Chapter 20 Allegra #2
I put on the first dress which is lovely, a deep red silk that feels so soft against my skin it’s like I’m not wearing anything at all. It’s elegantly cut, and I hate that I find myself thinking he’s right. The red does look good against my skin and hair.
“Oh, now, that’s beautiful,” Elenora says, startling me. She draws the curtain fully open and gestures for me to step out in front of the three-way mirror.
“Did you find something black?” I ask her, a little irritated by her pushiness.
She smiles, but I see her annoyance. She points to a simple black sheath.
“Great,” I say, taking it into the dressing room and not letting myself try on the choker she tries to show me.
Instead, I slip back behind the curtain and strip off the beautiful dress to put on the simpler one.
At least she’s quiet, I think, as I reach back to zip it up, but the zipper gets stuck almost right away.
“Elenora?” I call out as I slip out from behind the curtain.
I stop dead the instant I do. Because it’s not Elenora who is looking back at me.
It’s Jet Blackstone.
I gasp, my heart racing.
He smiles, sips his whiskey. He’s seated at the center of the couch, one ankle resting on top of the opposite knee, casual as can be. He’s wearing black on black. Jet black. Jet Blackstone. And he looks like the perfect villain. A lot like Cassian does.
He uncrosses his legs and sits there like that, legs spread, just looking at me. When he finally sets the whiskey down, I draw in a breath. He stands, putting a finger to his lips to signal for me to be quiet.
I remain as I am, dumbfounded, and watch him climb up to where I’m standing.
I instinctively take a step backward. He’s big, as big as Cassian.
And even if he did rescue me out of that crypt, there is something about him that makes me uneasy.
That scares me. Because he is dangerous.
I know that. Perhaps not quite foe, he is something other than friend.
“What are you doing here? How did you get in?”
He shrugs a shoulder, steps a little closer than is normal or correct. His eyes move from my face down to the exposed skin of my chest before he stretches his arms to either side of me. I take hold of his biceps to stop him, thinking he’s going to hug me or something.
“What are you doing?” I ask. “Where’s Elenora?”
He chuckles, as unmovable as Cassian, and a moment later, I feel his fingertips on the skin of my back before I hear the zipper as he slides it up, cinching the dress around me.
“Elenora had to step out.”
A moment later, he steps backward and looks at me, taking my shoulders and turning me to look at the mirror.
“I prefer the red,” he says. He’s right. This is a beautiful dress, but the red was special.
I look up at him over my shoulder. He’s standing right behind me close enough that I feel the heat of his body and when I look in his eyes, I remember how he looked at me. How he put his hands on my knees and looked at me.
I turn away, feeling my face burn. But I can’t do that. I can’t cower. I promised myself that a long time ago.
Taking two steps away, I turn to face him fully. “How long have you been here?”
“Not long.”
Forest green, I realize. His eyes are forest green. Not black. I recall the scars on his body. So many of them.
“Two soldiers are right in there,” I say, pointing.
He grins. “Are they?”
“Cassian will kill you if he finds you here,” I continue.
“Probably, yes. If he finds me. Do you want me to go?”
Do I? Maybe. Why wouldn’t I want him to go? “What are you doing here?”
“Well, this is my family’s casino. The dinner tonight, you and Cassian will be our guests.”
Now I’m confused. But that’s not what I meant. I meant what is he doing here in this dressing room, which is supposed to be guarded, the shop locked.
Anxiety wrings out my insides. I may have Cassian’s protection, but Cassian isn’t here.
“Surprised he’s coming, actually,” Jet continues. “But back to my question. Do you want me to go?”
I think about how he rescued me out of that crypt, putting me to bed. His bed. I’m not sure he did it to save me, though. I think he did it to piss off Cassian. I recall how he and Cassian fought. How he looked at me, his hands on my knees, fingers digging into flesh.
My face feels like it’s on fire and from the smirk on his face, it must be bright red.
He takes a step toward me, and I take one back right into the mirror. Jet reaches out a hand and brushes a lock of hair behind my ear then leans his face closer to mine. My heart races. I realize what he’s doing and feel my face go even redder when he straightens, eyes darker.
I don’t need him to say it to know what he smells.
Sex.
Cassian.
Cassian on me. Cassian all over me. It’s exactly what Cassian wanted. Did he know Jet would approach me? Why didn’t he send Enzo down with me? Because surely the soldiers out there can hear us. Surely Elenora can. Where is Elenora?
“I smell him all over you,” he says.
“Why are you here?” I ask, my throat dry, my voice hollow.
Jet’s eyes narrow as my heart races. He steps backward, reaches into his pocket and takes something out.
“I came as a favor to my new friend, actually.”
I’m not sure what he’s talking about, but he opens his hand and inside I see my phone. For a minute I don’t believe what it is. I think maybe I’m mistaken, but he touches the screen, and the wallpaper of Amal, Daniel and I confirms it’s mine.
“Where did you get that?” I ask, reaching to snatch it from him.
He pulls it out of reach. “Someone gave it to me. Actually, she asked me to give it to you.”
“Amal?” I ask, knowing there can only be one person, but how?
“Right on the first try.”
“What game are you playing?” I ask, hearing his words because my brain is slow to process. I came as a favor to my new friend.
“No game. She’s a tough one, Amal.”
I spring, fisting handfuls of his shirt, furious. He laughs. He just laughs, grabbing hold of my arms as if I could hurt him. As if I could ever actually hurt him.
“What the hell did you do to her? What the—”
“Whoa, whoa. Relax. I didn’t do a thing. She came to me.”
“No way. I don’t believe you.”
“Well, it’s true.” He shrugs his shoulders, and I drop my arms, step back.
“What do you mean she came to you?”
“I mean she showed up at the club.”
“Amal showed up at your club?”
“She’s resourceful,” he says with a grin I don’t understand. “She cut class and took an Uber.”
“An Uber?” I know I sound like a parrot.
“Wildcard, that one. She said you didn’t take the phone with you because you knew Cassian would search you and likely take it.”
I reach out and take my phone from him. This time, he lets me.
“Oh.” He reaches into his pocket once more for the charger. I take that too.
“She’s not your friend,” I tell him.
He just shrugs a shoulder.
“Why did she bring it to you of all people? And why would you give it to me and not Cassian?”
“Do you prefer I did that? I can, of course.” He reaches as if he’ll take the phone back.
“No! I just don’t understand.”
“I thought you and I were friends, Allegra.”
“I think you’re playing a game, Jet.”
“You’re not very trusting, are you? Well, no matter.” Again, he shrugs. “Nothing to understand,” he picks up on my comment. “Amal came to the club. She asked for Severin or me and she’s lucky I heard who she was before my brother did. He’d have tossed the phone out with the trash.”
“Why wouldn’t you?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “I’m curious how things will play out, I suppose. Also, she’s cute. Young but—”
“She’s seventeen! You stay away from her.” I find I’m leaning into his face, his shirt bunched in one fist. “She’s not a part of this.”
“Well, with Malek Lombardi for a father, I’m pretty sure she’s in it up to her eyeballs,” he says with a casual chuckle as he peels my fingers off. “I took the liberty of adding my number to your contacts list.”
I unlock my phone and sure enough, there’s Jet’s contact. Amal knew my password to unlock it, so I guess she did that for him. I look up at him. “Is this some sort of trick? A test or something?”
“You are very suspicious. Can’t someone just do something nice for you? Haven’t I done that for you twice now?”
I study him, try to read him, but it’s impossible. “You and Cassian, are you his friend or his enemy?”
“That’s exactly the question I keep asking myself. What about you?”
That makes me pause because what about me?
As if on cue, the curtain opens just a little, just enough for one of Cassian’s soldiers to peek his head in and give Jet some sort of signal.
Jet nods and the curtain drops. So, are they double crossing Cassian?
Or did Cassian set this up to test me? No.
Why would he? To test my loyalty? It could be, but I don’t think he’d do that.
“I mean, why try to be a friend to someone who doesn’t want your friendship, am I right?
” he asks me. “Take care, Allegra. Cassian is dangerous and his…” he clears his throat.
“Claim on you puts you in danger. You don’t want to be in the middle of this.
Bad things can happen.” Am I imagining it or does he glance at my hand with its missing finger when he says that.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Save me a dance, will you? If Cassian lets you out of his sight, that is.” He walks toward another curtained wall, so many curtains in this place, and slips through, but pauses, turns back to me. “The red one,” he says with a tilt of his head toward the dress.