Page 102 of House of Malice
He entered and closed the door behind him. It was weird having him in her childhood bedroom. She didn’t fit here anymore. And neither did he.
“What’s up?” Alecto asked. Blaze stalked over to her. When he leaned in for a kiss, Alecto pulled away. “No way, Romeo! I have lip gloss on, and you are not about to ruin that for me.”
Blaze chuckled, holding her by the waist so she couldn’t run away. “Come on, just a tiny peck,” he said. “I just love the taste of plastic in my mouth.”
Alecto laughed and gave him a tiny peck on the lips and then pulled away once more. Some of the gloss transferred to Blaze’s lips.
Blaze smirked. He looked at her for a long moment, like he was taking in every detail of her face and committing it to memory. “I hate that we have to pretend that we’re not together today,” he said. “I hate that I won’t be able to touch you or even look at you all day, when all I want to do is look at you, and touch you, and taste you…”
Warmth swirled inside Alecto’s stomach. “I know,” she said gently. “But your father will be here, and I don’t want him to lose his shit and do something that might hurt you.”
Blaze’s eyes were haunted for a moment. He probably remembered the last time his father had found out about them sleeping together.
“Soon, though, right?” Alecto asked. “You said you are working on a solution to this situation.”
Blaze nodded.
“Alright then,” Alecto said and smiled. “We can survive one more day playing our parts.”
Blaze nodded again, but he didn’t look happy at all.
He leaned in and kissed her on the mouth properly this time. Alecto tapped his shoulder, but he didn’t let go, and she gave in.
“You’re a fucking asshole,” she said the moment he pulled away.
Blaze laughed and let go of her. She turned towards the mirror, fixing her ruined lip situation.
“This lip gloss doesn’t taste too bad, though,” Blaze said. “I’ll see you downstairs, baby.”
Alecto scoffed, waving him goodbye.
“Oh, and be a good girl and don’t wear your panties for me today.”
Lining her lips with the lip liner, Alecto said, “I am wearing them. But I will take them off at a certain point during the day and hide them.” Then she glanced over her shoulder at him. “It’s up to you to find them.”
With a growl, Blaze left the room.
Just as Alecto was finishing fixing her lip gloss, there was another knock on her door. This time, it was the event planner.
“Miss Black,” the witch said. “Everything is ready for the ceremony. The guests have started to arrive, and everyone is gathering in the back garden. Jolene and Leigh are both getting ready.”
“Thank you, Moira,” Alecto said and smiled. “I will go check on them now.”
Moira left, and Alecto went to a guest room, the one occupied by the brides. When she entered, she was met with an intense discussion.
“I can’t do this!” Jolene threw her arms up. “I can’t go down there and look at my aunties and my grandma and smile like nothing is happening.”
“Okay,” Leigh said. “But you were the one who didn’t want to tell them beforehand.”
“I know!” Jolene said, raising her voice. “But it’s one thing to plan it and then another thing to actually go through with it.”
Leigh looked at her with a pained expression. “So, that does that mean you don’t want to go through with it?”
Alecto raised her hands in front of her. “Wait a damned minute. Let’s take a moment to breathe and relax.”
“Thank the Gods you are here!” Andro said. He sat on the sofa in the corner, Val right next to him. Andro looked nervous, and Val was bored, inspecting her nails. “Jolene doesn’t want her family here.”
“That’s not what I said!” Jolene protested, crossing her arms.
