Bound

Chapter 53 - Return

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Skylar

"Are you sure you are okay with going tonight?" Chris asks as he sits down in front of me at the table in the kitchen, handing me a cup of his delicious tea. He is looking torn and concerned.

"Don't worry about it. I'm a big girl, and I will be fine. Besides, I can't hide forever and need to start moving on with my life." I say to him, plastering a huge smile on my face, hoping it gives him some assurance.

"He won't be there, but some members of his pack might be." We both know who the 'he' Chris is referring to is. Dmitri. Chris seems really distressed about this situation, as distressed as I feel inside. His hand moves to cover mine on the table. I will myself not to pull away as his thumb makes small circles on the top of my hand. His touch always seems to calm the marks on my wrists and the humming energy I feel inside. But the way he touched my hand lately was more...intimate. I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

Chris is a nice guy. The best. After everything that happened over the last year, he has been a rock in my life, helping me pick up the pieces. He helped arrange the closure of my shop in Willow Falls, driving out there to collect everything so that I didn't have to go back there. He even offered to sell my products in his shop in town so that I didn't have to set up a new shop immediately. While I was finding my feet, he let me stay here in this mansion of a house, the arrangement now having gone on longer than I think is appropriate.

But whenever I try to find somewhere else to live, something always seems to happen, and everything falls through. Either the place gets taken by someone before I can put down a deposit, or the person suddenly no longer wants to take on a tenant. In small towns, that leaves one with little option, and so I find myself still relying on Chris's hospitality. I have offered to pay him rent which he refuses. He has also given me his room, the biggest in the house. Initially, the reason was that he was often away, and the space would go to waste. However, he is barely away and seems to have moved his business to this location.

As naïve as I can be, I know he has feelings for me. I can tell by how he looks at me and his comments here and there. In addition, to avoid suspicion from the town's residents and to ensure Dmitri doesn't come looking for me, which I assured him he wouldn't do, he has told everyone that we are a couple. A ruse he takes way too seriously when we do go out, his arm around my shoulder and hand in mine, making me feel more uncomfortable than anything else. I was too weak in the beginning to argue, and now it has gone on so long that I'm unsure how to get out of it. I don't want him to think I am ungrateful. I have been careful not to lead him on or give him any false ideas. I just don't think I can love another man. Not right now, maybe not ever. My heart is still too broken by Dmitri, and I fear it has changed me forever.

"We make a good team, don't we, Skylar?" Chris brings me back to reality, the softness in his voice tugging at my emotions. "I know you don't feel the same way about me, and I know you know how I feel about you..." He trails off, letting the words sink in.

"I don't know what to say, Chris. I just...I just don't think I am ready to jump into something. I don't know when I will be ready. And you are a nice guy. You shouldn't be wasting your time with me." The words sound so cliché as they come out, but originality in declining what I think he is suggesting fails me.

"You don't have to agree right now. But won't you at least consider it? We could be great together, but you just need to give me a chance. I know I can fill the hole inside of you and make you feel love again. All I'm asking you to do is be open to it. Stop pushing me away and just try." He looks at me with such gentleness and hope. What he is asking is not for me to commit. He just wants to have a fair chance. I just wasn't sure I could give it to him. It wasn't that he wasn't attractive or that we didn't have anything in common. I was just unsure—maybe more of myself than anyone else. And I was scared. I was scared to love.

"Please. Just try." He says again. Almost pleadingly. I nod my head, eliciting a gorgeous smile from him.

I couldn't guarantee I would feel what he felt, but he deserved a chance at the very least. I just hoped I wasn't agreeing to this out of pity and a sense of needing to repay his kindness. I wasn't in the right space to decipher my reasoning.

"Okay, well. We should start getting ready. The driver will be here at around six thirty to fetch us." He gives my hand a final squeeze, with the massive grin on his face seeming to be plastered on there indefinitely as he gets up to wash our mugs.

I was not looking forward to tonight. The last two functions I attended ended in disaster. First in Spain and then a year ago. Let's hope this will be different.

After what happened in Willow Falls last year, Chris' name had now become associated with mine. This had somewhat propelled him into the limelight and shifted his status from unknown to known overnight. People initially came to him out of curiosity to see the jilted girlfriend of the infamous Alpha Lycan. Over the year, though, his skills and notoriety at growing and supplying the best herbs, both known and rare, surpassed their curiosity about me, and he was now one of the most well-known warlocks on this side of the world.

That meant he was now being invited to prestigious events hosted by various supernatural beings. He usually asked me, and I usually declined, so he was shocked when a 'yes' left my lips instead on this occasion. I wanted to feel normal again and get out into the world. The supernatural world wouldn't disappear, so I might as well get used to it, let it become part of my norm, and try to move on with my life.

Tonight's event was a ball to honor the newest vampire Elder elected in over five centuries. The official traditional ceremony had taken place amongst a small gathering of a select few, so tonight was more of a celebration for the masses. All high-ranking supernatural beings were invited to share in the momentous occasion. I wanted to ask Chris why Dmitri wasn't attending, but I didn't want to cause a scene. He hated when I mentioned Dmitri, so he came up little in conversation over the year.

"Earth to Skylar." Chris is now standing before me, waving a hand in front of my face.

I smile at him, not wanting him to worry, "I'm sorry, busy daydreaming."

I get up and head to my room. I had already been shopping during the week and picked the perfect dress that covered every inch of my bruised body without being obvious. If I could just get through tonight, there might be hope for me yet. 

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