Velvet Lights & Ghostly Pasts
1264 Words
Velvet Lights & Ghostly Pasts
Eve’s POV
I saw him before he saw me.
But not fast enough.
Kane.
The name alone sent a chill down my spine — the kind that starts in your ribs and coils upward, stealing your breath like a ghost with unfinished business.
I needed air.
I murmured something to Lena and slipped away through a side balcony door, heels clicking too fast on cold marble. My heart was racing, my mind tangled in static.
It had been years.
Years of burying every version of him.
And just one glance unraveled it all.
The door swung shut behind me. Silence. Stars overhead. My palms on the cool railing, steadying myself like the night wouldn’t tilt beneath me.
Of course Lucien followed.
“Who the f**k is Kane?”
His voice was low. Controlled, but sharp.
I didn’t look at him. I couldn’t.
The name cracked something inside me.
Flashbacks hit like waves. Soft at first. Then brutal.
—
We were kids when we met, and still kids when we fell in love — reckless and beautiful. He was loud where I was quiet, fearless where I was cautious. He called me Vee like he invented the nickname. Said I was the kind of girl who could make a man build a kingdom just to burn it for her.
And I believed him.
He was my escape from everything — from the weird stares after my mom died, from the whispers of being the charity case living with the Harringtons. With Kane, I was just me. Desired. Chosen.
Until I wasn’t.
He left without a word.
No calls. No explanation. Just gone.
Right as my world cracked open.
I was drowning and he didn’t even throw me a glance.
For a long time, I hated him. Then I hated myself more for ever needing him.
The bitterness stayed.
It made me cold. Careful.
It built the girl Lucien can’t stop chasing.
—
“You’re not gonna answer me?” Lucien asked, stepping closer.
His presence grounded me. His warmth at my back, solid and familiar. But it wasn’t enough to soften the storm ripping through my chest.
I turned away from him, keeping my voice flat. “Don’t.”
“Eve.” His voice dipped, his fingers brushing my arm. “Tell me.”
But I was already retreating — slipping back into the silence, the same way I had that night in the treehouse years ago when I found out my mother was gone. Lucien had been the only one who sat with me in that darkness, in silence, not asking for what I couldn’t give.
And just like back then, I felt him hesitate. Like he remembered too.
He opened his mouth to press again—
But the ghost himself beat him to it.
“Well, well,” a voice cut in, smooth as melted whiskey.
I stiffened.
Lucien turned, already bristling.
And there he was.
Kane.
Same smug smirk. Same eyes that made promises he never kept. The kind of man who never knocked — just kicked the door in like he still had the right to.
His gaze dragged over me. “If it isn’t Vee.”
Lucien’s jaw flexed beside me.
Kane’s eyes didn’t leave mine. “Didn’t expect to see you looking like… that.”
I wanted to speak. Yell. Cry.
Instead, I just stared — every memory clawing its way back from the grave.
“You’ve been busy,” he said, nodding to Lucien like he was barely worth noticing. “But I gotta say, red was always my favorite color on you.”
Lucien moved half a step forward. I touched his arm without thinking — a silent please don’t — as Kane’s eyes burned into mine.
This wasn’t just an ex.
This was the storm I never fully healed from.
And now?
Eve – Present
Kane’s cologne hit me first. Same scent I remembered from nights on the rooftop, from the kiss he gave me right before he disappeared into nothing.
“Can we talk?” he murmurs, eyes burning into mine.
Lucien is standing not far behind me, and I can feel his energy shift — stiff, electric, ready to snap.
Kane’s eyes flick to him, and then back to me like Lucien’s presence is barely relevant.
“It’s important,” he adds with a smirk. “Don’t worry. I won’t bite.”
I want to laugh. I want to scream.
I don’t even answer him. I just walk away. I need air.
My heels click too loudly on the marble floors. My breath comes too fast.
Behind me, I hear Lucien following.
⸻
Lucien – Present
He knew exactly what he was doing.
That smooth-talking bastard shows up uninvited, looking like he crawled out of a f*****g memory — and now she’s spiraling. I can feel it. See it in the way her shoulders tighten like she’s holding back a scream.
She barely even looked at me before turning on her heel and storming out. So I follow. Of course I follow.
I find her in the corridor near the terrace doors, gripping the rail like she’s drowning and it’s the only thing keeping her tethered.
“Who the f**k is Kane?” I ask, sharp and low.
She doesn’t answer.
Instead, her eyes go far away. Like I’m not even here. Like she’s slipping into some memory she never wanted to revisit. I step closer, trying to pull her back with my presence alone. My voice softens. “Eve—”
She cuts me off without speaking — just lifts her hand like she can’t take one more word. I watch her throat tighten. Her eyes glass over.
I’ve seen her like this once before.
That night.
In the treehouse.
When her whole life came crashing down.
⸻
Eve – Flashback
Kane had always been the dangerous kind of beautiful.
We fell in love too fast, too young — all soft touches and whispered promises under moonlight. He was supposed to stay. To help me survive the firestorm that came after my mother died.
But instead… he vanished.
No goodbye. No reason.
Just… gone.
I waited. I hoped.
I fell apart.
And now he shows up? Dressed like a devil in black with that same cocky glint in his eyes?
I can’t do this.
⸻
Lucien – Present
She won’t talk to me. Not even look at me.
I want to punch something — him, preferably — but mostly I want to hold her.
But this is how she shuts down. Cold. Silent. Retreating behind all the walls I’ve been trying to tear down.
I reach for her hand. She pulls away.
“Was he your first?” I ask, knowing the answer before it leaves my lips.
She doesn’t nod, doesn’t flinch.
But she closes her eyes. And I know.
Before I can say anything else, he’s back.
Kane.
Like he’s been waiting in the shadows for the cue to make his next dramatic entrance.
“Didn’t mean to interrupt your little reunion,” he says casually, then turns his full attention on Eve. “But I meant what I said. We need to talk. Alone.”
His voice is soft, almost apologetic. But I can see the glint in his eye — the one that says he knows exactly what he’s doing.
Eve doesn’t answer.
Neither do I.
Because if she goes with him, I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep myself from tearing him apart.
He was standing right in front of me.
- Writer
