Chapter 27: If Only I Could Read You Mind: Part 3/3

*Jessica's POV*

*Mild Nudity *

Bang bang bang! It felt like something was rumbling underneath the skin of my hands as I knocked on the door. The wind scruffled up my hair, making me look even more disheveled than I already had. I turned around and looked back at the street, scraping my sneakers against the pavement.
The apartment looked dusky and bleak, kind of like a vacant lot where no one lived. I could barely see through the windows even though I was squinting pretty damn hard. Was this even the right address?
I backed away from the door, about to head back to my car before the door cracked open at the speed of light.
It felt like my breath was trapped inside of my lungs as I spun around and saw Collin standing in the doorway. "Oh man you're leaving already?! It feels like you just got here!" He sneered at me.

I swear the word 'sarcasm' was written in his DNA. "Yup that's what I do. I show up to people's apartments and just leave as soon as I knock on the door." I played along with his little joke, even though I was so nervous. My fingers couldn't find their way out of my hair as I raked them through nearly every strand.
His finger grazed the bottom of his chin. "Hmm, well I opened the door so what happens now?"

"Now..." I narrowed my eyes at him and looked all around behind him, trying to get a better view of his apartment. "You let me in." I teased him some more, raising my eyebrows as he just stood there looking back at me, with one hand on his hip as his other hand held onto the door.

Collin shifted over towards the side and made way for me to walk through the door. He took a bow as I crept inside his apartment, "After you, your majesty."
I couldn't resist the smile that snuck up on my face, and I knew he saw it despite how dark it was in here. His eyes were so intense, it was like he was touching me with his own eyes. I could feel his eyes move all over my body and it was absolutely electrifying.
The door groaned as he shut it, still keeping his eyes on me as we stood there in the darkness, gazing at each other like stars in the midnight sky. "So, are you going to show me your room or are we just going to stand here like idiots?" I asked, scoping out the rest of the place which was nearly full of nothing but shadows.
"My room?" He raised the tone of his voice, it was like a spark had been set off because I could sense the excitement in his voice.
"Yeah. Your room, you know what I came here to do so let's do it." I still couldn't believe he chose me, out of all the girls he knew. Somehow I was the special one, somehow I was the one that was worthy of all this. I wanted to do this so badly, and his hesitation was driving me mad.

Without further ado, he held his arms out towards the staircase that seemed to have light leading from the top of it. "We might be up until midnight-"
"I don't mind. You're the one who's in control." I said, which sounded way more sexual than I intended it to.
"I like that response."

We wandered up the stairs and turned to the left, strolling inside the only room that had lights on, his room. Collin smiled at me and asked me “Do you like it?”
                        There were paintbrushes, paint drippings that stained the bottom half of the floor boards, and painted canvases everywhere. On the wall, was nothing but endless amounts of pictures, which I guessed he created? It was obvious he was an artist; he arranged the paintings on his wall in a way that was so clever and enchanting. Every time my eyes shifted from one painting to the next, it felt like I was dancing or perhaps spinning. Everything was covered by something; even his end table was nearly hidden by the large sheets of white paper that had faint, grey sketches on them.

                       “Well, it’s just like how I imagined it’d be.” I nearly whispered, suddenly feeling repressed and introverted. It wasn't until then that I realized I shouldn't have been here. It wasn't the time, or the circumstances that made it wrong. People had their own beliefs on what they thought was going on between us but that still didn't shake the way I felt. They practiced condemnation but me and Collin practiced veneration for one another and that, is what separated us from them.

                       “You mean dirty and messy, right?” He started laughing at me.
                        “No, I-I’m just speechless.” I murmured, taking a few more steps forward as I observed some more of his works, and he started setting up his easel.
                        “What’s on your mind?” He asked, as he picked up some paintbrushes and placed them in the cradle of the easel.
                       “You’re comfortable with me being in here?” I glanced up at him and he frowned, dropping everything as he walked over to me.
                        “You’re not comfortable being here…That’s what it is, isn't it?” He asked, not even bothering to answer my question.

"No I am" I said quickly, afraid he would change his mind about this.
"There's no need to lie Jess, I know you're second guessing yourself just because of them." He sighed and rolled his eyes at me. "How many times do I have to tell you that they will never understand us, this world that I'm introducing you to is far too perceptive for them to understand, it's beyond their comprehension,"
"I know, I know." I pleaded, trying not to make him upset. He was right, lately it kind of did feel like no one understood me anymore.
"No, clearly you don't understand because you keep trying to appease them by explaining yourself to them." He got closer to me, his face nearly touching mine before he spoke. "This world I'm about to introduce you to is intense, Jess...There's no in and out, these worlds will never exist together." He placed his arms on my shoulders.  " You're either with us or you're with them, are you in or not?"
I couldn't stall anymore, I could tell he was tired of it. "I'm in." I said with conviction, flashing him a weak smile.
He didn't return the favor, he just kept staring into my eyes and I couldn't tell if he was angry or just tired of me. "Then start acting like it. Don't ever doubt yourself again, do you understand?"
"Yes." I said in an undertone, still smiling at him.

He placed his chilling hands upon the sides of my face and rubbed his thumbs over my cheeks, before pulling them away and looking back at them.
"Natural and captivating-Just the way I like it." His hands found their way back to my face again and he tilted my face up, making sure we were still making eye contact. "You're pretty without all that silly makeup."
"Uhh, thanks-I guess" I said quietly, feeling like a little rag doll between his hands.
"Be confident." He frowned, clearly showing his resentment towards my lack of confidence.
"Thanks." I said quickly, not trying to hear another long speech from him about self-assurance.

"That's better." Now he finally smiled back at me. "Shall we begin?" He asked, looking towards the stool that was directly in front of the easel.
"We've waited long enough." I said sarcastically, even though I was super nervous. He took his hands away from my face and went back towards his easel. Oh God, we were really about to do this.

I plodded towards the stool in the most ungraceful way I could ever imagine. I felt like a clown, walking on cheap wooden stilts. "So uhhh, d-do you-do-d-" I stuttered all over the place, and the fact that my body was shaking made me sound even worse, I hoped he couldn't notice my shaking. Why the hell was I shaking like this? I've never been this nervous before. Was it the slight chill in the room that was making me shiver this much or was I actually that nervous?
Collin was looking up at me, laughing a little. "You don't have to get completely naked, I only need you to be topless, I can work with that." He sounded so sure about this, almost as if he had done this before.
"Are you sure this is your first time doing a painting like this?" I questioned him, raising my eyebrows a little.
"Yeah, can't you see how nervous I am?" He said that as if it were obvious.
"No, you look focused and ready..." My fingers were shaking.
"Well I'm not, this is a huge deal for me-"
I cut him off. "No, this is a huge deal for me." I said somewhat defensively.

"Why? Because you're naked?" He asked, laughing a little.
I said nothing, the only thing I could feel was the trembling of my knees. "There's nothing wrong with nudity Jess, in some 3rd world countries the people still walk around with nothing covering their bodies-"
"But this is America, we don't live in a 3rd world country, nudity isn't exactly acceptable."
"Who cares? Society has two eyes Jess, and one of them is blinded...They only see half of everything they look at, so you should never look to society for approval or denial because they never see the full picture, they're half blind and only see one side of everything."

He did it again. Collin always had a way of making things that were considered inappropriate, seem okay and justifiable. "I never thought about it that way." I said slowly, looking down at my pitch black sneakers, feeling like I was going to lose my breath.
"I know you didn't" He snickered, before he cleared his throat and lowered his voice a little. "Now..."

I took that as a queue to start undressing, so I turned my back towards him and began pulling my shirt over my head, before he startled me.
"Stop!" He shouted. I turned back around and faced him, feeling naked, even though I technically wasn't...Yet.
"What?" Ice was nearly melting on my back, I shivered and tried to hold my self together, I was already freaking out and I still had my shirt on.
"I can't do this without asking you a question first...." He eyed me up and down in the most peculiar way.
"Um sure, what do you need to ask me?" It felt like he was the one stalling now, I was willing yet he wasn't doing what he said he would.
"Do you trust me?" He asked, staring into my eyes.

"Yes."
"You really, honestly, trust me?" He asked once more.
"Yes Collin I do, I trust you." I said gently, trying to sound more sincere.
"Okay, that's all I needed to know." He said before getting his canvas assembled onto the easel. "I'm ready when you are."

That, was the queue. As soon as he said that, I turned back towards the wall, pulled my shirt over my head, and moved my hands towards my back, sliding my fingers underneath my bra. It took me a while to actually get it unhooked, it felt like it kept re-attaching itself every time I unhooked it.
I felt the frosty and frigid air bite all over my naked skin, making me shiver some more.
My nipples were hard which made me uneasy because I wasn't even sexually excited, it felt like I wasn't even in control of my own body. Thank god I had my back facing him, I didn't want him getting the wrong impression.
I ran my fingers along my braid, pulling it towards the side and making sure it was out of the way. I sat up a little straighter, trying to look composed and neat. "How's this?" I asked, but he didn't respond and I was too afraid to turn around and face him. What the hell was he doing? Being all silent and still....Was he painting already or was he watching me?

"Colli-" My voice caught in my throat once I felt a wet coolness on my back that instantly had me shuddering, and I gasped.
"Shh! Don't move." He warned.
Collin's freezing cold finger traced against my skin and the only thing I could feel was curves, long wispy curves. It kind of felt like he was drawing an 'S' on my back with the way he slowly trailed his finger all along my back, which kind of tickled. When he stopped and finally pulled his finger away I could feel that wintry heaviness on top of my skin-he had marked me.

"Collin, did you just mark me?!" I asked, looking over my shoulder.
"Well-I wouldn't call it that..." He said hesitantly.
"Well then what do you call it? And what did you write on my back?!" I said as I tried to get a view of my back.
"I call it luck." He said slowly, and I just knew he was smiling even though I couldn't see his face.
"What?!" I asked again, as  if I hadn't heard him.
"Three is my lucky number." He said cleverly.
So that's what he wrote on my back. "Why would you put that on my back?!" I ask again, starting to think that he's lying.
"Because I'm feeling lucky."

After he said that he walked back over to the other side of the room, and stood in front of his cluttered desk. He rummaged his fingers around, until he pulled out a paintbrush that was hidden beneath all his sketches.
"How do you want me to pose?" I turned my neck around, facing him and he eyed me up and down.
"Hmm, tilt your head more to the other side...."
"Like this?" I moved my head away from his direction, like he said.
"Yeah, just like that, everything's almost perfect..." His voice was trailing off, in a suggestive way and I thought he was going to ask me to turn around.
"Well what would make it perfect?" I asked nervously, mentally preparing myself to throw my clothes on and run for the door, especially after what he had said a few moments ago. What if my sister was right? What if he really did just want sex?

"This." He said, pointing towards the necklace that hung around his neck, containing some red looking liquid inside of it, it was a vial of some sort.
I watched him untwist the cap and pour a small amount of that crimson fluid onto the palm of his hand, and in a flash his tongue careened all over the palm of his hand, letting that sanguine fluid soak into every single one of his taste buds.
When he finished doing that, he shook the palm of his hand in the air, trying to dry it off.  I grew nervous inside once I realized what he was doing. We had talked about this before but I had never actually seen him or anyone do that, up close and personal. Watching him actually do it, just made it that more real to me. But there was no backing out now....
He looked back over at me and smiled. "Now, everything's perfect."

*I know this part of the chapter may seem a little confusing but, that's fine... :) *