Me And The Dark

Chapter 24*

Valentina

I was unsettled.

Mattheo Riddle's gaze had changed, becoming more intense, more charged with emotions I couldn't ignore. It was as if an electric tension was floating in the air between us, ready to be unleashed.

But I couldn't allow myself to cross that line. I was with Ethan, a good man who didn't deserve what I was putting him through tonight. My mind was a battlefield between temptation and decency.

I moved quickly away from Mattheo, leaving behind an ocean of confusion, to join Ethan who was waiting for me with a worried look on his face. "Everything all right? You look pale..." he worried.

I was such a shit.

I had pretended to be ill to explain my lateness, and here I was continuing to play this unhealthy game. "Yes, everything's fine...", I confirmed, shaking my head. "I just need a drink."

Ethan seemed concerned about my pallor, hesitant to give me alcohol. "Are you sure? It might not be reasonable-"

"Please," I insisted, my voice becoming a little firmer.

He finally nodded and headed for the drinks table. While he was busy pouring himself a drink, I watched Mattheo do the same.

They seemed to have exchanged a few words, but I couldn't hear them. I wondered what Mattheo had said to him.

Ethan came back with my drink, jaw clenched, and handed it to me without looking at me. "Here."

A shiver of guilt ran through me. "Something wrong?" I asked, curious as to what Mattheo could have said to make him so tense.

He avoided looking at me, replying quickly, "No, everything's fine," before drinking his own glass in one gulp.

Meanwhile, I continued to feel Mattheo's burning gaze weighing down on me, as if he was trying to probe me through the distance between us.

"Do you want to dance?" I asked Ethan, without taking my eyes off Mattheo, who already seemed to be staring.

"Now?" he asked me, puzzled.

I shifted my gaze back to him, wishing we could just escape this unbearable tension. "You want to wait until the end of the ball?"

He laughed lightly in response to my sarcasm and picked up my already emptied glass to set it on the table. Then he took me by the hand and led me out onto the dance floor.

We joined the dance floor and the music began to fill the air. The dimmed lights bathed the room in a golden glow, creating a spellbinding atmosphere.

Ethan took me in his arms and we began to dance. He was a good dancer, but my mind was elsewhere, obsessed with Mattheo. With every turn, every move Ethan made, I could feel the shadow of Mattheo's gaze on me.

I was desperate to lose myself in the dance, to ignore the tension building up inside me. Yet I couldn't help glancing furtively in Mattheo's direction. He was still there, watching from one corner of the room.

"I know I've told you this before, but you're amazing tonight."

Ethan whispered something to me, but his words didn't reach me. My mind was jumbled, my emotions in turmoil. I had to find a way to resist this magnetic pull that was pulling me towards Mattheo.

As the song drew to a close, I realised that the night was far from over. The next song had a more upbeat rhythm, and I decided to slowly move away from Ethan.