Page 14 of Pandora's Pain
“Oh.” That did make sense, I just hadn’t considered it. Probably because the information on this new world was still so new to me.
“I do need to leave in about five minutes or so. I’d drink up if I were you.” He winked at me, and I took his advice, drinking more of the champagne and wondering what I’d just gotten myself into.
Chapter Seven
The bar was noisy, but the concert was all-consuming sound. A roar of cheering shook the stage itself. The feel of it reverberated through my heels and all through my body.
And Ashton, he was hypnotic.
I’d never seen anything like it; the pale white lights, the sounds that went right through me. It was amazing and terrifying all at once.
It felt like the building was going to fall to the ground just from the force of his words.
The harsh sounds of his anger ripped through his vocals only to be mellowed out into a tone of pain and love and surrender to his feelings. I found myself connecting to that sound. It pounded through my heart and twisted through my stomach with too much feeling.
I lingered in the dark shadows of the side stage, memorizing every detail about him.
Could this magnetic man really be one of the world’s biggest sins?
Could I really send him away for all of eternity if he was?
“He’s intense, isn’t he?” The question was a shout against my ear. That accent drifted across his tongue and against my skin. The man’s body heat skimmed against my arm as I turned to look up at him. Instant gold sprung to life around him. I really hoped the gods’ magic would wear off soon.
Zavier studied me from his close proximity. His amber eyes were even darker here. The shy look in them melted away as his gaze dipped to my lips.
Ah… and then there were two.
I wondered what Zavier’s story was.
His business is responsible for so much greed in the world, it’d make you furious to even think about it.Alex’s stern voice drifted through my mind, making me flinch.
I searched the darkness for his brooding face.
Nothing.
Only staff members surrounded me.
Stay in your own pathetic and lonely thoughts. I don’t want you in my mind.My jaw tightened but I tried to keep a sour look from my face.
Pathetic? My mind is pathetic? Yours is ninety percent smutty thoughts and ten percent self-loathing.
My mouth parted as if he’d slapped me with the insult.
“Are you okay?” Zavier’s soft cotton shirt brushed against my arm.
My attention darted back to the handsome blonde man at my side. “Perfect. Everything’s still fucking perfect.”
A crease lined his brow, but he didn’t press my odd, strange, and completely bizarre behavior.
A blurring sea of hands and bodies was all I could see as I stared out at Ashton’s adoring crowd. Flashes of white light blinked through as they all tried to take a little piece of him home.
“How do you two know each other?” I shouted up at Zavier.
They were so opposite.
“We were in band together in high school. I was the new kid in the states, and he took pity on me.”
A tingling feeling spread through me at the nostalgic look to his smile. His happiness made him seem less dull and more… sexy.
