CHAPTER 2: MORINA
1737 Words
He sighed and motioned toward a table and chairs.
“It also seems our friends are occupied for the time being.”
I could have told him off for doing whatever weird background check he’d decided to run on me. I could have left him in the dust too. Yet I had a very serious problem. I was nosey. I walked toward the barstools and sat down.
“Why are you running a check on me? And how?”
“Unique name and face.”
“Face?” My voice squeaked.
“Technology is crazy these days. I don’t know how, but Dante does.” He was already bored with me as he looked around the club.
“Anyway, I know Linny’s history. It was easy enough for Dante to work a little magic. It’s his job.”
“To vet all the people that hang out with you?” I set down my drink and crossed my arms.
“Essentially.”
“Why? That sounds like it’s no fun.”
“What’s not fun about it?” He rolled the crystal tumbler in his hands so the liquid swirled.
“There are no surprises.”
“Oh, I find enough surprises to last a lifetime in even the people I associate with.”
“Probably,” I grumbled and picked up my drink.
“So, what’s the deal with Dante?”
Scanning the crowd, I set my sights on someone who looked likely to have less baggage. Bastian’s appearance far outranked anyone in the club, but Linny didn’t need to know that.
“The deal with him?” Bastian c****d his head.
“Yeah, like is he single?” No harm in cutting to the chase.
“You’re interested in him and not me?” He sounded completely shocked, and now his focus was directly on me, with no sign of that wandering eye.
“Bastian, I’m much too simple for your tastes.” And he was much too complicated for mine.
“Dante seems nice.”
“Well, I’ll be damned that a girl looks at my security team instead of me tonight.” He rubbed the stubble across his chin.
“What’s your story, Morina?”
“I don’t have one. We’re out in Miami for a night and then back to the grind. I work, I eat, I sleep. I’m sure it’s a much more boring life than you live. One your friend would probably be much more interested in.”
He sighed and brought his drink to his lips. I’d had too much to drink in the limo, that sloshy feeling coming over me. I knew right as he took a swig and my eyes trailed down his neck. The liquid flowed down over his full lips, sat on his tongue and then probably rolled down that thick
neck of his. His mouth looked so pillowy, I wondered if he could possibly lead with such soft lips. One side of them tipped up, and my gaze snapped to his.
He murmured, “I lead in everything I do.”
“I…” I didn’t even know what to say as I slapped a hand over my mouth.
“I’m really embarrassed that I said that out loud. I drank…”
“The liquor can catch up to you when you don’t drink a lot.”
He nodded, not making fun of the fact that I had
totally been considering him sexually.
“So, about Dante…” Back to the real matter—the safer matter.
“I don’t think it’d be a great idea to hook you up with one of my closest friends after you’ve hit on me, Morina.”
“I’m not hitting on you. I was admiring your face,” I threw out and then slammed my mouth shut with a wince.
He chuckled, and I shook my head to motion for him to stop.
“This is not normally how I am. I’m better at hiding my attraction to someone.”
“You’re attracted to me now?” He leaned on the table, a twinkle in his chocolate eyes, and I found myself wanting to lean in.
I turned to the crowd. “I’m attracted to your friend too. He seems like a safer bet. More realistic.”
“What makes me so unrealistic?” he asked in my ear and a shiver ran over me, making me aware of how close he’d come.
“For one, your suit probably costs more than my whole wardrobe.”
“I have no idea how much combat boots go for. You very well might be more expensively dressed.” He shrugged in his suit.
“Oh please.” I waved off his joke, both of us knowing my shoes were for comfort and not a fashion statement at all.
“Second, no one’s bothered you since you’ve been up here, which means you probably are the one who commands the whole room, and you all probably do illegal things.”
“What if I told you only one of those things was true?”
“I’d ask which one.” I shrugged, but my mind had run away with another idea already.
“What are you doing in Miami?”
He nodded and sat a little straighter, like he was ready to give his elevator speech.
“I’m scoping out companies my father owned. He squared away a lot of his business dealings when he was more involved in his investments, but then the economy took a dive. Anyway, he’s been gone a long time and now I’ve taken over a lot of those dealings.”
I nodded, trying to sound interested. “Really?”
“No, not really.” He shook his head, and then his long lashes lowered over his eyes. He studied me like I was a rubix cube.
“I don’t know why I want to tell you the truth,
but it might just be I’m sick of Miami and I need some excitement. My business dealings aren’t exciting.”
“They sound great,” I said with about as much
enthusiasm as I could muster. I didn’t want to sound bored with his businesses, but my mind took off easily if I wasn’t fully entertained.
“It’s boring as s**t and you know it.”
He dragged a finger down my nose, and my eyes met his immediately. Our touch was like a zap to the system and he seemed to know the pull he had when he did something like that because his smile flashed like lightning across his face. I leaned back out of his reach.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m sure someone else would be more interested in your work. I’m just more interested in your friend.”
“What for?” He crossed his arms.
“He’s safe!” I huffed, annoyed he hadn’t heard me the first time.
“What’s with you and being safe? You can’t live any type of life if you’re safe.”
“I live just fine where I’m from.”
He peered behind me, stared at my friend Linny, and then glanced back at me.
“Have you been outside of where you’re from ever?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“I could take you somewhere else, though.”
“Oh, are you offering to take me back to your apartment or hotel? Show me how you really work your magic stick?”
I laughed at my own joke, sure he was about to use it as a pick up line. He narrowed his eyes and his next words came out cold, almost condescending, but still he gave me a question, not a command.
“Do you think I can’t show you a good time, Morina? That I couldn’t show you something new?”
“Of course you can’t. You’re just another guy wearing a suit.”
I’d had my fair share of them come through the
tourist town I’d lived in. I knew his type. Sort of.
Something behind his dark eyes, that wolfishly fast smile and all the perfect angles of his face, made him different.
He was nice enough, soft lips, or so I guessed, and was saying everything right, like he really was an accommodating gentleman… right up until he closed the door to his lair and ripped you apart.
“I’ve been with a lot of men like you before.” I searched the room for Dante.
“Like me?” The corners of his mouth lifted, but the warmth in his smile was gone. Bastian’s sheep skin was sagging, and the wolf was coming out to play. He had power or confidence or a sheer sense of knowing that he was greater than all of us.
It made me want to back away and lean in all at once. Maybe it was the particular evening and how I knew my grandma was about to leave me. Linny lived on the edge for fun, but I was teetering on it. I was about to be alone in this world and at 23, that seemed a little unfair. Cruel, even. I questioned a lot on my good days and on my bad. I grabbed my crystals and hoped the planets and stars would work in my favor.
Tonight, the edge was close for a lot of reasons, but not for fun. The voice in my head echoed that we were doomed, like we tiptoed through a valley of razor-sharp rocks, about to trip at any moment. I shut my eyes and tried my best not to spiral and fall.
“Look, Bastian, right?” He nodded.
“Bastian, you’re older, wiser, probably have a lot more experience with women. So I’ll tell you. I’m probably like a lot of women you meet. Like the really eccentric ones that you like to avoid. I watch for full moons. I’ve been known to sage my house. I’m a believer in signs. I’m not your thing. I read my horoscope yesterday, and my week is supposed to be filled with a lot of the same. It told me to avoid that and go down a rabbit hole.”
“What sign are you?”
“Oh, do you actually know signs?”
I’d never met a man in a suit that wanted to discuss astrology.
Maybe, just maybe, our stars would align.
- Writer
