ORCHARD AND FEELINGS-E

Astrid liked the warmth Ace provided with his hug, so she snuggled closer albeit wide awake. She traced her fingers lightly starting from his eyes, moving towards his chest. Even his dishevelled hair looked sexy, parts of it falling over his forehead. She could not help admiring his tattoos. They were like painting, beautiful against his fair skin. She wondered if it hurt because hers seem to appear magically.

With that thought she moved away, careful not to wake him up and showered, wearing a tank top and shorts again.

By the time she got ready, Ace had showered and was waiting for her. He hung up on the phone and closed the distance between themselves and captured her lips languidly, tasting the sweetness of her mouth, her soft lips beckoning him to deepen his kiss and the way his entire frame covered her perfectly. His hands went to her butt and pulled her tight, she felt something hard on her stomach. His possessive tongue tugged her heart. She pulled back, slightly breathless, before he got any deeper, earning a frown of dissatisfaction from him.

`I am hungry', she spoke in between catching her breath.

`And I am hungry for this', his fingers traced her lips.

`Please, later, Ace', she pleaded with her eyes.

Ace sighed and hugged her. `You are going back today. I will miss you. I like you beside me. I like this feeling', he confessed and kissed her hair.

`I know. And I like being with you too', she spoke into his chest, voice slightly muffled.

`I promised Hadwin to meet you guys twice a month', Astrid told her about her conversation with Hadwin and his potential to work with Ace. He did not comment but his posture turned stiff.

`I will think about it', Ace opened the door and walked towards the dining table.

They had a heavy breakfast. Thankfully, Mr and Mrs Wagner were missing. Hadwin grabbed Astrid's hand and brought her to their backyard. He showed her a golf buggy and all of them poured in. Astrid was amazed to see a small orchard of fruits behind the mansion partially hidden by trees. She recalled the left path went to the dirt bike arena and the right path towards the orchard. Just how big is their house? Or how big is their property.

`Hadwin grab the basket. We could pick some fruits'; Abigail walked towards the nearest apple tree and climbed a ladder. She tied her hair in a ponytail and wore a purple tank top matching her eye colour. All the Wagner siblings had the same eye colour. Deep purple, except for Ace, whose colour was slightly paler purple.

`Hadwin, this place is huge. What do you do with these fruits?', she picked one, rubbed it against her shirt and took a bite. It was crispy and sweet.

`Well, we use some for our drink production, donate to charities and some for our household', Ace explained and pulled a short branch, snapping an apple.

She walked a few steps and found a peach tree, ripe peaches growing ready to be plucked. She tried to pluck the one on the topmost branch, but her height was short.

Without a word, Hadwin carried her on his shoulder swiftly. She was startled. Her legs were on his sides. His strong hands held her legs in place.

`Hadwin!', she chided him for his sudden action. Hadwin told her to pick one for him but Astrid refused. She doesn't want to be carried like a cripple and Hadwin had enough limbs to eat on his own.

`I am holding your legs, Astrid. You got to feed me', Hadwin winked at her.

`Don't get ahead of yourself. This is one time only', she held a peach in her hands and Hadwin took a bite slowly, torturing her.

`My neck is about to snap, Hadwin!', she scolded him because he kept walking and she had to bend her neck down to feed him.

Hadwin liked her warm skin against his. He felt jolts of electricity running through him, with every passing minute, his heart enjoying her presence. He teased her to no end by biting her fingers and licking them, further frustrating Astrid, who eventually smashed the peach on his face and laughed at him. He made a face, prompting Astrid to wipe his mouth with a leaf, only for him to scowl, saying it to be unhygienic.

Abigail did not miss the murderous look on Ace's face and his stiff posture. `Why aren't you stalking your claim?', she asked while placing the basket into the buggy.

Ace kept quiet, not wanting to reveal his feelings to Abigail.

`You are giving the wrong vibe to everyone else. Whether its love or infatuation, you better decide fast before the apple becomes peach and drop elsewhere,' she smirked.

Hadwin speed-walked towards the east side of the orchard, where the swimming pool was. It was a short walk from the rose garden, but from the orchard, he had to walk longer. Ace rode the buggy, close behind, in silence.

Astrid quite liked the view from her height. She could see the trees almost to her eyes level and she let go of her hands bringing them up horizontally. She made bird wings like motion and the light wind picked up its speed, rustling the leaves, gently swaying the branches. She felt the wind all over her, the energy enveloping her giving her a sense of home.

She unknowingly beckoned the wind to increase its speed, the dirt on the ground stirred. She froze suddenly when Hadwin stopped walking and coughed. Ace was oblivious to the changes, his eyes trained on Astrid's back. She quickly put her hands on her thighs and told Hadwin to let her down which he did.

Both sat on the buggy, Astrid failed to see Ace's darkened mood for she was confused herself. She decided that she need to practise with Enlil daily, to stabilize herself.

When they reached the pool, everyone changed into their swimwear and Astrid wore her Billabong swimsuit. Her eyes searched for Ace who was brooding over a corner of the pool. She sat next to Ace, who was topless by now. She smiled warmly at him and his icy eyes thawed looking at her dazzling smile. She is too naïve, he thought.

`Don't let anyone carry you like that', he warned her, his deep voice low.

`Jealous?', she touted him.

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. `I want to… know if you feel the same way as I do',

Astrid did not answer immediately. `I've never been in a romantic relationship before. Heck, I've never had friends in my life before. But I do know that I like whatever we are having between us right now. I like Hadwin's friendship as well',

`I don't want a friendship with you. I want more than that, dammit. Friends do not kiss', his teeth were clenched by now.

`But you don't seem to be certain of your feelings of it. It's like you are hot and cold at times. Why?', she looked into his eyes to search for an answer.

`I'm…I'm falling hard for you and you know that well, Astrid. My business, my position restricts my movements. I have more enemies than you can count, all waiting for my downfall. And I don't want anyone to use you against me. We spoke about this earlier', he put his palm up when she wanted to say something, stopping her.

`The Ace you are seeing here is not the same when I am at work. I don't give opportunities but grab them. I leave little room for error and I am ruthless. I want to see our relationship progress more, but I don't want to risk your life into it. So yes, I am confused just as you are whether I should flaunt you or keep things discreet.' He spoke with sincerity his eyes, soft and full of concern.

`Mr Lionel and Abigail seems to know something is going on with us',

`Ignore them. They are being nosey', he waved them away.

`Perhaps we should go with the flow? Slow and surely we will open up when the time is right?', she suggested.

`I think that would be the best solution for now', he agreed. `But you know would be better?', he smirked.

`What-', he pushed her into the water but she grabbed his hands at the last minute and both fell into the pool with a loud splash.

He encircled her in the deep end of the pool and she smiled at him while underwater. His strokes elegant, she could not help but move closer to him and touch his chest, only to push him down further, almost touching the floor of the pool. He pulled her legs and closed their distance. He did not wait but pressed his mouth unto hers, alarming her. His large hands held her neck in place, only releasing her when he sensed her erratic heartbeat and her hands clawing at his chest begging for release.

She gasped for air once she surfaced, and looked around her to see Ace swimming away, pretending as if nothing happened. How dare he! She fumed. She kept away from him and swam along the edges. Abigail and Hadwin seemed to be racing themselves to win. Astrid left the pool after 30 minutes, thirsty. Ace followed suit and both left to have an early dinner.

Ace did not miss an opportunity to kiss her again in her room, tasting her soft lips, touching the curves of her body in the swimsuit, until she moaned in delight at his relentless tongue and lips, his warm hands cupping her butt cheeks, fingers almost digging into her skin.

Ace rested his forehead on hers, taking deep breaths to steady the rush of blood around his head, to calm his raging hormones.

Astrid leaned further into him, unconsciously, craving for his lips. `Love, kiss me like this and I won't be able to stop myself', Ace smiled in between his kiss. Astrid was too dazed to think coherently and she hooked her arms around his neck, fingers coiling around his wet hair, smashing her lips into his again, capturing his lips again and again. 

When she nipped his lower lips, biting it, licking his lips with her tongue, he moaned loudly and slowly eased his mouth from hers. I want to fuck her so bad when she does this.

`Love, you do this to me', Ace placed his boner near her tummy, burning her cheeks red.

`I...I...am sorry', She said in all honesty.

`We need to take that shower, love', Ace pecked her swollen lips one last time before parting to his room.

..............

When the Wagner siblings met up at the foyer of the first floor, Ace suggested them to eat dinner at the so-called basement room. He took out a board game of Monopoly and started playing with Hadwin and Abigail. Astrid got the shock of her life when she saw them trading real money instead of the monopoly cash.

I guess this is just the way rich people waste their money, she lamented in her mind. She opted out, saying she did not have petty load of cash to play with, which earned a laugh from the siblings.

Astrid noticed, all the Wagner siblings had a close bond, something their parents must have dedicated to. They even have their meals together. It must have been nice to have a family with siblings. She closed her eyes and sank into the bean bag. She tried to trace her memory back to her days with her mother but only a blank canvas appeared. She was too young. She felt sad and painful, her heart stabbed at the thought not recalling a single thread of her memory. Why did her father leave her mother? Why love someone only to let them wither away and die?

Her surroundings slowly crumbled, pushing her joy and happiness away. She let the coldness envelope her like a disease, slowly chewing her subconscious, silently building up until she felt changes in her surroundings. It had gone too silent. She opened her eyes, seeing black surroundings instead of the warm room she was in earlier.

Astrid's eyes scanned her surroundings. The only colour seemed to be the dirt, the very ground she stood. Her anxiety was building up. She walked with no sense of direction. She heard a voice, calling her mother's name, Nammu. Astrid stopped walking and looked in the direction of the voice. She heard the voice again, clearer and her feet started on its own. She could see the silhouette of a man in a long drape. His back was turned to her.

Her heartbeat increased, the nearer she got. Then she stopped. The person turned his face and stopped hallway, not revealing his face. He was holding a scythe. she could make out his height, almost as tall as Enlil. But his face had tattoos, intricate outlines of fish, goats, lions, all in pairs. There were some floral tattoos, and this seemed to gleam in red.

Slowly, his lips smirked, corner of his eyes noticing her presence. She swore he looked like a creepy version of Darth Vader.

Astrid feared for her life. Her gut told her to run. And ran she did as if her life depended on it. Her hands trembled, cold sweat trickling down her neck. Every step terrifying, her mouth gulping air greedily to feed her lungs, to push herself away from the thing behind her.

She could not see where she was running to, darkness was her vision and the dirt was her salvation. Suddenly, a hand gripped her shoulder, stopping her abrupt run. Astrid closed her mouth with both trembling hands.

`Running away won't do you good', he whispered, his breath smelled of the sea, like that breeze of the air we feel on a beach, salty but calming. His voice had a charm to it, sweet like a melody. She shook her head violently. Tears formed and her vision turned glassy. She forced herself to swallow her tears and relax. If the thing is latching on her terror, she better composes her mind. When she felt the griped eased a little, she ducks down, turns and kicked the thing in his stomach with all her might.

That was a mistake.

She saw his face and froze. He was a copy of Enlil, but with dangerous red eyes, looking at her with sick lust and desire. He quickly straightened himself and lurch for her. Astrid's closed her eyes tightly; dropping her jaw in a silent scream of horror.