Chapter 17: Of Honesty and Dancing

Kate woke up following her usual morning routine, taking her birth control and morning after pill as she stretched, trying to get rid of some of the well earned aches in her body, as she looked forwards to the picnic after work, moments of last night’s lovemaking with Cane crystallized perfectly in her memory as she began to dress and make herself ready. She always spared herself an hour to dress, apply whatever level of makeup she was comfortable with that day, setting her Mohawk on literal edge with some well placed hair gel and spray, along with completing the rest of her morning rituals like brushing her teeth etc.

She decided to treat herself to a nice dress today, seeing as she probably wouldn’t be able to take advantage of it later on, when she’d have to opt for a more suitable outfit for the motorcycle ride they had planned and the picnic after that. She chose a simple yet elegant number, black and flowy, with a plunging neckline that showed off her newfound confidence, thanks to Cane’s painting. It made her feel like a modern-day Venus rising from the shadows, and she couldn’t help but twirl around in the mirror, watching the fabric flow around her like ink in water.

Regardless of how her other work friends felt at her job, they knew Kate was more than just a one trick pony with her wardrobe or her flair as she glided on comfortable, black slip-ons to the kitchen, her mother already there, dressed and immaculate for her day job, as his father had unfortunately already left, his shift work starting much earlier.

Her mother, Kate ruminated not for the first time, was a public health inspector for restaurants and the like and her father a waste management director who basically kept the city from resembling a large junk heap overnight, she realized how important both jobs were and how her own dreams of owning and managing a tattoo parlour of her own, although simple, brought her no small amount of joy, but art school would come first she promised herself. Her current job going on three years now was finally paying off. She’d already applied to every art school both local and abroad for entry into this year’s new intake after summer break that she felt certain and comfortable would give her the best education she could afford and appreciate.

She’d talked about her dreams of a higher education and the need to stand on her own two feet with both friends, her parents and Cane but by the look of the empty letterbox on their apartment building that she’d already checked, that day wouldn’t be today, although it was obviously still too early for deliveries just yet.

As the hour rolled on, she drank her morning peppermint tea, checked herself in the mirror and kissed her mom goodbye. Perry wasn’t up yet, but he would be soon, one thing you could say about him is he slept like a log when everything was peaceful. She reflected sadly for a moment how hearing her and her night terrors for so many years until they’d finally found a prescription that worked had probably made it easy for him to appreciate a good night’s sleep too, she pondered solemnly before pushing the thought away, smiling as she left on foot for her job.

Despite all the walking she did, outside of her extra curriculars with Cane she barely seemed to lose weight. Several diets which she’d stuck to and several years later she still held the same obese frame but something felt different. On a very simple level she understood it was because she felt desired, that she had someone who practically fed her energy just by how he looked at her, let alone when she was in his arms and that was priceless, raising a feeling in her like splendid affection wrapped in a box ready to explode outwards from her, when she laid eyes on him.

She wondered not for the first time was this love or just a misguided interpretation an expectation she was raising too high for either of them to really hold onto before the buzz of her phone alerted her she’d received a message, broke her from her reverie. The title of the message read “wait until you see”, on her phones lock screen before she unlocked it and entered the messaging app.

It had a picture of Cane, with his motorcycle, as the morning sun rose behind him, the flowing red light enveloping most of him, except his face and his smile as he took a self portrait photograph or “selfie” with his phone and he held it up to capture the rays of crimson-orange sunlight wash over him and the bikes shining chrome in a mirror-like shine.

A new message read under the photo he’d posted. “To the future we have yet to see and the past we keep well guarded for the present we have yet to fall in love with. I hope you’re not feeling down Kate, I know how our emotions can tend to try and keep us down unexpectedly when we seem to finally turn a corner in life, especially so early in the morning when the last motes of darkness seem to wither and die yet unexpected emotions of regret or even doubt yet linger afterwards, to draw our attention away from well earned happiness. I just hope I have had a meaningful hand in that joy you feel so close to your breast as this message reaches you. See you later Sarah Connor”, he added at the end with a winking smiley face emoji, getting the Terminator 2 reference as he typed in at last “your the strongest woman I know Kate, you can endure anything, just don’t forget you are your own worst enemy know and count on this. Talking to friends talking to anyone can help with this, even if I’m not your first call”, he finished going silent without any of the typical “is typing...” indicators to show he had something to say as she absorbed the message.

Kate felt a warmth spread through her chest, his words a balm to her soul. It was strange how much Cane knew her, and even more so how much he cared. She replied with a message of her own, a simple “Thank you. I’m looking forward to our picnic today,” and a smiling emoji. It was all she could manage before the butterflies in her stomach started to flutter again, anticipating their rendezvous.

“So how do you know it’ll work?”, Perry asked as he began sorting out the latest batch of individually recorded audio books excerpts created and edited by the store staff and linked to their online store with a poll to see if the content was worth developing for their customer base in larger instalments. “Simply put we’ve been trying too hard for it not to. I imagine you’ve slowly increased the dosage over time, making the taste seem indistinguishable from anything else really and as we can expect it’ll take about two weeks like any mind altering drug for it to flood everyone’s system”, Cane said as he watched out for any other staff or incoming customers around the main desk. “It’s roughly been around that time, we just need to wait until Friday and keep all eyes off us until we can be sure we’re entering with the best odds stacked in our favour”, Cane said, Perry only grunted with a nod by way of subtle agreement as he finished loading the collaborative audio dramas usually made by at least two members of Gideon’s that normally did the dramatic often entertaining readings. The current one’s he had to upload to their website was ironically two previews of Alice in Wonderland’s initial conversation between Alice and the caterpillar and the Mad Hatter’s tea party. Sound effects like puffs of smoke wafting through the air, reproduced by vape pens and even humidifiers had been used for the caterpillar segment and a clash of cutlery including some cheap China the store had meant to replace had been used expressively for simulating the hazardous clutter of the tea party as the dormouse entered the scene. All the staff involved got a share of 90/10 in their favour of the profits made from the digital sales of the finished product, mirrored equally in the audio books providing fiscal incentives to produce a good quality product. All the excerpts and previews were given freely; they even offered a patreon membership for early access, decisive polls and other bits of info regarding production and interaction with a steady growing fan base of their work.

“How soon do you want to test commands?”, Perry asked “Only when we’ve confirmed everything else, something simple and harmless will do, record everything of course, we don’t want to resort to blackmail but the ultimate goal is unavoidable. Plus, if we don’t do it soon Kate is likely to go to college, interrupting the whole flow, but if we take our time like we should we get to enjoy ourselves regardless, it’s just a matter of calibration and there won’t be any need to take breaks, provided we take care of our toys”, he said in a cagey manner. The “toys” in question Perry knew were his parents; internally he was salivating at the chance but held that feeling tightly packed within.

Finishing the updates to Patreon aswell as the site store, the first downloads were beginning to tick over on the viewings counter he’d helped install, he wasn’t a professional website designer but with enough programs and input from the more experienced staff members, he’d been able to narrow down and refine what they were looking to cultivate. As he pressed enter for the final time, the title of the current video posted of Dr.Seuss works they’d made a live reading of, with one of the more dramatically gifted staff members from the week before.

Allot of editing went into cutting people out of the picture so the experience could remain almost solely on the staff member slipping in a customer of their children’s reaction to the reading for added effect as they switched between different angles in the stores dedicated reading area. He remembered that’s when Kate had shown up to meet him back when his parents had still been visiting their dying relative Sylvia. It felt so long ago now, with all that happened since then, even though like Cane said they’d barely started their efforts in drugging his own parents since then.

They didn’t even have to use some exotic drug or anything just more of the same, having discovered his mother’s own stash a long time ago. Apparently night terrors might run in the family, it at least affected both women. Although he was naturally curious to know what the possible traumatic event had been that had triggered it, supposing it was some deep, buried trauma, but he knew to leave well enough alone, for now at least. It was now just really a matter of squirreling just enough of her nightly pills away to unwittingly drug their father, grinding it into a fine powder and mixing it like sugar in his nightly tea he shared with his mother.

“Best case scenario, we get what we want, eventually, no one notices, no one knows, except our loyal fans”, he said, his response just cagey enough so that it could sound to any passer by including employees as part of a simple exchange over the functions of the store website. “What’s today about anyway Cane?”, Perry asked “I know your about grand gestures, my sister knows it too, even though she can’t see beyond the finger you’ve got her curled around, so ... should I reserve my shocked and surprised face? Are you going to propose?” he said his voice lower, more confidential so that only they two could hear.

“Trust me, that’s reserved after the big event and certainly after we have our fill”, he said “this isn’t about getting pieces, we already have that, this is about securing the whole pie for ourselves, one piece at a time”, Cane said with a confident smile “then deciding if we want seconds. Despite what you may think Perry there are greater challenges out there than family alone can provide and soon, you’ll want to face them too. I know I did. It’s how my uncle trained me, taught me to see what wasn’t there to anyone else and swoop in to take my opportunity”, he said with a pensive look on his face. “Trust me, there’s a big difference between playing the house and winning the jackpot and being the house and playing everyone else for theirs”, it’s utterly thrilling and engaging on a level that leaves your attention undivided, unable to pull away”, he said with the air of a man who’d said and done those very things many times over. “But eventually the boxer becomes the coach, lest he get knocked out on his ass terribly”, he said with an affectionate pat in Perry’s shoulder.

“That’s why your here champ, because your gonna’ eat lighting and crap thunder, were gonna have to put you in a cage!” he said in his best Mickey impression from the Rocky films. Which brought a smile to Perry’s lips. “But seriously, credit where it’s due “Premium Tier”, that was creative. Making her believe we’d actually share anything and allowing her to torture herself with her own thoughts, after unveiling how’d she’d been betrayed so deeply, I kinda wish we could write a book on this particular adventure”, Cane said as he engrossed himself in casual paperwork whilst he spoke. The way that he stood reflected a calm, relaxed disposition in his body language that spoke nothing of the sensitive nature of their conversation as Perry said at last with a leering smile “what would we even call it?”

“For the time being, nothing. We focus on the work and then if we’re successful we plan something under a pen name and give it a name that’s not pretentious but delivers some subtext to the underlying content at a glance. Maybe “Nightshade in a Bottle”, Cane offered. “Maybe you could even make the audio book here”, he quipped as he smacked the curled up roll of ready paperwork in his hand on Perry’s shoulder playfully with a smile. “It’d be like reverse method writing”, he said with a chuckle.

As the day wore on Kate found herself getting picked up by her dad at her workplace for a quick rendezvous at home. Cane hadn’t arrived yet, which gave her the time she needed to slip into her chosen outfit, keeping with Cane’s advice as she dressed dark denim pants, a short, black jacket barely framing the large bust held within the modest, but revealing windowed black shirt she was wearing, probably the same one she’d accidentally knocked his face into and in turn the exposed inner curves of her closely packed bosom, within the hugging material. Other than that she wore a simple leather choker with matching fingerless gloves, with some silver loop earrings, and pair of comfortable sunglasses and ankle-length leather boots with multiple, adjustable leather straps along its length as she observed herself in the mirror and felt a rush of satisfaction, it was perfect for the motorcycle ride and the picnic that was to come in her opinion.

Outside her mother and father had already packed the minivan, her mom dressed in a light summer dress and her dad in a pair of slacks and a polo shirt, both smiling broadly as they saw her come out dressed like a rebel with a cause. “You look like you’re about to rob a bank Kate!” her mother exclaimed, her eyes wide with surprise and a hint of concern. Kate couldn’t help but laugh, feeling the joy bubble up inside her like a shaken soda. “It’s just a picnic mom, I’m not starting a gang war,” she said, rolling her eyes playfully.

As if to punctuate her mother’s exclamation the almost unmistakeable deafening roar of a finely tuned motorcycle grew suddenly from a distance and then suddenly seemed to appear as Cane similarly dressed to Kate stopped his motorcycle neatly on the pavement just behind the parked minivan, removing his helmet in a single deft motion that caught their attention as he turned off and effectively muted the 1991 Harley Davidson Softail Fatboy creating a temporary bubble of punctuating silence created in the absence of its engines throaty rumbling as her father was the first to recognise the model straight out of the Terminator 2 movie, followed by Kate’s mother who’d probably watched it half as many times as her father had.

Their reactions were priceless, Kate thought as she watched her parents’ eyes widen at the sight of Cane. In this new light she saw Cane as more closely resembling a younger Sam Elliot from Roadhouse minus the beard and moustache, as his grey locks of shoulder-length hair framed his face in an untamed mane, his tanned skin lending him the promise of youth as the iron steed he neatly stepped off promised dreams enough for two.

He was dressed in a heavy leather jacket, comfortable black jeans, with a white top under an open, buttoned black shirt that made her heart race. His boots were clean, his smile was warmer than the morning sun, and Kate felt like she could stare at him forever. She stepped out onto the pavement beside him, her hand snaking behind his neck as she leaned him down so she could whisper in his ear. “You have no idea how wet your making me right now or how hard your making it for me not to rip you off your shirt and take you right there on your motorcycle”, she said with a smirk, her voice a seductive purr.

“That’s only going to be half the battle once you figure out if I’m lying or not when I’m tell you I’m going “commando” under these pants”, he said with a mischievous grin that Kate knew was not a lie. She felt her face flush and her heart race even faster at the thought. She stepped back and gave him a playful glare. “You’re unbelievable,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. “I believe its called checkmate my dear”, he said with a grin that made her knees wobble slightly.

Reaching into one of the motorcycles the side bags he retrieved an extra helmet for her, as her parents came up to them both, her father almost reluctantly tearing his sight away from the motorcycle, Kate’s mother having hooked her arm around his as they made their way to them, her mother whispering something in his ear that Kate couldn’t quite make out. “Ready for the ride of your life, Kate?” Cane asked, holding out the helmet with a wink.

When they were standing before them her mother began “I was just telling your father he could have his private moment with his new girlfriend later, after we have the picnic”, she said with a playful tone, as her father seemed to snap out of his momentary trance to shake Cane’s hand in thanks for the welcome surprise of the iconic Harley sitting on his driveway as they settled into the rhythm of setting out the plan for the picnic area in greater detail, as Cane gave out the address for the minivans GPS they would use to take them to the reserve entrance, sitting just beside the car park area with its own modern ticket booth and everything for entry. The only restricted items were anything flammable like alcohol, matches, cigarettes so as to reduce if not completely eliminate the chances of causing an outright or even accidental forest fire.

Luckily they weren’t carrying any of these articles and none of them were avid smokers, so no one was deterred only encouraged by the parks awareness of such dangers. “The guides there aren’t mandatory but you’ll see them either with groups of making patrols, just to be sure no one’s not where they’re not supposed to be, as some animals do venture in there during their mating season”, apart from that everyone knew where they were going in case the minivan or the motorcycle got a flat tire or had an emergency, Cane having supplied them all with the reserves main phone line in case anyone needed to contact them.

With that settled, Kate retrieved her helmet from Cane’s hand as they made their way to the motorcycle. “Whatever you do, if you’re unsure what to grip or take hold of just hook your thumbs into my pants waistline and your hands over my belt. It’s intimate but it’ll keep you from flying off the back”, he said with a seriousness that had Kate giggling. She nodded her understanding. “Also and this was from an experience I had with another woman who never rode with me again”, he said in all seriousness “she thought rather convincingly”, he began with a soft smile “that it was a great idea to lay back against the handlebars, wrap her legs around my waist and hook her arms behind the back of my neck as she faced me”, his smile began to fade “and then in the throes of what must’ve been young, crazy enthusiasm convinced me to drive into an open, albeit mostly empty highway as the sun was getting low, so as to avoid the wary eyes of police”, his smile widened as they all heard this story, their faces locked in momentary shock before he finished with a wide smile and said “what we should have been looking out for was the unlucky bug or dare I say lucky one that zipped past her face and down her open shirt”, he finished, unable to help himself as he laughed at the personal recalling of the story. Around him Kate and her parents had gone from shock to horror to laughter as Kate’s mother playfully slapped her dad’s shoulder saying “See, I told you!”

“To be fair you might know the woman in question from the old community Barbara, I believe her name was Nelly, nice but all around unpredictable”, he said as he recovered himself “and not just around men and motorcycles, I heard she got married to a nice woman a few years ago”, he said as he recovered himself from his fit of laughter. Barbara did recall her “jaw length dark, spiky hair and eyes, skin pale as chalk, thin but full of chaotic energy?”, Barbara offered with a knowing smile. “The very same,” Cane said with a nod.

“I don’t blame you then, she looked incredible in a black leather bodyglove and some red lipstick. I’m surprised she didn’t ask you to strip her down right there on the spot”, she said with more than a hint of a growing blush in her cheeks. As she said it everyone except Cane looked at her in surprise. “Well that’s what going behind tree covered billboard signs were for in those days”, he said as chuckled, retrieving his own helmet hanging from one of the motorcycle handlebars.

“I’m sure Kate is nothing like that”, he said with a wink “although I can’t speak for myself”, he said jokingly as he added “I am glad for slowing down though, it lets you appreciate what’s right in front of you”, he said as he took Kate’s hand and brought to his lips with a slight bow to kiss the fingers from of fingerless glove.

Kate couldn’t help but blush, feeling the warmth of his lips on her skin.

“Okay, let’s get going,” she said, trying to play it cool despite the racing thoughts in her head. She slipped the helmet on and swung her leg over the bike, her heart pounding as she wrapped her arms around Cane’s waist, her hands finding the leather of his belt. He gave her a quick nod of approval before starting the engine, the vibrations resonating through her body.

In the minivan Kate’s father took the wheel, Perry had decidedly taken today to let everyone know he’d be going out on a date with a staff member from his work. A nice middle-eastern girl named Aisha, he didn’t tell them much more than that, but Cane knew she was almost ten years his senior and although raised in a traditional Muslim household, she never allowed it to intervene with her love life, she’d been working since she was eighteen, lived in her own apartment and had one orange tabby cat she affectionately named after the animated tiger from Aladdin “Rajah” because of how over-protective he was over her since she’d adopted him as a rescue.

To say that the girl was lovely was an understatement but as a result what first appeared to be naivety was quickly disproven when she effectively shot down everyone else’s advances, not just the store staff but customers, more than inclined to notice her obvious beauty. Cane had made it clear that Perry needed more than just one, singular, dominating, experience consuming his nights. That over time outwardly it would look odd, for an eighteen-year-old to spend every one of his nights without failure, without going out, indicating the kind of odd behaviour they were trying not to attract attention to in any way, so effective, pre-emptive action was the best way through and why not start with Aisha. Perry already had an archetype, which put simply was big and bountiful. Aisha covered at least one of those requisites, being naturally busty, and curvy, with a thick, if muscular build that spoke of regular exercise. When Perry questioned how he could tell through the modest hijab and matching robes she wore comfortably, he simply answered “just trust me”, then to add a finer point “what you’re seeing is the tiger’s stripes blending into the jungle, camouflage. What you don’t see is the three-hundred pounds of muscle under that fur that allows it to move so gracefully. But like any jungle cat you need to be aware that it can just as easily be turned on you as any other prey”, he said slightly wistfully. “It’s why she so confident, physical strength can lend that to a person, that’s why you need a different tact, an edge she won’t see coming for her throat until you’ve already skinned her alive, as they say”, he’d finished.

With that Perry had resolved to show an interest in Aisha’s life. Being somewhat bookish himself he started with that, as he found her perusing the shelves on the book portion of the store. “Aisha I always wondered”, he asked “have you ever filled out one of those surveys we have for physical books you’d like to see ordered by the store, you know like romance novels and such?”, her expression had been neutral as she answered “yes, but not for romance novels, mostly some exercise books that don’t copy over well as PDF files and I’d like to see them in person before purchasing, other than that some light reading maybe some science fiction or fantasy anything where the masculine and feminine roles are not too pronounced, you know? No damsels, no male hero who has to save everyone”, she said as she looked over to him as if seeing him intently for the first time “I’ve always wondered”, he said innocently enough “I’m all for mysteries even though ironically I’ve never been into mystery novels”, he said plainly. “You have any in mind that could be a good read? Or maybe a movie loosely based on the book as they tend to be nowadays”, he suggested with a small smile.

“Well, I do have a few”, she said, her eyes lighting up “but it’s not your typical fare, nothing with love triangles or half-baked romance. Just good old fashioned adventure with a dash of friendship”, she said with a smile. “But it’s mostly fantasy, dragons, swords and sorcery and such, but it’s good stuff”, she added. “If you’re into that sort of thing”, she said with a shrug. “Well, I’ve always loved the genre, I just never knew who to ask for recommendations, you know it’s not like I can ask the internet without getting fifty answers none of which are actually good”, he said with a playful nudge. She smiles, “yeah, I get that”, she says, “if you want I can grab you a few of my favourites after work today?” she offered. “Oh, no no, I wouldn’t want to impose”, he said hastily. “No, no it’s no trouble at all”, she said with a wave of her hand. “I’m going to need the company anyway; I don’t know anyone in town yet”. “Okay, I’d love that”, he said with a smile. “Great, it’s a date”, she said with a wink, and for a moment he felt his heart stop before it resumed its hammering in his chest.

The truth he’d learned as they’d met up later on was that although she wasn’t exactly new in town she’d found it harder than usual to make friends outside of her work or gym whenever she visited it on days when her exercise routine demanded more physical equipment. She wasn’t an outcast or pariah in her apartment complex, having attended the local meetings to organise community needs for her buildings future care, rent and utility management and so on, it was just that she was so far removed from the familiar community of friends and family she was used to back home it made it all the more harder to accept niceties when she felt singled out amongst people who’d lived here their entire lives. For his part Perry didn’t believe anything like where she came from or what her culture was like could deter him from making any kind of relationship with her from working, and like Cane had proven age was just an excuse that could be brushed away in the face of what he hoped he could form with her.

“I get it, if I went to Egypt for example where people who’d lived there for untold amount of generations under the shadows of kings and their monuments I’d be abit shocked about how they could walk around and take it all in like they were taking it for granted. I’d feel out of place, almost unable to trust myself. But I’m also glad you stuck with it and pushed past your anxieties it shows resolve and a willingness to reach beyond your grasp, by taking care of both yourself and your future”, he said, giving her a knowing look that she returned with a smile. “Well, I’m happy to make your acquaintance Miss Aisha”, he said with a nod, “if you’d like I know of a small bookstore we sometimes outsource some books from, the owner is happy for the business and has some niche contacts there we generally lack as a larger store. It’s right beside the Italian restaurant “Julio’s”, if you’d like to go there after, they have outdoor seating and we can eat something light if you like, as we admire anything we might pick from the bookstore nextdoor?”, he offered “unless you think that’s too forward?”, he said with a slight blush that she didn’t miss.

“How old are you?”, she asked with a flashing smile that made him feel like what a moth must when caught before a brilliant flame before he recovered himself. “Old enough to know that maturity is optional with age. That and working since I became eighteen last year lends you more maturity than you need sometimes which is why I thought of the restaurant, that it could help me feel more calm and collected around you like you always seem to be and since I order comfort food for me and my family there, I know anything they serve is delicious”, he said honestly. “I’d love that, thank you for asking”, she said, and for a moment he felt like he’d scored the mother of all touchdowns with the way she looked at him. “And no, age doesn’t grant you automatic maturity but I’m glad you were old enough to know that”, she said with a slightly wistful smile.