I did my breathing exercises as I watched the crème de la crème of the society enter the grand hall and suddenly had an insane urge to bolt off with my tail between my legs. If I had a tail, that is.
We were invited to see the unveiling of an upcoming artist's work and for some reason, this event had been hyped up so much that tickets were hard to come by. You had to pay a lot to come to the event and The Jade-Eyed Bastard was mailed the tickets by the artist herself, with a letter telling us it would be an honour if we both attended.
Talk about mad clout.
I hitched up my wine, low cut evening dress and got enough balls to climb up the towering stairs, leaving The Jade-Eyed Bastard dropping the SUV's keys with the snobby looking valets. This was our first outing together as a couple and I didn't t know why I was feeling oddly nervous, like my heart was in my stomach.
I waited for him at the top of the stairs and he joined me a moment later, we passed by the mean-looking beefy bouncers that allowed us in without requesting our invitations. Sometimes, the influence this family had everywhere still surprised me.
We followed the multitude of people into the main hall which had been decorated specifically for the occasion, expensive-looking chandeliers dangled from the high ceilings and rich mingled among themselves, involving each other in some meaningless chatter.
The artworks had been displayed in strategic locations and even from here, I could tell the young woman was good. This showcase doubled up as a charity event and I could tell they would raise an awful lot of money for whatever cause it was that they were funding.
I felt furtive glances on me and I immediately felt self-conscious again. I didn't belong here with all these fancy, rich people, my style was at bars and run-down house parties, not here. The Jade-Eyed Bastard must have noticed the sudden shift in my mood because he touched my exposed upper arm lightly.
"Scared?" He whispered, his breath fanning my ear and I could tell that he was amused. I looked up at him and confirmed one thing.
No one, as in no one could rock a suit better than this man. The dark grey suit looked like it was made for him, his dark brown hair looked carefully messed up and his slight grin made those little indents on his cheeks appear. I felt little butterflies flutter in my throat and swallowed.
"You wish I was scared," I whispered back, tossing my hair over my shoulder and stalking off to the buffet table all the while fighting the urge to turn and check if he was staring at my backside. I doubt he was though, Gerard behaved so innocent sometimes that it struck me as odd.
But then he was an odd guy, generally.
I feasted my eyes on the treats at the table and picked up a tart which I was quietly nibbling on when I noticed the all too familiar sneering face of my adopted sister, Mindy from across the hall. The tart suddenly tasted bitter and I suppressed a deep frown, staring at the blonde.
She was dressed in a light gold dress which clung onto her like a second skin, and she clung onto the arm of a big, blonde man that I could assume was her date. The man was huge with hands as big as frying pans and I wondered where the heck those two had met.
My attention was averted from my sister and her alpha male date when a bunch of ladies with smiles as phoney as a chorus girl's eyelashes, approached me. The tart tasted like cardboard in my mouth at this point.
"Is it really true?" one of them a neatly done French plait and chinky eyes whispered.
"Is what true?" I was slightly irritated that they were interrupting me and my tart time. They looked among themselves and gave me another round of their sickening sappy smiles. I held back vomit.
"That you're the new Mrs White," another one that I'm pretty sure was way older than me said. I dropped my hand that was extended for the next tart and sincerely felt like giving each of them a slap. "The wedding was quite private, I assume?"
I knew people like them, they pretended to like you in your presence then gossiped about you later. This was the reason our wedding was not made public, because of people like these.
"Yes, I am," I answered, crisply. "If that's all, excuse me." I pushed through them and I could hear whispers arise from their little group.
"Where did he even find her? A black! She doesn't fit my Gerard." Chinky eye sighed. "Imagine their kids."
"She doesn't even look good, she's probably after the money."
"All that money, what I wouldn't give to be on Beatrice White's good side!"
I was accustomed to hearing such nonsense being spouted about me but them saying it within earshot was just ridiculous, so instead of taking offence, I just looked over my shoulder.
"Ladies, a word of advice, whenever you want to insult someone, you make sure they're out of earshot. Also, please refrain from calling my husband 'your Gerard', it's as creepy as hell." And with that, I left them with them looking dumfounded and confused.
I hung around Gerard for most of the night but was bored out of my mind because people kept engaging him in conversations which he surprisingly answered politely. In fact, I was starting to think he only reserved that attitude specially for me.
"Hey," I told him at some point, getting up from the seat beside him and interrupting his conversation with an old French sculptor, they had been speaking rapid French for the past ten minutes and I was bored out of my mind. "I'm going to the restroom."
He looked at me for about half a second. "Knock yourself out." Then he switched back to French with the old man leaving me mildly irritated.
I made my way to the restrooms which I found after a lot of difficulties. The moment I entered the restroom, I knew I was in for another round of trouble when I saw Mindy adjusting her powder by the mirror. I was contemplating just turning back and pretending I didn't see her when she spoke.
"I was wondering how long it would take for you to show up, Karina." Her voice was scathing and the hate emanated in waves.
"I would have shown up earlier," I started, squirting the pink liquid soap onto my hands and hoping I matched the venom of her tone. "But I didn't know you had started a career creepily waiting for people in public restrooms. I can't say I like the new career change, though."
"You're not funny," she spat out, her pale face flushed from my jibe at her.
"Wasn't trying to be funny, Mindy cakes. What do you want from me?" I was drying my hands out now.
"I want my man." She was balling up her fists now and I considered the possibility of a fight breaking out, I didn't think I'd be able to manoeuvre well in this tight evening dress.
"If you're talking about the alpha male on steroids that came here with you, I've not been anywhere near him. Trust me, he's not my type," I told her snarkily.
"You're a slut, everyone's your type, especially my boyfriends," she sneered, her blue eyes showing her visible rage. "Remember Bryce?"
I grimaced at the memory the name she just mentioned brought back. Bryce Dewitt was the captain of the basketball team back when we were in high school. Mindy had a huge crush on him and everyone but the guy knew, mainly because the guy was always too busy trying to get in my pants. I had finally yielded slept with the guy to mainly get him off my back. I dated him for a few weeks and then we went for senior prom together, where Mindy had her revenge by ripping my dress right in front of everyone. Needless to say, prom still sent shivers of fear down my spine whenever I remembered my scandalous underwear show.
"You weren't dating Bryce."
"You knew I wanted him," she snapped, hotly. "Yet you still spread your legs for him like the slut you've always been."
"You weren't dating Bryce," I murmured again, suddenly feeling unwell and longing to escape my confinement with her. I was feeling sick and choked and I couldn't keep up with her emotional torture. I flung open the door and ran down the turning hallways and straight into a broad chest.
"Are you fucking blind?" I asked rudely, rubbing my head where I made contact with his chest. It was all my fault but blaming the stranger was a good way to ease tension, transfer of aggression always worked well for me. I looked up to meet the frowning face of a man with wavy, short black hair and dark shades. I was wondering why he was wearing shades inside when I noticed the brown cane he was holding.
"Actually," the man began, in a quiet and calm voice. "Yes, I am blind and currently lost. I think."
I stared open-mouthed for a few seconds before talking. "Oh, fuck, I'm so sorry...I say a lot of stupid stuff, I'm so s..."
He cut me off with a wave of his hand. "Trust me, I'm not offended, but it would help if you could lead me back to the hall."
"Sure," I said reaching for the man's hand when I spotted something that tied my stomach into knots. On both his forearms were the same type of tattoos Gerard had. The exact same ones. Trust me, I had stared at him long enough to know.
"What's your name, pretty lady?" He asked, jogging me out of my reverie of the tattoos. "At least you sound pretty, I wouldn't know now, would I?"
"I'm Karina. Karina White." I replied, slowly. That was the first time I had said my new name out loud and it didn't sound half bad. In fact, I kind of liked it if I was being honest.
The blind man chuckled richly, laughter pregnant with meaning. "Figures that it's you I would happen to run into, Karina. How's that for lucky coincidence."
"Do I know you?" I was truly curious now because the more I stared at him, the more I had this strange feeling that I had seen him before. I was pretty sure I had seen him before.
"Oh, you do," he continued, still chuckling but now holding his hand out to me for a shake. "I go by a lot of names, love; the blind artist, the sexy sculptor but I'm Jacob Taelor Sykes, JT for short and for simplicity's sake, I'm your husband's best friend."
And then it clicked. He was at our wedding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't forget to click that star, comment and share❤.