Page 10 of Kill for a Kiss

So I disappear into the shadows, slipping away into the silence I’ve always found comfort in. I stop my thoughts. I have to, or I’ll keep trembling. All thoughts are gone, except for one. The thought pounds through my skull, through my ribs, through the ache growing deeper and deeper in my chest.

Her. That girl. She’s drowning my mind, and all I can think of is howthisis the biggest mistake I’ll ever make. Because I didn’t just let her slip through my fingers. I let her fall into somethingworse.

I made so many mistakes in the last fleeting moments. And I don’t think I’ll ever recover. But it’s too late. I have to handle these fumbling feelings before they get much worse. It already feels like I’m suffocating, my mask becoming an obstruction for once. I snatch it off, gasping for air. It doesn’t feel like I can fill my lungs enough.

I let it happen again, when I swore to myself never to make the same mistake. I chased her right into the arms of my so-called mother. Clo’s the last person she should trust. Between me and Clo, I’m the lesser of two evils.

3

Elle

I blink hard a few times, trying to see through the teardrops blurring my vision.

I need to ground myself, to breathe while taking in the little details. So I breathe in the evening air, thick with salt and a bitter sweetness. The hum of music from the reception plays softly, fading like a memory that doesn’t quite belong to me. They’re playing a song I know the tune of, yet can’t quite place from where.

My hazy mind keeps returning to the masked man. The way he stood in the vineyard, still as a shadow. The way his touch burned into my body. It wasn’t rough or cruel, but steady, nearly anchoring. Holding me there as if he had already decided I wouldn’t leave.

I should have been afraid, but I hadn’t been. Not until I saw the bodies. Three of them, barely buried in loose soil at the far back corner of the vineyard, away from any prying eyes, except mine. Their dead eyes reminded me of a scene that strikes my mind but quickly keeps leaving me as soon as I try to remember it.

Clo’s at my side, her eyes gazing between me and the empty space where the masked man stood just moments ago. My breath comes out shaken.Had she seen…?

If she did, she gives no indication, her expression smooth. She smiles at me, so warm that it wrinkles her eyes. “Poor thing. Kaye meant well keeping you for the party, but you must be so tired.”

I breathe out, trying to keep my balance, trying to keep my grip on something I don’t have a name for. Clo moves with an effortless grace, each step precise.

I should be afraid after what I saw in the vineyard. After the man in the mask. After the way my body had stirred when he looked my way. When he chased me. When he held me.

But Clo’s hands are on my arm, bringing me back to the center of the reception, and bringing me out of my thoughts. Her hands give me a motherly warmth. Her smile, a presence too carefully cultivated to be questioned.

“Now no more running, dear girl,” Clo murmurs, her fingers tightening slightly. “The vineyard’s no place for that. So, darling thing, do slow down.”

The words settle over me like the brush of fingertips across my skin.Slow down. My breath hitches, then evens out.Slow down. The tension in my shoulders releases, the world softening at the edges.

Something about this moment feels familiar. Something warm. Something safe. Something that slows my heart rate, which was pulsing so fast that I thought it would crush against my heaving chest.

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. My thoughts are tangled, knotted with the events of the past while.

The vineyard. The tall trellis walls.

A thud. Crushed fruit.

A chase. Falling. Getting up.

Seeing lovers by the cliff.

Being caught, held, and dragged.

Bodies.Those bodies.Eyes grayed out.Empty.

Thenhiseyes, even hiding under all the shadows of his mask, I saw the color—a dark gray. They looked like swirling storm clouds overhead, warning of rain, so hard it would leave me drenched.

My pulse still pounds, only slower. My body still buzzes with the echo of those unseen eyes.

I don’t have the bravery to look back. But I blink a few times.Slow down. Clo’s words keep repeating in my mind like it’s music stuck in my head.

Clo brings us toward the back entrance into the mansion. Her words are louder in my head than the music and chatter around us. When I blink my eyes, it’s as if I’m seeing something new. We’re passing through the guests, parting for Clo’s presence.

I blink as the glimmers of wineglasses reflect the setting sun. And I…don’t remember much now…except the feeling of being watched. But I can’t remember all the details. They’re becoming foggy, cloudy with each passing second. Storm clouds. Gray eyes. Dark, cold, and calculating.Whose eyes do they belong to?