Page 110 of Dagger in the Sea

“Is there a curse attached to it?”

“There is. First loves go unfulfilled for us or lost by some tragedy.” She pressed her lips together. “They don’t last. And it’s been true from Stefanos on down through to my mother and me.”

“For you?” I asked.

She wiped at an eye that was brimming with tears. “And for me.”

There it was. I wanted to know, I wanted to take that pain from her and toss it in that sea. “Do you think many first loves stay together in our modern times?” I asked. “I think it’s rare. The world now is a much busier place, a crazy interconnected place. So many distractions, so many choices unlike in Stefanos’s time.”

“It’s a shame.”

“Ah, who’s the soulful romantic now?”

Her face was streaked with red. “Did you have a first love?”

“I thought I did, but I don’t think it was.”

“Youthought?”

“She played me for a fool, I got over it quickly. A sour experience all around.”

“Sorry.”

“I let my loneliness and my hormones get the best of me.” I cleared my throat.

She only nodded, her gaze sliding back to the sea as she grew still. Was her pain still fresh? I wanted to know. I wanted to wipe his memory from her so she could see only me, feel only me, my hands on her flesh, my cock thrusting inside her.

Selfish bastard. Yeah, that’s right.

“How about you?” I asked.

“I’ve never told anyone,” she said, her voice almost eerie. “Not everything. Not the whole truth.”

30

Adriana

“Tell me about him.”Turo rubbed a hand down my back.

We’d only known each other a handful of days, but we’d spent them all together. I knew Turo would listen and not judge.

I took in a deep breath. “His name was Grigori.”There, you said his name out loud for the first time since forever and you survived.“He was a graffiti artist and a musician. A rap singer. An anti-fascist, politically active demonstrator against government corruption.”

Turo’s head slanted. “How did you meet him?”

“At a rave party he was DJ’ing in Athens. Very talented. Very attractive.”

“What did your parents think?”

“My parents were not amused. Especially my mother. But I didn’t care. They initially didn’t take much notice, hoping it was a fling. But I couldn’t get enough of him. He was everything I wasn’t, and everything I wanted. Outspoken, did what he believed in. He lived by his own rules, there were no rules. I liked that.

“His friends didn’t like me. I was the spoilt rich girl slumming it. The high society party girl dipping low. His family was very uncomfortable with me. Many of his friends said I ruined his street credibility, his image. But Grigori didn’t care about all that. He was anti all that to begin with.”

“The press must have found it all incredibly scintillating and juicy,” Turo said.

“God yes. My mother was convinced I was destroying my life.” Our endless shouting matches, the stinging accusations, fiery eyes, demands, slamming of doors all replayed themselves behind my eyes.

“Do you two not get along?” Turo asked.

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