Chapter 11 #2
“I thought the whole point was not to be influenced,” I shoot back, arching a brow.
“You need to understand how it works before you can learn how to control it. Trust me on this.”
“Trust you? That’s a stretch,” I mutter, but I step forward anyway, rolling my shoulders as if bracing myself. “All right, Mr. Hypnotist, show me what you’ve got.”
He sighs, clearly not thrilled with my attitude, but I think I detect a hint of amusement behind it.
“Close your eyes.” A snide comment instinctively forms, but something about the way he looks at me makes me follow the instructions, and I swallow it, closing my eyes.
“Now, listen to my voice,” he says softly, his tone smoothing out into something that feels almost intimate.
“Don’t think, don’t question. Just listen.
” The tension in my body slowly unwinds, and my pulse slows as my breaths even out.
I hate his voice pulling me in. I hate how easy it is.
How natural it feels. “Let go of everything else,” Koen murmurs, closer now, as if he’s right in front of me. “Focus on me. There is only me.”
I grit my teeth, resisting the pull. “You sound like every manipulative guy I’ve ever met.”
He lets out a small huff of laughter, his breath warm against my skin. “And yet you’re still listening.”
“I have a history of engaging with toxic men,” I quip back, but I can’t deny how quickly he’s sinking into my mind and how his words wrap around me.
His fingers skim my wrist, a fleeting brush of warm contact before there’s a tap on my forehead.
“Sleep.”
“Sleep,” Ace commands, his voice dipping into that serious tone he thinks makes him sound mysterious.
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. He’s so earnest, and it’s adorable. “Mmm, okay,” I reply, doing my best to look entranced.
Ace furrows his brow, his ice-blue eyes narrowing in concentration. We’re tucked away in our favorite spot behind the old theater, where the faded marquee casts a shadow that hides us from the world. The air is warm, the scent of summer clinging to the evening breeze.
“You’re feeling sleepy,” he intones, waving a hand slowly in front of my face while he’s standing on his skateboard, making him even taller than me. “Your eyelids are getting heavy.”
“Oh yes,” I tease, fluttering my lashes exaggeratedly. “So heavy.”
“You’re not taking this seriously.” He sighs, dropping his hand before he kicks his skateboard into a flip with one foot and catches it under the other.
“I am!” I protest, grinning. “It’s hard to be hypnotized when you’re this close.”
I lean against the crumbling brick wall, watching as he lets the wheels clatter softly against the pavement.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks, arching an eyebrow. His lips twitch, teasing a smile. Without a word, I reach into his back pocket, slipping out the deck of cards he always keeps there. He’s so distracted by the board he doesn’t notice until I start shuffling. “Really?”
“Maybe your stunning good looks are too distracting,” I say innocently, letting the cards snap together in a smooth motion.
“Flattery won’t derail this, Trouble.”
“Hypnosis is probably just people getting paid to act like they’re under a spell,” I say with a smirk. “Ever think of that?”
“Are you saying my dream is nonsense?”
I laugh, flicking a card at him. He catches it midair, spinning it between his fingers. “Well, you’ve already taught me all your best pickpocketing and card tricks. Maybe we should stick to what we’re good at. Vegas will take us, anyway.”
He flips the card once more before tossing it back at me. “I can do this,” he mutters, more to himself than to me. “I just need to figure out the technique.”
“Maybe I could pretend.” I catch the card and slip it back into the deck. “We could act like we don’t know each other, and I can be your unsuspecting volunteer who you successfully hypnotize.”
“Anyone with eyes can see we’re not strangers, Trouble.”
My heart does a little flip at that. “Oh? And what gives us away?”
He steps even closer, the skateboard dangling casually from one hand. “Could be the way you look at me.”
“How do I look at you?” I challenge, tilting my head up to meet his stare.
“Like I’m the only person in the world.”
“Well,” I hedge as my chest heats, and I hold his gaze. “Maybe you are.”
His smile brightens. “The way I look at you could give us away, too, to be fair.”
“And how is that?”
He leans in even closer and whispers against my lips, “Like you’re mine.”
I chuckle when he doesn’t kiss me, shaking my head when I realize he just stole the cards back from me, as he’s now leaning the skateboard against the wall and putting the cards in his pocket. “You’re impossible.”
“And you love it,” he shoots back, grinning.
“Maybe I do.”
The way his hair falls over his forehead, the curve of his smile, the softness in his eyes, I could get lost in him forever.
I love you, for sure.
“Tell you what.” He breaks the silence. “I’ll keep working on the hypnosis thing. For now, maybe we can focus on something else we’re good at.”
“Oh? And what’s that?”
He brushes a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering against my skin.
“This.” His lips meet mine gently at first, testing, but when I melt into him, he deepens it.
It’s warm, sweet, and everything. My hands slide up to his shoulders, pulling him closer as butterflies riot in my stomach.
When we finally pull apart, both breathless, he laughs softly. “Maybe you’re all the magic I need.”
“Maybe,” I agree, resting my forehead against his. “But if you ever need a volunteer for your act, I’m willing to fake it.”
He runs his hand over my back. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Anytime,” I tease. “Seriously, Ace, you’re amazing at so many things. Don’t beat yourself up over this hypnosis stuff.”
There’s a thoughtful look on his face when he pulls back. “I guess. I just want us to have the best act Vegas has ever seen.”
“We will. Between your sleight of hand and my charm, they’ll never know what hit them.”
His smirk returns, slow and confident. “Your charm, huh?”
“Absolutely,” I say, lifting my chin with mock arrogance. “I’m delightful.”
“Can’t argue with that.”
We settle down on the worn steps, back-to-back, leaning on each other, while I pull out my match case, striking one with a flick of my thumb.
The flame flickers, casting a warm glow against the deepening evening.
I roll the lit match between my fingers, feeling the slight warmth until it becomes too hot, and I blow it out, leaving the scent of sulfur lingering briefly in the air.
“You know…” I say after a while. “Even if hypnosis is a bust, I think we’ll be okay.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” I confirm, letting my head fall against the back of his. “Because we’ve got each other. And that’s more than enough.”
“You’re right.” I hear the smile in his words.
“I usually am.”
He laughs. “Charming.”
“Told you.”
“Thanks, Nova.”
“For what?”
“Believing in me,” he whispers.
“Always.”
“Wake up.”
My eyes snap open, and my mind is instantly a riot, torn between desperation to go back and confusion about where I am.
Ace.
The memory was so vivid. His voice, his smell, the feel of his hand all cling to me, and for once, I cling right back.
It felt too real, too alive, nothing like the blurred-out dreams I always have of him.
The magnitude of it presses down on me. It takes everything in me not to let it show or let anything invade the gift of experiencing space with him, even if our time is long gone.
I force myself to blink, shake it off, and push his memory away, even if I feel a lump in my throat.
Taking in reality, I clench my fists at what I find, what I suspect.
Did I say anything?
And why now?
Why didn’t his mind games trigger this memory when we were at Euphoria? Probably because it was all shock and adrenaline then. But now? Now, I feel almost comfortable.
“What did you do?” I launch the question—the demand—at Koen. I feel utterly exposed like I’ve been forced to reveal something private while also having no idea what he might have done to me while I was basically out of it. “What did you say?”
Koen stands there, looking at me questioningly. “Nothing, really. I just wanted to see if I’d be able to send you into a trance while you were still bickering with me. And I was successful. But you should have still had some sense of your surroundings.”
I grimace, unsure if it’s the trance or the memory, but I feel raw. No matter how hard I try to shove those feelings down, I know my face is anything but neutral.
“Which says more about you being open like a fucking book than him being that good,” Levi teases, his eyes twinkling with mischief, somehow reading my immediate thoughts.
I hate that he’s right. I hate that I’m so easily pulled under and let Koen have that kind of control over me. I bite the inside of my cheek, resisting the urge to rage.
“Maybe he’s just a fucking supernatural,” I quip snidely in a vain attempt to regain some control over the situation that has been out of my grasp from the start. “Ever thought about that?”
Koen bites his lips, and the way he looks at me as if he knows something I don’t only makes me angrier. “I’m as human as you are. It’s a skill, not a gift. There are things I’ve picked up that help. Reading a room, people’s body language…”
I can read people, too, but I’ve never put anyone into a trance because of it.
I want to scoff, but I hold it back. Koen’s eyes are on me, studying me. He’s dissecting me without even touching me. I want to give him nothing, so I cross my arms, trying to look unimpressed. “Body language? That’s all?”
He tilts his head, his gaze narrowing as if he’s already in my head.
“Not exactly. Micro-expressions show a lot more than you think. They reveal what someone’s feeling, even when they’re trying to hide it.
For example…” He steps closer, and I stiffen, but I don’t move back.
He lifts his hand, lightly brushing his finger against the corner of my mouth.
“Right here,” he murmurs. “That slight twitch… you’re intrigued but defensive right now.
You’re competitive, unfiltered, and proud…
” He pauses, his eyes searching mine. “But you’re also insecure.
And lonely.” His eyes bore into mine, and my stomach clenches. “And you hate that I know that.”
He says it so matter-of-factly, as if it’s a truth he’s always known about me, but he hasn’t. He just peeled away everything I’ve always tried to hide.
And yes, I hate it.
“Fuck you,” I spit out, unable to stop myself. “I’m nothing like that.”
“Lie,” he says accusingly as his eyes drop to my lips. “You need to learn to lie better if you want to fool me, Little Thief.”