A wealth of money was easy to fake, but a wealth of knowledge was much harder.
“I thought you’d burst into tears out there.” Arkady helped himself to some scotch from the bar cart in the corner.
“As I’m sure you would have taken great joy in the spectacle,” I snapped.
“I guess we will never know, will we?” He turned, sipping the liquor. Though he suddenly became distracted with the taste, second-guessing his drink.
“We have our whole lives to try.” I crossed my arms, remaining beside the door.
“Time is on our side, luckily.” He placed the glass on the corner of my father’s desk, tilting it with a single finger to watch the light from the gas lamp dance through the crystal. “An eternity to get under each other’s skin.”
“Did you not hesitate the last time you sawmyskin?” The words came so quick, it was like I hadn’t even said them.
He smiled at that, but it was not a pleasant one. Irked, he abandoned his drink for a quick approach.
I grabbed the door handle.
He slammed it back shut, already towering over me, holding it closed no matter how hard I yanked.
“Self-deprecation is second nature. It lives under your skin, makes a home in your heart until it rots in comfort.” His voice vibrated in my ear, his face so close. His chest was pressed firmly against my back, with my white-knuckled hand gripping the handle of the door still. “That is, only if you allow it.”
“Will you, then?”
He didn’t speak.
“Will you allow it to make a home in me, Arkady? Or will you offer another creature habit to replace it? To fill the void before it can burrow?”
Silence.
It was impossible to keep still, to sit in the vacant air, the awkwardness. I wanted to speak again; it was harder to keep quiet.Hedidn’t need to speak. He wanted to hear what my heart would say if squeezed hard enough.
Movement at my neck, his free hand startling me as he pulled my hair aside. His fingertips brushed between my shoulders, then over the hem of the dress backing.
I bit my lip, not daring to speak, waiting for him to do something.Anything.
I pushed against the door, but he leaned closer, trapping me.
“Where do you think you’re going?” His hand smoothed down the back of the dress. “Can’t have you running off with something so expensive.”
“You make it seem like you want to steal it.”
“I have no use for dresses.”
“Thieves don’t steal for utility, they steal for value.”
He leaned down, his face by my ear. “There is something here worth the trouble of stealing, and it isn’t the dress.”
He grabbed the back of my neck gently, pinning me against the door like a scruffed animal.
“Arkady!” I squeaked.
“Hush,” he scolded, putting pressure on my neck before sliding his hand down. “You wouldn’t want them to hear you, would you?”
My words hitched in my throat.
The guests on the other side of the door were talking, champagne glasses chiming nearly as loudly as the laughter. My mother would be hovering close by like a buzzard, no doubt. My father would be lost somewhere, anywhere but beside his wife.
Arkady pinched the seam together, releasing the small clasps down my back, his knuckles brushing over my skin before slowing to a stop.
