CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE #2
The way he talked about his dragons was so sincere.
It was why I’d grown to admire him so much.
Sure, the racing was incredible, but off the circuit Bach showed respect to everyone – especially his dragons.
I might not have agreed with him on the best era of racing, but it was true that the bond between rider and dragon had become less important in Volitant.
‘When you’re back,’ said Josie, ‘we’ll get them to put Gottyk on some pyjamas.’
‘When we’re back,’ I corrected. ‘That adorable dragon will outsell all the others.’
Bach raised his bottle over the table. ‘To the dragons.’
Josie and I joined him.
‘To the dragons.’
‘Is this really necessary, Vaspre?’ I asked Theo as he led me into yet another high-end clothing store.
‘When I planned for time away from my training schedule I’d figured it would be essential work for getting me back into Volitant.
I’m not sure this’ – I picked out a scale print scarf made of sheer material, impractical and ugly. – ‘is essential.’
‘Are you really going to complain the entire time I’m helping you?’ he replied. ‘Bearing in mind this is the second favour I’m doing for you out of the goodness of my big, pure heart.’ He placed a hand on his chest, like it wasn’t total dragonshit coming out of his mouth.
The move drew my eyes to his chest, which was covered with a shirt nearly as sheer as the scarf I’d just mocked.
No scale print thankfully. Instead it was white lace, dense and intricate enough to look solid, with enough gaps to suggest that what was underneath was only one awkwardly long stare away.
I made a sharp right turn away from him and started rifling through the closest rack of clothes.
This was the third shop we’d been in, the others having ‘nothing suitable’ for me and the style I was apparently going for.
I flicked through the long skirts made of the kind of lightweight fabric that I could barely feel as I ran my fingers over it.
‘Put those down.’ Theo shooed my hands away and tugged me by the elbow towards another section. ‘We’re not looking for colour.’
‘We’re not?’
Theo hadn’t actually outlined any kind of plan for me yet. I wasn’t convinced he had one.
‘No offence, but you’re incapable of pretending to be someone you’re not. If I dress you in something soft and approachable people will only end up disappointed when you turn out to be the opposite. Your best shot is to emphasize what you are.’
I narrowed my eyes at the side of his head as we passed dozens of clothes that I saw no problem with. Then my eyes flicked to where he still held my arm.
I shrugged out of the light grip. ‘Are you forgetting that I successfully pretended to be another rider for weeks without anyone noticing?’
He stopped dead. Even with all my training with Bach I wasn’t able to avoid bumping into him. I felt the warmth of his body brush against mine as he turned to look at me.
‘What?’ I asked.
‘Firstly, people did notice. I figured it out immediately and the media were all talking about how different Thorne was acting. Secondly,’ – He held up a finger as I went to object. –‘pretending to be abrasive, aggressive and stubborn isn’t exactly a stretch for you.’
I thumped him on the arm. ‘Dickhead.’
He didn’t even wince.
‘And a liar,’ I said. ‘You only found out because I was half-dead on the Mirendi Tower steps.’
He arched a brow. ‘No, I knew before then. That’s why I followed you into the stairwell in the first place. Not only did you start using a battleaxe halfway through the race, but you jumped off Gottyk to overtake the Bolls – a classic Paldon move.’
I blinked a couple of times, running through the race in my mind’s eye. Yes, there had been a moment when Theo had looked over at me after the overtake.
‘Convenient you only mention this weeks later.’ I was more than willing to put it down to a coincidence.
‘You’re missing my point,’ he said. ‘I know you. I knew that you were my friend the moment we met. I knew you’d always be my biggest competition. I knew you were the one under that helmet when I saw you fly. Which means, by the way, that I know what will suit you when it comes to a public persona.’
My palms got sweaty as I clenched my hands over and over. He’d missed out the big one: he knew my weak points and was willing to use them to win.
He leaned closer and grinned. ‘What do you think? Are you going to try and prove me wrong?’
The urge to do something was building, making me vibrate from the inside out. The reminder of his betrayal of trust was propelling me to punch him, but the way his neck flexed and disappeared into the loose collar of his shirt made me want to grab him in a very different way.
‘You know what? I think I might just head back.’ I walked backwards, sending a collection of floral print blouses swinging dramatically on their hangars.
Theo tucked his hands into his pockets and watched me, clearly amused. ‘If hanging out with me is too much for you, then fine.’ He shrugged. ‘I figured it would be a small price to pay in return for a Volitant job. I’m not even blackmailing you this time.’
The door wasn’t far behind me. I could choose to walk out and find some other way to make myself valuable to a team – not that I had any idea how to do that, not without Theo. This shouldn’t have been any different to the weeks he’d spent blackmailing me with my secret.
Yet it was. I’d gone from forcing myself to be around him to forgetting why I’d been avoiding him in the first place. Now that it felt almost normal to be around him again the sudden reminder of all the baggage felt ten times heavier.
Which made the lust even more unwelcome.
It couldn’t be Theo causing this – he was acting the same as always.
Sure he was more toned now, having grown into his athleticism, but that didn’t account for my reaction to his smile the other night.
That was exactly the same as it always had been.
Some kind of threshold had been crossed during the weeks we’d been pretending.
It was me. It had to be. I’d been so busy with racing and living a secret life that I hadn’t had any time to take care of my other needs.
The last time I’d had sex was too long ago and that’s why I was going insane around Theo and his stupid kind-of-see-through clothes.
I just had to find someone else to deal with my frustration and the Theo problem would be resolved.
He was still staring at me.
‘Fine. Yeah, whatever.’ I brushed my hair out of my eyes, facing him directly and keeping my eyeline above his chin. ‘No point in pretending to be something I’m not. Just pick some clothes out already.’