47. Chapter 47 Jack
Chapter forty-seven
Remember, you’re real Jack, not masked Jack, and this is a platonic date to finally spend some time with an old friend. I repeat my mantra until the doors to the private veranda open to reveal the woman who will always take my breath away.
Fuck an old friend. She’s everything, and you know it.
She looks like sin and money in her fitted cream dress and matching tailored coat. Her hair is pulled half up with voluminous curls falling down her back. Why on earth did I send this goddess to Paris two years ago?
After an embarrassing episode of stumbling out of my chair, I make my way to meet her with an awkward hug and lead her back to her seat.
I’m not looking too shabby, either. I made sure to groom myself particularly well tonight and donned the most flattering black suit I own.
I was expecting her to show up in one of her black dresses when I chose my outfit, but with her lighter option, we’re kind of giving off a devil and angel vibe.
I’m starting to understand why Ledger likes to role-play like this with Sloane.
“This is lovely, Mr. Carter.” She looks around at the city lights below us, her reaction filling me with a mix of pride and relief.
I booked this reservation the night she agreed to go out with me. A private table at a restaurant with three Michelin stars and a 360-degree view of New York is exactly the kind of thing my princess would consider a stellar date .
Don’t get me wrong, she likes a laid-back diner with greasy fried food as much as anyone, but my girl has always enjoyed a nice night out.
She’s never been that caged princess who was forced to sit all prim and proper and sip her tea with her pinky up but longed to run and play.
No, not Margot. She’s always loved getting dressed up for a fancy meal.
To be fair, she loved to climb trees and play ball as well, so maybe that’s part of what makes her so special.
She’s always been the most well-rounded, brilliant person I’ve known.
She would’ve enjoyed a fun activity tonight, but I want as much time as I can get just talking to her.
Who knows when she’ll ever give me that chance again.
“Margot, please just call me Jack. I can’t take this distance between us anymore.
” I raise a trembling hand over the table for her to shake.
“Can we please call a truce between us? You were my best friend. I know I fucked it all up, and I know there will be a you-sized hole in my heart for the rest of my life, but the animosity is killing me.”
The candlelight reflecting in her beautiful eyes threatens to wash me away, but I’ve been fighting for my life in those eyes for as long as I can remember. I hold my ground, meeting her stare as the storm brewing deep within her gaze calms, her walls finally dropping to let me in.
She places a steady hand in mine. “Alright, Jack. Truce.”
I continue to shake her hand until she clears her throat and pulls it back as properly as she can with my tight hold.
Our server comes to pour us a glass of wine and walks us through the prix fixe menu to see if any adjustments are needed.
There aren’t any, of course. I know this woman like the back of my hand.
No amount of time away from her has ever changed that, and no amount of time ever will.
“My apologies, ” I say when he’s left us alone again, my rejected hand rubbing the back of my neck. “Um…Did you get your flowers this morning?”
I never stopped sending her that ridiculously large arrangement of assorted pink flowers for Valentine's Day. Even when she was in Paris, although she never responded to let me know she would be my Valentine for those two years. Due to the nature of the auction date being specifically for February 14th, she’s mine for tonight, though. At least for a few hours.
And that’s enough.
“Yes, thank you…Jack. They were very nice. The diamonds as well.” Despite our shake of truce, her demeanor is as rigid as ever.
“Please relax, Margot, this isn’t a real date.
” To my dismay. “I just want to know what you’ve been up to lately.
” I miss you. “I’ve been so focused on getting the new business up and running that I’m afraid I’ve forgotten what it’s like to live.
Something you seem to have been doing to the fullest. Let me live vicariously through you. ”
Her pretty eyes roll as she takes in my confession. “Oh please, Jack, your business is a sex club . Don’t act like you’ve been living this boring existence since you’ve been in New York.”
I give her the best smile I can summon, which is apparently just a sad side smile. No, Princess, it’s been a very gray, boring existence indeed.
“Well, it’s certainly not as exciting as that one summer you decided you were done waiting for your pee pee to come in and would just take one of ours instead. You even had Henry watching his back. I can’t tell you how many times I caught him hiding from you.”
For the first time in over two years, my princess laughs at me, spitting her sip of wine back into her glass in the process. This time, the smile that spreads across my face is genuine.
“Oh my God, I completely forgot about that! I was five. You can’t hold that against me forever!”
“Oh, I can and will. I still see a phantom five-year-old Margot coming after my big boy bits from time to time.” Although, she can certainly take mine from me now. Any time she wants.
“Speaking of Phantom, do you remember when Mom took us all to see Phantom of the Opera for the first time?”
I should’ve guessed that saying phantom would lead to this.
“Do I ever! Ledger got to fuck off while you made me play both Raoul and the Phantom so you didn’t have to choose. That way, you get them both at the end. ”
“Well, that is on brand. I still enjoy a good why choose.” She winks, swirling her glass around before taking a drink.
“Do I even want to know what that is?” I raise a brow as I take a drink of my wine as well.
“One would hope so,” she answers with a raised brow of her own, accompanied by a sinful smirk adorning her perfect little painted mouth before moving along. “Can you believe Marco has never been to see Phantom of the Opera ?”
I make a mental note to google what a why choose is when I get home, before teasing her a little. I know I told myself this was supposed to be completely platonic, but I can’t help it. “By Marco, you mean the one Italian man you haven’t slept with?”
She takes my insult as well as I could hope for such a low blow, her eyes narrowing just slightly. “Excuse me, sir, you did tell me to go to Paris and fin…”
“Find the sexiest French man,” I interrupt before grumbling. “I didn’t mean all of Europe.”
This time her reaction is one of actual annoyance. “Oh please, Jack Carter, I didn’t do anything you haven’t done. And tenfold at that.”
Even if I move a decimal, fuck, I hope she didn’t sleep with that many men…Okay, she has a point. Stop being a misogynistic asshole, Jack. She hasn’t done anything wrong by exploring her sexuality. She wasn’t yours anyway. Remember, you let her go…
“When do you want to go?” The confusion written on her face is question enough, so I elaborate. “To the play. When can you, Marco, and his husband, go to see Phantom of the Opera with me?”
My sweet, beautiful girl just stares at me with an inkling of adoration taking over the anger in her expression. She’s lost in her head, and I’ve seen her do this enough in my life to know I’m going to have to ask again.
“I asked you a question pe…princess.”
Shit, I need to channel back to those days she had me playing both parts before I blow the cover of my actual, real-life masked persona.
“Um, I don’t know. Let me look at my schedule.” She gets out her phone for the first time tonight to look at her calendar. “I think I can fit it in sometime next week, but I’ll have to double-check with them.”
I’ll get four tickets for every performance from tomorrow until she’s free. I’ll even become besties with Marco in the process. Anything to see her again.
“Just let me know, and I’ll get the tickets. There’s no way someone as close to you as Marco can continue without experiencing what it’s like to sit through Phantom with Margot Sinclair.”
This time, a smile accompanies her cute little eye roll. “Yes, sir. I’ll let you know.”
Be right back, choking on air. My dick is suddenly as hard as a rock, and she didn’t even mean that sexually.
“You pinky promise?” I ask, holding out my hand to seal the deal like we have our whole life.
She lifts her hand over the table, as dramatic as ever.
“I pinky promise to go with you to Phantom as long as you pinky promise not to embarrass me in front of my friends.” I loop our little fingers together, knowing that she would never stand me up now.
“I’ll be good, I promise. I won’t even bring up Sprinkles. ”
The mention of that damned cow she used to love so much seems to do wonders for her mood.
Go figure. As our evening rolls on, so do our conversations.
With each story, the air gets lighter and lighter.
Glimpses of the Margot I used to know so very well peek through her guarded exterior with every passing course, and I realize that as fun as our sexual encounters have been, this is what I crave the most from my princess.
I want to take her on dates. I want to laugh and tease. I want to…I want her to be mine.
And while there is no way in the world I could let go of the one masked hold I have on her, I refuse to carry on without having her as a whole.
I’ll just have to find a way to win her back. Whatever it takes .