Unknown (13 page)

“Y-you know what
they say… third times the charm.” I couldn’t help but to murmur as I opened the door and slipped out. He chuckled, the sound was dark and yet oh-so playful. He had a great chuckle, but for the next three months, those laughs would all be hers.

Still I held that door for her as she slipped right into my spot beside him that was still balmy with my warmth. It was hard not to harbor ill will towards Kendra, even if it wasn’t all her fault. Oh, the ambition was there; but she didn’t force him into her bed, she didn’t win his heart. She only won his body by playing a game I didn’t even know existed. I watched as they drove off before continuing upstairs. The seven flights felt like they were endless, but I eventually reached my apartment, eventually calmed my shaking hands enough to open the door. I left my shoes, purse and shrug on the floor right on the mat in front of the doorway. I slipped out of my dress before I even reached my bedroom and let it fall away. Then, and only then, did I collapse into my bed. And as the soft pillow top mattress swallowed me up, I buried my face into one of my decorative pillows and I screamed, as loud, and as hard, as I possibly could.

Cinderella felt like it didn’t run half
as long as it should have. It felt like before I could blink the production was over and the vampires had stepped up their rehearsing. Every time I attempted to use a rehearsal room within moments of me closing the door I was informed that the room was needed. It was frustrating, even tiny little room C was suddenly in demand. Leslie couldn’t even save the room for me, she was only an artist in the Company, which meant she had no clout to pull.

I showed up at the theater one day, a week and a half after Aleksi had marked me. I was on my way to the locker room when Kendra and Aleksi passed me. His eyes didn’t fall on me, he didn’t turn and look at me and it made my heart hurt. Still I turned and watched them leave together, hand in hand like the pretty perfect dancer couple that they were. They were the brunette version of Garrett and Anna.
You’re staring too hard.

“If I could paint at all, I’d want to capture that look.” I jumped at the voice and turned to find Tristan standing behind me, his clipboard in hand as always.

“Oh…I.” I shook my head and passed my fingers back through my hair.

“I meant to ask you how you were feeling last
week, but I hardly saw you.”

“I haven’t been able to dance really, even right now I’m on my way out. The rooms are all full.”

“Ah,
you’re not part of the Company.” He chuckled a little and flashed me a quick smile. “You have a lot of the human dancers a bit prickly. You’re their scapegoat. They don’t like that they have to share space with us indefinitely, so they’re taking it out on you.”

“And the vampires?”

“What about us?”

“I-I was k
icked out by vampires last week.”

“Hmm.” He pursed his lips. “I’ll look into it.”

“Oh…
well, you don’t need to.”

“I insist! Autumn, it’
s customary for vampires to give gifts to our friend’s servants when they receive the first mark. Besides, I’m sure you’d get more use out of this than anything I picked out. Aleksi hasn’t let me buy anything for him since the roaring twenties.” We fell silent, it was a little awkward. Did he know something I didn’t?
Probably
.
He looked around and his smile slipped into a sly little smirk. “I’m supposed to tell you… two months, and two and a half weeks. He’s counting the hours you know.”

I couldn’t help but to furrow my brows. Aleksi didn’t seem to be counting anything at all when he walked passed me like I was invisible. The door to the locker room opened and Leslie came running down the hall towards us. She slid next to me, literally slid, her shoes slipped across the floor.

“Hello there, Mr. D’Arcy
.” She positively purred to Tristan. Someone had a crush.

“Darcy?” I raised a brow. “Like in Pride and Prejudice?”

“Not quite, it’s D’Arcy, with the French spelling. I’ll leave you two alone. It was a pleasure, Autumn. Les
lie… I hope to see you tomorrow.” He winked at her and started walking away. She stared at him like a smitten school girl.

“He invited me to audition for a permanent place in their Company. He claims he could pick me out of the corps in Cinderella, and that I had a startling grace compared to the others. But I have a sneaky suspicion that he just wants to sink his fangs into my neck.” She giggled. “And I’m tempted to let him—he’s super fucking hot after all and it’s been a while since I’ve had a
batmobile in my bat-cave.”

I
gaped at her. “W-wow, a little blunt there.”

“As blunt a
s my dire circumstances warrant.” She snickered. “Are we going for dinner?”

“I don’t know, I think I should just go home.”

“I take it you saw them?”

“Yep.” The word came out clipped and cold. That was when Garrett sauntered down the hall. There was something primal and predatory in his gait that made the innocuous everyday occurrence seem like he was stalking prey. Oddly enough, he seemed more predatory than the Vampires.

“Kendra invited us to dinner. She says you’re not returning her texts.”
Because you’re being petty and impolite.
I sighed as Miss Manners reared her head.

“She just saw me in the hall and couldn’t peel herself from Aleksi long enough to say anything.” I couldn’t keep the anger from my voice. And like he could smell it, Garrett approached us.

“Well, well, well, angry Autumn. That’
s…rare.” He said as he idly stretched his neck. “What’s wrong?”

“That’s fuckin
g rich coming from you, Garrett.” Leslie snorted rolling her eyes.

“She wasn’t angry enough to raise her voice when she walked in on me. I might have fucked up—and trust me I know I fucked up—but whether you want me to or not, I still consider both of
you my friends. So I care when quiet little Autumn gets pissed enough to raise her voice… Can’t exactly call it shouting, but yeah.” And just like that. Bam. Garrett was that passionately caring man I thought I had fallen in love with years ago.
Don’t believe him! Remember what he did.

“Autumn had a thing wit
h Aleksi and Kendra poached him.” Leslie divulged with a sigh. “It was a serious thing too. He bought her custom Gaynor Minden’s, dyed and everything.”

“Things couldn’t have been too serious, I mean… where is he now? Fucking Kendra.” Hearing Garrett say it only made me realize how stupid the whole thing must have seemed to everyone else, everyone else who wasn’t in the Hall of Mirrors that night.

“H-how are things with Anna?” I asked changing the subject, he tilted his head to the side.

“You didn’t hear? I thought Leslie would have told you to gloat.”

“Gloat?” I was confused.

“They got
into a massive fight after the final performance of Cinderella. He dropped her—” Leslie snickered out, only to be interrupted.

“I didn’t drop the bitch.” Garrett retorted.

“Dropped. Fell. Slipped. Whatever. She blamed it on Garrett having feelings for you still.”

“Why?” I was so very confused.

“I remembered Cinderella was your favorite Ballet and left you a ticket at will call.” Garrett swallowed and I watched his Adam's apple bob.
What?
Even Miss Manners was confused. Should I apologize for blocking his number? It was a sweet gesture
. You should probably thank him for the ticket.

“
Oh, you’re not telling her the best of it, Garrett! It was literally the best seat in the house, right in the sweet spot and close enough to see his pretty widdle face.” Leslie rolled her eyes and sighed. “Anyways, Autumn are you coming to dinner?”

“S-sure.” I forced a weak smile.

“You guys going to the Diner?” Garrett’s voice had that gentle tone back to it. The tone that left his voice completely about a month before I discovered the Garrett Sandwich in my bed.

“Y-yeah, want to come?” It was worth saying, Leslie looked like her eyes were going to pop out of her head.
You shouldn’t have done that.

“Are you sure? I mean, I do want to talk to you but…”

“I’m…yeah, I’m sure.” I smiled and nodded.
This isn’t smart, this is just mean.
“And after, you can come over and… w-we can talk.” The look on Leslie’s face was priceless, but I was more interested in the one that would be on Kendra’s face. That, and I knew I could trust Garrett to say all of the words to Kendra I wouldn’t say, every last one of them. I wanted to hurt them both because I was hurting.
You’re not being very bright, Autumn.

Walking to the Diner with Garrett and Leslie, laughing and joking was…odd. I felt like I had somehow teleported back in time. Mostly they complained about Dmitri being a pain in the ass and about the change in the season’s schedule. It was so normal it fit like an old glove, then again we had been friends for years before the falling out. Garrett was back to his smiling charming self, it was like he had a split personality, normal Garrett, and sex-crazed-maniac Garrett. Could I forgive him?
Maybe.

After stepping into the Diner and seeing Aleksi with his arm around Kendra I was frozen. I literally couldn’t move. My legs refused to work and I stood by the divider made of fake ferns and stared. They looked like a couple, he looked like he was enjoying being there with her.
What exactly were you expecting?
Garrett stepped into my line of sight, those cheery green eyes sparkled with his smile.

“You okay?” He knitted his pale brows, and I swallowed with a nod.

“Yeah…”

“Want to make them jealous?” He snickered, he knew me too well. I rolled my eyes.

“N-no.” I pursed my lips and he leaned forward and kissed my forehead.
Thank you! Is it really so hard to take the high road?

“Alright, well we should get to the table before their tongues start wagging. You know Kendra can’t keep her fuck
ing mouth shut for five minutes.” Garrett chuckled out as he laced his fingers with mine. We walked to the table hand in hand—it only made my stomach sour just a little.

We slid into the booth opposite Kendra and Aleksi. His long, pale fingers were idly stroking the fallen tendrils from Kendra’s bun. She beamed at me, her face bright, cheery and happy. I felt like I was going to be sick.

“Au
tumn, you don’t have to be here,” Garrett whispered to me. Aleksi’s face was… scary. He had nothing but laser eyes for Garrett, like he was going to set him on fire with the intensity of his gaze. I turned to Garrett for a moment and shook my head.
Say something banal.

“I’m fine, I just think
I’m coming down with something.” I forced a smile and turned back to the group.

“Did you guys order already… or should I say did you order alre
ady, Kendra?” Garrett snickered. “I don’t think they cater to Vampires here.”

“No, Aleksi thought it would be best to wait. We’ve just been sitting, talking about the performance coming up. And speaking of performances, I can’t believe you dropped Anna! What happened? Did she say ten people in bed was too much?”

“Is that a snide remark about my sex life?” Garrett lifted a brow and glanced
from Leslie to me and then turned to focus on the two. “So…Aleksi, how long were you with Autumn before Kendra decided to seduce you away?”

“It was one date.” Kendra didn’t let Aleksi answer.
This was a bad idea.

“One date? And he caved! What a fucking prince you must be, Aleksi. Could you still taste Autumn on your lips the first time you fucked Kendra?” At the
accusation Aleksi shifted in his seat, that bright blue gaze drifted away from the table.

“Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you
, Garrett? Like you have a fucking leg to stand on! You’re the one who fucked half of the fucking Company at once!” Kendra yelled at him, her voice echoed through the Diner. I looked around, thankful it was mostly empty.

“So… how was Europe?” Leslie chuckled nervously.

“I might have had a bit of a problem keeping it in my pants, but I wasn’t her best fucking friend, Kendra. You don’t habitually attempt to steal your best friend’s boyfriends. And you…”—he pointed at Aleksi—“I don’t even know where the fuck to begin with you.”

“Get you
r finger out of my fucking face,” Aleksi growled, his voice oh-so quiet and throaty.

“Fuck you, bloodsucker. Make me.”
Say something before this gets out of hand.

“C-c’mon… lets… let’s all just… Let's calm down, and eat okay? I’ve p-put it behind m—” Garrett cut me off.

“But you shouldn’t have to, Autumn. You deserve better than to be shelved just because Bitchzilla over there has a black belt in sex-fu.”

“Sex-fu?” Leslie snickered and shook her head. “Look, you guys have all fucked over
Autumn.” She pointed at Garrett. “You really hurt her when you cheated on her. Honestly, you didn’t have to deal with the aftermath. I get you’re feeling guilty about it. But, Garrett, this isn’t the way to make amends.” Garrett nodded and crossed his arms, pouting quietly. She then turned to Kendra and took a long slow breath. “And you’re on my shitlist. Apologize to Autumn. All three of you apologize.” Leslie, my champion.

“I’m sorry, Autumn. If I could
redo everything I really would.” Garrett smiled weakly to me. He slid his hand over mine and gave it a squeeze. Aleksi still looked like he was trying to ignite Garrett with his mind.

“I have nothing to apologize for, I didn’t do anything wrong. And if Aleksi wants to be with me instead of her he doesn’t have to apologize either.”