Chapter 18
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
Stephan
I take off after the princess, ignoring the viper Alicia’s call for me to come back. I don’t know how much Violet heard, but from the wounded look on her face, I’m guessing it was enough.
I fucked up big time.
I should have been smarter when I got here. I made a stupid mistake with my dick and now?—
Violet reaches a car, gets inside, and slams the door shut before I can reach her. All I can do is knock on the window and pray she can hear me. “Princess! Princess, talk to me.” I try the door handle but the lock has been clicked firmly in place. “Violet, please. Let me explain.”
Slowly, the glass lowers slightly, revealing Violet’s sister Iris and her redhead friend, both staring daggers at me .
“I need to talk to Violet,” I say, trying to peer into the darkness of the car. I see a glimpse of Violet’s floral dress at the other side of the seat. I can’t see her face, but I can sense her pain, her disappointment. A terrible numbness spreads. I don’t want her thinking bad about me. “Violet…”
“Give it up, St. James,” Iris snaps. “This isn’t one of your movies.”
Then the window rolls up, cutting off the intoxicating scent of violets, and the car peels off.
Shit. This isn’t good.
Why do I even care?
I like her?
She’s nice. Sweet. Absolutely beautiful. The pleasing part of her nature both annoys me and turns me on. I want to help her fulfill her dreams and not worry so much about her responsibility to her family. I want her to explore all those secret parts of her that she keeps locked away from everyone, and her innocence makes me want to corrupt her in the best possible way, introduce her to pleasure she couldn’t even imagine.
But only with me.
When Heath had told me to leave Violet alone tonight so that she could talk to other Alphas, I didn’t want to. But the entire point of our ruse was to find someone worthy of her. And she won’t find anyone if I don’t let her go. But when I saw her talking to that one rich Alpha, when he kissed her hand… It took everything in me not to storm over and knock him clean on his ass.
I had to leave.
Do I like like Violet ?
A nondescript limo pulls up next to me, and the window comes down, revealing Sophine in the backseat.
“Get in, Stephan.”
I’m too lost in my thoughts to move as fast as she requires, so she pushes open the door with a huff. “Stephan. Now.”
I get in the limo and look at the battle-ax. She’s dressed in a black suit, her hair back, pinned under a hat. Taking the seat across from her, I open the mini bar between us, grab a bottle of bourbon, and swig from it.
Wincing, she takes out a second bottle and pours herself a glass. “Your time in Emporia has made you uncouth.”
“I’m a barbarian.”
She sits back. “Tell me, Stephan, did you sleep with that new girl? Miss Dell?”
I open my mouth, but she shakes her head.
“You know what? Don’t tell me.” Then she fixes me with the kind of stare that makes me rear back. “But do tell me your intentions with my Luxe. The real ones, Stephan. Not that buttery nonsense you spread the other day.”
“Why did you choose her, by the way?” I ask. “Everyone knows she doesn’t like attention, unlike most Omegas. She doesn’t think she’s special.”
“I know.” She smiles, but I can’t read it. “Violet’s rare. Beneath that martyr layer is a girl who shines in her own way. A diamond waiting to be discovered. She’s refreshing, untouched. But she needs a little push. Don’t you think?”
She’s right. About all of it.
“Bottom line is, Stephan, I like her. And I know you do, too. So don’t fuck this up, or I will bring the Council’s fist down on you, family or not.”
The car stops, and I hadn’t realized we’d been going anywhere. Fuck.
“Get out,” Sophine barks. I do, and the moment I step onto the sidewalk, the door closes and the window lowers again. “This is Club Yin. She’s in there right now. Go get her.”
“Who?”
She grins, as if she knows some deep, dark secret. “Why, your princess, of course.”
Then the limo speeds away.
The place is dark, the music moody, and there are bodies dancing close together on the floor. I look for the beautiful flower in the iridescent gauzy dress of greens, blues, gold, purples.
She’s there, hair still pinned up, mask pushed up. She’s in the same pretty forest or garden ballerina look, the filmy skirt long to mid-calf. She sticks out in a grungy place like this, a shining beacon in the darkness, but I like it. Especially since she’s dancing like no one is watching, head tossed back, and finally enjoying herself without strict rules or expectations.
She’s so pretty, so lithe, so… It’s that intangible something that makes her magic, though.
In that, Sophine is right.
Violet’s sister is in black punk-chick clothes that she wasn’t wearing at the garden party. The redhead friend’s dressed similarly, and I don’t remember her wearing anything as hard core, either. They must have changed in the car.
The redhead is dancing with a young Delta, and the little prick’s getting a bit too hands-y with the Beta girl. She smacks the guy’s wandering hand away, but he grabs her face and brings it close to his and snarls.
Pushing through the crowd, I start toward him, just as Iris shoves the guy a step back. He may not be an Alpha, but he’s stronger than an Omega, and from the ugly look on his face, he’s not going to let that slide.
The Omegas try to get away by weaving through the crowd and heading toward the stage where the DJ plays, but the Delta follows.
That’s when I move.
I hook a hand in the collar of his shirt and yank him back. He whirls on me, eyes wild with fury, but before he can swing, I drag him out of the club and onto the street. A stream of people follow after us, filling the sidewalk with onlookers.
“You think you can fuckin’ roughhouse me? Do you know who I am?” the guy slurs as he shrugs out of my grip and stumbles to the ground.
“Do I look like I care?” As he goes to get up, I put a foot on his back and hold him there. “You need to learn how to keep your hands to yourself.”
“What’s it to you?”
I press harder.
“Let me up!” he growls.
“That’s Asher St. James!” someone yells. When I look up, I see everyone’s phones are up, snapping pictures or taking videos, and my stomach sinks.
Shit. Guaranteed this will be all over Stitch for days.
“He helped that girl! I saw it all,” another person says. “He’s a hero.”
“Did he beat him up?”
A young woman steps forward. “Is he bleeding?”
The Delta isn’t, but it doesn’t matter. This is how rumors get started. The best thing for me to do right now is walk away.
Removing my foot from the asshole’s back, I bend down so that he can hear. “I wouldn’t do that again if I were you. Consider this a warning.”
With one more glance at the crowd, I turn and stroll across the road to a modest park that ends at the long boardwalk. When I’m far enough away, I pick a bench and sit in the dark, watching the water.
It really is the one thing I like about Sabine, the abundance of parks.
My phone buzzes, and with a sigh I pull it out. “Hey, Clea. You’re calling fucking late.”
She laughs, and the sounds of Emporia in the background make me a little homesick. The pace never stops, and when the noise dims suddenly, I know she has walked into her apartment lobby. That and the echo. “Normally you’re out partying at this hour.”
Unless I’m on a shoot.
“That dull there?” she asks.
“I keep finding trouble to entertain me.”
“I’ve seen.”
Great. “Why the call? Has Felicity broken the deal? ”
“No.” An elevator dings.
“Is this about a visit?”
“This is about that script you want to make. I read it.”
My heart starts to pound. I may be biased but it’s brilliant, a project I’ve work on for years, and poured my heart and soul into after CeeCee died.
“A little rough?—”
“Rough? It’s perfect.”
“No script’s perfect. Only those annoying screenwriters think that.” She sighs, and I hear liquid hit a glass. “But it could be something. Just not…not for you.”
“What is that supposed to mean? I’m good enough.” My fingers bite into the phone.
“You’re a movie star, a golden darling, a man the girls dream of having. You’re single and while that’s helped your current roles, it’s pigeonholed you. This character you have here is for an actor who isn’t the fodder of dreams, who’s outgrown sex symbol, poster boy. An Alpha with a mate, maybe kids, like Johann Brigstock. Still sexy, but thinking-man sexy.”
“I want to make that film.”
“Find a mate the public will like. Something like one of those pretty things for sale on Sabine. A pristine little Omega.” In the background the doorbell chimes. “Gotta go. Think about it. Bye.”
Fuck. Get mated? I know she’s joking, but I want the world opened for me. If I found a mate…
Princess Violet?—
No. Heath would kill me.
Probably.
Just thinking about the princess has my mind conjuring her scent. It surrounds me, those violets. Strong, sweet, and enticing. They paint an image of springtime in my head, of a meadow surrounded by wildlife and cool breezes.
A place where I could disappear to for a while.
“Stephan?”
My entire being lights up, turns electric. Just the breathy sound of my name on her lips has my innocent thoughts of meadows and peace turning into depraved ones, of sinking my teeth into her, getting my fill of her heat, of marking her. The need throbs in me, and I’m glad I’m sitting because my fucking pants are suddenly ten sizes too small.
I don’t look up. “Guess I owe you an explanation, Princess.”
“Did you mark her?” Her voice is small, wounded, and I hate that I made her feel this way.
“Alicia? No.”
She makes a small sound. “I shouldn’t care who you…entertain, but then again, this is my reputation and?—”
“Some things are complicated. I didn’t know she’s part of the Season when I met her. And more important, there’s nothing between us.” Now. “It happens.”
“What happens?”
I shrug. “Fans, that kind of shit. She’s nothing, a troublemaker.”
“Stephan, look at me.”
I lift my head, and the emotion swimming in her eyes has me in a chokehold. There’s pain there, buried down deep. I wouldn’t have even noticed it if it wasn’t for my career. And on the surface is a thick layer of indifference .
“Did you sleep with her?” she asks and wraps her arms around herself to fight off the chill of the late night.
I don’t know if I should answer. But lying… I don’t know if I can do that either. Not with Violet.
“There’s nothing between us.” I repeat that instead, settling for middle ground. “I made a mistake. One I’ll never make again.”
She is silent while she thinks over my words. Finally, she shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter. None of this is real anyway.”
And for some reason, those words sear into me and burn. She’s right, though. We made a deal to have a fake courtship. That’s it.
“Maybe we should just end this now,” she says. “Whatever this is.”
Wait, what?
I stand. “End it?”
“I don’t see any reason to keep the act going. It served its purpose. I’ve already gone on a few dates, met a couple of Alphas that are…amiable. Any of them would make a fine mate. Or there’s Mr. Stockton. He seems very interested in me, and Heath approves.”
I laugh. “That walking human sedative? You’re joking.”
But from the unamused expression on her face, she’s clearly not. “He’s a CEO. Handsome. Polite. Well-traveled…”
“And makes a tax seminar seem like fun. And let’s not forget that he’s old as fuck.”
“Mid-thirties isn’t old.”
I ignore that. “The only reason he’s even seen as desirable this Season is because he’s loaded. The dude has no personality.”
“I can make conversation with anyone,” she says.
This is ridiculous. “But he’ll bore you to death. You don’t love him. You don’t?—”
“No one ever said anything about love, Stephan. This has always been about finding a mate that’s good for me and my family.”
“Don’t you want a love?”
“Every Omega wants to fall in love, but I gave up on that dream a long time ago,” she says and glances at the boardwalk in the distance.
Shit. She’s starting to sound like me.
“It may be time for us to just…let this go. You can do nothing with Alicia all you want, and I can take my brother’s advice and start taking other Alphas more seriously. We don’t have to even say two words to each other ever again.”
Heath’s a fucking bastard.
But I can’t blame him entirely. Violet’s pulling away, and it’s because of me.
“I don’t want Alicia,” I whisper.
“Well, whoever, then.” Irritation makes her voice rise. “Alicia, Jade, Brianna—I don’t care! What you do, who you do, is no concern of mine. I’m looking for a mate. Not a fantasy. Something real, not pretend.” Her hazel eyes seem to glow as her anger mounts. “I’m done, Stephan.”
She spins to leave, but before she can take a step, I snatch her by the wrist to stop her.
There it is again. The strange buzzing underneath my skin that happens whenever I touch her. The images of me sinking my teeth into her, biting her nipples, of her moaning underneath me as I rut away her virginity fills my head.
And her scent is stronger now, more so than it’s ever been, stroking over me like fingers on naked skin.
I don’t know what’s between us, but Violet must be sensing something, too, because she stares at our joined hands, mouth half opened, and breathing picking up.
“Stephan…” she whispers. “Let me go.”
I can’t. Just the idea of Dominic Stockton or any other Alpha touching her, kissing her, has a possessiveness whipping through me and my hackles rising.
She’s fucking mine .
“Did…did you growl?”
Her words startle me and make me drop her wrist.
Shit.
Then it hits me.
I know what’s happening.
The princess is going to go into heat. Any day now.
Her scent, the overwhelming urge to claim her…
“You need to stop touching me.” But she’s looking up at me like she wished I hadn’t let go.
It’s probably dangerous for me to be around her with her heat so close and my instincts in overdrive. But even as I tell myself to leave—take the out she’s given me—I’m stepping closer, cupping the side of her face with one hand and pulling her body against mine with the other.
She leans into it. “Stephan…” It’s a plea. One I feel and understand.
Dipping my head, I touch her lips with mine. Barely there .
She whimpers.
There’s a slam of a car door in the distance, shouts, and when I lift my eyes to look past Violet, I spot Heath stalking over to us. At his side is the battle-ax’s Omega, and no one looks happy.
If this truly is the last time I’m tasting Violet’s lips, I’m going to make it worth it.
So I close my eyes and I kiss her.
Hard.