Page 52 of Where the Dark Knelt
My heart was pumping so fast, and my mouth was dry. Istarted to panic. Max must have sensed something because his arms held me tighter.
“Hey, Lily baby, how’re you doing?” Alfie asked as he leaned in and placed a small kiss on my cheek. His touch was electric. Max’s arms tightened their grip again as I struggled to control my breathing and sound calm.
“Hi, Alfie,” I said as calmly as I could, but I swallowed hard.
He wasn’t perturbedat all by the fact I was in Max’s arms. Leaning in, Alfie had the audacity to brush my hair away from my face. I almost screamed out loud because I knew my body would react. Alfie’s touch buzzed through me, the sensation pooling at my core.
Fighting my body’s natural instincts to stiffen when Alfie’s lips touched my cheek was pointless. I hadn’t wanted it to betray me while I was in Max’s arms. “Alfie’s studying music as well, he’s partly the reason Will and I perform together,” I explained to Max.
I closed my eyes and swallowed for a brief second, and as they opened Alfie’s eyes penetrated mine again. I searched Alfie’s face, wanting to know why he would do this. I felt Max’s arms relax a little. He hadn’t noticed any reaction, and I was relieved.
“Is everyone in England this rude?” Alfie asked, deadpan. “I’m Alfie, a good… buddy of Lily’s,” he informed him briskly. He offered Max his hand. “And you are?” His eyes flicked between Max and me.
“Max,” he said, curtly. “I’m a very close friend of Lily’s,” he replied, declaring this like he was staking a bigger claim to me.
Maxreached out to shake Alfie’s extended hand but held me firmly in place with his other arm. The tension between the two men made me feel uneasy. Fortunately, at that moment,it was our turn at the checkout. I was relieved to focus on something other than this awkward situation.
Moving toward the checkout, Max relaxed his grip on me, which allowed me to place the shopping on the belt. I was praying that Alfie would just leave, scared that he may say something to humiliate me. Instead of leaving he became more vocal.
“I’m gladI ran into you actually, there’s an event that I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to know if you’d be interested in performing a couple of numbers with my band next month.” My jaw dropped, and he gave me his seductively sexy dimpled smile.
Alfie’sfocus was completely on me now. Max was forgotten in the exchange between us. His sensual stare was so irresistible. “Some ofourother friends are coming over for drinks tonight. Do you guys want to come, and we’ll talk about it then?”
I was still stuck on his use of the term ‘our friends’,when Max looked at me before mumbling,“Sorry, buddy, thanks for the offer, but we’re going to have a more intimate party of our own tonight.”
Firstly, I was annoyed with Max almost staking a claim on me in front of Alfie in that way. Secondly, I was also confused to see a fleeting look of anger and something–I couldn’t place what–in Alfie’s eyes. I saw his jaw twitch, so I knew what Max had said had gotten to him.
Maxseemed to have missed this as he had turned to pick up the bags. Alfie reached out and his fingers brushed up my thigh, stealing my breath briefly. He grinned wickedly, his eyes widening, as he ran his tongue over his bottom lip and bit it slowly, his eyes now raking over my body.
Alfie had the same look in his eyes that he had whenever he had been undressing me. Excitement coursed through my body at seeing him act this way, and I struggled to keep my breath even. He could feel my heat, and I blushed. Alfie’s face was instantly passive as Max turned around to face us again.
I fought hard withthe feelings that were coursing through my veins, as my thigh tingled and burned from where Alfie’s fingers had traced moments before.
My panties were wet, and I ached for him to touch me again.My thinking voice was screaming for him, but my face was a blank canvas. No way could I show him that I still wanted him. Besides, it was crazy, I was here with Max.
Max took the bags in one arm and pulled me close to him with the other. “Okay, we’re done, we got to get going.” He excused us and led me toward the exit.I couldn’t help thinking that Max kissing the top of my head, then nuzzling my neck on the way out was his way of marking his territory a little for Alfie’s benefit.
Alfie didn’t follow us, rooted to the spot ashe continued to watch us make our way out. Walking to the car, I was engrossed in what was in the trolley, but thinking of Alfie. When I looked up, Alfie was leaning against his car door parked in the opposite row to ours, his gaze fixed on me as he spoke on the phone. I noticed his fists were clenched as I got into the car.
Max stared him out and looked pissed when he got into the car, banging the door. His weight made the car seat huff as he landed heavily on it. His head whipped around to face me. “You need to watch that guy, babe.” He looked cross.
Sliding into the car, I didn’t comment.“Christ!” he spat out. “Does he always look at you like that?”
Pretending not to know what he meant, I lied, “Like what? I don’t know what you mean.”
Max growled, his voice cracking. “Like he wants to fuck you hard, Lily, like that look!”
I shook my head in denial. “That’s garbage!” I argued, trying to sound casual about him.
“Seriously, you don’t see that, Lily?” Max’s voice was so low with emotion he was almost growling at me. It wasstrange watching his reaction, and I tried to make light of it.
“He’s just an intense guy,” I quipped, trying to laugh it off.
Max became annoyedwith my reaction. “It’s not funny, Lily. You are going to have to tread carefully around that guy. He’d fuck you senseless if you look at him the wrong way.” He shifted in his seat and hit over at the wheel. “Damn!”
Max’swords put me off balance. Alfie was only after sex, as I had been.The thing that was different about this was that he had engaged with me outside of the bedroom, and Max had seen his lust.
I thought Alfie’s reaction was due to not taking rejection well. I imagined his looks, bad-boy image, and charm made him irresistible to most women, and I had just dented that image. WatchingMax’s reaction though, helped me understand why Alfie had ignored me in public.
