Chapter 33 The Phoenix
Chapter thirty-three
The Phoenix
Soft instrumental music from my Bluetooth speakers floated through the space. A playlist I had created to help fill the void of silence that sometimes overtook the rooms of my house. Duomo was one of my favorites, creating beautiful classical cover versions of some of my favorite songs.
The music added a lightness to the dingy room where Kendi and I were currently sitting. After her release yesterday, I asked her if she wanted to come over and help me find something I thought might help me in my venture to get revenge on Craig.
Over the course of our relationship, he had left stuff at my house that he had no need for, or junk he didn’t want anymore, but didn’t want to be bothered trying to throw it away.
I packed it up, not wanting to risk throwing it into the trash in case, somewhere down the line, he ever came looking for it.
I didn’t want to face his temper over something so stupid.
Now I was glad I had stored all his shit in my basement since one of those belongings was an old phone.
Craig always had to have the latest release for his cellular device, even if his current one was still functioning fine, and one of those devices was hidden amongst all the useless shit he left behind.
My legs stretched out before me, and the cold concrete of my basement floor made a shiver run down my spine despite the jeans I wore.
“Remind me what we’re looking for again?” Asked Kendi from her seat on the floor across from me, surrounded by her own mountain of boxes.
My best friend hadn’t hesitated when I asked her if she wanted to spend the day with me, though maybe I should have told her we would be in a dusty basement so she wouldn’t have worn something as nice as the sweater dress she had on.
“An old cell phone. He switched to a new one while he was here once, and I’m like ninety-nine percent sure he left it here.”
“And this is all his stuff?” She asked, wrinkling her nose as she opened the box closest to her, and was met with a plume of dust from the closed lid.
“Mostly, he crashed here sometimes, though with Riley it didn’t happen often.” My fingers brushed over stacks of car and gun magazines in the box I was currently digging through, he had hoarded the material, insisting he knew everything about both subjects.
“Well, Riley had good taste, not liking that douche now, didn’t he?
” She said, giving the lazy dog that was lying in the middle of everything, some attention.
Kendi had won him over straight away by bringing him a deer antler to chew on, and he’d been following us around ever since with it hanging out of his mouth.
“I’ll never doubt my dog's instincts again,” shutting the box full of nothing but magazines, I pushed it into the pile of ones we had already gone through.
The next box held a bunch of old car parts he had ordered and had delivered to my house, but never bothered taking them with him for projects that remained uncompleted.
Craig always got annoyed if I reminded him of stuff too often;I was always ‘nagging’ him.
So I stopped, letting them sit in my kitchen for weeks before putting them into what had slowly become his storage facility.
“Has he met Daxton yet?” She asked, sliding her own box into the pile and grabbing another one.
“He did a few days ago and wasn't phased by him at all. Usually, he takes a lot longer to get used to men.”
“Of course he wasn’t, he knows what’s good for you.” I laughed, shoving the next box aside. “How are things going with him anyway? You haven’t talked about him much, and I’m dying to know.” She stretched out one of her booted feet, tapping mine teasingly.
“Daxton is intense,” I said without elaborating.
“Intense good? Intense sex? Intense how?”
I sighed; it was so hard to put into words what had happened between us in such a short amount of time.
“Definitely intense sex, everything else, it’s hard to explain.
It’s like finding a missing piece of yourself.
From the first time we met, I’ve been drawn to him.
” Finding him had completed a part of me that I was unaware had never been filled.
His burning passion for me was a drug, and I’d rather face death than suffer the withdrawals if he were ever to be taken from me.
“He looks like he’d be good at sex,” I snorted.
She wasn’t wrong. My legs were still sore from last night when he stayed the night with me while Michelle was at a friend's house.
The way he had bent me over the kitchen counter and fucked me until I came not just once but twice would be the perfect example of just how intense he could be.
“Looks aren’t deceiving when it comes to that. I don’t think I’ve ever had so much sex in my entire life.”
“Details, I need to live vicariously through you until I get back in the dating game.”
“Intense is the best way I can describe it. He’s dominant and a fucking animal when he wants to be.” I sighed, longing to feel him again. Not just his dick either; his entire body felt like home when he held me in his arms.
“I’m so glad you have him. I’m glad you have someone to take care of you like that.”
“It’s weird, I’ve never felt like this before in any of my past relationships. It feels like they were all silly little flings compared to what I have with him.”
“They probably were. There’s a difference between boys that need to grow up and get off their mom’s tit and a man.” I almost spit out the water I was taking a sip of as she said that. I’d used that exact phrase in many arguments with Craig before, and it always pissed him off.
After we had gone through at least a dozen boxes, Kendi finally cried out in triumph, holding a cell phone in her fist as she pumped it into the air in victory.
“Yes!” she celebrated, handing the device over to me, “now can we get out of your creepy basement?”
“Hell yes,” I answered, helping her up off the ground and attempting to power the cell phone on. As I guessed, it was dead, just like every feeling of love I ever thought I carried for the man who owned it.
“What time is your date tonight?” She asked as I shut the basement door behind us, locking it for good measure.
I rarely ever ventured down there because it was like every stereotypical basement in a horror movie.
Irrational fears tended to plague my mind when I went down there, from monsters hiding under the stairs waiting to grab my ankles through the open steps to shadows coming to life in the poorly lit room with hands like claws ready to shred me to pieces.
“In about an hour, I still need to shower and get ready.” She followed me up the stairs with Riley in tow, the antler still hanging from his maw.
“Go shower then, I’ll raid your closet and find you something to wear.” She smiled as she approached my walk-in closet.
I plugged the phone into the charger I kept next to the bed, planning to leave it there for the rest of the evening while I was out.
Leaving the bathroom door open since it was on the far side of the hall, I hopped in the shower quickly, my hair clipped up in a giant black clip to prevent it from getting wet and unmanageable.
Kendis' voice was audible over the running water as she talked to Riley, asking his opinions on outfits.
Lathering myself up in cherry blossom soap, I made quick work of getting clean and shaving my legs.
The project of finding his old cell phone had taken much longer than I had anticipated, and I wanted to try my best to be presentable for our first official date.
After drying off, I grabbed my white robe from the back of the bathroom door and secured it around my waist. Three outfits were lying on my bed with Riley sitting expectantly next to them, obviously wanting to get up there with his antler.
Kendi was still in my closet, looking through my shoes, when I entered.
“I think those are your best options,” she said, coming out with three pairs of shoes to match the outfits. Two of the pieces on the bed I had forgotten I even owned. Craig rarely took me out, and when he did, it was always last minute, so I never had the time to try to doll myself up.
The first outfit was a dark green sweater dress with matching brown boots and tights.
Next, she paired a long-sleeved black dress with a pair of strappy black heels that I don’t even remember buying, nor could I remember the last time I even wore heels.
Lastly was a long-sleeved red romper with a plunging V-neck and a pair of black flats.
I had bought the romper for Valentines Day a few years back in hopes of wearing it to a nice dinner, but the dinner had never happened. It still had the tags on it.
“Red, definitely red,” I said, picking up the romper and going into the closet to slip it on.
The romper was worn without a bra; the back had a matching plunging neckline that made it impossible to wear anything underneath it.
I slipped my necklace back on, never going anywhere without wearing it.
Usually, the heart was hidden underneath my shirt, the chain long enough that it sat between my breasts.
Tonight, it would be on full display with the outfit.
The last gift my father ever gave me out for everyone to see.
“You’re stunning, Rae,” Kendi complimented me, bringing in the other two outfits to put them back where they belonged. “How were you going to do your makeup?”
“I’m not sure, I usually don't wear much, so I don't know how to do the more complicated looks.”
“You’re in luck, go sit in the bathroom and give me what you have.” She demanded, ushering me back into the hall while Riley jumped up on the now empty bed, commencing to chew on his antler.
I did as she asked while she put the clothes up, and pulled out all the makeup I owned. I hadn’t been kidding when I said it wasn’t much, since I spent most of my time in scrubs and working. I never bothered to play around with it much.