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The guests cheer and applaud. Some even have tears in their eyes, and me…well, I feel numb. So numb the blood in my veins slows like tar and the air in my lungs burns like acid.
Of course Dad is entitled to say all the wonderful things he feels about his daughter at her engagement party. His speech of appreciation and pride, along with his happiness for Charlotte in finding a man he considers a son are all wonderful.
Except the sentiment is completely lost on me. Every single word spoken in his speech pricked at my heart and pulled on my soul as each highlighted just how differently Charlotte and I are viewed by our parents.
Where she is celebrated, I am not. I can’t remember my father ever telling me he was proud of me or that he adored me. And I certainly don’t remember being called ‘his Autumn’.
Clarity reigns supreme tonight, showing the discordance of our realities.
Charlotte is my father’s protégé, while I’m his pain.
I don’t want to be here anymore.
I really shouldn’t have come tonight. The foolish thing is, it’s not like I didn’t factor in that tonight could be awkward and I’d look like a pitiful joke again. I knew there was a possibility for it to happen, yet I came anyway.
Andthere are people looking at me again. Looking and whispering.
Maybe it’s because I didn’t applaud with everyone else when Dad finished his speech.
Unlike before, I don’t have the energy to bounce back. My emotions are so fragile I fear I might shatter like thin glass if someone throws one more jab at me.
Dad announces that it's time to dance and the band starts up again with a lively jazz song.
I stand when everyone makes their way to the floor, but I won’t be dancing.
I’m leaving.
I’m done with tonight. And I’m done with feeling like a loser when I’m not.
If I don’t want to truly lose my mind, I need to get the fuck out of here as quickly as possible.
With Mom wrapped up in conversation with my aunts, and Charlotte heading across to Dad and Cole, this is the perfect moment to make my escape.
I follow the crowd onto the dance floor, getting lost in the sea of guests in their masquerade masks, ballgowns, and designer suits.
When I reach the center I pick up my pace, but then a tall man with a black horned devil mask slips an arm around my waist and pulls me flush against his chest.
Startled and thrown off balance, I’m ready to protest and tell him that I won’t be dancing with him, but then my eyes lock with his and the words evaporate in my mind.
My heart leaps in my throat and hammers into my soul when the recognition dawns on me instantly that I know him. Iknowthose intense green eyes, but shock makes me stare back at him in disbelief, because it can’t be him.
It can’t be my Aries.
Luc…
There’s no way he could know that if there was ever a time I needed him, it’s now.
That scent of musk and sandalwood fills my nose, lulling me to a place where only he can take me. It’s then I know I’m not seeing things. It’s really him.
It’s Luc.
He’s here, and the mask he’s chosen covers so much of his face that no one would be able to tell it’s him. This look he’s also sporting is too clean-cut for the guy most people know him to be.
He gives me that cocky grin I love so much when he seems to read my mind, then he holds me closer and I sink into the warmth of his embrace, finding solace in the steady beating of his heart. Just like always, being close to him wipes away the angst from my being and his simple touch restores my soul, removing my pain, disappointment and humiliation.
“Hey, there, Venus,” he mutters into my ear.
“I can’t believe you’re here.”
