“Come on,” said Malcolm. “Let’s go inside.”
He put an arm around her and led her to the ladder. The pain in his shoulder made him wince as he climbed down, but it was only negligibly noticeable with all of the other thoughts swarming his brain.
The two of them sat on his mattress and were silent for a time. Malcolm rubbed his hand along her back, wishing that there was something more that he could say or do.
“This is insane…” muttered Rose. “You’re sure that he was talking about me?”
“Positive,” said Malcolm. “Unless there are other shadow sprytes named Rosalina in the area.”
“Rosalina…” said Rose. “That only makes it weirder for me. Like I have a twin that’s done all of this stuff and just… passed it off to me, without explaining.”
Malcolm couldn’t resist chuckling a little.
“I can relate to that,” he said.
Rose’s shoulders tensed up, and Malcolm suddenly doubted that he actually could relate to what she was going through. Second Wind had only been “born” a few weeks earlier. Rose’s previous life had spanned decades before she became a spryte, and she had essentially lost all memory of it.
“I have to meet him,” said Rose. “Do you know where he is? Did he leave a phone number? Any contact info?”
Malcolm frowned slightly, but nodded.
“He did,” he said. He felt a tiny prick of jealousy at the expression he read on her face. It was curiosity mixed with longing, with a dash of anticipation and fear. “The Clearwood Motel. Room 16.”
“I’ll find him tomorrow, then,” said Rose. “And… see what he wants.”
A couple silent seconds passed by, each one agonizing to Malcolm for reasons he didn’t quite understand.
She wasn’t this eager to find Leah, her sister, back when we first got information on where she was.
Malcolm blinked. If Rose had a fiancé, why hadn’t Leah told her about it when the two had reunited? They’d had weeks together after he escaped Rain Dancer and Rose had stayed behind with the cult, the Awakened Children.
“Leah didn’t tell you,” Malcolm said. “Isn’t that weird? You talked with her about who you’d been before you turned into a spryte, didn’t you?”
Rose nodded slowly.
“It seemed like she was keeping something from me,” said Rose. “I did ask if I had any boyfriends or husbands out there that I might have forgotten about, I’m sure of it. Leah just changed the subject each time, brought up some other interesting fact about me to distract me from the topic. I should have pressed her on it more, but at that time… I was desperate for any information about myself.”
“That doesn’t bode well,” said Malcolm. “You know, he didn’t actually give me any proof of what he said. He just knew your name, and that you were a shadow spryte.”
Rose folded her arms.
“And you think it’s likely that some random stranger would show up in Vanderbrook claiming to be my fiancé, because…?
“I’m not saying it’s likely, just that it’s possible,” said Malcolm. “You should be careful about meeting with him.”
Rose set a hand on Malcolm’s knee. She turned her head to look at him and slowly licked her lips.
“You’re worried,” she said.
“Of course I am,” said Malcolm. “I care about you. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“Do you want to come with me to meet with him?” asked Rose.
Malcolm hesitated before answering. He had to fight back his first response.
“…No,” he said. “I don’t think I should. I already feel bad enough about this. All this time… you’ve been engaged. And I’ve been sleeping with you. Things could get really weird, really fast if I was there with you for your reunion.”
He winced at his own word choice.
“It’s not going to be a reunion, Malcolm,” said Rose. “I’m not leaving you for him. I feel like I shouldn’t even need to explain that.”
She leaned her head against his shoulder.
“Rose…” Malcolm considered his words carefully. “You don’t know what you might remember, when you see him. If the two of you were happy together, if you had a life together… It might not be that simple.”
Malcolm remembered something Rose had told him back in the first few days they’d met. She’d said that all she really wanted was to settle down and live a normal life.
Maybe she did. Maybe that life has just been waiting for her to remember it, and come back to it.
“You’re an idiot,” said Rose. “And I think I know my heart better than you do, even taking the possibility of long lost memories into consideration.”
She kissed his neck softly, her lips hot against the sensitive skin. Malcolm hesitated, letting her take his cheek into her hand, but making no move to pull her into an embrace.
“Kiss me,” she whispered.
“Rose,” he said. “I feel… weird about it, right now.”
“So do I,” she said. “But not so weird that I’m not aware of the fact that we’re both sitting on your bed.”
She unzipped her sweatshirt and let it slip off her shoulders. She hadn’t bothered to wear anything other than a bra underneath, and she pulled Malcolm’s hand around to rest on top of a clasp, like an older woman walking a young virgin through his first time.
“I make my own choices, Malcolm,” said Rose. “And each time we’ve been together, it hasn’t been because I’m confused, and lost my memory. It’s because I wanted to be with you.”
“But…” Malcolm frowned. “I can’t forget about this. I know that you have a fiancé, now.”
He let his hand fall away from her bra. Rose scowled at him and pushed him back on the bed, one of her hands coming close enough to his shoulder to send a small twinge of pain through him. She let her hands slide under his shirt and caressed his stomach before slowly making their way down to his crotch and kneading his burgeoning erection.
“It’s obviously not that much of a turn off for you,” whispered Rose. “Maybe it’s the opposite? Maybe you’re intrigued by the idea of taking another man’s fiancé and having your way with her.”
She brought her face down to his hardness and rubbed her cheek on it through Malcolm’s pants. Rose slid the rest of her body up until she was lying on top of him, and then kissed him passionately.
Malcolm felt his reluctance fading as heat kindled between them. He finally let his hands unhook her bra. Rose sat back up and let it fall off her, the edge of it catching for a split second on her dark nipples and causing her breasts to bounce as they came into view.
Rose kissed him again, her hands working quickly to unzip his jeans and slide them down. Malcolm hesitated as he felt her slip her fingers into the waistband of his boxers. He pushed Rose back slightly. She pouted for a moment, and then turned the corners of her mouth up into a mischievous smile.
“So this fiancé of mine…” she said, casually. “You said he was handsome?”
Malcolm glared at her. Rose’s smile widened, daring him to punish her for the comment. He felt suddenly aggressive, and took her by the shoulders to flip onto the bed underneath him.
He practically ripped her sweatpants off her, followed quickly after by her panties and his own boxers. It was stupid, and he knew that Rose was teasing him to elicit this exact reaction. He didn’t care. Primal instincts surged through Malcolm, and he wasn’t gentle as he pushed his shaft into her.
“Oh!” Rose cried out. She arched her back and ran her hands over his chest, taking care to avoid his wound. Malcolm seized her hands and pinned them over her head on the bed, sliding back and then pushing into her hard.
Several of Rose’s shadow tendrils curled out from the corners of the room. Instead of using them to playfully wrestle with Malcolm, or caress some part of his body, Rose twisted them around his and her hands, tying them together. His fingers were laced through hers, and the shadows made it so that he couldn’t let go without a struggle.