Magnificent Ruin (Everlasting Series Book 2)

by Alison Foster

Ah, so he wants to dance. My eyes follow his fingertips to discover Tomas and his new friend on the dance floor. How fast was that? He certainly doesn’t waste any time.

  He moves expertly to the beat, his lower body swaying sensually as he bends over to touch his partner’s face and whisper in her ear. Her eyes flash with excitement at what she has just heard and my heart skips a beat.

  “Well?” the man in front of me says.

  “Why the hell not?” I say, climbing off the stool to follow him to the dance floor. I’m doomed either way. I’ve managed to put myself in an impossible situation and I need to snap out of it.

  As we hit the dance floor, I realize I haven’t asked the man I’m dancing with his name, nor he mine. It’s probably for the best as I already want to escape his company. He’s not bad looking for a giant but that’s about all I can say about him.

  I do my best to keep myself from staring at Tomas but find it next to impossible. I’m consumed by curiosity and a prickling feeling that resembles jealousy.

  Jealousy? Is that really the word that just popped in my head? Fuck me, it must be true.

  My head starts spinning and my eyes hurt from the interplay of shadow and light that keep alternating in the club. I’ve only had the one Margarita. I blame my empty stomach for the quick effect.

  I realize too late that Tomas is moving in my direction, dragging his new conquest behind him by the hand.

  “Taylor, sweet angel of mine,” he says, hugging me. “This is Jeanine from New York.”

  “Another sweet angel of yours,” I say with a dead-fish grin on my face.

  “You, go away!” my tall dance partner says to Tomas.

  The words startle me until I remember who I’ve been dancing with. Holy shit, this whole situation is beyond ridiculous.

  “Oh, look, it talks,” Tomas says, gently pinching my dancing partner’s cheek.

  “We dance,” the drunk Viking insists.

  “No, Sven, you go away and we dance,” Tomas says with an overtly satisfied grin on his face as he takes my hand.

  Sven? Is that really his name? Does Tomas know the guy?

  “You no call me that,” my giant says, getting angry for good now.

  Nope, not his name. Definitely not one of Tomas’s acquaintances.

  “Sven,” is all that Tomas says.

  Why on Earth is he provoking a drunk stranger who happens to be a full head taller than him? The real question is, why does Tomas do any of the things he does? There’s no answer really and the only thing I can do is drag him away from Sven. I’m not fast enough though. Sven raises a fist to punch Tomas. Tomas grabs his wrist fast as lightning and spins Sven around to get his arm behind his back while pushing his head until he has him pinned down with his face on a table.

  Jeanine’s face gets all flustered and excited as Tomas easily overpowers Sven. She starts clapping and laughing like a toddler drooling at the sight of a slide in a park.

  I’m not much better. My jaw has dropped during this whole exhibition of brute manliness.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” I yell at Tomas. “Let him go.”

  Tomas obeys reluctantly. The moment he releases him, Sven the Giant takes off without looking back. I’m not worth all that, Sven, you’re absolutely right.

  “Oops, my bad,” Tomas says. “I didn’t mean to drive your date away.”

  “Shut the fuck up, Tomas. Did you get it out of your system already?”

  He narrows his eyes in a question while Jeanine wraps a protective arm around him. Oh, the irony.

  “Your machismo exhibition,” I explain. “Is it done yet?”

  “You can do better,” is all he says.

  “Do better at what? We were just dancing.”

  “Okay,” he says. “I’m sorry. I can find you another dancing buddy. You see that guy over there?” He points at a ripped god of a man with tattoos around his neck and half his face.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” I say, rolling my eyes.

  “You don’t like him? Okay, how about–?”

  “Give it a rest, okay?”

  “She’s right,” beautiful Jeanine cuts in. “Let’s dance some more.”

  “Screw dancing,” Tomas says, grabbing her ass with both hands. “Wow, what an exquisite booty. It makes me want to do bad things.”

  “What bad things?” Jeanine says, giggling.

  “Your ears are too sweet to hear such words,” he says, hungrily regarding her like his next meal.

  I really don’t need to hear any more of this. I want to excuse myself but realize there’s no need as they have stopped paying attention to me. Jeanine has leaned in for a kiss, her hands on Tomas’s hair as he keeps rubbing her ass. I have no idea then how it is that he notices me walking away but he does. He comes after me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

  “I’m sorry,” he says. “I spoiled the night for you.”

  “No worries,” I say.

  There’s a sudden twinkle in his eyes. “You can join us if you want.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Jeanette and me.”

  “Jeanette? You mean Jeanine?”

  “That beautiful piece of flesh, yes. Nowhere near as beautiful as you though.”

  “You’ve finally lost your mind, haven’t you?”

  “You could just watch.”

  Arrogant son of a bitch. I know that he’s drunk. He gulped down two drinks in front of me within the span of thirty seconds and I’m sure he didn’t stop there. I still feel like slapping him. The next best thing is to get as far away from him as possible. Why is he torturing me like that? Is he really that blind?

  “Hey,” Adrian says. I don’t know how he just materialized out of thin air but I’m glad he did.

  Behind him, Sophia trails in, keeping her eyes down as if in a trance. “Hi, Taylor,” she says, happy to see me.

  “Hey guys, glad to see you,” I say, relieved I don’t have to think about Tomas’s behavior for the moment.

  “Nice running in you,” Adrian says.

  “Into,” I correct him.

  “What?”

  “Running into you is how we say it.”

  “Ah,” he says, laughing. “You have to give me English lessons.”

  “Hey, man,” Tomas says, punching Adrian’s shoulder. “What’s shakin’?”

  Sophia barely registers on Tomas’s radar, much to her disappointment.

  “Always in the action,” Adrian says, winking at Tomas.

  “Just doing what’s expected of me, bro,” Tomas says before taking Jeanine’s hand to go. At the last moment, he decides to wave hello at Sophia.

  Sophia eyes Jeanine bitterly as she and Tomas head for the bar.

  “Everyone but me,” Sophia says, unable to control her impulses.

  “Forget about him,” I say. “You’ll never get him to be with you, Sophia. He’s not the kind of man for serious things. In his way, he’s protecting you.”

  “Is he protecting you, too?” she says with a tone in her voice I don’t appreciate at all. I can’t help but wonder though—could she be right? He does seem to be overprotective and always keeps an eye on me.

  Adrian steps in, taking my hand. “Let’s dance, yes?”

  Knowing the last thing I need is one more round of dancing, I accept anyway because, honestly, what are the alternatives? Besides, Adrian is no stranger and Tomas won’t try to scare him away.

  We hit the dance floor and a few seconds later I get a feeling of déjà vu as I spot Tomas walking over to us. Halfway through he changes his mind and grabs a random girl before he plants a kiss on her lips.

  A guy who seems to be her boyfriend jumps on Tomas trying to throw a punch at him which Tomas ducks easily. I get a burning feeling above my temples. What is it that makes him so stupidly aggressive tonight? Tomas is many things but an idiot he is not.

  A moment later, two bouncers show up and drag Tomas away from the girl and her jealous Greek lover and toward the
door.

  It would serve him right if they threw his ass out but I can’t help it. I run after him only to hear him mocking the bouncers.

  “I’m sorry about this,” I tell the bouncers. “My friend has had one too many drinks. I’ll take him home.”

  “What?” Tomas protests. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  One look at him and I know he’s serious about this. He’ll never agree to leave voluntarily.

  “We’ll keep an eye on him,” I say, pointing at Adrian and Sophia.

  “You keep him on a leash,” one of the bouncers says, releasing Tomas from his grasp. “Next time we’re calling the police.”

  “Oh, fuck you, call them now. I demand that you call the police so they know how you manhandle paying customers.”

  Is he out of his mind? I throw a pleading look at Adrian who finally decides to help out. He starts talking to the bouncers in Greek and somehow convinces them to let things be.

  “What were you doing telling them to call the police?” I tell Tomas as soon as the bouncers are gone. “And what happened to your eye candy, Jeanine? Where has she gone? Back to the genius factory?”

  “So you were listening in,” Tomas says with his usual grin, sounding one hundred percent sober all of a sudden.

  “Yeah, what was that?” Adrian says.

  Tomas keeps his eyes on mine, paying no attention to Adrian or Sophia or the entire club for that matter. His gaze is so intense, it makes me quite uncomfortable. “Excuse us,” he says, taking me by the hand and leading me to the dance floor.

  “What’s going on?” I say, totally mystified.

  His face goes dark and his grip on my hand gets tighter. “He’s here,” he says. “I was right.”

  “Who’s here?”

  Tomas drops my hand and folds his arm around mine. “Act casual. We’re being shadowed,” he says.

  “We what?”

  “It’s me they’re after, not you.”

  “Oh, okay. That makes it all right then.”

  I try not to take him seriously but his face is dead serious and taut with tension. He draws me closer to him to whisper, “If I’m right and they have sent someone after me, you have to run if he corners us. Run and don’t look back.”

  An icy chill cuts through me. Questions just start flying out of my mouth in rapid succession. “What game is this, Tomas? Where am I supposed to run to? How is that person going to corner us? And, most importantly, what have you done?”

  “Just promise,” he says. “Don’t try to help me. Just run.”

  “What have you done?”

  “We can’t get to the car,” Tomas says. “They’ll expect that. But we have to get out of here, quickly.”

  Fear and fury mix inside me. Whether he’s sincere or making this whole thing up to mess with my head, he’s completely ruined my trust in him. One thing’s for sure, he’s not drunk. All his previous heinous behavior was nothing but a show.

  “Where could we even go? Won’t they come to the house?” I say, hardly able to believe my own words.

  “No,” he says. “I gave them a false address, one I used to have before. It’s a long story and the less you know the better. Now come with me.”

  “Why do I have to run? They’re not after me.”

  “I can’t risk leaving you behind. They probably saw us come in together. If I go, they might take you to extract information. It’s better that we both disappear.”

  He wraps an arm around my waist and we make for the restrooms. The whole time we’re acting like we’re enjoying each other’s company, laughing and whispering things in our ears, with my words sounding like *&%$# and &^$#*&@.

  When we get to the restrooms, Tomas turns to the left and we end up in a small hallway and a locked door which he opens with a key he produces. Surprises never stop coming with this man. My mind’s on overload but I decide not to say anything until we’re safe.

  We walk out the back door, past a symphony of wind chimes echoing the night ocean breeze.

  “Shouldn’t we run?” I ask.

  “No, act normal,” he says, putting his right arm around my shoulders and squeezing me. “We don’t want to alarm anyone.”

  We walk through narrow cobblestone streets with small yards and balconies hanging above, Bougainvillea bushes with red and purple flowers decorating gates and entrances.

  A few ancient ladies sit on chairs outside their homes talking the night and all its terrors away. Their gaze keeps following us as we go past them, waving, until we turn a corner and disappear from their sight.

  “They’re mighty interested in us,” I say. “Almost as if they know we’re being pursued like petty criminals.”

  “They’re interested in anything that breathes. Old people are not choosy. They glimpse into lives like vampires. Strangers keep their spirit alive.”

  I look at him with a broad smile. “I didn’t think you a philosopher.”

  “That’s because I’m not. And thanks for not being mad.”

  “Are you fucking crazy? I’m furious.”

  He nods, an amused expression bleeds onto his face. “C’mon, Taylor, admit it. You like the adrenaline rush.”

  “Adrenaline rush? What are we, ten? All we’ve done so far is disturb a peaceful night for a few old ladies in flower dresses.”

  We come upon an empty square with two kafeneia, the traditional Greek coffeehouses where men gather to play backgammon, discuss politics and drink their boiled coffee.

  Tomas and I sit at an empty metallic table painted blue. We sit silent for a while, appreciating the quiet night.

  “It seems I was wrong,” Tomas says finally. “If they wanted to find us, they’d have found us by now. Wrong alarm. The goon wasn’t there for me.”

  “What was the point of running then?”

  “Off the top of my head? It feels good to live in danger.”

  I roll my eyes, fully aware that the best thing I can do is not feed his ego. “Don’t you think you owe me an explanation?” I say, not really expecting one.

  “One of my classic moves. I got on someone’s nerves. The wrong person, a person powerful enough to send me a rough message. Luckily, he’s leaving the island tomorrow so we won’t have to worry about him anymore. We’ll go to a hotel tonight, just in case.”

  “You keep saying we. I want out of this whole we thing. From now on there’s you and then there’s me. Your dirty business is your own.”

  “As you wish,” he says quietly. “Maybe we should go.”

  “You’re so daft,” I say, but as we get up, he puts an arm around my waist and pulls me close to him, so close I can count all the sculpted, powerful muscles under his shirt one by one.

  Real adrenaline rushes though my veins now, making my heart pump faster and harder. If he kissed me, I’d kiss him back without a second thought.

  “I say we because I feel close to you, Taylor,” he says. “I haven’t felt that close to anyone in a really long time. Don’t mistake my callousness for indifference. I care about you more than I can tell you. It scares me.”

  “Um,” I say before I lose the ability to speak. I fight not to read into his confession. He must mean he cares about me as a friend. Right?

  “Let’s go,” he says, letting go of me.

  As we enter the hotel lobby and Tomas gives fake names to the receptionist along with a fat tip, I can’t deny the fact that I do get excited by the danger he brings into my life. Bad boys forever haunt me.

  Chapter 6

  For all the state of the art amenities in the house, there’s not a decent, simple bathtub. I don’t mind it usually as I’ve gotten used to taking lukewarm showers and letting the water run cold for the last twenty seconds or so to revive my dormant skin, but the aromatherapy junkie in me requires a bubble bath today.

  I take a curious look at the half-sized bathtub next to the shower. Someone tried to save space by installing this weird looking baby bathtub, half of which is elevated to create a sort of a seat. If you ta
ke the sitting position that is proposed, you can actually fit in just fine, but how can a bubble bath be relaxing if you cannot stretch your legs?

  I decide to give it a shot anyway. It’s been a long time since I enjoyed my essential oils and salts in a lengthy, revitalizing bath. I let the hot water run as I throw my favorite rose oil and magnesium salts in the weird chair-tub to create a fragrant steam.

  I don’t even wait for the water to fill the tub before I step in. I close my eyes as I soak myself in the frothy water, trying to reconcile myself with the idea that I miss Tomas like hell. The bastard left the day after our unpredicted adventure when we had to run away from the Rumba night club and ended up in a hotel room, in different beds and fully clothed. I spent the whole night counting sheep, worried I might have one of those dreams again where he climbs on my bed and makes love to me despite my anemic protests.

  The following morning he gave me the lame excuse of needing to do some research and work on his screenplay right before he told me he’d be gone for a few days. I could have drilled him a little bit to get some real answers but decided against it. Tomas would never tell me what he doesn’t want me to know, plus, what would I do if it turned out that what he needed was time away from me? I’ve been terribly whiny, annoying and moody lately and I’m fully aware of that fact.

  The hot water is up to my neck now, so I turn the tap off. There’s a moment of total silence in my soul, a feeling of melancholy that stems from places I’d rather not explore. I taught myself long ago not to visit those forbidden places in my mind where all thoughts lead to self-pity about all that got broken in me when I was still a child. As crazy as it sounds, Tomas has been able to fill a void simply by being here, not judging and not expecting anything, and now that he’s gone, the void is ready to reclaim its place.

  The fact that today happens to be his birthday doesn’t escape me. Nor does the fact he promised he’d take me to some mysterious place which he probably has forgotten all about.

  A soft sigh escapes my lips as my fingers start playing with my nipples mindlessly. “No, Taylor,” I tell myself out loud, startled by my own instincts. “Don’t go there.”

  I hear the words but my body has a mind of its own. Where’s the harm anyway? It’s not like I haven’t touched myself before.