Roses Are Red

Chapter 15

 I slowly wake up feeling the horse trotting underneath me as I bounce up and down. I open my eyes and look around to see that it must be early in the morning. The light glow of the sun illuminates the street in front of me.

"Morning," Leo says and I offer a hum in response.

"Are we going to stop somewhere so you can rest?" I ask. We are in a much nicer area now, the houses here are actually taken care of.

"I can keep going for now, one of my friends lives here and maybe he will let me stay at his place to rest a little," I nod my head even though I know he can't see me.I look around a little more until I spot something that almost makes me jump off the horse.

"That's me!" I shriek covering my mouth with my hand as I stare in shock at the person that looks exactly like me except that they are wearing some cheap princess dress. Leo lets out a laugh as he turns his head to look back at me amusement playing in his eyes.

"Do you really not know?" Leo asks and I look at him in confusion.

"Didn't you find it strange that not everyone was trying to bid on you at the auction? They all thought you were another one of those phony ones." He gestures towards the exact copy of me, I scrunch my brow in confusion, as a million questions pop into my head.

"But how do they look so much like me?"

"Magic I guess or makeup, one of the two."

"My family is the only people with magic in this city " I pull my eyes away from the absurd sight of my clone.

"Then I guess it's makeup, wigs, and body modifications."

"That's ridiculous, why would someone want to dress up as me?"

Leo chuckles," You don't want to know."

We ride for a little longer until Leo stops us in front of this house that looks to be one of the more expensive ones. It is made out of stone with a polished wooden door,it looks to be about three stories.

Leo ties the horse up to one of the lamp posts and starts walking towards the front door with me trailing behind him. He knocks on the door rather loudly and I wince hoping that we didn't wake his friend up.

The door opens seconds later to reveal a man with short, curly light brown hair and a pair of brown eyes. Leo is taller than him by a couple inches. The man takes in Leos appearance before smiling brightly.

"Long time no see!" He says and I wince again, why is he talking so loud?

"Yeah, yeah. How have you been doing?" Leo asks with interest that I can immediately see is fake.

"I've been good, how have you been?"

"Fine," I glare at the back of Leo's head, he doesn't have to be so rude.

"What brought you here?" The man asks seemingly ignoring Leo's rude tone.

"I was wondering if we could stay for a little and get some rest." Leo pulls me forward and the man's eyes immediately look at me. I smile politely but immediately drop it when I see his eyes traveling up and down my body.

"Ain't she a pretty one," He says and I immediately take a step back from him.

"She is but you can't have her," Leo says in a tone that suggests he's being playful but I know for a fact he is anything but.

The man puts his hands up in fake surrender," Ok,ok, I have a spare room that you two can stay in but promise me I won't be hearing any strange noises." I look at him in disgust as the man lets out a laugh that sounds like nails on a chalkboard as he turns around and starts walking off. I guess that's our cue to follow him. We walk through the threshold Leo closing the door behind us.

The house has a lot of windows, the morning light filtering through casting warm light around the room. I noticed a wood table with a few chairs and to my surprise some wood sculptures sitting around the house. Some sculptures look like beasts while others look like flowers and butterflies.

The man is walking up some stairs and I shoot a nervous look towards Leo. The stairs creak with every step we take and when we make it to the top the man has a door open for us. When we reach him I glance in the room to see some simple furnishings like a bed, a bedside table,a dresser and a door that probably leads to a bathroom.

"Thanks Abner," Leo says.

"No problem," the man, whose name is Abner says and with that he walks away. Leo finally lets his vice grip loosen on my arm and I step into the room. I notice a desk in the corner with a chair and I pull the chair out and sit down. I look over at Leo in the doorway and he is watching me. I blush and I hope he can't see it, what is wrong with me, why am I blushing?

"Are you just going to stand there all day?" I ask teasingly and he shakes his head and I can see he is holding back a grin. He walks into the room closing the door and makes his way over to the bed. When he gets there he starts taking off his shirt and I shriek and cover my eyes.

"What are you doing!"

"I usually sleep with my shirt off," he says and I can hear the smirk in his voice. " It's not like you don't like it." I groan as I slowly uncover my eyes. He's leaning back on the bed holding himself up by his elbows, giving me a good view of his abs. I look all over his toned arms and chiseled chest. I lick my lips involuntarily while simultaneously clenching my things together.

"I told you that you would like it."

"I never said I wouldn't." I reply surprised that I could even form words. I get up from my chair and cautiously make my way over to him. He sits up when I get to him and his muscles ripple at the movement.

"We could make the best of this little trip, you know, before we go our separate ways." He says softly as he reaches a hand out to cup my cheek. I nod my head dumbly as I look at him.

"I never," but I stop, too embarrassed to say anything father. "I never did anything like this before" He nods his head in understanding a slight smirk on his face.

"We don't need to do anything else," he says and I almost sigh in relief. He moves his hand around the back of my neck and pulls my face towards him and then our lips meet.