Page 7 of Eternal

She must’ve misjudged the next step, and trips just before the bottom of the stairs. The one hand I had on her tightens, and my other arm reaches for her, dragging her back to my chest.

“Jesus Christ, darling, are you okay?” I assess her, one arm wrapped around her possessively, while the other hand wraps around her jaw, forcing her head to crane up to look at me.

Her face is red from embarrassment, but she has no reason to be. I dare a motherfucker to make fun of her.

Freya’s eyes flutter open to meet mine, and it takes everything in my being to not kiss her on the stairs in front of prying eyes. Her seafoam green eyes draw me in, hypnotizing me into submission. I would bend and becomeanythingshe needed.

“I’m okay,” She whispers, nearly leaning into my touch.

I want her.

Badly.

Desperately.

I brush back her gorgeous blonde hair, “Good.” I hold her for a moment longer before releasing her. “Try not to fall again.” I tease her.

She rolls her eyes at me and makes it safely down the rest of the stairs. “See? I made it just fine.” Freya smiles over her shoulder at me.

I forget for a moment that we are in a room full of people. People who treated others’ lives as their own personal television show. Like we are the entertainment of the night.

We take a seat at the bar and order our drinks.

“So what’s the story with your sister and her bodyguard?” I question, wanting to know more details of her personal life.

She hums, as she sucks from her straw.

Fuck me, she’s so beautiful.

I shift in my seat and have to look away to stop myself from getting a hard-on.

“Serena was destructive in college, drank a lot, partied hard, fucked a lot. I mean a lot to the point where she almost died. So our father assigned her a bodyguard. They’ve been through a lot together. I don’t know all the details, since I was in Seattle, and dealing with some things. I just know she’s never been happier. Truly happy.” Her voice is longing.

“You say that like you’ve never experienced happiness before,” I comment, trying to bait her for more information. She stiffens, and I can tell her walls have gone back up. I need to practice my worst virtue; patience.

She grins at me like she’s up to no good, “I’ll tell you my story, when you tell me yours, Mr. Assassin,” she whispers.

Her face is flushed from the alcohol coursing through her, but that little comment shoots dread down my spine. Of course, she knows I’ve built a company entirely around torturing people. She’s not stupid.

I scoff, “Yeah, I’m not sharing that story.” I don’t trust her enough yet.

“Ha! Just like all the other men in this world.” She mumbles more to herself.

I don’t say anything else, perhaps she doesn’t know. She obviously knows her role in this world, but maybe she doesn’t know mine, doesn’t know how deep our families run together. Considering she just met Luca for the first time tonight, she very well may not know how deep this shit is. Not to state the obvious, but Freya is a woman. In this world, women aren’t meant to be leaders. They’re supposed to be quiet, and compliant to their husbands who do everything, simply a wet, warm mouth to fuck. Unfortunately for Frank, she doesn’t fit that bill. But women deserve to be heard, understood, and taken seriously in this world. Fuck the standards. Freya will be a force to be reckoned with. She will be a powerful woman, a powerful leader. And I wish to be alongside her while that happens.

We sit in comfortable silence as we finish our drinks. She seems content just people watching, peering over at me on occasion. Our parents seem deep in discussion, and keep looking over at us. I try to ignore them, but I know they aren’t up to any good. They can’t be.

“Soren Astor, I was wondering where the hell you’ve been all night.” My lawyer struts over to Freya and I, making a grand show of it, as he does with anything in life. “And who might this be?”

“I’m Freya Spencer.” She holds her hand out to Sinner.

He grasps her hand, and his eyes flicker to me when he flips her hand over to, I assume, kiss her knuckles. But the death glare I send his way makes him think twice about that action.

“I see. Well, I’m Sinner Blackwell, Soren’s trusty lawyer.” Sinner simply shakes her hand.

“Nice to meet you.” She trails off, and she looks to me an awkward silence blanketing us.

“I’ll leave you two alone again. It was nice to meet you, Ms Spencer.” Sinner slinks away towards a group of ladies.

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