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“Z, can I be honest with you?” Doyle says and I nod but I don’t really mean it and his face hardens into a stony mask that makes me feel like I’m shrinking. “What you’re doing is wrong. You shouldn’t be cozying up to that stranger while Morton is away. Makes you look bad, just saying.”
My legs unsteady because I was afraid that this would happen and one of my girlfriends nods.
“Sorry Z, but it does make you look kinda trampy.”
“A word of advice.” Doyle’s hand closes around my arm and he jeers in my ear, “Stop right now with what you’re doing and you still have a chance of saving your reputation.”
I’m about to answer him when I catch that Bram has noticed us. And he’s noticed that Doyle has his hand on me and starts walking toward us with a homicidal look on his face. It makes blood run to my brain and my pulse acts up.
“Leave,” I hiss to Doyle in panic. “Move. You have to gonow.”
I need to get Doyle as far from me as possible before Bram does something reckless.
Luckily Doyle listens to me and a flinch of terror shows in his eyes when he turns, crossing the shiny floor but Bram is still walking toward us, bumping into him with his ruthless frame and the impact of his body causes Doyle to fly and fall flat on his back on the floor and almost smashing the back of his head.
“Pardon me,” Bram says in a strained voice, “I wasn’t watching where I was going.” He smiles ruthlessly then returns his attention to me and my girlfriends scatter. The Bryce’s are staring at me, along with some of the other guests and not knowing what to do, I grab a napkin and start ripping it in pieces. But Bram is determined to not let me sneak out of this and pushes his face close to mine.
“What did that fucker want with you?” Bram asks, his eyes intent but I shake my head because I don’t want him getting worked up.
“We were just talking...”
“About what?” he snaps.
I arrest my eyes on his. “I can’t do this right now,” I whisper and I get a lump in my throat. “They know.”
We can’t hide it. We can’t hide what we feel for each other.
“Know what?” Bram asks. “That you’re disloyal to your supposed fiancé?”
I nod and I feel ostracized.
“Fuck them,” Bram curses and I gasp. “Fuck them all. You’re mine.”
Mine. Mine. Mine. If only it was that easy.
“I need to go,” I murmur, “I can’t stay here, I need some fresh air...”
Walking out of the manor, I ignore everyone’s looks and Miss. Pattie calls something but I can’t hear it from all the noise and music. The gravel walk pinches my heels and my heart it still hammering, my palms feeling clammy and the lampposts are so few in between that I’m mostly walking in darkness.
Where is Morton?
A stranger shows up in his place, a stranger who makes my heart ache like its shattering. Bram wanted me to let him in and I did but what if I should have been more cautious? My eyes start burning and I lift up my dress and start running. There’s a fog spreading and it’s thick and veil like and I can barely see where I’m going.
The hem of my skirt drags through the mud and my shoes are wading through covers with leaves and my heart is pumping, a sobbing threatening to choke out of my mouth. What if Bram is a lot more dangerous than I thought? What if he hurt Morton?
Shaking my head, I press the back of my hand against my mouth. No, it can’t be. He wouldn’t wound him just to get to me. And if he has, then how am I going to forgive him? He can say whatever he wants about the Bryce’s and my friends can say whatever they want about me but in my life I have only ever tried to be loyal.
Maybe I’ve made mistakes but they didn’t feel like mistakes. It felt natural being with Bram. Growing to love him felt like sitting on a bicycle after years of absence. Complicated at first but then your body remembers. And It feels like my body remembers him.
My heart belongs to Bram and nobody else and if anybody wants it then they’re going to have to rip it out of my chest because I’ll die without Bram. Maybe not physically but on the inside I will fade and turn into something as cold and melancholic as this mist...
“Dove,” a voice says behind me and I feel a hand on my lower back. I didn’t even know Bram was this near, didn’t even hear him. He’s as silent as the witching hour and I avert my face from him, whimpering a little when his hand sneaks around my waist, pressing me to his side and he’s so tall and strong that he’s almost lifting me from the ground.
“Let me see your face,” he continues but I make an effort to keep it from him. Besides I have a feeling that my mascara has begun to smudge and Miss. Pattie always says that there’s nothing more unattractive than a lady that looks like she’s melting.
“No,” I whisper, trying not to get affected by Bram’s cologne that smells like a leather glove being placed over my mouth to stop me from protesting a possessive kiss. “You have no idea what happened in there. You have no idea what they said.”
“Tell me what they said.”
