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Chapter 6– The Morning After.
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"Good morning Ben. Did you have a good night? Sleep well?" Felicia asks as she walks across the room. Blearily opening my eyes, I look around the room with my head, trying to get a bearing on my surroundings, with my mind still quite fuzzy.
Surveying the area, I spot the Spider-Man suit I was wearing last night, or relatively early this morning, strewn across the ground haphazardly. My only other possession was the sunglasses I misappropriated from that convenience store, which sat on the table.
Ah, now I remember. Last night, arguably my first ever night, I had happened upon the sexily dressed minx known only as the Black Cat, and I was enticed back to her lair and into her snaring clutches. Felicia Hardy had made me an attractive proposition last night.
However, I had no clue about the more invasive details, and she gave me some time to think about it, but then she gave me another arousing proposal and invited me to her bed. Needless to say, I had gotten no time to think about the first thing and was more bothered by the second.
Sitting up, I pull the blanket off of myself, revealing my naked upper body. Thankfully, I had woken up in that smokestack with a pair of underwear on beneath the costume. Rubbing my eyes, I can't help the yawn that escapes my mouth, a symptom of my lack of sleep caused by the woman who is currently walking over to the kitchen. I had been up all night because of her presence and her parting words.
After she had said those words, she closed the door on me. I thought about it for a bit and weighed the pros and cons. Still, before I knew it, I had a hand on the door handle and was very close to pushing it down. Then, realising what I was about to do, I pulled my hand away as if the door handle was scorching hot.
No matter how I may think, I cannot trust this woman, especially not so much as to climb into the same bed as her and let my guard down. That would be incredibly dumb.
And so I backed away from the door, found a blanket in the living room, stripped down to my underwear and slept on the sofa, except I didn't do much sleeping. No matter how much I tried, I could not drift away into unconsciousness.
Every time I closed my eyes, I could only see Felicia standing at the doorway of her bedroom, beckoning to me, seducing me inwards. Finally, I turned in my makeshift bed and buried my face into the sofa, pulling a cushion into the back of my head as if that would somehow block my imagination.
I could not fall asleep, no matter how much I willed it. I was denied escape from my new reality. I sat there with my mind wandering, brewing fantasies so wild that a therapist would almost definitely derive some deep-seated issues from them.
Eventually, I could hold myself no longer, and I gave in to the promise of pleasure. Stalking over to the door like a man possessed, I reached out and clasped the handle once more, and once more, I froze.
How long had it been since she first invited me into her bed? How long had I been fretting over and fighting over my decision? Has it been just minutes that felt like hours, or has it been literal hours?
I couldn't expect her to stay awake in her room just for the chance that I would take her up on her offer. Surely by now, she would have fallen asleep, and me creeping into her room now would just be plain wrong, had I missed my chance.
I stood at that door for who knows how long until I decided just to go back to the sofa and get some shuteye. Maybe now that the option was taken from me, I could actually get some rest and not wake up no matter what disturbed me.
That thought itself disturbed me, I was basically in enemy territory, and I was about to go to sleep without any protection, like an idiot. Sourcing a wine glass she left on the coffee table, I head towards the door and lean it on a tilt against it. Now, if the door were to be opened, the glass would fall, which would wake me up.
I headed back to the sofa and tried to slip into a slumber, and I should be able to now since the reason I could not fall asleep was not because of her open invitation but the threat she presented to my sleeping self. But, of course, that was the reason, wasn't it?
Regardless of the reason, I did not fall asleep till sunshine was peeking over the horizon, and not long after, the door was opened, and the glass fell, bringing me back to the land of the living. Felicia did not pay any attention to the glass and walked across the room towards the kitchen, bringing us back to the present moment.
"Hello, you awake, Ben? I asked how the couch was. sleep well?" She asks from the kitchen, putting on a pot of coffee, dressed in the same T-shirt that stops just below her hips, allowing her long legs to be seen and for me to wonder very hard about the possibility of her not wearing any panties. This woman is seriously not good for my health, and if I stay around her any longer, I can't help but feel I will die sooner rather than later.
"Hm, oh yeah, just peachy. Can I get some coffee as well, Felicia?" I ask, getting up off the sofa, coincidentally making the blanket slide off of my body. I stand to my full height and stretch out all of my limbs, feeling my muscles stretch, and my bones pop. that white couch may have been lovely, but it was not as comfortable as a bed.
"Oooh, what did I do to deserve such a treat?" She says, looking at my almost naked form while leaning against the kitchen counter with the coffee pot brewing behind her, her hands against the countertop. Her eyes raked up and down my form with a focused gaze, paying particularly close attention to my behind.
I can only thank whatever deities there may be that I was provided with underwear. Embarrassingly, her gaze made me want to crouch in on myself and shield my body, but I didn't do so. I have to maintain a strong front while in unfamiliar territory. I can't act like Peter would, who was so afraid to show his own skin, who gives in to his discomforts.
"Hm, I don't think you have done anything to deserve such a sight. Nothing good, at least." I say, putting on a faux bravado and hiding my real emotions. Fake it till you make it, though her eyes have still got a glint in them as she looks at me, and I begin to doubt whether my facade is working as it seems like she sees right through me with those piercing green eyes.
Feeling uncomfortable with her predatory pupils on me, I unhurriedly reach down and pick up my Spider-Man spandex pants and casually slip them on. However, I made the decision to leave my chest bare, not wanting to put the complete ensemble on as that would show my discomfort with the current situation.
Covering up entirely would showcase how uncomfortable I am, and right now, I can't afford to show any weakness because a woman like Felicia will pounce on it and rip me to shreds.
"Mmm, even in spandex, that ass looks good. Here, your coffee." She hands me a cup of coffee, and I sit back on the couch, taking a sip before placing the cup on the coffee table, not caring about putting it on a coaster considering all the other mess strewn around the room and the various stains already on the coffee table.
Felicia comes and sits next to me on the couch, picking up the remote control and putting on some random morning show. She sits up entirely on the sofa, drawing her legs into herself, holding her cup with both hands and taking a sip.
We sat there for a while, just drinking our coffees. I personally really needed the beverage after the lack of sleep I got last night, the brown liquid staving off my tiredness for at least a few hours more.
I continue to watch the TV just being a mindless gorm, but eventually, I can no longer bear the inane chatter coming from the speakers. So I turn to Felicia to ask a question that has been bugging me for a while, ever since I first trekked into this apartment.
"Felicia, I can't help but ask, but why is this place so filthy? You don't strike me as the kind of girl to live in squalor, so why is there garbage all over the place?" I am seriously confused by this since Felicia is all about glamour and living a luxurious life.
Yet, she sleeps in this place with dishes piling up in the sink, garbage lying all over the place, and various stains all over the abode where she has obviously spilt and dropped food and drinks and not bothered to clean them up.
"Ha, I am not the kind of girl to live in squalor, but I am also not the type of girl that cleans up after herself. First of all, this isn't my home but a room on the top floor of a hotel I am staying at, so I don't really care about the mess since I am not planning on sticking around. It is hard to get money straight into a bank account with the kind of stuff I steal, so I have quite a lot of cash lying around. Every couple of weeks, I just move from luxury hotel to luxury hotel using the cash and checking in under fake names, pay a high enough price, no one really asks any questions, and I have a lot of money to spend." Felicia says nonchalantly while taking another sip of her coffee, lazing on the couch.
"But, what about all the mess you leave behind? And what about all your possessions, your things? Where do you keep them?" I ask, curious about how she is living like this. While it may be suitable for living semi-under the radar while still living a life of comfort, eventually, your life is pretty empty, especially for a selfish and materialistic seductress like Felicia.
She must have somewhere to keep all her worldly things. I'm sure Felicia has kept some of the treasures she stole for herself. What about all her gear for her nightly escapades as Black Cat? She uses quite a lot of tools and equipment, so where does she store it all?
"Ben, first of all, the mess is not my problem. I pay an exorbitant amount, well above the asking price, to stay here, and so if I want to ruin all the furniture, then I will ruin all the furniture. Plus, all those workers are paid to clean up, and I'm sure there are worse rooms than mine in this building. The rich get up to all sorts of weird crap. I am not staying here for long, so I can't be bothered to clean it up." She tells me.
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"As for my stuff, I have a travel bag I take with me that has all my necessities and another bag that holds all of my Black Cat equipment, but for my other possessions and my stock of gear. Well, of course, I have a place for all those things, a place I fully own under a fake name, but you aren't about to see the inside of the place any time soon." She states irritation on her face, most likely from being overcharged by the various hotels she has visited. I guess this is her petty way of getting back at them.
"Oh, any time soon? So that means that eventually, I could?" I ask, not that I really want to gain access, but the fact that she might welcome me into such a private and personal place does seem interesting, and it begs the question, why? For some reason, Felicia can see me in the future as being someone she can trust enough to allow access, but why would she trust me? What does she see happening after today that could lead to her allowing me entry? What is such privilege contingent on?
"Hm, yeah, you could. Depending on your future performance, that is." She shoots a sly smirk at me, which she swiftly hides behind the rim of her coffee cup, which she still wields with both of her hands, and such a sexy smirk sends the neurons in my brain firing. My performance? What sort of performance?
Everything you can do in life can be a performance, in the literal sense of acting and theatre, or how you perform an action or thing, such as a test or job. Or maybe she means performance in the more physical sense, as in my body's performance in some arduous task, some challenging task, perhaps even a pleasurable task. Maybe she wants me- No, keep your mind on the ball, Ben, stay focused on your goals.
"Oh, and just what exactly is it that I will be performing? Please, do tell." I say, maintaining a casual expression leaving no inkling of the impure thoughts roaming through my head. Why am I like this? Peter had such ideas, but he would never act on them, and they were relatively minor.
Still, with this new soulful addition to myself, my more sinful thoughts were pushed to the maximum, amplifying and feeding the thoughts of both halves, each eating the other and growing more prominent in a continuous loop like an ouroboros, the same rings true for the different aspects of myself. Still, man was my otherworld part, a horny man, these feelings often most take the forefront, and it is only my tenacity (courtesy of Peter) that keeps them at bay, but just barely.
"Ben, my newfound friend. You are going to perform various dangerous escapades with me, and we are going to get rich and have fun doing so. I have never had a partner before. Something new. it will be fun to see what happens." She places her fully finished, now empty coffee cup down on the coffee table and begins to slide over the couch towards me, crawling on her hands and knees till her head is right next to mine.
"Oh, okay. And why, pray tell, would I do that? I don't particularly see why I need to become a thief to get rich, and even if I did, why would I do so with you?" So I speak, ignoring her pants brushing against my ear. However, I am increasingly more aware of each pant and breath that escapes her lips and feeling them caress my ears with each one. I stay still and focus my gaze on the TV in an effort to retrain myself, but that just makes my ears more enhanced and more aware of her position next to me and her lips almost touching my ear.
"Hmm, those glasses on the table, they aren't yours, right? After all, you showed up on that rooftop with only the clothes on your body and nothing else, not an identity and not any money. So how did you acquire those glasses, hmm?" Her breathy words sneak inside my ear, and she lays her hand upon my shoulder and inches ever close to my skin, yet there is a thin impermeable barrier between the meeting of our flesh, only a couple millimetres at most. But, of course, she is correct, though not about the money. I confiscated some from those thugs in the warehouse, after all.
"Alright, I'll admit it. I borrowed the glasses from a convenience store, I had nothing on me, and I couldn't just stay dressed as Spider-Man. I needed to be able to go places without looking like the original, and so I had to procure a disguise. unfortunately, I only got as far as the glasses before my midnight rendezvous with you, though I fail to see how that factors into why I would help you in your nighttime fun." Those stupid bloody sunglasses, I didn't even get the chance to use them.
And I myself foolishly revealed my face to Felicia for some bizarre reason I don't understand, perhaps caught up in the moment and swayed by her words. this does make me recall the urgent need I have to get some other clothes and then get rid of all spider related paraphernalia on me.
"Oh, okay, we'll play it like that. You borrowed the glasses, just without the intention to give them back, ever. Come on, Ben, just come and have some fun with me." She whispers, her breath tickling my ears.
"Hm, let me think about it. Okay, thought about it. No, thank you." I curtly answer, my face still blank, though it is taking all my willpower.
"Why not? We are very much alike, you and I, me and you. Us." The words sent a shiver down my spine. Each syllable she enunciates for a bigger impact, her words said with a focused intention behind them.
"Oh. Except for a sense of propriety and decency, an-and a moral centre. Not to mention the fact that I would never be caught dead in latex." I say, trying to undercut her persuasive methods, though I stutter slightly halfway through when she pants heavily against my ear. Maybe my attack on her character will get her to back off before she goes any further, though I can somehow feel her lips curling to my left instead of diminishing like I wanted.
"Ha, you say those words like they actually mean something. You will come over to my side. I know it." Her words carry an insane amount of belief, of certainty, as if she genuinely does expect reality to play out like this.
"You, uh, you seem very certain." Suddenly she moved, and I had no chance to react without expecting it. Before I know it, she has reached past me. She is currently above me cowgirl style, her hands clutching the top of the couch on either side of my head, her legs resting against the sofa on the sides of my legs, her face just an inch from mine with an iota of space between our lips. Yet, annoyingly, there is a slight gap between us that feels like a cavern. We are so very close, and yet not one bit of myself is in contact with any of her.
Her lips move closer to mine, her lips slightly opened and beckoning for me to enter, and I find myself drawn in, controlled like a cobra being swayed by the music from a flute. My lips inch towards her closing the gap, and yet they find no purchase. Our lips were still the same distance from each other, and she had moved backwards as I moved forwards.
Catching myself, I move back to my original position, leaning my head against the sofa. Still, she follows my head backwards, maintaining the distance between our lips, my head now facing towards the ceiling and hers above me looking down.
"One word, sweetie. Curiosity. You long for freedom. You long to do what you want to do because you want it. To act on pure selfish impulse. You want to see what it is like. And one day, one day soon, you won't be able to resist. Because you and I are alike." She sinfully whispers, her lips swaying towards and away from my own, trying to entice me in again and doing a reasonably good job of it.
"I have faith in you, Ben. Do you want to know why?" She asks but doesn't give me a chance to answer, continuing on, our lips still playing a weird game of tug of war, and whoever gives in is the one who loses and falls entirely into the other.
"Curiosity. Now that I have said it, you can't stop thinking about it. You're going to want it. The chance to be free, unfettered from all worries and feel the thrill. And gain the rewards that follow. You won't be able to resist. You're going to want to know... what it tastes like." Then, all of a sudden, she stops maintaining the distance and her lips close in on mine, closer and closer, and she is staring right into my eyes with desire in her eyes.
"I-I do. I want to know what it tastes like." Her lips stop moving just before they touch my own. I don't question it, I have lost this tug of war, and I don't care. I move forward to capture her lips, but I don't. she backs away once more.
"But, I know that as the sort of man that would never perform such selfish acts, you would not take advantage of me and my coffee-addled brain. Seeing as you are a good man, I know that you would never put me in a position that would compromise my honour." I freeze, hearing her words and registering them in my mind. I have no time to do anything, though, since she quickly backs away and hops off of the sofa and onto her feet, moving towards her room without looking back, her hips seductively swinging, exaggeratingly so.
"Well, you don't have to decide right now, Ben. I am going out to do some shopping and splurge on some new outfits and jewellery. While I am out, I will buy some clothes for you as well, since you are so obviously in need of a new wardrobe. You can order room service with the phone. Just make sure you take everything from them at the door and do not let anyone in. they will not be pleased with what I have done with the place. I will be back later this evening. I am giving you time to think, but don't take forever. After all, I could easily change my mind." She opens the door of her room and steps inside, bringing the conversation to a close.
And then, with her back still towards me, she reaches down and grabs the hem of her T-shirt. Then, with one swift movement, she takes it off and flings it to a random corner of her room, gracing me with the sight of the side of her right breast, which jiggles after she completes the action, and I can see her thin neck, her supple waist and her sinful curves.
At the same time, she did not wear a bra. However, it turns out she actually did have underwear on, as I can now see the black panties she has on. But, unfortunately, my observation is cut short as she reaches a hand behind her and swings close the door, leaving me alone with only my thoughts and chatter from the television.
I... I completely lost that exchange, utterly so. In relationships, there is always someone doing the pulling, and someone is being pulled. Very rarely do you see a relationship where there is balance and equality? If the two people try to pull each other into themselves, there is friction, leading to adverse outcomes.
Instead of dragging her into me which I didn't really want to do, or maintaining the exact distance between us which would have been ideal, she nearly dragged me into her. The only reason I wasn't was that she pulled away at the last second.
If I did kiss her, it would have been me being pulled into her, and I know that I would have probably stuck with her because of my libido, which would've blinded me to everything else. So if I accept her offer, I can't do it for such a reason because that way only lies in failure. So I have to do it for my own reasons that don't involve anybody else.
I sit there blankly, looking at the TV, just thinking. At some point, Felicia leaves her room. Still, I don't even raise my head to look at her, and I don't respond to her farewell as she exits the suite. Partly because I am focused on my current problem and partly because I don't want to look at her and feel that same temptation and risk being pulled into her again. I just need to think and sort out my sleep-addled brain and iron things out.
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It is dark now, and I have been in this place since Felicia left on her shopping trip. I snooped around the apartment for a while but didn't find anything of interest, so she must not keep anything she cares about here, which says something as I found a lot of stolen goods around the place.
I watched TV and saw some superhero battles on the news, but I didn't move to help as I had bigger things to worry about and had faith that they would save the day, and sure enough, the superhero defeated the villains and came out the hero.
After that, I started to surf the various news channels. I did this for hours, and never at any single point was there not a superhero fight going on. It was constant, every second at someplace in the world, there was a battle between Superheroes and Supervillains, and this should have worried me, but it didn't. Because at the end of all those confrontations, at the end of every single one, the Superheroes won, and the villains either lost or retreated, this set things into perspective for me.
This world already has everything they need, and it doesn't need me. I am just a surplus, a spare part that was discarded, and nothing is expected of that extra part. This world will be just fine, so I should just live my life and enjoy it, but for that, I need money and proper identification.
Suddenly Felicia appears on the balcony dressed as the Black Cat, clearly having enjoyed her day out, carrying a few duffel bags. She opens the glass doors and enters the room, but I speak before she has a chance to do anything else.
"I'll do it, Felicia. I'm in..."