Page 80 of Darkest Deception

Ruel looks like he belongs on the front of magazines, and I can’t help but think that getting a famous football player on one of our covers would be a good idea. It could be an exclusive edition that we can sell, featuring the heart-throb football player of England that would have women screaming.

Black unruly hair and his athletic body give him a bad boy look. His playful flirty smile reminds me of Helia. He wears a navy-blue sweater that moulds to his muscles and blue washed jeans. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, revealing a sparkling watch and a glint of a chain around his neck.

“We will be in groups of two people. The teams are Aurora and Remo, Ruel and me, you and Helia, and Venezia…” She trails off as she looks over at the woman, who I assume is Remo’s younger sister.

She has long, pin-straight brown hair, olive skin tone, matching Remo’s, and similar dark eyes to him, too. She’s quite slender and almost as tall as me, though I don’t know her age. With an oversized white and brown striped jumper and black skinny jeans and white socks, she has young features, a soft touch to her cheeks, and a beautiful pearly white smile with a side parting in her hair.

She looks to be in her early twenties, possibly.

“I will be the judge, of course, and since I am left out, I’ll pick the movie.”

Protests start all around, and she shrugs with a victorious smile, making my own heart fill with some sort of blasting light.

Everyone starts laughing and pointing to each other about their disgusting taste in movies. One suggests a Disney movie, while the other suggests a vampire series, and another votes for a dystopian series. It makes me swallow in longing.

The back of my head tickles, and the hair on the back of my neck rises in awareness.

And I know exactly who is here.

“You and I are together, Emerald,” Helia’s whisper in my ear makes my whole body stand up in attention.

He can breathe in a room and my eyes would find him.

How can I get rid of this? To stop this reaction I always get?

My mind, my traitorous body, and the way my soul wants to be pulled into his own, into the embrace of the one I am supposed to hate, is a complex puzzle in itself.

How am I going to keep up with this facade and keep denying my desire for Helia? And the small bundle of feelings that are being accompanied by this desire? I cannot look past it all and jump into this.

Our desires are out in the open. That much is clear.

Helia walks past me, his hand grazing from one end of my back to the other, leaving me breathless.

“We have a judge?” I say as I walk towards the counter and see three workstations. The kitchen island is so big, it could fit another two little stations for the pizza competition.

“Yes. Me. So try to impress me, Ambrose. Bribery works well.” Venezia winks at me, making me laugh.

The suffocation that was wrapping around me disperses. We all gather around and stand in front of our stations. Kamari and Ruel are next to me, with Aurora and Remo next to Ruel. Helia walks around the counter and stands next to me.

Venezia is bouncing on her feet, a wide smile on her face as she points to the things on the counter.

“This was your idea, wasn’t it?” I ask Venezia when she walks to me.

“Sure was. Though this man right here seems to hate the kitchen, so he voted against it. Thankfully, everyone in this was with me and not him.” She narrows her eyes at Helia, who is leaning on the counter on his forearms.

He turns his head to me, and the minute his eyes catch mine, I hold my breath.

The intensity in his eyes makes me shift in place.

“Where has the little fox gone? Are you going to bite me for looking at you? For standing next to you?” he says quietly.

I huff at his words.

“Why? Seems like someone misses being insulted.”

I look down at him and catch him biting his cheek with a smile.

“You came here. You could have taken care of this messy hair.” I flick strands of his hair, his eyes shutting as I do.

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