Twenty-Two
Allison
* * *
I spot Simon as soon as I return to the ballroom. I smile. He smiles back. It’s been so long since I’ve seen my friend. We find a corner of the party where ears can’t overhear what I’m about to say. The night is young, the stars just barely making their appearance, and still, my soul feels Draven everywhere. I still won’t accept the fact he wants me to return to my life in Portland.
Being in Oregon feels like a million years ago.
I’m a completely different person than when I arrived. I’ve blossomed into a woman. A ravenous woman with a husband who can fulfill all my needs in the most wicked of ways.
“Draven wants to send me back to Portland,” I say.
Simon brightens like it’s a wonderful idea. “That’s great news. I’m so sorry I brought you here in the first place. I’m sorry you had to marry him.”
Simon doesn’t know I’ve fallen madly in love with his uncle, so I can’t fault him for the pleased expression on his face.
“I love him,” I whisper, tears threatening to drown me.
Simon blows out a breath. “Does he love you?”
“I think so.”
“But you don’t know for sure.”
I drop my head. “No.”
“My uncle doesn’t do love, Allison. I think if anything you should go back to Portland where you can be safe.
“He says I deserve a normal life.”
“He’s right. This life is no place for someone like you.”
“Someone like me? You all treat me like I’m some fragile flower. I’m a part of this world, whether you all like it, or not.”
I’m not sure what I expected from Simon. Maybe I expected him to be a friend and take my side, but I should have known he would never go against his uncle. Against his king.
I stalk away, heading back to the party, leaving Simon standing there watching after me. Why is everyone I know failing me right now? Near the back of the garden, I see Draven moving across the stage toward the microphone. As he stands there, he emanates power from his persona.
He’s majestic, commanding their attention as their king.
I weave through the crowd and watch from the perimeter. All that thick dark hair rumpled on his head from my hands. The fullness of his lips. The thick lashes around his dark eyes. His tall, lean body. I want to tell him to take me again, but harder than before. I want him to have me in the worst of ways. If he’s going to throw me away afterward, then I want him to fuck me one last time. I want to be his just once more.
A soft smile forms on his lips when he spots me, but his eyes burn me with their heat as if he knows what I’m thinking.
“You’re so fucking beautiful when you’re needy for me to fuck your little hot cunt with my cock,” he says for only me to hear.
I close my eyes, my face flushing with a blazing heat I can’t control. “I need you,” I say in my mind, not even sure if he can hear me.
“I know what you need.”
My eyes fly open, staring at him. “Did you hear me?” I ask him in my mind.
“Yes,” he replies.
I don’t understand how we’re able to talk to one another this way, but it has to be my powers progressing.
“And just what do you think I need?” I ask him back as he waits for the crowd to die down before he speaks. Or maybe he’s waiting for our conversation to end first.