I nodded numbly, backing away from the light, and struggling to maintain a steady pace without falling or running back to my seat. Nash had already retaken his seat when I descended the stairs from the stage. Dinner was on our plates now, but I wanted to hurl.
Nash was smiling at me along-side Autumn when I made my way back. No one had taken the stage to say anything else. The auction wouldn’t begin for a few more minutes. There were so many eyes on me, and the thought of retaking my seat made me shake.
So, I kept walking. I could feel my breath growing heavier. My hands were shaking. I could not stand a single moment longer in this crowd. My eyes were swelling. Fuck Nash. Fuck the company. And fuck this stupid party.
“Even?” I heard Nash call behind me.
Autumn’s voice came after, but I couldn’t hear what she said. I didn’t care to. I needed out of here.
I’d only just reached the bathroom when I felt a hand wrap around mine. I didn’t even have to see her to know it was Rory.
“Are you okay?” she asked, pulling me toward her gently.
I shook my head. I couldn’t form the words to say why. Why Nash bringing me on stage upset me so much. Why him bringing up my dad was one of the worst things he could have ever done. Why him leaving me on stage felt a lot like a forecast for our future when I turned 18 and he handed the company to me.
Nash made me feel like everything this summer hadn’t changed a thing between us. He was still using me for good press. He was still using my dad for good press. He just wanted everyone to think everything was a-okay. And the truth was that our family was broken. Our family was missing key members. I was a total disaster, and he was an absentee parent.
But saying all that out loud?
Rory didn’t ask me to. She just pulled me into a hug and let me fall into the comfort that came with her arms around me. It was wordless. She didn’t ask questions. She didn’t pull away. She just held me.
It was me who pulled away, leaning down and kissing her. I pushed her against the marble wall of the women’s bathroom, pinning her between my kiss and the cold stone. I needed her. I wanted her. Her hands were on my waist, but she only kissed me back for a moment before she pulled away.
“Even.” Please don’t say my name like that. “We should get back.”
I let out a shaky breath, resting my forehead against hers and nodded.
When we returned to the hall, the auction had already begun. There was a large art piece on the stage, and people were raising their bid cards. Rory took my seat next to Nash, leaving a rather large gap between me and him. I didn’t say anything, but I was trying hard not to smile.
Nash didn’t say anything, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw him stiffen. Good. He knew I was upset with him, but he wasn’t about to cause a scene here anymore than I was. We could both sulk in silence for the rest of the night.
As the auction pressed on, I pushed around the food on my plate until one of the servers came to get them, and I gladly handed it off. Rory was the only one to notice how little I’d eaten or how upset I still was. Meanwhile, it felt as if the rest of the table had moved on from the beginning of our evening. Nash was even bidding for things.
I couldn’t be mad at him for that. All of this was for charity. The items had been donated, and even if all Nash seemed to be doing was driving up prices of things, him bidding just meant more money for the cause.
There was a meter running on the screen behind the stage as we made our way to the goal for the evening of a million dollars. I’d originally thought that goal was highly ambitious. No way could these people raise that much in one night. But just finishing the auction was over half, and that didn’t even include the cost of each seat at the gala, which I’d also thought was outrageous. Why would people pay $1,500 for something like this?
According to Elaine, the summer gala in Lyon had cheaper seats than the ones at our other branches. I didn’t want to know how much they were. Especially not since I’d attended them as a child growing up, which meant my parents had paid for their little kid to complain about the food and fall asleep halfway through the auction.
I was happy to see so many employees in attendance, though. Knowing employees didn’t have to pay for their seats was reassuring. The company basically donated the money for anyone who wanted to go. I was pretty sure a lot of it came out of Nash’s own pocket, but I was also sure he’d never admit to that.
When the auction came to a close, there was a series of thank-you speeches, and some talk of our upcoming year. Nash returned to the stage, and I ducked off to the bathroom. No way was I letting him call me up on stage again.
When I returned, Nash had retaken his seat, and the musicians who’d been performing during the beginning of the evening had taken over. The servers returned with a variety of desserts, and general conversation amongst the tables had resumed.
I let out a sigh as I took my seat next to Rory. The woman across from us, some higher up in Lyon, was talking to Nash. They were speaking in French, which surprisingly to me, wasn’t as hard to understand as I’d expected.
She was asking about Rory, or rather, asking about Rory and me. Rory and I looked at one another through the corners of our eyes, and she reached over for my hand under the table. I took it. I was prepared for Nash to brush it off like usual. Rory was staying with us for the summer while things with her potential foster family were sorted out.
Instead, Nash told the woman Rory had been working with the company this summer along side me. Maybe to keep from embarrassing her? A lot of the people at the gala, and in the company, came from prestigious upbringings. Not that I couldn’t say Rory had, too. He said she’d shown a lot of interest in public relations, and had even played a role in organizing the gala. We’d made fast friends.
Friends. Friends. Like we hadn’t talked about Rory, and my feelings for her, at least a little. Like he hadn’t seen the way she’d held my waist earlier, or the way we’d danced. Same old Nash.
When dessert was finished, dancing began again. Like I’d hoped, people were excited about my idea of casino-style games. Sure, people loved to dance, but not everyone did. Some people liked to gamble. Plus, that meant more money for the meter, which was all but full after some generous donations.
Personally, I couldn’t wait to dance with Rory again, which surprised me. I think part of me also couldn’t wait to get away from Nash again. I had a feeling the moment he caught me alone, we’d be having a talk. I was saved by some of the other party goers.
“Would you like to dance?” I asked Rory as Nash was pulled away from the table.
She nodded, and I took her hand. We joined the other couples on the floor. We twirled in circles until our legs grew tired, and our dresses seemed to have melded together until they’d become one.
Something about spinning her around the dance floor felt like that last dance between Disney Aurora and Prince Philip, but it was us. Two imperfect people enjoying a single night of bliss, even if we both knew that the credits weren’t about to roll, and this wasn’t the end. Life was more complicated than that, but that didn’t mean tonight couldn’t be a short and sweet happily ever after, did it?
She pressed her forehead to mine and just swayed with me for a while, letting me soak in all the comfort that being so close to her brought. The couples were dwindling. Donations had already been made, speeches done, and a lot of the more business aspects of the night were already over.
“Do you want to get out of here?” I whispered, pulling her attention back to me.
She nodded, and we slipped back out the way we’d come.
We made it to where the cars would pick us up, I spoke briefly to the valet, then we were just standing there, waiting, her hand in mine. She reached up and brushed a strand of hair from my face, and it was all I could do not to kiss her. We were alone, after all. So, I did.
But the moment her lips met mine, there was a flash from behind.
“I knew it!” the man said, as he
darted backward toward the party.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Rory breathed, looking back at me.
I shrugged. “That’s tomorrow’s problem. Tonight is just for you and me.”
Rory smiled slightly as the limo pulled up and we climbed in. Her lips were on mine again the moment we sat back in the car. Then they were trailing down my jawline, to my neck, my exposed collarbone. My heart was racing like each kiss sent a jolt to my system.
There was too much dress in the back of a limo for this. Too much dress, period. But somehow, her hands were still all over my body. It was the most lovingly wanted I’d ever felt. I was glad the barrier between us and the front was closed. I couldn’t imagine having Gordon see that through the rearview. It would have been mortifying.
We didn’t wait for Gordon to open the door before we climbed out. I called a thank you over my shoulder, and somehow managed to keep Rory’s lips off mine long enough to get out of sight.
Once we were around the corner, Rory barely let me breathe long enough to unlock the door.
She tried starting to unzip my dress before we’d even made it to my room. That was the last thing I needed Nash to find. Him seeing us dance at the gala was one thing, and admitting I had feelings for her was another, but knowing we were intimate was something else entirely. I made her wait until we were in my room, with the door closed and locked before I let her remove anything from me or from herself.
Once that door was closed, the dress was gone. Hers, on the other hand, laced up the back, took a minute to remove, and I took pleasure in being meticulous about it. Mostly because I knew it was driving her crazy. Once she caught on, she wriggled out of it without my help and gave me a shove to the bed.
She climbed on top of me, looking down at my now bare chest, and whispered, “Are you sure?”
“Are you?”
“About you?” She leaned down, face inches from mine, the loose hair from her updo cascading around my cheeks. “Or about this?”
“Both.”
“Yes.”
“Then yes.”
Her lips met mine again, and the next few moments were a blur of emotion with raging hormones. While her lips made their way to my jaw and neck again, her hands were slowly trailing their way down my midsection. My breath was heavy as she paused, her fingers just under the hem of my underwear.
Her eyes met mine for a brief second, just long enough that I had the chance to say no, ask her to slow down. I’d stopped her countless times at this point. I didn’t this time, and she wasted no time after that.
I felt a moan escape my lips, and then my entire body was spasming, legs shaking, heart racing, all at the feel of her touch. She knew all the right places, all the right things, to push me over the edge, but she didn’t. Once I was on the brink of bursting, she held me there.
“Even,” she whispered, “Are you mine?”
“Yes,” I gasped.
“Say it.”
“I’m yours—”
The words were barely out of my lips before she was at it again.
The thing I never expected about sex was how much power you could give to someone else in one moment. In one single moment, you gave them power over your entire body. To love it, cherish it, and please it. Or, if you’d chosen the wrong person, break you entirely.
Rory kissed me again, and I rolled over with her onto my side. I was numb, dizzy, and blissful. It felt like the world was spinning.
“How do you feel?” she asked, brushing away the hairs from my face that had fallen out of my French twist.
I let out a breath. “I wish there were words.”
She grinned.
I kissed her again, letting my hands slowly trail along her hips. She slowly pulled away, her hands reaching for mine.
“You don’t have to,” she whispered.
She almost looked afraid. Maybe she was as nervous as I was. I had no idea what I was doing, but that didn’t tell me why she would be. Clearly, she knew more than I did.
“You don’t want me to,” I murmured, feeling my throat instantly go dry.
Blissful feeling gone. I was present again. She was still pulling away; still holding back. A part of her was still afraid of me. I felt like this might have been a mistake. If she couldn’t trust me, open up to me, like I had for her, then why should I?
Before I could stop myself, my body shifted away.
“Even.” Her hands slipped around my hips, pulling me closer to her. “I am just scared.”
“Of me?”
“No, of this. Of what I feel for you because I… I have felt it before… and… and it hurt me. I could not bear to lose you too.”
“Tell me about her.” I swallowed hard. “Tell me about Catherine. Tell me what happened to you.”
She looked at me for a moment, a familiar distant pain in her eye. It was a moment too long, and I knew I’d pushed too hard and asked the wrong question, but it was me who got up, pulled away, tried to end this conversation like she had so many times before. This time, it was I who was hurting and scared.
“Even.” She sighed as I grabbed a t-shirt off the floor. “Wait…”
“For what, Rory?” I choked, grabbing a cigarette instinctively and shoving it between my lips. “You obviously can’t trust me, even after I’ve told you the most painful parts of my past.”
“Stop this. These smelly sticks are bad for you.” She groaned. She got up and yanked the cigarette from my mouth, tossing it on the floor.
I bit my lip as she reached for my hands. “I am sorry.” She sighed. “It was so long ago for you and so short for me. It still is hurting me.”
“Maybe I can help, maybe I can—”
“No, it is my sorrow.”
I scoffed, pulling my hands from hers. I grabbed the pack of cigarettes and had my hand on the handle of the door when she spoke.
“She was my maid.”
I stopped, feeling my breath catch in my throat as I slowly let go of the door handle.
“She was kind and beautiful. And I loved her.”
I turned to look at her. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and there were already tears in her eyes.
“It was me who moved first,” she whispered. “I started it. And I knew what would happen if we were caught. I was promised to someone else the moment I was born. And to be with someone else, to be touched by anyone else… was forbidden. Things were different then. You and me, we could never have been. The church would never have allowed it.”
She closed her eyes. “We were caught by my father himself.”
I sucked in a shallow breath.
“The entire household knew within the hour. The people, they talk. There was no hope to keep the secret.” She swallowed. “She was to be killed for defiling his daughter. And I to be married off to the highest bidder who would have me. My betrothed did not want me when he learned I was no longer pure for him. And that is when my godmother stepped in.”
I wanted to reach out and hold her, but something told me to stay put. A part of me was afraid that moving any closer would make her clam up again.
“We were both to sleep.” She choked, two tears racing down each cheek. “And be together when we woke. Imagine my surprise when I wake to a kiss not from her, but from you.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“I will never know what happened to her.” Her lip was quivering.
I crossed the room in a rush, dropping the cigarettes and pulling her into my arms instead. She sobbed into my shoulder, wrapping both arms around my waist. When she pulled away, she was still crying, but that didn’t stop her from kissing me. It was greedy.
“Rory…” I said, pulling away. “It’s okay.”
“I love you.”
“What?”
“I did not think I could.” She sniffled, looking into my eyes. “But I love you, Even.”
I kissed her. This time it was I who was hungry as I pulled her closer to me. I didn’t really know why I was doing it. I
just knew that hearing her say those words to me made me feel like I could do anything. Something about knowing you’re loved makes you feel whole.
“Touch me,” she whispered breathlessly against my lips. “Please.”
I reached down and grabbed each of her thighs in my arms and carried her toward the bed like I’d seen in movies. She loved it. I was impressed with myself. Score one for me. The problem was that I still didn’t know what I was doing, but Rory didn’t seem to mind.
“It is okay,” she whispered, pulling me closer by my shirt. “Do whatever you want.”
“How did she do it?” I whispered as I ran my fingers through Rory’s hair.
The house was dark and silent now. Nash and Autumn hadn’t come home, and I hoped that meant he was with her at the hotel. Having him come in now would be the cherry on the rocky part of our evening.
“Your godmother, I mean. Was she a witch like in the movie?”
“No.” She sighed, her finger tips trailing up and down my thigh, leaving goosebumps in their wake. “She was of the Fae.”
“The Fae?” I grinned. “They were real?”
“Mhmm. A lot of the old tales were true. Magic is still here, if only you look to find it.”
“So, what did she do?”
“She told me I would be frozen until my love came to find me.” She took a deep breath, and I was afraid I might have asked the wrong question again. “And I never thought that would mean a lifetime of sleeping.”
“Or a few lifetimes.”
She nodded.
“What about your family?” I asked. “Did you think you would miss them?”
She shook her head. “I would miss my godmother, but I barely knew my mother and father. I was choosing love.”
“Do you wish it had been her?” I asked, feeling the very state of my heart hanging on the content of her response. “Instead of me.”
“Not anymore.” She looked up and kissed me softly before pulling away.
She drifted off to sleep not long after that, and like before I laid awake listening to the sound of her breathe. Every beautiful part of that night was torn to pieces by the word she mumbled in her sleep.
Waking Rory Page 16