Catherinelle by Diane Portman-Ray

 

 

20

 

The week dragged along with the speed of an anorexic snail.

Going back to the life I had before was fucking hard. The first night back in my apartment felt like the first time I walked into a jail cell: cold, empty, and lonely. No beautiful baby girl with blond and pink hair and blue doe eyes waiting for me in the middle of the bed. The house was drowned in dark silence when I walked in; nothing had moved an inch since I had locked the door behind me. Jill’s black, lacey thong was still hanging on the lamp next to my bed where she left it. Three weeks ago, I would have harvested them and kept them as a trophy, but after Cat, I threw them away without even thinking twice. Nothing would ever measure up to my princess.

I had only touched her twice in seven days. Two fucking kisses, like we were middle schoolers falling into puppy love. Needless to say, my balls were hanging heavy like a couple of tennis balls ready to burst. Since she wasn’t in school anymore, I didn’t have to drive her every day, but she was still my responsibility, and it didn’t help that every time I saw her, it seemed like her skirts were tighter and shorter. Catherinelle was a damn erotic creature an arm’s length away from me, and I was prohibited from touching her. Acting like I didn’t have a permanent erection because of her was a crucifying task.

At least last night was good. Some stupid motherfuckers from Chicago were passing by and decided to hit one of our armored trucks when we were moving some money outside the city. It was my job to make them pay for every fucking dollar. Unlucky sons of bitches got to see the Monster and all of my frustration gathered in my fists.

The next morning, I went to meet Roman and Gino at a small restaurant all the way in Washington Heights: a nice, cozy breakfast place that was run by one of Roman’s aunts. To my surprise, when I walked in, I found my two friends huddled up at a back table covered in fluffy pancakes and fresh fruits, but they weren’t fucking alone. Ignazio Costa, Muse and Catherinelle were also here.

“Morning,” I said loud enough for everyone to hear me.

Roman got up with a smile on his face. He was always so cheerful it was disturbing sometimes. Roman, the man of the people, loved by everyone. This was his role, his legacy, and in the past few years, he had worked relentlessly to keep the façade. Gino and I both know it was fucking bullshit; the man was crumbling inside. He was fucked up in the head over the woman who had walked out on him. When Salva left him and took his grandmother’s engagement ring with her, Roman’s heart was broken, and I used to think he was so weak to have let that happen, but look at me now. Catherinelle looked my way one time, and my chest was already expanding.

“There he is! The big man.” Roman slapped my shoulder in a brotherly manner. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

“I’ve been kinda busy,” I answered and threw the bags of money on the table. “I thought this was business.”

Gino threw one hand over Muse’s shoulder and smiled at me, clearing things up.

“Well, it’s not. It’s brunch. Take a seat, Mustafa. I am ordering you a mimosa.”

Damn bastard, taunting me with his girly drinks. I shook my head, amused, and dragged another chair to the table next to Ignazio.

“No, thanks, boss. I’m driving.”

The moment I sat down, Catherinelle sat up from her seat and poked Ignazio in the shoulder.

“Si, principessa.”

“Ignazio, all the sun is getting in my eyes. Can you switch seats with me, please?”

“Of course, principessa.” He jumped up right away and helped her get settled on my right.

“Gratzie mille, Ignazio.”

When her pretty little ass was set, I frowned down at her, and the little witch just smiled and shrugged. I turned my attention from her to Gino who was playing with a string of Muse’s hair.

“So what is this about, boss?”

“Muse wanted to eat out, and Cat said something about a shopping spree. I figured I’d save you a trip if we all met here. Take a pancake, Mustafa. Roman’s aunt made them fresh.”

“How nice of her,” I said, but I was not a pancake kinda guy. Too bad today was not up to me because Cat grabbed a plate and started filling it.

“Here.” She handed it to me, and I took it without words. “Gino, I will need Hugo with me the entire day. Is that ok with you?”

“It’s nice to see you two are finally getting along,” he said, and I almost cursed out loud.

“I have a lot of shopping to do, and he’s a brainless muscular corpse who can carry lots of boxes. And has a driver’s license.” Did she just call me fucking corpse? She did, and everyone around the table was laughing.

“I am not your damn coolie, Catherinelle.” I had no problem carrying her bags, but at least one of us had to remember there were a lot of eyes on us.

“Hugo,” Gino called. “I can call Vito to drive her around today. You deserve some time off.”

“Nah,” I answered too damn fast. “I can take her.”

Vito couldn’t handle her, and I hated the idea of giving him a chance to try.

We stayed for another half hour before Cat and I got up and left the restaurant. She had a black dress on and a fur cape over her shoulders. This girl was a walking Barbie, only sexier, and I tried my best to not watch her ass while we were walking to the car.

“Where to, princess?”

I put the car in drive and headed into traffic, waiting for instructions.

“We’ll start on 5th. I need to stop by the Hermes store to pick up Muse’s Christmas present, but first you can make a right here.”

“Where?” We weren’t in an intersection.

“Right here.” She pointed to an alley between two buildings, and I drove the car there.

“What do you have to do in the back alley of a grocery store, Cat?”

“Nothing.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and dragged her tight ass across the car and into my lap. “I just wanted to kiss you. Didn’t you miss me, baby?”

Fucking hell. I pulled her face closer and smashed our lips together in a consuming kiss. She anchored her nails in my shoulders and bit my lip, hungry for more, but she would have to be content with crumbs.

“Cat, stop. I’m not getting you naked in the middle of New York.”

“Oh, I know.” But in spite of her words, she threw away her cape and straddled me.

Her hands started hovering all over my chest, and her mouth turned back to mine. Cat was trying to lead the dance our tongues were caught into, but I wasn’t ready to cave. I put one of my hands on the back of her head and pushed further, letting myself be guided by that consuming need inside of me.

“Hugo, please…”

“We can’t.” Every time I had to repeat that to her, it made my gut clench.

“I’m tired of can’t. I want us to can. I need us to can!” She raised her voice in frustration, and she slapped my chest. “You want to know what I did last night, Monster? I came on my fingers twice thinking about you.”

I let my head fell on the headrest and moaned.

“Catherinelle, stop twisting the knife in a fucking open wound.”

“I came twice, Hugo. Hard. It made me bite into my pillow, but still, it’s not enough. My fingers don’t have silver balls that drive me fucking insane. I can’t hold myself after. Call me childish all you want; tell me I’m just an immature girl crushing on you, but I feel lonely.”

“You’re not.” I kissed her forehead. “I miss you too, baby girl. Every night, every minute. It has to be like this. I’m sorry.”

“It sucks.”

It did suck. For two months, I had spent every day around her, and she drove me fucking nuts. I was horny all the time, pissed off because she was fighting me every single minute, and I couldn’t wait to pass the task over to someone else. About four times, I thought about strangling her with my bare hands. Something was different now. Whatever this thing with Catherinelle was, it had hit me hard, right in the chest. I was her slave, and for the first time in my thirty-one years of life, I was happy with my position. If having Cat meant spending my life serving at her feet, then I was at peace with my fate.

If only I could get the chance.

“I know, baby girl. We’ll see how’s it going, ok?” She nodded, but she wasn’t smiling yet, and I was craving her radiance. “What I can do though, is get you off once more.”

My hand slipped between her legs with the same precision I had when I was handling my Desert Eagle and cupped her pretty pussy. She squeezed my arm with her thighs and started to breath heavily.

“Are you going to fuck me, Mustafa?”

“No, but you’ll come in my hand so we can go and take care of that shopping list of yours.”

With dexterous fingers, I pushed her lace panties to the side and slipped inside. The moment I felt her velvety warmth, my skin started itching.

Catherinelle leaned over, letting her head fall back and covering my face with her boobs. Grateful, I bit her through the material of her dress. I was always somewhat brutal with women, not enough to hurt anyone, but just to scratch an itch, but with Cat? I was the fucking Monster everyone was talking about. I wanted to possess her. I wanted to eat her whole, devour her, love her like an animal.

“Fuck, Hugo, fuck! I’m already…” the words got stuck in her throat.

“I know, baby. Your pussy missed me. I missed it too, baby girl. I miss you sitting on my face and eating you out like you’re my fucking banquet.” I moved two fingers vigorously inside her, and she was already contracting around me. “Yes, just like that, princess. I need you to cum for me. It’s been too damn long.”

She listened like the good little girl she was and let herself go, climaxing and letting her juices drip down my arm. I pulled my hand out and stuck the fingers in my mouth, sucking on them hard. Her taste was fragrant with a hint of piquancy that made my head spin. It was stronger than a blow of coke.

“Monster, you blew me away.”

“Good.” I gave her a soft kiss on her lips that were plump from all the biting. “Let’s go shopping now.”

“Wait. What about you?”

Me? My dick was solid like cement, and it was pushing through my jeans, begging for Catherinelle’s attention, but I’d be damned if I’d take her while we were parked in a filthy alley while anyone could walk by and see.

“I’ll live, princess, let’s go.”

I’d regret my words soon enough. Catherinelle dragged me all around Manhattan, hunting for gifts. With the holidays coming around, she wanted to make sure no one was let off the list. Halfway through the day, I was grateful my Christmas list was damn empty. We hit every designer store on 5th Avenue, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, jewelry stores, everything that was for sale, Catherinelle got at least one. I could almost hear Gino’s credit card crying every time she swiped it.

She got something for every one of her cousins, friends, her mom, her brother and Muse, Ignazio. She even got something for Roman’s fucking dog – a little collar with a bejeweled bone hanging from it. How fucking ridiculous was that? I carried so many boxes and marched through so many stores, I felt as sore as if I’d have gone through one of my brutal workouts, but it was worth it. Catherinelle was a giver; this was her love language. With every gift she bought for others, she was even more joyful.

There was one store she told me to wait in the car – a fancy gentleman’s store, and she said she was looking for a belt for Ignazio, but she already picked up a handkerchief with gold embroider for him. I knew she went in there to buy something for me and that fucked me up. No one had ever given me anything. There were no birthday presents because I didn’t have birthdays, no handouts, no Christmas gifts, nothing. I’d had to fight tooth and nail for everything I ever got, from my honor and respect to everything I owned. I fought, I killed, I stole, and I killed again. But now this extraordinary, beautiful girl, who wasn’t even eighteen, was walking into my life giving me part of her – her love – and a damn Christmas gift. A small, simple gesture that almost everybody did, but I was ready to give her my damn heart in return.

She was done sucking the stores dry at seven thirty, and I thought I was off the hook, but instead, Catherinelle decided we needed to see the Christmas decorations, and so we walked together through Time Square and then the Rockefeller Center. The joy of the holidays didn’t make its way into my heart, but I loved watching her.

Finally, she said she was hungry, and I expected her to suggest a nice restaurant, but instead, she dragged me into the first pizza joint we found. The place was tacky as hell, with the Italian flags hanging everywhere and the fake brick oven that was so obviously working on gas. It was a beat-up diner; the only thing going for it was the location, crammed between Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and a Saks store, but for sure, it wasn’t a good place to eat. The floor was covered in sand-colored tiles; the tables were a pale shade of blue, and the benches were covered in yellow nylon. It was the kind of place that kept their ketchup on the table. I had no problem eating here; most of my childhood, I ate out of trashing cans, but I never pictured Cat in a place like this.

The waitress brought us the pepperoni pizza Catherinelle asked for and left us to it.

“Cat, you’re sure you want to eat that?”

“Sure, it’s…” she looked again at the pizza and the grease pools that were forming on top of the cheese, “it looks great.”

She grabbed one of the slices and smelled it first.

“Catherinelle, let’s go. I’ll take you to that nice place in Brooklyn, the one close to your house with the pastries you like.” I tried to bribe her away from the pizza.

“No, I like it here.” That was a whole load of bull crap.

After looking at it one more time, she had the courage to bite into it and chew for a while.

“How is it, Cat?”

“The mozzarella is a little chewy.” I could bet that was the last of the problems.

“Come on, Cat, this thing has salami on it. If your grandmother knew you put that thing in your mouth and called it pizza, she would roll over in her grave. Why won’t you let me to take you somewhere nice?”

“Because ‘somewhere nice’ people know us!” She slapped her hand on the table, and the few people inside turned their heads to look at us. “The best restaurants in this city, the restaurants you want to take me to? Those are owned by my brother or friends of our family. You can’t even look at me in there, Hugo.”

She sighed, and I grabbed one of her hands over the table. This was too fucking hard. Catherinelle was talking about love, but was love supposed to be that hard?

“Cat, easy.”

“Stop talking to me like I’m a wild horse. It’s hard enough to go without you for days at a time. Just give me a few more hours.”

That was something I could give her.

“Come on, let’s go. I’m taking you home.”

I got up, and before she could say anything, I threw some money on the table and picked Cat up like she was a sack of potatoes.

“Hugo, I don’t want to go home.”

“My home.”

She stopped moving right away.

“What?”

“You’re gonna call your brother, tell him you’ll stay with Bianca tonight.” I let her body slide down until we were face to face. “I want you in my bed, Catherinelle.”

She took her sweet time to say something back.

“Let’s go, Monster. I want to see where you dwell.”