The Fated Bond

Coward

[Lance’s POV]

For the next few minutes, I speak with Natalie as a way to distract myself from the unpleasant things that I’m feeling, and when she finally hangs up, allowing me to give my focus to Violet once more, I head back inside. However, when I find Violet standing and waiting for me, dress resting over her arm, it’s easy to tell that something isn’t quite right.

Was she upset that I interrupted our time together with another client? Especially when she was clearly about to say something to me, or was she beginning to get cold feet?

“Are you alright?” I ask, deciding it was better to just ask than mull over things that could or could not be. “Sorry that took longer than expected.”

“I’m fine.” She tells me, but her voice is a bit off, and I know that she’s lying to me. “Let’s go pay for this.”

She doesn’t wait for me to respond before she heads to the front, where Candice, the place’s owner and designer, sits waiting, and when she sees me, a smile begins to spread across her face.

It isn’t a secret that she’s interested in me, and because of that, she has been known to cause trouble with the women I bring in. Was that what was wrong with Violet? Did Candice say something?

“Will this be it?” The woman in question asks, her gaze remaining locked on me. “Are you not going to get something for yourself this time? You know, I just designed a new suit that would look great on you. Could you please try it on for me?”

“Not today.” I tell her, peeking toward Violet to get a gauge of her reaction toward Candice. “As you can see, I’m a bit busy.”

“He isn’t.” Violet counters, taking me by surprise. “You’re not,” she continues, turning her gaze to mine and smiling. “I’ve wasted enough of your time today. Anyway, I need to go home and start prepping for my date tomorrow anyway.”

Instantly, I feel my mood sour even more at the thought of her wanting to get away from me so quickly, but what right did I have to stop her? Honestly, wasn’t this better? Hopefully by the next time we met she would be happy in a relationship, and then I could stop my feelings from confusing me any further.

“Are you sure?” I ask, still not wanting to leave her in the mood she was in. “If you’re still worried about tomorrow and need a bit more coaching, then…”

“No,” she says, shaking her head so a piece of her dark hair breaks loose from her ponytail and sways in front of her eyes. “I’m fine, really.”

“Okay,” I sigh, wanting to reach out and tuck that hair behind her ear so I could see just what she was thinking. “If you’re sure, then we will part ways here, but before that there’s one more thing.” Tearing my gaze away from hers, I fix it on Candice and then pull out my credit card and hand it to her. “The dress is on me,” I smirk when Violet’s gaze finds me. “Consider it a good luck charm.”

“You really don’t have to!” She gasps. “I can pay for it.”

“I know,” I tell her, taking my receipt and waiting while Candice bags it while pouting. “But I want to do this.”

Not wanting her to argue with me any further, I wrap an arm around her shoulders and then lead her out of the boutique and onto the street. Once there, I turn and take her in while wondering what it was about her that attracted me so much.

“Now, the final thing before your date.” I announce, pulling out my phone. “If anything comes up, and I do mean anything, do not hesitate to text me.”

“Text you,” she repeats, frowning. “Like a secret code that the date is bombing?”

“Exactly,” I grin. “Something like ‘mayday, mayday,’ or ‘SOS,’ or something. The minute you send it, I’ll come running to save you.”

“And then what?” She asks, something that looks almost like expectation flashing in her eyes. “What happens then?”

“We regroup and find a better candidate.” I respond.

Immediately, I see her expression fall, and I know that my response was not the one she was looking for, and honestly, it wasn’t the thing I wanted to say either. That much is obvious from the way my head starts hurting and dark spots dance in front of my eyes.

Dammit. This was bad. I could only hope that her date tomorrow went well and I could put some distance between us because if it didn’t, I would have to go through with our pact otherwise… Well, I didn’t really want to consider that. I had no intention of suffering such a thing anyway.

“Oh, right.” Violet says now, drawing me back to what is happening in front of me. “Of course that would be what we did.”

“Of course. Now, why don’t you get going?” I tell her, nudging her gently in the direction she originally came from. “You said you had a lot to do before your date tomorrow, right?”

“That’s right.” She confirms, though she looks hesitant to leave. “But are you certain that there isn’t anything else that should be done before I leave?”

I’m not sure why, but I can almost hear a double meaning in her words, and I begin to realize that she’s testing me. She’s testing me, and though everything in me screams to take the rope that she is offering me, I don’t.

“No, nothing.” I tell her. “Now, get going, and good luck. Make sure to fill me in on everything Sunday if things go well.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Not saying anything else, she turns and begins to make her way away from me while I remain in place, watching and hating that I was such a f*****g coward who could easily tell people to go for what they wanted while I didn’t do the same f*****g thing. And when she turns the corner, disappearing from my view, I turn and begin to head in the direction of my office, but before I reach it, I spot a bar just on the other side of the street.

What would one drink hurt? I think looking both ways and then crossing. Maybe it would help me get my head straight so that I would stop thinking of such ridiculous things.

Or it will make you think about them more. The small voice in the back of my head mocks me. Even drunk you’ll still be a coward.

Yeah, yeah. I tell it, shoving my way into the bar where a man sits playing a piano in a dimly lit, smoky room that reeks of alcohol, cigarettes, and misery. I’m a coward who can’t bring himself to fall in love because I’ve seen firsthand how horrible things will be because I can never die. Happy?

“What’ll it be?” The bartender asks as I plop down in front of him while the small voice laughs at me.

“Something strong.” I tell him, leaning forward. “Something that will make me forget about everything.”