CHAPTER FOUR
1076 Words
~~LILITH~~
"Go home. I'll see you at dinner."
Those words were hard to take; they hit me harder than the elevator walls I was just stuck against. It felt like a command. A dismissal. Either way, it stung.
My chest feels like it's churning. His storm-grey eyes are cold and impossible to look away from. Behind him, a brunette casually buttons her blouse, smirking like she owns the air I'm struggling from.
Not the sight I hope to see.
She shoulders into me with a sly giggle, trailing her perfume and damn smugness in equal measure.
"b***h," I mutter under my breath.
Who does she think she is?
Something inside me fractures. Then sharpens.
I step forward deliberately, my heels clicking against marble until I'm close enough to smell his cologne cedar and danger and everything I shouldn't want.
Rising on my toes, I angle myself so the brunette can see. Can hear.
I lean into his space and whisper, just loud enough: "I'll be waiting for you at dinner, Uncle Ares."
As I say the words, he doesn’t push me away. his jaw tenses, and his stormy eyes flicker like lightning, even if he thinks he tries to hide it.That is all I need.
I pull back with a smile and step into the elevator I'd fought so hard to escape minutes ago, not sparing her a single glance.
The brunette's expression? priceless filled in shock, defeat. I know I’ve just pulled the rug out from under her stilettos.
The elevator hums downward. City lights stream through the glass, but my vision blurs. Throughout the entire nightmare upstairs, I held myself together. Now, alone in this descending box, something in me cracks again.
Maybe I've outrun something. Maybe I haven't.
I should go home. I should. But Ares is the last sliver of hope I have for making my life livable when my father who understands nothing isn't watching.
Whatever painful memories I have of him stayed buried when he flew to Michigan. At least he didn't sell me off to the woman I hate most: my mother.
By the time I exit the building, I'm snatching the car keys from the driver's hand.
"Miss—" he scurries
"Not now." I say. I have already had enough of backlashes for one day
I'm already dialing my best friend as I’m driving off the gate. "Mary."
Her voice explodes through the speaker, bright and chaotic as always. "Lily? Where the hell have you been?" she says
"Now's Not the time. I need something strong tonight."
I can't tell her over the phone what I saw in Ares's office. How it felt. I don't even know yet.
"What's wrong?" she asks
The storm in my voice betrays me.
There's a pause. Then a sigh.
"I just need to get some things out of my system." I say
"You're not seriously calling me to go clubbing right now." I could hear her pouting her lips.
"Oh, I'm very serious.”I say
Mary and I go way back. We both know what the other needs when it's time.
"Tell me what happened."
"I will." My knuckles whiten on the wheel. "I'm coming to get you now."
"Wait, what—"
"Wear something nice."
I hang up.
It takes two hours to reach her. The night settles dark and heavy over the highway. I don't check my phone not even once.
When I pull up, she's already waiting in a green bodycon dress, sliding into the passenger seat with wide eyes.
"Oh s**t, is this your car?" her relentless eyes begging to know how I got a BMW.
"No." I nod toward her seatbelt. "Buckle up. Stop asking questions."
"Whose is it? Your dad's?" Her tone sharpens.
She knows I'd never be caught dead in one of his hand-me-downs.
"It's Ares's."
"Oh my, you mean your hot uncle." She giggles.
I shoot her a glare. Of course Ares is hot. Sexy. Everything a woman could want and nothing she should touch.
Chastity Club is packed: pulsing bass, writhing bodies, kaleidoscope lights spinning across sweat-slicked skin.
Mary breezes past me to claim spots at the bar, ordering two margaritas from a tan bartender with practiced easeness.
"So." She knocks hers back in one go. "Are you going to start talking?"
"Maybe." I lift my glass, letting the sharp scent of liquor burn my nose before I sip. "I walked in on him with some girl. Cheap perfume. Hollow laughs. she thought she was untouchable."
Mary hisses through her teeth. "Wait, you walked in on who? Lily!"
"Ares." My throat tightens, but I force a laugh. "Guess that makes me the punchline, huh?"
"Jesus. He's your dad's best friend. Don't tell me he's the reason you're spiraling right now." I take another gulp from my glass.
"And?"
"And he's, like, what—thirty-eight?" she says.
I smile, wicked and broken. "I'm not hiding how I feel about him anymore."
Mary groans. "You need therapy."
"I need tequila, Mary. I'm not okay."
"The guy doesn't even know it yet." she shoots me a glare.
"I'm living with him now anyways."
"What?" she asks shock by the sudden reveal, if there was anything that makes me feel better. It has to be living with Ares.
"Courtesy of my dear old Dad." I say almost with a laugh.
"Jones just made the worst mistake of his life. Oh my God." Mary says
I burst out laughing, and we order more shots. I lose count after five.
Two hours later, the bass is a second heartbeat.
The club is alive neon and sweat and more bodies and noise. I let it swallow me whole.
Mary sways beside me, laughing when I drag her onto the dance floor. Every time I close my eyes, I see him those perfect storm-grey eyes, that cruel fine line mouth, the way he said "Go home" like I was nothing.
But I disobeyed. I dance. I forget and I pretend it doesnt matter.
Some guy slides up behind me, his hands bold and breath too close behind my ear. I don't care. His hand finds my waist and I lean back, letting the rhythm blur everything else. We're so close I forget we're even in public. I don't see Mary, I guess the effect of drinks is already slipping in.
Until the crowd shifts.
And I hear a familiar voice cutting through the noise like a blade.
"Lilith Jasper."
- Writer
