Page 36 of Eye Candy

I went to my bedroom, got changed, and met with Tessa. She coached me for hours. She had a speech written out for me already on notecards, and I practiced with them, though I didn’t plan on using them at all. She pretended like she was a reporterwith a news station, asking me questions and coaching me on what my answers should be.

I smiled shyly, I faked it, I acted exactly how Tessa wanted me to act. Like a traumatized, broken girl who was struggling to find her footing after being lost to captivity for so long. In her words, what the city wanted to see.

Because, no, a girl couldn’t emerge from trauma stronger than she’d been before. No fucking way could a girl go through a kidnapping and come out saner than when she’d been taken. It just wasn’t possible for me to be fine.

I wasn’t fine… but not in the way Tessa and my dad apparently wanted. I wasn’t fine not because I was traumatized, but because being in that room had been so simple and easy. Boring as hell, yes, but so goddamned easy. I wasn’t fine because I missed my Devil, because I now knew he was out there, watching me instead of coming to me.

Oh, I wanted him to come to me. I wanted him to come to me so badly it was unreal.

By the end of the long coaching session, Tessa was beaming. She was proud of me. I could see it on her face. She looked at me with approval, told me I was ready. Then, of course, she mentioned my hair.

“I wanted to talk to you about that,” I spoke, leaning forward in the leather chair I sat in, the movement causing the leather to creak a bit. We sat in her office, a large room with a lot of bookcases full of, you guessed it, books, though whether they were fiction or nonfiction, I had no clue. Knowing Tessa, probably the latter. Boring.

“I’m sorry, Laina, but the hair’s got to go.” Tessa shook her head. “I know dyed hair is becoming more mainstream, but—”

“I was thinking, instead of getting rid of it, I could just get a wig and wear it anytime I’m out in public.” I could tell Tessa wasn’t too impressed by the idea, so I added, “I really like my hair. What does it matter if I have it like this at home? When I got out, it was the one thing I wanted to do.” I fluffed up my pink and blue pastel hair, giving Tessa a begging stare. “It makes me feel like a different person. I need it.”

My plea with her was a farce; no way in hell was I going to change it for her, just to get more support for my dad. But I tried to word it in a way that would make Tessa feel something, make her feel bad for trying to get me to change it. God only knew whether I’d successfully persuade her or not.

“Hmm. I suppose having a wig would do just as well, provided it’s of a good quality and looks real. I’ll see about hiring a makeup artist for tomorrow. At such short notice, I don’t know who I’ll find, but whoever it is, I’ll make them sign an NDA or something.” Tessa rubbed a finger along her chin, mulling it over. “But you have to promise me, Laina, that you will never go out in public with that hair. You’ll need to learn how to handle a wig yourself.”

“Of course,” I said, folding my hands on my lap while working to hide the smile that threatened to take over my face.

“Now, we’re finished. I need to see if there are any good wig shops in the city. If there’s not, and I can’t locate one in time, I’m sorry, but you’ll need to wash the color out.” She had a desktop computer, a thin all-in-one sitting on the side of her desk, and she turned toward it, clicking the mouse to make the black screen come to life.

Even though she wasn’t looking at me, I gave her a smile all the same as I got up. That smile remained on my face untilI got out of that room, and I hurried down the hall and to the stairs, heading up to mine.

If I said I had faith that Tessa would find a wig shop, I’d be lying. I’d be the world’s worst liar. Personally, I didn’t know of any wig shops either, but I knew of someone who might be able to help me.

As I turned into my room, pulling out my phone, I skidded to a halt when I spotted Kieran standing near one of the windows, his hands in his pockets. Though he didn’t look at me, I could feel the tension in the air.

“Where’s Mike?” I asked. Not that I was afraid to be alone with Kieran, but it was the first time I was alone with him after ordering him about—which wasn’t to say I was nervous of any backlash from him. He would never hurt me.

“He’s cooking dinner,” Kieran said, slow to turn away from the window and walk over to me. “How was the coaching session with my sister?” He walked past me, pulling a hand out of his pocket and going to shut the door, which I found a little odd.

“Fine.” If Mike was downstairs cooking and Tessa was in her office, that left me and Kieran since my dad was still at work. We were as alone as we could be, which had to be the only reason he felt comfortable enough to close the door.

And lock it—because right after closing it, his fingers hit the button in the handle. It wasn’t a good lock; you could get a butter knife from the kitchen and jam it in to open it up, but it would give us more time before anyone else came in.

As Kieran turned around, leaning his back on the closed door, I said, “If this is about what I said earlier—” I stopped when he smiled at me. It wasn’t a normal smile, not a happy-go-lucky, effortless one. No. It was almost calculating.

I’d never seen that expression on his face before. It was… not unattractive, if you know what I mean.

“Laina, you didn’t upset me.” Kieran still wore that smile as he pushed off the door, coming toward me. “I just think, if you’re going to threaten me like that, there might as well be something real you could tattle about.”

My heart skipped a beat at that. Watching him approach me, seeing that look on his face and that smile… it made me warm in places I didn’t want to admit. “I don’t know what you mean.” I wanted to smack myself when I heard my voice; I didn’t sound believable at all.

“Come on.” Kieran now stood directly before me, his body looming over mine. He wasn’t quite as tall as, say, Mike or even Fang, but he still managed to dwarf me. His stare caught me, and I was unable to look away, even when I felt him grab my phone from my hand and toss it aside. It landed with a single thump on my bed, which sat ten feet away.

“Kieran.” His name came out sounding breathless, maybe because the hand that had taken my phone out of my grip had returned, curling around that wrist and immediately warming me up.

His eyes were half-lidded, and he stood so close to me I could feel his breath on my face with every word he spoke, “You have no idea how crazy you make me. For years I’ve tried to ignore you, do my job, be who my sister and your father wanted me to be. But now—” His other hand lifted to my face, sweeping back into my hair and getting all tangled up in it. “—now I find myself wanting to be who you want me to be.” The hand on my wrist moved to rest on my hip, his fingers curling around my side tightly.

For years…

Did that mean, even before I’d been kidnapped, Kieran had to struggle to hold himself back?

“So threaten me all you want,” Kieran whispered, his nose leaning against mine. “Say whatever you want. Do whatever you want. I don’t care. If you think you can get rid of me that easily, you’re wrong. If you get me fired, I won’t go anywhere. No one will make me go anywhere. I’ll still be here, watching you, making sure you’re safe.”

---