Volatile Love (The Gilded Sovereign 2)

My phone vibrates wildly in my pocket, but I ignore it and race to the stairs we came from earlier. When I reach the main floor of the house, I find it deserted. I should leave, get to the garage, but the faint sound of music drags me back to the living room. That’s when I see it, a woman perched on the stool at a piano. Her fingers dance along the keys, and I’m entranced by her.

Long dark hair catches my attention, and when she stops playing, she turns to look at me, and my breath is knocked from my lungs. A ghost sits before me, and I don’t know what to say to her.

She smiles, and I’m sure I’m hallucinating. I must be. She’s dead. She has to be. Our secret died with her. I watch her rise and turn fully to face me. Before me are the blue eyes of my best friend, and they’re owned by the woman I lost my virginity to. The same woman who taught me just how volatile love can be.

“Mrs. Calvert?” my voice cracks on the words. I want to move to her, but a crash from somewhere in the house catches my attention.

“Go to her,” she tells me, and I don’t have to ask who because she clearly knows who I’m here for. My feet move swiftly on the marble tiles as I make my way into the depths to find an office that belongs to Tarian’s uncle, at least that’s my guess.

“Etienne,” Rukiaya cries out, calling to me, but the moment I step foot into the darkened room, pain resonates through my skull and everything goes black.

13

Etienne

Darkness.

Pain.

Rage.

My eyes flicker open, then shut again a second later. I want to open them, force them to stay that way, but weariness takes over, and I can’t fight it. There is shuffling around me, soft whispers, too, but I can’t open my mouth. The last thing I remember is seeing Tarian’s mother. She’s alive, which makes no sense.

My mind dances with images that flicker in and out. I remember my little wolf call to me, walking into the dark room, and then the pain inched in and blackness descended. I’m not sure where I am, the fragrances that hit my nostrils could put me anywhere.

There aren’t any other sounds, so I’m not at a hospital. Perhaps Ares and Tarian got me out, and we’re at the Lancaster mansion. I fucking hope that’s where I am because I cannot be with Thane and his sister-in-law. Tarian’s mother is alive. How? I have no idea because she died when he was a barely seventeen. But then again, I was the one she seduced.

I remember the moment I first met her; I wasn’t into girls at the time. And sex wasn’t even on my radar. Sixteen and only been kissed. Isn’t that a song? No. Fuck. My mind is playing tricks on me. She cannot be alive.

Yasmine Calvert. A beauty beyond all comprehension. She was a beauty queen back in the day. Long black hair, ice-blue eyes, just like her son. Her tanned skin was smooth and blemish free. A perfect, poised doll that dripped wealth and pedigree to the extent that I wondered what she was doing with her husband. The asshole was nothing short of a pervert.

But that was my best friend’s father. And I had sex with his mother. He can never know. If Tarian found out what I did, even though his mother was the one who initiated it, I doubt he’d ever forgive me. Not because I did it, but because I never confessed.

Another shuffle alerts me that someone’s moving around me. I try to speak, but all that comes out is a croak.

“You’re awake,” Ares’s voice comes from my left. “Thought we’d lost you for a bit there, man.” He pushes something over me, a blanket I guess since I’m now drenched in warmth. “I’m here when you’re able to speak. Dahlia’s gone to get you some water.” His words are soft, as if he’s miles away, but I know he’s right beside me.

I don’t move, not that I can. I want to tell him I saw her, but I’m not sure how he’d react. Being second in command, he would have to tell Tarian, and that is something I’m not sure Tarian is ready for. At least, something I’m not ready for. The fear of Tar knowing about my past with Yasmine has always held me back from confessing.

Ares knew, he found out by accident. When he came over to my house one day after school, he found me with my slacks around my ankles and ruby red lips wrapped around my dick. I was so proud, but I was also scared shitless that I would get into trouble.