#weaktea

Book Review: The Blood Card

I just finished the latest Magic Men book, The Blood Card. I adore Elly Griffiths. I read everything she writes. I’ve gotten several friends into her two series. The Basics (Courtesy of GoodReads): Elizabeth II’s coronation is looming, but the murder of their wartime commander, Colonel Cartwright, spoils the happy mood for DI Edgar Stephens and magician Max Mephisto. A playbill featuring another…

I realized slowly that it had been a long time since I'd spent the night a guys house. Always trying to avoid the inevitable awkward conversation that followed a one night stand.

How does one say in that moment, "No need to talk to me, I just want coffee and to forget that we fucked?" It's not polite conversation, so I'd adopted a "fuck'em and run" attitude towards every guy I explored between the sheets. No hurt feelings, no puppy dog eyes, no "do you wanna grab dinner some time," it wasn't my thing.

But as I looked at the guy running around the sun lit kitchen through days old mascara I wondered why I had stayed. The sex had been good, the hangover had been worse than usual but something in his eyes, I thought, made my knees as weak as the tea he had sat in front of me.

It was a feeling of dread that drew back to reality. Slowly it had grown like a thought in the back of my mind. Why hadn't I left? I'd had good sex before, even fancied a few of the guys and still managed to sleep in my own bed, alone on those nights.

I sipped the luke warm tea, hoping it would turn into coffee and realized to late that my thoughts had dulled around the edge, that every blink felt heavy and disjointed.

He stopped and smiled then, "enjoying your tea dove?"

I struggled for words, "I don't really like it this weak."

His face changed, made ugly by anger, "Well I'll have a life time to perfect it for you. Won't I dove?" And he went back to hopping around the kitchen.

My lips slowly formed the words, "life time?" A word that scared me so much I'd vowed to never marry but muddling through my murky world I realized what had made me stay the night.

It wasn't the lack of will power or the good sex. It was him forcing weak tea down my throat hoping it would muddle my thoughts and change my mind about leaving. It hadn't but iron had. Metal had kept me in my place, the scraping of metal on metal had woken me from my trance long enough to realize he would have a life time to improve his tea and my opinion of his sick little game.