CHAPTER 3:

CARMEN

“Miss Carmen Cartier?” One of the cops, a tall and burly man, raised his brow to get confirmation of my identity.

I looked at my mom, panic crossing my eyes. She blinked at me. Even without saying a word, I could tell what she was telling me just by looking at me.

Act natural.

I cleared my throat, looking back at the officer as I answered, “That would be me.”

“I’m Officer Dunlop. LAPD.” He showed his ID card to me and my mom, gestured at the other officer beside him. “This is Inspector Bridgers.”

“What brings you to our house? I hope there’s nothing wrong,” Mom said with a frown. She was so good at playing it cool.

“We just came to ask a few questions. Mr. Dave Wilmer here claims that he witnessed you being assaulted. Care to tell us what happened?” Bridgers questioned.

My eyes lingered on Dave for a while, my mind going blank. At first, the only thought on my mind was Max and how he had tried to get me to have sex with him. How could Dave have been a witness to it?

“Tell them about the man from the alley, Carmen,” Dave encouraged.

At the mention of an alley, my heart spiralled out of control. I looked at Mom, and she only looked back at me, confused as she said, “What man? What alley? What is he talking about?”

I looked back at Dave, and he gave me an encouraging nod as he pushed. “The man who was touching you appropriately while you were having an asthma attack, Carmen. You can tell them.”

At his words, my memory shifted instantly to the perverted man from the bar. Of course, that was what he was talking about. How foolish was I to think that he knew about Max?

“Oh, yes.” I nodded, blinking repeatedly as I tried to get the image of Max’s white corpse out of my head.

“Come on in, officers,” Mom invited, opening the door wider as we all walked into the living room. 

I suddenly became conscious of our house and the things that were in it. Everyone in school knew Dave as the smart kid from a wealthy family, and it didn’t help that he was sitting in my lesser-than-average living room at that moment.

“Can I get you a cup of coffee? Tea? Water?” Mom questioned the officers, but they declined.

They threw questions at me, and I gave them all I knew. I described the man to the best of my abilities, barely keeping eye contact with the cops. 

Whenever I looked at them, the possibility of them returning for my arrest flashed before my eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” Mom asked in a surprised tone, playing the role of Mother of the Year perfectly. As she asked, I came to a realization that she never asked me why I was at the hospital two nights ago when I had seen her.

“You didn’t ask,” I responded, shooting her a glare only for a split second so that Dave or the cops wouldn’t catch it.

“I don’t want to press charges,” I spoke up after a while. “I want to forget all about everything that happened. I’ve talked to my boss about adjusting my shifts.”

“Carmen—”

“No, Dave,” I cut him off. “Thank you for helping me report it, but I really just want to let it go.”

With a defeated sigh, Dave nodded.

The cops, after asking if I was sure about my decision, stood up to take their leave. I escorted them out with Dave, who walked side by side with me right behind the cops.

“Are you okay? You look shaken up. Your eyes are puffy,” he observed.

“I just woke up,” I lied.

“You really don’t want to press charges?” he questioned.

“Drop it, Dave,” I whined. I didn’t want anything to do with the police. Not at a sensitive time like that.

“You okay? We can drop you off, you know,” Bridgers offered Dave.

“It’s fine, I’ll take a taxi,” Dave assured them.

As the officers drove off, Dave turned back to me with his dimpled smile on full display. “I do have something to ask you.”

“No, we cannot be friends,” I playfully said to him with a smile of my own. Acting natural.

“Well, fair enough. I was actually wondering if you could be my date to senior prom, next week.”

My eyes widened for a moment, his words playing on a loop inside my head. Senior prom with David Wilmer…

“I didn’t intend to go…” I trailed off, looking down at the floor as I gave it a thought. 

On one hand, it would be insane to go to prom after killing a person and disposing of his body. 

On the other hand, I did it in self-defence, and I couldn’t spend the rest of my life crying about it…Right?

“I’ll be your date to prom,” I decided.

**********

“You look absolutely splendid,” Dad said as I gave him a twirl in the dress I had gotten from a thrift store last minute.

“Thank you.” I smiled, turning to look at Mom as I waited in silence for her compliment. She had a mug of plain, black coffee in her hands as she gave me a simple once-over.

“Mom, I’m off to prom,” I announced, as if she didn’t know it.

She nodded, taking a sip of her coffee.

The little thread of hope I had in her snapped. She didn’t care. She had stopped caring a long time ago.

“Take care,” I waved, more at Dad than at her, as I grabbed my purse and took my leave.

**********

“Someone’s on guard duty,” I laughed at the sight of Dave, who stood at the entrance of the school gym like a chaperone.

“It’s not my fault. I was worried my date would stand me up.” He took my hand and sent me a smile which reminded me of how my heart flipped whenever I saw his dimples. “You look amazing.”

“So do you,” I responded.

The whole school stared at us, shocked. I could see people whispering into each other’s ears as they saw us. Dave didn’t seem to mind, so I made it a mission to care less as well.

“I bet they’re wondering what changed. I mean, we’re supposed to hate each other’s guts and scoff at each other’s presence,” I said as the night progressed quickly.

We were in the corner of the school gym, and everyone either focused on the dance floor or on the buffet table at the other end of the gym to notice us in the shadows.

It brought me a small sense of comfort that I was hidden in the full room.

“Ah, yes. The good old times,” Dave chuckled airily as he turned to me. “What do you say, Carmen Cartier? A fresh start?”

I pretended to give it a thought as I hummed and looked towards the ceiling. “I don’t know…”

“Come on,” he laughed. “I’m sorry for everything I did, including exchanging your homework and sabotaging some of your tests so that I could come out on top. Maybe I was a little too competitive.”

“Damn right, you were.” I nodded, taking his hand in mine as I sighed. “Fine, David Wilmer. I’ll accept a fresh start.”

“Perfect.” I saw his eyes flicker between my eyes and my lips, and I knew where exactly it was headed.

“You’re looking at me like you want to kiss me,” I boldly pointed out.

“I do,” he said.

“Please, do. Kiss me until I forget everything.” I was sure that he didn’t understand the gravity of my statement and what “everything” meant to me, but he kissed me anyway.

His soft lips clashed with mine, and I held on to his tuxedo for some balance and sanity. I wanted more and more. I wanted to be stuck in that moment. To be able to close my eyes and not open them back because Max’s face was glued to my eyelids.

“God, Carmen,” he laughed as he pulled away from the kiss, both of us catching our breaths.

I looked up at him, wondering what it meant. Perhaps, he thought I was a terrible kisser.

“What?” I questioned.

“We can’t do this here. Someone is bound to find us,” he pointed out.

“We could go somewhere else,” He offered.

He fished his pockets until he took his phone out and dialled a number as I waited, glaring at his beautiful blue eyes.

“Presidential for Wilmer,” he said to the person on the other end of the call, his lips grazing against mine softly.

As soon as he hung up, he made another call. He pressed his body against mine, and I gasped at the feeling of his boner against my abdomen. 

The bad memories with Max and the man from the bar tried to seep into my head, but I fought them off. Dave hummed in pleasure as he rocked against me.

“Yes, I’m ready to leave now,” he spoke as the second person he called picked up the phone.

“My driver will be here soon,” he announced to me, playfully nibbling on my lower lip as I moaned into his mouth.

His driver arrived in no time, taking us out into the city until we got to the main branch of Wilmer Hotels.

“This is your father’s…” I gasped as we got out of the car, staring at the hotel which looked like it was made completely of glass.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Dave said, taking my hand as he led me through the front doors.

“Definitely not,” I breathed in response.

“Good evening, Mr. Wilmer,” a butler greeted, taking the tuxedo jacket off Dave’s body as he led us to the elevator, greeting me as well.

“Absolutely no distractions,” Dave said to the butler as the elevator closed, both of us finally alone again.

The elevator took us straight to the penthouse of the hotel, revealing the presidential suite.

I didn’t have enough time to be awed as Dave attacked me with kisses, reminding me of my arousal which had been put on hold.

The bed felt like a cloud as he placed me on it, his tongue travelling down my neck and eliciting cries of pleasure from me.

With the swiftness that only people who had a burning passion for each other would understand, we helped each other take our clothes off until we were completely naked.

“Are you sure about this? After what happened with that man—”

“Don’t, Dave. I’m sure.” I nodded, basking in his moans as I clamped my hand over his fat cock and caressed his tip with my thumb.

We both released moans of pleasure as I guided him inside of me, as slowly as possible, until I had taken all of him in. We stayed there for a while as my body accommodated the foreign feeling.

Dave, perhaps realizing what had happened, looked down at me as he asked, “Are you a virgin, Carmen?”

Too overwhelmed by the mixture of pain and pleasure to say a word, I could only nod.

Dave seemed taken aback by my answer, but he soon recovered from the shock of it as he started to pump in and out of me.

He started with a slower pace until he was assured that I had gotten comfortable with him and was taking him well. 

He started to increase his pace, and our moans minced with the air in the room as I grabbed him by his biceps and dug my nails into his skin.

“Fuck, Carmen. You’re so good,” he whispered against my lips as he kissed me, our lips smacking against each other’s sloppily as we moaned into each other’s mouths. 

My legs were wrapped securely around his torso as I rocked my hips against his for his own pleasure.

My hands explored his body as he kissed me senselessly, pounding hard into me. 

I touched every dip and curve I could reach, making attempts to commit his sinful body to my memory. I needed something to think about every night. If I touched him long enough, my nightmares could be over.

As I got closer and closer to climax, my grip only tightened and my body went into spasms I had never experienced before, my voice getting louder.

“Dave!” I moaned loudly as I came undone, my voice reaching a crescendo.

Dave’s pace increased even further as he whimpered until he came inside of me, his warm liquid shooting into me. He slowed his pace until he finally came to a halt, both of us catching our breaths as we stared at each other.

We took a shower together and had another round of sex, Dave holding me up against the glass walls of the shower room as he fucked my brains out.

By the time we finished our shower, Dave took out a bottle of vodka from the shelf. We spent most of the night laughing at our drunk selves as we whispered sweet nothings to each other, and then we went for a third round until we fell asleep tangled in the sheets.

The next morning…

“What time is it?” I asked nobody in particular as I rubbed my eyes and found Dave sleeping in bed beside me. My head was pounding at a painfully steady rhythm as I reached for my purse to get my phone.

Dave stirred awake as he looked around, his hair wild and his face holding confusion.

I got my phone out of my purse, shooting up as I saw twenty missed calls and two texts from my mom.

“Shit,” I cursed as I tried to call back at first; it went straight to voicemail. I had forgotten to let them know that I wouldn’t be returning home. I couldn’t imagine just how worried Dad would be.

With no other choice left, I checked Mom’s texts.

My body went rigid as I stared at the texts with my mouth slightly open. I read the text over and again, waiting for the words to transform so I could sigh in relief that I was just seeing things – the words didn’t change.

Where are you??? The first text read. I wasn’t bothered by the first text, but my eyes were glued to the second text, which was sent fifteen minutes after the first.

YOUR FATHER IS DEAD, CARMEN!!!