Ivory's Ruin | 𝘈 𝘉𝘢𝘥 𝘉𝘰𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘺

⁀➴ 1

⇥ Iνσɾʮ ⇤

An enigma, the black knight.

The kind of man who sees everyone else while obscuring himself in shadow. Except she saw.

Night after night Ivory noticed how he stood apart from the rest. How he tried to blend in rather than draw attention his way. How he'd flirt with girls, but didn't lead them onto the dance floor. Didn't make a move to take them upstairs. Just scanned the crowd, as if danger lurked behind the dirty, patched up walls of the old Greek party houses.

And maybe it did. Whatever he was watching for, whatever he searched out, it must've meant something.

A certain melancholy hung about him like a heavy cloak. It emanated from his grim expression, etched itself into the faint trace of honey-brown stubble at his jaw and the long hair tied in a bun. Darkness clung to his leather jacket and the ripped jeans fit snug around his hips. But the dark he carried didn't oppress, rather accentuated his presence like a low, menacing snarl.

Like a warning to those who might get too close.

She'd never been good at making the first move, and she certainly didn't know how to approach without coming off as another girl who'd scamper away after getting his number without so much as a name to go with it.

As much as he captivated her, and as willing as she might be to let him lead her down a path of passion, she didn't want to be another quick fuck. That's not what he needed.

Did anyone else see that look in his eyes? That emptiness?

Despite her hesitation, Ivory watched him as vigilantly as he did their surroundings. The gaze from his eyes, molten gold and warm to their core, wound around her like threads of silk—and passed over every time.

He hadn't seen her.

Not that first time, nor any time after.

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A disappointed sigh left her lips as dancing strobes of blacklights skitted across the fraternity living room, illuminating macabre skeletons swathed in webbing and bloody masks hanging from the walls. Their empty eye sockets stared into the throng, indifferent to the raucous laughter and cheers for another round of shots.

Enough of her energy had been wasted searching the crowd, with her only discoveries being new piles of plastic cups on the floor and more scraps of discarded costumes sprouting from the couches.

Looked like he wasn't at this party, either.

Maybe he'd only been a visitor for those first few weeks of classes, the kind that hops from one party to the next and disappears as soon as students are forced to remember their noses are better off in textbooks than down cups of beer.

Maybe he found what he was looking for, or gave up the search.

Not that she'd ever have gotten up the nerve to talk to him. Besides, she came here to give herself a break. One evening where she didn't have to worry about acing all her freshman classes and navigating a brand new environment.

Still, the subtle lack of his presence bothered her almost as much as her inability to do anything about it. He'd become familiar, like a landmark on the horizon, or the one item that distinguished one dorm from another. Something about him enraptured her, gave off the impression he wasn't like the rest of the guys whose aim landed no further than the nearest available girl.

Speaking of, she also had to keep an eye out for Jace, the only one who still cared about her unfortunate fall from grace a few weeks ago. Probably because out of the two of them, he had been far less inebriated than she first thought, and even when he didn't outright mention the details of their drunken fling, the cold, degrading look in his eyes said enough.