Reverence - Book 2

- 2 -

The cold had crept in. 

I huddled below the duvet, the thick linen wrapped tightly around my body. The room was dark and still, a black night hanging vacant without so much as a star glimmering mercilessly in that dark sea. 

It was like my soul, an empty hole yearning for a bounty to fill it. 

Jakob's soft breaths did nothing to console the insomnia that gripped me, and the careful rise of his chest that normally idled me to restless nothing seemed nothing more than dismaying now. I made sure to stay far enough away from the dull warmth his skin radiated. 

On this frigid night he would be more than enough for what I needed. 

But not what I wanted. 

By the paltry light of my bedside clock, his face was illuminated in a faint luminescence. The Magazine was carefully rolled, lying eye to eye with me. 

The ferocity of Asa Gallo's face set my stomach at unease, and the intimate grip he held against her turned it. 

It had never crossed my mind how much I could have possibly missed him. 

How can you miss someone you never particularly liked? 

Looking at them now, I felt a quiet swell of...

I wouldn't call it jealousy. No. I had no reason to be jealous. And I didn't feel saddened. I just felt...an incompletion of sorts. 

 In the safety of darkness, with the magazine stuffed messily beneath my shirt, I had flipped through it ravenously, searching for any glimpse more I could have of him. I stuffed down the disappointment when I was met with more flawlessly breathtaking images of Asa. 

Fuck her. 

I shook away the thought. 

With a sigh I reached out for the magazine, shoving it hastily beneath the mattress. I felt a wash of guilt. 

Why did it feel so dirty to be hiding this? It was a Vouge, there would be no chance of Jakob rifling through it any time soon. Well, unless he was deeply invested in this seasons handbag trend. 

With the vile thing stuck beneath me, I stared absently up into the smooth plaster ceiling.