by A. K. Koonce
The person on the other end of the line must have spoken, as Zavier lapsed into silence.
“I’m not bringing Hope.”
My heart sank. That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I wanted him to take me everywhere with him. Okay. That was a little extreme. I just wanted to be a part of his life. And Ashton’s. Maybe Brock’s too—he seemed fun in an exhibitionist kind of way.
“It’s not happening, Ashton. I’ll explain when I see you.”
Zavier turned away from me, his head lifting slightly as if he was looking at his desk and…oh no.
My heart rate tripled. My box was sat there.
“I’ll call you back.” Zavier shut off his phone and slipped it back into his pocket.
He took a couple of steps toward the desk and my heart sank. He was going to see my box. He was going to end up with a lot of questions. Ones he wouldn’t believe the answers for. It was only going to make things worse. Make him angrier than he already was.
“Don’t touch it,” I shouted, lunging forward and somehow reaching the desk before he did. I scooped up my box and clutched it to my chest as sparkles of gold spread out from it.
Zavier’s eyes fixated on my hands. Could he see the specks? Was it real magic after all and not just a side effect from the gods’ magic.
“What the fuck is that?” he hissed.
“My box,” I replied.
“You actually believe it don’t you?”
“I don’t believe it. I live it. This is my life.”
His eyes met mine and we stared at each other. I could see the doubt in his eyes, his calmness making me think he was cracking and starting to believe me.
“It seems unlikely,” he said after a few more moments of silence.
“Unlikely, but not impossible,” I countered.
“Prove it.”
“How?” I couldn’t think of anything I could do which would prove who I was.
“Open the box.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Hop…Pandora, if you want me to believe, you need to open the box.”
It shouldn’t be my first thought, but I loved the way he said my real name. It was…just so much better than when any of them said Hope. Or when Alex insisted on calling me Dora.
I sighed. His expression told me all I needed to know. He wasn’t going to believe me unless I actually did it.
“Fine. But you need to stand back,” I warned him.
He frowned but backed away anyway, going to stand by where we’d sat before. He might have thought I was crazy but at least he was cautious of the crazy. I nodded and placed the box back on the desk.
Moment of truth. Was it still unlocked? With bated breath, I clicked the button on the front of the box and watched as the lid sprung open.
Shit.
Golden sparks spewed from my box. Which was odd. I didn’t remember them from when I’d let things out in the first place. They swirled through the air, making their way towards Zavier.
Shit. Shit. Shit. That wasn’t a good sign. “Get out,” I hissed, trying my best to pull the magic back towards me at the same time. That had to work. I should be able to control my own box, right?
“What?” Zavier asked.
“Get out of the room,” I added, almost shouting. “Now!”
Much to my annoyance, he didn’t move at all.
Doing the only thing I could think of, I grabbed the lid of the box and attempted to slam it shut. Except it didn’t want to. It was almost as if the box itself was fighting against me.
Of course it was. It was enchanted to trap the miseries of the world, and it thought Zavier was one of them. Well, that wasn’t happening on my watch.
Summoning all the strength I could, I bore down on the lid. I grunted at the exertion, a bead of sweat running down my face. Please, please, please gods, let me shut the box.
With one final push, it gave way with the satisfying click of the latch as the box finally shut.
“Yes!” I shouted, before turning to Zavier to see if he believed me now.
Instead I found him lying unconscious on the floor.
“Shit.”
Chapter Fifteen
No matter what I did, Zavier wouldn’t come around, and the panic was beginning to set in for a whole different reason than being discovered.
The door swung open with a crash, and a somewhat irate Ashton stormed in. “Why haven’t you been answering the phone?” he demanded.
Okay, then. It seemed Zavier had been out cold even longer than I thought. “Ashton,” I whimpered.
“What happened?” Ashton asked, running a hand along my back as he kneeled down next to me. The motion was more soothing than I liked to admit.
“Erm…” I looked between the two men, panicking ever so slightly.
Ashton looked genuinely concerned for his friend, while Zavier lay on the floor completely unconscious. He’d been that way since I closed my box. At first, I’d been worried, but he was breathing, and his heartbeat was steady.
Even so, it’d been an hour and he hadn’t come around yet. Maybe this was what happened when someone lost their soul.
Ashton sighed. “We need to leave soon have you tried splashing water on his face?”
I shook my head. “Want me to go get some?”
“Yes. Bathroom’s over there” He pointed towards a door I hadn’t noticed before.
I rose from where I crouched next to Zavier and made my way over, sneakily scooping my box off the desk as I went. I hoped there was somewhere to stash it in the bathroom, so I didn’t need to cart it around with me.
As I attempted to hide it in plain sight, I slipped into the room and gasped. It was so much bigger than I expected. There was a shower in here and everything. I’d have to remember that just in case Zavier brought me to his office again. Maybe I could make it up to him with a sexy shower.
Mmmm. Water running down Zavier’s skin and over mine as he… No, Pandora. Now is not the time for daydreaming. Even if I did have centuries of expert experience with nothing but daydreaming.
I looked around again, searching for the perfect spot in which to stash a small box. The cabinet seemed like too obvious a choice. Anyone looking for anything would look in there, and the last thing I wanted was someone accidentally stumbling across it and opening it.
Annoyingly, there don’t seem to be many other options. Not unless I stuck it on top of the cistern, which was higher than eye height. Better there than out in plain sight, I guessed.
Slipping off my heels, I stepped onto the toilet and balanced myself on the lid. This wasn’t exactly my idea of fun, but it was a necessity. I had to stretch upward in order to reach, but I managed to slip the box on top. Unless someone came to fix the plumbing, no one would be able to find it until I came back for it.
Hopefully.
Unless it decided to make its little reappearance again.
“Hope?” Ashton called out.
“Coming!” I shouted back, hopping off the toilet and quickly filling a glass full of water. I hoped this would work. I didn’t want Zavier to actually have been affected by my box. If he was… It didn’t bear thinking about.
I rushed back and handed the water to Ashton, who unceremoniously dumped it over Zavier’s head.
We waited for a couple of seconds and were rewarded with Zavier’s eyes snapping open and fixing on Ashton. “Again? Really?” he demanded.
“We tried everything else,” Ashton said, shrugging.
Zavier’s eyes slipped to me, and I wondered whether or not he’d reveal my secret to Ashton. Or if he even believed it himself, yet. There was a good chance he didn’t. Though the box thing probably helped a little on that front.
Oh gods, what if he didn’t remember it at all?
“Are you okay, Hope?” he asked me, confirming his willingness to play along with my cover story. At least, he was for now.
I suspected I’d have a lot of questions to answer once we were alone together again.
“Yes, just worried about you,” I answered, the relief I was feeling slipping through my words. If my luck held then Ashton would just think it was because Zavier had come around.
“Always a good thing.” He laughed a little and reached to cup my cheek.
I stayed as still as possible, slightly surprised by the gesture. Zavier hadn’t shown that much affection for me in front of Ashton before. And from what he said earlier, I’d assumed he didn’t want Ashton to even know he had any. But now…
“I see you two have bonded a little,” Ashton joked, getting to his feet. “But more time for that later. I have a show to get to. Things to get ready.”
“So do we,” Zavier added, pushing himself up so he was propped on his elbows.
He looked good like this. Of course, he’d look better if I was straddling his hips and leaning in to kiss him. And if he was naked. I bet he was glorious naked. All toned male flesh and tanned skin.
“Earth to Hope?” Ashton said, waving his hand in front of my face. “We need to get going.”
“Sorry,” I said, snapping out of the daydream I was having and only a little disappointed it had to end. I’d been having fun there.
All good things must come to an end.
“Come to dinner with me.” Zavier’s chest rose and fell with heaving breaths.
From the corner of his eye, Ashton paused to look at this friend.
“If you’re done with work, and if Ashton doesn’t mind.” It was a testing statement. I spoke it carefully. Did Ashton mind?
“I still have to have that conversation with my IT department that I’m dreading, but after that I’m all free.”
The corners of my lips pulled into a small smile. The IT department would be thanking me, I was sure. Those were top quality films. Superb acting. Nothing but the best. If I could leave a YELP review for a porno, I would.
My gaze skimmed toward Ashton.
The real issue was, did Ashton mind? I trusted Zavier now and I hoped he trusted me too.
“I don’t mind at all.” His gaze was warm across my features as he took a step closer to me. “Meet me back at the room tonight? Hang out for a while, if it’s not too late?”
I suddenly realized I was so close to both of them, my arms nearly touching both of their firm chests. Zavier’s crisp button down and Ashton’s soft and worn tee shirt.
How would this end?
Not in a box. That much I was sure of.
Chapter Sixteen
There was no dinner. There were no expensive dates or sweet kisses shared. Zavier took me right back to their hotel room. I made my way to the shining window while he ordered in a pizza. The city life was wild below us. Dots of figures bustled. So many tiny people with lives that must have been so much simpler than mine.
I was reminded this was where Brock stood naked when we first met.
“Where’s your friend?” I asked in a quiet voice that carried through the room.
“Asleep. His shoots take all day sometimes. Models work more than I ever expected. He crashes pretty hard on his days off.”
He took a slow step closer to me. A line creased his brow. It made him sterner. He looked at me like I was a problem, and he wanted to solve it.
“That box. The stuff inside it. That stuff was real, wasn't it? The pain? You couldn’t have created that kind of pain inside me. What was that, Pandora?”
A tingle spread all through my core at the simple use of my name.
Pain.
That was something I knew more about than anyone else. The box sank it right in until it hurt so badly that it didn’t hurt at all. The survival part of my body shut down while I was imprisoned. It shut out the pain until there was only numbness.
And I never wanted to feel that again.
I wanted to feel everything. Everything this terrible world had to offer.
“It’s just the box’s way of keeping you. It locks, but the pain that it produces keeps you contained inside. I never escaped because I never had the ambition to rise up.” My throat tightened. I hated it. I wasn’t weak. I refused to let the gods cut me back down to that numb person I’d been.
“You’re really Pandora?” His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t take another daring step closer to me.
“I am. The gods want me to capture people like you. People like Ashton. Probably even people like Brock.” And so many more. The whole world was a misery if I really thought about it. We were all sinful.
He swallowed so hard his Adam’s apple bobbed.
He was going to push me away. Only an idiot would linger around a crazy woman who just told them she intended to steal their misery ridden soul.
“Why?” His question was quiet but also startling.
I hadn’t expected him to question it. I thought he’d be calling the police by now, if nothing else.
“I’ve been a prisoner of the gods for…all my life. I’ve lived in that box for lifetimes.”
“That thing that produces pain, you lived in there?”
A quiet nod is all I gave him.
“If I’m able to bring three miseries to the gods, they’ll release me.” Or so they said.
At this point, my odds of actually being able to take one of these men were not looking good. I might as well relent now.
“What’s Alex in all this? Is he Hercules?”
My lips parted as my head tilted back in confusion.
“Hercules? Gods, no! Do not give that man any more of an ego than he already has.”
“But he is a god?”
Again, I nodded.
Seconds passed while he just stared intently at me.
“You believe me?” My voice was a quiet and almost desperate sounding.
Too much space separated us, and I felt like I was standing all alone. Alone in the entire world.
Until he spoke. “I do.” A deep breath shook through his chest. “I don’t want to, but I do.”
He sounded regretful.
“You don’t want to see me again.” My gaze fell, studying the color of the crisp white carpet at his feet, and my arms crossed slowly over my chest.
Hesitant steps brought him closer to me. The warmth of his palm pushed across my forearm until he untangled my arms, pulling my hand into his.
He held it sweetly. “People are quiet around me, mostly. Aside from Ashton and Brock. Maybe they’re intimidated. I don’t know. I’ve always been treated a little different. A little bit on the outskirts of groups. Even at work. My own fucking company and I still can’t sit with the cool kids.” He breathed out a laugh. “I can’t imagine the loneliness you’ve lived.” His voice was a low rumbling sound that I felt all through me. “But I’m smart enough to know you need help.” He stepped closer, his body brushing mine. His head dipped low but stopped as if he was considering his actions. Then his lips skimmed across the corner of my jaw in the sweetest of kisses.
I leaned into that affection. My lashes fluttered closed, and for a few seconds, I just enjoyed being near someone who understood me.
Not another question was asked. He led me to the couch and pulled me down. His arm cradled around me, and I was so relieved for the first time in days that I fell asleep before our food ever arrived.
***
Rumbling laughter woke me. A dark piece of cloth met my lashes before they could even open. Warm and gentle hands were on either side of my face. It felt sensual, but I also hated every part of it.
It was too dark. I was aware of the world around me, but I couldn’t see it. It was like being in the box all over again.
My fingers pulled restlessly at the dark material as my heartbeat began to pound in my ears. Then he spoke. “Hope, it’s okay.” Ashton’s breath fanned against my neck. I sat up unsteadily and his palms settled against my arms to guide me. His closeness did seem to settle my nerves. My fingers wrapped around his smooth forearms, needing to reassure myself. “I—I may have had too much to drink.”
A dim hue of deep blue clung to the edges of m
y vision where the cloth revealed the moonlight through the windows.
“Are you playing a game of sorts?” My voice was hesitant.
“Kind of.” His timbre was low and hummed with happiness.
It was a game. I took the opportunity of my lack of sight to push my palms up his corded arms. The muscle tensed beneath my touch. I leaned closer to find he was kneeling between my thighs. They pushed against his bare chest, wanting badly to wrap around his lean hips.
Mmm, what I wouldn’t have given to have Ashton St. James between my thighs.
Feeling bolder without seeing his reaction, I skimmed my fingers over his shoulders and down his pecs before I finally pulled my hands away.
He stepped carefully away from me. No rules were stated about this game. When the couch dipped, and his hand pulled at mine, I blindly followed. My body shifted at his will and my thighs settled over his. He guided me until my center was pressed firmly against the hard bulge in his jeans.
I wish I could have seen him. But touch was all I was allowed. My palms pushed up the etched lines of his hard abdomen. When my fingertips skimmed over his nipples he leaned into me. Big palms pushed slowly up my thighs. He pushed at the soft cotton of my dress until his warm hands were against my body. He didn’t stop until he was gripping my ass.
My breaths became heavy. I wanted him. I wanted him entirely. Gods knew I wanted to see that piercing more than I wanted my next breath.
But for some reason, guilt lay heavy at the bottom of my stomach.
“I-—I don’t think this is working.”
Quiet laughter shook through his chest, but he didn’t speak.
“I’m sorry. I like you, I do. But I could never hurt Zavier.”
A short silence settled in between us, and he never released his hold on me. His chest pushed against my palms as he leaned into me. I couldn’t move. What would I do if he kissed me right now?
You can’t slap a rockstar, can you?
“That’s really sweet of you.” Zavier’s voice startled me as he spoke against my lips.
My mouth parted with a surprised gasp.
Slow movements guided my hands as I pushed my fingertips lightly across the sharp angle of his jaw. Short hair met my touch before I skimmed higher to trace the bow of his lip. The same sweet lips I kissed earlier today. The same sweet lips which promised to help me.