He then turned to everyone else. “Please, just leave me alone. We’ll finish this another time.”
I watched as the council members left the study one-by-one. I followed closely behind Abraham. However just before I could reach the door, Shadow called out to me.
“Not you Golden Virgin,” he said. “It’s a nice night out. I’d like for you to take a stroll with me.”
It was the last thing I wanted to do. More than anything, I just wanted to go home and forget this night even happened.
“But my ride is leaving,” I said, gesturing towards Abraham.
“I’ll wait for you dear,” the old man reassured me. “Take your time.”
I watched helplessly as Abraham closed the door behind me, leaving only Shadow and I alone in the room.
I turned my attention to the towering masked man. Something about the way he stood, his shoulders slumped and his head bowed low, made me fear him a little less. He was no longer the dominating monster I first saw, emerging out of the foliage of the garden. Instead the way he stood reminded me of an emotionally wounded man.
“Why did you choose me?” I asked.
Shadow didn’t reply. Instead he lifted his hands to his head and slowly removed his mask, revealing himself to me.
Chapter Six
The man was gorgeous. He had his sister’s hypnotic blue eyes and I found myself lost in his gaze, as well as Calisto’s skin, though not as pale. His ageless chiseled face was smooth and unblemished.
Shadow was not the monster I envisioned him to be. He was a ravishing angel that for some unexplained reason had chosen me to be his soul mate.
And he hadn’t even seen my face yet.
I took off my mask and allowed him to look at me, the fabled Golden Virgin sent from the heavens, as rumor had it.
“Huh,” he said after the big reveal.
I was taken aback.
“What do you mean huh?” I asked. “Huh, as in I look like ass?”
“I never said that,” Shadow protested. “Don’t start putting words in my mouth.”
“I take off my mask so you can look at my face, and the first thing you say is ‘huh’? Excuse me if I’m not dancing on the clouds at the moment.”
“You’re very pretty,” Shadow said. “I wouldn’t kick you out of bed.”
What the hell was wrong with this guy? For someone as handsome as he was, he was terrible with women.
I was starting to feel self-conscious and foolish. This entire night was turning out to be a first degree fuck up.
“Look, I’m tired,” I said. “I can see you’re having some domestic squabbles in this clubhouse of yours, and you’re using me as some strange way to stick it to them. You couldn’t care less about me. Am I right?”
“You’re not so far off,” Shadow said, “with one exception.”
“Do I even want to know?”
“Like I said, I think you’re very pretty. You have the entire ‘don’t care about you’ part a little off.”
“Who the hell looks at a girl for the first time and says ‘huh’?”
“It’s the opposite of what you think,” Shadow said. “When I chose you to be my sham bride, I actually wasn’t expecting much.”
“Why?”
“As long as I’ve known Calisto, which is all my life, she has found ways of using strong adjectives to exaggerate both people and situations,” Shadow said. “Pretty to her really means ‘only a face a mother could love’, and drop-dead gorgeous really means ‘she’s alright’…well you get the idea.”
This guy was starting to sound pretty shallow.
“Maybe she sees a person’s inner beauty,” I said. “You jerk.”
Shadow laughed. “Right,” he said, “Inner beauty. You haven’t heard her insulting people. Look, long story short, when Calisto called you ‘lovely’, I was expecting worse.”
His story seemed plausible, though I had to wonder if Shadow was as gifted a liar as his sister was.
“What now?” I asked.
“I don’t know about you but I’m not ready for serious commitment right now.”
That was a relief. Neither was I.
I admit Shadow was hot as hell. However it was plain to see that we weren’t a good fit.
An upper echelon aristocrat dating a poor college girl was a foolish fairy tale that belonged in a storybook. If there was one thing I was good at, it was being realistic. Too bad though.
The guy was a stud.
A yawn escaped my lips and I glanced at the clock. It had been an extremely long night.
“So you’re not ready to get married, and neither am I. How about you get Abraham to drive me home and we’ll call it a night?” I asked. “Maybe you can add me on Facebook so I can show everyone how I turned down a rich guy’s proposal for marriage, just for kicks.”
Shadow gave me a backwards glance.
“I’m joking,” I said. “Seriously, I don’t even like Facebook. I have no friends.”
“Come walk with me in the gardens,” Shadow said.
“Right now? Can I take a nap first or something?”
“Do you want some cheese with that whine of yours?”
What a jerk. All the pretty rich boys I met in my life were all the same—all dicks and no substance. Shadow didn’t seem any different.
“Fine, I guess I can go for a little stroll. But then you’ll have Abraham drive me home?”
“I cross my heart,” Shadow replied as he opened the doors in the study, leading to the outside pavilion.
The first rays of dawn’s light were peeking over the horizon illuminating the dark sky like the flame of a candle.
Shadow took me gently by the wrist and led me down a cobblestone path towards the gardens, the sweet smells of the flowers overtook my senses.
I opened my mouth to speak, but he quickly hushed me.
“Not yet,” he said. “Not here.”
It wasn’t in my usual nature to be silenced by anyone, but the serious look on Shadow’s face was enough to keep me from arguing. He seemed deep in his thoughts, whatever they were.
I tried to keep track of where I was going, but eventually after the fifth—or was it the sixth?—turn off I had given up trying to draw the mental map in my head. I prayed that Shadow’s intentions of leading me into this garden maze weren’t sinister in nature. Where were breadcrumbs when I needed them?
Eventually we ended up in a secluded spot where a stone bench rested underneath an ancient oak tree, its branches stretching a hundred fingers out into the beautiful orange dawn sky.
We both took a seat, much to my relief. I kicked off my heels, giving my poor feet some temporary relief.
“You probably have a lot of questions,” Shadow said.
“Why did you choose me?” I asked, jumping right into it. “Those three girls were on their knees, ready to throw themselves on you. Just to let you know, I’m not one to kneel down for anyone, if that’s what you’re expecting.”
“Those three women were harpies,” Shadow replied. “All they wanted was to sink their money grubbing talons into a pound of my flesh.”
“Who’s to say I’m not the same way?” I asked.
He smirked. “You’re not,” he said.
“How can you be so sure?”
“You’re just not. One thing I’m very good at is reading people.”
He seemed confident about himself. Perhaps I could have a little fun with him, ruffle his dark feathers a bit.
“Read me then,” I said. Shadow shrugged and looked at me with those hypnotic crystal eyes of his. I couldn’t help but feel naked before his piercing stare, but for some reason, I didn’t feel uncomfortable. In fact, I almost welcomed it.
After ten seconds or so, he smiled at me, though I noticed traces of sadness behind it.
“We’re similar in some ways,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
He was about to say something, but then paused and shook his head. “Nothing, don’t worry a
bout it.”
“Hey, don’t leave me hanging like that,” I said. “When you start a sentence, you best damn well finish it.”
He folded his arms and leaned back against the massive tree trunk and sighed. He looked out towards the sun, which peered back at us, casting a warm orange glow against our bodies.
“They expect me to get married and have an heir soon,” Shadow said, shaking his head. “It’s not something I want. No offense to you. Out of all the women here, you’re the most intriguing.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I like your music,” he said. “Especially the song you played, Breathless. As corny as this sounds, it stirred some emotions in me that I thought were long dead. It was nice.”
I felt my heart skip a beat, but not because I was swooning over his deep voice, handsome face, or muscular build—okay maybe I was swooning a little. The thing that made me flutter high in the clouds was the fact that my music was touching people in profound ways.
Sometimes, being a new independent artist was a lonely job, one filled with many self-doubts. Every little compliment I received was an additional piece of metal added to my criticism-proof armor; toughening up my defenses to the insensitive assholes I called music trolls.
So to hear that my song had an effect on Shadow warmed my entire body, like a fire burning deep within my heart.
“Well, I’m really glad you liked my song,” I said.
“I still don’t want to marry you though,” he quickly added.
Yup, this guy sure had a way with women. But it didn’t matter. I didn’t want to get married either, especially to the jackass that Shadow was turning out to be.
“No need to let me down gently,” I said. “I have no intentions to get hitched either.”
“Good,” he said. “We’re in agreement then.”
There was a long awkward pause as we glanced at each other briefly. I wondered what he was thinking.
“Why don’t you want to get married?” I asked. “If that’s what supposed to be in your cards.”
“It’s not one of my priorities,” he said. “And with the way things are looking, I doubt I’ll ever have the time for a relationship in my life.”
That was a bold statement to make—an entire lifetime without love. I admit, falling hopelessly in love and being whisked away in a horse-drawn carriage wasn’t on my list of priorities either, but eventually someday, when all the stars aligned, I had the desire to meet a perfect guy, experience the entire “on cloud nine” dating thing, and have a meaningful relationship where love meant walking around in yoga pants and leaving the washroom door open while I pissed.
I believed most people felt the same way. After all, who wanted to be alone in this world? This made me curious about Shadow.
“You’re not an amoeba are you?”
“What?” he asked me, surprised.
“Like an amoeba, you know, asexual? No desires for women, or men, while floating around in life, hanging low and lazy.”
“I like women,” he stated. “And I enjoy sex.”
“You’re not a player are you?”
“No definitely not.”
“You don’t have to lie to me. You’re a man who enjoys the playboy lifestyle too much and when it comes down to it, you just want to have messy, emotionless sex.”
“I’m not sure what part of ‘no definitely not,’ confused you,” he replied, before adding “believe it or not, I’m not the one in my family that has trouble keeping my pants on.”
Did I sense some annoyance in his feelings towards Calisto’s personal life? It was probably best I didn’t delve too much into family matters. It wasn’t any of my business anyways. In fact, his sex life really wasn’t any of my business—though watching Shadow navigate out of my twenty questions minefield was kind of fun. It was good knowing I could hold my own with one of the aristocrats.
“So why not have a relationship then?”
“Too busy,” he replied.
“Too busy with what?”
I could tell he was getting annoyed with me. Perhaps I had pushed things too far? I had a tendency to be oblivious to situations at times.
“We need to go on a few dates,” he said.
“Excuse me?” I asked, surprised. That certainly came out of the blue. He went from ‘I don’t want any relationships this lifetime’ to ‘let’s have dinner and a movie.’ Maybe on top of being an arrogant, rich prick, he was schizophrenic as well—a mentally unstable heartthrob.
“Look, I selected you as my woman in front of the entire Midnight Society,” he said, “So it’s expected that we’re seen together at least a few times.”
“You want to go on pretend dates?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Exactly.”
“Why should I do this for you?”
“Because I can give you everything you want--a career for starters.”
Tempting. But I was still skeptical. “And then what? We get engaged and at the last second I call off the wedding because I got cold feet?” I asked.
“No,” he replied. “After the second date I’ll tell everyone that I made a mistake in choosing you and I’d rather have you as a close friend.”
“Why am I the one who gets dumped? How come I can’t dump you?”
“It’ll look bad on my family name,” he said.
“What about me? It’ll look bad on me too,” I said. “I have to think about my illustrious career too you know.”
“People will sympathize with a heart broken woman,” he said. “Use that to your advantage.”
“Ugh. You’re such a dick.”
“A flaccid one according to you,” he smiled. “Apparently I’m hanging around low and lazy.”
I couldn’t help but snicker also, but I scrunched up my face quickly after, showing him that I was displeased at the prospect of being dumped by a guy I wasn’t interested in, despite his hotness.
“Two public dates,” Shadow said. “We’ll put on a show and when it’s all over, I’ll give you everything you need to kick-start your music career. And then I can have my life back to normal.”
“What’s normal?”
“You’re very inquisitive.”
“All part of my beautiful personality,” I said.
“It’s annoying.”
I shot him a dirty look.
“So do we have an agreement?” Shadow asked.
“How do I know that after two dates, you won’t become infatuated with me and then force me to marry you?”
“I’ll draft up a contract, if that will make you feel any better.”
I eyed him suspiciously.
“A contract?”
“Yes, those pieces of paper with written agreements on them that we both have to sign afterwards.”
“I know what a contract is,” I said. “It just seems so…business-like.”
“I do run a business empire in my spare time,” Shadow said. “A contract will protect both of us.”
After giving it some thought, I finally agreed. “Draft it up,” I said.
We headed back into the estate in silence, which was good. It gave me time to process all the strange events that had occurred overnight.
My music was a sensational hit amongst the rich and powerful, I was chosen to be the bride of some ‘Lord of the Midnight Society,’ I was going to go on two dates with him only to be dumped afterwards, but it would result in a blossoming music career.
“Wait,” I said. “You’re going to help me with my career because you like my music, and not because I’m going to go on two dates with you, right?”
“Yes,” Shadow replied. “You’re very talented. I believe that you can do great things with those fingers of yours. You just need a little help to reach your goals.”
I was satisfied with his answer, and I smiled at him.
“Thanks Shadow,” I replied.
“Two dates,” he repeated.
“Alright already,” I said annoyed. “Draft it up and I’ll sign on the do
tted line. Man you’re like a broken record, you know that?”
“Just confirming our agreement,” he said. “The human mind remembers things through repetition.”
“Why don’t you just tattoo it on my forehead,” I replied. “Two dates.”
Shadow seemed to ignore me as he found himself a piece of paper and pen. He began scribbling onto it, and then set it aside and began working on another piece of paper.
When he was finally done, there were two handwritten contracts in elegant neat writing lying on the wooden oak desk.
“Read it through,” he said.
There was a lot of technical and legal mumbo jumbo that I was oblivious to. I skimmed through it briefly, searching for the few key words I was looking for.
Finally on the last line, Shadow had written:
After the second public meeting between Aria Valencia and Shadow Tremaine, the two shall agree to mutually terminate their courtship with one another. Shadow will provide Aria with assistance in furthering her career as a classical pianist through his vast resources (excluding money and personal time) and Aria Valencia will agree to cease any contact with Shadow Tremaine. These conditions are firm.
I looked over to Shadow, who casually handed me a pen. “The contract is broken only when both parties decide to dispose of it. As long as one person is holding onto it, it’s binding,” he said.
“You have yourself a deal,” I said as I wrote my name onto both copies of the contracts. Shadow did the same, before extending his hand towards me.
“Deals should always be solidified with a handshake,” he said.
I shrugged my shoulders and reached for his hand, taking it in mine. His grip was firm but gentle. There was a lot of strength contained within that muscular body of his and I pitied whoever was responsible for stirring the demons buried inside of him.
However there was also tenderness to Shadow, and for a brief moment, I wondered what it felt like being held within his massive arms.
I had to stop fantasizing about him. No good would ever come from being with this guy.
Shadow was gorgeous. Shadow was mysterious. And Shadow was dangerous.
“I’ll have Abraham pick you up on Saturday then,” he said in a business-like tone. “Wear something nice.”
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