Red Princess

68. A Love beyond the Ordinary

Alex

The music rang loud in the packed hall, and the air was heavy with the smell of booze and smoke. Sweaty bodies were grinding against each other, swinging along to the rhythm on the dance floor, high on their hormones and alcohol. At the far end corner was Grace's tattoo parlour. All the agents went there for their 'christening' ceremony right after graduating. I also got my tattoo three years ago.

It was an exclusive bar for The Order, with the entry restricted to only our agents. There were no rules, no limits- just plain entertainment for all agents to let out steam after their missions.

My booth had three other guys with me, my old classmates. I could barely recall their names because we hardly talked after graduation, but regardless, whenever we met, we always acted like old buddies. Because even if we wanted to, we could never have ordinary relationships and friendships with the normies outside the organisation.

One guy had his tongue stuck down a girl's throat, probably another one of our old classmates, while the other two were enjoying their drinks with the ladies they had managed to land in for the night. Almost every person out here was seeking just a fling. We could not commit, and nobody here expected that. We were merciless assassins trained to kill in cold blood; commitment wasn't even the last thing on our list.

A girl was rolled up on my side as well, her fingers inching against the buttons of my shirt. I couldn't care less. She made me feel nothing. My eyes kept peering at my phone screen that had two missed calls from Rihanna and a text message.

While the woman on my side could not make me even glance at her with all her touching, this girl on the other side of my phone made my skin tingle with just her name appearing on the screen. What could I possibly do to make myself immune to her?

I tugged my hand away from the grasp of that woman, took a long sip of the scotch in my glass and then walked out. I wasn't a big fan of drinking and driving, but I wasn't drunk. I had an extremely high tolerance, probably something I inherited from my father. The only thing that could ever get me drunk to the point of madness was this girl, this girl that had my heart in the palm of her hand right from day one.

It nearly killed me that day when I learned she had a close encounter with Gilaan. I hadn't wanted to ever include her in any of my missions, but she insisted on the trip. It seemed like a harmless task, and I agreed. Never could I have imagined in my wildest dreams that she would get caught up in the middle of this. What if Gilaan had decided otherwise? What if he had hurt her? Kidnapped her? Tortured her? Or killed her? How could I have ever survived that blow?

I tossed my jacket on the passenger seat and then drove to the one place I always sought for guidance.

"Alex, it's a pleasant surprise!" A young woman barely a few years older than me opened the door and then pulled me in, and placed a soft kiss on my lips. I gagged instantly, making a disgusted face.

"That is gross on so many different levels!" I growled and wiped my lips with my forearm.

"You were a lot more compliant when I was teaching you how to touch a woman in the classroom." She waggled her eyebrows at me with a playful look in her eyes, and I dragged a hand down my face, trying to hide my embarrassment.

In my defence, it was a compulsory course in our curriculum. We had a seduction class where we were taught how to please a woman or a man, and yes, we were all taught for both genders because we could never be too sure about our target's preferences. Most of the students enjoyed it because it involved a lot of... ahem... fooling around... and I would be lying if I said my raging hormones weren't interested, but what intrigued me more was this couple that instructed us.