Chapter 18: Dreams
"So what exactly are you capable of?" I asked, eyes roaming with renewed curiosity.
He gave me an odd look and I scoffed at his feigned ignorance.
"Oh, don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. Your superpowers, what are they?"
"Superpowers?"
"You know, like Batman and Superman." I gave him two exemplary heroes off the top of my head, but then reconsidered the former.
"You know what, forget Batman. Let's go with Wonder Woman instead."
"Are these people that I am supposed to know?"
"You don't know any DC Comics fictional superheroes?"
He shook his head.
"What about Marvel? To be honest, I always thought they were better anyway. It wouldn't be a surprise if you knew about them instead."
"I am afraid not."
I couldn't help displaying how appalled I was at that. "You could've gotten your ass beat as a kid for saying something like that. No, even as an adult you could still feel the brunt of the respective fans each fictional world has garnered. I mean, I wouldn't blame them for roasting you. These things are common knowledge."
"You're forgetting that I'm not human, so that doesn't apply to me."
"But don't you mingle with us? Don't you know about what we're interested in?"
"To some extent." He replied gruffly.
"How disappointing." I mused before recalling something related to my original question.
"You said your wings are bound so that rules out flying. What about reading people's minds? Can you do that?" I asked, remembering how he had looked at me as if he knew what I was thinking in the office on his first day.
"No, I cannot read your mind." My eyes widened at how he said your instead of phrasing it generally. "But you're so easy to read, every glance of yours has its own meaning, so if that is equivalent to being a mind reader, then yes I am. Well, at least in your case."
I rolled my eyes at that. "I'm not easy to read."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night."
"Speaking of sleeping at night..."
My eyes examined him closely for any hints of lying.
He did say he wasn't good at doing it when we first met, so I was wondering if that was a personality trait or a genetics problem.
"Do you have the ability to..." I trailed off, trying to find the right words to say. But when did I ever think about anything before saying it? Huh, he really was affecting me in the weirdest way. "Can you invade someone's dream and uh, touch them inappropriately?"
"Are you asking if I've ever mindfucked you?"
So much for having a filter.
I flushed.
"I thought your kind is supposed to be pure and conservative! How can you say something like that?"
"Words are just words, Isabelle. It's just humanity's preconceptions that make them out to be what they originally are not. They're just labels."
"But they still have meanings! Bad meanings."
"In your world they do, not mine." He casually shrugged.
I gaped at him.
My stupefied attitude morphed into one of impatience a second later. "Just answer the damn question."
He rolled his eyes, most likely at my short temper.
"Do you know who Sigmund Freud is?" The man randomly asked.
I racked my brain for something I had learnt about the old guy in my psychology course at university.
"Isn't he the founder of psychoanalysis? He talked about the theory of the unconscious with respect to dream interpretation and all that crap."
His eyes sparkled proudly at my intelligence. "Precisely."
"What does that have to do with-"
I pointed a finger at him angrily. "You didn't."
"Like Freud says, dreams give access to one's deepest thoughts. Sexual instincts or drives have deeply hidden roots in the unconscious mind. Since the moment you have met me, you made yourself susceptible to my intrusion."
"You can manipulate my dreams just because I find you hot?" I sputtered.
His lips twitched at my bluntness. "It's a little bit more complex than that, darling."
My heart leaped at his casual term of endearment even though it really shouldn't have.
The man had just confessed to touching me inappropriately against my will-
Wait, let me rephrase that.
He had touched my subconscious self without permission.
"Then explain." I growled.
"I can bring out a person's true colours; their inner desires. Whether it's subconsciously or not, it's something only higher level angels are able to do. Sometimes it does get out of hand when the targeted person holds too much passion." His expression gave away a hint of regret and I felt the gears turning in my brain, trying to figure out why that was.
Then it hit me.
"Don't tell me..." I gasped in horror.
"Did you do the same thing to Stephen when we were at that restaurant?"
He avoided my gaze.
I let out a cold laugh. "That's why he was so mean to me! I couldn't understand how someone as sweet as he is could have changed so much in the span of minutes. And here I was thinking he had dissociative identity disorder."
"But it had been you all along." My eyes were burning a hole into the side of his head.
"It's a misunderstanding. I didn't know he was going to react that aggressively. I guess deep down he has harbored some grudges against you for treating him like air then suddenly taking interest."
"So you're saying it's my fault?"
"I'm saying you should treat people around you better. You were never this insensitive of others' feelings. Sometimes it makes me feel like you're a whole different person."
My eyes twitched.
"That's because I am!"
He nodded calmly at my outburst. "Yes, you are but that doesn't change the fact that you should treat others the way you want to be treated."
My lips pursed.
"I will admit to my miscalculation on his personality. I honestly thought he was more upright than that. At least I got your blonde coworker right."
"You used your weird gift on Claire too?!"
He batted his eyelashes rapidly. "Um...yes?"
"Please tell me you're kidding me." My eyes screwed shut remembering how she had flirted with me.
Inner desires, he said.
So that meant Claire secretly was...
"I wish I could, but it is against my nature to lie. That is why I have to tell the truth all the time. Thankfully, I have learnt the art of avoiding the topic instead of confessing if the answer is unfavorable to who is asking."
"I'll keep that in mind." I spared him a hard look, making him slap his forehead as he realized his slip up.
My lips instinctively twitched at how cute he looked doing that.
Ugh, get a hold of yourself.
I closed my eyes for a moment to block out his radiant aura before gathering my wits.
Before I could even reopen them properly, he had taken my hands in his whispering, "I'm sorry if what I did offended you. I was only trying to make up for what I did to you. You seemed quite shaken up that night so I simply wanted to calm you down."
Oh, you succeeded alright.
I thought about the way he had caressed and played with my body like a sacred instrument. His talented hands incited a rhythmic melody that only the two of us had the privilege of listening to.
"Couldn't you have used a more reasonable way of apologizing?"
"That is how we always made it up to each other."
My cheeks were set aflame.
"Really?" I squeaked.
His eyes were edging the colour of ink as he stared at me. "Curious?"
He teased me further with a lick of his lips.
I watched the movement of his tongue, feeling my skin heat up.
"I think I have the right to be after everything you've told me."
A perfectly arched eyebrow lifted at that but he said nothing.
Not until my hand found its way to the front of his pants.
"Belle," he growled warningly and I liked the sound of it. "I don't think this is the right time for something like this."
Sure, we had a lot more stuff to talk about but I was feeling naughty. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I couldn't deal with my problems mentally, some kind of physical cure had to be involved.
Right now Angelo was that cure.
Ignoring his words, I sat up eagerly, feeling more energized than I was when we had started this conversation. "Why?" My lips licked the shell of his ear teasingly and I felt him tense.
I pulled back sparing the most innocent look. "Is it that you don't want me anymore?"
His eyes expanded in fear. "No, I-"
"Because I'm not your pure and naive Elisabetta?"
Angelo sighed, running a hand through his gorgeous curls. "No matter the time, place or hour, I will always desire you, Isabelle. Or Elisabetta. Whatever you wish to go by, it's fine. It doesn't change the fact that I want you and only you."
"If that's the case, how about princess? I like it when a man calls me that." I winked.
"You're impossible," he groaned seemingly in pain.
I had an idea exactly where that feeling of his originated from.
Hint, hint: down below.
That was where my touch descended, attempting to feel him through his pants.
He watched me carefully, eyes stuck on the area below his belt. His gaze then lifted when I grabbed a handful of him, jaw clenching in the sexiest way.
It was then I realized it was the first time I had touched him willingly.
"You said this is how we deal with our problems, right? Then think of it as me lending a hand in recalling our memories."
Literally instead of metaphorically that hand rubbed him again and the groan he let out caused shivers to run down my spine.
Oh god, he sounds so fucking hot.
When I was bold enough to bring my hands to the edge of his pants in order to completely free him, he swiftly took a hold of it.
I looked up at him, stunned.
"I'm not ready."
"I know, that's why I'm preparing you. Or should I say me?"
I went to pick up where I left off but he took my hand again.
His thumb and index finger held my wrist gingerly and removed it. "No."
"What do you mean by 'no'?"
It angered me more that his eyes were focused more on something behind me than at me.
"Wrong timing." Was all he said and I got so aggravated that I snapped.
"Are you kidding me? What do you mean by that - and what the hell do you keep looking at?!" I bent my neck to see what had gained his attention to the extent of abandoning his carnal needs, moreover my own.
My mouth fell open at the ebony girl who was looking between the two of us like she had seen a ghost.
"Genie..." I began, treading carefully on the topic.
"I can explain."
***
You're making it sound like you were caught cheating or something lol.
Make sure you don't forget to show your love for this story by voting, commenting and sharing with friends.