Memory: Book Two (Scars 2) (3 page)

His
hands were now no longer soft and gentle, they were assertive and hard. He
flipped me onto my stomach, dragging down my panties with a speed that should
have had them ripping. Then I felt his lips on my bare behind, he kissed one
cheek, before biting lightly just enough to make me hiss. But I didn’t protest,
because his tongue was making a trail across my flesh. It dipped down into the
center, searching out my anus. Fingers resumed the tantalizing stroking of my
clit while that tongue fucked me in an area that I had never thought could ever
feel good. The first time he had placed his mouth there, I had frozen, scared
that he would try to push his penis in, but he never did. Instead, he brought me
to climax with his tongue and fingers, before taking his own pleasure.

The
party the next night was held at Alexa and Luca’s. Once again it was an elegant
affair attended by tall, graceful women and their wealthy male counterparts. I
wore a dress that cost more than I would make in a month at the diner. Alexa
took me shopping, and Aaron had given me a roll of cash when I told him who I
was going with.

“She’s
got expensive tastes,” he grunted just before she picked me up. The dress I
chose, or rather, Alexa chose for me, was white with a bodice decorated with
tiny crystals so I shimmered every time that I caught the light. The skirt was
a diaphanous fabric that floated around me and I kept twirling around as I
gazed in the mirror.

“Ready
to go?” Aaron was dressed in a suit and together we looked like any wealthy
young couple. The bruises on his face had flourished into deep purples, causing
him to look mean and not so pretty any longer.

“Sure.”
I smiled at him, for no other reason than I felt pretty and I was glad that we
were going out to be with other people. And there was a slight smugness in me
at the damage that had been done to his face.

We
were greeted by a valet as we arrived at Alexa’s house. She had really gone all-out
tonight. As usual, she greeted us with a smile and an embrace, her perfume
clouding around us. Alexa had a charm that made everyone, even Aaron, behave
cordially with her. Although, she was his boss’s wife and Luca, I had learned,
was not someone you’d want to piss off.

A
glass of champagne was pressed into my hand by Aaron as he took one for
himself. He didn’t look happy to be there and just stood at my side as we
mingled. It was like a game; I smiled and complimented the women on their
dresses or their hair, they did the same, we air kissed. It was like I had
woken up in some alternative universe of fakeness. Eventually, Aaron moved away
from me without a word, and I guessed that he was going to speak with Luca. My
eyes followed him, and my mouth twisted slightly at his rudeness, and the
memory of his words from the night before still stung. I stayed up on the stone
balcony and watched the people down below on the lower level dancing. The whole
effect was magical, with twinkling fairy lights strung between trees and a
string quartet providing a soundtrack of soft classical music. It was all that
one needed for a romantic night…except for a handsome and charming prince of
course. Sadly, those were in short supply.

“Hey,
princess.” Antony pulled me to him, kissing my cheek and pressing another glass
of champagne into my hand.

“Thanks.”

“You
looked lonely standing here all by yourself. So, I thought that I would escape
my date for the evening and give you the honor of my company.” As always, his
grin was infectious.

“You
have a date? Who?” My eyes darted across the crowd below for a single lady.

“Fenella,
Fiona…something. I can’t remember. She’s not my type.” He shrugged. “What can
you do?”

“I
thought all women were your type.”

“Nah.”
He shook his head. “Only the one’s as pretty as you.” He tilted his own glass
toward mine in a toast so the crystal clinked together.

I
arched an eyebrow. “Are you trying to embarrass me or seduce me?”

He
took a sip of his champagne. “Definitely embarrass…if I seduced you I don’t
think that I would be long for this world. Speaking of Aaron, where is he?”

“I
don’t know. With Luca I guess.”

He
peered over the balcony. “There he is.” I stepped closer to see more clearly,
and there was Aaron, speaking with the elegant red haired woman that I had met
the very first time that he had brought me here. I couldn’t remember her name,
but what bothered me was how Aaron was acting. He was smiling, her hand was on
his arm and he wasn’t shrugging it off. Even from a distance, I could tell that
he was being charming, and my champagne turned sour in my mouth. It took every
effort in me to drag my eyes away from them and back to Antony. I found him
watching me with a look on his face that wasn’t so much amused as curious.

“What?”

“You’re
an enigma.” His gaze was intense, which was not something that I was used to
from him, and I shifted in my heels, suddenly uncomfortable.

I
took another drink and looked away from him. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Both
you and him. You’re mysterious…almost a match made in heaven.”

I
choked on my drink, not sure if I was about to laugh or cry. “More like hell,”
I coughed, wiping at the pale liquid that had spilt on my dress. I had had
enough to drink at that stage not to care about ruining the expensive garment.

“How
did you meet?”

My
eyes darted back to him in surprise. He was being serious — that wasn’t like
him. “It’s a long, terrible story, and if I told you…”

“What?”
He took a step closer to me, and I resisted the urge to move away. I knew that
Antony was involved in this awful, dangerous world of violence and death, but I
had never seen that side of him. I had never really seen his serious side
before and it was unsettling me.

I
shook my head. “Nothing.” I drank again, the urge had hit me to drink and drink
until the world swam and I never had to think about anything again. Not
mother’s, not hanging fools, not cold, impenetrable men who made me feel things
that I didn’t want to…

“You
can talk to me, you know that? I may be an idiot half the time, but you can
always talk to me.” His voice was low and sincere. It had me blushing with
embarrassment while at the same time I was touched at his concern.

“Whose
side are you on?” I asked quickly. “Mine or Aaron’s”

He
tilted his head, studying me. “I didn’t know there were sides,” he said softly.
“Not in relationships. Shouldn’t you both be on the same side?”

I
shook my head furiously, the champagne had hit me and I knew that my motions
were exaggerated. “Do you live under a rock? There are always sides. No
relationship is equal. It’s always about scheming and playing the game. There
always has to be a winner.”

“I
don’t think that’s true,” he said simply, and his eyes switched to watch the dance
floor where Luca and Alexa danced in the center, their arms around each other
as they stared into one another’s eyes. I watched them as well, before my eyes
caught sight of Aaron and the red-haired women. Her dress was a dark,
shimmering green that went well with her bright hair. She was vivid and alive
beside Aaron’s darkness. They were still speaking, she was still touching him,
and he was charming like he had saved it all up for her. My hand tightened on
my champagne flute, and shakily I placed it down on the stone railing.

I
forced a smile, and turned to face Antony who was watching me again. I took a
step closer to him; he didn’t scare me anymore. “So…tell me. What’s a perfect
relationship for you? What’s your ideal woman?”

He
smiled and shook his head. “That’s too deep for tonight. I’d rather just stand
here and flirt with the prettiest girl on the estate.”

I
caught his eye. “Just flirt?” My voice had changed; the alcohol had made it
deep and seductive. “You know, this place is so big, I bet we could easily find
somewhere to be alone for a while, and then you could show me how well you can
flirt.” I touched his arm, just like how down below the red-haired woman was
touching Aaron’s arm.

Antony
said nothing. He let me touch him, move closer to him, and he didn’t move as if
I had cast a spell and turned him to stone. Finally, I saw him take a breath.
“Paige, Rachel…whatever I’m supposed to call you…” His hand gently covered mine
and removed it from his arm. Instant embarrassment came over me and I stepped
back. “You don’t want to be with an older guy like me.” His lips flicked up in
a sad smile. “I don’t know what kind of fucked up thing you two have got going
on, but I’m sure that Aaron would kick my ass if I—”

“He
wouldn’t. He doesn’t care,” I rushed out.

Antony
frowned. “I’m sure he does.”

“No,”
I shook my head. “No, you don’t know what kind of monster he is. He doesn’t
have feelings, just loyalty and...” I trailed off, my brain fuzzy and my voice
thick with emotion, “and I’m drunk right now. I should really go home.” I
sounded defeated and hollow. My shoulders sagged and I felt stupid wearing this
dress. It was as if I were trying to be someone else. I had the urge to strip
myself of it, leaving a glittering pile of white behind me while I walked off
clad only in the confining corsetry that I wore underneath.

“Don’t
go. Stay, besides it looks like Aaron’s having a good time.” Antony was
watching him now. “That’s it, isn’t it? You’re jealous.”

I
didn’t answer as I stood at his side, staring down at Aaron. He must have
sensed us watching him, because he slowly raised his head to look up at us.
Antony gave a nod of his head in response, and I stepped away from the rail,
not wanting to watch him anymore.

“Antony,
there you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.” A blonde in a green dress
came up to him, taking his arm. She was pretty, but not as svelte or sexy as
the women I had seen him with before. He forced a smile at the woman.

“Fenella,
meet Paige,” he introduced. He always changed between Rachel and Paige, as if
he couldn’t decide which he liked better. In front of Aaron, he would call me
Paige, and I wondered if that just were to annoy him.

The
woman gave me a kind smile. “It’s lovely to meet you.” She switched her gaze to
Antony and opened her mouth to say something, but he got in first.

“Paige
has invited us back to her house for a night cap. We’ll leave shortly.”

A
slight look of disappointment passed over Fenella’s face, but she hid it
quickly. Still, it was obvious that she wanted to be alone with her date.
Antony pretended not to know, and as he looked beyond us, his face broke into a
smile.

“Aaron,
you managed to break away from the claws of Azalea. I’m proud of you, brother.”

Aaron
ignored him, switching his gaze to me. “Ready to go?”

Anger
seethed in me at how he had been almost intimate with that Azalea woman,
ignoring me, yet now he was acting like nothing was amiss.

“Paige
has kindly invited Fenella and I back to your place for a drink,” Anthony
interjected. I wasn’t sure why he seemed so determined with that lie.

Aaron
raised an eyebrow at me. “Really?”

“Yes.”
I picked up my glass and took a long drink. “Maybe you should invite Azalea as
well.”

“We’ll
meet you there.” Antony placed a hand on the small of Fenella’s back and
ushered her along. I noticed her eyes on Aaron as she went.

Aaron
was still watching me, and I wondered if he could sense the simmering inside of
me. I carefully placed my empty glass down and began to walk away toward the
front of the house where the cars were parked. He followed, not saying a word.
The valet brought Aaron’s car around promptly and before long we were driving
in the dark of the night.

I
turned on the radio and some bubble gum pop song burst out, intruding on the
quiet. Aaron reached a hand out and quickly turned it off. “You know I don’t
like people in my house.” He didn’t even flicker a glance in my direction as he
spoke.

“It’s
just Antony. He’s been in your house tons of times. He’s your friend.” My tone
was just as stony as his.

“The
woman isn’t welcome.”

I
gave a small laugh. “What if I invited that red-haired bitch? Would she be
welcome?”

His
eyes still remained firmly on the road. “Jealousy looks ugly on you,” he
muttered.

My
laugh turned into a sneer. “It’s not jealousy, you arrogant piece of shit. You
made me look like an idiot standing by myself while you flirted with that—”

“What
about
your
flirting?”

I
promptly shut up as my heart began to beat faster and I clutched my purse
harder with clammy hands. Did he know that I had practically offered myself to
Antony on a platter? No, he couldn’t know.

“You
shouldn’t be so friendly to that blonde boy. I don’t share my whores.”

I
slapped him hard in an automatic action. I didn’t even need to think about it.
He didn’t even flinch. It must have hurt, the flat of my hand against his
already bruised face, but he didn’t even swerve the car. “You’re a soulless
monster, you know that?” I taunted. “You suck the good out of everything and—”

This
time he looked at me, his anger vivid. “What good did I suck from you,
Rachel?
What goodness have you ever had for me to take? You’re a killer just like I
am.
” Before I could protest, a grim smile spread across his face. “What
was his name again? That guy who hung himself above your bed?” I went to hit
him again, rage fuelling me and not making me care about the consequences, but
he blocked me easily. “
Don’t
, Rachel.”

I
dropped my hand. “My name isn’t fucking Rachel, it’s Paige,” I said almost
petulantly, like acting like a child was my last line of defense.

He
ignored me as he turned the car into his street. Antony was already there,
sitting in his car and waiting for the iron gates to open. Aaron pressed the
keypad in his car, and waited while Antony drove in before following suit. I
was still breathing hard. It felt good to feel anger, it was better than despair.