Take my heart

Chapter XXIV

Caesar must have a reputation, because half his friends get worried when they're in the middle of a party and he's not flirting with anyone.

"It's my pal's birthday, that'd be rude," he says as an excuse, though unconvincing.

Darren takes a long look at him over the brim of his drinking glass.

"You remind me of someone," he muses, narrowing his eyes, deep in thought. Lee appears at his side then, as if invoked, and sends the same look Caesar's way.

"It's me," he concludes after a second. "He reminds you of my stupid pining self. I would recognize that sour face anywhere."

Caesar almost chokes on air.

"Pining?! What the hell?!"

Darren seems just as surprised.

"This guy, pining? No way. You really think so?"

"Listen, I may be dumb, but I'm not blind. It'd be less obvious if you put up a neon sign, to be quite honest," Lee Jung states without a shadow of a doubt, arms crossed over his chest. Caesar gapes like a fish out of water, trying and failing to find the words to prove him wrong.

"You- what? It's- it's not obvious, shut up!"

Wait. That doesn't work.

Darren widens his eyes, a smirk pulling at his lips. "Ohh, now this is unexpected," he mumbles, lowering his glass. "Who is it?"

"Who's what?"

His soul leaves his body when Connor leans an arm on his shoulder. All the blood drains from his face as he casts a quick glare at the stupid couple. "Nothing! It's nothing! These guys are just being annoying like always, fuck off already."

To his dismay, Lee and Darren share a disbelieving look, and promptly burst out laughing. Caesar feels his face burning now, as Connor's confusion seeps like fog into his own mind. He grumbles something about shitty people in love and drags his best friend away before the situation gets any worse.

He's not fucking pining, thank you very much. And it's not obvious either.

He manages to keep Connor by his side for all of five minutes, until one of his step-sisters appears out of thin air and whisks him away. Caesar pointedly ignores the way Connor's hand catches on his wrist for a second, then slides down his own hand, and then it—along with the boy himself—is gone. Fucking idiot.

The lights have dimmed down, hues of purple and red dancing around the venue, the bass of the music thrumming on the walls and the floor and reverberating in his rib cage. It's not long before he's dancing with someone, and someone else, and at some point it's Dawn, dragging Adryan behind her with a giddy smile. He grabs hold of both her hands and they trap Adryan between them, cackling as he struggles to get away.

The first someone is back, and gone, and back again. She slings an arm over his shoulder, her bright purple lips curve in a smirk, the sequins on her silver dress catch the lights and sparkle with the sway of her body. Caesar smirks back, rests a hand on her hip and brings her a step closer. His smile widens when she throws her coily black hair back and takes yet another step, barely short of pressing their bodies together.

They talk in short intervals, almost yelling over the loud music. Caesar learns three things about her. Her name is Sarai. She's one of Ash's friends. He wouldn't mind having her purple lipstick smeared all over his skin.

At some point, they float toward one of the tables to grab a drink. It's a little more quiet here, but they still have to talk into each other's ear to communicate. A bit through the corner of his eye, and a bit through his natural awareness of him, Caesar spots Connor a little ways over, begging to get himself punched in the attempt to get Lee to dance.

"Does it get lonely?" Sarai's voice brings back his attention to her.

"What?"

She's standing very close. One of her hands comes up to the back of his neck, as if wanting to bend him down to talk in his ear, but she's tall enough for that not to be necessary.

"Your friends flaunt their happy relationships in your face all the time," Sarai says, and pauses to knock her drink back. "Some of mine do the same. Don't you get lonely?"

A beam of reddish light shines over her shoulder, rich dark skin stretching over lean muscles. There's a familiar curl of liquid heat in his stomach, but it becomes stilted when met with the even more familiar weight of Connor's stare over his ear. He ignores it.

"If they flaunt their happy relationships, I flaunt my freedom," he answers, only half sure those are the words he wanted to utter.

She angles her chin up and lets out a crystal clear laugh. Caesar trails his gaze down her long neck, scratching his ear to get rid of the tingling there. A second later, her dark eyes fix on him with smoldering intensity.

"So you can find people to spend the night with you," she says, drumming her fingernails on the table next to them. "What then? Who do you have breakfast with? Which of the three hundred contacts on your phone do you call when you need it most?"

His brain takes a second too long to process her words. Most of his attention is on the twenty steps that separate him from Connor, who hasn't stopped looking at him, like he intends to dig a hole through his skull. God damn it, does he know nothing about privacy? If he knows Caesar so well, can't he see what he's trying to do?

The questions do register eventually, and he almost scoffs. It's not unusual for random people to come and ask him weird things like that. Sometimes it's the alcohol, most of the times it's just the fact that people want to see if they can crack him. See if they can get a secret, a truth out of the ever poised and mysterious Caesar Nóvikov.

It takes Connor a flutter of his eyelashes to get a truth from him. He gives those to no one else.

"I'm not looking for a relationship," Caesar finally answers, and Sarai does a combination of rolling her eyes and smirking in appreciation.

"Good," she says. The hand on his neck pulls.

Connor stops staring and the change is so sudden Caesar's eyes fly in his direction immediately. Sarai doesn't notice, nosing her way down his jaw, hot breath fanning over his skin and leaving goosebumps behind. The throbbing lights and the dancing crowd don't make it easy to find Connor, but Caesar does so in a heartbeat. He's surrounded by a few guys and girls from Hyun-Ae's circle, smiling wide and posing for pictures.

It happens sometimes. Connor is bubbly and charming and irresistible, it comes to him naturally, and then it doesn't, sharp contrast between a second and the other. The grin stays there, and his voice remains the same, and not even Adryan can ever tell the difference.

Caesar only vaguely wants to curse his luck.

"Sorry, I..." he's saying before he makes up his mind, though there's no need for that. He steps back and Sarai raises her eyebrows. "I have to... go."

Not even Adryan can tell the difference, but of course Caesar can, and Connor is not even asking for his help now, rarely ever does, yet Caesar crosses the distance between them in quick strides. If Sarai had something to answer, he didn't stay to listen. Charm comes naturally to Connor and excuses come naturally to him; he's barely got a hand on the boy's back before it's "Adryan sent me to get you" and "sorry, I'll steal the birthday boy for a second".

Connor wasn't asking for help, but he takes it, follows Caesar without a word, relaxes into his touch and retreats into his warmth. Caesar is ready to give it to him, fully wraps his arm around Connor's waist and lets him lean against his side.

Sarai, his missed opportunity, the whole party is out of his mind by the time they reach one of the exits.