My Dragon Desire

Chapter Thirteen - Concerned

☆Dawn☆

The new male staff was doing alright. It was weird and different, but I didn’t mind it. Ever since Blake had admitted to messing around with the females, I felt a lot more at ease that those females were no longer around. Josephine must know about my relationship with Blake as she hasn’t batted an eyelid my way. I wouldn’t say it was special privileges, but she didn’t single me out for anything. She treated us the same and although Bailey had been somewhat withdrawn, things were actually going well. I hadn’t been snooping around to avoid any further suspicion and Blake had sent his dragon friend, Lord Drake, back home.

“Are you listening to me?” Bailey hissed out and I turned to face her. I hadn’t been listening and I quickly thought of an excuse.

“Sorry, I just want to get down with these carpets,” I said apologetically. My worst nightmare had come true. Bailey and I were in the south wing vacuuming and cleaning the hallway carpets. The thick black material was a true nightmare to clean and I could already see specs of dust on the area I had already cleaned. I took a deep breath and turned away from the spot. “What were you saying?”

“I was saying how odd it is that all the girls had been fired except us, is it because of our relationships with Kayne and Blake?”

“I don’t know,” I lied.

“Or is it because Lord Blake needed to cover his tracks,” I glanced over at my roommate. I was surprised to hear the hostility in her voice, but I was mostly surprised at her comment.

“What do you mean?” I questioned.

“Well, surely you must know he slept around with the staff?” I looked away from her and sighed. Should I pretend that I didn’t know or what? “Of course, you know, he must’ve told you. I mean, he should have if he was serious about his relationship with you,” I decided to ignore her. What else could I do? I could almost hear the taunting in her voice, and I didn’t like it. “I mean, you did know right?”

“Yes,” I whispered. Hopefully, now she would drop the subject. Yes, Blake had told me but that didn’t mean I wasn’t hurt by it or disappointed.

“Using his own staff to fulfill his needs, are you sure he isn’t just using you?” she asked, and I huffed out, frustrated with the direction this was going in.

“He isn’t using me for anything,” I spat out as I grabbed the vacuum cleaner and pulled it closer.

“Does that mean you haven’t slept with him yet?” she asked, and I turned to face her.

“No, I haven’t!”

“Ok, I was just asking, no need to bite my head off,” she said as she mopped the floor on the outside of the carpet. I didn’t mean to do that, but I wasn’t about to fix it. Bailey was acting weird and I wanted nothing to do with it. I switched on the machine and started on the new section of the carpet. I just wanted to be done with this task. The loud humming of the machine made me feel a lot better as I worked. Was there a point she was trying to make? Was she warning me to be careful? I suddenly switched off the machine and turned to her once again.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you. I haven’t slept with him yet and I don’t know if I will. He did tell me about his antics with the staff, but it was only because I asked why he was firing them. I guess it slipped out and he explained,” I said to her. Bailey had stopped mopping and was looking at me with concern. I felt that it was misplaced but I appreciated it. “I get that you are worried about me, but don’t be. Blake has promised not to hurt me,” I added.

“I’m just looking out for you, Dawn. You are a nice girl and you deserve better,” she said before she started to rinse out the mop. I watched her for a moment but as the silence stretched, I knew the conversation was over. I switched on the machine once again and got busy.

☆☆☆

No matter what I did or what I said, I had lost my friendship with Bailey. We no longer ate together, had coffee together and we barely talked. I wanted to say it was my fault or that it was because of me, but it was all on Bailey. She ignored me most of the time and when she did talk to me it was only about work. She had completely shut herself off and today we were both in the room at the same time due to the fact that we had the day off. Today was the day I was going to confront her. I finished making the coffee and waited for her to come out of the bathroom. When she did, I could tell that she knew what was coming.

“You shouldn’t have,” she whispered.

“Well, I did,” I said as I handed over her cup. She took it with a small smile, and I coughed loudly, clearing my throat. “What is going on Bailey?” I asked her outright. She didn’t look surprised as I had expected.

“Nothing, why?”

“Because you’ve pushed me away, we barely talk now. I thought we were friends,” I said softly.

“We are friends and I’ve just been busy that’s all,” her answer was a pathetic excuse and I sighed as I put my cup down on the counter.

“We’ve both been busy, but we are roommates. What have I done that is so wrong?” I asked. I wasn’t going to let this go.

“You’ve done nothing wrong Dawn, I don’t know why you are pushing this,” she said before she took a sip of her coffee.

“Ever since that day, that horrible carpet day, you’ve been distant. Please don’t lie to me and pretend like I’m crazy or something,” I kept pushing and I wasn’t going to stop.

“Ok, fine. I can see you aren’t going to let this go,” she took another sip from her cup before setting it down next to mine. “Have you asked him why I wasn’t fired?” she asked me seriously and I frowned.

“For Kayne,” I stated.

“Why? You know I live in town. There is no reason for me to be here for Kayne. Our relationship would not suffer if I had to leave,” she explained. I took a step back, where was she going with this? “Blake fired all of the others because he slept with them and he was afraid that they would tell you if they found out about you and him. He didn’t fire me because he hasn’t come after me, he doesn’t see me as a threat. I meant what I said Dawn, you deserve better,” she said. I stood there, watching her as she smiled softly at me and then finished getting ready for her day. I still just stood there when she finally left the room. I didn’t ask where she was going or what her plans were. Blake didn’t see Bailey as a threat. Did that mean he had slept with every other female that had worked here? My mind was slow as I tried to think through what she had said. Or more importantly as to what she had implied. Surely it couldn’t be true. I didn’t want it to be true. With troubling thoughts invading my mind, I hurried to get showered, dressed, and presentable. Blake had promised me an outing today, but I wasn’t sure how things were going to go down. I pulled open the door and rushed down the hallway towards his office. It was still early but I had to confront him. I had to know.

“Well, you are early for our date,” he said when he spotted me entering his office. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he moved around from the desk and came over to me. I breathed out heavily as I tried to wrap my head around things.

“Did you keep…did you keep Bailey here…did you keep her here because you…because you…”

“Dawn, please, calm down,” Blake said as he pulled me towards the sofa. We sat down and I refused to look at him. “Did I keep Bailey here because I what?”

“Because you wanted…do you want too sleep with her?” I finally managed to blurt out and the response I got was surprising. Blake was laughing.

“Do I want to sleep with Bailey?” I heard him ask through his laughter and I nodded. What I needed was an actual answer, not him laughing like a fool.

“No, love, I didn’t keep Bailey around here so I could sleep with her. Kayne asked me to keep her around,” he explained. “He is quite smitten with her,”

“But she lives in town, her leaving wouldn’t have affected her relationship,” I pointed out, using Bailey’s earlier words.

“That is true, but then you would have to ask Kayne his reasons for wanting her here,” Blake said as he stood up. “Did you really think I had kept her here because I wanted to pursue her?” he asked. I could tell he was disgusted and disappointed.

“Bailey may have mentioned…” I let my voice trail off as I started thinking clearly. She didn’t say he wanted to pursue her, she said he didn’t see her as a threat. “Did you sleep with everyone?” I suddenly asked. Blake turned away and I watched him head over to his desk. He sat down but continued to avoid my glaring eyes. “Answer me, Blake,” I demanded.

“Yes,” I heard him whisper. I didn’t know what to think. I should’ve known. After firing ninety percent of the staff, I should’ve known.

“How could you?” I asked him. I was still a virgin and that had nothing to do with the fact that I lived in a mansion filled with females. It was a choice. I was saving myself and here he was…sleeping around with every female staff member that had worked for him. Suddenly I felt sick. He did tell me a little bit about his past, but I hadn’t really thought too much about it. I had been more concerned with not getting caught. I stood up from the sofa and I thought about what I was going to do. I had tried to leave before but he had come after me. He had told me a little bit about his antics, but it was my own fault for not questioning him more. “Did you fire them all because you were worried you would cheat on me?” I asked curiously. I wasn’t going to run away, not this time.

“What? No!”

“Then why?” I asked. I watched as he took a deep breath.

“When Karen kissed me, it made me realize that the women I had been with were going to be a problem. They knew I slept with them all, they knew it wasn’t serious and that I wasn’t looking for a relationship. Can you imagine what chaos would’ve been unleashed if they found out I was in a relationship with you? The anger or the uprising. I realized that they may harm you by being nasty or saying things to you that may not be true. I didn’t want you to have to go through that. As I said before, I did it to protect you as well as myself. I didn’t want to have them questioning me when I owe them no explanation. Dawn,” he came over to where I stood and reached out for my hands. I let him hold them as I waited for him to continue. “My dragon and I both recognize you as our mate. The connection and bond we feel is because we are fated to be together. I promised you that I would never hurt you and I meant that. I can’t imagine how you must be feeling but you need to trust me,”

“I do,” I said honestly. I don’t know why I allowed her to get inside my head.

“Then let’s put this all behind us. I have a great day planned,” he said as he leaned in and kissed my forehead. “Can we put this behind us?” he asked.

“Yes, we can,” I said as I looked up at him. Yes, I could put it behind me. Bailey may have steered me off the path for a second, but I was back on track. I wouldn’t allow myself to overthink things again without Blake. Although I could tell he had been uncomfortable, he had been honest and explained his actions. I felt silly for overreacting but then again, I had every right to question him. We were after all, together in a relationship. It was at this moment that I realized that Blake had been honest with just about everything in his life and yet, I was the one doing all the lying. I am a witch. A witch sent here to spy on him and found out everything I could. I was the bad one. Was I going to be able to continue like this? As we headed out of his office, I knew that I would have to wrap things up. The sooner I got all the information, the sooner I could move on from it. All I could hope for was that when Blake learned the truth, that he wouldn’t break up with me, or worse, kill me.

☆Bailey☆

Phase two of my plan was complete. I may not know everything there is to know about Dawn, but I knew her well enough to know that I had ruined her day. She would confront Blake; they would have a fight and their date would be ruined. I smiled to myself as I half-listened to Kayne's talk about his family. I couldn’t wait to get back home. I would resume my role as a best friend and comfort a distraught Dawn. Then I would seek out Blake and comfort him too. Things would work out perfectly.

“Blake and I had barely started flying at that point,” I heard Kayne say and I turned to him, giving him my full attention. Anything about Blake was worth listening too. “It was so funny, we had been training, learning how to shift and fly. Blake was convinced he didn’t need any more training. I followed him up to the roof and I’ll never forget how the sky looked. Blake shifted first and I stood by, waiting, watching,” Kayne took a sip of his juice and I leaned forward, eager to hear about the first time Blake took to the skies. “He flapped his wings and I watched in awe as he sprung up. He soared up quite high and I could tell he was starting to panic, and I screamed out ‘use your wings’ and he did. After that it was tickets, he loved it and so did I,”

“That’s amazing,” I cooed out as I imagined Blake soaring high in the sky.

“Now when I first took to the sky, I was nowhere near as panicked as Blake,” Kayne said, and I nodded as I tuned him out. I could just imagine Blake using his wings to wrap me up in his arms and hold me close. I could almost feel the wind as he carried me. I closed my eyes, just for a quick moment, as I imagined being that close to him. Soon. Soon I would be.