Page 54 of Reputation (Toronto Royals #1)

Spotting who he thought was Molly leaning against the wall down the hallway, Jax immediately headed in her direction. He reached her as she laughed at something the person she was chatting with said. Jax didn’t recognize the guy, but smiled as he approached.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said, looking first at Molly and then at the guy she was with. “Would you mind if I stole her for a second?”

The guy shook his head as he looked at Molly.

She was watching Jax, one eyebrow raised curiously.

She flashed the guy a smile and said, “Stay here, I’ll be right back,” before she stood up and grabbed Jax’s arm.

She steered him a few steps away before turning to face him.

“What can I help you with, Jax Morghan?”

Selecting the single message so everything else blurred in the background, he turned his phone toward her. “Do you know what this is from?” he asked her.

Her caramel eyes dropped to his phone, moving across the screen as she read the quote. Her bright eyes set in her powered face gave her vampire costume a mystical edge.

Molly drew in a full breath, mouth twisting in…

disapproval? Shaking her head, she looked back up at him with narrowed eyes.

She was silent for a moment, debating something.

“Have you ever seen the Black Swan ?” she asked finally.

His only answer was a shake of his head.

“It’s a movie,” she said, glancing back at the screen.

A smirk lifted her lips before she smushed them together to hide it.

“Clever,” she added finally. Giving him a look with raised eyebrows, she patted his shoulder as she made to step around him.

“Wait,” he said desperately, eyes pleading with her. “What’s it about?”

Molly rolled her eyes at him. He knew she had seen Eavie already, her comment putting two and two together. He had a feeling she was weighing whether she should help him.

He must have looked pitiful and desperate because she sighed and said, “It’s a movie about a ballerina playing the role of a black swan,” she said.

“Thank you.”

“Mhmm. I hope you understand what’s at stake here,” she murmured as she walked by him and back to the guy waiting patiently for her to return, leaving him to digest her comment.

Swallowing, Jax decided he would think about it later.

A ballerina playing a black swan . Small snippets of conversation with her flew through his mind. He knew she liked the theater and her friend, Joyce, was a ballerina. It left a few options, but at least he had some idea of what he was looking for.

Jax had been to the Savard mansion a few times. The couple loved throwing a good party, and he’d spent enough time there to learn the layout.

Instead of heading back downstairs, he wound down the second-floor landing, which connected to another hallway. At the end, it opened into a room where more people stood around or played games of pool or darts.

Moving past the people, he stepped up to the railing similar to the one at the front, which ran the length of the room and provided an open view of the living room turned dance floor. The vantage point gave Jax a clear view of all the people below.

He waited, patience holding on by a thread. He knew she could be in another room, but he figured she would gravitate in this direction at some point, even if it were just on her way to the bar.

Sipping from his whiskey, he searched the crowd below for someone dressed as a swan or a ballerina.

Wings caught his attention a few times, but they were either the wrong style to be swan wings or white in color.

He supposed she wasn’t necessarily dressed as a black swan, but when he watched the white-winged woman, he quickly noted her figure was wrong.

Cracking his neck, he leaned his forearms on the railing and waited.

About five minutes later, a flash of something shiny caught in the strobe light, drawing his eye.

In the middle of the dance floor, a woman stood, arms in the air, moving to the beat of the music.

It was dark, and the lights kept flashing, but he thought the hair pulled back on her head was blonde.

Standing quickly, his eyes focused, taking in her figure, the way she moved. A ball of excitement formed low in his belly, beating in time with his increasing heart rate. Jax watched her, taking in the details of her outfit.

From her shoulders sprouted black wings that looked like raven’s feathers. Her outfit was a mix of lace and black shining satin, the top tight, hugging every curve while the bottom fell back from her hips.

Even from a distance, he knew those curves. He’d committed them to memory over the last twenty-four hours as he’d explored every dip and valley of her body.

A slow smile spread across his lips as he noted Eavie’s position. Tossing back the rest of his drink, he whirled, his cape billowing out behind him as he went off in search of his prey.

She had been stalking him the whole time he had searched for her. He thought he was the hunter when he was actually the prey.

Joyce:

Has he found you yet?!?!

She had been texting her for regular updates since she’d left for the party. As Eavie had gotten ready, she’d filled Joyce in on the developments with Jax. Joyce had eaten up the story with enthusiasm, bouncing up and down on Eavie’s bed.

Eavie:

Not yet

Dancing with Mandy, Eavie spotted Jax on the upper level, scouting the dance floor below.

She carefully kept him in her line of vision as she spun, shimmied, and moved to the music.

She’d noticed immediately when he’d stood up, gazing right at her.

Hiding her smile, Eavie carefully kept her gaze averted as she tracked him.

When she saw him turn and disappear, his stride confident, she knew he had seen her and was on his way. A thrill shot down her spine.

When the song ended and another began, she leaned forward and shouted to Mandy, “I need a drink.”

The mansion was a maze of rooms and hallways, some the Savard’s had turned into mini haunted houses.

In her mind, she reviewed what she had learned of the general layout, calculating Jax would take the shortest route to her, likely through the study turned bar.

Eavie looked left through the crowd as she moved right.

She walked slowly, keeping a careful watch on the open doors that led to the bar.

After a minute, she caught sight of a black cape around the corner.

Smiling, she whirled and took the last few steps to the other side of the room, where a door led to a narrow hallway. Eavie moved purposefully, ensuring the train of her dress blew out behind her.

As she turned the corner, she caught sight of him again. A sharp thrill went through her as their eyes connected. The flare of heat in his sent excitement rushing through her veins.

Flashing him a saucy smile, she winked before disappearing around the corner. Her heart beat madly in her chest as she wandered through the maze of rooms on the bottom floor, drawing the game out.

As she did, she caught small glimpses of him stalking her. She kept a careful distance between them, sometimes letting him see her and other times, only letting him see the train of her dress as she disappeared behind a crowd or another corner.

She was breathing hard, and an excited giggle burst from her lips as she felt a heavy gaze land on her.

Coyly, Eavie turned her head just enough to see over the feathers of her left shoulder.

Behind her, on the other side of the small room set up in an elaborate Halloween scene, Jack the Ripper stood at the door, eyes fixated on her.

At that moment, the music vibrating through the house changed, and the slow rendition of Beyoncé’s Crazy In Love flowed smooth and seductive out of the speakers.

Turning her head back around, Eavie slowed as she stepped through an archway draped in a black velvet curtain. It led to a nearly pitch-black hallway, except for the slow flashing lights that lit it seconds at a time. She paused, waiting for the lights to flash to make sure it was empty.

Confident she was alone in the hidden passage, she matched her steps to the beat, the music throbbing through her body as she felt the sensation of being stalked walk its icy fingers up her spine. Her heart beat with the throaty caliber of Beyoncé’s voice, making the heavy ache pulse in her core.

Eavie strolled down the hallway, carefully picking her way around the decorations hanging from the ceiling. She dragged her fingers down the wall, adding extra sway to her hips.

She felt the second he crossed through the curtain; the air going taught with an electric charge. Her breath turned ragged in her lungs as her excitement, her need, her burning for his promise licked up her body as he closed the distance between them.

Halfway down the hall, she risked a look over her shoulder, only for her to see the space behind her was empty.

Confused, she paused, turning fully in the direction she had just come.

Eavie focused her vision in the flashes of light, trying to see if he was blending into the dark spaces the light didn’t quite reach.

Biting her lip, she looked back in the direction she had been heading, wondering if she should keep going or go back and see if she could find him. Going forward was the safer choice. She could continue to lead him through their game of cat and mouse until he eventually cut her off.

Or she could chance the danger of their game and retrace her steps.

Even though she was aware, in the back of her mind, that Jax had just turned the game on her, Eavie couldn’t resist the pull of him.

Slowly, she retraced her steps, her heart beating in her throat as she moved. The thrill of the game, mingling with the euphoric excitement of breathless energy at the possibility he could catch her at any moment, ran through her.

She counted her steps, using it to try and calm her racing heart.