Show & Sell

Tonight, I don’t feel like talking useless dribble to people who’re already a few sheets to the wind.

Aurora sticks close to me. She smiles politely at the people I introduce her to, but I can tell she’s about as interested in this as I am in gardening.

Finally, I’ve got us into the private booth. Along the away, I order vodka.

We settle into our seats, and I take a moment to drink her in. I don’t think I’ll need an alcoholic beverage again as long as I’ve got Aurora around to feast on.

“Thank you for taking me out,” she starts, and I notice how she plays with her own hands.

To ease her nerves, I put my arm around her.

“I couldn’t get you out of my mind after that very special night we had,” I confess and am pleased to see she responds to my touch and relaxes into me.

Our drinks arrive, and I pick mine up. She follows my example. I hold the glass out to her.

“To us,” I toast, and she bows her head a little.

If I had expected her to take a sip of her vodka in a lady-like manner, I’d have been wrong. She empties the glass in one big gulp.

I order another.

“It’s a bit cold on the back of a motorbike,” she smiles at me. “This really warms up your insides.”

So mesmerized am I, I can only nod.

For a while, we sit in silence. I notice her curious expression and the sadness I had noticed the very first time I’d seen her. Her eyes look around, soaking up everything around her.

“Tell me about yourself, Aurora,” I invite her and smile.

My arm is still over her, and my index finger traces invisible circles on her shoulder.

“Not much to tell, I’m afraid,” she starts, and this time she takes a sip of her vodka.

“I don’t buy that.”

She laughs. It’s a nice laugh. It warms my heart.

I want to hear her laugh all the time. In fact, I want to make her laugh.

“It’s true. I live with my brother Anders, and we run a company together.”

I watch her closely. A myriad of emotions crosses her beautiful features.

There’s so much more she’s not telling me. She’d be a fucking hopeless poker player.

“Interesting. What about your parents?”

At the mention of the word parents, she flinches. I regret my words. I forgot that she told us about them dying.

Nice move, dickhead.

“Sorry—” I start and scramble around for words to smooth things over.

“It’s okay.” She interrupts. “It might help to talk about it.”

I wait.

“My parents died in a car crash.” She’s speaking so softly, I have to lean in to hear her. “It was terrible and unexpected and a total shock. Anders didn’t…hasn’t been coping well at all since the accident. Ever since they died, he’s been struggling with a drug addiction. And now all I worry about is the phone call I might get one day to tell me he’s dead, overdosed, or something.”

Fuck.

Her story pulls at my heartstrings. Usually, I don’t care to hear about other people’s shit. I mean, who wants to hear someone else’s problems? We all have enough of our own disappointments.

But with Aurora, it’s different.

Now all I want to do is find her dickhead brother and straighten him out. How the fuck could he be such a prick with such a beautiful woman like his sister to take care of?

I’m not sure what to say after her revelation, and so I do the only thing I know how to do.

I put my finger under her chin and turn her face toward me. Then I move in until my lips meet hers.

Sparks.

Electricity.Chapter 26Aurora

Cool vodka coats my throat. Women dance onstage to burlesque music. And waitresses wearing practically nothing walk by with drinks.

Maybe it’s the alcohol hitting my system…or maybe it’s the fact that naked women who are embracing their sexuality surround us.

I don’t know what it is about this place that made me open up to Jasper so freely. For once in my life, I feel like a naughty girl.

Unbidden desires are coming to the surface. I feel like I don’t have to keep up the appearance of being so perfect.

After all, I saved my virginity, because I wanted to make my parents proud. And then what happened?

They died.

They fucking died, and my brother is an addict, and my life is a mess.

What was the point of all those years of saving myself? What was the point of trying to be so perfect when eventually the walls would come tumbling down anyway?

I tried to make everyone proud, to be the perfect daughter, and it was all for nothing.

I look around the club, and there’s all manner of luxury and open sexuality. I feel like a different person. I feel like the real me is coming out at last, and it’s all thanks to Jasper.