Текст книги "Take Me"

Автор книги: T. A. Grey

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Текущая страница: 18 (всего у книги 23 страниц)

Chapter 21

Felicity excused herself to the ladies room with a pardoning whisper to Dom. They’d danced a few traditional waltzes around the ballroom with other couples. She only trampled over his feet four times and each time he managed to catch and make it look only as if they were elegantly twirling. They’d drunk a few glasses of blood-filled wine. Yes, it tasted amazing. Felicity didn’t know if she’d ever get used to drinking the good stuff, or if she even wanted to.

But from all the dancing and demure smiles, she needed a break as the night was still not over. So she’d excused herself to the bathroom. She found the bathroom at the end of the hall opposite the ballroom. The bathroom was just as elegant as she could have imagined. It had a sitting room with two settees, three matching sofa chairs, and mirrors on either side of the room. Flowers in gold vases fit in the corners of the room and some paintings hung on the walls. Felicity sniffed, and yes, they were real flowers not those fakes ones whose purpose seemed to be to collect dust.

She must admit her designer’s eye loved the layout of the room. There was enough negative space to make the small room appear bigger than it really was and the choice of dark colors with the lighter colors of the wall created a simple but chic appeal to the eye.

Felicity walked past the room into the adjoining bathroom where three stalls stood across from the sinks. On the sink’s countertop was a golden tray laded with crystal droppers of perfume and freshly pressed hand-towels. Felicity snorted at the scene. Though, admittedly, if they’d had a paper-towel dispenser in a place like this it would look rather out of place.

Just then the door opened and Felicity got on with her task with renewed vigor. One thing she did not want was to be cornered in a bathroom conversation with some lady whose face she couldn’t remember but had already been introduced to. She took a towel, wetted it with cool water, and then blotched her warm face. Dancing worked up quite a sweat. That and having sex with Dom. Oh damn, another flash heated her skin so she dipped the cloth around her neck to cool it.

As the wet cloth cooled her heated neck, she took a deep breath and that was when she scented it. Or, she corrected, that was when she scented her. A bolt of tension so hard and swift raced up her back to her neck that the muscles there tensed beneath the cloth.

Taking her time, she finished cleaning up then glanced one last time in the mirror. Her reflection stared back at her. What she saw was a woman who’d started the night out looking glamorous but had turned disheveled. Her hair no longer was held up as it had been as the hairclip was starting to sag. Two separate bite wounds marked her neck with pink splotches; the holes of the bite were already fading at least but the rouged skin would linger far longer. His scent still clung to her skin like a wet blanket. By having him stand by her all night, she’d been able to face the most powerful men and women of both were and vampire society with false bravado as if she did it every day. They hadn’t even batted an eye even though they knew what they’d done. They wouldn’t dare utter a word of disproval to Dominic Blackmoore, possible future president of the council.

It was not as if tasting your new bruid or even sampling her wares, so to speak, was unheard of. That also didn’t mean it was approved of to have sex with your new bruid outside of a political ball. And to leave her needing, though she added that tidbit to herself.

Now she didn’t have Dom’s arm to lean on when she turned to face the woman waiting for her. And waiting she was, demurely leaning against the wall checking her long dark red nails as if she’d come into the bathroom for that only reason.

Felicity took her time re-pinning her sagging hair. After a minute she knew she was lingering so she turned to face her little nemesis with her shoulders squared and eyes hard.

Helena Blackmoore, yes, Felicity had learned she still used his name, lounged gracefully against the wall. Did learning that Dominic’s ex bruid still had his last name invoke a fiery rage inside of Felicity? Absolutely. Still, she had Lady Blackmoore’s words running through her brain. Smile politely, keep your composure and never let anything you’re feeling slip up. Felicity did just that as she made her way for the bathroom door.

“You smell like a whore,” said Helena.

Felicity stuttered a step but kept walking. It became difficult not to open her mouth and say anything, and not to walk straight over to Helena’s beautiful face and scratch her eyes out. Felicity neared the door. Why did it seem that escape for her was always a door away? First from when she had been running from Dom the night he’d first taken her, and now here at this ball. Life had a strange way of coming around on itself.

“I have something you might want to hear.” She tossed the words out so carelessly, so offhandedly that something compelled Felicity to stop.

She’d later regret that move.

Moving as if her legs were stuck in tar, she turned to face Helena. “What do you want?” She sounded weary even to her own ears.

Helena stood up from the wall. Her fiery eyes bright with amusement traced up and down Felicity’s gown. Under her gaze she managed to make the expensive dress seem like something nothing more than ragged tatters that had been dipped in dung then sewn back together to make the “dress” that Felicity was wearing. Felicity hated to admit it but the look did make her feel small, and it did make her cheeks burn in a mixture of embarrassment and shame as if she really did wear a dung-covered dress.

“Well, if that’s all, I have more whoring to get back to.” Felicity turned and had her hand curled around the doorknob when Helena spoke.

“Don’t bond with him. This is the only warning I’m giving to you. Do not touch what is mine.”

Felicity turned around as if she had all the time in the world. Meanwhile, anger surged fast and the rules she’d been lectured with all morning flew out the window. “Is that what this is about? Some petty jealously over Dom? Listen, you lost your chance. You had a long, long time with him and you squandered it. I won’t be doing the same.”

One ruby-colored, thin eyebrow arched up. Then she chuckled a slow, mocking laugh. “You’re in love with him. Oh, this is just too exciting. I’m sure all that love you feel has nothing at all to do with the vast amount of wealth that lines his pockets. Wealth that surely paid for that dress you’re wearing.”

Felicity stiffened but didn’t say anything. She did not need to justify herself, or her love for Dom, to this bitch.

“You won’t be mating with my Dominic tomorrow, dear Ms. Shaw.”

“Oh, and how is that?”

Helena came towards her, the long length of her tight gown moving with every lithe step she took as if the dress was one with her. Felicity wanted to roll her eyes. Helena stopped too close by to be comfortable.

She leaned into Felicity’s face, eyes hard and burning bright with anger. “Because, I will be mating with Dominic tomorrow.”

Felicity froze, stunned.

Then the hysterical laughter that followed could not be contained. It rolled and rolled out of her until tears blurred her vision and her sides throbbed in distress.

“Do shut up!” snapped Helena.

It took an entire minute for Felicity to calm down enough to stop laughing. After that draining fit her body actually felt much looser and more relaxed than it did coming into the bathroom.

“Thank you for that, Helena, I feel much better now.”

Helena’s glare was colder than ice. “Listen here you uppity little bitch. Do us all a favor and go home tonight. To your poor little shack you call a house and forget about Dom, forget about all of this, because tomorrow night come the ceremony it’ll be me he’s mating with.”

Anger once again rose hot and fast. “What on earth makes you think he’ll mate with you tomorrow? Perhaps you forgot, but not that long ago he permanently separated from your bony ass, and for good reason.”

Suddenly, a bruising grip caught Felicity’s arm. Shocked, she looked down at Helena’s hand snatching her and watched as ruby-red nails bit into her skin.

“I know I’ll be mating with him tomorrow because if I find your fat ass at his side tomorrow night then I’m challenging you for rights, and I will win. Then he’ll have no choice but to mate with me.”

Felicity took in Helena’s words, contemplated them for a few tender moments, and then acted without thought.

In a flash she had her palms raised and thrust forward into Helena’s chest with a resounding, fleshy snap. Helena’s eyes widened a fraction as her body jerked then she went flying across the bathroom. She landed hard on the bathroom floor skidding along the tiles in her tight black dress until her back crashed into a stall door denting it into a concave mold of her back.

“Why you little–” she began sputtering.

Felicity did not wait around to see what colorful name Helena was going to call her next. Nope. She simply turned and marched right out of that door. Her high heels sunk into the carpet of the hallway. She marched fast, her steps matching the quick tempo of her heart beat. She eyed the crowd inside the ballroom as she neared, hoping to find Dom where she’d left him. No luck, and now she did not know where to find him.

A burst of panic swept inside her. The bathroom door just opened and Helena came out, wobbly and cursing.

“You!” she seethed, visibly shaking with rage.

Felicity’s eyes flared with alarm even as she tried to keep calm.

Helena’s voice grew much louder, much shriller. “You bitch!”

Felicity’s cheeks burned as she shot a quick glance into the ballroom. Many of the people who had been in the midst of idle conversation now stopped and stared at them with acute interest. Helena was steadily marching towards her like a belligerent drunk with a grudge to fill.

Felicity walked faster towards the ball, a soft smile on her face. For how she looked to the outside world, she did not have a clue that an angry woman was marching after her. She made it to the doorway of the ballroom when she heard a hiss of breath at her ear.

Her body stiffened. Everything that happened next seemed to move in slow motion. Two strong hands slapped her in the back, thrusting her forward much as she’d done to Helena. She toppled forward, arms wind milling, feet skidding along the floor trying to find purchase. Impeccably dressed politicians lifted their eyebrows and backed away offering no help.

She watched the floor coming rapidly towards her face. Right before her eyes came two sets of feet. One she recognized immediately during her slow fall. The flawlessly polished loafer gleamed under the chandeliers and for a moment she could even see her reflection in Dominic’s shoe. The other pair of shoes did not match at all. That is, she realized as her face moved a few inches closer to the floor she was about to kiss, the shoes matched but they did not match the pants. An expensive pant leg covered up a pair of dirty white sneakers with black stripes going up the sides.

Her finally thought as her face came within inches of meeting the floor was who on earth would pair those together?

She squeezed her eyes shut as her entire body tensed for the crushing fall that she knew would hurt. Her arms flew out in front of her, but the crash never came. It never came because in a flash a pair of strong arms caught her, lifting her up and away. Dominic picked her up like a hero saving a damsel. Etched lines of worry crinkled around his eyes as he searched her for injury. His pupils had dilated and tension boomed off his shoulders. He was pissed.

That anger, she realized, wasn’t for her but at someone behind her. She had a feeling she knew who it was.

“Zeke, I suggest you get control over your woman before I have her arrested for assault.”

The alpha had a slow voice that sounded as if it had been dunked in a southern drawl then rolled in tar. “’Scuse me, Dom,” which he pronounced more like Dahm, “but just because the lady’s with me doesn’t mean I’m responsible for her actions. Ain’t that right, darlin’?”

Helena answered but all Felicity heard was an arrangement of hissing sounds.

“That’s it, we’re leaving,” Dom said.

About time, Felicity thought. Dom sent his goodbyes to everyone they passed. Only after she began to struggle did he send her a scathing look.

She glared. “Put me down and what are you looking at me like that for? It’s not my fault she pushed me.”

He arched a dark brow. “It’s not?”

Nothing she could do could hide the bright blush that heated her cheeks. She looked away. “No,” she said in a very little voice.

“Look at me, Felicity and then I’ll put you down.”

She didn’t look at him, but she did weigh the pros and cons. She had just lied to him. He obviously knew something was up, but Helena had started it! Oh, great, she thought. Now she was starting to sound like a petulant child.

“Felicity,” he said. His voice sent little alarm bells off inside her head.

Sighing, she turned her face back to meet his gaze. His eyes were burning bright but she found amusement not anger in his eyes.

“Will you put me down? Everyone is watching us.”

They stood at the edge of the ballroom, all eyes on them. Whispers were getting louder as word spread about what happened. Felicity could see the eyes and ears of everyone perking up that something exciting had happened. On some faces she could see the disappointment that they hadn’t been able to witness the fun. Considering how boring campaigning was, she couldn’t say she wouldn’t feel disappointed if she was in their position.

“I’ll put you down after you stop lying to me.”

She narrowed her eyes on him. “How did you know I was lying?”

He looked so amazed that for a moment she thought he might snort, burst out laughing, or something else uncharacteristic of him. “Felicity, her dress is dirty and torn down her back. Her hair looks like someone tried to rip it out and—”

“Well, I had nothing to do with that little part,” she said.

He continued as if she hadn’t interrupted him. “And she followed you out of the bathroom. Now explain what happened so I can put you down.”

They fell into a staring match she felt confident to win. In the meantime, she tried to review what had happened between her and Helena and how much she should tell him. He was already under a lot of stress with the election in two days. If she told him about what Helena said then it could infuriate him and make things worse. However, if she didn’t tell him then Helena was going to challenge Felicity tomorrow and Felicity may or may not win. She was a designer, not a fighter, after all. She also recognized that the strongest muscle on Helena’s body was her tongue, so even though the woman was quite a bit older and could be seriously strong she probably didn’t know how to fight. But do I know how to fight any better?

Also, she may or may not be nervous to tell Dom that she hit Helena first. Damn it. She had to tell him everything. She couldn’t lie to him.

Biting her lip, they still stared into each other’s eyes.

His pupil’s dilated and she recognized the tightening of his jaw. He was losing patience.

“Okay,” she said. “I hit her first but only after she told me I had a fat ass and threatened to take you from me!” In her defense, there really was no way to explain what happened without sounding like a whining child.

Quirking a brow as if he found her explanation amusing he set her down. Next thing she knew, he had her hand in his, and they swept out the ballroom.

With a flick of his wrist, the valet jumped to get their car. Their bodyguards, silently blending in wearing suits, seemed to come out from everywhere at once. She blinked as they surrounded them. She’d actually forgotten they’d come.

“I have something else to tell you that Helena said to me.”

Dom sighed, it sounded every bit as weary as he looked. His lips were sagged down into the beginnings of a frown and an all-around stiffness forced the muscles of his face into a grimace. “I have no doubt that Helena was every bit as I remember her.”

Their car pulled up before she could voice the rest of her story. Dom held the door open for her. Guards piled in after them, two of which sat across from them, their eyes trained outside the windows. From all appearances, they looked as if they weren’t paying any attention to what they said but Felicity didn’t like it. The guards might make it look like they weren’t listening but they would still hear every word she or Dom said.

“Listen, I need to talk to you about what Helena said.”

Dom’s big body sagged back into the seat. He held her hand, turning it over to gaze at her palm. A soft, tender expression came over his face, softening the creases around his eyes making him look younger.

“Not now. I’m tired and when we get back to the house I have work to do.”

She turned her palm to entangle her fingers with his. One corner of his beautiful mouth quirked up and he lifted his gaze to her face. At the sight of this man looking at her like she was his world, her chest constricted making it hard to breathe. When had she become so lucky? Did she even deserve a man such as him? She did not have a drop of aristocratic blood inside her. Her family did not come from a long line of royalty that helped to establish their people and keep them safe.

The drive home was quiet and comfortable with the only tension coming from Dominic’s brooding thoughts and hers for what she had to tell him.

They arrived back at Blackmoore estate. The sun was only hours from coming up. She could feel the early rays already starting to brighten places on the other side of the globe. Vampires always had an acute feel for the sun. They had to in order to survive.

Diane Blackmoore waited in the middle of the foyer with her hands clasped as tight as the expression on her face. “How did it go?” she asked at once.

Dom started nodding but he did not speak.

Felicity shot him a concerned gaze. What was going on with him? He seemed to be getting more and more subdued as the night went on. “Everything went pretty well. I didn’t mess up. Except, well...” her words trailed off as she a blush.

Dom sighed, this time exhaustion clouding the sound. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “She attacked Helena after some provocation in the lady’s salon.”

Felicity’s gaze instantly went from concerned to a death glare. How could he rat her out like that?

Lady Blackmoore’s jaw did not drop but her eyes widened which was probably the equivalent for her. “I see, and what brought this on?” Diane’s eyes skirted over Felicity’s face, noticed the disheveled hair, the two marks on either side of her neck, and probably had a greater understanding of what happened tonight than even Felicity did.

“It’s exactly as Dom so gently explained,” she shot him another irritated glare in case he missed her first one. He only gave her a mysterious smile in return. “She said some unkind words. I tried to control myself, but that didn’t work so I kind of...pushed her.”

“Helena marched out of the bathroom after Felicity then shoved her into the crowded ballroom,” Dom said. His voice gave no indication as to how he felt about this whole situation.

“Also,” Felicity chimed in before the subject moved along, “the only reason why I acted the way I did is because she said she’s challenging me for Dominic tomorrow night.”

There. She’d said it.

And she’d been right.

Both Diane and Dom stiffened with tension they couldn’t begin to hide. Dom’s expression shuttered, hiding his thoughts.

“We don’t have to let her in the door, right? If we don’t let her in then she can’t challenge me.” Neither of them said anything. Felicity’s nerves started to feel frayed like a piece of thread reused too many times.

Diane cleared her throat. “Actually, it is against the law to bar anyone from the ceremony who wishes to attend. The punishment for this is death.”

“What kind of a stupid law is that!” Felicity said. Before, the challenge had only been a thought, something not quite real, but now it became a real, frightening prospect. One she did not want to deal with.

Diane nodded. “In fact it is there to help protect both the male and the bruid from being forced into mating. It gives either of them an out in case the mating has been coerced in some way. There hasn’t been a challenge in years. Isn’t that right, Dominic?”

“Indeed, mother.”

Everyone fell silent. A billowing anger began churning in Felicity. It started in her gut then worked its way up to her heart, making her face warm, and then down to her hands where she curled them into fists.

Finally, she had had enough. “Excuse me! Am I the only one having this conversation? Tomorrow night I’m going to be challenged for the rights to Dom and if I don’t win...if I don’t win...” her words faltered as her breathing turned into ragged gasps. Instantly, Dom was there, his arm around her shoulder pushing her head down.

“Breathe, sweets, just breathe. Everything will be all right. I’d never let anything bad happen to you.” His hand rubbed soothing circles across the tight muscles of her shoulders. Almost as if they were hesitant, her muscles twitched before finally easing under his touch.

She stood now that she had her breathing under control. “This is not all right. What if I lose, Dom. What if I lose?”

His eyes caught hers and something dark flashed in his eyes. “You won’t because if she tries to come she won’t be getting in.”

Diane took a step forward as if she couldn’t stop herself. “Dom, even you do not have that kind of power. If she comes then she must be allowed in.”

His jaw crunched as he ground it side to side. “I don’t care.”

Diane lifted her chin. “You’ll care when they call your mating void. When they cease to perform the ceremony, or worse, arrest you for breaking law. You know the sentence if they find you guilty.”

Dom’s voice suddenly rang through the halls, a harsh cry. “I don’t have time for this! God dammit! Why did you have to hit her? Why did you have to start this?”

Felicity heard what he said, but still her mind reeled at the tone of his voice. She replayed what he said. Blinking, she took a step back from him. She almost looked over her shoulder because he couldn’t be speaking like that to her. It wasn’t her fault that Helena came after her like a raptor searching for dinner. This wasn’t her fault. Her mind replayed tonight’s events, excluding the time spent with Dominic outside the ball. Helena had been aching for a fight, taunting her with what she would take from Felicity—Dom. Maybe she’d overreacted in hitting Helena first, though she didn’t regret the actions, but she didn’t start this.

“Dom, it’s not my fault.” Her voice trembled.

His jaw clamped and then he slammed his eyes shut as he visibly tried to get himself under control. “I know...I know. I’m sorry. I have to get some work done. Check the numbers again. Call Vas and Grayson,” he said, shaking his head like it was a heavy, tired weight. “I’m sorry, go up to bed.”

Felicity let him pull her up for a kiss but she didn’t kiss him back. The pain from his blow, so to speak, still too fresh. She’d accept his apology but she’d need time before she could forget it.

“Don’t worry about it. I won’t let her challenge you.”

Nodding, because what else was she to do, she headed upstairs to his bedroom. She undressed alone, showered alone, and when she went to bed, unable to sleep as the weight of tomorrow night hung over her head like a heavy cloud, she did it alone.

He never came to bed.