The Pentagram Child: Part 1 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) (20 page)

“Ah pigs!” She complained dramatically, only it would have been more convincing without her fighting a grin.

“Well at least one of the men at this table is behaving himself in front of the ladies.” She said nodding at Draven, who I had not been able to look at until now.

“Yeah, but he is trying to impress someone, so it doesn’t count.” Vincent said mischievously winking at me again and igniting my blushing cheeks.                       

“You need not try and impress me my Lord, I have seen you devour your food many a time.” Zagan said nodding at his lord and the whole table erupted into laughter, even Draven. It was such an unusual but wonderful experience that I couldn’t help but instantly file the memory away as one of my favourites.

After such an easy going start to the day I thought that having Draven drive me home to get ready for my shift would have been the part where it got bizarre between us but I was happily wrong. We just chatted about the new things going on in my life and obviously avoided Alex’s name like the plague. However I did get the impression Draven was holding himself back on asking me about him.

At the end before getting out of the car I turned to him and said,

“I’m not gonna lie and pretend it hasn’t been nice seeing you again Draven…I’m… I’m glad we can still be…be friends.” I stumbled a little bit before forcing the words of friendship past my lips. It was almost as though I was pushing against some invisible force of blasphemy just thinking them, let alone saying them out loud. I didn’t miss the way his eyes had flashed with purple anger, one he hid just as quickly by looking out of his window for long seconds. Had he been trying to compose himself? Had my words of friendship hurt him and if they had, then what was it he wanted from me if not friendship?

“Catherine?” I shook my head and focused back on the man in front of me. Alex laughed and commented,

“I think I lost you there, you looked miles away.”

“Sorry, I guess I just have a lot on my mind…erm you know, packing, passport and stuff.” I said rushing out the last part to hide my slip up about what was really going on in my jumbled messed up head.

“Don’t worry about a thing, ma chérie, soon we will be on a plane together and leaving behind any of life’s distractions.” He said pulling me to him and brushing some of my hair behind my ear. I didn’t have to look up as much as I did with Draven and I tried to turn this into a positive thing. However my mind quickly rebelled against me, reminding me how much I used to love the feeling of Draven’s massive body towering over me, making me feel both consumed by his presence and immense safety from the brutal and raw strength he possessed.

“Distractions would be a good thing to lose right now.” I mumbled truthfully, looking down to the side and feeling lost in the depths of my confusion.

“Great, then I will say goodbye for now my darling and I will see you later.” He said cupping my face and bringing it back round ready for, painfully, my first kiss of the day. The only thing I was grateful for was that it was a little more than a brief joining of our lips before it was over. The whole thing left me feeling cheap and conflicted. I didn’t want to be that woman who took advantage of a good man but on the other hand this was Draven we were talking about. How could I ever find enough restraint around him? No, there was only one thing to be done about it…

I needed to stay away from him.

Yeah, this was what I would do, I would make it so I didn’t see Draven again before I went away with Alex and then I could use the time to figure out where my relationship with Alex was going without being reminded of what I once had. I needed to focus on the future and who I wanted to spend it with, not the past and who I had lost back there.

This was a good plan but like most good plans putting them into action was often harder than thinking them up. This was proved even more so when I turned back to the reception after Alex let me go and bumped right into the man himself, blowing that plan all to Hell!

“Draven?!” I said looking up at him and finding his eyes rooted to the figure behind me with nothing less than murder in his eyes.

“Keira.” He said without even looking at me but still managed to make it sound like he owned the rights to my name. It wasn’t hard given our height difference for him to continually stare at Alex right above my head, so I moved back a step to fall in next to him and no doubt making it clear that I didn’t belong to Draven anymore. This was finally when Draven’s eyes found mine and narrowed as though my action at choosing Alex over him was alien to him.

“Wh…what are you doing here?” I said hoping, or more like praying he wouldn’t let on to Alex the real answer to that question.

“You know full well why I am here.” Well there went that burning hope I thought with Draven’s blunt answer.

“And that is?” This question came from Alex who stood calmly next to me, folding his arms.

“To see Keira, which I very much doubt is the same reason
you
are here.” Draven answered arrogantly, folding his own arms, which I had to admit was way more intimidating than when Alex did it.

“Draven!” I hissed looking round to see we were starting to draw attention to ourselves.

“It’s alright, Keira, I am not insecure enough to let time spent with your ex-boyfriend worry me in the slightest. Not when I was the one to bear witness to the effects of what his cruel dismissal did to you. Thankfully though, time heals all wounds and certainly continues to do so with the help of others.” On hearing this coming from Alex, Draven actually snarled at him, which sounded terrifyingly like his Demon side was breaking through.

“Please don’t do this.”
I whispered, pleading with both of them. Just then I was thankful when Alex’s phone started ringing in his pocket. He didn’t look like he was going to answer it for a second, not wanting to break eye contact with Draven first but it must have been important because he swiped his thumb across the screen to accept it.

“There is no need to say anything as I will be there in a moment to meet with you.” Alex said quickly and it was more than clear by his tone that he didn’t respect the person on the other end of the line, as he hung up before the person even had a chance to say anything. Draven raised one eyebrow as though he had detected something odd in this, which wasn’t surprising given that he was probably looking for any reason not to trust him. What was surprising however was that he didn’t look smug or in any way happy that he had been right, because unlike Draven, Alex hadn’t made the trip just to see me and that phone call had been his proof.

“It pains me to have to go Catherine, but like you I have to finish my work.” When Alex said this he looked over to the reception area and nodded as if silently reminding me too that I should be working. It was subtle enough that I could have been being paranoid but for some reason I didn’t think so. However, it could have been because Draven looked like he too thought the same as me and as a result wanted to choke the life out of him.

“Its fine, it was nice of you to come and see me before your meeting.” I said hoping this would be the right thing to say for the one person who was supposed to matter to me the most… whether it was Alex was still shamefully debatable though.

“Until tonight, ma chérie.” He said before bending his neck to kiss me and at the last second I turned my head so his kiss landed on my cheek. I wasn’t sure what other people would have done in my position after all the hurt Draven had inflicted on me and with the bitter taste of rejection I had encountered not moments before. But for me, I just wasn’t cruel enough to ram it in Draven’s face that I was with another man, even if Alex could.

“See you later.” I said with my face still turned away and my line of sight made it so I couldn’t help but notice Draven’s hands clench into tight fists at his sides, only relaxing when Alex moved away from me and walked away.

“I know you don’t want to,
Keira
but at some point we are going to have to have a conversation about…
that.”
Draven said affirming both the name he obviously preferred I be called and what he also preferred to call my boyfriend.

“That
, is my boyfriend and
that
is who I choose to be with, so if you stopped acting like an ass around him then it would make it a Hell of a lot easier for me to be around
you!”
I ranted up at him before trying to storm off but not getting very far from him. He followed me close enough so that I could feel the angry heat at my back and I knew if I stopped for a second he would run right into me.

“And that is precisely what we need to discuss.” He growled in my ear making me spin back round to face him.

“No, we don’t! You have no say in who I date Draven and the sooner you come to realise that the better!” I said feeling so angry it was like my heart was going burst out of my chest any minute, so it too could slap him!

“And just now, when I had you trembling in my arms with just the thought of when I was about to kiss you?” He said with his face getting closer to mine as if aiding him whilst making his point. I on the other hand could feel my jaw go slack in utter shock.

“Uh…sorry?”
I whispered completely dumbstruck.

“You want me to say it again or follow through with my desires to drive my point home, because I am pretty sure either way it gives me a damn right in who touches you!” Okay so he was definitely angry now but I was still left playing catch up on what the hell I had just missed!

“I…uh…but you said…uh…okay Draven, now I’m confused.” I admitted letting my shoulders slump and taking a much needed step back from all this and not just physically.

“What I said?” He looked just as confused for a moment before something must have registered when he looked back at me.

“Keira I…” Draven started but was abruptly cut off when I heard my name being called from the front desk. I looked over to see RJ waving me over like a mad woman, with Lanie stood next to her wearing her usual shy smile.

“Look I have to go.” I said feeling like some sad, deflated balloon that had been left out far too long after the celebrations had all ended.

“Just give me a minute to explain, that’s all I ask.”

“I can’t,” I replied softly trying not to look him in the eyes, knowing I would crack if I did.

“Can’t or won’t?” I could tell by the way he asked me that question that he wasn’t happy about being told no, but what else could I do? I had to make the decision at some point that this needed to end before it began, because no matter what Draven really felt or wanted, it wasn’t ever going to be enough to go back in time. I couldn’t allow him to have that power over me again. I couldn’t allow him to kiss me and then eventually take it back.

For no matter what I wanted in the heat of the moment I knew in the long run I had to keep my heart safe and guarded because at the end of that kiss was the inevitable waiting to happen…

Rejection. Pain. And then devastation with Draven walking away…
yet
again.
No, I couldn’t let that kiss ever happen no matter how much I wanted it…craved it and normally would have fought tooth and nail to get it.

But not this time.

So with that in mind I answered him before walking away with a decision that felt so wrong it was lodged in my throat, making this one word all the more harder to get out…

“Both.”

Chapter 13

In Bad Taste

Walking away from Draven wasn’t easy, not by a long shot but I knew it was better for me in the long run. Having Alex turn up when he had was the wakeup call I needed. I didn’t mind being friends with Draven, as it was better than nothing but I was going to have to put a stop right now to all the mixed messages I was receiving. It wasn’t fair to me and my fragile heart to keep putting me through this. It was confusing enough just trying to find the right balance to be friends, but having him backing me into a corner and nearly kissing me was taking it to a whole new level of cruelty.

I knew enough about Draven that if he wanted something he would simply take it, which included me. If something had changed in the fates that meant we could finally be together then I couldn’t imagine Draven taking his time in letting it be known that he wanted me back. But that hadn’t happened. And unless I missed the memo, nothing had changed and nothing ever would. No, I couldn’t do this and I quickly realised something when I had turned round to see Draven with Alex still at my back. If it hadn’t been for him knowing about Alex, then Draven wouldn’t even have been here let alone nearly kissing me, which only meant one thing…

Draven was only reacting to this because he felt threatened.

The thought was a depressing one but there was no other explanation for his behaviour. Vincent had been right that night on top of the cliff. I would have been devastated to find out Draven hadn’t cared when finding out that I was with Alex but what Vincent didn’t realise was that Draven’s reaction to it was just as devastating.

Of course, just because I had made up my mind didn’t mean I could let it go. It didn’t mean I didn’t start obsessing over every little detail in the last twenty four hours! Because let’s face it, that’s what us girls did. We analysed every single thing and looked for the hidden meaning as if we were cracking that damn Da Vinci Code of men!

Which brought me to now and standing in front of the mirror staring at the borrowed dress I wore wondering if it was good enough for Alex. I think in the long list of differences between Alex and Draven one thing always stood out the most and that was how unsure I now felt about myself. I knew Alex liked the finer things in life as blatantly did my ex but unlike Draven Alex seemed to find them far more important than they were ever meant to be. He cared about the designer names and the flashy cars, always explaining how much things cost. And yes, Draven had all of this but never once did he ever make it seem that important to him. It was always just stuff to him, stuff that could be replaced or even forgotten. Surely that’s how it should have been…right?