NERTHUS
“Oh, I really can’t wait,” I say excitedly to Emily who has her arms looped into mine.
My heart has gone through so much already, and I really can’t tell how much more it will be able to take. Only minutes after we got to the astonishing venue where the gala would be held, I got announced by the Johnsons that we would visit them in their house in the Hamptons for a Welcome-The-New-Year-Dinner and I’m feeling like the unpopular girl at school that got invited to the party of the year the coolest kids in her High School are organizing.
Arawn and I had spent New Year peacefully. Instead of scurrying through the crowded streets or finding an overpriced table to eat, we had stayed at home, ordered food, emptied a bottle of good wine, or two, and talked about everything that came to our minds. I think all this relationship business is doing me good, in a therapeutic sense. Maybe it’s the sex, but I feel like my anxiety has subsided and I’m going through my days more relaxed, happier even.
But it surely has its own charm to cum while the room gets illuminated solely by the fireworks reflecting in the windows.
He had promised to make it up to me and he certainly did.
And how he did.
“You will love it,” Emily gushes, making me laugh.
“I’m sure of it. Arawn told me about how close you are to the sea.” I’m wondering if she can see little hearts in my eyes as I’m looking forward to spending time at such a luxurious place without having to work.
Oh my God.
This thought has my heart squeezing in my chest, and I take a sip of my glass as Emily seems to look into the void. “Is everything alright?”
She nods absentmindedly, and I follow her line of sight, seeing a handsome and elegant man with pepper-salt hair walking towards us with a big smile.
His demeanor screams old money and authority that I actually have to keep from taking a step back.
“Is he walking towards us?” Emily asks, and I press my champagne flute to my lips, looking around inconspicuously. “Do you know him?”
“No,” I answer, tearing my eyes off him to lift my brows at her. “Maybe a creep. Don’t worry. I got this.”
“Argh, it’s always people I met with Harvey, but I have such a bad memory for faces and names,” she seems to be panicking a bit, and I tap her hand with a smile.
“Don’t worry, let’s see where they are. We will manage either way.”
I start looking around for Arawn, spotting him having a casual conversation with Harvey and a few other guests just a few meters away as the middle-aged man finally reaches us. “Oh, Ms. Johnson, what a pleasurable sight for my tired eyes.”
Even if she was panicking just a few moments before, she transforms instantaneously, showing me her high-profile-wife side. She grabs the man’s forearms with a big smile, “Ah, how many times have I told you to call me Emily already.”
Uh, what a gracious diplomatic escape.
I’m giggling into my glass, as she gestures to me. “Can I introduce you to my dear friend, Amber?”
“Oh, I was hoping for you to do so. I already had my eyes on Ms Rodberg from the moment I walked into this astonishing room,” he says with a killer smile as he offers me his hand to shake.
Told you… Creep!
No, wait! What?!
“Oh, no… I’m not…” I am about to dismiss his wrong impression with a waving gesture as Arawn’s voice makes me jump.
“Goldman, what a surprise seeing you here.” Only as I lay my hand on his that he put on my shoulder do I notice how much I was agitated by this man’s presence. “I thought you were on business out of town.”
He chuckles, retreating his hand to pull at his suit jacket, “Ah, there was a change of plans at the last minute. And seeing that this fantastic gala was on, I throw overboard all my plans and now that I had the honor of meeting your spouse, I’m really glad I did.”
“Oh, I’m not…” I start with an uncomfortable giggle, but Arawn cuts me off as he practically talks over my head, increasing the pressure on my arms. “Good for you. I’m glad you get to enjoy New York to the fullest as long as you can.”
I don’t like to feel like a doll again, but I know how to get a message, and shut up right away, forcing up a smile.
“I’m already enjoying it a lot,” he smiles, turning his head towards me with a wink. “And the sightseeing is just getting more interesting by the second.”
An uncomfortable shudder passes through me as he takes my hands into his, “It has been a real pleasure meeting you, Ms Rodberg.”
“Amber… Please. And it was all my pleasure, Mr Goldman” My smile stings as I watch him bow slightly.
He presses a kiss onto my knuckles, and I can feel Arawn stiffen, making it hard for me to shake the pins and needles out of my skin. “Laurent.”
Grimacing to make my smile grow, I watch him finally let go of me and say goodbye in the same slimy manner to Emily.
“Did the idiot say something rude to you?” Arawn gets my attention back to him, tearing my pensive stare from Laurent’s back.
I shake my head, making him sigh. “Good. I noticed him being around you too late. I’m sorry.”
“What are you talking about?” I lower my voice, squinting my eyes at him. “Don’t worry. I’m okay.”
He just hums, and my gaze gets captured by Harvey caressing Emily who seems just as confused as I am. “Arawn, what is happening?”
“Nothing,” he takes my arm steering me to the other side of the room from where the sketchy man had just disappeared to. “Just stop being so friendly to people you don’t know.”
I claw his fingers off my arm, freeing me from his grasp without attracting any attention from the people chatting around us. “Arawn, you are scaring me. What is going on? I couldn’t possibly spit someone into an eye who just wanted to come to say hello. You, on the other hand, kept interrupting me as I was trying to tell him that I’m not your wife. What is wrong with that guy?”
“It doesn’t matter. Don’t fall for their tricks. He was just trying to throw you off guard,” he growls lowly, making my skin cover in goosebumps.
I caress my arms, as if I could get rid of them by warming up my skin, and scoff. “He wasn’t throwing me off guard, Arawn. He was just addressing me the wrong way. Stop dodging my questions.”
“I said that it doesn’t matter.” He states once again, taking a sip of his champagne.
I chuckle as I watch him distort his face, and he finally smiles back at me. “I really thought you’d be more relaxed after the last few days.”
“Oh, I am, babe. I didn’t put a bullet between his eyes, did I?” he jokes, wrapping his arm around my waist to pull me closer.
“You are the embodiment of diplomacy,” I praise him flirtatiously, making him grin.
He kisses me gently, before letting go of me and straightening his spine. Looking around the room, I push out an exhausted breath as I can’t seem to find Emily in the crowd anymore.
Even if the question burns on my tongue, I keep gulping it down, forcing up my perfect smile for a perfect evening. My skin crawls more and more with every hour that we spend in that luxurious hall, and I can’t shake the feeling of being watched.
Only Arawn’s touch on the small of my back and his whispered dirty talk between our socializing with others get me to hold onto my sanity just enough to get through the evening without having a panic attack.
The only sad thing is that I don’t see Emily anymore that evening, and as we finally go home, I hate the fact that we just stay silent, sitting on two sides of the car like a married couple that hate each other.
“Will you tell me who this guy was?” I finally ask him as I say goodbye before getting out to go into my building.
My heart breaks at the fact that he didn’t want to bring me home with him and just declined the offer to come up with me.
Arawn shakes his head, his eyes seemingly distant. “Just promise me that you won’t leave the house without an escort.”
“How would I do that?” I laugh, not getting him to even twitch a muscle.
“Just call Dario when you plan to leave the house, and he will organize something. Someone will always be close by though.”
Gulping down the lump forming anew in my throat, I look at him with a sad expression. “And when will I see you again?”
“Promise me!” His growl gets me to jump.
I nod slightly, blinking away the tears prickling in my eyes, “Yes, I promise.”
“And stay in safe districts,” he adds nonchalantly, already turning away from me.
“What does that even mean?” I ask annoyed but he just scoffs.
“You know exactly what it means.”
Getting out of the car without asking him for a goodnight kiss like my brain was screaming for me to do, I pass the man in black holding open the door for me and get to say a low goodbye before the door gets closed behind me.
After arriving at my apartment, I lean against my door, pushing out a deep breath.
I’m just about to push myself off the door to get into my bedroom when my attention gets captured by something lying on my living room floor.
I walk toward it with careful steps, recognizing that it is the framed picture I had made of Arawn, Danny and me at the amusement park. Collecting it slowly, I cringe at the sound of the shards falling off it.
“Oh, no!” I whisper, squinting my eyes at the sideboard on which it was standing.
That is strange. What would have made it fall from there?
Turning it in my hands, I can see that the frame has a small crack from the fall, and I click my tongue.
This is a bad Omen.