The Agent
I shouldn’t have come.
I should’ve leaned on my injury one last time as an excuse to sit out of the perfect family portrait my mother and her husband often painted.
It hung most prominently at formal events like the one we were attending tonight, with gilded chandeliers, polished floors and guests draped in their finest gowns and suits.
The ballroom was teeming with patrons wearing extravagant masks, trimmed with gold or silver and sparkling with color coordinated jewels.
Even the servers floating around the room, carrying trays of golden champagne and hors d'oeuvres, wore simple black masks to match their plain white button ups and slacks.
Tonight, everyone’s identity was a mystery.
In theory, anyway.
People did little to stay behind their masks, lifting it every chance they got to show their makeup or their fresh botox. Others flat out said who they were, grinning as though they’d told a most coveted secret.
By the first hour, I was bored of the charade.
With all eyes on Isabelle or my mother, it was easy to slip away from my family. Not one eye caught the movement as I took a few steps back and shuffled away from the mingling group.
Twenty minutes later and I’m still standing in this corner sipping on champagne and watching the crowds, unnoticed and forgotten.
The fact would’ve angered the younger version of myself, maybe even driven her to make a scene in search for the attention she was severely lacking.
The woman I am now relished in the quiet and peace within her solitary bubble.
I’ve been living in it a little more lately.
Over the past two weeks, I’ve been waking up on the couch where I’d fallen asleep. The mess from my late night snack still lay on the coffee table. And there were no lapses of missing time on my security cameras.
After the last incident, I expected his presence to feel heavier. Not completely vanish.
His absence shouldn’t have worried me. Yet, every night I found myself hopeful to wake up in my bed and disappointed in the morning when I wasn’t.
I wouldn’t say I missed him, but I was curious about where he’s gone.
“Hey, Simon,” Justin’s voice yanked me out of my thoughts.
Blinking, I glanced at the man standing beside me. The green bow on his tuxedo matched his mask, the color meshing well against his light brown skin. “Hi.”
“I, um…I tried calling. I, uh…I heard you were in the hospital. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” I took another sip of my drink. “Where’s your date?”
“Over there.” He jutted his chin across the room to where Chelsea stood with her usual clique, her ears on the conversation but her eyes on us.
“I just came over to check on you.” His eyes ran down the length of my dress, lingering at every curve.
“You know we never got the chance to talk the other night. Maybe, if you’ve got a free moment tonight, we could try again. ”
I opened my mouth, prepared to let him down gently, when an arm slithered around my waist. My head whipped around to snap at whoever was touching me, but a deep voice stopped me from doing so.
“I’m sorry, babe,” he said casually. “I ran into Mr. Johannson and he started talking my ear off.”
I couldn’t help but stare at the clean, sleek tuxedo sheltering his tall frame, and black mask with silver curved trimming covering the entirety of his face. This man sure knew how to blend into a role. But damn, he shouldn’t look this good in this one.
He looked at Justin. “Who’s this?”
“I’m Justin,” my old flame replied, eyeing the hand on my hip.
“Ah, the ex,” he continued, extending his hand. “Nice to finally meet you.”
Justin’s hand muscles flexed as he accepted the handshake, giving a tight squeeze. “And you are…?”
“A friend,” he said, a smirk in his voice.
It took everything in me not to scoff and roll my eyes. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
“Well, I’ll let you two enjoy your night.” Justin nodded at me. “See you around, Simone.”
I feigned a smile and waved him goodbye. The moment Justin disappeared into the crowd, I sent my elbow straight into this asshole’s stomach. “Get your hands off of me,” I hissed.
He barely winced at the impact. His arm remained locked around my waist as his deep voice rumbled in his chest, not quite a laugh but something like it. “I see you haven’t missed me.”
“Was I supposed to?”
His head lowered to my ear and the cool surface of his mask brushed against my ear. “Sure,” he whispered. “After all, I’ve missed you.”
Shudders I thought I’d rid of ran down my spine. I took another sip of my champagne to keep him from noticing. “Then why stay away for so long?”
“I had other obligations.”
“Meaning you had new names to check off your hit list?”
“Why? Jealous my attention was on someone else?”
I scoffed. “Relieved is more like it.”
“Hm.” He pulled away from my ear. I felt his eyes on me beneath his mask, running over the sapphire blue satin hugging my body. “You look beautiful tonight.”
I shifted on my heels, the sincerity in his voice nearly knocking me off of them. “Thanks. My sister picked everything out.”
He turned his head, fixing his gaze on the dance floor of twirling patrons. A stage filled with musicians lay just beyond it, their instruments switching from an upbeat jazz beat to a slow, romantic tune. “Would you like to dance?”
“With you?” I asked, my brow unintentionally shooting up.
“Unless you had someone else in mind.” He held out his hand, palm open in silent invitation.
I stared at it like Eve must’ve stared at the apple, tempted but hesitant. I knew I shouldn’t, but at the same time, I didn’t have anything to lose. After all, we were in public. He wouldn’t dare do anything stupid with all these people around us.
I set my champagne glass down on a passing waiter’s tray before laying my hand in his.
His fingers, strong and firm, held mine in a gentle hold as he led me onto the dance floor.
There, he lifted my hands to loop and hook them around his neck. His own lowered to my waist and slipped around my hips to the small of my back. He pressed his palms against my spine, gently pushing my body against his.
I don’t think we’ve ever been this close before. Not like this.
The times we were, there were always weapons between us and adrenaline running through our veins.
Neither were present now.
Though my heart was banging against my chest, it wasn’t from alarm bells going off in my head. It was the woody scent of his cologne and the firm muscles of his abdomen pressed against my chest. I took deep, subtle breaths, hoping to slow its pulsing before he felt it too.
As we swayed back and forth, moving in tiny circles to the rhythm of the music, I stared up at him, noticing his eyes for the first time.
Pools of rich milk chocolate lay between the slits of his mask, sparkling like copper whenever small bits of light caught them.
An impenetrable shield covered them, preventing me from seeing any thought or emotion bubbling inside.
“What?” He asked, noticing the downward curve of my lips.
I shook my head. “I just…I can’t figure you out.”
“What, exactly, are you stuck on?”
“You saved me the other night,” I said. “Why?”
He held my stare for a moment, contemplating his answer.
His hands tugged me closer against him, practically pinning me against his body.
“Because if anyone is going to take your life, it’s going to be me,” he whispered, his voice dripping with sensuality and darkness.
“And I’m going to do it with my hands wrapped around your pretty little neck. ”
My breath hitched as the alarm bells rang again. This time, heat accompanied them, searing through my lower abdomen and between my thighs. There was no way in Hell a threat could sound so good.
“Simone!” My sister’s voice cut through the novel tension simmering between us.
I looked away and saw her squeezing through the crowd, her bright smile glowing between the masses.
“There you are!” She said as she reached me. “I was just looking all over…” She trailed off as her eyes shifted to the man I was dancing with. “Who’s this?”
I opened my mouth, prepared to tell her it was no one and tow her back to wherever she came from.
“Mateo,” he said before I could.
My neck damn near snapped as I looked at him, surprised he answered her. My brows rose as he had the nerve to release me and extend his hand.
“You must be Isabelle,” he continued. “It’s nice to finally meet you. Simone talks about you all the time.”
Isabelle’s eyes flicked between us as she politely shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, too, Mateo.”
The sight of her hand, pure of any sin, wrapped in the devil’s grasp made my blood boil. I grabbed Isabelle’s arm, ripped it out of his, and tugged her away. “Come on,” I said, not caring how rude I appeared. “I assume Mom wants both of us.”
Isabelle didn’t protest as I pulled her along. She kept up with my quick pace in her heels. “Who was that?” She asked.
“No one,” I replied.
“Well, clearly, that was someone. Is that your secret admirer?”
“No,” I snapped. “He’s just some guy I was chatting with.”
“Then, how’d he know who I-”
“Simone,” my mother’s scolding tone scratched my ears. Her smile was tight as Isabelle and I approached her. “Where have you been? Mr. Tony Monticello has been dying to meet you.”
I looked at the man standing beside my mother, clad in a gold mask and gold trimmed suit. He flashed a wide smile, nearly exposing all thirty two teeth. “Hello,” he greeted, offering his hand.
Feigning a smile, I accepted hand. “Hi.”
“Your mother said you were beautiful, but I’m afraid the word doesn’t measure how amazing you look.”
Oh my God, I mentally groaned as I watched him bring my knuckles to his lips. This woman really sent Isabelle over here to introduce and set me up with some random ass man. Reason number one hundred and thirty on the list of why I hate coming to these functions.