by Kenya Wright
“Why?”
“Your expression is unreadable.”
“That may be a good thing.”
“It’s not,” she said. “For me, it is. I like to know what the man I’m with is thinking.”
I leaned forward so my mouth not too obviously brushed against her ear. “And I’m the man you’re with?”
“Well. . . I am dancing with you.”
No. You had it right the first time. Have mercy on the guy who tries to cut into this dance, or any other dance, tonight.
“You’re still not answering my question.” She blushed.
“What was it?”
“What is on your mind, Alvarez?”
I loved the way my name curled over her tongue. How would it sound when she moaned my name? And she would, there was no other option this evening. Every muscle in my body wound into knots of need and her presence had triggered it. I craved her. From one hand shake, I was thirsty for more. From the time we spent together at X-lab and even this evening, I could think of nothing else but her.
“I’m wondering what’s on your mind because you’re just looking at me really weird.”
“Weird?” I twirled her around and then brought her back to me. “How do I look weird to you?”
“Maybe not weird, but you have a different expression from when we hung out together in X-lab.”
“That’s because a lot has changed since last night. Something’s been on my mind all day, even with the craziness around me. Something’s been deep in my thoughts and swimming through my head.”
“What?” She leaned away with a questioning look on her face.
“You. All day I’ve been thinking about you.”
Chapter 11
Elle
Me?
That wasn’t what I thought Alvarez would say. Sure, we’d had fun together. Sure, an attraction streamed between us. That couldn’t be denied. My skin charged when he touched me, even with the tiniest gestures. Holding my hand. A finger brushing my arm. My flesh tingled with each friendly contact of his skin to mine.
But that was where it had to end.
I’d loved for ten long years, where pain had mingled with kisses and Michael’s hugs suffocated me so much that I wasn’t sure I could wriggle away enough to gasp for air. It was purple love, ugly and endearing, passionate and bruising like the tiny plum marks one left from sucking on a lover’s neck. After loving like that, one needed a break, a vacation from the intensity of it all.
I needed to catch my breath and take a time out with myself.
“Did I say something wrong?” Alvarez searched my face with his gaze. Confusion lit in his expression and made those brown eyes glow in the moonlight. I risked a peek at those long eyelashes, not realizing they were so feminine on such a hard and masculine face. How odd that his carved looks hinted at softness in such subtle places.
“Elle, answer me. Please.”
By then, we’d stopped moving. Everyone else danced around us, twirling and twisting with the new song, some melody of love accompanied by trumpets and a saxophone that slipped in during the most rhythmic times.
“I don’t know what to say.” I moved my arms away from him. “I’ve just gotten out of a relationship. I don’t know what your answer meant, but I’m not interested in doing anything more than being . . . whatever this is. Friends, I guess.”
His confident expression faltered. “I understand.”
Did he really?
He stepped away from me and rubbed his eyes. “I should go upstairs.”
“No.” The word rushed out of my mouth without my own doing, but I agreed just the same. “I’m having fun with you.”
“Yeah, but this has turned awkward too quickly.”
“It doesn’t have to be.” I bit my bottom lip and his gaze shifted there. Drunk women bumped into me and stumbled away in the direction of the bar. When I looked their way, I spotted a flash of red hair and figured it was Patricia.
We’d spent a lot of time together today, hanging out and packing her things, although she hadn’t really packed much. She gave most of her belongings to me and others in rooms near her,—favorite poetry books, a few paintings from friends, jewelry, and other little knick-knacks. In the end, she’d barely filled one suitcase.
“Why are you giving everything away?” I’d asked.
“You can’t take it all with you, right?”
“You certainly can.” I laughed.
I should say hi to Patricia once Alvarez and I are done. And what are we doing?
I turned to Alvarez as he gazed at me with a neutral expression fastened to his face.
And then the lanterns went out. Darkness blanketed the whole area. The music ceased. A few people screamed.
“Calm down! Calm down! It will only be dark for a little while.” Hex’s voice rose over us in the darkness. The crowd hushed. “I just wanted to give you all my final gift tonight. Every last one of you has aroused my creative juices. Lots of beautiful journeys have come from just a few minutes of me being in your presence. So look to the sky! Turn your heads up for the main event.”
Darkness blanketed all of us. I could barely see anything around me, just silhouettes of moving people in the moonlight. Alvarez placed his hand on the center of my back and whispered in my ear. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. It’s just your brother puts on quite a show.”
“You have no idea.” He pulled me into him so that the curve of my behind pressed into his front. “I would just like you near me while it’s dark to make sure you’re okay.”
“Just in case murderous clowns come around?”
“I’m keeping count of all your jokes until the day you’ll get this same humor turned back on you.”
“I’ll be waiting for that day. Until then, let the jokes continue.”
“Are you looking to the sky, everybody?” Hex shouted.
“Yes!” We all screamed back.
“Good.” Hex laughed. “Tonight I want to paint the sky with color. Ladies and gentlemen, check out my interpretation of fireworks.”
Color exploded in the air. Sound boomed right after it. Fluorescent sparks of blue scissored through the sky. Blinding pinks crashed against gold sparkles. White flashed with the crash of glowing hearts and violet bright smiley faces that stuck out a candy apple red tongue.
“Holy shit!” I laughed.
“My words exactly.”
Then the sky went black. Singing began in a light voice.
“When tomorrow bleeds through darkened skies.”
A piano flowed with the notes.
“You and I will be alive, in this memory of you and me.”
Red globes rose in the sky, paused at the center, and burst ten times bigger than they were, raining down turquoise, silver, and emerald glimmering drops. They filled the air and painted the darkness with the most beautiful glowing portrait I’d ever seen—flaming orange fire flowers that blossomed with twinkling petals, thousands of copper glints that looked like a school of shiny fish swimming in a black sea, and even more blazing colors and surprises zipped through the air.
The lanterns’ light came on, yet the fireworks continued. I could finally see Hex on the stage, complete in his top hat and white tuxedo suit with tails.
“Although the date isn’t here,” Hex spread his arms out, “Happy New Year!”
Silver confetti rained down from the lamps. Everyone cheered. I shrieked with glee and raised my hands to catch a few. So many sprinkled down on me. Their slick material was smooth against my skin. Horns blew. People clapped. Others hooted with laughter. I turned to see Alvarez watching me with a huge smile on his face in the rain of glittery papers. My chest warmed. That odd sensation tingled across my skin. I didn’t even know he was capable of forming his lips into such a big display of joy. Confetti lay in his hair and on his shoulders as it continued to pour on us.
“Dance everybody! Dance!” Hex yelled.
“This is awesome!” I danced as the drums beat an upbe
at tempo. Alvarez moved with me.
Others joined and then more and more fell into the energy of the moment. Alvarez and I danced together. We bobbed our heads and swung our hips. We twisted and bent, looped around others in spiraling movements and rubbed against each other when the beat decreased to a steady pound and the seductive groan of a feminine voice saturated the air.
“Take me. When the moon is full and the water’s calm. Take me.”
He drew me into him like earlier. My body pressed against his hard, muscular chest. I could feel his heartbeat through the thin material of my dress. It pounded faster than the rhythm of the song that played all around us.
“And when I’m there, never let me go.”
He leaned forward and pressed his lips into mine. I should have stopped it and left the floor, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. Instead, I liquefied in his arms. I was on fire from the power vibrating around us. When he dipped his tongue between my lips, I lost my balance and he seized my hips and kept me up, molding into him, with no opportunity to get free from his arms and taut frame.
“Take me. Under a waterfall of clear blue.”
He had me, and I didn’t want to escape.
“Take me in the rain. Just take me with you.”
I groaned as his tongue explored my mouth some more, flicking its wet tip against mine and sucking on my bottom lip.
Oh, this is so good.
Desire coursed through my veins and sizzled my skin so that I swayed off balance, ready to collapse at any minute. If I’d thought Michael devoured me with his love, then I was certain Alvarez would consume me. There would be nothing of me left. Already, I could feel the intensity of him pulsate all the way through to my core. It rattled my senses.
I was a blank canvas, and he an artist. He painted me with seduction and I glittered back at him with my own images of lust decorating my face. He created more inside of me and I responded with groans that I tried to keep locked away in my mouth, but shoved through my lips just the same. He slipped his hands down my back and seized the curve of my bottom, squeezing and cuddling the soft flesh. A fire burst between my legs, so molten hot, I gasped from the heat.
He moved his lips from mine and ambushed my ear and neck. I arched my back in defeat. There was no fight in me when it came to pleasure. I yearned for it too much, and there it was all over my skin in moist laps of his tongue and nibbling of hard teeth.
“Can I take you upstairs to my room?” he whispered. As if to not give me too much time to think about it, he assaulted me with sweet and long sugary kisses all over the tops of my cleavage. My nipples pebbled at his attention. My breasts begged to be released right there on the dance floor in front of everyone.
“Come with me.” He clutched my behind some more. “God, I’ve got to have you tonight. Please.”
But before I could answer, someone screamed.
It wasn’t the type of shrill sound that one could hear at a party where someone let out a loud yell of enjoyment. It wasn’t a cry of excitement. It sounded like fear. The noise cut through the air and delivered cold shivers up my spine.
The person screamed again.
The music stopped. Chaos ensued as people scanned the bustling crowd.
Oblivious to the commotion, Alvarez tightened his hold on me. “Let’s go. I don’t even want to know what is happening. For once I’m going to let someone else deal with it.”
“She’s dead!” A woman in a teal satin gown pushed her way onto the dance floor. Blood dripped from her hands. “Patricia’s dead! Somebody help me!”
“What?” I opened my mouth in shock. “Patricia?”
Alvarez released me and rushed to the woman with bloody hands. “Who died?”
I went over to them.
“Patricia, my friend.” She sobbed and wiped those bloody hands on her dress. “She said she was going to the bathroom for a minute and would be right back. She was gone for a long time. I went off to go find her. I saw her purse near the garden by the east entrance and bent over to pick it up. That’s when I saw her. She was stiff and . . . dead.”
Four huge men dressed all in black barreled onto the floor. They stood by Alvarez and searched the area with their gazes, skittering past every face on the dance floor with suspicion. Alvarez signaled for one of them to take the girl somewhere. For the rest of the guards, he took them to the side and spouted out orders that I could barely make out due to the noisy crowd around me.
This isn’t some fluke occurrence at a party. Another girl was killed by the same person who killed the other. It had to be, because if not, then there were two killers around the property, which was even worse.
Alvarez took out his phone, tapped in some numbers, and continued to spit out more orders. Guards appeared out of the shadows of trees and bushes. They’d been hidden well. There must’ve been fifty that chose to reveal their hiding spots.
How many more guards are out here?
They escorted people off the dance floor, disbanded the musicians, gestured for all the amazing performers to pick up their equipment and leave, as well as crowded around Hex on the stage. I glanced over my shoulder. Three of my own guards stood behind with their gazes locked on me. One of the three was the guy who had burst through my room before.
“Thank you so much for coming, but due to serious events I must say that the party is over.” The woman I knew as Reece and Alvarez’s personal assistant held the microphone and waved her hands in the air to get everyone’s attention. “Please grab your items and go directly to the front gates so the valet can return your car. There are party bags that will be handed out at each exit. If you are a guest for tonight, please take out your identification in order to gain access back into the house.”
Alvarez closed his phone, marched off, and combed his fingers through his hair.
I hurried his way. “Wait a minute, Alvarez.”
He didn’t stop.
“Alvarez.” I grabbed the back of his shirt. “What’s going on?”
“Someone else died.”
“I got that. I think I know her. But who did it?”
He spun around and glared at me. “How would I know? I’ve been with you most of the night. I’m trying to handle this one problem at a time. First I need to find out who this girl was and why was she over by the garden and—”
“I’m going with you. The girl said Patricia. I know what Patricia looks like.”
“No. I can get someone else to identify her. You’ll only distract me.”
“No. I won’t.”
“You’re distracting me now.” He shook his head. “Stay with your guards.”
“You don’t get to order me around. If some sick person is hurting people around me, I want the direct line of information at the time it’s given. And if I don’t feel safe, I’m leaving. And if I know the person who was killed, then I—”
He stepped my way and formed his lips into an angry line. “What you’re going to do is have the guards escort you back to your room.”
“No.”
He closed his eyes and rubbed his head. “Okay. I’m sorry. I’ve been curt and bossy. It’s just that my plan tonight was to be with you, in any capacity. Now I’m going to look at the second dead girl for this week. Not to mention, I’ve had several complications come up today. I’m just tired of this.”
“I understand.”
“So you’ll go back with your guards so that I won’t have to worry about your safety?”
“No. I’m coming with you.”
“Damn it. You’re worse than Hex.” His phone rang. He didn’t answer.
“Do you even have time to go back and forth with me?” I asked. “Because that’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to follow you wherever you go because I want to know exactly what’s happening here and how dangerous things truly are.”
“My men can stop you.”
“Your men will get kneed in the balls and if they touch me without my permission you’ll have a lawsuit on your hands. Not to mentio
n my whole body is under a special insurance claim for modeling. You’ll have two sets of lawyers coming at you in different directions if a tiny little mark is put on my skin. If you think you’re busy now, then you have no idea how difficult life can be if you’ve pissed me off.”
“You’re bullshitting me.”
I was, but he didn’t need to know that. “Do you have time to tell if I’m bullshitting you?”
His phone rang again. He checked the screen and said something in Spanish under his breath. “You stay far behind me and with your guards. They go wherever you go. When I’m talking to the cops or investigator, you stay behind. When I look at the poor girl’s body, I don’t want you over there and messing up the area.”
“Why?”
“There could be clues or something.”
“Fine.”
He stormed off, and I did my best to follow.
Chapter 12
Alvarez
The second dead woman was named Patricia.
I’d questioned the poor woman who found her best friend’s corpse. Reece wrote most of the information down just in case I couldn’t remember it all. Thank god for Reece. I’d given her the night off and instead of going to do something for herself, she’d stayed around the castle and monitored the party, and made sure the performers did what they were supposed to as well as completing any tasks that would need to be done later this week. As soon as I started talking with the dead girl’s friend, Reece appeared by my side and helped me through the process.
For some reason, an awkward tension stretched around us. Elle and Reece exchanged a few odd glances at each other. When I finally had the time to introduce them, there were no handshakes or warm hellos, just a curt nod and a knowing smirk. On that basis alone, I gave Reece the task of making sure everybody left. It was the first time she’d glared at me in all the years she’d been my personal assistant.
“How long has Reece worked for you?” Elle asked as we walked to view the body. She wore my jacket. I’d had one of my men grab it from my bedroom. Sure, he could’ve simply gotten a jacket or sweater from her room, but then I would’ve never gotten her sweet scent into my clothes.