Page 134 of Tarek

He stares at me and turns away, like I was nothing. I bend my head and exhale. I did this. His response is warranted.

“Hey, you okay?” Levi rubs my arms. “It’s just two seconds on the stage and it’s over,”

I blink rapidly forgetting Levi is here. “Yes.”

Turning away, I walk backstage and step beside Roxy, adjusting my dress. He was here, Tarek is out there, somewhere in the crowd. After a year, I see him again, and I don’t know what to say. I feel lost. I inhale deeply trying to steady my breathe.

“Hey, you okay?” Roxy says.

“Yeah, I don’t like crowds much,” I replied

“It’s only two minutes, we smile, and we leave,” Roxy reassures me.

Before I could respond the stage manager signals to Roxy and me to move forward.

“Without my mother, my sister, and my fiancé, I wouldn’t have made it this far. Please help honor the women in my life,” Archer says, his voice carrying through the auditorium.

I move forward following Roxy as she smiles and waves at the audience. She stops and kiss Archer.

I follow suit plastering a wide smile on my face. With enthusiasm, I wave to the audience as I make my way to my brother.

Wrapping my arms around him, I squeeze him in a tight hug, keeping my voice low. “You could have told me.”

Archer eases back, pressing a quick kiss to my forehead before returning to the podium.

The lights shine bright hiding the faces of the people in the audience. Tarek is out there watching me. I wonder if he hates me. If he wants to choke me, or he just stopped caring. It’s becoming harder to breathe. I shouldn’t have put on this corset. I can’t face him. Maybe I could catch a flight out tonight.

Then I see him standing in front of the stage. The light grazes just the top of his head and his eyes are fixed on me.

Tarek lifts his head and mouths the word, “Run.”

My knees begin to wobble. “Oh, shit.”

I breathe out trying to control my breath. A soft hand touches my back, through smiling teeth Roxy says, “You okay?”

I smile wider and nod. Before I know it, we are sending a wave to the audience coming off the stage. I rush past Roxy and cross the hall running toward the balcony. I am in trouble, and I need to escape… so I run.

* * *

TAREK

Control was a luxury that I no longer had. At first, I thought Penny was a figment of my imagination induced by drugs. Then I remembered all I had was some whiskey, but I never had a hallucination after drinking. I heard someone call my name, and it was her. Penny was here, and she is a vision in gold.

My throat closes, as I watch her hug, Archer. Emotions churn inside me, a brutal reminder that’s it’s possible to love and hate someone at the same time. I take joy in watching her eyes scan the crowd like she is searching for something. Or someone. I need to know if she’s real. I move past the men and women seated at linen-covered tables and step to the front of the stage keeping my eyes solely on Penny. I wait. Archer falters for a second when he sees me, his brows lifting. I shrug. He keeps talking. Then it happens, Penny’s eyes find me in the shadows. I take satisfaction watching the panic cross her face. She is real, she was never getting away again.

I smirk then I mouth, “Run.” I need the chase; I feel a need to hunt her down and trap her to my body.

Penny smiles and waves as she leaves the stage. She gently pushes pass Archer’s fiancé and as instructed she ran.

I had to fight myself from running after her as that would have caused a scene. Instead I calmly walk to the back of the ballroom and exit to the left.

I see a guard standing at the door, I ask “Have you seen a woman running pass here in a gold dress?”

“Yes, she went to the left at the back. It leads to the back balcony,” he adds.

“Any exits?”

He shakes his head. “No, no one really uses that one. Most people go to the balcony across the hall or the one below.

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