Engle Byen A Place to Call Home Read online

  “Ok, your turn,” he said to me. I began to take some of the weights off the barbell.

  “No mate, leave them on, you can do it, I’m here to help you in any way I can.”

  With that Jacob took up the spotter's position behind me, I lay down on the bench, gripped the barbell and when I looked up, my eyes had no choice but to look directly above, right up and into Jacob's shorts and I couldn't help but notice he was commando! How was I going to concentrate now with that one-eyed snake, no python, looking at me every time I lifted the weight?

  He was right though, I didn’t have any trouble lifting the weight up, I felt like I had acquired some superhuman strength.

  “See mate, knew you could do it.”

  “Yeah, well thanks, I did, didn’t I?” I responded sheepishly.

  We took our time and continued for a few more sets. There was no one else in the gym, it doesn’t tend to get used a lot.

  “Mate, I’m so hot and sweaty,” Jacob said leering at me, “let’s hit the showers.” ‘Oh no, no, no,’ I thought.

  “I might just head home actually, it’s getting a bit late,” I told him.

  "I could do with a lift mate if you can hang around; I had to get the bus here today.”

  “Um, OK then, I can wait I guess, I’ll just hang around in here and tidy up the weights while you shower.”

  “Cool mate, I won’t be long, saves me some money on my water bill,” he smiled.

  As Jacob headed off to the change room I had a last peek at his awesome physique. I went about picking up some weights and putting them back on the stands. From the men's change room, I could hear the water from the shower and I was imagining Jacob standing there in all his glory, water cascading down that muscular torso, making its way, all the way, down his body. The thought was too much to bear, I immediately made my way into the change room. Slightly shaking, I slowly poked my head around the corner into the open shower area and there he was, better than I had imagined, he was lathering himself and that python up.

  I felt like I was about to faint, the whole scene was too hot. I thought to myself, ‘you know you can have him, he virtually offered himself to you so what are you waiting for? Oh, Michael, what's wrong with you, you’re obviously lusting after him so why are you resisting temptation? This is not like you.’

  There was just something, something I just couldn’t put my finger on; I am so attracted to Jacob yet not. He doesn’t talk much, doesn’t have a sense of humour, seems a bit serious and there’s always that strange sense of real danger when I look into his eyes.

  “Michael, nearly done,” Jacob says as he has a final play. Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, busted!

  Chapter Nine

  We called in for some Chinese food to-go on the short trip home in my car. We decided to have dinner at my place and then Jacob could walk a few houses down to his home, no doubt with his dog, Cujo, awaiting his master’s return.

  Jacob didn’t say much as we drove to my house, he seems to be the quiet, brooding, bad boy type which, I must say, gets me really hot. I thought to myself, ‘Michael, throw caution to the wind, give into temptation, go to the dark side, tonight’s the night, your now insatiable desire to bed this hot muscular stud can’t wait any longer. Give in.’

  I pulled into my driveway, got out of the car, I walked ahead of Jacob and opened my front door, I flicked on the lights as I walked toward the kitchen. I turned around, no Jacob. I walked back to the front door and he was standing outside holding the plastic bags containing our dinner.

  “Well, aren’t you going to invite me in?” he asks.

  “Um... yes, Jacob, you are invited to come in, please come in,” I said in a formal joking manner and he entered my home, his shoes making a clomping sound on the timber floorboards as he made his way to the kitchen.

  I stood numb and frozen at the front door as I heard Muriel’s voice going through my head; “You keep away from him, you hear? Never let him in your house and definitely not into your heart.” Oh shit, shit, shit and shit!!

  I thought to myself, ‘Why did he stand there outside the front door and ask to come into my house like that?’ Then I recall, everyone knows a vampire has to be invited in, oh shit! ‘Oh that’s it, he’s going to bite my neck and drain me of my blood, he is a goddamn vampire! Do I have any garlic, what about a crucifix, a wooden stake, do I have a wooden stake to kill him with? What have I done!!’ I was in such a panic; my mind was whirling around not knowing what to do next.

  “Mate, are you expecting someone else to come? You’ve been standing there for a while, I’ve already plated up our dinner. You got any wine?”

  “Oh yeah, sorry, I’m coming,” I responded nervously.

  As I walk down the passageway to the kitchen, I look at the illuminated fish tank and notice all the goldfish have congregated into the far corner, which is unusual; they’re normally in the nearest corner waiting for some food.

  In the kitchen, the dinner is all plated up and ready to eat.

  “White or red wine, Jacob?”

  “Red thanks,” he replies. I pour him a red and myself a white, red goes straight to my head and I have to keep my wits about me in readiness for his fangs to appear. I hand Jacob his glass of red.

  “Look at that colour; it’s a beautiful blood red,” he says. I nearly faint.

  I take my plate and glass of wine and sit on the sofa, I usher Jacob to do the same and he sits right next to me, his leg touching mine. I still haven’t changed out of my gym clothing; at least I will make a hot looking vampire after he bites me!

  “Do the Chinese use garlic in their food?” I ask Jacob.

  "Don't think so mate, ginger probably." Keep calm Michael, no such thing as vampires, I remind myself. Calm down, idiot! I’ve lost my appetite; I have a little nibble of my dinner and remember something.

  “Back in a minute,” I say to Jacob as I place my plate down on the coffee table and, in a panic, walk really fast to the bathroom. I open the cupboard and there it is; a little mirror. ‘Uh-ha, you are so clever Michael, everyone knows a vampire has no reflection in a mirror.’ I race back to the lounge room, mirror in hand, I stand in front of Jacob with my back to him and hold the mirror up discretely. I can see myself and also Jacob, not a vampire after all. I take a deep relieved breath and sit down.

  “Mate, you OK?” this non-vampire asks me.

  “Better than you could imagine, Jakey,” I say in a very relaxed manner. Oops, Jakey? ‘Oh, shit,’ I think, ‘hope he didn’t hear that.’

  “Jakey?” Jacob asks. Damn, bugger, shit, shit he did hear me, I just ignore him. “Oh, are we having pet names for each other, Mikey?” Jacob asks in a baby voice.

  Mikey, Mikey, the name starts to whirl in my mind. Mikey, I keep hearing it. It sounds familiar but no one calls me that, do they? Why is it resonating with me now? Bloody wine, I take another gulp knowing no vampire will be making a meal of me tonight. My mind comes back into focus when Jacob places his large, manly hand on my leg.

  “Oh, look at the time,” I say in a surprised manner as Jacob turns and looks me deep in the eyes. His eyes, dark; the darkest shade of brown I have ever seen, almost black. Deliciously black, soulless, dead, lost, dangerous and yet confused. I was reading a lot from his eyes, I’ve never looked so deep into them nor he into mine. We broke eye contact as he stood up.

  "Well, guess I better leave then," Jacob said in a disappointed manner. I also stood up from the sofa, a little wobbly from the wine, and escorted Jacob down the passageway to the front door. With Jacob behind me I reached out my arm to unlock the front door, Jacob firmly grabbed my arm, spun me around a little and pushed me up against the wall, he put his arm firmly across my chest. I was a little shocked but also excited as Jacob's masculinity took over.

  “Can we stop playing games?” he said in a hushed gentle voice. “I can’t make it any more obvious, Michael, I want you. I want to kiss those amazing lips of yours, caress your toned muscular body, wake up with you in the morning; togeth
er we can fly.”

  Whilst still gently pinning me against the wall he slowly licked my lips with his tongue, his breath smelled of red wine, I could slightly taste the wine as his tongue ever so slowly began exploring my mouth. I froze.

  Should I kiss him back? Oh, what the heck! I allowed my tongue to mingle with his, together they intertwined, he slowly slid his tongue out of my mouth, looked into my eyes and gave me a heart melting devilish grin. Jacob's arm released me from the wall while he pressed his body against mine; he kept my back firm against the wall while his hands reached up under my singlet. Slowly rubbing my firm muscular chest, his hands made their way slowly over my nipples, tweaking them with his fingers.

  I let out a small groan as I could feel Jacob’s manhood harden as he pressed it hard against mine. His hands lowered from my chest, explored my v-line then round to the small of my back. Slightly lifting the elastic of my shorts and underwear, slipping his hands onto my butt, as he kneaded and clenched my butt cheeks with his fingers. He began licking my neck up and down ever so slowly, sending pulsating chills all over my body while still keeping me pinned against the wall with his strong body.

  I was blissfully being transported somewhere else when a horrible thought crossed my mind... Fluffy! I had a flashback to the last time Jacob was sending me into ecstasy and when I came to from one of my blackouts I find Muriel’s dog, Fluffy, not Jacob, licking me.

  “Get the fuck off me, Fluffy!” I yelled as I pushed Jacob off me, his hands came out from the back of my shorts, the look on his face was less than pleased.

  “What the hell, Michael?”

  I snapped out of it. OK, this is real, me in my house kissing Jacob. Muriel’s warning about Jacob was again replaying through my mind “You keep away from him. You hear? Never let him in your house and definitely not into your heart.” I'd already broken the do-not-let-him-in-your-house warning, nothing bad happened, in fact, he was the best kisser ever! Should I heed Muriel's warning? Well the second bit at least, in a few moments he will be in my bed.

  The door slammed shut. Bang! Guess that’s my mind made up then, as Jacob slammed the door hard behind him.

  This has been a long night. Before retiring for bed, I tidy up the kitchen and begin turning off lights. As I reached to turn off the fish tank light, six of the twelve goldfish are floating on the surface of the water. Dead.

  Chapter Ten

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  I woke up suddenly from my deep sleep, my head pounding; bang, bang, bang. I must be suffering the effects of last night’s dream, or was it a nightmare?

  It started off OK, I’m trying to fly. I’m running down my street on a beautiful sunny day, flapping my arms like they are wings and eventually I take off and fly for a little bit, then come back down to the ground, continue running and fly up again for a short while and back down again.

  I often have this type of dream; maybe it’s trying to tell me something. However, in last night’s dream, giant pure white wings exploded out of my back, it hurt at first then the pain numbed and I was overwhelmed with an incredible feeling of peace and freedom. I was wearing white linen trousers, had no shoes or shirt on. My mind was controlling my wings, I thought, ‘ok wings, open,’ and they did.

  I was outside my house and began running down the street for take-off, and I did! Up, up and away! It was a joyful feeling flying over the top of houses, over the sea, a slight detour and I was flying over farmland and the cows in the paddock all looked up at me as I gave them a wave.

  ‘Wow, this is awesome,’ I thought, ‘look at me everyone, I’m an angel!’ Oddly, there wasn’t a soul around. This was one of those dreams that I never want to wake up from, I enjoyed this feeling of being a free spirit and going anywhere that I please.

  Whack! I feel a smack to the back of my head. Still airborne, I can’t help but notice that day has become night; the moonlight and stars barely light up the landscape underneath me. In front of me, radiantly glowing in the moonlight, I see big black shining wings lightly flapping in the slight breeze of the cool autumn night. Attached to the wings is a muscular male body, he is only wearing tight black pants, I can’t see his face.

  Smack! I receive another hard hit to the back of my head, ouch! ‘How does he reach behind me like that,’ I wonder. In retaliation, not knowing my own strength, I whack him back really hard with one of my wings and send him flying backwards. He regains his composure and darts back towards me through the cool night air, with his legs outstretched he kicks me hard in the chest, knocking me tumbling backwards in mid-air.

  My adrenaline kicks in, I've never felt so strong and fearless. With my new-found strength, I am able to quickly regain my composure and fly up very fast above him. I have him in my sights and fly directly towards him, my arms outstretched and hands raised up. I push him in the chest as hard as I can and he goes tumbling and spiralling out of control, feathers falling off his wings as he plummets, landing hard on the grassy paddock below us.

  I feel a mixture of rage and adrenaline pulsating through every vein in my body and immediately dive steadily and swiftly down after him. The cows that were previously milling in the paddock are now all cowering under a group of trees.

  I land in front of this black angel, he stands up to face me, wings retracted, his chest forward, shoulders back in a show of masculinity and strength. His glowing red eyes focused on mine, the moonlight shines down on him like a spotlight, it was then I see his face.

  Jacob!

  Chapter Eleven

  I was just leaving on my way for a run when Gabriela beckoned me over to her house, waving her arms in the air in a very theatrical manner.

  “Michael, Michael,” she called, “I’m going to give you a physic reading seeing as the angel cards didn’t work too well last time, come by my house at six tonight.” I agreed and set off on my run.

  I reached the end of my street and decided to run to the football oval, not far from the beach, and do a bit of a workout on the outdoor exercise equipment there. It was a wonderful day, sunny, not too hot and a slight cool breeze. I find running very therapeutic, it gives me time out to think or to not think, I just love the freedom of it.

  I run past houses, shops and small parks with playground equipment. I keep running and will soon reach my destination, the oval. The only sound I hear is my feet as they hit the pavement; tap tap, tap tap, and then my breath, psssst. Tap tap, tap tap, psssst; a mechanical rhythm like a machine perfectly in time. My legs power through in perfect synchronisation, I feel like a machine, a running machine.

  Jacob was weighing heavily on my mind, those amazingly beautiful yet dangerous looking eyes, pale face and rosy cheeks, his courage and confidence, his constant perusal of me, the warnings the neighbours give me to stay away from him.

  Beeeeeep! Screech! I stand frozen in the middle of the road, a car stops incredibly close beside me, the noise from the horn pulsating through me. I turn and look at the driver, he is furious and yells out, “Watch where you are going, you fucking idiot!”

  In shock, I walk straight ahead and off the road. Dazed, I go over to a tree and sit down on the ground beside it. The car drives off. My heart is racing, I'm shaking a bit while I try and take in what just happened. My head is pounding; I wasn't hit by the car but I could have been. ‘Michael, you idiot, don’t lose focus, you could have just died.’ I feel a slight déjà vu sensation. I regain my composure, settle my nerves, stand up and steady myself against the tree.

  I looked down at the trunk of the tree and laugh to myself thinking, ‘Michael, your legs are like tree trunks,’ and continued running to the oval.

  Still shaken by what had happened on my run, I dropped by Gabriella's place at 6 pm, as requested.

  “You like helping people, Michael, you are kind and loving to all living beings, you give them strength and encouragement and they feel better after they have been touched by your presence. I can feel that you accept and complete challenges that are set for you. You resist temptations,
and you help others without reward or praise. The goodness inside you is pure and you aim to spread your love and kindness to others.”

  ‘Wow,’ I think, ‘Me, really?’

  Gabriella continued, “There is a bright, bright light shining within and all around you, Michael.”

  She said in a more serious tone, “Bathe in the goodness of the light, head for the light. It will allow you to go gently to your chosen path; the healthy, happy light, don’t be afraid.”

  ‘What’s she talking about, I’m not dead,’ I think, ‘she must have eaten one too many of those special cookies.’ Then she snapped out of her trance-like state. “Well, champagne darling?”

  I think I could do with a whole bottle right about now!

  “Yes, please my dear, I want to hear that cork pop!” I say to her in my campest manner.

  ”Here you go, darling, cheers!” she announces as she hands me a flute full of bubbles. “So, how was the reading, any revelations or messages that resonate with you dear?”

  “Well, nothing that I didn’t already know, like… I am an awesome guy, for example.”

  “Michael, don’t be so flippant, the spirits have used me as their vessel, you must listen to what they say, and they will set you on the right path to enlightenment.”

  “You know I’m not really into all that spiritual stuff, don’t you, Gabriella?” I responded rather dismissively.

  “Oh, my little lamb, you are destined for something better than this life you have created for yourself. Open your eyes and your mind my darling; the world isn’t so black and white.” Gabriella sounded slightly annoyed with me.

  “I love my life, this town, my wonderful neighbours; even the weather is lovely and sunny every day. I don’t have any problems, except Jacob.”