Balthazar narrows his eyes, “Did you know I’d be here?”
“No,” I answer in all sincerity and a muscle ticks in his jaw.
“Would you have come had you known?”
“Yes.”
Anger flashes in his gaze. “Don’t lie.”
I pinch my lips and wring my hands. Truth is that I don’t know. After I went to the states, we lost touch. Thought that maybe he’d married or was seriously involved with a girlfriend. Maybe he even had kids and I didn’t just want to intrude. I was planning on taking things slow.
“We haven’t talked in a long time,” I say instead and he jerks his chin.
“No, we haven’t.”
“Seems like a lot of things have changed.”
“They have changed.” His eyes roam down my body. “You have changed. You’ve cut your hair.” His eyes simmer with rage again. “And you speak with anaccent.Forgotten your own language have you? Where you came from, forgotten about the people who cared for your?”
“I haven’t forgotten. That’s why I came back.”
He snorts. “Lucky us. Life’s been shit without you.”
His voice is so sarcastic, dripping with so much animosity that I begin losing my patience. Lifting my hands to show I have no mean intentions, I take a step back. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on with you right now but I’m willing to ignore it. I’m gonna head back to the village. Come look for me if you want us to talk.”
Turning around, I wait for Balthazar to run after me, stumble over his feet or at least clasp my arm and beg me to stay like he used to when he was a boy but he doesn’t. Irritation flares in me as I walk toward the exit and I push open the door, gasping when I see the amount of snow twirling outside. Flakes as sharp as knives cut me in the face and I can barely breathe.
Mustering up some strength, I close the door again and heavily pant. My cheeks heat as I slowly turn around again and Balthazar watches me with dark eyes. “A storm’s brewing out there,” I say and he raises his brows.
“And?”
Gawking I say, “Didn’t you hear what I just said? A storm’s...”
“I heard you,” he slithers before putting his hand on top of his chest, “but a storm’s been brewing in here ever since you left me, so maybe I should give you a taste of your own medicine.”
I swallow and my eyes dart. I’m not sure what to respond. But this is my old friend. He can’t bethatangry with me. Not after all these years. “I’ll leave then,” I murmur. “It’s not like you owe me anything. I don’t have to stay in your bed.”
“Stay,” he snaps, his eyes hardening. “Until the storm passes.”
Hesitating for a moment, I slowly nod and try a smile but he doesn’t smile back. He really has changed. Turned into some tougher version of himself and it sends a shiver down my spine. This is my old friend, I tell myself but the moment I look into his eyes all I see is a stranger.
****
Balthazar
This time when I ask her to stay, she fulfills my wish. This time she doesn’t run away and deny me what’s rightfully mine. Though, not out of her own free will but because there’s a fucking storm outside, waiting to swallow her alive.
I bet if that storm wasn’t there, she’d prance right out and leave me thirsting for her as always.
This isn’t how I imagined our reunion. I imagined her returning sooner, running toward me with a desperate look on her face before baring her naked breasts and throwing herself on her knees before me. She’d tremble, sob from how excruciatingly exquisite it was to see me again before yanking at my pants and tearing at my belt to frantically get to my dick.
With her red lips around my shaft, she’d plead for forgiveness while mascara would run down her soft cheeks. I would look down at her, inhale then mercifully putting my hand on top of her head, pardoning her before impregnating her again and again. She’d spend the rest of her life in a tower in my castle, forced to give birth to my heirs over and over.
Tsarina wouldn’t get a chance to breathe, her punishment would be to lay swollen and heavy in the master bedroom while clutching my hand and every time she gave birth, she wouldn’t scream but moan about how much she loves me.
Instead, she showed up out of nowhere while acting as if we can just take off where we left. I look at her and she has changed so much. She seems taller in her thigh-high boots, confident and happy, her face full of contentment and her hair looks like it’s been cut by a professional. But I recognized her the moment our eyes met. At first I thought she was an apparition, ready to drop before her in worship, simply so that she wouldn’t go away.
But then she spoke, touched me, hugged me, leaned into my chest and the pain it brought me was so severe that I still ache. She can’t tell but I’m trembling beneath my clothes and my body’s filling up with heat and then ice.