by S King
The bass player and the electric guitarist were neck-and-neck when it came to looking scared out of their minds. So much so, I had an internal bet going with myself banking on the bassist to lose his cookies first. Finally, there was the drummer who looked like he was higher than the clouds and was simply going through the motions until it was time to switch to a DJ so he could eat something from the gourmet style kitchen.
I allowed my gaze to wander, finding each of the entrance and exit points for the just in case situation that may or may not happen tonight.
There were three entrances, the main entrance where I was standing. The kitchen, which would definitely lead to a back exit and the double doors off to my left which would lead to a hall with a set of quiet rooms and a slew of bathrooms. The building was simplistically decorated like a presidential banquet, but worthy of a royal celebration.
I took another deep breath, feeling Lovett come through the main entrance and relaxed for a moment. Now, if I could simply find Karina, life would be a hell of a lot better.
“Pleasure,” Lovett said nodding to me,
I smirked, falling into the act, I nodded to him, “as always.”
He coughed to cover the laugh and motioned for me to walk ahead of him to the bar on the opposite wall of the band. “Can I get you drink?”
I snorted, trying to think of something courteous to say to him, but I knew—given the circumstances—I’d have one hell of a time not laughing. Instead, I simply nodded and kept my mouth shut. Every year it was the same thing and every year, I nearly lost my shit with how Lovett had fell into the role of stranger so seemingly.
As we walked, I scanned the room for Karina, but of course—because why the hell not—more women were dressed in white with belle sleeves than any other color or dress in the whole damned place. In comparison to the four or five women in black dresses—myself included—very few wore any other allowed colored outside of white. Cursing my best friend for her color choice, I narrowed my eyes and tried to find her in the crowd.
“She’s talking to someone from the band,” Lovett whispered leaning against the bar and nodded to the bartender.
Narrowing my eyes, I casually turned to look at the band and found my friend in an instant. For some reason or another, she had always had a thing for a guitarist and went weak if he was tall, had nice teeth and was exuding with sexual power. However, all of us were off duty and if she could follow her own advice and get laid tonight. I was rooting for her and the poor kid that was going to be under her for a good two hours, at least.
My senses perked as I started to turn back to the bar when I felt someone staring at me. Unfortunately, it was the nature of the beast that came with being a guard member.
After several more moments of scanning the crowd, deducing simple glances from flat out looks, I found the source of my discomfort.
Obviously, he was the Phantom of the Opera with the full mask instead of the partial mask commonly seen. Like next to every man in the room, contacts covered his true eye color and black eyeshadow casted a shadow to hide what the contacts couldn’t. He wore a black suit with a matching black shirt, but the deep red tie made him even more alluring. His hair was pulled back and more than likely dyed a different shade than his natural color, but something in me was willing Mr. Mysterious to turn his head just so, so I could see the length. Maybe he didn’t dye his hair and I would see the golden strands.
Lovett cleared his throat, forcing me to turn my eyes away from the Phantom and brought my head around to my friend.
“You ok?” He asked in a hushed voice as he handed me the drink.
Nodding, I took my gin and tonic quickly to find the man again. But when I looked back to the spot where he had been—not to my surprise—he was gone, lost in the steadily growing crowd. Why in the hell was I desperately looking for him? It wasn’t like he was going to reveal who he was and moreover, why in the actual fuck was I secretly hoping it was the very man I had pledged my hatred to?
“What’s wrong?” Lovett wasn’t letting it go. Probably because I was madly searching the crowd for the man.
“Nothing, want to dance?” I asked, throwing back the drink as the DJ began to play Khalid’s Right Back.
Through his heavy eye makeup and contacts, I saw Lovett’s eyes light up.
“Sure,” he threw his own drink back, setting the empty glass on the bar and followed me onto the dance floor.
Somehow Karina had found us in the middle of the song and leaned in close to me as the dancefloor became more packed.
“I have my date for the night,” her head did a little dance since her face was covered and laughed at my rolling eyes.
“The guitarists?” I asked, trying to ignore Lovett’s hand on my hip.
“As opposed to what? The waiter on table two?” She wagged her finger at me, “I think not.”
Even though the bass in the room was heavy and the DJ had turned the volume up to drowned out any conversation, I still heard the fuck no left off her statement.
Laughing, I spun around smiling up at Lovett for a moment. There was something in his eyes, something I couldn’t ask him about given the crowd around us. But it wasn’t like anything I had ever seen in his eyes before.
“Is it just me or do you have a stalker?” Karina whispered in my ear so Lovett—or anyone else—couldn’t hear her.
My head snapped around, following her line of sight and there he was. Mr. Phantom was staring at me yet again from across the room.
Judging from the way he was standing against the wall, I knew there were only two possibilities. Either the man was from Honor Guard or…I was looking into the eyes of Demir Losett. Contacts or not, the simple way his lips curved up in a knowing, predator like smirk caused my heart to race and my nerves to become on edge.
From across the room, I felt the power and dangerous air pouring from him; however, unlike most females in my position I didn’t flirt with him from across the room or play coy. No, I wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. If anything, my curiosity was going to be my undoing in the end and sadly—as much as I didn’t want to admit it—I wanted to know just what type of man hid beneath the Phantom mask.
Was he a cocky son of a bitch that needed to be laid out like yesterday’s roadkill or was he a softy in the center of the hard ass act? Did he like being a guard member? Whichever guard he was a part of. What did he find so fascinating about me that he boldly ignored the conversation going on around him?
I had too many questions, but I wasn’t about to cross the dancefloor, push through the few people around him and find the answers I sought. Instead, I was going to play the same game he was playing with me.
Internally, I smirked mentally meeting his challenge from across the room; I spun around with my back to him and pressed into Lovett’s chest as the songs continued at a fast-enough speed, I didn’t need to face my friend. Let’s see how Phantom man likes to be ignored.
“Such a bad girl,” Karina laughed after putting the pieces together on what I was doing.
“Is there any other way to be?” The three of us danced for another six songs before Lovett finally called it and pulled us to the bar for some much-needed alcohol.
Karina leaned into me talking about one thing or another while Lovett somehow found another Silver member at the bar.
I nodded only half listening to my friend as I motioned for the waiter to give me another ice water. I needed the aqua before I could think about another gin and tonic, not to mention after the third song, I had somewhat forgotten about Phantom. That was until the DJ came across the mic and announced he was going to slow it down for a few.
“May I have this dance?” A handsome voice laced with sex and power came from behind me.
I knew I was in trouble, when I caught Karina’s eyes locking on the man behind me and filled with a type of hunger I had only ever seen in her twice.
“I’m going to leave now,” she whispered and snatched her drink from the bar.
&n
bsp; Slowly, I turned around to be greeted with the same towering man I had been playing cat and mouse with all night.
“You may,” taking in his short black hair tied off in a ponytail at the nape of his neck, I knew this man wasn’t Demir.
The man could illicit a fire in me like nobody else and if anything had ever been made perfectly clear time and time again, I knew Demir Losett would never cut his hair above his shoulders. Granted, if my hair were as soft and luxurious, I wouldn’t cut my hair either.
The man standing in front of me, however, had barely enough hair to put in the ponytail which meant my fantasy driven thoughts were no more than just that. A fantasy.
Still, I took his hand and allowed him to lead me to the dance floor. As the piano started floating through the speakers and my masked Phantom pressed me to his chest, my mind still lingered on Demir. Why wasn’t he here? Or was he like Lovett when it came to spray dying his hair? Maybe, that was it. Maybe I just hadn’t seen him or paid enough attention to the people surrounding me. Afterall between the three guards, there were over three hundred people here and it wouldn’t be considered crazy to not run into someone if you weren’t looking for them.
“Your mind seems to be somewhere else this fine evening.” Again, my partner spoke in that alluring voice of his as his covered eyes looked at me.
I glanced up at the man leading me across the dance floor and smirked under my own mask.
“And you act as if you know who I am.”
“We’re all here under the pretense there will be no fighting or fulfillments of red orders.” He smirked as I twirled away from him, only to come back into his embrace, “what’s on your mind?”
“Friend or foe?” I wasn’t going to take any chances. Especially not with someone, I didn’t know for certain under that mask.
“Friend, of course.”
Clamping my mind down on any further thoughts about Demir, I looked into the eyes of a man I didn’t know.
“Everyone’s a friend tonight,” I countered.
A flash of a smile lifted the corners of his mouth, “so it would seem.” He took a deep breath and looked up for a second, “let me guess, someone you really don’t want to be here isn’t here and now, you’re hurt by that reality. Am I right?”
“No,” mind reader. I left off the last part and kept my tone neutral; I didn’t like how this stranger was seemingly reading my mind. Deciding the best course of action would be the most obvious, I kept my tone neutral.
Another dare devil smirk appeared on his mouth as he allowed me to twirl away from him again before pulling me back into his protective embrace.
He dropped his voice, whispering in my ear. “Were you dancing with that man to make me jealous or because you thought I was someone you could vex?”
Would I be so much of a slut if I said, I loved how his voice caused shivers to rake through my insides while gooseflesh appeared on my arms? That would be wrong, right? I mean, on the bright side, I knew this wasn’t Demir, so if something happened after this next song I wouldn’t be listening to Karina’s full advice. Only part of it.
Our eyes locked and I knew, my next challenge was going to be the beginning of my downward spiral into madness.
“What’re you going to do about it?”
Chapter 10 Cupid’s Kiss, Devil’s Dance
I stared down at Luminous through my mask as we continued across the dance floor in a sensual waltz to some slow ballad sung by a K-Pop star. Even though I didn’t understand a single word the man was saying, I could tell from the emotion poured into the cadence and melody he was hurt. Still, my attention was solely on the woman in front of me.
As soon as she had walked through the door, even with the mask, I knew it was Luminous River. Maybe it was thanks to the feline way her body moved or how she clung to the man who had come in after her. Either way, as soon as my eyes locked on her, I knew I was going to take Dristan’s bright idea and make Luminous realize she wasn’t meant for any other man.
“I’ve somehow made you fall silent,” she whispered as I pulled her back in from the twirl.
It was hard not to smirk at her coy flirtations.
“You might have, but the question that begs to be answered right now is simple.”
“What’s that?”
I leaned in, dipping my head to whisper in her ear. “How far are you willing to take this?”
Giving her a chance to change course was a dangerous gamble, but nobody would ever be able to say I wasn’t a gentleman in my pursuits. Besides, through the contacts, masks and music, I knew what her choice was going to be. Why else would she challenge me?
The song changed, leaving us standing in the middle of the floor while others came to dance and fill the space around us. Without warning, Luminous nodded to me in respect before falling into the mass of people. However, thanks to my monstrous height, I saw her slip from the crowded room toward the hallways that housed the bathrooms and quiet rooms.
Of course, the three guards as well as the courts knew emotions and hormones were going to be running high and had created their quite rooms for such situations. The only reason I knew about the rooms in the first place was thanks to Dristan.
He had found me after two hours into the night with a shit eating grin covering his face. When I had asked what he was so excited about—knowing it was too early for him to be drunk. His smile only grew in response before naturally telling me about his latest notch and spared zero details. By the time he was finished tossing up all details, I had felt like I’d just got done reading one of those quick smut books that launched an author’s career.
Dristan was the type of man who could go four or five rounds in a limited timeframe and still be ready for a full day of work afterwards. How he did it was beyond me, but at least I knew for a fact whenever he was in a foul mood it wasn’t thanks to lack of sex.
Smirking on the irony of the situation, I took a quick glance around the dancefloor. For now, everyone was starting to feel the sweet blitz of alcohol running through their veins and finding their own rhythm within the music radiating throughout the speakers. Keeping my pace languid, I crossed the dance floor and slipped out of the room unnoticed.
In comparison to the ballroom, the hallway was lowly lit and offered little when it came to hearing any of the music. There were only a few people waiting to go into the bathroom or stretching from hours of dancing and drinking.
For all of us the night was tiring in the complete opposite way of any other night. We were used to fighting, allowing our muscles to be exerted to the point of exhaustion. But tonight, the only way we could exert any pent-up energy was to stay on the dance floor or, in mine and Luminous’s case, take full advantage of the quite rooms.
Searching the hallway, I narrowed my eyes and found Luminous slipping into a private room at the end of the hall where the lights were dimmed more than the others. If my mouth wasn’t on display for everyone to see I would’ve smirked. Instead, I kept my face neutral as I put my hand in my pocket to give off the illusion of being deep in thought.
Nobody in the hallway looked up as I passed or when I slipped into the room, locking the door behind me. Much like the dance room, the color scheme was simple but offered a sense of tranquility.
There were no windows inlaid in the walls, but the skylights in the ceiling allowed for the stars to be more than visible in the crystal-clear glass. Dim lights casted a faint glow around the room while Victorian style chairs sat on either side of a wide cushioned couch. A full-size lounger bed took up the back wall, under the skylight for the drunk and heartbroken to sleep off their worries and hangovers before having to return to the real world.
Luminous stepped out of the only other door in the room to what I could assume to be as the bathroom. She leaned against the door frame with her arms crossed and a sly smirk on her face.
“Do you have an answer for me?” I asked, leaving my body relaxed as I stood across the room from her.
On the outside, I lo
oked like a man in control. I looked like I had my shit together. However, on the inside—whether it be thanks to the tequila or just my own raging hormones—I was bursting at the seams to get close to her.
Her head tilted to the side as she considered the question as another round of slow, tantalizing music filtered through the inlaid speakers hidden in the darkened corners of the room.
“How far are you willing to push me?” She finally asked in the only way she could.
I felt my lower body respond, a jerk to attention from just the simple question. But I was not going to rush this. Besides, when whatever happened in this room was said and done, we did have to return to our guards and face the reality of our ill-fated relationship. One of us would die by the other’s hand and this may be the only time we would be able to forget about those facts, if only for an hour or two.
I felt my lips pull back in a lion’s smile as I shrugged nonchalantly, “I’m a gentleman,” motioning to her, I mimicked her tilted head. “Ladies choice.”
“If I said I wanted to fuck you right now, what would be your response?”
Internally, my heart—and cock—was thankful for her brutal honesty. But my head on the other hand decided on that moment to pipe up with the realization of what I would see should my hands touch her without my gloves.
I didn’t want to see Luminous River’s death if I absolutely didn’t have to. Unfortunately, my body was torn in two different directions and now that my mind was in a shit show of its own, I had to weigh my options about what I wanted to do and what I needed to do.
“If that is what the lady wants,” I answered calmly, allowing her to make sure this was something she really wanted to do. Or if this was just another ploy to get out of her relationship with that Lovett kid.
In Castlehedge, if either part committed adultery after an engagement, the offending party faced a serious round of consequences. It was the only rule from the old days the mad scientists had instilled in our society and unfortunately, no matter if it were the twenty-first century or not, anyone who was stupid enough to cheat on their betrothed had nothing but a death wish, at the very least.