Page 21 of Once Upon a Beast

I turned to look at Layla and nodded at her. “Thank you for making sure no one will be looking at me tonight,” I said.

“Why is that?” she asked as she approached me.

“All they will see is you. You look incredible.”

Layla blushed. “Thank you. You clean up nicely yourself. Though I see you still have the beard,” she teased.

I ran my hand self-consciously over my face. “Is that okay? Did you want me to shave it?”

Layla shook her head and put her hand on my arm. “No. I like it. It adds to your mysterious ways and it looks good on you. How did you find out I was wearing red?” She gave an approving nod to my vest.

“I have my ways.” It had been a subtle thing to match my tuxedo vest with her outfit. We were a couple and I wanted there to be no doubt that we were. Having us in the same colors or at least ones that didn’t clash was a small way to make that clear. “Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Layla said and sighed.

“We’ll see you inside,” Ara said and gave Layla a hug. Ara stepped away from her and tilted her head to look at me as if she was trying to sum me up. “Not too bad. I’m still not sure about you, but I’ll give you a chance.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you too, Ara.” I turned and nodded at Ella. “Dax is right, you look beautiful. I hope I can spend some time getting to know the women who mean so much to Layla and have helped her.”

“No thanks to you,” Ella said.

“Ella!” Layla gasped.

“It’s okay. She’s right. I have a lot of explaining to do and making up for. I plan on doing both. I hope you will give me a chance to tell my side of the story eventually. I would like to get to know you both, and your fiancé.”

“We’ll see,” Ella said. “This is a good start. But hurt my friend and they won’t find all the pieces of you. You understand?”

I nodded as Dax looked at Ella as if he had never seen her before. Ara beamed at her friend and when I looked over at Layla, she looked like she was going to be sick. I turned back to Ella and gave her my full attention when I said, “I would expect nothing less. We’ll see you later. Thank you for helping Layla get ready. I’m sure she was quite capable of doing it on her own but I can’t argue with the results.”

“Thanks for everything,” Layla said to her friends and then turned towards the door.

“Thanks for the Scotch and the talk,” I said to Dax.

“Anytime,” he said and smiled at me.

I followed Layla to the door. When she reached to put her shawl on, I stood behind her and helped her. As I did, my fingers brushed up against her arms. Need immediately filled me and I stepped away as if I had been burned. In some ways, I had. I had hardly touched Layla since we reconnected. My attraction to her ran deep but I hadn’t counted on it being so prevalent that simply touching her skin could make me think about doing so many other things.

Layla turned and looked at me. I couldn’t meet her gaze and looked over her shoulder.

“Shall we?” My voice sounded more curt than I wanted it to but I couldn’t help it.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” She walked out of the apartment and went to the elevator. Right before I stood next to her, I swore I heard her say, “The sooner we go, the sooner it will be over.”

The words were like a shot in my gut. I might want to spend time with her, I might want to rekindle our friendship and maybe, hopefully, turn it into something more, but clearly, I was the only one. I made like I hadn’t heard her but the excitement I had about the evening had changed. I worried that I had lost Layla before this had even started and I wondered if I ever had a chance with her at all.

Chapter 12

Layla

Did he hate the event so much? Did he hate me so much? I thought we had gotten to a good place. I thought we had talked and cleared the air and we were going to be okay. I had at least thought we had agreed to work on getting our friendship back. I guess I had been wrong about all of it.

Nic had been all smiles and flattery when I had come into the living room. Ella and Ara had looked incredible. Ara’s dress made her look like a movie star, or a woman who should be with a movie star, which I was sure was the point. Ella looked like a princess worthy of her prince in her gossamer blue gown. They looked like women who deserved to be at such an event.

I loved my red dress, it was elegant, yet sexy, revealing but not too much. I had fallen in love with the slit on the side. It made me feel dangerous, even a little risqué without going too far. Watching Nic as he looked at me made all the preparation worth it. He looked so sexy, so suave in his button-up tuxedo that somehow matched my dress perfectly. I wasn’t sure how he would have known what color I was wearing, much less getting material that would match it flawlessly.

Nic had looked at me with such love, such devotion, such happiness, that for a few seconds I forgot the real reason we were there. I allowed myself to believe that we were going to the event together as a true couple. I imagined him taking my hand, holding it through the night, dancing with me, and keeping me close. I thought about what it would be like if he were to kiss me and whisper little tidbits into my ear. I wanted it to be like how we were when we were younger, when we could look at each other and just know what they were thinking. I wanted it all.

All it took was one moment alone with Nic for me to realize, I was the only one.

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