I stare into the dark night sky filled with bright, glowing stars, and a shiver runs down my body as the cool air slides over my frame in my skimpy outfit. The ankle-length, red riding-hood cape is doing very little to keep the mid-February temperatures from assailing my body. It doesn't help, of course, that all I have underneath is a white lace bra, a matching thong, some white thigh-high stockings, and a pair of Mary-Jane-style heels guaranteed to have me breaking an ankle when I run and trip. I'm absolutely dressed like a sacrificial virginal lamb to the slaughter.
"Girl, your naughty hunter is going to love this on you! You're going to look sexy and gorgeous in it." Faye stands there, arm extended with the small bag of lingerie from one of the pricey stores at the mall, and my body coils away from it as if it were filled with venomous snakes ready to bite me.
I take the bag from her proffered hand, swallowing the lump of nerves in my throat. My fingers tremble as I pull out each of the white lace items within, and my face flushes bright red when I get a look at them. "Faye... I can't wear this," I instantly object.
"Of course you can, and you will, Cordie. What were you planning on wearing?" She questions with a delicate, raised eyebrow, and a wave of embarrassment climbs up my spine. I hadn't actually given it that much thought, other than the red cape, if I'm being honest, but I can see that won't appease my roommate.
I decide to try another approach, almost certain it will fail too, in my attempt to extract myself from this horrifying situation. "I can't afford these, Faye. These must have cost a damn fortune."
"It's a gift from me, girl. Call it a new beginning gift. Besides, it went on my daddy's card, and he's not going to know it wasn't for me." She winks at me with a devilish smile. "Go try that shit on to make sure I got the right size of the bra, and come out here and shake that ass, so I can see what the hunter's getting tonight."
Oh my god, hole please open up now in the floor, and swallow me whole. Heat rises up my neck all the way to my roots as she slaps me on the ass, as I head to my room to try on her costly gift. Every step feels like my legs are weighed down with cement. I drop the lingerie on my bed, and force myself to strip out of my sweats, and my old favorite t-shirt with a crazy cat on the front, and my undergarments. I stare naked and awkwardly at the white pieces of flimsy lace that probably cost more than my food bill for two weeks. I force myself to slip them on minus the stockings, 'cause there's no way I won't tear those putting them on, and stare at myself in the full-lengthmirror on my wall. My breath hitches in my throat at the image reflected back at me.
You would think all the white would look ghastly against my already pale, porcelain skin, but it actually accentuates it with the beautiful, intricate lace. My long dark hair, trailing down my back in thick waves, and grey-blue eyes, make it all pop, and I look like one of those sexy models you see in pin-up photos.
"Girl, what the fuck is taking you so long?" Faye barges into my room and stops short with a high-pitched gasp. "God, Cordie, you look amazing! That guy's going to lose his damn mind when he gets a glimpse of you." She moves further into the room, taking inventory of me from all angles, and I feel like a bug under a microscope. "Definitely wear your hair down, and we need to give you a smoky eye, but not too dark, and a bright red lip." I meet her gaze in the mirror, feeling less self-conscious as she stares at me in awe.
"Really? I look good?" I question with uncertainty, biting down nervously on my lip.
She snorts loudly, a wicked smile crossing her face.
"Girl, I don't swing your way, but the way you're looking right now, you could change my mind."
Her waggling eyebrows do me in, and we both break out into a fit of laughter with tears running down our faces. She grabs my hand and squeezes tightly. "Seriously, Cordie, you're stunning, inside and out. I wish you saw yourself through my eyes. I'm seriously banking on that guy helping you change your mind about how you see yourself, and giving you a new lease on life. It's way too fucking short to allow it to pass you by."
She pulls back and removes something from her pocket. "That being said, we agreed that we were both going to be safe tonight." She hands me a black digital watch, and my eyebrowsrise in question. "It's equipped with tracking. I have one too, and you can use it to call emergency services by pressing the side button. Don't turn off your location, so I can track where you are, and I'll do the same. One more thing, that pocket knife I gave you, we need to sew that shit into the cape you're wearing tonight. I'm not letting you go out there unprotected, with some fucker hellbent on playing wolf." She raises her hand to stop my objection. "Girl, I have one too. If these men think they're going to make victims of either of us, they have another thing coming. Stab first, preferably in the groin, and ask questions afterwards."
She rummages in my closet and pulls out the red cape, throwing it over my shoulders and raising the hood over my hair. "Fuck, hold on, I forgot to give you the mask!" She races out of my room like a bat out of hell, and I stare at myself in the mirror with astonishment. The vibrant red over the white lace makes me look like a naughty, sexy fairytale character come to life. I never imagined I could look like this. It's like a stranger is staring back at me, and a thrill races through my limbs, like an electric zap. The image in front of me is not of pathetic Cordelie Wynyard, who has had her life torn apart. This version looks strong, confident, and sexy as fuck. I look like a seductress ready to make men kneel at my feet.
"Got it!" Faye races back into the room, pulls my hood off, and ties a molded black lacy mask over my eyes. "Perfection! Now you're ready to live out your Red Riding Hood fantasy. That wolf has no idea how fucking privileged he is, to get to chase you through the woods and take a bite out of you."
The cold, biting wind pulls me out of my memories of earlier in the day, and reminds me that I'm just standing here in the parking lot leading into the woods, where the walking paths are deserted at this hour. The darkness looms ahead of me, filled with menacing shadows, large trees with thick canopiesobscuring the night sky and the moonlight. The hair on the back of my neck rises, and I take a step backward. "Shit, have I completely lost my mind?" I whisper to myself as I pull the red cape tighter around my body. A night owl hoots ominously in the trees and has me gasping with fright.
"Nope, I can't do this," I wheeze as my chest constricts. My grasp tightens on my phone, and I adjust the mask strapped to my face. My eyes trail with trepidation over the messageThe Huntersent me earlier tonight.
I can't wait to taste you tonight, Red. Meet me here at eleven, park your car, and start walking into the woods, and I'll come hunt you like the good slut you are. Oh, and Red, I plan to fuck all your holes tonight, baby, and make you scream.
Jesus, even rereading his naughty words has me clenching my thighs, and I can already feel wetness dampening the crotch of my panties. I take a hesitant step forward, my eyes peering into the shadows, and force myself to take another. My feet keep on going despite my mind blaring a danger warning. I wonder if I'll be tomorrow's news headline.'Stupid girl goes willingly to her death in the woods, cosplaying as Red Riding Hood, and allowing a stranger to murder her'.
My phone vibrates in my hand suddenly, and I release a yelp in terror. I raise it so I can get a glimpse of the message, and all the air leaves my lungs in a whoosh.
You look good enough to eat, Red, and I'm starving. Run, baby, I want to chase you.
Oh fuck.I quickly glance around frantically, but I don't see anyone near me, just the thick trunks of large trees, bushes, andshadows hiding possible hunters in their midst. For a second, I hesitate, everything in me demanding I turn around and head back to my car, but Faye's words replay in my head.
"I'm seriously banking on that guy helping you change your mind about how you see yourself, and giving you a new lease on life. It's way too fucking short to allow it to pass you by."
She's right, of course. I've lost months crying over what Noah Tisdale did to me. I'm sick to death of myself and all my weaknesses. I don't want to be Cordelie Wynyard anymore, or at least not the version that allows others to hurt her. I want to be Red, confident, sexy, and filled with life. She won't allow anyone to hurt her unless she agrees to it first.
I straighten my spine, holding my head up as I take a couple of steps forward into the darkness. "Come out wherever you are, Wolfie, I want to play."
CHAPTER 22
NOAH
Rage.That's all I've been feeling for days, that and madness. It's been slowly building inside me, adding pressure and siphoning all the other emotions and thoughts out of me, until it's ready to explode with deadly consequences. The object of that rage is hesitantly walking toward me in the dark woods, dressed in a red cape and black mask, and utterly unaware of the danger she's facing. She doesn't know that tonight won't only be about fulfilling her fantasies. While I do have plans to make that happen, it's what comes afterwards that really has me excited.
Cordelie Wynyard thought she could walk away from me, discard me like ruined tissue under her shoe, and move on with her life without me.She was fucking wrong.She doesn't get to walk from us, and she certainly doesn't get to move on from me. She's ignored what I've been telling her all along. She's mine, she belongs to me from the tips of her pretty toes to the top of her dainty head, and I won't ever release her from my grip. In fact, I long to wrap my fingers around her slender neck and choke the life out of her, relishing the thought of her terror, as her blue-gray eyes stare back at me in helpless fear. My cock hardenspainfully at the thought of her little whimpers, and the way her body will tense when she realizes who is really chasing her.
