A Kiss For The Cameras
843 Words
He kissed me like he owned me, and I forgot that he didn't for a second.
The gala shone like a dream or maybe a well-staged nightmare. The lights flashed. Diamonds sparkled. When people smiled, their lips were too tight and their eyes were hungry. And there I was with Damon Grayson, the man I married for a job and a future that didn't belong to me.
He put a firm hand on the small of my back. Not soft enough. Too sure.
He asked in a cool voice, as if our whole world wasn't about to fall apart under the lights and champagne, "Are you ready for this?"
"I was ready from birth," I said with a fake smile.
He laughed in a low, deep way. "That's my girl."
I wasn't his in any way.
Not really.
Not yet.
We walked in. The cameras turned. Flashes went off. After that, he kissed me right there in front of the press, the board, and his enemies. He grabbed me by the waist and turned me around to face him.
Not a light peck. Not a nice lip brush. No, it was the kind of kiss that changed the rules.
I felt heat rising up my spine. I put more pressure on his lapel. My knees were shaking a little.
When he moved away, he teased me with a whisper in my ear.
"The contract didn't say that."
I looked up at him with my heart pounding in my ears.
"No," I said, out of breath and confused. "It wasn't."
He laughed. "They didn't want more either."
The rest of the night was hard to make out. Some people whispered. Some people clapped. Some people looked. When I smiled, it was for the cameras, the business deal with the diamond ring, and the world I didn't fit in.
On the inside, I was breaking.
"Why did you kiss me that way?" I asked him later, when we were both on the deck with a view of the darkened city skyline.
He lit up a cigarette and gave a shrug. "Would you prefer that I didn't?"
"It wasn't true."
He slowly looked at me. "It seemed real." It seemed real.
I didn't like how right he was.
I said it again, "It wasn't part of the deal."
"Being jealous isn't either, Aurora." But it looks like you feel the same way.
I gave him a mean look. "You're not possible."
He moved toward her. "You are not telling the truth."
We were tense, like wires caught together. I wished I could push him away. I wanted to get close to him. I didn't say anything, though.
After that, when I excused myself to go to the bathroom, I found it.
I have a folded note in my bag. Paper that is thin. It's not signed.
One line only:
You know he killed her.
I had a shortness of breath. It got cold on my fingers. I looked around the bathroom, which was empty. Nobody.
I read it again.
He killed her.
My thoughts were going fast. What did "her" mean? Who wrote this? Damon? Haters of him? His past?
I grabbed the note, put it in my purse, and splashed my face with cold water.
Damon was waiting by the bar when I got back. He smiled and raised his glass in a quiet toast.
I smiled back.
Things had changed, though.
Damon walked into the room that night while I was lying in bed trying to sleep.
He stood still and quiet by the window for a while.
Then he said, "Soft, low."
"Did you find the note?"
I jumped out of bed, my heart racing. Damon stood by the window without a shirt on. The moonlight felt like silver paint on his chest.
"What did you say?" I whispered in a low voice.
He slowly turned. "I asked if you found the note."
My mouth dried out. "So you did it?"
He clenched his teeth. "No." I know who put it there, though.
I got out of bed and pulled my robe around me even more. "Who?" My voice was shaking, but I wouldn't show him that I was scared.
He crept up on me. "Another person who doesn't trust me."
"Do you think I won't?" I lost it. "After that kiss?" When you're done with this game?"
He put a hard but not rough hand on my wrist. "That kiss wasn't a joke."
"What was it then?" I growled.
He leaned in, and his breath mixed with mine. "Real."
His lips were moving, and I almost believed him for a second. But the alarm on my phone rang on the desk.
A number that is blocked. One word.
"You'll become like her if you stay."
It made my face bleed as I stared at it.
He looked over my shoulder and read with a darker look in
his eyes.
"Tell me everything." Right now.” I asked for it.
He took a step back, and his eyes got cold.
"I can't.”
- Writer
