Just One Night by Kyra Davis

Author:Kyra Davis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2013-12-31T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

WHEN I WAKE UP the next morning, he’s sitting by my side, looking down at me. Slowly I remind myself of where I am, that I am again in his shirt. I feel the gentle pressure of his fingers on my hip, only a thin sheet separating skin from skin.

“You don’t have to go,” he says softly.

I don’t fully understand his meaning. Is he referring to a specific location or is he talking about something grander, a declaration of us and what we can be?

But he quickly brings me back to earth with a troubling clarification. “You could work from here today. They don’t need you there. I’ll talk to Love, maybe Freeland—”

“I can’t let you do that,” I say. He already knew I was going to say that. I can tell by his tone, which carries only the faintest notes of hope, like violins that are all but drowned out by the heavy brass sounds of resignation.

“I told you last night, I will not sit back and watch as he victimizes you. That’s not how I live.”

I pause to consider the phrasing. It’s not how he lives. There’s something telling in that . . . but something I can’t quite place.

“I can win,” I say, pushing these thoughts aside. “I’m stronger than Dave. Smarter, too. I can win.”

“Not if you play by the old rules.”

I shift uncomfortably in the bed, moving the sheet down to my waist. “You don’t believe in rules?” I think of my sister, I remember her dancing on a table, shedding clothes like so many restrictive social conventions.

Robert smiles; his eyes flicker to the window, the port of entry for the hazy morning light. “There are so many old adages about winning. To the victor go the spoils, the history books are written by winners, and so on. But there’s only one truly meaningful benefit to winning. You see, to the victor go the rules. I believe in rules, Kasie. I believe in them because in my world I am the winner. The rules are mine to set. What I don’t believe in is playing by other people’s rules.”

The arrogance of that is enough to wake me up. I look at him with clearer eyes. What does it mean to truly be a power player? I wouldn’t know; neither would Dave. It took me a day and a half to figure out how to get out from under Dave’s thumb. Today, at 5:45 p.m., I hope to have that situation a bit more under control. Asha will be harder; she’ll bide her time, sharpen her weapons, hit me when I’m the least protected. But Robert Dade is different. He dominates the world in a way that I don’t fully understand and it occurs to me that if I give in to my feelings for him the way he wants me to, he’ll dominate me, too. And the danger here is that with Robert I might not look for the escape.

I will lose myself.

Like now, for instance.

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