I can’t breathe.
It’s him.
The room spins as I try to focus on his face. It’s been such a long time, and I never thought I would see him again, but that didn’t stop his face from haunting my dreams.
He’s changed in the eighteen months I haven’t seen him. His hair is shorter. Sharper cut. He has facial hair, too. It’s trimmed neatly in sharp lines and angles; accentuating his cheekbones and making his face look more dangerous somehow now that it’s partially covered with facial hair. He wears it like a mask.
He regards me intently, with a professional, inquisitive smile spread across his face. But I see the contempt in his eyes, the knowing thoughts that are going on in his head.
“Arianna. This is my good friend, and most regular customer, James,” she gushes.
Good friend?
James?
She smiles in his direction playing her part well, giving it all the bravado she needs to keep her most prestigious client sweet. But I’m sure he’s charmed her just like he did me in the beginning.
I know how smooth he can be when he wants people to believe his façade. I know he’s wrapped her around his little finger. Probably brought a lot of customers her way.
“James, this is my number one employee, Arianna Fraser.”
His eyes darken as his pupils pulse and dilate. A hint of a smirk makes the corners of his lips twitch. This is the first time in eighteen months that we have come face to face. Time seems to slow, and what is probably just a couple of seconds, plays out in slow motion. Every nanosecond brings the fear higher up my body. Blood whooshes through my veins, saturated with adrenaline making my legs shake underneath me.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Arianna,” he says smoothly. He takes my hand, which is dangling limply by my side, and pulls it to his lips, forcing me to take a small step forward to regain my balance. His eyes study mine intently, and I want to rip my hand away from his grasp. I want to run through the building and never come back. But I can’t do that. He’s clearly one of Beth’sbest customers, and I don’t want her to be pissed at me. My mind isn’t working fast enough to figure a way out of this situation without making a scene. So I stay silent. He has me trapped in plain sight. Cornered so tight there’s nowhere to run.
I nod in acknowledgement to his words, but I can’t trust myself to speak right now. I’m using every ounce of my control to stop the world around me from spinning, and my head gets lighter and lighter the longer he’s touching my hand. One big spin makes me stumble to try and catch my balance, I feel as though I’m going to pass out. Maybe that’s the best solution in this situation.
“Steady,” he reassures, taking me at the elbow and trying to steady me. When I don’t quite stand straight, he takes it upon himself to wrap the other arm around my shoulder. He looks down at me with fake concern, but holds my shoulder too tight with his grasp.
“Arianna, darling…Are you okay?” Beth asks, her voice filled with concern.
“Maybe she needs some water. Here, I’ll help her sit.”
“Yes, water. I’ll be right back,” Beth answers.
Jonny guides me to a nearby leather couch and helps me to sit. His hands don’t touch me inappropriately to the naked eye. But any touch coming from him is inappropriate as far as I’m concerned. Just the mere thought of him touching me makes me feel faint, and now we are momentarily alone. He guides me so my back is resting against the back of the couch, and I let him, not knowing how much more of this I can put up with for the sake of Beth but trying my hardest to retain a modicum of composure.
He glances around us quickly, then leans in to whisper in my ear. “I’ve missed you, Arianna, baby.” He buries his nose in my neck and inhales. “My beautiful girl.”
Composure goes out of the window the second his nose touches me. “I can’t. I can’t do this,” I mumble with a shaky voice, scrambling to get up. I muster up every bit of energy to leap up off the couch and make for the office.
“Arianna,” he calls after me in a low voice when I’m only just a couple of footsteps away.
“Just leave,” I say through gritted teeth, trying to keep my voice low and my temper even, at least until I have gotten out of here.
“No,” he says calmly, leaning back with one elbow propped casually on the arm of the couch, and his legs crossed. “That would be far too easy for you. How is lover boy, and his sister? Tara…isn’t it?”
I breathe but I can’t take in enough air.
I can hear his words, but my mind struggles to process what he means.
“What did you do to her?” I hiss. “Was that you? This morning…”
“Hey,” he says holding his hands up. “I was merely asking how she is…King also has a brother, am I right?…Spike, or Preston as he’s formally known, isn’t it?”
Is he making veiled threats? Or is it more of a covered promise?
I need to be away from here. Away from him. But I’m arguing with myself, and with the fact that it doesn’t matter how fast I run, or how far.
