Chapter 9
Peter Who?
After this moment I had no clue what to think as my nerves, along with my fragile mind, were all over the place.
I kept questioning his actions and quickly got nowhere.
At first, I could put most things down to the fact he obviously wanted to see the box and was annoyed that it wasn’t a simple case of me showing it to him right here and now.
But then, if this was true, why had he walked back into the great court with me on his arm and spent the rest of the evening pretending to be my date?
I had expected when he said, ‘let’s go’, that he meant to leave the gala completely.
But all he had meant was to leave the gallery.
Something that had most definitely been for the best considering being alone with him right now was clearly dangerous for my mental state of mind.
I swore that after tonight I was seriously considering taking up yoga or something equally as Zen because all this shit was going to send me packing to the nearest crazy house! Which also meant that if I wasn’t careful then I would end up in a padded room decorated with his name on the walls and with bald patches on my head after trying to spell Lucius with my hair… once they finally took all stationery away from me, of course.
Okay, so that was farfetched even for my over exuberant imagination, but still, it couldn’t be denied that the man was making me crazy! Every time someone would come over to speak to me I would feel him take a step closer.
Then he would wrap an arm around my back, rest his hand at my waist with his fingers flexing at my side almost as if on impulse.
Then, I would find myself without the power of speech and only able to nod like a muted dog on a dashboard.
One that had come back in popularity a few years ago and was classed as retro, making my mum complain about feeling old.
Well, at least she would never need wrinkle cream as an immortal as my complaint back to her was always the same,
“Well, at least you don’t look the same age as your mother and will one day soon start to look older.”
Because that was what I had in store for me in my future.
And yes, to the rest of the human world, she had aged and looked like a beautiful woman in her late forties/ early fifties, along with how my father did.
But this was just a smoke screen, as it was with the rest of my family.
Because if my mum wanted to keep her human family in her life for as long as she possible could, then this was a necessary evil that had to be thought of.
A lie to save the people she loved.
I knew it wasn’t easy for her, but what was harder was knowing the inventible would one day happen when it came to watching her own daughter getting old.
Because I wasn’t like them.
I wasn’t blessed with immortal life like the rest of them were.
Which meant that unless I dated an immortal and had sex with them on a regular basis, then I was investing in anti-wrinkle cream no matter if I wanted to or not.
And I know what you’re thinking, why not just find me a sex buddy that didn’t mind getting his rocks off whilst taking care of my pesky little aging problem for me.
But unfortunately, it didn’t work like that.
Because one of the biggest rules my dad had to enforce in his world was the utterly forbidden relationship between supernaturals and humans.
So, unless it was fated by the Gods and decreed to be part of some almighty prophesied story written in the stars type of gig, then it was a big fat NO.
But this was something I had learned to come to terms with long ago, even if my parents had yet to follow me down that realistic path.
Don’t get me wrong, I can only imagine how hard it must be for them knowing that one day I wouldn’t be here and would still have to face eternity without me.
So, let’s just say that because of this, it was one subject I wisely stayed away from.
It soon became time for us to leave and Lucius masterfully steered me towards where our jackets had been taken, and as I fished out my ticket I noticed something was wrong.
Of course, Lucius noticed my hesitation as there wasn’t much he didn’t notice.
“What is it this time?”
he asked in exasperation that instantly got my back up, but I decided to ignore it and told him,
“It’s nothing.”
Then I started to stretch my arm out to give the man my ticket when Lucius took it off me and handed it to the man himself, making me frown in question.
Why he did that I had no clue but the second he received my jacket he took me by my elbow and walked me through the exit.
The cold hit me and just as I started to shiver I felt my jacket being placed over my shoulders.
I swear the sight of Lucius acting like a gentleman was nearly as startling as he was handsome, which managed to easily take my breath away.
With the backdrop of the night sky and roman columns behind him it suddenly felt as though we could have been stood, back in time, just the two of us waiting for our one moment.
“Thank…”
“What is missing from your purse?”
he asked me, letting my softly spoken thanks trail off into the night, getting lost right along with my wishful thoughts.
“Does it matter?”
I snapped pushing my arms through my jacket and walking down the steps.
He followed me and was in front of me in a heartbeat.
“Where do you think you are going?”
he asked in an incredulous tone as if surprised that I wouldn’t answer his question before walking away from him.
Was this the reason he believed me to be a spoilt princess? Because I wouldn’t obey him? For sure there weren’t many in his world he could place in that category?
“What does it look like, I am going to try and catch a cab,”
I said trying to walk around him, but he sidestepped to stop me, scoffing as he did,
“You are most certainly not getting a cab home.”
I gave him a sarcastic grin back and agreed,
“No, you’re right.”
Then before he could comment arrogantly as I knew he would have, I pulled my coat together and added,
“I’m getting the bus…Goodnight, Lucius.”
I walked past him making my way down the courtyard to the sound of his exasperation behind me.
Then I heard him speak and it took me a moment to realise it wasn’t to me.
“How long?”
he snapped and a quick glance over my shoulder told me he was speaking to someone on his phone.
“Make it two,”
he replied in a masterful tone and then promptly canceled the call.
Once again, he was in front of me.
“There is no way I am allowing you to get the bus,”
he informed me, folding his arms and no doubt trying to intimidate me, which as usual was working.
“Lucius, I catch the bus every day,”
I argued softly.
“Yes, and if you place emphasis on the word ‘day’, then you should see the point which I am making,”
he replied.
“Which is?”
I asked now folding my own arms and looking about as intimidating as a kitten showing the big cat her claws.
“Your father would not allow it,”
he said as if this would be a better argument as to the real reason he didn’t want me catching the bus home…was he worried about me?
“Whatever.
Look, I catch the bus all the time, day and night and nothing has happened to me yet.”
Okay, even to my own ears this was a lame argument and now, well he was starting to look pretty angry.
“You catch the bus home at night?”
he asked in a dangerous low tone that told me I had better tread carefully here.
But once again, it merely made me question his reasons for being annoyed.
“Look around you, Lucius, and tell me what you see,”
I asked him, this time trying for reason.
He gave me a sexually slow look up and down and quickly blew me away with his answer.
“A beautiful target.”
I coughed back my shock and had to clear my throat after hearing Lucius calling me beautiful for only the third time in my life and two of them had been said tonight.
The other, however, hadn’t counted at the time for it was back when he was breaking my heart and combining it with an insult.
“It’s the city that never sleeps, Lucius, I will be fine.”
At this he rolled his eyes and said,
“Yes and do you know who resides in that city that also never sleeps… thieves, rapists, the psycologically unhinged and lastly people willing to murder you for the contents of your purse… therefore, it is over my fucking knee that you will do as you’re told and wait before I embarrass you in front of your colleagues who will soon be joining us out here as they leave.”
This threat caused my mouth to drop and take a whole minute before I found I could actually answer him.
“You wouldn’t dare!”
I hissed making him grin sadistically down at me and then he glanced over my head when he heard the sound of a car pulling in through the gates.
“Just try me, Princess, as there is only one sure way to find out,”
he warned me, looking back to the crowd of people now all coming from the exit as if to put emphasis on his threat.
“Now get in the fucking car,”
he snapped the second it stopped next to us and he opened the door before the driver even had time to get out to do so.
I groaned aloud once before snapping,
“Fine!”
I then tried to fold myself into the car as graceful as possible repeating my usual mantra of ‘don’t slip, don’t slip, don’t slip’ in my mind, but doing so in an angry inner voice because, well… I was still pissed off! Well, at least I hadn’t fallen once tonight, so I guessed I deserved some brownie points for that one.
I shifted over to the far side and sat there in your typical sulky girl fashion, which I think was totally lost on Lucius.
It was becoming clear that there was no way he had ever had a girlfriend before or if he had then they were the super compliant, bimbo, ‘I just want a sugar daddy’ type.
Eww, the thought repulsed me, and I barely suppressed a shiver.
“Now, you can tell me what was missing from your bag,”
Lucius asked once we were well on our way out of the main part of the city.
“My lipstick,”
I replied making him chuckle and shake his head.
“What?”
I questioned unable to help myself.
“Your lying is as shit as your mother’s.”
The second I heard him talking about my mum everything inside of me turned to ice and I swear he must have felt the sudden chill in the car, because he turned to look at me and I swore I could see the hint of regret there.
“Amelia, I…”
he said my name in a way that I suddenly hated and just to save myself the humiliation I quickly said in a dead tone,
“My keys, I have lost my keys.”
He frowned at this, so before he could come to the worse possible reason I quickly added,
“It’s not a problem as my neighbor has a spare set.”
“Then for your sake I hope she’s home on a Friday night.”
I rolled my eyes at the window.
“He will be.”
“He? You’re telling me that another man is entrusted with the keys to your apartment and can come and go as he pleases.”
I swear the way he worded it sounded like I had stood outside the block one day, held up my keys and said, ‘here, here, come and get ‘em, who wants access to my flat 24/7?!’
“Yes, that’s right Lucius, my very good and loyal gay friend has a spare set of keys to my flat, in case I do something stupid like walk out without having them on me,”
I said, making sure he didn’t miss the part about me saying he was gay and therefore possessed no threat to my prized womanhood…geez, but he was certainly going overkill on protecting me and doing my father a favour.
Lucius visibly relaxed so I would say for certain that he hadn’t missed the gay friend bit.
“Find yourself doing that often do you?”
he asked after another long moment of silence.
“Well, it comes with the clumsy territory I am afraid,”
I replied thinking this was the longest most civil conversation we’d had so far.
That was until I saw his face and decided to beat him to voicing his opinion.
“Yes, I know, just like my mother.”
My tone said it all.
He looked as if he was about to say something else, but the sound of my phone ringing stopped him.
I rummaged through my purse and saw who it was, so answered it in a way that I knew Lucius would question.
“Why hello there, my lesbian lover.”
Oh yeah, now that got me a look, especially when Wendy replied,
“What’s happening my favorite pussy cat?”
I laughed once, not at her reply but more at Lucius’ confused face…it was priceless!
“So, did you go to that stuffy gala thing in the end or what?”
she asked finishing off her question with the sound of popping gum I was used to.
“Yeah and no thanks to you bailing on me.”
“What, I thought you had hot daddy dearest to take you?”
she asked.
“I did, but what do you know, must be my day for people bailing out on me,”
I told her just as Lucius was answering his driver by telling him where we were heading.
Of course, Wendy didn’t miss the sound of a male voice, especially not one as sexy as Lucius’ deep and masterful one.
“Oh, you sly puppy, you! You asked Peter, didn’t you?!”
she shouted, screeching down the phone at me.
And of course, not only did I hear it, along with a boat load of dogs within a ten-mile radius to her, but Lucius did as well.
I knew this the second I heard a growl of one pissed off male next to me and quick to follow it was the threatening tone of Lucius’ snarled question…
“Who the fuck is Peter?!”