Page 23 of Scent of Desire
“Now, tell me what happened,” he demanded.
“Promise me you won’t do anything if I tell you?”
“That depends.”
I shot him a frozen glare.
“Nothing drastic.”
“You won’t hurt my uncle?” I let myself be carried away by the wind toward the cliff, passing in front of the greenhouse. “And you have to promise.”
“I said,” he gritted his teeth, following me, “nothing drastic.”
Well, it’s better than expected.
I sat on the grass, keeping a safe distance from the edge of the cliff, the salty air filling my nostrils as the waves crashed on the hard rocks.
“My uncle, he has this kind of obsession with the Carmins. He admires them so much. I feel that he wishes to be them, you know?” I intertwined my fingers together, playing with them. “He thinks he knows what’s best for me. He put them on a pedestal, but if only he knew the truth.”
I craned my neck at Radcliff, not believing I was choosing him to confide in. His Adam’s apple bobbed, betraying the fact he was trying to maintain his self-control for me. His expression was severe and screamed of everything but empathy. He, nonetheless, sat next to me on the grass, adjusting his suit.
“What truth.” His voice itched with wrath, begging to be unleashed.
I exhaled shakily. “Once, I was at Adonis’s place, and his dad… he was more than friendly with me. He tried to—” I rubbed my fingers together, my throat tightening. I had to get the words out now, or they would get stuck. “Touch me, but I pulled away. I thought I misinterpreted everything back then, but I always had a bad feeling about him, and now, seeing my uncle so close to him, well…”
My nose wrinkled at the spicy scent of this memory trying to haunt me again. I pushed it away, letting the woody scent of Radcliff be my safe haven.
Everything about him was calm and placid except for the vein popping out on his forehead and the vessels of his eyes reddening to the same color of his scar. He was boiling. Suddenly it was cold, as if every shadow in the world heard his silent call and snuggled against him, ready to terrorize the earth.
“Touch you where?” He was emotionless, his ruthless voice leaving no room to challenge his authority.
“Nothing happened. We just misunderstood each other, that’s it.”
My lips curved into a light smile, instantly dispelled by Radcliff’s merciless gaze ordering me to continue the story.
“I was waiting for Adonis inside his living room when Christian entered wearing only a half-open bathrobe. White with his initials sewn on.” My eyebrows knitted together, my stare falling upon my hands. “He was charming, complimenting me as he got closer to me. The next minute, his fingers skimmed over my arm, and I took a step back and was caged against the wall. But he wasn’t rough or brutal, no… He was smiling, confident. It was easy for him, like all of this was normal. Perhaps I’d sent him signals he wrongly interpreted, I don’t know.”
I swallowed the new knot forming in my throat. “Of course, I was uneasy, but what could I have said? I wanted to be polite, and I hadn’t encountered many men before. I didn’t want to accuse him of something I misinterpreted.” My lips pursed together. “He knew how to turn all of this, to get what he wanted. I felt his… thing pulsing against me. He offered to meet him later so we could talk about perfume. He said he could help me, and during this whole time, his hand had traveled to my butt. For a few seconds, I didn’t understand nor move. I eventually pulled back and left their house.”
“I own people like Carmin because of their weakness and their vices. Their mistakes always benefited me,” Radcliff admitted, his gaze stuck on the horizon. “But not when it’s about you. He won’t touch you ever again.” His eyes, surrounded by shadows, captured mine. “Which hand was it? Do you want me to deliver it to you?”
“What?” I shrieked. “Are you kidding?”
He wasn’t.
His expression didn’t move, and a deadly stillness took possession of him.
“No, of course, no. I don’t want you to cut off his hand. It’s…” A creepy shiver slithered through my veins. “Monstrous.”
Chaos flickered in his eyes. “Just like him. It’s a fair judgment.”
“No, I—” I shook my head. “Let’s change the subject, please.” I brushed him off with a smile.
His silence haunted my thoughts. My heart tightened in my chest under his heavy stare. I was afraid of his next words.
“Whatever pleases you.” He surprised me, my heart thanking him for eclipsing the subject. “If you had to choose a place to be right now, where would you be? Think of a happy memory.”
“I’d be in Grasse in a flower field. The dreamland of perfumers.” A smile grew on my face as I imagined myself dancing across the diverse blooms and scents on a scorching sun. “I never went there, but my mother and uncle grew up there. It was her dream to return back to Grasse with me one day. We said we would have our typical Mediterranean house and our little perfume shop. We even had a name for it. Well, I found the name.” I laughed at the thought. “I was so young, and I used to wear a crown of flowers on my head every day, so I named our future shop the Flower Queens.”
