Page 9 of The Guru: Shadow

Everyone turned towards them, staring. It made her souncomfortable, she wanted nothing more than to disappear into a black hole. Without drawing too much attention, she slipped from Julie’s side and aimed for a spot at the glass front, where she tried to blend in with the scenery. From here, she had the whole bar in view, and the sheer amount of people she looked at overwhelmed her. Too much noise. Too many

Remember why you’re doing this.But even channeling her rage did not work.

Julie worked as an aspiring partner in a huge PR agency, actually one of Manhattan’s best. With her character, nothing was out of the ordinary. And, well, not to mention, the CEO was her father’s best buddy.

“As you all know, I’ve been with Bloom PR for quite some time now, and not only did I manage to acquire our biggest client ever today, but I was also made managing partner!” she said, while beaming at them with her huge smile, her bold, glowing red lips showing off her white teeth. Everyone clapped, and Sienna even cheered. Julie enjoyed every last bit of being in the middle of attention.

“Soooo, let’s celebrate.” She lifted her glass. “Evening’s on me, guys.”

Carl stood up and slung his arm around Julie.

I was right.Promotion.Wonderful.Julie is now managing partner in a big firm and I got fired from the bar last week.

Distracting herself from the stinging thought of being worthless in comparison to all the others around her, she let her eyes sweep around the bar, and everyone looked at Julie.

Every-fucking-one.

Except foran icy chill prickled down her back as she met his eyes for a fraction of a second. There he stood, leaning lenient at the bar, staring at her with piercing eyes and a slightly tilted head.

She glanced behind her as she thought he was staring at someone behind her, only to be reminded there was nothingbut the massive window front behind her.

She looked back at him with his very expensive and yet casual-looking linen suit, shouting money all over it.

He is definitely staring at me.With the middle finger of his right hand he traced the rim of the whiskey glass on the bar’s counter. Her eyes wandered from his big and strong-looking hand over to his chest. His shirt opened almost a button too much, and it left nothing to guess how muscular his chest was. His face strong, the jawline absolute perfection, and the eyes framed by thick, trimmed eyebrows. And then, the hair.

The hair!

Naturally blonde, curly, and so full, probably every man on the planet envied him. He wasn’t the tallest, but it suited his whole appearance, with his muscular touch and tanned skin. It gave him an Italian-surfer-boy vibe, only one coming from really old money. And instead of looking at Julie like everybody else, his ice-blue eyes pierced her.

His gaze, so intense, it stripped her of everything down to her bare, raw soul. It was uncomfortable, and yet something in his gaze made her core flatter. His gaze had hooked her on, as if he somehow pulled her towards him by an imaginary rope. There was neither a smile on his face nor softness in his eyes. The energy he radiated was consuming and just as strong as his facial features.

Everything about him shouted danger – someone to stay far away from. But his offensive stare and radiating presence mesmerized her. She stared back into his eyes, and while their eyes locked, the entire room disappeared.

The buzzing noise vanished from her ears, while the mingled scents of all kinds of perfume bedazzling her senses evaporated. All the people – gone. It was only him and her. The intensity of their connection made her chest heave up and down from her fastening breaths. And somewhere, deep down in her core, an electrified heat spread in prickling waves through it.

Holy. Crap. Shit.

Suddenly, she heard everyone cheering and clapping. It ripped her from their gaze, and as her eyes flashed over to Julie, noise streamed back into her ears. Voices, music,clapping, cheering. She hadn’t even heard what happened. But, as she saw Julie and Carl hugging, and an enormous diamond ring on Julie’s finger jumping at her, she knew exactly what had happened. Carl used the special day to propose.

They are getting married.

Married.

Ignoring the sinking feeling in her stomach, her eyes flashed back to the bar, but the mysterious guy was nowhere to be seen. She let her eyes sweep through the room, but he was gone.

Or did she imagine it? All the pain in her life might have fried her brain to the point where she imagined people staring at her.

Julie is getting married. Like Chris and Sami.

Everyone hugged Julie. Celebrated Julie. Laughed with Julie. While everything in her clenched watching it. The image of Chris and Sami getting married replayed again in her mind while she just stood here, all alone. A coldness slowly crawled up in her, overtaking her insides as if the temperature in the room had dropped to way below zero. Her fingers began to tingle, bringing the foreboding of fear with it.

Fuck.

A heavy rock of broken dreams and lost time appeared in her chest, bringing with it the awful feeling of not being able to breathe properly.

Everyone else always got everything they wanted. Perfect lives paraded in front of her, rubbing her under the nose how incapable she was.

Her pulse raced.

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