The Stand In

Chapter 10

"What do I want?"

"To set the world on fire."

It was early morning and I was still wide awake, led in my bed, hearing Zak's words over and over again.

After he said those words he stepped away from me, disengaging from the heated moment between us and allowed me to leave. Whatever had happened in that momentary build up, had gone.

Now I was here, going over the moment in my head, again and again.

To set the world on fire.

Did he mean that in the literal sense?

Maybe he meant it as me being reckless? But I couldn't think for the life of me what he had seen of me to come to that conclusion.

I had drawn him in earlier, baited him and then when he thought I had him, I spat him back out and backed away. It was a game of cat and mouse, with neither of us knowing who was winning.

I sit up and punch my pillow for some resistance and shape, but when I lay back down, my head sinks into the filling, leaving me uncomfortable again.

That man...

As quick as he had turned on, he turned off. He baited and then he withdrew and I felt like a fish, desperate for a single worm.

Until I returned the favour.

There's power in that game and I felt untouchable. Peitho was the Goddess of persuasion, seduction and speech, in those charged moments between myself and Zak, I felt that superiority.

Was it just my anger that drove me back to the museum after Matt backed down? Or was it curiosity?

Despite his clear admiration for Zak, Matt was genuine, that was very much clear and he didn't want to be hurt or caught up in whatever mess Zak and I were creating for each other.

Matt was a gentleman.

Zak was a different breed.

"That flamin' man." I mutter kicking the sheets off my legs and flipping onto my stomach.

Every time I closed my eyes, I felt like I was back in the spot, pinned between the wall and his body, heart beating out of its boney cage, threatening to break a rib. My blood felt like hot lava, coursing through my veins, looking for an out.

I rolled onto my back and glared up at the bedroom ceiling, dusted in the black of the night.

Attraction.

That's what this was, I was attracted to him, but who the hell wouldn't be?

Tall, dark, handsome and mysterious.

He was also a jealous man.. That is what I've managed to salvage from today's little show in front of Matt as well as the moment with Ed at the gym.

Zak inserted himself into any situation where I was with a man. I was grateful of the moment with Ed.

Mid seizure, with a weight bar plummeting towards my chest, if it wasn't for him, I'd have a serious injury. But he was unaware, thankfully.

His defensiveness after could have just been his concern, or it could have been his jealously spiking?

And Matt today?

He stepped out of the dark shadows to make me acknowledge he was there. It worked, of course. He then lurked in the back ground until he could find a moment to intervene again, that came when the group went into the Dybbuk box room.