Page 10 of Divine Violence
An unfamiliar voice murmured behind me, “Feeling cold?”
Startled, I turned around, halfway expecting to see Alex there. He’d gone inside to talk to the captain, but he wasn’t the one standing not too far away from me.
Murmurs came through the open door of the boat from the crowd talking inside, but the crowd wasn’t what had me standing up from the bench I was sitting on.
Where Alex was dark, broad, and much taller than me—all-around reminding me of an Aegean hero from the stories of a long time ago—this one looked like a fallen angel.
They were a stark contrast really, and I had no idea if it was the wealth and status in the world that made these men look like GQ models, or something in their water. I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
“Would you like to have my jacket?” he asked and came closer to where I stood. He didn’t take up too much space, but I could feel him everywhere around me.
His blond hair was shorter on the sides and longer on the top, artfully arranged no doubt by a personal stylist. His tuxedo fit him like a second skin, leaving little to the imagination from the way it hugged his body.
He was taller than Alexander, but also leaner. Where I could imagine Alexander spending hours in the gym, lifting heavy weights and doing all those grueling workouts, this man in front of me reminded me of a swimmer.
But he had no mask on his face.
I could see every sharp line, the mischievous glint in his eyes, and those eyebrows slightly darker than his hair, casting a shadow over his dark eyes.
“I’m okay,” I answered and stepped closer to the railing, feeling the wind on my skin. “But thank you for asking.”
“I don’t think we have met.” He again stepped closer. I knew that if he decided to come all the way to me, I would have nowhere to run.
I didn’t know these people. I couldn’t know if one of them was a crazed maniac or if they really were good and honest people.
But I knew the face of the man in front of me, and it wasn’t because I saw him on a billboard somewhere, or because he was just another CEO or famous person.
I knew him because his family and mine had spent summers together on the coast of Alfenghar. I knew him because the last time I saw him, he told me I had the prettiest eyes he had ever seen and that he liked the seashells I found on the shore.
Dominic Talon stood in front of me like a ghost from the past, but he couldn’t recognize me thanks to the mask I was wearing.
Or at least he didn’t show that he did.
“I am—”
“I know who you are,” I blurted out, squeezing my eyes shut as soon as the words left my mouth.
“Do you now?” He smirked, completely clueless about the battle going on inside of me.
Did I tell him? Did I keep it a secret?
It wasn’t his fault that he forgot about me, but seeing him here felt like a bad dream. All those happy memories I stored somewhere in the chest of wonders reserved for things I didn’t want to think about were about to tumble outside.
It was easier living without those happy memories because those were what haunted you the most.
And for me, those were the last memories I had of my parents.
Some days I thought I was forgetting them. It was getting harder and harder to remember what my mom’s voice sounded like, or what my dad’s smile looked like. Dominic was a slap I needed to remember them all.
But this wasn’t the time or place. The last thing I wanted to happen tonight was to fall apart in front of these people.
The Dominic I knew was a thirteen-year-old kid. Even though he was six years older than me, he never made it seem as if I bothered him, but I knew I had.
“I mean, you’re not wearing a mask.” I chuckled nervously, gripping the rail with my right hand. “It is rather easy recognizing you guys.”
Our fathers grew up together—wepractically grew up together—and he probably forgot all about me.
A logical part of my brain knew that there was no way he could’ve recognized me. The last time I saw him I was a seven-year-old girl, collecting seashells and laughing at every silly joke he told me. But the illogical part didn’t care that more than ten years had passed.
