Chapter 4 - Forbidden

JULIA’S POV

A four-poster bed covered with Sofia the first bedsheets and matching cover cases, a mortifying amount of Zayn and Harry styles posters that hint at an obsessive phase covering a part of the wall, and the now chipping away paint of purple and pink on the walls were what greeted me when I finally opened my eyes. It had felt like old times, I had felt safe. Skye’s room was the only piece of my childhood that hasn’t been embellished or altered with the years.

Not only was her room a reminder of when I was the happiest, but it was easier pretending we were still thirteen in here and ten years of putting ourselves out there, giving up weekends with girls, and canceling meetups at the last minute had not happened between us because we were too busy striving for the things that had once made our faces glow but now causes a crease in-between our brows. The dreams that have always seemed achievable yet so out of reach the more we approach them.

I have spent more time in Skye's house than mine, since, it was not only next door but her mom made the best cookies that’s why I couldn't help but feel sad that soon she might refurbish this piece of safe haven. She insists she misses the coziness of her room and that's why she visits infrequently but I know it was because she worries too much about me. And she might ditch her facade soon and move in fully to join my parents in gold spoon-feeding me and all of this have to go when she does that.

But, I couldn't be more grateful that she was here now because going home in my hangover state early this morning knowing that I am sure to give my father a heart attack and my mother an invite to a nagging tournament had been out of the question. 

“Where did you get this card from?” Skye asked while I checked my emails absent-mindedly. It was past midday and I still haven’t recovered from the hazy regrets of hangover that makes us wonder why we ever thought gulping shots after shot of poison was fun.

I slowly turned. She was holding the card that I had insisted on having before entering the car of the old man with a nice smile that had insisted on dropping me home. It was a complimentary card of sorts and in my dizzy hungover state this morning I had accepted it as enough proof that he wasn’t just some kidnapper. Now, I thought about it that was a very dumb reassurance but at least it had gotten me to accept his offer to give me a ride back home after my mini panic attack after waking up in a hotel room without recalling checking in from the night before.

“The good Samaritan that dropped me off here owns that.” My eyes were still on my laptop when I heard a soft audible gasp. I slowly turned and Skye looked like she had just seen a ghost. Her eyes were wide and her tanned face was completely pale.

Skye has been my best friend since we were in diapers and it was a friendship that had not come as a surprise to anyone. Her mom and mine were super tight and although she had a filthy rich father who had later decided to take on his responsibility after years of not knowing she existed and had made her attend a prep school with snobbish kids. Before all that, we had seen “Friends” a hundred and one times while we burned through each other’s favorite cereal and named our children together.

But in all those years I have never seen Skye scared. She lived with such brazenness and energy that I have always envied. It was almost like she had a second life somewhere waiting for her to be done with her present so she can go grab it. So, imagine my shock as she lowered herself next to me on her bed looking like she was so scared she could barely stand on both feet.

“Who did you say gave you this card?”

“The Samaritan man….”

“Back up,” she held her hand interrupting me. “Before that, you were talking about some dream you had with an incredibly handsome man in it.”

I frowned. I was more than convinced that I had dreamt about the stranger from last night at this point. Skylar had demanded explanations the minute I had woken up and after telling her what I thought had transpired she had laughed and confidently told me there was no such room and I must have hit my head hard when I fell unconscious.

“This man you were talking about, does he have Raven black hair, a wicked grin, dimples, and something calculating about his stare?”

I eyed her while sitting up, fully awake. “He had turquoise cold eyes.”

She visibly shivered. “Do you know his name?”

“No. But he was talking to some girl. Her name is…” I held my head, my migraine resurfacing. “I think Becca. Rebecca.”

She grabbed my laptop and I watched in silence as she rapidly typed on it with an urgency that scared me.

“Rebecca Franca Green, daughter to the Mayor.” She turned my laptop towards me. “Does she look like this?”

I looked at the girl staring back at me with a wide grin and couldn’t connect her with the disheveled girl that had sobbed in front of the asshole from yesterday. Girls that looked like this with that set of teeth and blonde extensions, holding that designer bag, and obviously grew up in a home with a butler and a chauffeur have no business falling on her knee and begging a man to want her.

I turned towards my best friend who looked at me like the next word I could say could mar or make something. “No,” I muttered. “I am not sure because although the girl from last night shares some of her features, that girl isn’t this girl.”

She looked relieved. She typed something and turned the laptop again towards me. My ass shot off from the bed as I stared at the picture startled. Because there he stood, the man from my dreams only that he was real. Everything that happened last night wasn’t in my dream. I had indeed witnessed him talking about killing a man and had fainted in his arm. He looked so distant in the picture than he was last night albeit I couldn’t mistake that cold eyes anywhere even though he had his arm wrapped around a woman who could easily pass as a Victoria's Secret model and now I think about it, it only made sense that face belongs in a billboard.

“That’s him.”

“Fuck,” she gasped staring at me with undisguised mortification and fear.

“You are scaring me now, Skye,” I admitted.

“He is Damon Valentino Caelian.” She finally muttered like that should mean something to me but when she noticed the look of confusion in my eyes, she shook her head at me. “He is the kind of man that your mom told you never to get mixed up with although disguised in a designer dress shirt and a face that makes you believe that he might have made some transaction with the Devil. He is not the kind of man that has any business pinning you to the wall or allowing you to get away with being that cheeky towards him as you described. He is trouble, he is evil, he is heartless, and just the thought that you were alone with this kind of man makes my skin crawl. Both of you are like light and day, two extremes.”

I grinned realizing that she was getting worked up for nothing. Whoever this Damon guy is doesn't belong in my world and the chances of crossing paths with him were almost non-existent. “So?”

“You will never understand.” She sighed and almost like the past few minutes didn’t happen, she was back to normal. She stood up. “Well… You need to get back home anytime from now else, your father might not be the only person you need to worry about ending up in the hospital. By the way, your mom has been blowing my phone asking me to hand you the phone since yours is switched off when you were passed out cold, even though I told her you were busy having a social life, she has been pretty persistent,” I blinked at her but decided that her strange attitude wasn’t as important as making sure my smothering parents who believe I might drop dead any day if I am left with my devices for too long don’t end up having me take care of them in their respective wards, I stood up hoping to revisit the discussion later.

                                                                          ***

I can still remember the decadent taste of the chocolate melting in my mouth while I hide in a dark corner scared that mom will find me and give me so much trouble. I had been specifically asked to stay off sweets for a week by my dentist because of my sweet tooth which resulted in a teeth ache.

Although I had gone ahead to take much more chocolate in the future, the taste of that chocolate dissolving in my tongue as I hid in a dark corner, my heart beating, my eyes furtive, and my movement frantic was one I couldn’t forget for a long time. It was decadent, sinful, and forbidden. It had sent a shameful thrill down my spine later that night when I thought about it and it is the same way I felt now as my eyes feasted on the many pictures of Damon Caelian Valentino.

The first man that had made my best friend scared to death.

If I was wise, I should stay far away from him. Even though she hadn’t used words further, I had seen her tossing the card into the trash before I made to leave but just like that chocolate, I was now in the dark corner of my room at past midnight savoring the many pictures of someone who from her reaction I am not supposed to stare at for longer than seconds.

But the more I stare at him, the more a crazy idea began to form in my head especially as I remember a part of the conversation from last night I had completely ignored. And from a scale of one to ten of crazy, this is probably hitting 27 but I am so sure that now I have it on my mind it was never going away. He wanted a wife and now I think of it what better risk is there to take than falling in love? And who is a better candidate than a man whose cold bored eyes remain the same in every slide and picture? his cold demeanor almost tangible and a different woman always hanging in his arm.

Skye was going to kill me, mom will disown me finally and I might have to get a home closer to the hospital for dad but yet I got into the business of scheming my way into meeting Damon again. I don’t know why but I had a feeling he just might listen to me because I could be great at being a trophy wife and leaving isn't even up to me even though I choose not to.