The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (68 page)

I couldn’t help the smile that crept across my face like a deflowered maiden.

“Lover boy calling
?
” Justin said in a flat tone that had taken my smile to heart. Jack frowned but said nothing. And RJ n
udged me and said “Bootie call
.
”

I ignored them all and text
back with a shaky hand.

“Is this who I think it is using modern technology to arrange a date
?”
K x
x

I sent it and tried to listen to the conversation but it was hard when I kept looking over my shoulder to where his shadow might be or the phone to light up
,
letting me know I had a message back. I had been smart enough to put it on silent and vibrate. Sure enough
,
seconds later it was glowing in my hand.

“Come to me and I’ll s
h
o
w
you what I can do without this phone in my hand.
”
D
xx
x

I gulped and bit down on my lip. I wanted to say goodbye and run for
the stairs as quick as my legs c
ould carry me but I knew my guilt would be overwhelming
,
so I sent the text that I knew he wouldn’t like…the one telling him no.

“I can’t, not yet anyway but I promise I will see you later
”

Love K xxx
x

I really want
ed
to say “See you in two shakes of a lamb
’
s tail” but I knew I
would be doing the wrong thing
,
so I flipped the phone shut and instead of sulking
, I plastered
on a smile and joined in with the conversation.

The others then arrived and Jack got Chaz’s attention and we went over to sit in a booth. Justin made a bee line for me and ended up in between me and RJ. Jack then sat opposite m
e and gave me a smile that said,
“I feel your pain”
.
I mouthed a thank you at him when no one was looking. The night seemed to drag on and on, which made it near impossible to relax
,
knowing I still had hours until I could
give in to what I really wanted to do.

“So where is the Prince of D
arkness this evening?” Lanie asked as she snuggled up to
Drew, who
she
had started da
ting not long after I had arrived
here. Drew was RJ’s best friend from childhood so she had a few issues when she had found out and took a while to adjust but thankfully she was now cool with it.

“Yeah
,
are we too beneath him to warrant an introduction
?
” Justin said spitefully
and Jack’s peaceful face turned deadly
,
but I butted in before anyone could say anything.

“Below the belt there Justin, he knows that I’m having a night with my friends and he doesn’t want to intrude, that’s all
.
”

“Yeah and it
’s
nice that he’s been letting the bar give us all free drinks all night
.
” Lanie said as she pushed her glasses back up her nose and looked to Drew f
or back up. But it was Jack who
spoke up for him.

“Yes he has and if I were you I would judge on what you know rather than that on what you clearly don’t!” Jack and Justin then had a staring match
,
which if I could
’ve had
money on, I would have picked Jack every time. His
‘boy next door’
charm had turned into something protectively lethal.

“Chill out Bro, he was just kidding around, weren’t you Justin
?
” RJ came in and saved the day and when Justin didn’t respond
,
she nudged him and gave him a look to back down.

“Sure, why not
?
” He said d
ipped in smugness.
OK
,
so Jack and Justin would never be sporting buddies but Justin didn’t strike me as the type that shared his toys or conquests, which incidentally is what
he classed me as
.
Not long after
,
I got up to use the bathroom and RJ came with me.

“Ok
...
so what was all that about?” She asked as soon as the other girls had left the bathroom. We both stood at the basins that were covered in expensive gold leaf and held up with twisted iron. The gilded mirror showed two very different friends having a discussion about two very different boys.

“I don’t know what Justin’s problem is but it’s not about Jack
.
”

“Well durr, it’s about Dominic Draven
that’s
who! Oh
,
come on Keira
,
you can be so naïve sometimes. It obvious that Justin’s got
a major thing for you and the Dark P
rince is in the way
.
”

“I wish
people would stop calling him that
.
”

“Are you kidding, that’s the sh
orten
ed version, it’s normally ‘The Dark Prince of H
otness’
but we shorten it out of respect
.
” I couldn’t help but laugh and when she started to join in
,
we were giggling
like a couple of
school
yard
teenagers.

“Look
,
I know you will hate me for saying this but he kind of has a point, he has never come down to meet us…I mean
,
don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m expecting him to come down and kick it with us or anything but it would be nice to at least me
e
t the guy
.” What could I say to that?
If they only knew the truth, would they want to meet him then? I was about to answer
,
when a noise from one of the cubicles startled us.

“Is someone…
?
” Just before she could finish
,
a girl emerged from behind a door and came to stand next to us. I kn
ew instantly it was Draven.
There was a flash of purple that RJ couldn’t see and my heart dropped. Had he heard everything? I started to replay our conversation over and over like a broken record that was now
counted as
evidence.

The girl finished washing her hand
s and I looked over to RJ who was
putting on another layer of thick black lines under and above her eyes when something happened. The water that I
had been running stopped…no that’s not quite right
, not just stopped but froze.

It was as if
this was a video being played and someone just hit the pause button. I looked to my righ
t and RJ had frozen,
still holding the eyeliner close to her lid. She was pulling a funny face like most girls do when trying
to straighten their faces so that the makeup would
somehow be applied better.

I then turned slowly to my left and found that only I and the girl were running in true time.

“Ah crap
!
” I said making the girl laugh.

“Hi Keira
.
” The girl said sweetly and I knew Draven was having far too much fun with my reaction.

“Hi
,
” I said with an unimpressed edge to my voice and this just made the poor vessel Draven was using smile.

“If I was you sweetheart
,
I would check my phone, you never know who wants
you
…your attention
!
” she corrected herself or was it, he corrected himself?

“Draven you can’t jus…” I started to object to him being here but by the time I turned back to face him, the girl was gone.

“Hey
,
are you ok?” RJ asked back in full swing of real time and full of concern at my pale, confused face.

We finished in the bathroom and made our way through the crowd when I decided to hang back and check my phone…

“
Don’t keep me waiting Keira, or I will have to come and get you. See you soon.
”
Dominic

GULP! 

Chapter 30

Coming t
o Get Me.

I was still in shock that he had gone to those lengths just to get my attention. RJ kept looking behind her making sure I hadn’t got
ten
lost in the crowd. Bless her, she didn’t know my half functioning state was due to
just
meeting my boyfriend in the girl
’
s toilets in the form of a blue haired nineteen year old
girl
with braces
and furry boots
.

I think that one wou
ld throw anyone off their game
. I kept walking towards the booth but jumped when a hand came out of a bunch of dancing bodies which turned out to be my friends. The hand belonged
to Justin who was determined to make me
stay and
dance.

“Hey, there you are. I was looking for you
.
” I was about to pull my arm away and walk back to the booth where Jack and Chaz were still chatting but he gripped me tighter.

“Dance
!
” He urged but I was still mad at him for being a jerk.

“Why
,
have you grown up in the past ten minutes?” I asked sarcastically.

“Look
,
I’m sorry about before, I was being a Jack arse…forgive me
?
” He started to plead with hands together praying but when I didn’t respond he made it worse by getting on his knees in front of
everyone. This was causing a sc
en
e
, so I grabbed his arm and pulled him up.

“Ok, ok, but just one dance
.
” I found myself whispering it
, like this
would somehow help. I could tell he wanted to dance one on one but I made it a group effort which thankfully RJ
understood
and got in between us as much as she could. I would have to remember to thank her later.
Unfortunately
though
it didn’t last long enough
to warrant thanks as
she was quickly distracted by a tall Goth in army boots and a hacked off look. She went in for the kill and left me and Justin to dance with the couple, Lanie and Drew, who were currently making out.

“So
,
how did I do?” He leaned in to ask, sending a whiff of aftershave, mixed with salt water that smelt so fresh you could have almost
swam in
it.

“Huh
!
” I said looking round only half listening.

“You know… earlier, when I covered up my age.”

“Oh that, yeah that was great…I’m mean really great. I guess I should have warned you that no one here really knows about me…well apart from Jack that is
.
” His smile quickly turned sour at the mention of his new nemesis.

“Oh, that surprises me
.
” He tried to play it cool but I was having none of it.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked with a distinct protective tone that made my voice deeper.

“Just that he doesn’t strike me as the type you could trust
,
but it could be his u
lterior motive keeping him quiet.
” This actually made me stamp my foot and the look he gave me
,
made me feel like I was
an endearing spoilt little girl
, which
didn’t help my mood!

“You don’t know anything about him! And while we’re on ulterior motives, what exactly are yours, wh
y are you playing this game? I just don’t understand!
”

“Isn’t it obvious? I don’t want to upset you Keira, I really don’t
,
but it’s so frustrating being around you when all I want to do is…” He never got to finish his sentence because every person in
the room was now staring at us, making his words die away into the club
’
s atmosphere. Even the music had ceased, making the only noise
gasps
from excited onlookers.