Page 14 of Unmasking My Dark Knight

She glanced up quickly, her face bright pink. “You know ‘Unmasking My Bright Knight?’” Her jaw dropped. My heart fluttered.

“Roman Knight is probably the greatest hero in any novel I’ve ever read… I’m on book five,” I murmured, still shocked that Ivy Jade had the little quote in cursive permanently etched on her skin. Maybe she’s not as vapid as I thought she was.

“I’m on book seven. Rereading it for the twelfth time!”

“No spoilers…”

“I would never do that, clown,” she said, but then looked down at her hands, smirking to herself a little. “I mean High Jynx…”

“That’s right, Princess… get it right,” I said, my heart dropping just slightly, and a mixture of feelings rose in my chest. Confusion, desire, hesitation…

Ivy Jade’s eyebrows lifted and her eyes lit up. A small smile tugged at her lips.

There was something different about her.

Something that felt wrong to acknowledge.

She was absolutely beautiful.

Gorgeous.

And that thought twisted in my stomach like a raw, warm knot. This feeling was met with something worse. A realization that I'd be spending the rest of the week with Ivy Jade… just not as High Jynx, but as Romeo—her brother’s terrible best friend.

CHAPTER 6

Ivy Jade

Earlier, the girls squealed about my scrapes, wanting to know everything that had happened: why I had bandages, where I got them, and if I was okay. Surprisingly, the attention felt like too much for me. I only told them I fell, and one of the nurses helped me. Could you imagine if I told them what really happened? I’d never hear the end of it, and I just wanted to be alone.

With a broken Louboutin heel in hand, a cream dress that was more like dusty grey now, and my disheveled hair, I finally closed the door to my private bedroom in the chateau.

Alone at last. I could cry, kick, scream, all of it without judgment or the lingering eyes of others.

Today had been one of the most humiliating days of my life. Falling into a ditch because a clown scared me into tumbling and breaking my heels? I shut my eyes and sighed deeply–the memory played on repeat. And to make things worse, I wore these dumb sneakers that he gave me from the lost and found. It was awful.

I threaded my fingers through my hair.

Really? I pulled a whole twig out of it. Did my hair have this freaking bird’s nest when I was with him in that brightly lit room?

Oh god.

I wanted to make him pay for another pair of heels, but from the looks of where he worked, there was no way he’d be able to afford a pair on his salary. Did someone in that position even know what a salary was? I wasn’t cruel enough to sue him because… he was kind of nice, in a non-creepy clown kind of way. It wasn’t like anything happened to me, other than losing an entire wardrobe piece, my bruised ego, and just a few scrapes along the back of my arms, hands, knees, and legs.

Stop it, he was only being nice so that he wouldn't get in trouble. Clowns are super sketchy. You hate clowns; you’re afraid of them…

But he was sweet and kind for taking care of me. He could have left me in the ditch and continued with his night, but he didn’t. He tended to my wounds.

My hands slid down the back of my arms in a hug, feeling the scratches and bandages he gently laid over my skin with the utmost care. My skin turned flush red, just thinking about his touch, as if his warmth still radiated on me. The way his long fingers gently held my arm, wrapping gauze around my wounds. I brushed my fingertips along my smiling lips.

There was only one other time I felt a crush like this…

Never mind.

I took my shoes off, tossed my dress and purse on the floor. I was in nothing but my underwear now. I walked over to my suitcase, pulling out my cozy pink blanket to relax before I hit the shower, because I needed to address the mental state my head was in.

I curled up onto the bed, looking out at the starry night from my window. The full moon was out tonight.

High Jynx?