Merido's Daughter by LJ Maas 7 page

Tessa and Casey walked back into the quiet villa laughing out loud.

"I can just picture it," the Karê said, wiping tears from her eyes.

"There wasn't a thing I could do! I just held on for dear life and prayed to the Virgin until this huge stallion carried me across the finish line." Casey laughed.

"Did your father ever find out?"

"Oh, no, and spoil the illusion? I simply had mother take a picture of me with a smile on my face and a first place trophy in my hand as I sat on the back of that terrible beast."

"You're something else do you know that?" The two women walked up the stairs to their suites together, realizing by the silence that Andreas Meridio was still out. "I've looked at that picture everyday for five years and wondered how a tiny thing like you even got the arkheedias to mount an animal that size."

"Hey," Casey looked wounded; "it's vertically challenged, not tiny."

"Oh, excuse m--"

Both women froze at a crashing sound from within Casey's suite.

"Stay here." Tessa said in a tight voice.

Casey watched as the dark-haired woman reached behind her, under her jacket and pulled out a small pistol. She hadn't even realized the taller woman carried one, but now the reason Tessa always had on a jacket became clear. She followed the tall woman's progress with her eyes as the Karê quietly opened the door and slipped inside.

Casey couldn't stand this helpless female routine. She couldn't hear anything inside the room and became concerned about Tessa. Just as the dark-haired woman had done, Casey quietly slipped inside the dark room. She saw the curtains by the french doors blowing into the room with the breeze, but couldn't see Tessa anywhere.

"Tessa?" She whispered.

"When I tell you to stay it's for a reason." Tessa's warm breath brushed against Casey's ear.

Casey let out a startled cry and suddenly Tessa was moving away from her and the lights came on in the room. The Karê was standing by the light switch on the wall shaking her head back and forth.

"I got worried about you." Casey offered as explanation.

"Casey," Tessa's voice was soft but commanding at the same time. "I can take care of myself. I won't need to worry if I know that when something happens you will do exactly what I say, when I say it. Katalavaynés?"

The contrite blonde nodded. "I understand. I'm sorry Tessa."

"Just don't do it again, that will show how sincere your promise really is." Tessa said as she crossed the room to the open window.

The dark-haired woman knelt down and quickly scooped up some broken glass and tossed it in the trash. "Looks like the curtains knocked over a glass on the table...no big deal."

"Thanks, Tessa." Casey said softly as the Karê moved to leave.

Tessa had her hand on the doorknob, poised to leave, but she turned at the last moment and leaned heavily against the door.

"Nikki," she said barely above a whisper. "You asked me on my boat if I had a nickname. Well, that's what my friends nowadays call me." She explained to Casey's confused look.

The small blonde crossed the room to where the tall woman leaned against the door. Smiling almost shyly, Casey reached out her hand until it slipped into the Karê's larger one. Tessa's head was screaming at her by this point. She needed to say goodnight, to leave and close the door behind her. Instead the dark-haired woman refused to listen to her conscience and listened to her libido instead.

Holding Casey's hand in her own, she pulled the woman into her arms, feeling the soft, warm body against her chest. The next thing she knew, her lips were pressed against the sweetest mouth she'd ever tasted. When Casey's lips parted and a tongue hesitantly pressed against Tessa's lips, the dark-haired woman not only allowed entry, but permitted the small blonde to take her mouth in a kiss that left the taller woman dizzy. It started out gentle and quickly grew heated, their hungry mouths swallowing one another's moans.

Tessa turned their bodies until Casey was pressed up against the solid oak door, The dark-haired woman's left arm leaning on the door over the girl's head, her right hand stroking the smooth skin of Casey's throat, moving down dangerously low into the girl's cleavage. The hand came up again and slipped around the small woman's neck and Tessa locked her lips fiercely with Casey's.

Tessa was the first to remember where she was and whom she was with. She suddenly pushed away from Casey, holding her at arm's length. She refused to meet the blonde's eyes, simply struggling to control her breathing. I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe I let it happen. Oh, Casey, God how I want you.

Casey placed a palm on the taller woman's chest, her own breathing somewhat erratic.

"I'm sorry, Nikki...I--I...I'm sorry." She repeated, not knowing what else to say.

"No," Tessa removed her hands from Casey's arms; "I'm to blame. I just got...I got a little carried away."

"We don't have to stop." Casey whispered softly.

"Yes...yes, we do...I do. I'd better go," the Karê said and she turned and nearly fled from the room.

Casey leaned her forehead on the door, sighing deeply as she listening to the fading sound of the Karê's boots.

The early morning ferry trip back to Mýkonos was a silent affair. Tessa barely said two words to Casey after the incident in the blonde's bedroom. The Karê returned to using the same distant manner that she had when Casey first arrived in Greece. The dark-haired woman looked miserable and Casey appeared as if her heart were breaking. It was a testament to how well Andreas Meridio actually knew his daughter, for if the man thought there was anything out of the ordinary, he certainly kept it to himself.

Casey didn't even feel like looking at anyone let alone talking. Once back at the estate, she said she had some things to work on in preparation for the dig, which was to begin in two weeks time. She closed the door to her bedroom and stayed there throughout the day. She came down for a cup of tea around midday and even Olympia's Bougátsa, a pastry of sweet custard dusted with cinnamon and sugar, could not entice her. Casey did notice that Olympia and Tessa seemed to be arguing outside on the patio. Both their voices were low, but Casey watched as the Karê gestured strongly with her hands and stalked off toward her father's office.

When Casey was absent from the dinner table, Andreas Meridio looked at the Karê for explanation. Beyond telling the man that his right hand had just broken his daughter's heart, which was not something Tessa was anxious to do, she could offer very little. When Meridio asked her to check on his daughter and fix her a tea if she was feeling ill, there was little the Karê could do but comply with her employer's wishes.

"Ms. Meridio..." Tessa said as she knocked softly against the young woman's door. "Casey?" Her voice called gently once she realized no one else was about.

"Come in."

Tessa's first thought was to tell the small blonde to get her butt downstairs or both of them would wake up at the bottom of the Aegean in the morning. Her next thought was to simply stay by the open door and call the young woman to dinner. Both of those scenarios drifted away when Tessa saw Casey poised on the bench seat in front of the window, her knees bent and her arms wrapped around her legs. The sun was just beginning to set and the window was pushed open, the breeze delicately blowing at the wisps of golden hair that framed her exquisite face. The color of the golden sun gave the woman's image an ethereal quality.

"I'm sorry, Casey," was all Tessa could think to say.

"What are you sorry for?" Casey seemed genuinely surprised at the Karê's words.

"I guess because I can't be the woman you want."

"I think that's my problem...you are the woman I want." Casey replied, displaying a defeated sort of half-smile.

"You wouldn't say that if you knew me, I mean really knew me. You'd change your mind if you understood the kind of person I was...that I am. If you knew the way I treat women." Tessa argued.

"And, you're that bad, that evil that you really think I'd have a change of heart if I knew your secrets?"

Tessa's brow furrowed together and for an unguarded moment Casey thought she saw a deep, unendurable pain swirling within those azure depths.

"Yes." Tessa answered. "I'm not who you think I am, Casey. I am a horrible woman, you had that right on the first day."

Moving to stand behind Casey, the small blonde never saw the hands that trembled slightly as the Karê willed her emotions back in check. Tessa screwed her eyes shut tight. It will only hurt for a short time, little one, and then you can go back to America and find a nice girl that you can spend forever with.

"I'm not the kind of woman that falls in love, Casey. I use women. I take them when I want for what I want. I can be sadistic and cruel, and I can fuck them for one night and never even want to know their name. And, the next morning I can throw them out of my bed without giving a damn about their feelings."

The Karê took a deep breath for this last bit.

"You are beautiful Casey, but you just happened to be the woman standing in front of me at the time I got horny. Don't read anymore into it than that. Don't think I stopped last night out of some chivalrous notions you have about me. I stopped because I like my job here and your father pays me quite well to see that you stay safe. The check I got for saving your life the other day will make a nice down payment on a new boat."

Tessa was breathing rather hard, but hiding it well. She knew the only quick way to get over someone was to find a reason to hate them. She didn't think it would be hard to make herself sound loathsome to the young woman and she was giving the small blonde a lot of reasons.

Casey never looked up at the tall woman; she kept her eyes trained on the sinking sun.

"My father is paying you extra...that's why you've been spending time with me?" The small voice shook.

"Yes," Tessa replied between clenched teeth. "I'm sorry, Casey."

"Hey," Casey tossed her head back, the tightness of her jaw an indication of how hard she was trying to hold back her tears. "You act like you're breaking my heart here. For God's sake all we did was kiss. If I fell in love with every woman I kissed after dinner and a few drinks I'd never get out of bed!"

Casey ran her fingers through her short locks, willing herself not to fall apart in front of this woman. The last thing she wanted was for Tessa to see her cry.

"Please, tell my father that I'll be down in a few minutes."

Tessa raised an eyebrow in surprise. God, this girl has more tenacity than I gave her credit for.

Tessa nodded as she walked through the door and out into the hall. The moment the door was pulled closed both women felt a pain like the thrust of a knife, twisting deep within their hearts.

Casey walked through the large garage that housed half a dozen sports cars, passing by the large space that was meant for the limousine. Her father had taken the limo and left for the evening, citing that it was a men's club he would be at and that it was no place for a young lady. She walked around the sparkling blue car, ensuring herself that there were no scratches. The car just arrived today and as she slipped into the leather interior she was happy to be behind the wheel of her college graduation present once again. The car purred when she turned the key in the ignition and she pulled out of the garage swiftly, not turning on her headlights until she was down the long driveway of the estate.

Casey knew exactly where she wanted to go. She revved the car and turned onto the lane that would take her down into Venetía, or Little Venice. It had been years since she'd been in this town let alone the part of the city she was headed for. Her heart felt empty and she had only one goal. She wanted to be by herself, away from the Karê's prying eyes and she wanted someone to make her feel good.

When she finally pulled up in front of the two-story building with its brightly painted balcony and the sign that said, To Spílaio, The Cave, she knew she was in the right spot. She easily found the parking around the corner; not much had changed. She promised the young boy attending the cars a hefty tip if he saw that no one even dared to breath on her auto, then she took a deep breath and went in through the back door.

A few women looked up from their dart game, but they thought it must be one of the regulars coming through the back door at this hour. The night was early and The Cave was nearly empty, but Casey knew what the next few hours would bring. Every head turned when the beautiful blonde walked straight up to the bar. She kept her eyes from making contact with any one person, and carefully following tradition; in Greek, she ordered a bottle of oúzo and two glasses.

Choosing a table against the back wall, the small blonde poured herself a glass of oúzo and turned the second glass over. A table of twenty-something women smiled at the blonde's action and began to grin and joke with one another. Finally one of the bravest among them stood and straightened her leather jacket. She walked over and stood in front of Casey's table. It appeared the two made conversation for a few seconds, but Casey never turned over the second glass, and so the young woman smiled with good grace and went back to her own table. A few more of the early regulars tried their hand at impressing the woman with the golden hair, who was obviously American, but spoke flawless Greek. Casey never turned over the second glass, but the blonde smiled as she poured herself a second glass of the strong liquor. The night was indeed young.

Tessa sealed the last envelope and in her unhurried precise scrawl she entered the figures in the books that Andreas Meridio would look at first thing in the morning. Crossing the room to the large black safe, that was nearly as tall as her, she put the envelopes of cash into a canvas sack and placed the sack on a shelf inside the safe. She turned her head, her hand instinctively going to the gun ever present at the small of her back when she saw Alex step into the room.

"I almost blew your fucking head off, Vlákas!" Tessa hissed.

"I--I didn't know it was you," Alex stammered. "I thought you went with her."

"With who?" Tessa asked, slamming the safe's door and spinning the handle before she punched a series of buttons on a computerized panel.

"Meridio's daughter." Alex responded, in a confused manner.

"Isn't she up in her room?"

"No, she said--" Alex looked into Tessa's eyes as realization flooded his features. "She said she was pulling the car around to go get you...and you two were going out." He finished slowly.

"She wasn't coming to get you, was she Nikki?"

Tessa's eyebrow arched so high that Alex could only mumble a few prayers in his head, praying to the Virgin for protection from his mentor's temper.

"Are you telling me what I think you're telling me?" Tessa seethed.

"She's gone." Alex said with all the resignation of a dead man.

Tessa turned and stalked from the office and took the stairs to the second floor two at a time. Not bothering to knock she flung open the door to find an empty room. Slamming the door shut behind her, Tessa made her way downstairs and into the foyer, leaving a stream of curses in her wake that even made Alex blush, the young man wondering at the possibility of a few of them.

"I'll go look for her." Alex muttered by way of an apology.

"You," Tessa had her fist clenched and her arm halfway cocked and was ready to lay the brawny man out. She stopped and took a deep breath to get control of herself. Alex wasn't dumb, just not always smart. He let Casey get the better of him, but the Karê had been on the receiving end of that too. The small blonde was cunning when she wanted to be. "You...just stay here in case she comes back. If she shows up call me on the cell phone."

"What if she doesn't?"

"Then you better pray like hell that Meridio doesn't want to give his little girl a good night kiss when he comes home!" Tessa nearly shouted.

Tessa hadn't really been sure in which direction to start out. She went by the beaches and some of the local nightclubs, but no sign of the small blonde. Trying to think like an innocent young woman wasn't terribly easy. Besides the local places she couldn't figure where else Casey would venture. Suddenly the dark-haired woman slammed on the brakes and pulled off the deserted road. Did I say innocent?

Now that she thought about it Casey was anything but innocent. She was a woman with a broken heart and she was hurting. What would Tessa want in that case? To get laid, naturally, to get good and drunk then to find some woman willing to help her forget her heartache. Tessa spun the car back around to head off to the Kástro. If Casey wasn't there then at least the Karê was an expert at where every lesbian bar was located on Mýkonos.

It was one in the morning and The Cave was packed to capacity. Casey had been the focal point of the evening, but she knew what she was looking for and she wasn't about to settle at this point, not for a couple more hours at least. She was close to the halfway mark on her bottle of liquor, but she sipped slowly and enjoyed a few mezés and was able to keep her wits about her. Some of the women were attractive and some charming, but the small blonde kept the second glass on her table turned upside down, a silent invitation to those wanting to capture her affection for either a short time or the rest of the evening. If the waiting woman decided she wanted to join you in a little entertainment upstairs, she turned the glass over and poured you a drink. Once you swallowed the drink and turned the glass back over the deal was signed. It simply meant that the woman was yours for as long as you both were happy with the arrangement. It was a simple tradition, but followed closely and the rules were strictly enforced. Once you drank the offered libation, the woman was yours without grief from those that had taken their chances and lost. This setup tended to eliminate fighting and it lent to the casual sex aura about the place.

It was what The Cave was all about after all. The second floor was a large studio, couches, chairs, boxes, but no lights. You did whatever you wanted to with whomever you chose to be with in the large darkened room, while those around you, sometimes standing or lying right next to you, did the same thing. It was all consenting and you could have it as gentle or rough as your taste preferred. There were no names, no lights, and most of all no complications. There was absolutely nothing responsible about it and that was exactly what Casey wanted.

A shadow fell across Casey's table and when she looked up, she smiled. Very tall, very sleek and muscular, short black hair that fell into her eyes a bit, and when she smiled the brown eyes smiled too.

Brown eyes...well, guess you can't have everything Case.

The tall young woman said hello in perfect English. Casey grinned, but returned the greeting in Greek. Casey indicated the young woman should sit, but didn't yet pour a drink for her new companion.

"You are not Greek I am thinking." The young woman said in a quiet voice.

Casey leaned forward until her elbows rested on the table. "Does that really matter?" She responded in Greek.

Her companion laughed and shook her head back and forth thinking that she could certainly give the beautiful American a night to take back home and tell her girlfriends about.

Tessa was just coming out of Pierro's and she threw the attendant a bill and settled herself in her car. It was twelve thirty and she was actually beginning to worry. She began to think Casey might do something foolish. Picking some Greek girl up in a bar was one thing, but what if the small blonde weren't caring much about life in general. Would she try to hurt herself?

No that's not Casey's style...think, Niko. If you wanted to get laid where would you go? Whorehouse? Possibly, but Casey's the last woman in the world that would have to pay for sex. What if she didn't want anything but a good screw...no questions...no complications...

"Oh, shit!" Tessa cursed aloud. Once again she did a one-eighty and gunned the car up the hill to Venetía.

Casey and the young woman talked for a few more minutes, but still Casey had not turned over the glass. Disappointment was displayed in her companion's eyes.

"Perhaps I should go." The young woman said, rising. Propriety dictated that she stay no longer without Casey offering the drink.

"No, please stay."

The young woman sat back down and motioned to the bottle and the glass.

"Perhaps," Casey offered a seductive smile, her hand circling the base of the bottle, her fingers tapping on it gently.

The stranger reached out her hand and tenderly stroked the length of Casey's hand all the way to her fingertips. The small blonde grinned lazily and watched as the young woman's touch left a trail of goose bumps on her skin. Casey closed her eyes briefly as the pleasurable sensation, but when she opened them she was no longer looking into the brown eyes of a stranger, but her mind let her conjure up an image of a prussian blue gaze and dark skin. Casey thought it wasn't likely to get any better than this tonight as she reached for the bottle of oúzo.

Casey turned the heavy glass over and a number of smirks as well as jealous sighs rose throughout the bar. She filled the glass with a shot of the oúzo and sat back, staring into eyes that had disappointingly turned brown once again. The stranger smiled just slightly as she lifted her hand to accept the drink.

Slender fingers scooped the shot glass up just as the stranger's fingertips grazed the outside of the rim. Casey looked up into Tessa's angry face as the Karê swallowed the liquor in one forceful gulp, slamming the glass upside down onto the table.

"This bar is closed, go home little girl." She hissed at the stranger who was now on her feet. "You, come on." Tessa pointed at Casey.

"Just what in the hell do you think you're doing?" Casey yelled, rising to her feet.

"Taking you home." Tessa yelled back.

"It doesn't sound like your woman wants to go home with you, friend." The stranger commented evenly.

"I don't give a good god damn what she wants and she is not my woman." Tessa replied fiercely.

"Then she is free to stay if she chooses."

"Over my dead body." Tessa said ominously as she grabbed Casey by the elbow.

"I'd hate for that to be the alternative." The stranger said, pulling a long bladed knife from inside her coat.

Tessa stood still for a moment and released Casey's hand, moving away from the small blonde so she wouldn't be in the middle of anything.

"So, you want to play king of the hill, do you?" Tessa smiled a thoroughly evil smile.

The stranger simply smiled back, the same baneful grin.

Casey was caught up in the electrically charged atmosphere that suddenly took over the room. Any amount of a buzz she had going simply disappeared as she stood, stone cold sober, watching as the two women eyed one another warily. The stranger could have been Tessa five or ten years earlier. The same height and build, they measured one another up, waiting to see who would make the first move. They only stood a couple of feet apart and Casey watched as Tessa's left hand moved so fast that it was almost a blur. The dark-haired woman reached to her back, under her leather jacket and pulled out a Glock pistol, pressing it against the stranger's forehead.

"Guess what this means." Tessa spat.

The stranger was no novice to the street or having a gun pointed at her head. She tossed the knife onto the table and winked at Casey.

"I think it means you win." The stranger said.

"I think it means you're smarter than you look." Tessa responded.

The stranger raised her hands and Tessa lowered the gun, then replaced it in her holster. The two women stood there trying to decide what would be done. Casey watched as the fire still burned just below the surface.

"Allright, enough. Tessa, I'm leaving, just...please, both of you calm down." Casey said quietly.

"You don't have to be afraid of her." The stranger said to Casey.

"I'll be allright, thank you for a semi-lovely evening." The blonde replied with a nervous smile.

The stranger gently took Casey's hand, keeping one eye on the dark-haired woman whose lips raised in a menacing sneer as she watched the young woman draw Casey closer.

"She may say you are not her woman, but her eyes tell a different story." The stranger quickly whispered in Casey's ear, smiling then releasing the shocked blonde's hand.

Tessa held out her hand to Casey, but the small blonde walked abruptly past her and out the front door.

If she were my woman," the stranger called to Tessa's back, "I wouldn't give her a reason to come looking in a place like this."

The dark-haired woman never slowed her stride, but the stranger's words struck surprisingly close to her heart.

By the time Tessa reached the parking lot where she knew Casey's BMW was parked, the small blonde had started the car and was preparing to leave.

"I'll follow you to make sure you get home allright." Tessa stated.

"I said I was leaving, I didn't say I was going home."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"What part of it didn't you get? Do I need to say it slower?" Casey shouted back at the woman leaning over the car.

Tessa felt a rising fireball in the pit of her stomach and she desperately tried to shove the beast down. She was unused to being shouted at or disobeyed, especially by women. She quickly reached in and pulled the keys from the ignition. Casey jumped from the vehicle, slamming the door.

"God damn you, Tessa, give me back those keys!" Casey screamed at the woman.

"Not until you stop acting like a child!"

"Oh, fine, just keep the damn things, I'm going back inside." Casey made a move toward the bar.

"Forget it." Tessa was towering over her in a heartbeat, her hand clamped tightly around the small blonde's wrist.

"Oh, I see," Casey shouted at the dark-haired woman. "You don't want me, but you don't want anyone else to have me, is that it?"

Tessa reached up and grabbed the front of the young woman's blouse; her eyes lit up like blue fire, her gaze narrowing.

"So, is that all you want now...a good fuck?" Tessa said slowly.

"Yea, that's all I want, just one good fuck!" Casey returned hotly.

"Well, you should have told me that, baby." Tessa said pulling the small blonde by her blouse closer until their faces were inches apart. "I would have been glad to accommodate, then you wouldn't have had to sneak all the way down here. Come on." Tessa continued, pulling the small woman to the BMW.

"Get in." Tessa said not waiting for a response before shoving the woman through the passenger side door.

Tessa slid in behind the wheel and adjusted the seat before looking over at the small blonde.

"What's the matter, baby? You said this is what you want, right, just some uncomplicated sex? Trust me, I'll give you the best you've ever had." Tessa teased and mocked at the same time, undisguised lust now apparent in her gaze.

When Tessa started the car and turned out onto the one lane road up into the hills of Ano Merá, Casey had a deer in the headlights look and Tessa knew she had her now.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 584