"You may call it however way you wish. Only take care not to forget that everything will be different, now that both of us are adults—-"
"Is that some kind of fucking threat?"
"A promise."
"Yeah right—-"
"Careful now,dolcezza."
It's his first time to address me with an endearment, and it actually steals my breath away.
What the hell is going on?
"I may be a lot of things, but have I ever lied to you?"
I stare at him mutinously, but silence isn't enough for him.
"Have I?"
"No."
But damn him for forcing me to say this.
"And have I ever given you any reason to distrust me?"
"You already know—-"
"Yes or no, Sarica."
"No!Happy now?"
"Not yet. Although I suppose I will be once I've made my point clear. But first, I need your hand."
What? Why? Fuck no!
"Your hand, Sarica."
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I find myself placing my hand in his even as I hate myself for doing so.
"Now, look at me while I'm holding your hand."
What the hell?
"Lookat me."
The command in his words is unmistakable this time, and I find myself obeying even as it makes me hate myself even more.
I look at him.
"What do you see?"
A man with silver streaks in his dark hair. A man who's sixteen years older, but also sixteen thousand light years ahead of me in experience. A man whom the worldlovesto describe as both gorgeous and gentle. A man whom practically everyone sees as the prince of thieves.
I see the man that others see.
But I can't seem to make myselffeelthe way the whole world feels about him.