Chapter 1

"Eeh! You're home early." Tilly blurted in a shriek. Her perky breasts bounced around under her shirt as her arms splayed out wide to embrace me, almost knocking me over as I walked in the door. She was a sight to see, her rich tawny skin glowing as per usual. Her black coiled hair was glossy and well groomed. She boasted a toned physique, with a smile from ear to ear that could light up any room. Pure beauty, and she knew it.

Then there's me. Pasty white girl with big breasts that never fit into bras and thighs as wide as a planet. The chaffing, oh the chaffing. My complexion was weathered, and I had panda eyes from studying too hard. Fine. Okay I lied, it was from not sleeping. I had frayed untamed hair and lived off more coffees than I care to count and five minutes of sleep each night. I had hopes and dreams of finishing college in a few weeks, but I had been undeniably failing. I hadn't had a wink of sleep for three weeks. Three, whole, painful weeks. Not since that night.

The shadow man.

He watched me. As I slept, who knew where he truly was. He was real. He broke into my room, even when I had changed the locks on the window. How does someone sleep after that? And who would believe me if I told them?

No one.Not if you heard the commotion that happens here. I lived in the slums. It was every man for himself, and if you couldn"t fight, you stayed indoors. Like I did. I pushed aside my intrusive thoughts. Because despite all that, Tilly was my favourite part of coming home from college or work at the cafe. And truth be told, I'd have lost my mind months ago if it wasn't for Tilly. I haven't told her about what happened. How could I?

She would think I've gone mad. And to be honest, if I so much as whispered something about a masked man coming into our apartment, I think she would just about have an orgasm on the spot. She was freaky like that. Into things I had no business lurking. So, I kept my stupid nightmares in my head where they belonged.

I couldn't help but mimic her smile as she wrapped herself around me. Her grasp pulled away all my worries almost entirely.

"I've only been gone a few hours," I laughed, letting her continue to squeeze the post-assignment stress out of my body. It was my hardest one yet, leaving me famished and drained. I needed food, stat. Tilly smacked me on the rear end. I yelped, and she held me at arm's length.

"That's for leaving this morning without saying anything!" she hissed playfully and held her index finger in front of my face, tsking at me. I rolled my eyes. How was I the one in trouble? I had snuck out the apartment before she got out of bed this morning because I knew she would make a scene about my birthday, like she always did.

"You know I hate being fussed over. It's just a birthday. And besides, you had… - company." I bit my lip, and my cheeks flushed from the memory of this morning. Banging on walls, moaning, groaning, and heavy breathing. And yelling. So much yelling.

Gah…My mind trailed off. Curiosity always getting the better of me, it tended to have a habit of doing that. I wondered what it would be like, to kiss someone. Though, that was only the half of it; they were doing way more than just kissing. No different than any other night really. I ought to buy a decent pair of earphones to block out the sound.

Sex.

It was Tilly"s regular pastime, with a new fling showing up every other day of the week, sometimes more than one. That's how we could afford this place, I guess from this perspective, you could call her a lady of the night. But I"d rather just call her Tilly. To my disgust, occasionally I wondered, what it would be like. I mean, I was loyal to my Bible. But even then, it was so, illicit to even think about it. Not that it stopped me. I often trailed off, imagining what it would be like to have a penis inside my mouth. What it would taste like. What it would feel like to have one in my vagina.

Come on, girl, focus.I pushed away my intrusive thoughts as the ache between my thighs began to tingle.

"Mmm, yes, I did." Her tongue darted across her lips. "But that's no excuse to sneak off without me wishing you a happy birthday. Luckily for you, I love you, and you can make up for it." She said deviously.

I rolled my eyes at her, and she crossed her arms. A self-satisfied smirk turned up her plump sable lips.

"Oh gosh, what crazy scheme have you whipped up this time? You're not going to make me watch Fifty Shades of Grey again, are you?" I hated that movie, and she knew it.

She"d made me watch it for my last birthday in the hopes that she would convince me to meet a guy and have my first kiss, or maybe even lose my virginity. But I was having none of it; simply put, I wasn't ready. I'm not sure I'm ready now. Not unless I met the one, you know, the perfect one. Mr. Perfect. Mr Fairytale. Fairytales don't exist for girls like me, though.

She tutted. "Nope! No movies. No staying in. We are going out, tonight! No ifs or buts about it!"

Crap.

My mouth dried. Out? In public. At night? It was bad enough I had to change my shifts at the café because of my stalker. Going out at night willingly was not exactly on my to-do list. I didn't go out or party like she did, I didn"t even have Facebook or TikTok. I always kept my head down in books, studying hard to finish my degree in Entomology. I stayed home, I studied hard, I worked most mornings and every Saturday at the café, and I went to church on Sunday"s, like good girls do. When I wasn"t at either of those places, I was in the library.

But I knew this day would come. After all, it was Tilly, and there was no backing out with her.

Tilly was panting with excitement. I could practically hear her head ticking away with what slutty dress she would put me in, what makeup she would throw on me, and what crazy alcoholic beverage she would pour down my throat. Despite me mentally scoffing and rolling my eyes at her, I couldn't ignore how her beautiful ebony skin radiated in glee. It was safe to assume that she had been waiting for this night for a long time.

My 21st birthday.

I sighed, deciding to give into her. "Fine, if you insist."

"Oh my god! Fuck yes, bitch! I'm so excited! You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this moment!" she squealed.

I winced and pulled a sarcastic grin. "I think I have a pretty good idea. And watch your mouth. My gosh."

Tilly cackled, sticking her tongue out mockingly. It was weird that we were friends, so very opposite. Yet her company and energy were what I need most days. Especially since the man in the mask. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror in the foyer, the warm shade of rose on my freckled cheeks still blossomed from my illicit thoughts earlier. That tended to happen a lot. I hated it.

The black bags under my emerald eyes made me look at least 10 years past my expiry date, the lack of sleep was clearly visible. My frayed black hair was scrunched up in a loose bun on the top of my head, left unbrushed and unwashed for days, weeks even, with two-day old sandwich crumbs in it.

I've showered, if you count using a wet cloth under your arm pits as showering. I just hadn't washed my hair in a week, or two. The thought of showering is terrifying. Mostly because I can't see my window from the shower, and if I can't see the window, I can't see if anyone has broken in. I haven't seen him since that night, but that doesn"t mean I don't think about him.

The thought of me showing skin made my stomach churn. Who wants to see a chubby white girl in a dress? No one. I envied Tilly, she could wear anything. Anything she throws on suits her, whether she's dressed up to the nines or in her PJ's.

Thankfully, my oversized coffee-stained t-shirt saves the day, it hides the rolls of my stomach. I try to wear loose clothes as much as I can to flatter my appearance and ‘fit in' and avoid the judgement, but you'd never catch me dead in a dress, no no no. Or in shorts, or a short-sleeve shirt.

We have lived together since we started college a couple years ago, two very different individuals, two very different lives, tastes, and interests, but we"re two peas in a pod. I doted on her so much. You could call us Ying and Yang. Tilly grinned ear to ear, and I couldn't help but mirror her infectious smile.

"I know the perfect place. You don't have to dress up too much, but," she paused, offering a laugh as she looked me up and down, "you'll need something other than what your wearing, and a shower." She finished the last part of the sentence with her hand swishing in front of her nose.

Tilly finished the last few twirls of my hair with the curling iron before spinning me around to face the mirror. My face felt tight from the make-up, like I had a concrete mask on. She had spent a tedious amount of time dolling me up for tonight.

"Here, I got you something".

"Tilly, you really didn't have to get me anything," I scoffed, but I couldn"t help but admire her generosity. She knew I hated gifts.

"Babes, for tonight, it's a very special occasion. It's not every day you turn legal age."

She handed me a large white gift box with a beautiful green bow on the top. My favourite colour, of course.The month of May – the emerald, and the colour of my favourite butterfly. She knew me too well. Though, it wasn"t exactly hard to notice, they were all over my room. Taxidermized butterflies of many species, and the many drawings I crafted.

Mostly of the Emerald Swallowtail. Some had gone missing, but I knew I didn't lose them. The thought unsettled my stomach, but I wasn't going to let that ruin my night.

I thanked her tenderly and opened the box to reveal a beautiful black satin dress. Even though I had made it very clear to her I was never going to wear a dress. Like, EVER! Unless it was my wedding dress. Especially a dress of this type. Short, and tight. With this belly? No, thank you. Tilly mischievously looked down at my breasts, hinting that I needed to stop dressing like a forbidden fruit, not that my breasts were on show anyway. I mean, they've been there since I was twelve; it was hard to hide the darned things. I put the dress on anyway, because, why not?

I couldn't quite comprehend the person looking back at me in the bathroom mirror. It was a liar at the best of times, but this was the epitome of cat fishing, not that I complained about it. My eyes were seductively shaded in soft browns, fading into a golden shimmer in the middle above my iris. My already flushed cheeks had a darker pink tone right to the edges of my hairline, somehow highlighting my freckles. Tilly had shaped my face with make up in a way that it contoured most of my double chin, like I had lost ten pounds just sitting there. I was… beautiful. Tilly fondly held me at arm's length, looking me up and down. The glint in her dark brown eyes was practically glowing.

"You are incredibly beautiful Esme, inside and out. Never forget that. You are so pure. Any man would be the luckiest man in the world to have you, to claim you as his ride or die. And you, in this dress, mmm. Girl! They'll be grovelling at your feet."

Claim.

Didn't that word just make the butterflies in my stomach flutter a little crazier than they needed to? She had a way with words that made me think a little less about the shadow man. I was so grateful for her. She made the bad days good and the good days better. Even though I loved her tremendously, I knew I couldn't tell her. To be quite honest, I don't think I even want to admit that I saw him. To admit that he was real. Because that would mean I'd have to convince myself that he was, and I had spent so long telling myself that he wasn't.

And just like that, we were out the door in a cab to wherever she demanded the driver to take us. Dressed to the nines, dolled up and ready to club, or whatever it is people say.

The music was loud and irritated my ears, even from outside. We skipped the que and walked into the building through a draped curtain. The smell of BO and cigarette was the first thing to hit my senses. The place was dark and flashing all the colours of the rainbow to whatever upbeat music the DJ had on. It was a slow beat, steamy type song. I craned my neck around, my stomach flipped into a knot at the erotic visual. Looking straight at me was a pair of perfectly designed, artificial breasts. Planted snug under the skin of a skinny blonde girl. We were in a strip club. Her strip club.

"Wait. Is this…?" I wailed.

"Oh my gosh. You brought me to your place of work?!" I quivered with nerves. A strip club wasn't exactly what I had in mind for my first night out, let a lone the one of my best friends. The nudity and vulgar behaviours was not ideal for a woman like me to witness. Of course, that was in her bag of tricks. My pain and suffering her amusement. Though there was no true pain, and no true suffering. More like pleasure and hating that I experienced it.

"If I had told you where we were going, you'd have never come out!" Tilly snickered, offering me a playful smile. "Plus, we get free drinks! Come on."

I mean, she had a fair point. As much as I didn"t want to be out in public with this much skin showing, or at all for that matter, I needed to suck it up. After all, she had gone to this much effort. And I really looked quite outstanding. This was my twenty-first birthday, and I really could use a night off. Forget about my stalker and the nightmares. Forget about college. Forget about work. Just enjoy my night. Be different. Do something different. For once in my life, just be normal and have fun.

The place was packed. Tilly grabbed my hand and led the way through the club, and all around us eyes immediately locked onto us. My cheeks flushed, and I almost stumbled. Oh my gosh, two left feet. Focus.

I gulped down at the swelling lump in my throat. Come on, you can do this. I followed Tilly"s footfalls as she made her way through the crowd, and they went back to gawking at the naked women dancing on stage. I paid close attention to the way she walked, I had already nearly fallen to my feet getting in and out of the taxi and just a moment ago, if I wanted any chance of getting that kiss tonight and tick that off the bucket list, I was going to have to learn how to walk the walk and talk the talk. Okay, Esme. You"ve got this.

Left, right, left, flick the hair, right, left. We pushed through a tight bundle of the crowd and my hand parted from hers. I felt something firm shift under my feet across my path, and I tripped right over it.

Crap.

Hello darkness…

The beats and thumps of music faded into nothing, and Tilly looking down was the last thing I saw. Darkness enveloped me for a moment, and in my dream, I was blessed with a handsome fairytale man leaning over me to give me a fairytale kiss. To bring me back to consciousness, like sleeping beauty. He had beautiful blond hair, blue eyes. A tailored suit with a cutting-edge razor blade jaw-line, perfect white teeth, muscles, and the voice of an angel. He was perfect. Mr. Perfect. Mr. Fairytale.

Soft voices bounced through the air, and I could feel myself drifting in and out of consciousness. I fluttered my lashes, seeing a blurry face hovering over me. Or two, I couldn't tell. It wasn't Tilly, unless Tilly was a man. I flinched, startled by the change of scenery. Where the hell was Tilly? Why was I seeing two of everything? Tilly didn't smell like this. His scent tore through my nose like an aphrodisiac. Fruity hints of spices and aromatics with an earthy low tone and whiskey. He smelt rich, powerful.

And sexy, pulling me entirely from my drift. Seeing very clearly, that exact fairytale man I envisioned in my head a mere second ago was right there in front of my very own eyes. Mindlessly, my lips parted, letting out a laugh of disbelief before they closed again. Yep, I had definitely lost my marbles. I had to of hit my head pretty hard to imagine someone like him.

"Miss? Miss?" his sweet voice sang in my ears as I came to once more. No, you're for sure dreaming. But I wasn't. He was still there, very real. Not a fairytale. I blinked my eyes. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Men like this didn"t actually exist, they were just magazine models that have been artificially generated. He smirked, sending the butterflies in my stomach into a chaotic spiral.

"Get her some water," he called out, I think to Tilly, but I couldn't be certain. "You hit your head pretty hard there, gorgeous. Lucky you didn't do too much damage." His thumb brushed at the tender spot on my forehead where I"d collided with whatever it was I hit. What did I trip over? There was nothing on the ground. I knew I had two left feet, but I know I didn't stumble on thin air.

"Wait, you're real?" I muttered under my breath. He laughed, slicking back his immaculate blond hair through his fingers. My cheeks burnt crimson, and I mindlessly bit my lip. Gorgeous.

"Contrary to your belief, yes, I am."

Tilly ran to my side, passing a bottle of water to Mr. Fairytale. He cupped the back of my neck with one hand, holding it in a way that made the painful thumps throb a little less. Damn my brain to body malfunction. How embarrassing.He held up the bottle of water to my lips, and the cool liquid melted the heat racing through my veins.

"Are you alright?" he murmured.

I took a moment to part from his intense blue-eyed gaze, noticing the crowd the had circled me. I was in a heap on the floor, with a lovely bump on my head. Evidence of colliding with the bar. The music had completely stopped now. Tilly squatted at my side, perching her soft hand on my thigh.

"Do you want me to call an ambulance Esme?"

I shook my head slightly, "I"m Oka-" I muttered, but he cut me off. Reassuringly yet, with a firm edge to his tone.

"She's fine. I've got it covered. A bit of water and she will be right in no time".

"I wasn't talking to you." She snapped.

My mouth dried to her hissy response to him. All I could think about was her not making a scene; she had a bad temper. Especially when someone was rude to her. Please don't mess this up for me. I could be in with my shot here. My first kiss.

The man turned back to me, he cocked a brow and smiled eagerly. "Are you ready to stand, gorgeous?"

Gorgeous. There was that word again. The music started to play again, and the crowd went back to what they were doing, the girls on the poles continuing their routines. I gulped, a half-hearted nod of my head was all I could manage to offer him. My heart was fluttering out of control. He held his hand out for mine with a soft glint in his icy blue doe eyes that were a direct stairway to heaven.

I paused for a moment, my eyes darting between them and his perfectly modelled hand. And coming to the realisation that I have never touched another man before. I tried to gulp down the ever-growing lump in my throat, but it achieved nothing.I took his hand with reticence, and he pulled me off the floor as if I weighed nothing more than a feather. Last time I checked I was a solid 220lbs, not exactly an easy object to just pluck up off the floor without so much as creasing a shirt or messing up his perfectly slicked back hair. Seeing this man from the ground was impressive, I'll admit that. But from a standing position? Sheesh. There was only one way to describe him.

Holy-ever-loving-shit.Mr. Fairytale.