Chapter Two Ivan #2
To see her again was not coincidence. I came here to find her. She was right, this was our second chance. A chance to right the mistakes of our past.
I squeezed her hand, and the connection rippled through me like a heated wave. “Lisa’s mine,” I began, purposely using her nickname to show how familiar we were with each other. “Sorry the court arranged you two, but I can’t let that happen. We’ll ask them to find someone else.”
The male narrowed his eyes, still not believing us. “Who are you?”
I playfully slapped my forehead before offering my own. “Names, Ivan Icetower. And you are?”
He snorted, not accepting my hand. “She didn’t tell you? I’m Jacob Windsome. How close are you?”
Jalisa opened her mouth to speak, but I spoke up, dropping my hand. “I don’t think she found it necessary to talk about you in detail. When we’re together, sometimes it just ends up being us focused totally on each other. Right, my love?”
She gave me a smile of relief, and for a moment I allowed myself to believe it was genuine. “That’s right, Ivy.”
I winked at her, deciding that even though she called me by the nickname she used on me when she was at her most content, I wouldn’t allow it to mean much.
It was unfortunate the court had assigned her a mate but not surprising.
She was an omega, after all. However, I knew she wasn’t the type to get controlled.
I would help her. I had to. I wanted to.
Jacob shook his head, running his eyes left and right between us. “I don’t believe any of this. She’s been agreeable to this marriage from the start, and now she suddenly changes her mind?”
I shrugged. “Well, things change. As soon as I ran into my little Sunshine here, it was like old times.” I grinned mischievously at her, preparing to do more than she needed.
“Remember the other day when you told me I was your greatest love? That no one could come close to me. Not emotionally or physically. And that you were lost without me. Remember?”
She kept her smile, but I could see it had now grown tight. I was pushing it, but this was too much fun to stop. “Sure.”
“Yeah, and we’re still good on your promise to come over to my place tomorrow night and cook me dinner?”
Her smile faltered. She hated cooking, I remembered. But I enjoyed it and would have no trouble cooking for us both.
Jacob scoffed, crossing his arms. “Ha, I don’t believe you. She hates cooking.”
I tossed an arm over Jalisa’s shoulders, who was standing frozen like a smiling statute.
Her sweet scent swelled around me, and I momentarily forgot what we were discussing.
This moment of having even this much of her felt like a dream, and I was confidently taking advantage of it.
I would pay dearly for this later, but I couldn’t help myself.
It really was a problem. “Sorry, mate, it seems when it comes to me, she wants to do all she can. And I want to do the same.” I squeezed her to me and tapped my cheek. “Give us a kiss, love, will you?”
She pressed her lips tightly together and then quickly gave me a peck.
I took that moment to deeply inhale her sweet scent.
It was intoxicating. “Ok, reign it back in,” she whispered before pulling away.
“Aren’t you the sweetest?” She turned back to Jacob.
“I’m so sorry, Jacob, but things have changed.
He is someone I can’t let go of, despite the plan.
I won’t say anything else; I just don’t want to get married. ”
I kept my neutral face, but I had lots of questions.
What wasn’t she going to say anything about?
I was becoming more and more intrigued. I also wasn’t sure the courts would allow the marriage not to happen.
She had to know her simply asking for an out because of an old boyfriend wasn’t going to be enough. However, I would follow her lead.
Jacob glared at me again as if he could stare me down and make me run.
Fear was never my first response. I smiled and kept his stare, not blinking because I was highly competitive.
Finally, he broke our unofficial starring contest and looked back to Jalisa, pointing. “The court will hear about this.”
She gave a curt nod. “Naturally.”
He then huffed and stormed away. When he was out of ear shot, I looked back to Jalisa. “Many questions.”
She nodded, looking past me back to the bar area. “I know, and I don’t have time to answer them right now because I have to get back to work.”
I raised my brows, utterly confused. This was not the type of place I expected her to work. She was educated and an elite. What had happened in these last several years? “You work here?”
She took out her thin, square communicator and shoved it at me. “Yeah, put your contact information in here. We can talk later.”
I typed it in, wondering how I had missed her scent for the short time I’d been here. I blamed the smoked meats. “You can tell me tomorrow since we have those dinner plans.”
“You can’t be serious.”
I looked back at her, giving her back her communicator.
“Oh, yes, I’m quite serious. I haven’t seen you in over three years since that…
night. I’ve been looking for you since then.
It was only recently that I found out you were living here, of all places.
It’s admittedly a great hiding place, all things considered.
However, I wouldn’t have imagined you’d be engaged to some asshole.
The courts are very serious about their matches.
If you want my help getting out of this, I’m going to need to know everything.
Starting with why you left me in the first place. I deserve that much.”
She was too casual about this. My heart was still racing, and she looked too relaxed. Our touch had to have affected her too. Her scent gave it away. It was expanding, but she wouldn’t admit to how she was feeling, and I knew pushing her wouldn’t be the right move.
She gave a dry laugh. “You deserve? Do you remember why I left you that night?”
I nodded, shoving my hands in my trousers. “Yes, very clearly. The words still haunt me. You told me I was garbage and that you were leaving me.”
She stilled, the self-righteousness in her eyes dying for only a second. “No, or are you forgetting about the woman I found on top of you?”
I lowered my head, closing my eyes from the memories of that evening, what few I could remember. “That’s not how it went, and you never let me explain.”
“I know what I saw.”
We were interrupted when another male appeared behind her. He was shorter and older, with a white buzz cut and pink colored eyes. “Are you waiting to use the bathroom?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, go ahead.”
He looked at the closed door between Jalisa and me on my left. “Are you sure? I don’t want to skip in front of you.”
I waved him in front of me. “No, mate. Go ahead.”
He still had the audacity to look unsure. “I don’t want to be rude.”
Jalisa threw out her hands to the side. “What is happening? Do you have to piss or not?”
I tossed my head back. “Get the fuck in the bathroom, sir.”
He sucked his teeth and headed to the bathroom. “You both don’t have to be so rude about it.”
We looked at each other, not speaking, while the faerie took his agonizingly slow, sweet time to get inside.
Just locking eyes with her again, less angry than earlier, made my heart feel like it was swelling.
She just drew me in with those eyes. I felt like an idiot staring, but I didn’t want to break in that moment.
I wanted to keep pretending that things were just as perfect as they once were between us. Perfect and beautiful.
When she finally looked away, it felt if I were being stabbed in the chest. “You’re the same quick-tempered dragon.”
“And you’re the same quick-tempered faerie.
” I took her wrist and moved her away from the bathroom.
“There was so much more to what happened, Jalisa. To us.” I ran my other hand through my hair, not caring how it looked.
I was beginning to feel antsy, not wanting to let her go so she could disappear from me again.
She rubbed her forehead. “It doesn’t matter, Ivan. Us being apart is the best for everyone.”
She had lost her mind. That had to be it.
That night something happened, and it had damaged her brain.
“If that was the best thing, which I wholeheartedly disagree with, why would you pull me back into this? My Gods, woman, if he tells the court, they will call us in. How are we going to fool the king and queen?”
She gnawed at her lower lip, looking away with an unsure expression. “I don’t know right now! I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I just needed an out, and you came at the right time.”
Well, now I was insulted. “So, you would have done this with anyone strolling down the hallway, is that it?”
She shook her head but also shrugged, looking lost. “No, yes. I don’t know. I just know I felt relief when I saw you but don’t let that get to your head. It means nothing. You’re just a familiar face for a time in need. I really have to go now.”
I put out a hand to stop her. “What if I have a girlfriend or wife? What would you do?”
She frowned, and I wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t like the idea of me being with anyone else or if she was upset about the possible obstacle to her plan. “Well, do you have someone?”
“Maybe.”
She looked at me for several moments before rolling her eyes. “You were always so difficult.”
I smiled. “And you still loved me.”
She glared at me before leaving, not responding. That was fine. I would get the answers I wanted tomorrow. I had finally found her, and I wasn’t letting her go.