Chapter 4 : Cake

Maxwell Barlow's POV

Eighteen! She is only fucking eighteen!

Jesus what a mess Charles has gotten me into. I knew it was a bad idea to go to the club with Charles tonight. He is always on my case to sleep with some girl and have fun. He is always making fun of me for taking relationships too seriously. After my last girlfriend cheated on me I decided to steer clear of relationships and focus on work and Charles has been behind me ever since. It has been a year since I have been with any girl. And Charles decided to buy me a girl for one night, a virgin who has just turned eighteen.

What the fuck am I gonna do now? Do I ask her address and drop her off at her house? Yes, that’s the prudent thing to do. Probably the best thing to do for her. She looks so beautiful, so innocent, untouched by the waywardness of this world. I cannot mark her and ruin her innocence or bring her to my world. My world is filled with hatred and bloodbath and never know who is my friend or foe. No, I can’t do that to her. She has her whole life ahead of her. Plus I am almost twice her age for crying out loud. I am 30! Even though my appearance does not betray my age, I feel even older. Tired and tortured by everything that I have seen.

We are served with a petite cake. The exterior is a peach and white marble pattern. The top is adorned with peach slices arranged in the form of a flower. Her eyes light up at the sight of the cake. She clasps her hands together and smiles widely. She can hardly contain her excitement and is practically bouncing up and down on her seat. I sigh at how innocent and young she seems to be taking pleasure in such simple things. How beautiful it is to be young and innocent. At that moment I wanted to scoop her up in my arms and shield her from the world. Keep her tucked away safely so that she would never be hurt by anything or anyone in this world.

“Ooooh I can’t wait to eat it” she exclaims rubbing her hands together.

“No no you can’t eat it,” I tell her.

Her face falls and her mouth hangs open. She scrunches up her eyebrows together and whines “But why Mr. Barlow? I am so hungry. Please, you asked me what I wanted to eat and have ordered such a beautiful cake. Why can’t I eat it?”

“Because we haven’t sung your happy birthday song,” I say with a twinkle in my eyes.

She puts her head back and laughs. It is the most beautiful sound in the whole world. My heart! I feel my heart opening up like never before. What is happening to me? Did I just say what I did? Sing your happy birthday song? Am I eighteen years old again? Jesus, what effect is she having on me? Thank Goodness Charles is not here to witness me acting like a lovestruck puppy, or he would never stop making fun of me. But I didn’t care. All I knew at this moment was that I had to make her happy. I had to give her at least one good memory on the day she was turning eighteen.

“Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday, dear…..” I paused as I realized I didn’t even know her name.

“Raya” she quipped with a bright smile on her face.

“dear Raya….Happy birthday to you” I finished with a bright smile of my own.

“Oh thank you so much Mr. Barlow” Raya was ecstatic.

She cut a slice of her cake, took it in her hand. She stood up and leaned across the table to feed the cake to me. I took a bite of the cake from her hand. I cut up another slice of the cake and fed her. I could easily reach her without having to get up. What a kind-hearted soul this girl was. Even though someone had sold her virginity to me, she was feeding me a slice of her birthday cake. She was truly living in the moment and not worrying about the fate that would befall her shortly.

“Wow. This cake is delicious. So juicy and fresh. Can I have another slice of it?” she asked me.

“Go ahead. It is your cake. You can have the whole thing if you want.” I said. It was a petite little cake anyway. Probably the size of a regular-sized pastry but since this was a high-end restaurant the chef had fashioned it into the shape of a round cake with delicate frosting and fresh peach slices.

“Don’t mind if I do. I am famished and this cake tastes just so good” she smiled shyly.

“Of course. It is your birthday so help yourself” I egged her on.

It was heartening to see her relish the cake. The waiter came with the appetizers and the bottle of wine. The appetizers were served to both of us and the wine was poured to both of us too. I guess they did not bother asking her about her age as she was with me. My men and I were very well known in this city and no one bothered to mess with me.

“They have served me wine” she whispered to me “Am I allowed to have it?”

“I won’t tell anyone if you won’t” I whispered back at her with a wink “It is your birthday anyway. So live a little. You are an adult now. So enjoy”

She giggled at me and said “Okay I won’t tell anyone”

She gingerly picked up the glass of wine and took a sip. Her face scrunched up as she swirled it around her mouth and swallowed it. She put the glass back on the table.

“Have some appetizers and then sip the wine slowly. It takes some time to get used to” I encourage her.

“Okay,” she says.

We both dine in complete silence for some time. I steal a few glances at her beautiful face. She has decided to keep her fur coat on. For a good reason too as she is only wearing lingerie underneath it and a flimsy gown that is not hiding anything. The thought of her perfect curves beneath the fur which I had feasted my eyes on earlier makes a tiny tent in my pants. I am glad that I am sitting and no one can notice the bulge in my pants. Would I be able to just let her go? Would I be able to drop her at her home and keep my hands off of her? Was I a gentleman? I knew very well that I was not a gentleman. The soft glow of the lamp on our table reflected off of her face and I was falling hard. There are some special moments in our life where we know that our life is about to change and I felt like this was one such moment. I could feel a shift in my whole being. I could feel that the axis of my life was shifting. Maybe I was giving in to my heart’s desires finally. I had never felt the need to touch a woman for more than a year but here I was, wanting to touch her, wanting to protect her, care for her and make her the happiest woman on earth.

I knew that I was ready to do anything to keep this woman around me. I was like a moth being attracted to the lamp that was Raya. I was ready to burn in her fire just for one touch. I was ready to lick the flames of fire for her. She thoroughly enjoyed her meal and even managed to finish two glasses of wine. I had three glasses of wine myself. There was some more wine left in the bottle. I decided that one more glass of wine would be too much for her as this was probably the first time she was having one. So I began pouring the wine into my glass when she held her wine glass up.

“Can I have some more please?” she asked sweetly.

“Are you sure Raya? It might be too much for your first time” I asked her warily.

“Yes, I am beginning to enjoy it and as you mentioned earlier, it is my birthday isn’t it?”

She was a smart cookie. I gave in and poured her half a glass. I had the remaining half a glass of wine.

“Let’s make a toast,” I said holding up my glass.

She held her glass in her hand and looked up at me “Let’s toast to getting to know each other better and wishing you have a happy adult life filled with lots of happiness and love”

“Thank you,” she said and clinked her glass against mine.

She finished the whole glass in one go.

“Slow down Raya” I warned her it was going to be too much for her to take.

“I can’t. Not now” she said and I realized that there were tears in her eyes. She proceeded to take my wine glass too and downed the entire thing quickly.

“What are you doing? Stop it” I hold her hand. She is probably too drunk right now. I should have not offered any wine, to begin with.

She suddenly becomes aware of my hand on hers. She looks up at me with heavy eyes. Her tears glistened on her chubby little cheeks. I take a napkin to her delicate cheeks and wipe the tears away. My hands brush against her lips in the process and my body is on fire. I can feel the heat radiating from her body and I feel my hand burn where I am touching her hand. What is she thinking of me? Why is she crying? Does she feel that I am taking advantage of her? There is no more innocence in her face, no more exuberance of an eager adolescent. She looks like a hardened adult. Neither does she have anger in her eyes, nor does she fix me with an accusatory look. I am baffled at what she is thinking. I would give anything to know what is going on in her mind right now.