The Forbidden Chapters Part 1: Afterlife Saga Read online

  “Well that’s not fair,” I complained.

  “No, why so?” he enquired with a sexy look.

  “Because you’re bigger than me,” I said folding my arms across my chest pretending to pout. He watched me with curiosity and then leaned closer and said,

  “Then you will have to be very clever about it.” I bit my lip to hold back a grin and thought about it for a moment.

  “All right, I accept your challenge but in return I need something,” I told him having already noticed a waiter walking past with a maraschino cherry with the stem still attached inside someone’s drink.

  “Very well, what is it you need?” he asked me and I was half tempted to ask for a kiss but knew I would never be brave enough, so instead I went with my first choice.

  “Can you call the waiter for me.” Draven gave me his usual questioning look but did as I asked without question. Meanwhile Sophia just clapped in her seat as if this was the best entertainment she had seen in ages.

  “Oh, this is so exciting!” she squealed as the waiter came rushing over.

  “I am sorry to bother you but I have a bet with my friend here and was wondering if I could trouble you for one of your maraschino cherries with the stem still attached please.” He looked taken aback and I didn’t know if it was my request or that I had asked so nicely he wasn’t used to it.

  “Yes of course and it is no trouble at all, Miss,” he replied and quickly left to get what I asked for.

  “Now I am intrigued,” Vincent said and Draven nodded, agreeing,

  “Yes, as am I, brother.” I on the other hand was hoping I could still do it or this was going to be a lot lamer than I envisioned in my head. Well it was now or never as the waiter soon returned with a few on a small plate for me to choose from before leaving. Of course, I picked up the one with the longest stem.

  “And what exactly are you planning on doing with that?” Draven asked me, turning his full attention my way, which was precisely what I was hoping for. So, I plucked the stem off the cherry and held it up.

  “Simple, I am going to tie it into a knot in less than ten seconds.”

  “Well that doesn’t sound that hard,” Sophia complained making me smile, so I elaborated for her,

  “With my tongue.” To which she responded with,

  “OOooooo now it gets interesting again.” At the same time Vincent whistled. I looked to Draven who seemed to fixate on my mouth as if he was picturing it for himself.

  “Okay, so if you wouldn’t mind counting for me please,” I asked Draven in hopes this would distract him further.

  “But of course,” he replied with a grin.

  “Okay, here goes.” I said and then popped it in and started bending it round the way I had done a hundred times before. The second I knew I was done I started to pull it from my mouth, tightening the end with my teeth before showing it to them. All the while Draven watched me like a hawk having only got to six seconds. I first showed it to Sophia as proof, then to Vincent and last of all to Draven. Then the second he focused on it I quickly grabbed the plate and had it in front of me before he knew what I had done.

  “HA! She got you!” Sophia shouted clapping and I dropped the stem back on the plate with the other cherries and picked up my spoon. I had a mouthful of chocolate in my mouth before I looked at Draven again. The shock on his face was priceless and Vincent laughed, banging a hand down on the table as he mocked his brother.

  Draven ignored them both, his sole focus on me as before but this time he leaned in closer and whispered,

  “A skill indeed and one I would very much like to see repeated but for now, you still owe me that payment.” I gulped down the piece of cake and briefly prayed his payment was a taste of me, not the dessert. I nodded, knowing that when he looked at me like that I would give him anything he asked of me. But to my great disappointment it wasn’t a kiss but instead he picked up my used spoon. One still smeared with lines of sticky chocolate that I hadn’t gotten around to licking off and he took a piece of my cake keeping his eyes to mine.

  I was suddenly jealous of a spoon, to the point that I was half tempted to steal it so that I could take it home with me. Once finished he handed it back and it was now clean. And I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I took great pleasure in finishing my dessert with something that had been in Draven’s mouth.

  After this came the sad part as the evening was coming to an end and I wished I could have done it all over again. Draven signed his name to the bill as Vincent and Sophia were up out of their seats, making their way to the door. However, I was still sat down next to Draven as he hadn’t yet moved allowing me to follow the others.

  I tried to look as though I wasn’t staring at him which I too often found myself doing, so now I was looking down at my hands, nervously pulling at a thread on my bandage.

  “Keira?” Draven’s voice pulled me out of my own thoughts and I looked up to see him now standing, waiting for me. As before, he held a hand out for me to hold as I stood from the booth. He then turned, taking my jacket off the waiter who held it out for him and I went to take it off Draven but he didn’t let go.

  “Let me be a gentleman, Keira,” he told me and nodded for me to turn around when I gave him a look of confusion.

  “Oh…oh right,” I mumbled and turned, letting him help me with my jacket by holding it out for me. He lifted the rest onto my shoulders and then gathered my loose hairs off my neck and placed them over the collar, his hands lingering on my skin. I shuddered and turned back to him quickly, hoping he didn’t notice how having his touch affected my body.

  He motioned for me to proceed him towards the exit and I knew this was going to be my last opportunity to thank him for tonight so I turned to face him as soon as we were through the doors. Of course, in true Keira fashion I stumbled a step and kind of half fell into him sideways.

  “I swear it’s not the wine,” I said with my face planted in the bend of his arm from where he had caught me. He chuckled and said,

  “And there is my clumsy waitress.” I just hoped he didn’t hear my startled breath at hearing him call me his. I stood up straighter, holding on to his arms for support.

  “I just wanted to thank you…for tonight, the meal and the wine.”

  “And for the company I hope,” he teased and I blushed.

  “You’re most welcome, Keira,” he added and I nodded as the same black car that had brought me and Sophia here pulled up, but speaking of them,

  “Where are Sophia and Vincent?” I asked Draven just as the roaring sound of a bike’s engine could be heard. Then flying past went Vincent on some black, sleek beast with his sister laughing behind him.

  “See you two later!” Sophia shouted just as Vincent slowed enough for her to be heard, then he raced off like someone had just shot a gun in the air.

  “Well they seemed to be off in a rush but wait, shouldn’t she be wearing a helmet?” Draven smirked watching as they left and said,

  “She will be fine, I am sure,” making me frown and as if I was missing the joke. Well considering how much he cared for her it seemed a little out of character not to care about her travelling unsafely on a high-speed bike ride.

  “My brother is an excellent rider, Keira,” he said as if once again hearing my thoughts being voiced.

  “Shall we?” Draven said nodding to the parked car.

  “Oh yes, sorry I am dawdling, aren’t I?” I said wondering why quickly after, Draven chuckled.

  “Dawdling?”

  “Oh, it means stalling for time…uh, no not stalling, I am not stalling, just taking my time…well not like that…um in that way I mean, as if I don’t want to leave…of course I want to leave, but not in an ‘I didn’t have a great time’ kind of way…” Okay shut up, shut up, shut up now, Kazzy! I wanted to slap myself and it made it even worse when Draven laughed and said,

  “I know what dawdling means, I just haven’t heard it said in quite some time.”

  “Of course, you do.” I mutte
red turning back to the car and making a face of horror at myself. Of course, this was when I realised the car windows were practically like black mirrors so Draven could see me silently scolding myself and of course, he was looking. So instead I opened the car door, making Draven reach out behind me as if to do the same. He came so close to my back with his arm around me that I froze.

  “Do you ever let a gentleman treat you like the lady you are?” he asked me seductively and I bit my lip.

  “You’re biting your lip again, Keira,” he added making it pop out again just like it did last night in his bedroom. I didn’t say anything but I looked up to find him looking at me in the reflection of the window. I swear I saw his eyes flash with some kind of glow but then realised it must have been a trick of light. Well at least it was a dark reflection so he couldn’t see the colour of my cheeks, silver linings and all that.

  I didn’t know what to do next. Did he want me to move out of his way or did he want me to just continue with my first blunder in opening the door before him? Thankfully his skills in mind reading were still switched on as he gripped my waist and gently moved me to the side so that he could open the door for me.

  “Thank you.” I told him, reverting back to my shy ways and I stepped up, so that I could get in…something he also helped me with by giving me his hand to steady myself along with another hand at the small of my back. I drank in the feel of him touching me, knowing I would be adding that one to my next dream no doubt.

  “Um…thanks again, big cars and little legs don’t mix you know,” I said referring to my lack of height making him grin down at me.

  “I don’t see the problem,” he said getting in after me.

  “No?”

  “Not at all, any taller and I would be denied the pleasure of helping you, something I happen to enjoy,” he added and my mouth dropped.

  “Where too my L…”

  “The usual.” Draven answered quickly before the driver could finish his sentence and just like last night, he would stop his staff before they could call him what he obviously didn’t want me to hear. Then he pressed a button so that a privacy screen went up and the journey became all about us being alone.

  “Umm…does he need to know my address?” I asked in a croaky voice I had to clear first.

  “Why would he need it?” Draven asked me as if the reason I was in the car right now wasn’t for him to give me a lift home. I gave him a confused look and said,

  “I uh…well Sophia said she wouldn’t mind taking me home but if you are in a rush then I could just get a taxi or something.” I told him really hoping I didn’t have to get a taxi home. Draven turned to face me, placing his arm at the back of me, resting an elbow on the middle section of the seat. Then he grinned down at me and said,

  “Do you really think for one second I would let you get in a taxi alone and make your own way home, driving an hour to get there with some stranger driving you?” Then he pushed a stray piece of hair behind my ear causing goosebumps to rise along my arms.

  “I…okay so I am confused, I’m not going home?” I admitted asking the question.

  “Clearly you are…let me rectify that… no Keira, you are not going home,” he stated as if this should have been obvious, which it really wasn’t!

  “I’m not?” I asked frowning.

  “No.” Okay so his answer wasn’t really giving me much to go on, so I took a deep breath and said,

  “Can I ask where I am going?”

  “You’re coming home with me, to Afterlife,” he said as though this should have been the most natural place for me to be.

  “I am?!” I said getting high pitched again.

  “You are,” he said smirking and obviously finding these simple-minded reactions of mine amusing.

  “Why?” I asked unable to help myself.

  “Why not?” he answered by throwing the question back at me and looking truly curious as to what my answer may be.

  “Um well the obvious one is that you don’t seem to like me when I am there, so I guess, yeah that would be a good reason to ask,” I said blurting out the truth of how I felt and wishing that I hadn’t followed my bravery up with slapping a hand over my mouth.

  “I am sorry, I shouldn’t have said that…please forget I did…or ignore me, must be the wine talking,” I told him, trying everything to take it back. I looked away not brave enough to witness his reaction to hearing it.

  “Keira, look at me,” he demanded softly and I didn’t want to but when he asked me like that, then really, how could I deny him anything. So, I turned slowly from looking out at the night sky through my window and instead was granted with the darkness of his eyes. He sighed heavily before speaking.

  “I am sorry if my actions have given you that impression of me, but you have to know, that is not how I feel about you.”

  “I get it, I do but honestly you don’t need to explain. I understand and your sister’s happiness is important,” I told him making him frown.

  “What do you mean…what has Sophia got to do with the way I feel about you?” he asked me, sincerely confused and now it was my time to frown in confusion.

  “But I thought…?”

  “What, what did you think Keira, that I was only being nice to you for my sister’s sake?” he snapped, obviously hurt by the notion.

  “Well no, I mean yes…maybe, I don’t know, I just couldn’t make sense of why,” I said trying to make sense of any of this, and it looked as if he was trying to do also.

  “Why what?” he asked, obviously trying to rein in his anger by using a somewhat calming voice.

  “Why you would single me out.”

  “Single you out? Keira, you have this all wrong,” he told me and I felt like an idiot. I wanted to slap myself this time so hard I would sleep for a week! Well I obviously couldn’t do that so I tried backtracking instead.

  “What I mean is singled me out by being nicer to me because I was…am, your sister’s friend…I don’t mean romantically or anything,” I said trying to fake laugh it off as though he was the one that had it all wrong. The look he gave me said it all…and that was he wasn’t buying it. He folded his arms across his chest and said,

  “So, if I were to kiss you right now, you think I would be doing so out of some duty in keeping my sister happy, is that it?” he asked raising his eyebrow in question and making me gulp at the sight of his dominant nature coming into play.

  “Kiss me…uh, well no…you wouldn’t do that…would you?” I asked getting flustered and wondering if the heat in the car was on full blast or was it just Draven’s presence.

  “Man, it’s warm in here…are you warm? Do you think the driver put the heat on? Can I wind down a window or something…jeez, its warm in here.” I said trying to do everything possible than look directly into his eyes that were once again studying me. Suddenly the window went down without having to press a button or anything.

  “How did you…” I started to say but stopped when he started to pull my jacket from me, one I hadn’t yet zipped up.

  “Oh, okay, yeah, good idea,” I mumbled nervously, talking constantly like I sometimes did. He took my jacket off me, folding it like he had done in the restaurant and placing it next to him on the doors side so that he had the excuse to shift closer towards me. I in turn shifted closer to the door thinking he would wanted the extra space…he didn’t.

  “I think we need to get a few things straight before we continue down this road.” I looked out the window, seeing the city streets whizzing by and then looked back to him,

  “Are we not on the right road?”

  “No. We. Are. Not,” he said leaning closer to me, telling me with his serious tone that he didn’t give a damn about which road we were on. It was a metaphor for where we were heading personally.

  “Oh,” I said deflated and readying myself for the point where he was about to tell me that any feelings I thought he had for me had all been in my head.

  “Anything I do that concerns you, i
sn’t down to my sister’s needs.” He hissed this last part so that I would take notice of what he was saying.

  “Oh…well okay then I will…” This was when he placed two fingers over my lips and said,

  “I haven’t finished.” I found myself well and truly silenced and when he was sure of this he moved his fingers, so that they trailed down the side of my cheek.

  “Now just to clarify for you, the reason behind my sister’s constant interference is not because she wants us to become romantically involved, as you put it, but because… I want it.” He finished and his look said he couldn’t have been more serious in what he was saying. I, on the other hand, thought I would pass out from shock! Could it be true? Could he really feel that way about me? No, it just didn’t seem possible! In fact, my face must have said it all.

  “No, you don’t believe me?” I shook my head, too afraid to speak.

  “Well I will have to change that…right now in fact,” he said taking my face in both his hands and kissing me before I had time to brace myself for it. My eyes widened momentarily before closing them in a blissful state of mind. It felt like one of my dreams only this time the cold air hitting my overheated skin couldn’t have been conjured up. Nor could the feel of his lips over mine, or the hands in my hair, holding me to him. This time it wasn’t a dream…it was real…very, very real.

  I moaned, opening up to him and he took advantage, taking the kiss to deeper levels, levels that had me gripping onto him just for something to hold onto. I felt like I was falling and in a sense, I was because how was I ever to walk away after this. And like so many times before as soon as the thought entered my mind he responded to it. He gripped me tighter and growled over my lips before he captured them again.