I growl low under my breath, prepared to snatch back her wrist when the other woman says, “You too. Your dress is very ... tight.” It’s the poison in the woman’s tone that finally causes me to look up at her. She is a Korean woman with pale skin and straight, jet-black hair. Her dress is also formfitting, so I have no idea what she meant by commenting on Monika’s, but for some reason I don’t like it. I like it even less when Monika falters. She didn’t falter in the tunnels when facing death, but she falters here.
“Oh, I, um ... yes. Yours too.” She rubs her palms down the sides of her dress and offers the woman a lopsided smile.
“Myeommatold me you arrived and that you came with a date.” The woman’s eyes flash to me, and the look she gives me makes my skin crawl. Her bloodred lips part in a smile. “It’s a first for you, isn’t it? You never bring a date.”
Monika doesn’t reply.
“Though I did some digging and saw that you two started working together recently. It was so nice of you, Taranis, to come rescue your new employee like this. But I suppose that makes sense; youarethe best of them.” She smiles so sweetly at me, and while I work through whatever’s going on in my arm, my temples, and my chest, I listen toMonika suck in a small, wounded breath. “Monika, myeommawanted me to come get you and tell you that they’re ready for your photo op.” Her face twitches, her smile off. Jealousy is an ugly monster. I can see it now. But what I cannot see is what’s keeping Monika from fighting it off.
No matter. I’m used to killing. I’ll slaughter it for her quickly so we can get back to where we were before we were so rudely interrupted. “Yes, Monika, why don’t you go now and give me some time to get to know yourfriend.” I level my gaze at the woman in the red dress and give her my best, most provocative grin.
It seems to stun the woman momentarily, because her own smile falters before picking back up in the next breath with even more brilliance. I can tell she’s forgotten Monika—Monika, who is staring at me agape. I tip my chin at her, refusing to wink, because that would be too obvious. Also, what do I care that she knows that I’ve got this? She can go off and mope in her own despair ... Yet why does that thought make my skin crawl?
Nodding, Monika’s impossibly smooth shoulders curve slightly inward. “All right,” she says, voice soft. “Yeah. Yes. I should go ... the photo ...” She swallows repeatedly, gaze passing between me and this newcomer; then she stalks off.
My headache explodes through my skull, and I hiss between my teeth, able to feel as Monika retreats out the door that leads to the Tunnel of Lights, like I’m holding a tether linked directly to her disappointment and it’s been pulled. I balk, annoyed at her all over again. Petty human emotions. Doesn’t she realize I’m doing somethingnicefor her? Then again, I haven’t exactlydoneanything nice yet.
Let me rectify that.
“So, you are Monika’s friend?” I ask the irritating female.
She stiffens up, straightening and slamming her jaw shut. “Her godsister, in a way.” She flicks her hair with her elegant fingers. “My mother is Monika’s godmother, and Monika’s mother is mine.”
“Long-standing rivalry? That kind of thing?” I say as she leans in, the scent of her perfume invading my senses and making me choke. It smells good enough, but all it does is remind me of Monika’s perfume. I hadn’t noticed how subtle and smoky it smelled until now.
“Hardly.” She rolls her eyes, but I don’t miss the clench of her mouth. “I’m a model, mostly based out of New York and Seoul, but I’m in town for the weekend visiting some people ...”
“And decided to take time out of your busy schedule to come harass one of your mother’s honored guests?”
“‘Harass’?” she says, sounding so appallingly innocent. She touches her fingertips to her chest. Through her pale skin, I can see the outline of her skeleton. “I just came by to see if myeommahad lost her mind when she told me that you two were here on a real date, or if it was just another one of your acts of heroism—providing permanently single Monika Kim Neumann with her very first date.” She sticks her tongue out at me in a way that’s meant to be cute and teasing. All it does is make me want to cut it off. “Since I can clearly see it’s the latter, I’d love to invite you for a drink if you’re interested in slipping away at some point tonight. I’m staying at the Beverly. It’s not far.”
“Did it look like I was here out of pity when you showed up?”
Her mouth curves down but corrects itself at the last second. She smiles and nods at whoever passes by behind us. I turn to face her fully, backing her into the wall of lanterns. “You looked like you were about to punish her.”
“Iwasabout to punish her. And now you’re making me wait.”
She takes a step back, the top of her head and her shoulders brushing the fabric of the lanterns behind her and making her jump. “You ... like to punish?”
“Oh yes, I like to punish. I like to break. Does that sound like something you’d enjoy?”
Her brows have knitted. Her heart-shaped face looks stricken, but she’s a determined sonuvabitch and a dogged flirt. I’ve met flirts like her before, who want to be able to fuck me so they’ll have a story to tell.Use me—a trait these humans have been so good at since I was a child. But I get the feeling this woman’s motivation is even stupider than that. I think she wants to fuck me only so that Monika can’t.
“I can do that,” she says, but she’s trembling. “Just so long as it doesn’t hurt ...”
“Oh, it’ll hurt.”
“Why are you being like this?” she finally has the courage to ask.
Thisis the conversation I’m used to having with my employees. The ones who finally figure out that Taranis is only a brand and his sweet smile is only skin deep. Why couldn’t Monika have cowered and whimpered like this? My whole life would be so much easier. “Why are you being an ugly, jealous bitch?”
She winces like she’s been slapped, and I know I’ve hit home. I should just torture her with my tongue, whipping words at her like this, but I’m feeling amped. The pressure in my head is getting outrageous, building, building, building. I feel like I’m going to explode, and this little petty human female feels like an acceptable outlet.
“Monika must have really done a number on you. Normally, the men and women she leaves behind don’t look this pissed off.” She tries to break left, but I crowd her and catch her arm.
“I thought you said she was perpetually single.”
“It doesn’t mean she doesn’t fuck. She’s a huge whore. You know she’s bi, right? And she won’t have a threesome with you,” she adds quickly, as if that’s where my mind went to first. “If you really are into her, you should know she’ll probably just leave you for a woman.”
