Dumbfounded, Skyla vehemently shook her head as she tasted his thumb. He stroked her tongue for the briefest of seconds and extracted it.
"Good girl," his voice was getting deeper with every passing second that seemed to stretch between them. His thumb shifted to the bruise on her cheek and he gently caressed it. Like the fluttering wings of a butterfly over a wild rose.
"Would you like to share who did this?" Calix asked. A hint of concern could be sensed as his eyes lingered on her cheek. Skyla's hands nervously fidgeted in her lap.
Talking to a complete stranger would help her unburden but at the same time, it could lead to disaster. Trust was something she didn't award easily and hers was just broken.
"It will remain between you and me, whatever you say. Buried and locked away forever," he placed his other hand on his heart and assured her. Calix carried a world of secrets, that was the part of his job.
There was this sense of calmness about this man. A kind which drew Skyla towards him. The way he spoke judgment-free, she wanted to pour out her heart to him. Why couldn't there be more men like him?
"It— it was my fiancé," she almost incoherently murmured, keeping her gaze downcast.
"Does he do that often?" he asked, now holding her face captive with both his hands. Providing her with his warmth.
"No, this was the first time he laid a hand on me. He had always been considerate before that but we have recently been engaged," she ruefully sighed and leaned in his touch. Seeking all the comfort he had been paid to provide.
"What was the trigger for him to act like that?" he solemnly asked, observing how her face had saddened. Her bright intelligent eyes shimmered with tears she was trying not to shed.
"He was telling his secretary that he was only using me as a pawn to take over my father's company. He doesn't love me, it's just a game of power and wealth." She paused and sniffled. Calix patiently waited.
"He had her in his arms, naked. He never held me like that, so I decided to confront them. I accused him of cheating and told him what a scumbag he was. He listened silently and sent his secretary away but when I tried to break off the engagement he lost it and hit me. Telling me to learn my place of being a complacent fiancée and an obedient wife in future. I ran away and came here seeking my friend."
Skyla informed him and tears finally spilled from her overly anguished eyes. Calix swiftly wiped them away with his nimble fingers.
"Why don't you end your engagement with such a despicable man? I am sure there will be hundreds of men just waiting for their chance to stand beside you," Calix couldn't stop staring at her innocent face.
"I can't, my father is dying. He has terminal cancer and I am his only heir. Doran; my fiancé has been helping us manage the affairs of my father's company. The financial standing of his company far surpasses ours. My dad collaborated with his father a while back and later they did a lot of investment in us. Now, he can easily take over the company and I can't let him do that. It's my father's legacy. The only way I can still hold the company is by staying by his side, so I am stuck in this loveless relationship with a man who only cares about money."
Skyla concluded and more of her tears spilt out, carrying her misery. The depths of Calix's frozen heart felt a tiny ping as she cried some more. This girl with fire in her hair was as stuck as he was.
And yet she couldn't bring herself to tell him that her fiancé had given her the ultimatum of getting married in a few days. So here she was seeking comfort from another man.
Was she that shameless now?
Her heart craved love, something that Doran would never provide her with. He made that abundantly clear.
"I am sorry, Skyla. I wish for you to be free of such a man. You deserve happiness and love," he lightly pulled her towards him, testing if she wanted to be hugged and she threw herself in his reassuring embrace. Burying her face in his chest, she clutched his ninja vest and cried her heart out.
He gathered her in his robust arms and carried her to the bed. Gently laying her down, he snuggled with her. Her softness against his hardness, his hand so tenderly rubbed her back.
She was an emotional mess and he was used to handling girls in such circumstances.
Her senses were numbing slowly from all the drinking, the walls between right and wrong were thinning out and she didn't want to cry anymore. This might be the last free night she would ever have.
So she lifted her head and brazenly stared into his mysterious eyes. For the love of anything she couldn't read them, all she found was emptiness. Something profound hid behind the false lenses that coated his eyes.
"Make love to me. I want to feel loved, even if that's for only one night. I am pathetic, I know, using you to feel something. Anything, but I am desperate, Please!"
She requested with a heavy heart and bated breath, still holding onto the front of his vest. Under the mask, his lips thinned out a bit. She seemed so vulnerable and he knew she might regret this decision later so he had to ask.
"Are you sure? You are drunk and you might not feel the way you do now when you are sober," her make-up had smudged a bit and yet her face held this innocence he didn't want to taint.
"Don't worry, even if I do. I will not blame you. This is what I want and I have chosen you for it," her words didn't hold any doubt, she was strong and resilient and he could sense it.
"Will you place your trust in me then? Because Kakashi doesn't reveal his face," and she finally chuckled at his words.
"Yes!"
That's all he needed to hear, removing his headband he placed it on her eyes and tied it behind her head, blindfolding her. She lay very still. Then he slid down his mask and ended the small distance between them.
Skyla's body shuddered with anticipation, so many scenarios ran through her sluggish brain. Making heat creep up some more in her cheeks and ears.
The softness of his lips on her wounded cheek ran like small bolts of electricity in her fragile body. He was literally kissing away the pain. They leisurely shifted and enveloped hers in a sensual gentle kiss.
Like an ocean mist, deep and mysterious, his lips and body cocooned her in reassurance and she disappeared and forgot her existence as she wrapped her arms around him and he pressed boldly on her.