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I head straight to the bathroom as his words to me, from a couple of weeks back, run through my mind.“We all have our roles to play, this one is yours. And I know you’re strong enough to do it.”
Bastard!
I shouldn’t have any need to be strong enough to do this! Thisroleshould not exist, damnit! I shouldn’t have to make a deal with The Serpent to save myself! There should not have been a need for any of this! Family, fucking family, should be on my side, not… a stranger.
But he’s not really a stranger, is he? His touch lingers on my back. It tickles me still, making this whole night, this situation, just a smidge easier to handle.
The loud clicking of my high heels is absorbed by the background noise and music, as I hurry to the bathroom, my chest visibly heaving now. I step behind the wall that conceals the corridor to the bathrooms, and in that same moment, the air turns cold, the heaving stops. From the other end of the corridor, The Serpent narrows his eyes on me.
My steps falter only for a second before I carry on. And so does he.
I’m not sure if time slows down or we do, the milliseconds stretching between the moment my foot leaves the ground and the next one finds it again. My gaze is on that bathroom door, walking on the left as a lump forms in my throat, one I need to swallow badly. The fabric of the flowy knee-length dress brushes against my skin, spreading goosebumps all over, my nipples pained by the bra against them.
My palms dampen as he gets closer, his body slowly passing mine, the breeze his movement creates making my hair and dress flow and graze against my skin. But that’s not what makes my whole body shiver… it’s the ghost of a touch as the backs of our hands brush against each other.
One simple touch. One of many more before it. Yet somehow… the sizzling energy of it makes it feel new.
I can finally breathe, the pressure in my chest easing, and I pat myself on the back for resisting the urge to look back before I stepped in here. I check all three stalls are empty, and finally manage to swallow that lump in my throat as I brace myself against the cold porcelain sink. But my lungs fill with the excessively perfumed air that somehow reminds me of Ryan and his house, and anger fills my veins. I wish this anger would be more prominent in his presence…
I drag my gaze over my reflection, sighing at its pathetic look.
Who am I with him?
How deep has he crawled under my skin? Bit by bit, he’s ripped out pieces of me, then replaced the voids with this unsettling cowardice. No one, absolutely no one, makes me feel so unbelievably meek. The only comfort I have is that I’m onlythis way with him.
As my eyelids begin to burn, the person looking back at me in the mirror becomes even more unrecognizable.
“Who are you?” I whisper at her.
“VincentThe SerpentSinclair.”
I flinch, then still, as those words taint the air around me. Yet I inhale deeply, letting them taint me as well. My fingers ache, my grip brutal against the porcelain, and the burn in my eyes is gone. At the sight of him, those feelings from mere moments ago, dissipate, and the woman in the mirror… her shoulders are pulled back, her chin higher. The green in her eyes shines with a feral darkness, and that darkness smiles back at me.
Now her, I recognize.
“You’re risking an awful lot,Serpent.” The man appears in the mirror, the expensive all black suit fitted so well, tight against his pecs and wide shoulders. I bet it’s tight against his nice ass too.
Jesus fuck!
But he doesn’t answer, a crooked smirk on his lips.
“Someone could walk in. It could be my mother.”
I don’t know when this man noticed me again. Was it at my mother’s party all those months ago? Was it on the street when I was with Ryan at that bar? At my surprise engagement? When did the devil’s eyes land on me?
He takes one step forward and I cock my head at his reflection, noting the all too familiar shift in the air, forcing myself to resist that dark gaze in the slits of his eyes, the one that penetrates deep, making most either freeze or tremble at the power the man emanates. Only that’s not what I feel right now; but the ghost of the touch out in the corridor, I feel his fingers brushing against my back as I sat at the table, I feel his lips against my ear as he whispered to me in the woods.
He steps behind me, invading my space, his front against my back, barely touching. Deep notes of bergamot and cedar cover the gaudy bathroom perfume, pulling me into a place I desperately wish to escape to.The forest…
His eyes trail over my features, following my pulse down my throat, to that soft spot between the neck and shoulder, and as my flesh explodes in an exhilarating shiver, I close my eyes, letting my head fall to the side.
I’m drowning in his proximity, and the moment warm air blows against my shoulder, my eyes dart open and I straighten, the spell so evident.
Fuck, what is this man doing to me?!
“I’m serious, damnit! What are you doing in here?!”
Suddenly he swipes to the side the hair that lays against my neck, the tips of it tickling my skin and sending a betraying shiver down my spine.
