Black Iris

His distraction.

Iris

By the time I got home that evening, I was shattered. Exhausted both physically and mentally, I just wanted to curl up under the sheets of my bed and cry.

Blake had other plans, though.

When I walked through the door, I heard giggling. The smell of rose perfume lingered in the air. As I put down my bag, Blake called out from the living room.

"Iris! Come in here. We have company."

I felt my stomach tie in knots. Blake never called me Iris. Not unless he wanted something. Letting out a shaky breath, I slowly walked down the hall and emerged into the living room. Blake was lying across the couch, with one hand holding a glass of red wine, and his other arm draped around the culprit of the rose perfume.

She was small and dainty, with long black hair and daring brown eyes. Dressed in a revealing black cocktail dress, she was radiating with an aura of confidence, her own hand delicately holding her own glass of wine.

She knew what she was doing. Biting her lip, she leant into Blake, then smiled at me.He looked at her for a moment before lifting his head and throwing me a smile as well.

"Hello there, my Iris. This is Thalia."

The girl, Thalia, stood up and stepped towards me. For some reason, for a moment, I was scared she was going to lash out at me. But she didn't. Instead, she gently leant in and kissed me on either cheek, before pulling away and blushing.

"It's so lovely to meet you." She said, her voice sultry and thick with a French accent. "Sir has told me so much about you both."

"Nice to meet you too..." I said, looking across at Blake.

He just grinned. "Thalia is from Quebec, Iris. She's here in Denver for a few days on business."

"Business with you?" I asked, keeping my voice even. Blake let out a laugh.

"Not exactly, though we did meet through business." He said, before looking at her and pausing. "But no. I invited Thalia here for more... personal reasons."

He looked at me, his eyes glinting. I could tell he wanted this. He wanted me to play along. He wanted a distraction. Some part of me wanted it too.

I cleared my throat, throwing Thalia a tight smile, before looking back at Blake. "Can we talk in private for a minute?"

His eyes flashed with bitterness before he replaced his face with a cold mask and nodded, standing up.

"You stay here and make yourself comfortable, Thalia. We'll only be a moment." He said, then followed me out the door and into the kitchen. I shut the door behind him and let out a sigh.

"Blake, what is she doing here?" I asked tiredly.

He let out a dry laugh. "Well I would think that was rather obvious, Iris."

"Stop calling me that." I snapped. "Be rational for a minute. Whatever we do tonight, she could go to the press in the morning, and knock another nail in our coffin."

He rolled his eyes. "No, she can't. For starters, she has no idea who we are. I checked. And even if she found out, she signed an NDA so she's not saying anything."

"What?" I exclaimed, shocked. "You made her sign an NDA? What the hell, Blake!"

He hushed me and stepped closer, gently pinning me against the door. I felt his hand on my arm, as his eyes gave me a warning glare.

"Don't ruin this for me, Iris." He said.

I pursed my lips. After a very long moment, I looked into his face and spoke. "What about Ophelia? Are you just going to forget about her?"

He stiffened and clenched his jaw. "How can I forget about her? Everywhere I turn, she's there. I turn on the TV and she's all over the news, even still. I step out of my building and the press are there, asking me about her. I go on social media and my tags are flooded with angry rants about what I supposedly did to her. I can't escape it, Iris."

"What you did to her." I said quietly.

He frowned. "What?"

I pursed my lips and looked up at him. "You said what you supposedly did to her. But it isn't supposed. You did those things, Blake. Just because you're telling the world you didn't doesn't mean that you can believe it yourself."

He scowled, letting go of my arm and turning away. "Fuck off, Gueneviere."

I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding, and nodded.

"I'll be in my room. Try not to be too loud." I said bitterly.

Before he could say another word, I pushed open the kitchen door and walked away.

I heard him collect himself, then breathe out a sigh, and return to his guest. Just before I disappeared into my room, I heard him say, "Well, it looks like it's just the two of us."

Pursing my lips, I slipped into my room and shut the door, before leaning against it defeatedly.

My eyes stung with tears and I clenched them shut to stop the tears from spilling.

Some part of me wanted to take it back, to turn around and return to the living room as though nothing was wrong. I wanted to escape into a fantasy and let the scene play out.

But I knew that I couldn't.

Even if I tried, I wouldn't escape completely. Reality would be lingering on the edges of my vision at all time, waiting for the moment to encroach back in.

Thoughts of Ophelia would not go away. I couldn't let them go.

I doubted that Blake could too.

Feeling defeated, I opened my eyes and peeled myself away from the door, wandering across and flopping onto my bed.

Overcome by exhaustion, I shut my eyes once more, and thought of Ophelia.

Reality slipped away.

Authors Note

Hey there lovelies,

I need some help on where to take this book.
I'm worried that at the moment, it feels like it's going nowhere, and people aren't enjoying it.
So I want to know;

What were your favourite parts of Black Rose?

What do you miss most from Black Rose?

Are you enjoying Black Iris so far?

Also just general feedback is much appreciated.
I know a lot of you are silent readers, or don't want people to know you're reading dark romance, so if that's you feel free to just keep reading. If you ever have any feedback you want to give but don't feel comfortable in the comments, my PMs are always open too.

Anyway, I hope you're all doing well despite the circumstances, and I'll see you all real soon.

- Alex