Bête noire

Part 2

I stare at him in disbelief. Antares Buonarroti, the boss, was asking me to dance? Coming here was definitely a mistake. What made it worse was, he was just too handsome to refuse.

Tall, 6 feet and 4 or five inches, dark hair and deep blue eyes, this man could be any girl’s ideal dream boyfriend. Even if he wasn't the Boss. I looked around, all girls fuming in jealousy, glaring at me as if they would kill me, while the men were cautious, afraid of his anger if I refuse. In the crowd, I noticed my father and his hopeful eyes. A dance wouldn't hurt, I decide.

"Pleasure would be mine", I held his arm, my hand rests on his bicep and I felt a shiver run down my spine as our eyes locked for a moment. His gaze is piercing, almost like lasers, yet warm like honey and I couldn't tear my eyes away from him. He gently led us to where we wanted to be. Once there, Antares placed both hands on my waist and pulled me closer. We slowly started to sway to the music. My body feels like one thousand butterflies flying on a cloud when our faces get close enough that we can feel each other breathing. The smell of alcohol hits my nose and the heat radiating off of Antares. It's intoxicating. My heartbeat increases with every passing second as my mind gets foggy. He pulls me even closer, so close I can feel his chest against my breasts, my breath mingling with his. Our bodies are touching more and more as time goes by. I take a glance at him and notice how beautiful he is even more now with the lights shining behind him.

"Who are you?", he asked, his voice is soft yet stern, his expression unreadable.

My heart skipped a beat. How does he do it? With only one look, he manages to make me speechless. I didn't know what to answer, not trusting my voice.

"You seem familiar", he continues.

He doesn' t let go.

"Where have I seen you before?".

He's trying to remember. His face is so close, I can feel the warmth radiating off of him. The sound of the band playing in the background fades into nothingness as I'm lost in his eyes. I don' t want to think about what would happen if someone else came between us.

This isn't good. This is dangerous.

A few moments pass in silence.

The song ends. Antares pulls back and looks at me, his gaze burning through me.

His lips twitch into a smile.

"Good job, miss"

"Sierra", I finally whisper, "Sierra Managham. Daughter of Antonio Managham".

His face changed, I could see various emotions emerging inside him. He was smitten, when he danced with me, but now, he looked disgusted, or angry, I couldn't say. He let out a long sigh, closing his eyes and shaking his head, then looking directly at me again.

His eyes were full of anger, and some sadness. But above all was hatred. I could see clearly in his eyes. He hated me. He hated me more then anything in this world. And though I disliked him too, I couldn't emote my hatred the way he did.

The vein on his forehead was throbbing, and I could see his hands clenched in fists, shaking. And for the first time in my life, I was afraid. Afraid of a man who might just kill me any moment now.

Before I could react, even move or blink, his arm was around my waist again, pulling me close and his lips crushed mine forcefully, forcing mine open. One of his hands tangled itself in my hair and he pulled me impossibly closer. It was hard to breathe, my lungs were burning and my whole body trembled under his touch. I tried pushing away, but it was futile. There was no escape now. I could barely catch my breath, when he broke our kiss, pressing his forehead against mine and looking deeply into my eyes.