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“Hello, princess.” His words were calm, but I saw him tense up when I approached. “What are you doing here?”
“I should be asking you that—the ballet, really?” I raised my eyebrows in surprise.
“I’m—not here for the dancing.” A smile swept across his face, but then it faded. “You’re bleeding.”
“It’s nothing.” I reached over to cover the wound.
“Here.” He dug a handkerchief out of his pocket that bore his initials and took my arm in his hand. “It doesn’t look too bad.”
“It doesn’t hurt.” I put my hand on his, but he pulled away, leaving me holding the handkerchief over my wound. “So, you didn’t come for the dancing? Why are you here?”
“I’m watching someone.” The smile returned to his face. “Someone that has captured my attention.”
“Oh.” I nodded. “You brought a date?”
Of course he has a date. Why wouldn’t he?
“Not exactly.” He shook his head back and forth. “But I have no intention of leaving by myself tonight.”
“You could leave with me.” I took another step closer. “I’ll be eighteen in six months—I’m practically a woman now.”
“Princess…” His hand lifted and he caressed the side of my cheek, but immediately pulled his hand away. “No. I can’t…”
“Why do you keep doing this to me?” My eyes closed for a moment. “I know what I want.”
“You know what you think you want.” He exhaled sharply. “You really have no idea what would happen if I left with you.”
“I have a pretty good idea.” I opened my eyes slowly and smiled.
“No—you don’t.” His words snapped at me and his eyes clouded. “Enjoy your show.”
“Devlin, don’t push me away again.” I grabbed the front of his jacket—and I kissed him.
It was a one-sided kiss. My lips pressed against his. I tasted the bliss I had been craving, but then I felt his hands on my shoulders. He pushed me away—so hard that I stumbled back and nearly lost my footing. He didn’t even try to catch me. There was no smile on his face—just an ice-cold stare. He immediately turned and headed back into the theater as Annie rushed to my side. The shove might as well have been a slap across my face—I felt more humiliated by that than I did when I was dragged out of prom.
“What an asshole.” Annie sighed. “I swear that man really is the devil.”
I’m not so sure about that, because he keeps refusing to let me sell my soul to him.
“I guess we should get back to the show.” I looked towards the theater.
“Yeah.” Annie nodded and looked at my arm. “Sorry about that—I didn’t realize you were going to try to tear off your arm to get to him.”
“It was stupid—obviously.” I sighed and shook my head.
We returned to our seats for the second half of the ballet and I scanned the crowd until I found Devlin. He was sitting alone, and it didn’t appear that he had a date. A couple of times I saw his eyes cut in the direction of my seat, but he never looked at me. I barely paid attention to the rest of the show because my thoughts were spinning. I finally felt his lips on mine—but nothing. There was no reaction on his part other than to send me away—not just send, actually push—hard enough that he could have sent me to the floor if I didn’t catch my footing. I never believed Devlin would physically hurt me before that moment, but his eyes said otherwise. He would have watched me fall—he might have even enjoyed it. The ballet finally ended, and the dancers did their final bow before the curtains were closed for the last time.
“Let’s go.” Annie looked over at me. “Is your arm okay?”
“Yes.” I looked down and realized I had been clutching Devlin’s handkerchief during the entire second half of the performance. “It’s fine now.”
“I’ll call my driver.” She pulled her cell phone out of her purse.
“Not yet.” I stood to my feet. “I need to try and talk to Devlin…”
“Violet—don’t!” Annie tried to stop me, but I pushed my way through the crowd before she had a chance to intervene.
I saw Devlin several times as I went the opposite direction of the other patrons, but each time someone got in my way, I lost sight of him and had to find him again. He was heading towards the stage—no, he was going backstage. I had no idea why, but I need to talk to him one more time. I had not laid it all on the line. If I truly meant nothing to him, then I needed to see that in his eyes. I needed to hear him say the words. The crowd thinned out once I got to the stage and I avoided a security guard’s glaring eye to enter the same door I saw Devlin go in.
