around his hips. He was here of his own accord, not on some schedule and not for a fee. Her heart slowed a bit focusing on the way he felt in her chest, the way his hands splayed across her backside. He was in….her bedroom. And that was…
If anyone deserved to be here, it was him. If there was any man she was going to open her heart to and let in, it was him. And in this moment, he wasn’t paying to be with her. It was the first time she’d experienced anything that could be likened to a ‘boyfriend’.
“You’re here,” she murmured into his hair, eyes closed, concentrating on him, not his intrusion, “is everything alright?”
Vincent was still, holding her weight steadily and easily as he breathed her in, listening to her heartbeat as it slowed and steadied.
“I’m sorry....” Slender fingers gripped the back of her sweater before relaxing. “I know I shouldn’t be up here....but I had to see you..”
He moved his face off her chest and rested it against her neck, eyes closed for a moment before he slowly let her down. “I can go..”