“How old were you when you first got married?” He asked the question right as it entered his mind, surprising himself, as well as her.
“I was 19,” said Tapestry, blushing even more deeply. “Very young.”
“19,” said Malcolm. “Wow.”
“I never realized how much I missed out on because of it, not until it was too late,” said Tapestry. “Allen, my husband, was a good man. He loved me as much as any man could, but we were both trapped in the social roles of the time. I was a housewife, Malcolm. A boring housewife.”
“Yeah, the whole baking thing kind of gave that away,” Malcolm said, grinning. Tapestry playfully slapped his leg, which sent a jolt of excitement through the rest of his body.
“Honestly though, that was my life,” said Tapestry. “Cooking, cleaning, baking… reading books. Church activities. It was all very tame.”
“And you don’t want that kind of life for Melanie?”
“I never got a chance to be like Melanie,” she said. “She’s so confident and wild. I never got a chance to, well, you know. Be like that.”
Malcolm slid a little closer to Tapestry on the couch. He could see her breasts moving up and down with each breath through the thin fabric of her robe. He leaned in even closer.
“Be like what?” he asked, his voice a whisper.
His lips reached hers, and the two of them shared an explosive kiss. Tapestry slowly opened her body up to his, leaning back on the couch and parting her thighs. Malcolm kissed her deeply and slid his hands up to her breasts, grinding himself into her. He shifted his mouth to plant a kiss on her neck, and Tapestry abruptly cleared her throat and pushed him back.
“Malcolm,” she said, stiffly. “Why was the shadow spryte in your apartment on the night we fought your brother?”
Malcolm felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up straight.
“What?” He frowned, shifting back slightly. “Why would you… ask me that now?”
“Because I want an answer,” said Tapestry. “Now.”
Malcolm tried to think back to what he’d told her the last time she’d asked that question. Tapestry was watching him with a neutral expression on her face, but there was something sharp and skeptical in her eyes.
“I don’t know,” said Malcolm. “I just assumed at the time that… it had seen me on the news and figured that I was a champion. It was probably there to kill me.”
“Sprytes don’t usually work like that,” said Tapestry. “That doesn’t make sense. And how would the spryte have known where you live?”
Malcolm gave the most casual shrug he could manage and moved forward to kiss her neck. Tapestry let his lips make contact, but only for a second. She pushed him back again.
“Malcolm,” she said. “I need you to be honest with me.”
She’s suspicious of me. Seducing her isn’t just about gaining an ally, it’s about keeping her from digging too deep.
“…It was the same shadow spryte,” he said. “The one that I accidentally saved on the first night I had my powers. She must have tracked me down, I guess.”
It was a lie, but close enough to the truth that Malcolm could put some confidence into his voice. Tapestry nodded slowly.
“To do what?” asked Tapestry.
“She wasn’t exactly vocal about her intentions,” said Malcolm. “I’m glad you showed up when you did. You probably saved my life, you know.”
Tapestry smiled, her intensity lowering a bit. Malcolm kissed her and pushed forward, letting the bulge in his pants grind against her crotch.
“You deserve a reward for that,” said Malcolm. “Don’t you think?”
He let his hands slide back over Tapestry’s breasts. She licked her lips, and then her expression hardened again. She was still smiling, but the way she looked at Malcolm, her eyes tinged with suspicion, was enough to put him back on edge.
“Goodnight, Malcolm.” Tapestry pushed him back and stood up from the couch.
“Oh, we’re headed to bed, then?” he said. “Cool.”
He made to follow her toward the stairs. Tapestry pulled her robe tight and glowered at him.
“The couch is comfortable,” she said. “There are some extra blankets in the back of the coat closet. I’ll drop you off at your apartment in the morning.”
Malcolm sighed and gave her a disappointed nod.
“Alright,” he said. “Goodnight… Aubrey.”
Tapestry smiled and blushed a little at his usage of her real name, but didn’t slow her pace as she made her way up the stairs.
CHAPTER 11
Tapestry drove Malcolm home the next morning. Neither of them said much, a bit of the awkwardness and tension from the previous night still lingering in the air. She parked on the street outside his apartment and looked over at him
“Well,” she said. “Here we are.”
“Do you want to come upstairs for breakfast?” asked Malcolm. “You could use it as an excuse to search my apartment for the spryte you’re so suspicious about.”
Inviting her up was a calculated risk. Malcolm was relatively sure that Rose would be able to hide in time, if he walked up the stairs loudly enough and announced their presence. It would also give him another chance to get back into Tapestry’s good graces, which would keep her from being so suspicious in the future.
“No need, Malcolm,” said Tapestry. “We will be doing some more training later this afternoon, though. Keep your phone on so I can give you a call.”
“Fair enough.” He nodded to her and then got out of the car. He paused before closing the door, feeling like he should say something more to smooth over the weirdness between them.
Tapestry waited, and it suddenly felt as though the awkwardness had been intentional on her part, a new tactic to try to get the truth out of him. Malcolm nodded to her slowly, and then shut the car door without saying anything else.
She drove off, and Malcolm headed upstairs. He unlocked the door to his apartment and walked inside to find Rose sitting on his couch, playing his PS4. She’d hung up a blanket over the living room windows for the sake of keeping sun’s glare off both the TV screen and herself.
I’m glad Tapestry refused my offer to come up. Though it would have been kind of funny to see her react to this.
“Have you been up playing video games all night?” he asked.
Rose smiled, but didn’t look away from the screen. She had on sweat pants and one of Malcolm’s t-shirts, and he had a sudden urge to plop down beside her and spend the day playing games.
“Not all night,” said Rose. “Only since I got back from the tavern.”
Malcolm shrugged.
“I guess it’s better than coming home to you in bed with some creepy demon dude,” he said.
“Is it really?” asked Rose. “Wouldn’t you rather have a sexually liberated live-in spryte, than a nerdy one?”
Malcolm frowned. Rose smiled and winked at him.
“I’m joking, Malcolm,” she said. “God, you’re too easy.”
She patted the seat beside her. Malcolm glanced around his apartment, as though expecting to find evidence of a wild adventure that went beyond just video games. He walked up behind Rose on the couch, watching as she ran around an alien planet with a character in a space suit.
“So,” he said. “I thought we might follow up on the lead we got last night about your sister. This ‘Awakened Children’ church…”
“We could,” said Rose. “Or… we could hang out here all day and do nothing.”
“Rose…”
“Think about how much fun it would be,” she said, licking her lips. “You know how fun I can be when I get bored, Malcolm.”
“Come on,” he said. “Don’t you want to find your sister? Think about what this could mean for you…”