AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Balthazar remembered seeing Skye waltz with Lucas at Evernight Academy’s grand Autumn Ball a few months ago. That was the place for a girl like this, not some crepe-papered auditorium. And the guy who should be with her … the one who should dance with her… God, anybody else but Keith Kramer. She was so much more graceful than her lump of a partner would let her be.
But he didn’t mean that. He didn’t want her to be with “anybody else.” He wanted her to be with him.
The rest of the dance was torture. He had to confiscate some cigarettes from a few juniors out back, and summon the willpower to toss them away unsmoked. Tonia Loos had finally gotten the picture, but a couple of students, including Madison Findley, asked him if he was allowed to dance with them even though he was a teacher. Balthazar instantly said no. One of the final couples to arrive was Craig Weathers and Britnee Fong, which made him want to somehow shield Skye from the sight. She didn’t seem overly troubled, but not long after they came, she let Keith lead her off the dance floor and out of the auditorium.
Probably they were going out back to talk. Or make out. Or to Keith’s car. A guy could get a lot done in a car.
“Balthazar?” Nola said. “You need to take five? You’re looking glazed. Besides, this thing’s wrapping up.”
Don’t go after her unless you’re going to follow through, he told himself. Don’t put her through it. If you stop her from being alone with Keith, you’re stopping her from moving on. You can’t do that unless you’re ready to go the whole way.
Nola repeated, “Balthazar? You want to take off? Tawdry, I mean, Tonia and I can wrap up here.”
“Thanks,” he said, straightening up. “There’s somewhere else I need to be.”
And someone else I need to be with.
Chapter Twenty-two
IT’S GOING GREAT, SKYE TAPPED OUT ON HER phone as she stood in the back hall of the auditorium. We’re having a good time.
I call bullcrap on that. Nobody ever took time to text their friends in the middle of an actual fun date.
Clementine had a point, as usual. Skye said, You have to start somewhere, right? Then she glanced up and added, Keith’s back. TTYL.
“Hey, Madison and Phillip figured out how to jimmy the library lock,” Keith said. “We’re gonna get the six-packs out of the trunk. Come on.”
“We can drink those later, right?” Skye glanced backward at the doors that led to the auditorium, through which music faintly played. “We’re at the dance, Keith. We ought to dance.”
“But all the guys are in the library,” he said, like the whole point of going to a dance was to hang out with as many of your friends as possible, as far from the actual dancing as possible. Evernight’s Autumn Ball would have been lost on him. “What, you don’t drink or something?”
“It’s not that. It’s just—” Forget it, she decided. “Go ahead. I’ll catch up with you in a few minutes.” By which she meant, never, if she could swing another ride home.
Keith said, “Sure thing!” as he started jogging back toward the library. Obviously he was completely unconcerned whether she stayed with him or not. Why shouldn’t he be? She didn’t care any more than he did. For him, she was just his excuse to come to the dance; for her, he was just proof that somebody out there might eventually want her, even if Balthazar didn’t.
Balthazar did want her, though. She knew that. The memory of the two hungry kisses they’d shared rippled through her. Skye had thought if she pulled back, she’d stop longing for him, but her longing had only become sharper. She wanted him to ride beside her, to make dry comments in study hall, to spar with her until she was breathing fast and her heart pumped wildly—Skye missed both everything they’d had and everything they should have had.
Give me More, she thought, but the joke fell flat even in her own head.
She wanted to walk back onto the dance floor. Being watched by Balthazar was hotter than being held by Keith. And she’d chosen this dress, these nude shoes, her hair, her makeup, everything, thinking only of how Balthazar would feel when he saw her.
But her walking back out there alone would look like she was begging him to notice her again, or to take that next step, and she wouldn’t beg. Also, she’d be all by herself in front of Craig and Britnee; she was doing better with that, but not better enough to let them see her apparently ditched by her date for the evening.
Maybe she could just walk through quickly, go to the door, and snag a ride with somebody who was leaving, like couples were starting to do…
Someone tapped her on the shoulder, and Skye turned to see Redgrave standing next to her. “Shall we dance?”
She gasped and started backing away, but Redgrave made no immediate move to follow. He was as debonair as ever—dark gold hair immaculately slicked back, his suit a deep tan that matched his skin. His attire was appropriate for the occasion, complete with elegantly knotted cream silk tie at his throat. His hazel eyes looked less like those of a human and more like those of a wolf.
“I’ll scream,” Skye managed to say. “Someone will come.”
“Someone will. One of your dear school chums, I suppose. It makes no difference to me, because whoever runs through that door first will be the next person I kill. Do you really want blood on your hands?”
“You won’t kill them if it’s Balthazar. He’s here.” Though she knew better how to defend herself now, she also knew exactly how much of a chance she stood against Redgrave on her own.
“I realize that. But we don’t want to drag him into this, do we? Or take the chance that he won’t be first through the door?” He smiled at her gently and gave her a quick, courtly half bow. “I only asked for a dance, my dear. And, of course, for that conversation you owe me. You don’t seem at all the type to break her word.”
Skye had made that promise to save Balthazar’s life, but she’d envisioned Redgrave finding her in Café Keats again or some other neutral ground. Not here, in a half-lighted hallway, when she was all alone.
