Built for Sin (Draco Malfoy)

24 - BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Alora Lin

"Funny running into you here."

I glimpsed over my shoulder to see Draco walking up to me. He took a seat beside me at the bar, asking the bartender for a jug of butterbeer.

I mustered a small smile, "It's been a rough few weeks."

"What happened?" he furrowed his brows.

My cheeks turned red, "It's not a big deal. You already have a lot going on. I don't want to bother you."

"Hey," he remarked, reaching over to place his hand on mine. It felt refreshing when his cool silver rings grazed my warm skin. "You were there for me, and now I'm gonna be here for you."

I grinned, "You seem to be doing a lot better."

He shrugged, "A little. I've been visiting Astoria's grave every other day since her funeral to replace the old flowers with new ones. I guess it's just been my way of coping with what happened."

I squeezed his hand, "I'm sure Astoria would be elated to know you're doing all this for her."

He shook his head, "I don't know... I just wish I could undo everything that happened leading up to her death–"

"But you can't, Draco," I tried to comfort him. "The most you can do now is realize what you did wrong and honor her memory in meaningful ways, which is exactly what you've been doing."

He thanked the bartender as he handed him a jug of butterbeer and took a sip from it. A foam mustache formed above Draco's upper lip. 

I quietly tittered, pointing to the spot and handing him a napkin. His cheeks flushed a light pink before he wiped off the butterbeer from his lips.

Draco continued gazing aimlessly at the countertop. I held his hand tightly in mine, while the fingers of his free hand anxiously tapped the table.

I sighed, "Don't spend the rest of your life beating yourself up about this. What's most important is that you acknowledge your mistakes and make sure to never do them again."

He chewed on his lip, nodding as he let my words sink in. His eyes were brimming with tears, appearing glossy underneath the dim lighting. Draco cleared his throat, sniffling and blinking the tears away before turning back to look at me.

"Yeah, you're right," his eyes locked on mine. His expression softened; he removed his hand from my grasp and lifted it up towards my face. I stiffened once his fingers grazed my cheek.

He must've noticed my alarmed expression because he suddenly tore his hand away, "Sorry, it's uh- it's habit. I used to always tuck your hair behind your ears."

I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks as he beamed at me. "I remember," I smiled back.

"Here, let me get you another drink," he suggested, breaking the awkward tension to order a drink for me.

I thanked the bartender after he handed me a sparkly lavender drink. I crinkled my forehead, diverting my gaze towards Draco, "This doesn't have poison in it, right?"

"Very funny," he snorted. "Just drink the damn thing."

I giggled, raising the drink to my lips and taking a small sip. "Woah," I set the glass down in surprise. "That's good."

He smirked, staring at my lips and then looking up to my eyes, "I knew you'd like it. You always preferred mixed drinks over shots."

"Yeah, that's because shots sometimes make me–"

"Gag?" he took another gulp of his drink before sending me a wink.

I opened my mouth in shock and slapped him on the arm, "You dirty minded freak."

He laughed in response, "Please, you know you love it." 

He paused momentarily before continuing, "So, back to you. What happened? You haven't been returning my owls recently."

"Sorry about that. Haven't exactly been in the mood to write, or see anyone for that matter," I huffed.

"We have all night," he reached for my hand again, gripping it tightly. "I'm all ears."

"I guess I'll get the most embarrassing thing out of the way first."

He raised an eyebrow and gave me a puzzled look, "What do you mean?"

I gulped, taking a deep breath, "Well... I may have moaned your name while Theo was eating me out."

"No," he spoke in a voice similar to how a teenage girl would respond to juicy gossip.

"Yes," I laughed nervously, downing some more of my drink.

"That is absolutely brilliant," he smiled to himself.

"Stop, it's not funny!" I whacked his arm again, ultimately breaking out into laughter myself.

He chuckled, pretending to rub his arm in pain before calming down, "Alright, jokes aside. What else has been going on?"

"You might be too sober for this conversation because it's about to get real messed up real fast."

"Shoot," he encouraged me, intertwining our fingers.

I exhaled, "A few days after that mishap, Theo still hadn't returned home. It obviously wasn't how I wanted him to find out I'd been cheating on him, so I went to go see him to get some closure. Because I figured he'd be at work late one night, I decided to head over and bring him some food for dinner..."

***

I was walking down the corridor that led to Theo's office, holding the dinner that Lottie had helped me cook for him. 

As I was heading over, I rehearsed everything that I wanted to say to him. My brain felt like a big ball of mush trying to put together strings of words in a way that made sense.

I kept reprimanding myself for being such a horrible fiancée when all he ever did was care for me. I had already taken off my engagement ring and was prepared to give it back to him.

At last, I reached the door to his office. Shades had been drawn over the glass window embedded in his office door, so I couldn't see him.

I knocked on the door only to have no response.

I could see light streaming out from underneath the door, signaling that someone was surely in there, so I knocked a second time.

But again, there was no response.

"Theo?" I called out.

I reached for the doorknob, wiggling it to see that it had been unlocked this entire time. 

I pushed open the door and dropped the dinner platter that I was carrying when I saw what was happening behind the closed door. Shards of porcelain scattered all over the floor as I tried to catch my breath.

Theo had pinned someone against the glass wall and was in the midst of making out with them when I barged in. The two of them broke apart at the sound of my entrance, and the three of us stared at each other in shock.

I was first overcome with anger at Theo for making me feel awful for being a cheater when he was also one all along.

But then my eyes landed on the person he was cheating me with, and that was what shocked me most of all.

"Anthony?"