Page 62 of Duke's Daring Bookworm
You want Duke forever, a small voice in me whispered, and it felt like an arrow straight through the center of me. I wanted more from Duke. This wasn’t supposed to happen. We were just supposed to be friends having sex. I promised him nothing else would change. Tendrils of panic wrapped around the lump in my throat, making it hard to breathe.
Yes. I was afraid.
There was still another row of cards, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what they said. They rooted me in place, though, the party around me forgotten, the low flickering light of the candles making me dizzy.
A crash sounded from the other side of the curtain, andI jumped. My already pounding heart ratcheted up even more.
“I have to go,” I said, quickly gathering my skirts and dashing out of the small corner. Lyra’s voice faded behind me. I didn’t stop to hear what she had to say. The intensity pressed in on me, choking me, forcing me to run.
My eyes immediately scanned the room, looking for a tall, blonde Devil in a suit.
I spotted him and my blood went so cold my heart seemed to stop entirely.
There he stood, in a dark corner not far away, another woman in his arms. She stared up at him like he was hers.
I felt sick. The room blurred around me, and I turned to run. I didn’t see where I went. All I knew was that I needed to get out of here.
Chapter Twenty-Three
My heart pounded along with my feet as I ran, a tearing sound the only interruption to my racing heart thumping in my ears. The damp, cool grass tickled my bare feet, and I realized somewhere along the way, I’d lost my shoes. A blur of green greeted me as I turned into the maze my father had so lovingly tended for so many decades.
A vision of Duke with his arms around that woman ran through my head on repeat. She looked so beautiful, so perfect. She belonged in his world and in his arms.
It could be nothing.I kept repeating that to myself, hoping it would help stop the hurt that rushed through me like a stampeding bull. I had no real right to that hurt. We were just friends.
One month.
And that month was almost up.
A bench nestled in an alcove just up ahead, and Icollapsed on it, more ripping sounds echoing through the quiet night as my ridiculous dress caught on yet another branch.
The moon sat high above, not quite full, but the bloated light taunted me, anyway. The night pressed in on me from all sides, sticky and warm. I closed my eyes and tried not to break under the weight of it.
The crickets chirped in the night air, reminding me I sat here utterly alone.
This was all so absurd. I made this deal with Duke and ignored every warning along the way. Yet here I sat, dressed up in a dress that likely cost more than my monthly salary, missing my shoes, crying over a man that everyone warned me about.
The Devil.
The cards were right. He was a devil, and I fell so hard for that temptation that I’d lost sight of what this was about. This was never more than him helping me, giving me one month of a fantasy before I had to go back to a long, lonely life where I ached to belong, and books were my only relief.
I’m not sure how long I sat there, wallowing in self-pity, but when I opened my eyes, I realized I had no idea where I was. I stood and tried to walk back the way I came.
Except no, that couldn’t be right. It ended in a dead end. The hedges rose around me, blocking out the light of the moon and trapping me in here.
I reached into my pockets. Phone. I had a phone, and I could call someone for help. Except they were empty.
Shit.
I must have dropped it when I ran.
I turned and tried to find my way back to the bench. Did I turn left or right? My chest tightened in panic. I was welland truly lost. I had no way out.
Another bench, or maybe the same one, sat tucked into a little corner of the maze and I collapsed onto it, tucking my head between my legs, trying to breathe.
The corset top pressed on my chest, seeming to tighten further with every breath. Why did I pick this dress again? Because I wanted Duke to see me as beautiful, but that didn’t stop him from holding someone else. I tried to grab the ties at my back to undo them and give my lungs room to work, but I couldn’t grasp them. Just like Duke, always just out of reach.
Oh god. I was going to die here in Duke’s maze, strangled by a dress I had no business wearing at a party I had no business attending. I wasn’t made for this world. My world or his.
